When We Collide by A. L. Jackson Page A

their faces.
Laughter was in no short supply as the evening was spent telling
stories of their past, as if we were spending one last night
clinging to our youth.
    Grinning from across the fire, Blake held his beer
up in my direction. Grace sat on his lap and he had his free arm
wrapped around her shoulder and across her chest. She held onto it
with both hands, as if an anchor. I smiled and tipped my can back
in Blake’s direction, a silent cheer.
    I couldn’t help but think this felt good.
    Really good.
    Several cars came and the party grew just as the
level of voices did. People gathered around the fire, some standing
behind the logs talking, others sitting crossed-legged in front of
the logs right in front of the fire, while a few had collected in
small groups along the outskirts.
    I looked behind me when headlights broke apart the
darkness and a loud truck rumbled into the clearing. It parked
sideways at the base of the road, the small area nearly at
capacity. Kurt stepped out from the behind the wheel, an old
teammate of Blake’s from football. His brother Troy, who was just a
year younger than Kurt, climbed out from the passenger side.
    Groaning, I turned my face to the star-filled sky
and drained my beer.
    Troy was the biggest asshole I knew. He’d always
been cocky, thought better of myself than he was, and treated
everyone around him like shit. The guy had taken it upon himself to
make my elementary school years miserable, taunting my friends and
me every chance he got. Then one day it’d stopped and I’d never
heard another word from him. It hadn’t occurred to me at the time,
but I’d put money down now that Blake had intervened. It’d just
shifted Troy’s attention, though, his mockery turned to other easy
prey. He was like a classic afternoon-special—the bully kid with
the belligerent, alcoholic father. Most everyone seemed to tolerate
him because of it, but the guy won no soft spots with me.
    Kurt and Troy shouted hellos at the crowd as the
tailgate of their truck moaned and clanked as it dropped open.
Troy’s voice was loud and obnoxious when he approached, exactly as
I remembered it to be, as if he were begging to be seen. They
appeared at the far end of the crowd, dragging a cooler toward the
fire.
    I glanced toward the commotion they caused.
    It was then I saw her. I had a vague sense of
familiarity, as if I should know her, though I couldn’t place where
she fit into the web of this little town. She shuffled behind Troy
as he pulled her along by the hand. Long waves of auburn hair hid
her face, her attention on the ground as she stumbled over thick
patches of grass and broken branches. She was petite, not extremely
thin, but somehow appeared...delicate...as if something were just
waiting to break. Or maybe she was already broken.
    I frowned at the unbidden thought and popped the cap
to another can of beer, forcing myself to look away. But it was no
use. In just those few seconds of contemplation, I had felt a pang
of something , felt something I’d never felt before stirring
deep inside of me. I couldn’t resist the urge to seek her out. My
eyes followed Troy as he wove them through the groups of people and
stopped to shake guys’ hands who sat around the fire. I watched the
girl avert her gaze when he did.
    She appeared as if she wanted to hide, only offering
shy hellos and subdued smiles when she was spoken to. At those
times, I would catch glimpses of soft, round cheeks, the skin a
rosy pink, lips so dark they were almost red, and once in a while,
when I got really lucky, I saw the briefest flashes of warm
chocolate eyes.
    Stupid , I rebuked myself. There were fifteen
other girls here I could sidle up to, flirt with, maybe take for a
walk into the seclusion of the dense forest capped with the shelter
of night. I’d enjoy myself for the hour, just as I always did, and
I’d be sure she enjoyed herself too.
    And here I was, eyeing the girl who was here with
the one guy in the world I