flagstaff | chapter three

The boys eyes widen slightly when Dakota gives him a worried look. "Oh, uh, hi. Sorry. I hope you don't mind me sitting here, you looked lonely and I remembered seeing you in the bakery earlier and I just-" The boy trails off awkwardly and Dakota smiles slightly.

"No, no. It's fine. You just startled me." Dakota chuckles shaking her head slightly. She looks down to the slice of pie, which has hardly been touched and she raises an eyebrow at the boy.

"Ah, I'm not a big fan of pie." He admits with a small, awkward shrug. Dakota gives him an odd look and laughs.

"If you don't like pie, then why did you buy it?" She asks with a raised eyebrow.

The boy smiles at her, but there's a sadness there too. "It's my brothers favourite." He tells her. "He's always buying it, trying to get me to eat it too. I, uh, bought it because I miss him."

"What happened to him?"Dakota asks sadly, fearing the worst. Apparently the boy realises the conclusion she's come to and his eyes widen.

"Nothing. Nothing. He's fine." He says quickly, breathing a slight sigh of relief. "I ran away."

Dakota laughs slightly and the irony. "Well what a coincidence." She smirks. "So did I."

The boy narrows his eyes at her slightly, as if judging her. After a minute he grins and nods. "Cool." He laughs. "So, why did you run?" He immediately panics slightly though. "I mean, if you don't mind me asking. I realise it could be a sensitive subject."

"Again, it's fine." Dakota laughs. "Something happened with my friends and I couldn't handle being near them anymore, and I didn't want to bring my family down with me, ya know?" She shrugs slightly. "What about you? What's your tale, Mystery Boy?"

"Sam." He says. Dakota raises an eyebrow at him in confusion. "My name." He explains. "My name is Sam."

"Oh. Well, I'm Dakota." She tells him, holding her hand out to shake. Sam takes it immediately and the two laugh. 

"Anyway, I got in a fight with my Dad. So I waited until my brother fell asleep and snuck out." He explains. "Me and Dad never really get along, and my brother always does as he's told. I feel bad about leaving him, but I just couldn't stand being with my Dad anymore." A sad sort of expression overcomes Sam's face as he talks, but Dakota can see some anger and guilt in there too. 

"I'm sorry." Dakota sighs sadly, patting Sam on the shoulder gently. "My family has always been close, so I never really had any fights with my parents, no big ones anyway. Sam with my sister, we were always pretty close. But I pushed her away just before I left. It was too painful to be how we usually are."

Dakota suddenly realises what she's been doing, and by the looks of it, so does Sam. They've just been completely open with each other about personal matters, when they've only just met. 

"Uh, sorry." They both speak at the same time, both seeming very awkward. They chuckle slightly.

"I don't know why I just told you all that." Dakota admits. "We just met and I feel as though I could tell you y whole life story."

Sam nods slowly, as if realising he feels the same. "Yeah, I feel that too." He tells her. "I should, uh, probably go." He stands up and awkwardly starts walking away.

"Sam, wait!" Dakota calls after him, also standing up and rushing over to him. "How long do you think you'll be in town?"

"Actually, I was thinking of staying here for a while." He admits. "I found a place to stay, and I just feel as though I'm meant to be here." He shrugs slightly.

"Yeah." Dakota nods, narrowing her eyes. She feels weird, and she hates it. She hates that she seems to need to stay in Flagstaff, and she hates that she wants to get to know Sam better. She's already been betrayed by one lot of friends, she doesn't want it happening again. "I'm gonna go." Dakota runs off in the opposite direction, turning once only to see Sam running the other way. 

Whatever this feeling is, needs to stop.