When The Stars Cross
Chapter 10
By: Erynn*Alice
“How long have you known?” Joel asked as they rode back to the hotel in their van.
Benji turned in his seat to look his twin in the face. “Not long. Maybe a couple hours longer than you did.”
Joel shook his head and looked at his black t-shirt that had faded from one too many out door festivals. Spots of sun hit his face, but it was too early in the morning to appreciate its warmth. He was too lonely to appreciate its warmth.
“What does it matter now, Joel?”
“Shut up, Benji. You don’t know a damn thing.”
He climbed over the seat and sat on the small floor space next to his brother. “Listen to me.” Joel picked at his shirt. “Look at me.”
“Don’t tell me what to do.”
“I know I’ve fucked up more than a couple times. I probably wasn’t there enough for you when dad left. You’re right, I was hitting the bottle much more than I should have, but now I’m here for you, okay? I’m just trying to look out for you, making sure that you don’t fall down the same hole I did, okay? I love you, Joel, you’re my brother and I hate seeing you make the same mistakes I did trying to cover up some horrible pain.”
He scooted over closer to the window and pressed his forehead to the hot glass. Tears made their way down his cheeks and onto his faded black t-shirt. “You don’t know the start of it.” He whispered, choking on his words as they tumbled out of his mouth. Benji moved into the seat next to him and rubbed his back.
“I know. But we’re closer to finding her. It’s all down hill from here, man.”
“I’m sorry, Benj. I’ve been an asshole.”
Benji laughed a bit and his black rimmed eyes sparkled with tears, he could feel his twin’s pain. “You’re always an asshole. What’s new?”
Billy, Paul, and Chris all let out a little laugh. The tension that had been building up in the van was finally torn down with one smart ass remark from Benji, which was how it always was, and they liked it that way.
---
Ashton sat in her favorite beach side restaurant on her lunch break. She loved sea food, she loved her crab sandwich with extra mayo and lettuce. She was supposed to be waiting for Jeff. He was late. She was hungry. She got impatient.
He supposedly had some good news to tell her. She didn’t know what it was. She secretly hoped it was that he was planning on re-naming Mr. Bojingles, Mr. Bojangles. She laughed at the thought and decided she could entertain herself for the rest of her life if she needed.
She didn’t want to need to have to entertain herself, though. She wanted a boyfriend to entertain her and so she could share her entertainment with him as well. She wanted Joel. She wanted him badly.
Jeff threw his keys down on the table. “I hate this surfer town. Everyone’s a surfer, and everyone takes their damn time getting across the street. You want to know how many surfers I had to let cross in front of me? Twelve surfers crossed. Twelve.”
“It’s not that bad of a town.”
“It is.”
“Oh, yeah…hi.”
“Ditto.” He sighed and ordered a sandwich. “Thanks for waiting for me.”
She smiled sweetly and held up her sandwich. “Jeff, I’d like to introduce you to my sandwich. We’re going to get married. I love this sandwich. I don’t care that we’ll never be able to have kids. I love this sandwich.”
He shook his head. “Then you might not want to hear my news.” He looked at her with a devilish smile.
“Let’s hear it, Jeffery.”
“I was out with a couple of my friends last night, you know? And we went to this bar…” Ashton’s head shot up quickly. “There were all these guys, and then a couple of them started arguing about some girl named Ashton…”
“Jeff…” She whispered, tears forming in her eyes and a strange anxiety taking over her body. “Jeff…was it him? Was it Joel?”
Jeff held up his hand. “I’m telling the story here, Ashton. Let me do my dramatic shit here, okay? Okay. Anyway, this one guy ran out of the bar and the rest of them were talking about this girl that either had or hadn’t died. Well, another guy ran out after the first guy, and I followed him.” He paused. “Are you getting this? There are a lot of guys.” She gave him and annoyed look and he pressed on. “Anyway, long story short. I ended up talking to some guy named Joel about how Ashton Keats is alive and well.”
She covered her lips with her hand, she couldn’t believe how close she and Joel had gotten to running into each other thousands of times that night, but ended up running into everyone else. “Jeff…”
“Ashton…”
“How’d he react…was he mad? Does he hate me?”
“He kind of stumbled back a little, sat down and then cried. I left him and his friend alone. He seemed relieved. I told him you were looking for him, he kind of smiled, you know? Like he had been looking for you, too.”
And if she only knew how much he had been looking for her, and if he knew how much she had been looking for him, maybe it wouldn’t had taken so long for them to meet, but it didn’t matter Good Charlotte had their San Diego concert the next day.
This is the first day of my life
I swear I was born right in the door way
I went out in the rain
Suddenly everything changed their spread
Blankets on the beach
Yours is the first face that I saw
I think I was blind before I met you
I don't know where I am
I don't know where I've been
But I know where I want to go
So I thought I'd let you know
These things take forever, I especially am slow
But I realized how I need you
And I wondered if I could come home
I remember the time we drove all night
Just to meet me in the morning
Yeah I thought it was strange
You said everything changed
You felt as if you just woke up
And you said, "This is the first day of my life."
I'm glad I didn't die before I met you
Now I don't care, I could go anywhere with you
And I'd probably be happy
So if you want to be with me
With these things there's no telling
we'll just have to wait and see
But I'd rather be working for a pay check
Than waiting to win the lottery
Besides, maybe this time it's different
I mean, I really think you like me
(“The First Day of My Life” by Bright Eyes)