After school I followed Amanda's old Corolla into town. I was kind of relieved that Lucas and the other boys had practice so they weren't able to join us. It was easier to get to know them one at a time rather than all at once. My memory wasn't very good and I had already forgotten the names of some of the boys we had lunch with.

Amanda pulled over into a parking space on the road and I pulled in behind her.

It was different, driving so often. My parents and I shared one car back home, so most of the time I didn't get to have it all to myself. However, with my grandmother's less than busy schedule I assumed that that wouldn't be an issue.

Getting out of her car, Amanda led me into the small coffee shop. The bell chimed as we walked in, cueing one of the baristas to great us.

There were bookshelves that lined the walls, but none of the books looked new.

"So is this a library?" I asked Amanda.

I began to look over the chalkboard menu they had above the counter, while the barista waited at the register to take our orders.

"No, it's one of those 'Take a Book, Leave a Book' kind of places. Can I get a white chocolate mocha?" She asked the barista, who typed her order into the computer on the desk. Amanda payed for her drink while I was still looking.

I stepped forward, "Um, can I just get an iced coffee?"

After I payed for my drink Amanda lead me to a small table in the corner by a large window that took up most of the wall.

"So, where are you from?" She asked as she pulled out her phone and started to type away.

"Milwaukee," I said, still taking in the layout of the cafe.

All of the walls, besides the large window and the barista counter, were lined with mismatched bookshelves. The books were stacked unevenly and looked worn, but it gave them character. This place seemed so cozy. There were two large couches in the center of the seating area and tables scattered around them.

"Whoa," she said, pulling me from my thoughts. She put her phone down and looked at me, "that's really big. What the hell are you doing here?"

I had expected this question a lot more than I got it today, but I still hadn't come up with a good answer other than the truth.

I rubbed the back of my neck out of nervousness and thought of something to say. Just then the bell on the door chimed and, out of instinct, I looked up to see who had walked in.

Three tall and muscular boys walked through the door. Two had short dark hair, and the last one was blond. I recognized one of the dark haired boys from school today, but we hadn't officially met.

The one that walked in front was the tallest.

Their presence was captivating. From their height and build alone they stood out.

My attention was pulled away from them when the barista called my name and Amanda's, and set our drinks on the counter.

"I'll get them," I said, thankful for a reason to walk away from the conversation.

I gave the barista a quick thanks as I grabbed our cups and a straw for my iced coffee. The three boys were right next to me now and I couldn't help but notice how they smelled.

They smelled like the forest, like the trees and the dirt. It was a smell that drew me in.

I started to walk past them when the tallest one I had noticed earlier reached out his hand and gripped my wrist, stopping me. My drink sloshed out of the cup and onto my hand. I mentally thanked myself for getting an iced drink.

"Hey!" I exclaimed, annoyed. I tried to pull my hand from his grip. He wasn't hurting me, but his hold was strong enough to keep me in place. "What's your problem-" I started to say, but then I looked up at him and I found myself trapped in a caramel gaze.

My stomach started to do flips as I took in the intensity of his stare. It was as if his eyes were looking right through me and tearing every piece of me apart for him to analyze.

I felt a tightness in my chest, suddenly. I took a slight step forward, inching close to him, but I didn't do it on purpose. It was like my feet had a mind of their own and were moving without my permission.

I found myself not able to look anywhere but his eyes. It felt like there was a rope tied to each of us and it was tightening more and more, wanting us close, forcing us closer to each other.

It felt like he'd held me there for hours.

His brows furrowed in confusion, it was like he recognized me but couldn't place where he'd seen me before. But I understood because I was experiencing the same feeling. It was like my whole life there was something missing and I didn't even know until this moment. I didn't know there was a whole other half of me until I felt the electricity of his touch.

"C-Can I have my hand back?" I asked, my voice came out as a squeak.

I didn't want him to let go, but I knew how this must've looked from an outside perspective. It looked crazy. Two strangers, who had never met before, so enchanted by one another.

He blinked and shook his head like he was dazed in a dream and just now came back to reality. He snatched his hand back quickly, like my touch had burned him.

"Sorry," he said, still not looking away from me.

I tore my eyes from his to look at the other boys, and they were looking at their friend, stunned.

Trying to compose myself, I quickly ducked my head and walked back over to the table Amanda and I were sitting at. She looked shocked as she sat there with her mouth wide open.

"What the hell was that?" I asked. I sat our drinks down and pulled some napkins from the holder to wipe the coffee off my hand.

Now that I was away from him it felt like my chest was going to explode. The rope that had presented itself before was now constricting around my lungs. I tried to stay calm, but I was on the verge of panic as it became hard to breathe.

I heard the bell chime again and turned to see that the three boys walked out. The one that grabbed me seemed rushed as he walked faster than the other two. His hand was on his chest, he stopped at their car and leaned against it. The way his back moved up and down so rapidly made it look like he was having trouble breathing.

"Who even is that?" I asked. I moved my gaze from the boy outside to the frozen girl in front of me. My hand gripped the table because the rope in my chest was urging me to move, to go outside.

What's happening to me?

"That's Caleb Gardner," she said as she stared at the boys. They were walking down the sidewalk away from the cafe. "He's staring at you."

I didn't look. I was currently on the verge of a panic attack and I knew that being trapped by his gaze once more would only make things worse.

Amanda was still in a state of shock, her eyes wide as she looked at me. Could she tell what was happening? I'd never had such trouble keeping my composure. I had panic attacks before, a lot more recently, but it had always been something I struggled with.

However, I never felt one of this magnitude, and I had to congratulate myself later on how well I was actually holding it back.

"I've never seen him talk to anyone outside his family before," she mumbled quietly.

"He didn't really talk to me, he just stared at me."

I looked back to where we stood, but that was a mistake. My chest was getting tighter by the minute and I needed an excuse to leave. I did my best to keep my thoughts on the pace of my breathing. The only thing worse than having a panic attack is having a panic attack in public, and it wasn't a good feeling to have all that attention on you.

"Oh my God!" Amanda exclaimed, scaring me.

"What? What's wrong?"

She grabbed my hand gently, the hand that Caleb had caught me by, and gasped as she looked at it more closely. There was now a dark purple and black bruise where his hand had been.

"Are you okay?" She asked, concerned.

I looked at my wrist and flexed my fingers to see if there was any pain that came from the motion.

"I'm fine," I said, surprised. The tightness in my chest grew more intense as I looked at my hand, and I knew there was no chance of me keeping this up much longer. "I...um...I have to go," I said. I grabbed my things and stood from my chair, ready to make a run for it.

"Are you sure you're okay?" She asked, getting up with me.

"Really," I said, trying to calm down. "I'm okay. I'll see you tomorrow," I said dismissively to her before I practically ran out the door.

I looked both ways to make sure the boys were gone before I walked across the street to the Jeep. Once inside the vehicle I let out a heavy breath and started it. I drove down the road, wanting to get as far away from people as I could before I inevitably lost it.

I pulled over to the side of the road after driving for a few minutes. I waited until I was out of town and there were trees on either side of me, the less of a chance there was for someone to see me the better.

I threw the Jeep in park, shut it off, and rolled the window partially down.

Usually when I had a panic attack there was a lot of crying involved, but the tears never came. I wasn't sad about anything I just genuinely couldn't breathe.

I leaned my head against the cool window and pulled the collar of my shirt away from my neck. I couldn't explain what was happening to me. It felt like my chest was caving in on itself.

Then, suddenly, it eased up.

It wasn't completely gone, there was still a pull there, but the tightness in my chest was replaced by something else. Something that felt foreign to me. I, for some reason, didn't feel alone anymore. I took a few deep breaths and cleared my throat, trying to relax. I looked around the Jeep to see if anyone was there, but all I saw were rows and rows of dense forest trees. I couldn't shake the feeling, but I was glad that I wasn't suffocating anymore.

This was something I had never experienced before, something I couldn't comprehend. That piece that was missing, the piece I only discovered today as I looked into Caleb's eyes, was there now, and I didn't know what to do with it.

It felt like my entire life I had gone not knowing that there was something I needed, and now that I had it, this new feeling, I was at a loss.

I shook my head at how crazy I felt. I couldn't ever explain this to anyone, if I did they'd surely send me away. I couldn't even say this to the person that made it happen just for the mere thought of him not feeling the same way. The thought of him not feeling the same things I was sent a pain shooting through my chest.

I lightly slapped my hands against my face to pull myself together. That's when I noticed it. The black and purple bruise that was on my wrist that Amanda had pointed out. As I looked at it there was another feeling in my chest, not pain this time, but a feeling I hadn't felt before. A warmness, was the only way I could describe it, a feeling that warmed my heart as I looked at it.

I pulled a sweatshirt out of my bag and threw it on. I pulled the sleeve down to cover my wrist. The last thing I needed was for my grandmother to make a big deal out of this. I had no doubt she'd call the cops or at least file a report. She was the only famous person in town, so it probably wouldn't be hard for her to pull a few strings and get him locked up for a night or two. The more I thought about it, it made the pain return.

I couldn't stop thinking about the way he stared at me. There was no way that this was all happening to me from just one interaction.

I started the Jeep back up, looking around once more to see if anyone was around me. There was no one, yet, I still felt eyes on me and a tingle on the back of my neck.

Once I got home, I headed straight upstairs to drop off my things in my room.

"Grandma?" I called while I was on my way back down the steps.

"In here!" She called back from her office.

I walked back to meet her. I'd never been in her office before. I had actually never visited her, ever.

My mother was scared of flying, so she didn't want to visit my grandmother when she lived in Washington State, where my mother and father both grew up. But once she moved to Alaska, after she got published and was making a lot of money, my mother would never visit her.

Her office had a large window that faced the back yard, and had a breathtaking view of the woods that surrounded us. As I looked out the window I had that strange feeling again. I felt someone's eyes on me, but still there was no explanation other than the trees.

That was where her desk was, facing the window. There were three large bookshelves that covered the span of the wall behind her. Two were books that she owned, but the third was filled with her books that she'd written.

"Do you mind if I read one of these?" I asked. I picked a book off the shelf and read the synopsis on the back.

"Of course not," she said, smiling. "You've never read one of my books before?"

I shook my head.

"When I was younger Mom said they were too scary, and recently I just haven't gotten around to it."

"Some granddaughter," she joked. She got up from her desk chair and picked up a small book with a blue cover on it and handed it to me. "This is the first one."

"In the series?" I asked, gesturing to the book I was already holding.

"Ever," she said.

"Oh," I said.

We sat in silence for a few moments before I spoke up again.

"Thank you," I said quietly. However, it wasn't the book I was thanking her for.

She tucked a piece of hair behind my ear and rest a hand on my cheek while she looked at me before she gave me a kiss on my forehead. I had to bend down a little for her to even reach me.

"I hope you know how special you are," she whispered to me.

A/N: Happy Monday everyone! I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Also, let me know if you want another update before next Monday. I'm entertaining the idea, so if you want it just say the word. - E