‘Emma?’ he said, slightly reserved.
‘Oh my God.’ It was the only words that I could speak from my mouth. I blinked a couple of times making sure it was him. ‘What are you doing here?’ I said, picking up my phone, checking it quickly to make sure I didn’t crack the screen and without a second thought I walked straight towards him; my eyes were still fixated on his. I walked up onto the grass and threw my legs over the seat of the picnic table, not leaving his gaze. I sat down directly opposite him and rested my hands on the table.
‘I was going to ask you the same thing,’ said Lucas
‘I live here,’ I blurted out so fast.
He smiled, his blue eyes sparkling under the streetlights. ‘Oh wow, nice. Yeah, I mean I guess it has been, wow almost a lifetime since I’ve seen you,’ he stuttered, but his eyes kept on mine. ‘What are you doing walking the streets late at night by yourself?’
‘I was with friends, on the beach having a bonfire and drinks,’ I said, pointing back towards where I was.
‘Oh, that sounds like fun.’ He stuttered again. The conversation felt a little surreal. Our gaze still didn’t move. I hadn’t seen him in so long but being in his presence felt as though I had only seen him yesterday.
‘And you’re here because…?’ I said, staring at him, waiting for his answer, wondering why he was an hour away from his home, sitting alone on a picnic bench.
He started to laugh a little under his breath, shaking his head. I think he was in just as much shock as I was. ‘Umm, well, to be honest I was at home, and I just felt like going for a drive. Getting out of my place. I just ended up here and well, now you’re here.’ He said.
‘Do you have a tracker on me?’ I said, my voice fierce. Oh God, did that just come out of my mouth, I knew I had had too much to drink. But this moment was too random, how could this be happening again?
He laughed. ‘No, I, I honestly had no idea.’ My mind started to wander; did he really not know? I mean, surely, he may have seen something about me here on Facebook? I mean, I wasn’t a social media fan, I never posted anything, but maybe I was tagged in something? The more I thought about it, the more my head hurt, and began to spin.
We sat in silence for a moment just smiling at each other. I had thought about him a couple of times, wondering what it would feel like if I ran into him again. What I would do, how I would react, how I could re-leave the situation on the upper hand. Part of me wanted to make it clear to him, how well I was doing, how happy I was. But I think it was obvious.
I took a seat at the picnic table, sitting across from him. ‘So, what have you been doing the past two years?’ I said, I had no idea how her was going to answer such a broad question, but I was genuinely intrigued. Maybe he had reached platinum or gold status a hundred more times. Travelled around the world. I wasn’t keeping tabs. I had thought about him, but I tried to keep him out of my mind, internet stalking was not my thing.
His eyes wandered like he was in deep thought about something. ‘It’s been two years and one month.’
‘Wow,’ I laughed, ‘this mustn’t be a coincidence. You really do have a tracker on me.’
‘No, I’m blowing out just as much as you that we’re both sitting here right now. I only know the timing from some other events that happened in my life around the same time,’ he said, ‘so, you live here now?’
‘Yeah, I live a couple of minutes up the road.’
‘It looks like a beautiful place to live.’
‘It is, I really love it. I think it’s my home. No, it’s definitely my home,’ I said, thinking about it made my voice soften and I smiled.
A smile took over his face too. ‘So, you’ve found your place?’ he asked.
‘Yeah, I have,’ I said confidently. It felt good saying that.
‘Are you in a rush home right now?’ he asked.
‘No.’ I stared back at him. I was tired, but he still hadn’t answered my question about what he had been up to. I was intrigued to know more.
‘Let’s go for a walk,’ he said, standing tall he turned around and pointed to the full moon behind him. ‘It’s just like the night we first met. Although tonight I think we can see more stars.’ He walked around to my side of the table, holding out his hand towards me, gesturing for me to grab it. ‘Shall we?’ I stood up but I didn’t take his hand, wrapping my arms around my body, I followed him towards the beach.
‘Ow,’ I called out stumbling, tripping over a rock I couldn’t see.
‘Are you okay?’ He reached both his hands out to grab me, worried that I would completely fall to my knees, I stood back up straight and shooed his hands away.
‘I’m fine. I’ve just had more to drink tonight than I planned to,’ I said.
He laughed, ‘Do you need me to get you anything? Water?’
I shook my head, we walked down towards the beach about a kilometre away from where I had been with my friends, I looked up behind me, seeing the golden light from the fire, I squinted to see if I could make out any bodies sitting around it, but it was too dark. I sat down on the sand and Lucas sat beside me. I stared out at the waves and then lay down straight, feeling the soft sand beneath me, staring up at the stars. Lucas’s body followed mine.
These random run-ins almost started to seem like a joke. Even though it had been two years. I don’t believe that Lucas had aged one bit. He looked almost the same as I last saw him. I think he was still wearing my favourite pair of ripped jeans, they looked so good on him. His hair sat perfectly at the same length. He wasn’t wearing a hat today. He let it sit naturally without hiding it away. Something about him felt a little different, but I couldn’t put my finger on it yet.
