Chapter Seven

Have you ever thought about what the power of one single day of happiness can do for a person?

We go through life everyday as scheduled, nothing changing, nothing new. A few weeks later, it will be almost impossible to remember what you did on said day. However, when you have a day, an hour or even a minute of enjoyment out of your regular schedule, you will always remember that moment.

When a friend asks what you learnt in Biology yesterday, it takes a couple seconds to resurface your memory.. But if they ask, 'do you remember that clown from the carnival yesterday?', the memory immediately clicks to your mind.

Well, that's just how the human brain works. Happiness, fun and excitement will stay longer than the regular boring stuff.

As for me, I don’t think I will ever forget that evening I spent with Fabian. It ended badly, no doubt about that, but every time my mind drifted, it went straight to a certain dark-haired boy with broad shoulders and a single ear piercing, smiling down at me in a pool as we swam 'illegally'.

There was no doubt in my mind that I missed him. I haven’t seen or heard from him in days and it worried me. And to make it worse, every time I closed my eyes, I would see his stupid perfect smile, and when I sleep, my dreams were invaded by his laugh and hands on mine.

In addition, we didn’t even exchange numbers. We didn’t get a chance to. After that Derick guy pissed off Fabian, he drove us back to the roller-skating rink where he left without saying more than a goodbye. I didn’t even get a chance to end the evening better, all because of that dick Derick.

Whoever he was, Fabian obviously didn’t like him. But I couldn’t go along any longer without seeing him again. Not that I was obsessed or anything, but I simply didn’t like how we parted the last time.

So, here I was, once again, sitting in my car outside of the roller skating rink. I should really be arrested for doing this again.

And just like the other time, I didn’t move from inside my car. I simply sat as I watched people venture in and out of the building. What was I even afraid of? Fabian wasn’t upset with me that day. He was upset with Derrick. So why was I so nervous?

I had no clue. But every time I thought of seeing him again, my tummy would erupt in butterflies. My palms get sweaty every time I reached for the door handle, and I found myself pulling my lips between my teeth a lot.

"What are you so scared of Paris? That he will tell you to leave him alone or something?" I asked myself out loud. But deep down I knew that was it.

If I hadn’t been here that day stalking him like I was doing now, he wouldn’t have seen me and we wouldn’t have ended up at his school. Then, he probably wouldn’t have seen Derick and ruined his evening.

"Wow" I mumbled to myself. "I really twisted this story so much just to blame myself"

It was a habit of mine. No matter what, I always ended up blaming myself.

"Okay let's do this" I boosted myself one last time as I pushed the door open.

I didn’t have any other way to get to Fabian, so I was holding onto the hope that he was here. He helped his brother sometimes, and it was a Saturday. So I assumed he would be here.

For some reason I found myself dressing up today. And instead of leaving my hair in its normal shape like usual, I pinned it to the side. It was actually pretty cute and I liked it.

My heart raced even more as I pushed through the front door. A smile pulled on my lips as I stared at the area right behind the door, where I almost fell but Fabian caught me. It was an odd thing to smile about. But I was an odd girl after all.

I stepped past the area where the roller skates were kept. I swore never to put my feet in one of those again, and I didn’t come here to skate either way. I stepped into the open and my eyes immediately began to scan the room. I looked through the food court, on the large flat where people were having fun, and behind every cashier area as I searched for him.

I frowned when I realized that he wasn’t there. So much for seeing him. With a sigh, I grabbed a cotton candy from the snack area and made for the exit.

However, on my way out, I saw a face that looked oddly familiar. Yet, I knew I hadn’t seen him in my life. With my theory in place, I approached him with determination in each step.

"Pardon me? Are you by any chance the owner of this rink sir?" I asked the man, getting his attention immediately. He seemed stunned by my question at first, but his lips tilted in a small smirk as he eyed me in an unnerving way.

"That would be me, yes. I'm Chad. And you are?"

"Underage" I retorted without realizing. However, my outburst seemed to have sobered him up, as he stepped back a little. I bit back a smile at his movement, realizing that he was a charmer like Fabian.

"How may I help you? Do you need a pair of skates?"

"No" I answered a bit too fast. "Heavens, no. I actually came here to see Fabian. I don’t suppose you know where he is?"

"Haven’t seen him in days, Love."

I scrunched my eyebrows in confusion at this. What does he mean he hasn’t seen his brother in days?

"He's your brother. Is he not?"

"He is." Chad nodded.

"So how haven’t you seen him in days?" It was all too confusing. Perhaps they didn’t live together?

"Last time I saw him, he seemed pretty upset. We know where he is though, and he has been going to school. So like usual, we just leave him until he comes around again."

"And that's normal in your household. Excuse me if I'm sounding a bit rude. But I don’t understand"

He shrugged. "Yea. He's old and responsible enough to take care of himself. I don’t force him to do what he doesn’t want to do"

"And your parents?"

"Why exactly are you seeking him out?" He asked, completely avoiding my question, which was okay. I was always a little too nosey for my own good.

"I was actually with him a couple days ago. Some dick- I mean guy, Derick, pissed him off. We don’t go to the same school so I hadn’t seen him since. I was a bit worried and I actually want to get in touch with him. Do you have a number I can get for him?"

"Uh yea I do. But you wont reach him if you call or text. My advice, wait till he 'resurfaces'" He said, using air quotes. "If not, I can give you the address of where he is."

"That would be lovely actually" Seeing him would actually be better.

"Cool. But make no mistake. When he wants to be alone, he WANTS to be alone. So going there would be a bit...risky"

"Is he like a werewolf or something?" I laughed. I mean, why else would he sound so serious about letting Fabian be alone?"Wait he isn’t, right?"

Chad laughed. "You're funny. I like you. You're actually the only person that has ever come here looking for Fabian. That's the only reason why I'm giving you this" He handed me a piece of paper with an address on it. "You care for him don’t you?"

"I suppose" I shrugged, a little unsure. "I haven’t known him for long, but I consider him my friend" I chewed on my bottom lip as I stared at the paper, contemplating going there or not.

Like I said, I don’t know him. What if he's really big on this privacy thing and snaps at me or something?

"Thank you" I smiled at Chad nonetheless as I turned to leave.

"Oh and if you see him, can you tell him to come home? I'm sick of taking Alex to school" He called after me as I headed for the exit. I chuckled as I shot him a thumbs up, assuming that Alex was their younger brother.

I gazed at the paper once again as I made for my car. If Fabian is really at this address, what will I even say when I reach there? 'Oh I went to your brother's rink to look for you. Ended up seeing your brother instead where he gave me this address. Are you okay?'

Yea right.

I will probably chicken out at the last minute and go home. Still, I found myself backing out of the parking lot, as I went to see my friend.