Chapter 4

An Unexpected Guest

The sun streaming in through my window wakes me up. I groan and rub my eyes. I prop myself up on my elbows and wonder why I'm on the couch. Then I remember last night's events.

I get up and peak in my bed room to check on Astrid. Instead of seeing her asleep, I see and empty, maid bed. I walk into the bedroom and pick up a sticky note that's stuck on the pillow. It says:

Cam, I'm sorry for leaving, but I had to go to work. I didn't want to wake you. Thank you for letting me spend the night. We need to talk, I work the Sizzle Café. Come by at noon

-A.

I toss the note aside and head to the kitchen. I eat some potato chips and watch T.V (the eating thing is out habit, I don't realy need food.) After an hour of T.V I go back to bed.

I wake up at 11:30 and take a fast shower. I throw on some jeans and a T-shirt. I head down stairs to the lobby. Devin stops me right before I leave. "Cam, I heard you got into some trouble at Dolls, this true?" I scratch my head and remember the guys at the bar. It's pretty funny when you think about it.

"I don't know if you would call it trouble. I like to think of it as a minor spat." He gives me a stern look and says, "Be careful kid. Those guys aren't playing games. They'll come after you if they want." Come after me? I'd like to see them try. He notices that I'm not scared and says, "If they don't come for you they might go for someone else. I think you know who." He doesn't mean Astrid, right?

I can picture Astrid in my mind. She's such a small and nice girl. There's no way she can defend herself against those guys. I leave the lobby and jump into my car. I drive just a little too fast and stop at the Sizzle Café. Its only 12:05.

The Sizzle Café is a very small Café. I think it's more of a coffee place than anything else. I scan the place and find Astrid. Only she's not alone. A brown haired guy with a Volcom hat is sitting across from her. Astrid it leaning back with her hands across her chest. She looks anywhere but the guy.

I walk a little closer and sit two tables away from them and lift a menu in front of my face. Neither of them notice. I can hear their conversation.

"Why are you so pissed at me?" Astrid glares at the boy. "You know why!" "I don't know why, Astrid! Ever since you came back from that school you've been ignoring me." Astrid holds her glare. "You ran off when the cops caught us! How did you think I would feel?"

The boy leans closer to her, "I was scared. I'm sorry for that. But what I'm realy afraid of is losing you." I snicker silently to myself. He's trying to sweet talk her. I know Astrid won't fall for that. "You lost me the moment you left me. Get out. Now."

Good for her! There's a small part of me that wants to shout "Girl Power!" but I don't, knowing that will blow my cover and it's not very manly. The boy stands up and nearly trips. "Fine, but I'm not giving me up. And it is not over between us. I'm stopping by your place later." With that he storms out of the café.

I slid out of my chair and sit across from Astrid. She doesn't notice me at first because her hands are on her face, she's not crying, she's just frustrated. I remove one her hands and say, "are you ok?" she looks up and quickly attempts to make it look like nothing happened. "I'm fine. Why wooden I be?" She can tell she's not fooling me.

"Did you see what happened?" She looks down and plays with the sugar packets. "Yes I saw. And heard what happened." She clears her throat and says, "If you heard then I don't have to explain. I would rather not talk about it." I give her my best puppy eyes and say, "if you want to talk I'm here."

Her face softens but she gains back control. "No. What I realy wanted to talk you about is that I'm grateful that you let me stay with you, but I'm going back home." I don't hesitate with my answer. "No. You can't go back." She looks surprised at my answer. "You can't make me stay with you, Cam. That's called kidnapping." "If that's what I have to do than that's what I do. I can't let you go back there so you can get the shit beat out you. Besides, that guy is coming by your place later. Do you realy want to talk to him?"

This gets her thinking. She sighs and whispers, "Fine, but I need my cloths." I smile at my victory. "I'll go by your place and grab some stuff for you." "Ok, I'll meet you at the apartments. I have another job to get to after this."

I'm about to say "ok" but then I remember what Devin told me. "Blow of the day with me." She arches her eyebrows and says, "I can't just blow of the whole day. I have to pay rent you know." Before I can argue with her a girl with slick black hair and a nose piercing comes up and says, "Go spend some time with you boyfriend, Astrid. I'll cover you." Astrid's eyes grow wide, "he is not my boyfriend." Her cheeks turn rosy at the word "boyfriend".

"Thanks. Come on Astrid." I grab her hand and pull her out the door. She jumps into my car and says, "What about my other job?" I smile and hand her my phone. "Call in sick." She stars at the phone and slowly punches in the number.

After she calls her job I start the car. The ride is silent until Astrid turns on the radio and turns it up. The rest of the way she stares out the window. I stop the car at Sundance and get out of the car.

Me and Astrid head upstairs and avoid Devin's stare. When we get inside the apartment Astrid sits on the coach and says, "My parents are probably at the bar, we should get my stuff now. "I grab my black duffle bag and say, "let's go."

When Astrid opens the door to her apartment she swears under her breath. "I just cleaned this place!" The floor is covered with beer cans and paper plates. I follow her to her room.

Astrid's room is by far the cleanest. It's covered with pictures and drawings. She pulls out some clothes and stuffs them in the duffle bag. When the duffle bag is almost full she places a picture frame and a paper bag inside it and zips it up. She tries to carry the duffle bag but it's too heavy so I take it. We walk out of her apartment and I try to get some gum of my shoe. When we get to the apartment I sit on the coach and turn on the T.V.

"Where not going any were right?" Astrid is lugging the duffle bag to the bathroom. I turn back and ask, "Do you want to? We can go any were." She closes the bathroom door and shouts, "No I'm fine. I just wanted to make sure so I can change."

A few minutes later she comes out in boxer shorts and a tank top. Her hair is tied up in a high pony tail that reaches her neck. We watch T.V and don't speak. I'm about to say something to break the silence when we both jump at the sound of someone knocking on Astrid's apartment door.

"Crap, it's Jev!" Astrid runs to the bedroom and says, "I'm not here!" The knocking doesn't stop for a while then I hear knocking on my door. I get up and open the door. Jev is shorter than me by more than a few inches. Half of his face is covered by his hat.

"Hey, do you know where the people next door are?" I shrug and say, "I don't even know those people, dude" Jev punches the wall and mutters, "That stupid bitch." I feel myself getting warmer with rage and grip the door frame tighter. "I think you should go." I don't wait for him to answer and shut the door.

I can see a burn mark peeking out on the door frame where my hand was. "Crap." I mutter. Astrid peaks her head out of the bedroom door and says, "Is he gone?" I turn to her to cover the burn mark and say, "Yeah, he's gone."

"What happened to the door?" She must have seen it before I turned. "It's been like that since I got here." She looks suspicious but says, "Oh, I never noticed that." She sits back on the coach and I go into the kitchen. That was way to close.

I've been putting my being a fallen angle in the back of my mind. I hate to keep things from her but it's for the best. I don't know what she would do if she found out. This is why I'm no good for her. But I am better than Jev.

I go back to the living room and Astrid is putting blankets on the couch. "You don't have to make my bed" She doesn't look up when she says, "This is my bed." I laugh a little and say, "Astrid, you get the bed." She sighs and says, "Your letting me stay with you, I'm not taking your bed." Something about me being in a bed and Astrid being on a couch doesn't sit well with me.

"I won't be able to sleep knowing your uncomfortable." She looks at me and can tell that got to her. "Ok, I'll take the bed."

After another hour of T.V and awkward silence Astrid gets up and says, "I'm going to bed." I smile at her. "Good night Astrid." For once she returns the smile. "Good night Cam."

Before she goes to the bedroom her she says, "Cam, thank you." I smile again and say, "your welcome."