It took me a while to realize what time it really was, after I reached my destination everyone from the bus had gotten off and went their own ways as they had been picked up, unfortunately I was lost and I didn’t have anyone waiting for me. It was still dark and I was sure that it was past midnight by the time I had gotten off of the time, perhaps I miss judged my time. I didn’t have a map to guide me around and since it was night time things were a little much harder to see, to locate myself around at this certain hour would be a little more difficult. I knew that I would probably need to find a motel and spend the night their until it would be day time, it’ll make things easier for me and perhaps I can go sight seeing and get to know where I actually am. To be honest I was currently realizing how bad of an idea this was, to waste all of my saved money to travel to New Jersey, in a little town in which I had known nothing about. Surely I will regret this even more now by the time reality hits me hard on the face.

I wasn’t sure where I was heading to but as I walk by the side of the road I could had seen in the distance a bunch of lights flashing, I knew it was either a gas station and or a motel, which of me would be good enough. Wrapping my thin arms around my waist I kept walking towards the flashing lights, and it took me only minutes to finally be able to read the signs, and thankfully to my luck it was a gas station and right next to it was a mote; that was very convenient for me actually. I was kind of glad to know that I had decided to wander off again, I was a little curious and surely a girl my age to wonder around at this time of night wasn’t such a good idea, but curiosity killed the cat.

As I stood in front of the motel building I saw several rooms had their lights on, the green sign ‘motel’ was flashing and as I turned my head to look towards the right I saw the gas station, it being empty as well. There weren’t any cars in the parking lot, a few but they looked like they had been their for years. I shrugged my shoulders and stepped onto the sidewalk, turning around to face my back towards the building, all the while as I grabbed my purse and opened it to grab my pack of cigarettes and my lighter. Upon grabbing a single cigarette from the pack I stuffed the pack back inside, wrapping my lips around the cigarette I cupped my hand and lit the cigarette up; taking a deep inhale I closed my eyes and tipped my head back, enjoying the cancer stick and the smoke that had currently been in my lungs, poisoning me.

Putting my lighter into my front pocket I wrapped one of my arms across my chest and the other hand had held the cigarette between my slender fingers. Tipping my head back I parted my lips and exhaled the smoke out into the cold air, peering my eyes open I gazed up at the stars, enjoying the night and the stars once again. It’s a little interesting, a few night ago I had seen the same night sky and the same stars, and every star had been in the same place; for a moment I felt like I had gone nowhere, that I had stayed in the exact same place and only drove around in constant circles, but then again I knew I was wrong and I would only trick my mind into thinking that it was true. Although I was intrigued by the stars, as I kept smoking my cancer stick, with each inhale I damaged my lungs some more all the while as I was mesmerized by the stars. I stopped thinking, I wasn’t worrying about the amount of money that I had in my wallet, or the fact that my phone was probably filled with messages from my parents, I wasn’t worrying that someone right at this moment could kidnap me, rape me and dismember my body.

A soft hum passed my lips, I took another inhale of my cigarette and realized that my cigarette was almost finished and that I had only a few more inhales to take before it would be all gone and my special moment with my cigarette would be gone. A soft heavy sigh escaped my lips, I was coming back to reality and I knew reality had just slapped me hard in the face, I will now realize the actions I just did and perhaps I will realize to what kind of idiot I truly am; maybe I’ll even regret on making this decision.

“I need a drink.” I muttered softly to myself as I dropped my cigarette back on cold pavement, stepping onto the cigarette bud a few times before I turned around to walk towards the gas station as I eagerly and desperately needed a drink, although something had taken me back as a little voice inside of my head told me that I am not legal yet to buy alcohol due to my age. Back in Chicago I easily got away with buying alcohol without showing my I.D. because I made myself look a little older than usual, but whoever stood at the cash register would not know me at all and would probably ask me for my I.D.

I felt a little frustrated actually, but I knew that I had to at least try to get something for myself to drink and since I’m stubborn I won’t stop until I get what I want. As I made my way closer to the gas station I stood right besides the building, I didn’t want to seem suspicious so I grabbed my phone from my purse and thumbed through it, pretending that I was texting people and checking things out to seem a little busy. Inside of my head I thought if I spot someone walking inside of the store maybe I could ask them to buy me some alcohol, tell them how I’ll be turning 21 in about two months and how I’ll pay them even more for me to actually buy the alcohol; maybe I’ll have to beg, but I was desperate. But then again who wonders around gas stations at this kind of night? I do. I probably pushed my hopes up a little too high, but I knew I had to try.

As I went through my phone I ignored all of the text messages that I had gotten from my mom and my step-dad, and the missing calls and voicemails, I deleted them all without any hesitation, but for some reason I felt a sudden guilt of feeling washing over me and I just shrugged my shoulders, I knew it would have been nice enough to at least read some of those messages to see what they were saying, but a part of me hated them so much that I realized I let anger win over me that one time. I wasn’t thinking to what I was doing, I wasn’t paying any attention to my actions and I just did things without giving a single thought to them.

Suddenly I heard a car drive by, my head instantly tilted up and I hoped to god that this car would turn towards the gas station, and to my luck it did. My heart began racing because I hoped whoever was inside was just going to stop by and get some gas, because honestly I was hoping he wasn’t some serial killer. I waited until the person would open his car door, as I heard the car door open I looked carefully at whom this person was. It was a male, dark brown hair or black hair, he was wearing a lather jacket and all of this clothes were either dark or black, but he wasn’t all that tall either; he didn’t seem dangerous but thankfully he wasn’t making any eye contact with me, and neither did he look all too old, I hope.

My heart raced, I bit my lower lips nervously, watching as the stranger in black had stuffed his hands inside of his front pockets and lowered his head as he walked towards the building, but the adrenaline I was currently experiencing had made me forget that I was nervous to even speak.

“Excuse me,” I muttered out loudly, loud enough for the person to hear and to catch his attention.

He stopped and looked at me and raised his eyebrows with a simple gesture of curiosity. He didn’t look all to pleased either.

“Would you mind if a stranger would give you her money to buy her some alcohol?” I realized that the words came out of my mouth had sounded wrong then it did in my head, I looked like some young teenager who was begging for someone to buy her something she wasn’t able, and honestly it was kind of embarrassing.

“How old are you?” He asked me, his voice being quiet and calm.

“Listen, I’m turning 21 in about two months and back in Chicago I bought alcohol without a problem, but since I’m in the middle of nowhere I can’t exactly trust the guy who’s inside at the gas register, I know for a fact that he won’t sell me the alcohol. Besides, surely if you were in my position I would have definitely bought you the alcohol if you asked me to, I can give you my money and if you want I’ll give you more, I just really need some right now.”

Capturing my gaze with his I took the time to examine his facial features, he looked at me almost as if I spoke an alien language, but to be honest if I get a negative response from this guy I will know for a fact that people in New Jersey are all assholes and how I will instantly regret on making this decision, maybe I was making a fool of myself right now and all he wanted to do was to laugh at me.

He reached his hand to scratch the back of his head and he nodded his hand, muttering a soft “yeah, sure.”

I instantly opened my purse and grabbed my money, giving him a twenty dollar bill. I hoped that he wasn’t just going to run away with my money, but thankfully as he grabbed the money he walked inside of the gas station. It took him only a minute and as I heard the door open I turned my head around to see the same person whom I saw just minutes ago. He was holding a can to what seemed to be a cocktail drink, although I didn’t mind to what it was. As he approached me he gave me my money and even gave me the recite to prove that he hasn’t stolen any money from me, I put my money back in my purse without putting them in my wallet, my hands started to shake a little because I was either nervous or because I was prone to get anxiety whenever I interacted with another human being. As I reached my shaky slender fingers to grasp around the can of my alcohol drink I captured his attention and nodded my head with a soft smile, he did the same. Standing in the same place I tapped onto the can and then opened it, and the nice stranger had walked away, although he stopped suddenly and turned around to face me.

“By the way, if I were you I’d stand by the side of the building and not out here in the open, it’s kind of late and you’re an easy target to the guys that might walk by, this side of New Jersey isn’t exactly considered to be safe.”

My eyes suddenly widened as I listened to him, I didn’t know that this side of New Jersey was dangerous but I knew that either he was lying to me and only wants to scare me, or either he is being honest and doesn’t want me to get in trouble and wants me to know these things.

“Really? I didn’t know that this part of New Jersey wasn’t safe.” I responded back, all the while as I sealed my lips around the can and tipped the can to take a small sip of my drink.

“I know you didn‘t know that, since you said you were from Chicago I could tell by your accent you weren’t from here, this is a small part of New Jersey and I have never seen you around, and you don’t look like you’re from here so.” He nodded his head and responded back to me, stuffing his hands back into his front jean pockets.

I shrugged my shoulders and lowered my gaze, I wasn’t sure to what to think at the moment because I realized how much of an idiot I am. I wasted all of my money to bring myself to the side of New Jersey, which in fact wasn’t considered to be safe.

“Listen, I’m not trying to scare you or anything but I lived here all of my life and I know quite a lot of things about this town too. It’s not really safe to be here out at nights, especially gas stations. I wouldn’t want to wake up the next morning and read my newspaper about a girl getting murdered by a gas station.”

“You’re doing a good job of trying to scare me, you know.” I replied back, interrupting his words. I knew I sounded a little cold at that moment but honestly I wasn’t the type to be like this, but the only reason I was like this is because the affect of the alcohol was doing this; I took more than just a couple of sips but I drank my alcohol drink like it was water, without even enjoying each sip that I took.

“I’m just saying, maybe you should be thankful considering the fact that I had let you know. It’s something that nice people do for others, like buying alcohol for minors.”

I was taken back, I shrugged my shoulders and realized how cold and bitter I was, I knew he was just trying to be nice and I realized to what kind of a cold hearted bitch I was.

“Yeah, I’m sorry for being so bitter, thank you once again.”

I didn’t make any eye contact with the stranger, I lowered my gaze and proceeded to walk to the side of the building just like he had suggested. Knowing that I was easily able to hide here no one would find me or spot me because this side of the building was darker, I knew I would finish my drink and enjoy a cancer stick, then possibly spend the night at the motel until the next morning to where my journey will begin.

Taking another sip of my drink I scrunched my nose at the sweetness of this cocktail, but my head shot back up as I heard footsteps heading this way, clearly I saw a large shadow and I widened my eyes as I felt my heart race, but thankfully I realized who it was, it was the same stranger whom had bought me this drink. I wasn’t sure why he was here but he was in the process of taking out his pack of cigarettes.
As soon as he approached me he offered me a single cigarette, which of course I was taken by surprise. I didn’t hesitate, I grabbed the single cigarette from the pack and sealed it around my lips. He lit his own lighter for me and I leaned in to light my cigarette, taking a drag and closing my eyes for a brief moment, then exhaling the smoke into the air.

I wasn’t sure why he was being so nice, and let alone the fact that he had followed me, but the silence between us didn’t feel all too awkward because both of us were enjoying our cancer sticks. I was kind of grateful for a stranger like him being so nice, even though this could had been an act and within minutes he was going to murder me.

“So you’re from Chicago?” He asked me as he exhaled the smoke out from his lips.

I nodded my head swiftly, “yeah, I am.”

“Visiting friends, family?” He asked me once again and turned his head around to capture my attention. I turned my head and captured his gaze and shrugged a little.

“No.”

He furrowed his brows, even in the dark I could see that he was a little confused.

“So then, why are you here, just visiting?”

“I don’t know.” I replied simply.

“Then what are you doing here?” He asked me once again, clearly he wanted a straight answer.

“I don’t know. I heard that this part of New Jersey was small, I thought the smaller it is the better, the less people I would have to deal with. Besides, since this is considered to me a small part of New Jersey, at least to me; no one would come looking for me, especially here.” I replied, sealing my lips around my cigarette and taking a drag.

“Looking for you? Sounds like you had just ran away from someone.” He replied without hinting any sort of sense of humor in his sentence, I shrugged my shoulders and nodded my head swiftly.

“The reason it sounds like that is because I did in fact ran away from someone.”

Notes

Finally Gerard and Nichole met!

I'm not going to rush anything, sorry if the ending seems a little like it's missing something, I don't want to scrabble everything all in one chapter.

Hope you enjoyed it!