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"Sam!" I cried in surprise, my hand flying to my fluttering heart. I forced my breaths to calm down from the panicked breathing I'd been doing just moments before. Standing before me was the handsome, familiar boy, wearing a pair of jeans, a black t-shirt, and an olive jacket, his black hair flopping around his face in a windswept manner. A slight flush from the cold was spread across his face, and his green eyes were alight with mischief. "Jesus, you scared me!"

            His plump lips pulled up into an adorable grin, revealing those straight white teeth that can only be acquired from many years of orthodontic work. "Sorry. I tried calling to you from across the lot, but you didn't notice me."

            "What are you doing here?" I asked, looking around the vacant high school lot. It wasn't very often you caught college boys loitering around after hours, especially not when all of the pretty girls had left.

            He hooked his thumb back towards the road, where a few cars swished by. "I was walking home from my afternoon class," he replied easily. "I normally ride my bike but my tire punctured last night and I've been too busy to fix it. My cousin wasn't free this afternoon, so I had to walk home when I saw you."

            I opened my car and threw my bag into the backseat, before fiddling with my ponytail. It was a mess, and I wondered if Sam noticed the flyaways and the knot lying dormant in the rabid mass of brown locks. I hoped not.

            "Do you need a ride somewhere?" I asked, pushing some of the stray locks of hair behind my ears and biting my lips nervously. I shoved my hands into the pockets of my jeans for the sake of doing something with them, and clenched and unclenched my fingers.

            He ran a hand through his hair, tousling it. His eyes skittered around uncertainly. "I don't want to cause you any trouble..."

            I waved it away easily. "It's totally fine. Come on."

            I opened up the car and hopped in, shutting it behind me and leaving no more room for discussion. A few seconds later, Sam appeared in the passenger's seat, and he fought to get his lanky legs inside the vehicle. It wasn't necessarily small, but it must've been pretty hard to accommodate his towering size. He would be over six feet tall, and, at my five and a half feet, I'd never thought about the size before. Now it was like watching a giraffe try and fit inside a cardboard box.

            I put the car into drive and pulled out of the lot, starting towards the road, which was only sparsely dotted with other vehicles. A cold air settled into the car, and I thoughtlessly flicked the heater on, dousing the interior in warmth.

            "So, what classes do you take?" I asked conversationally, scanning the road before blinkering my way into another lane.

            "Engineering," Sam replied after a moment, picking at his clean, short fingernails.

            "Oh, really? What kind?"

            "Designing models," he responded. "Well, at least, that's the area I'm aiming for in the future."

            "That's so cool," I replied. I wished I were smart enough to do something like that. Engineering was an extremely lucrative business.

            "What about you? What classes are you planning on taking?"

            "Oh, I don't know yet," I replied, shrugging. "I was thinking journalism, but maybe English. I'm still deciding. Hey, before I drop you off, let me just drive home and get your jacket for you. Does that sound okay?"

            He grinned, and I noticed he had a dimple in his left cheek. It made him even more adorable in my opinion. "Sounds good."

            I took a turn up a residential street and wove my way through the neighborhood until we arrived out the front of my house. It was a post-modern sort of house, with the gabled roof, aged trimming and black window shutters. It wasn't anything super-fancy, but it was neatly maintained, with a rose bush out the front and a neat garden full of bright, blossoming hydrangeas.

            "I'll be right back," I promised him, taking the keys out of the ignition and opening the car door. I stepped onto the pavement.

            "Wait, Violet!" he called, and I turned around and peeked my head through the open doorway.

            "Yeah?"

            "Do you wanna go out for coffee?" he blurted. An adorable red blush stained his cheeks, and he cleared his throat. "I mean... I just... you don't have to..." He sighed in defeat. "Never mind."

            I smiled. "I'd love to go out for coffee with you, Sam," I told him honestly. "I'll be back in a sec."

            I shut the door and took off down the drive, trying not to skip gleefully. It had been a while since I'd been on a date. I hadn't been on a date since my last boyfriend, Milo Garcia. We'd been on and off during junior year, finally ending things after he moved to a private school. With cheerleading and summer and the newspaper, I hadn't even thought about dating in a while. It was exhilarating to go on another one, and I felt the familiar butterflies settle in my stomach.

            I opened the front door and slid inside, making my way up the stairs and into my room, singing quietly to myself. I tugged my long hair out of its ponytail and grabbed a wide-toothed comb, pulling it through the wavy hair. I clipped my bangs back and then grabbed my makeup kit, putting on a little bit of mascara and lip-gloss. Then I grabbed a pink trench coat and shrugged it on, also grabbing his gray hoodie from my desk chair and slinging it over my arm. I bit my lip and let out an excited giggle, before walking back out and downstairs.

            I locked the door behind me and returned to the car, where Sam was fiddling with his phone. He put it away as soon as I reentered the car, and flashed me a cheeky grin. "Hey."

            I smiled and handed him the warm jacket, which had been bundled in my arms. "Here you go," I chirped.

            He grinned. "Thanks."

            I smiled and shoved the key into the ignition. The car growled to life beneath me, and I took off, leaving the house far behind me.

            ~          *          ~

            When we made it inside the coffee shop, a quaint café called La Belle, I looked around. It was a unique place, smelling of cinnamon votive candles and coffee beans, and had mismatched tables and chairs haphazardly placed around. An ancient cash register sat on the bench, a young girl standing behind it and writing something down on a notepad, and she barely glanced up as we walked in.

            Barely anybody was inside, save for an elderly man reading the paper and a group of freshmen giggling over hot cocoa. Sam lead me to a free table by the window, and I sat down, grabbing the menu.

            "I come here a lot to study," Sam said, picking up the laminated menu and glancing over the pastries and beverages advertised. "It can get pretty hectic at my cousin Rupert's apartment, so this is a good place to actually get some work done."

            I nodded with a smile. "I've come here a few times with my friend, Chloe, but I always forget how nice it is."

            "Anything on the menu interest you?" Sam asked, nodding to the menu in my hands.

            I skimmed over it. "I'll just get a chai latte, I think."

            He stood up. "You sure? Because, you know, their caramel bagels are to die for, too."

            I smiled. "Well, how can I resist?"

            He winked at me and then mad his way to the counter, and I heard my phone start to ring in my pocket. I frowned and fished it out, cringing as I noticed who was calling. I cleared my throat, and, when I picked up, tried to sound as cheery as I could.

            "Hey, Keeley!"

            "You are so lucky, Violet," Keeley replied, cutting out the pretense. "So, so lucky that you handed your article in at the last minute and it's too late to change it to anything else. Otherwise I would not have let this article run to print."

            "I know," I said in a low voice, running a hand through my hair. "I'm sorry. But I was out of ideas and this one came to me. It could be a good piece."

            "I think so, too," Keeley replied reluctantly. "I have half the mind to make you rewrite something more reader-friendly by tonight, but I think the article has potential. I mean, you raise a good argument. I can't deny that. Let's just hope the readers feel the same way."

            It's not like many people even read the Sterling Centennial, anyway. It was just a lousy high school newspaper, only read by faculty and the rare student. It wouldn't make much of a difference, but the article had been worth a shot, anyway.

            "I'm sorry, Keeley."

            "It's okay. It's risky. I like that. You're taking a chance, and it might pay off, so I'm gonna ride the wave with you on this one. It's something different to usual. I don't necessarily agree with you, but some might. I guess we've just gotta hope for the best on this one."

            "Thanks, Keels. I owe you one."

            "Yeah, yeah," she replied gloomily, before hanging up. The line bleeped in my ear, and I retracted the phone, shoving it back into my pocket.

            "Our coffees are on the way," Sam said, sliding into the seat across from me and shooting me a smile.

            I grinned, letting Keeley and the article fall to the back of my mind. "Thanks."

            "So, tell me about yourself. Any hobbies? Interests?"

            What was the nicest way to phrase that you're actually a really boring person? My hobbies included the Internet, reading and writing. And really not much else. I wasn't the biggest extrovert, and I didn't have many redeeming qualities. I wasn't into anything interesting like art or music. I was a pretty boring, vanilla person.

            Except for my interest in The Black Phoenix.

            "Not really," I said honestly. "I like reading and philosophy. I'm sure you live a much more extraordinary life than me, though."

            He shrugged, a wry smile weaving its way onto his handsome features. "I'm just your average struggling college student."

            Well, weren't we an interesting pair?

            Just then our orders arrived, and Sam took his, smiling at her gratefully. The waitress, a girl of about sixteen with shoulder-length red hair and muddy brown eyes, seemed almost dazzled by Sam. I shook my head ruefully and grabbed the caramel bagel and chai latte. Sam had a caramel bagel of his own and a steaming black coffee.

            "Wow, black coffee," I answered, staring into the dark water.

            "Hmm?" Sam replied, raising the glass and taking a sip.

            I shook my head. "Oh, nothing. It was just something Chloe and I did."

            "Tell me about it."

            I shrugged. "It's not important, or anything. We just went through a sort of 'psychology, Zodiac, fate' kind of stage where we thought everything was left to the cosmos. We just read this thing on coffee. It's meant to dictate what kind of person you are."

            He smirked. "And what does black coffee make me?"

            "Strong. Intense. Passionate. Powerful."

            He wiggled his eyebrows. "Well. That's not too bad, I guess."

            "It's also meant to make you cold and bitter," I told him with a self-satisfied smirk, taking a sip of my chai latte. He almost spit his coffee out in shock, and a choked laugh escaped him.

            "Oh, well that's reassuring. What does yours say?"

            I looked down at my own latte. "Peaceful. Tranquil. Calming. One with the Earth. Nature-loving."

            "Damn," he muttered, staring down gloomily at his cup. "Why'd I have to pick the cold and bitter black coffee? I could've set my standards so much higher."

            I giggled and shook my head at him. I looked out the window and jolted, seeing a black figure across from me. The breath left me in a whoosh, and my heartbeat picked up pace. I blinked, and, when I opened my eyes, the figure was gone.

            "What's up?" Sam asked, nudging me with his foot as he turned to look out the window. "You look spooked. What is it?"

            I searched outside with baited breath, my eyes scanning the side of the road. I shook my head and returned my attention to Sam, a small, comforting smile decorating my face. "No, it's nothing," I replied. "I just thought I saw something."

            He looked out the window with squinting eyes, obviously searching for what had captured my attention. "You sure? You look like you just saw a ghost, or something."

            I took a sip of my coffee and shook my head, forcing a smile onto my face. I think my conversation with the Black Phoenix had made me super-paranoid, and now I was seeing things that weren't really there. "I'm fine."

            And sitting in that café, with Sam, away from the drama of everything, it almost seemed like it actually... was.

            ~          *          ~

            This feels like it's so short, but I literally had such bad writer's block with this whole book. I've been writing this chapter for the last three months and haven't been able to churn out more than two sentences at a time for over two of the months. So I decided to cut my losses and just end it here so that I can move on with the next chapter of the story! :D

            Updating soon!

            Thanks for the support :)

            x