‘Emma?’ he said. I couldn’t speak or move. I sat still, clenching tight onto the breaks, I was staring right at him, but the daze in my head made him blurry. ‘Holy shit, it is you,’ he said, staring deeper into my eyes. His eyes flickered for a second, as though he was unsure whether I remembered him. I finally took a breath, I blinked, and my vision became clear. I still didn’t know too many people by name, even in this small town, it was rare to be called out on the street. I took another deep breath and smiled. It was really him. I finally gathered myself together enough to speak words, or at least one.
‘Lucas,’ I said.
He smiled back at me. ‘You nearly killed me.’ He laughed.
‘I’m so sorry. Are you okay?’ I said, my voice overly apologetic.
‘I’m joking, I’m fine. It was my fault. I was lost in the music,’ he said, lifting his headphones in his right hand. ‘What are you doing here?’
‘I was going to ask you the same question,’ I said, my voice a little shaky.
‘I needed a day to myself on the beach. I only live forty minutes away from here,’ he said, holding my gaze.
I smiled. ‘I live here.’ I whispered under my breath.
‘So, Emma found her place?’ He said, quoting me as though our last conversation had been only the day prior.
‘I found my place for now.’ I shrugged. My body started to gain its feeling back, but it was light, tingly, a little in shock with his presence. It would have been at least a year ago since I saw him. Since I sat in that very moment that made me act on the decision to be, well… to be exactly where I was now.
‘Where are you off to right now?’ he asked.
‘I’m actually off to work. I’m riding to my shift,’ I said, looking down at my watch checking the time as I spoke, making sure I was on time.
‘Oh… you better get going. You don’t want to be late,’ he said, sounding a little disappointed I had plans.
‘Yeah, I really should. I’m sorry.’ My hands eased off the breaks, I didn’t mean to be so blunt and abrupt, I was still trying to process the fact he was standing right in front of me, and apparently, he now only lived forty minutes away from me.
He grabbed my hand before I could turn my wheels, ‘Let’s connect. I’m going to add you on Facebook.’
I laughed. ‘Do you remember my full name?’
‘Yes, I do, Miss Emma Scully,’ he said, his eyes met mine, ‘I’m, I’m sorry,’ he stuttered, ‘I don’t know why I never reached out to you earlier.’ His eyes locked on mine, confused and apologetic he started walking backwards up the street, still staring at me, typing into his phone. Before taking off I took my backpack off my back, unzipping it and reaching for my phone, at the same time as I grabbed it, my screen lit up with a friend request from Lucas Jones.
I tried to block our random run-in out of my mind during my afternoon shift at the craft store. I greeted customers and passed on my advice for the right paints and stencils but the whole time my mind was in another world. A world of complete wonder. What was going on? My heart was in absolute flutters and my mind was scattered amongst the moment of meeting. I thought about his piercing blue eyes that stared right through me. His energy had this intensity, but also a freedom that intrigued me. It took me back to our moment of meeting. I wasn’t the girl that he had met in the club a year ago. I wasn’t exactly too sure who I was at this point. But I was learning, and I was learning to really like whoever this new me was. My mind became clouded with thoughts of a stranger that I hardly knew, something about his energy overtook my whole physical body, made me weak, almost sick, and a little unsure of myself. But I didn’t hate the feeling, I almost wanted to understand it. What the hell was it about someone I hardly knew, could so easily churn something up inside of me.
I locked the doors of the store. The sky was a light pink over the whole bay. I loved this time of day, I loved the bike ride home, it was the best wind down to any day. Riding a couple of kilometres home in the sunset. Breathing in the night breeze that rolled off the beach waves and into my lungs. I would ride past the houses, smelling many different dinners cooking, listening to families laugh or kids screaming. All of it made me smile, thinking about the different lives that lived inside each home. Until I took a left turn and rode into the avenue of my current residence, pushing my bike into the back yard. I walked through the door and turned on the lights. I was the only one home. All my housemates must have been out for the night. I opened the fridge to find some leftover Thai from last night’s dinner and I chucked it into the microwave. As the kitchen started to fill with the smell of red curry, I dropped my bag onto the bed of my room and undressed from my long sundress. Slipping into an oversized long jumper, keeping me a little warmer, I moved through the house, grabbing my curry and sitting down at the outside dining area. I took a bite of the leftover chicken spice that tasted even better than last night. My phone lit up in the night’s light.
It was a Facebook message from Lucas Jones: You should come and visit me soon.
His simple message made me skip a breath, almost chocking on my chicken. Even his digital energy overpowered me, urgh, why did someone have to make me feel like this, make my heartbeat so fast it felt as though it was going to jump out my throat and my hands became weak picking up my phone, ‘How about tonight?’ I typed back, I had to figure out what this was, why I felt this way for a stranger. My reply felt exactly like the night that I met him. A little fearful but wanting to dive into the adventure. I had no idea what would happen, I had no expectations. But part of me had to explore the feeling he gave me. The connection I felt to him and why he had crossed my path so randomly a year later.
Beep, beep, my phone buzzed on the dining table. Lucas Jones: How’s 8 p.m.? 77 Cannon Hill.
I looked at the time on my phone. It was 6.15 p.m. I took another bite of curry and walked back inside to get ready.
Chapter 6 — Him
‘So, I need it by Monday.’
I chucked my feet up on my desk and stretched out my arms, speaking loudly into my phone that sat on speaker.
‘Yeah of course that’s fine,’ I said. Monday was only four days away. Hesitant on how the fuck I was going to get my latest track done in three days, I still agreed.
‘I’ve also booked you on a flight tomorrow night. I booked a last-minute gig in Bali, and then Saturday you’ll fly straight from there to Taiwan and you’ll fly home that night after your set.’ Caine muffled through the phone.
‘Flying overseas tomorrow? That’s not even twenty-four hours’ notice, and you still want the single completed by Monday? I won’t be back until Monday,’ I said, I threw my feet down off the desk, yelling into the phone. Sometimes I felt like a god damn parcel, being thrown around, getting stamped and no one ever asked me where I wanted to go, or where I belonged.
‘You’ll have time on the plane,’ he said bluntly.
