No Goodbye, Surprise Hello(Part 1)

Ambers POV:
I looked out my window to see a U-Haul pulling into Carter’s old driveway. It had been 5 years since I had seen him and I still thought about him everyday. I wanted to hate him. He left me without saying goodbye and I had no idea why. I wiped a tear as it slowly made its way down my face. I ran downstairs and told my dad I was going to meet the new neighbors. I ran outside and over to the end of the driveway.

That’s when I saw him. … Still as gorgeous as ever, same bright green eyes and the same smile. He looked the same but it was like I was looking a stranger.

I turned around to walk away; I could feel the tears forming in my eyes. That’s when I heard him whisper my name. “Amber?!” I turned around really slowly so I could stall time from seeing his face.
“Amber, is it really you? Wow, you look-….”
I clenched my teeth and turned around to face him directly.
“Really Carter? I look what? Different? Yeah, I’m different. Get used to it. Everyone else did.” I said through tears. I turned around and ran to the woods. I ran until I couldn’t run anymore and my legs gave out from under me. I lay there in the wet leaves and cried.
For what seemed like forever I sat there and cried. Then I heard someone calling my name and footsteps getting closer. I knew it was Carter. He was the only one who knew where I would be. I could feel him right behind me. He picked me up and turned me around.
“Are you alright? You’ve been gone for like 4 hours.” He said holding me tight. I wanted to stay in his arms forever, but the memory of him leaving me came back and I pulled away and walked the other way. I could hear him calling me so I started walking faster. He grabbed my arm and spun me around.
“What’s wrong, I haven’t seen you in 5 years and your acting like you hate me. I don’t understand. I thought you loved me…”
I looked up at him with tear filled eyes and let them fall to the ground. I shivered and ran away from him.
“AMBER, WAIT!” he said running after me.

I just kept running, until I had no idea where I was…..

It was growing dark and it was freezing, and all I was wearing was jeans and a thin sweatshirt. Carter had gone home hours before and now I had no idea where I was. I was scared and cold and alone. To make maters worse, my cell phone was dead. The only thing I could do was to keep walking until I came to something.

I walked for endless hours, until the sun came up and I was too tired to walk anymore.

I sat down next to a tree and felt the warm sun as it kissed my face. I wanted to crawl into a hole and stay there. I had played the scene of me and Carter over and over again in my head. Did he think I was stupid? I had always dreamed about what it would be like when we saw each other, if we ever did. I was not prepared for how hard it was. I wanted to hug him and slap him at the same time, to cry and scream at him. I wanted to tell him I loved him and to tell him I hated him for leaving me. He comes back after 5 years and expects me too just forgive him. He had no idea what my life was like now. I wasn’t the same girl he knew. I wasn’t even close to the girl he fell in love with.

I got up after a couple minutes and started walking again. I wished I knew where I was. I was beyond tired and I just realized I was starving. That when I saw it. I stepped around a huge boulder and saw the city. I stood there not knowing what to do. I could keep going and find a payphone or I could turn around and walk back the way I came. I was too tired to walk back, that could take hours. So I decided to find a payphone and somewhere I could eat something.
I came to a small diner and ordered waffles and some milk. I looked up at the TV and saw an Amber Alert. Then I heard my name and saw my picture. Everyone in the diner turned to look at me. I slouched in my booth trying to avoid questions but then the waitress was on the phone calling the police.

Great….I have to go home now. Face my dad, and even worse…Carter.
I had to explain to him that I wasn’t the Andie he left behind five years ago. I was a completely different girl. I wasn’t head cheerleader, I didn’t have tons of friends, and I most certainly did not keep my 4.0 GPA. I had changed and I knew it and so did everyone else. I had gotten in trouble with the police and I have been sent to rehab. Carter didn’t know any of this because he left me. Left me alone….I was alone.

The Police officer snapped me out of my thoughts and made me get in his police car. He asked me a lot of questions and even though I didn’t want to, I did. I answered all his questions with an attitude and he told me I needed to get my act together. We pulled into my driveway about an hour later. I walked in with Officer James and he sat me down on the couch next to Carter.

I could feel Carter looking at me. It was burning a hole in my back. I was fed up with people looking at me like I was some freak show.

“Can you stop looking at me for like 3 seconds? I’m not some kind of freak!” Carter turned his head away. “Thank you.” I got up and ran upstairs. I slammed my door and the pictures outside my room fell to the floor.
“AMBER! DON’T SLAM THE FREAKING DOOR!” yelled my dad from the bottom of the stairs.
I opened my door and yelled back, “I’ll do whatever I want. Don’t you ever tell me what to do! I slammed the door just to make him mad. I laughed as I sat down on my bed. I switched the TV on hoping Carter wasn’t going to come up here.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Carter’s POV:

I watched Amber run up to her room. She wasn’t the same girl I knew. She never back talked her dad or did anything to disobey him. Now, she’s running away and slamming doors and yelling at her dad. I didn’t understand. She used to have long blonde hair, now it was short and dark brown. She wore a lot of black and it looked like she hadn’t smiled in forever. I looked at her dad sitting in the kitchen with his head in his hands. Then I heard footsteps on the stairs. I looked up and it was Andie.

She looked so different and I couldn’t help but stare. She rolled her eyes.
“You do know it’s not nice to stare right?” I nodded. “Then stop freaking looking at me. God, people are so stupid sometimes. They act like they’ve never seen a human.” She walked into the kitchen and got water.

That’s when I realized she was a lot skinnier too. It looked like she had lost like 40 pounds. I was starring at her again.

“Do you ever listen to anybody? I told you not to look at me.” She said as she was walking up the stairs. I had the urge to follow her. I went upstairs to find her door open. I peeked in to see her sitting in the bed, frowning at the TV.

Her room was done in all black, and it was a mess. There were pictures of people on the wall. I saw a couple of me. Then I saw the big picture of me with a heart around it, I smiled until I saw what was written on. “I HATE YOU FOR LEAVING ME! Why did you go without a single goodbye? I hope you’re happy wherever you are.” I felt a tear run down my face and before I could say anything, the door was slammed right in my face.

“GO AWAY!” she yelled from the other side of the door. I heard a soft scream and then crying. I wanted to go hug her and tell her everything was going to be okay. But I knew that the girl Amber was now was because I left without giving her a reason. I knew it was my fault. I could only imagine the pain she was in. I couldn’t believe the girl sitting right on the other side of the door was Amber Meadows. The girl I fell in love with when we were 12. She seemed so…so….different. I sat there and just thought of her. I always thought if I came back that she would have moved away, and when I saw her coming to greet us as the “new neighbors” I could see the shock and hurt in her eyes.


Amber’s POV:
I wish Carter would just leave. I knew he was still outside my room, because he was hitting his head against my door. I kicked the door to make him stop, but he didn’t. So, I decided to open to the door and he fell backwards half asleep. I smirked as I walked around him and went downstairs and out the front door. He followed me. This was going to be the perfect opportunity to show him I was different. To make him leave me alone, to make him give up on being part of my life again….

I walked about 10 minutes and turned around. Carter was about 20 feet behind me, looking at me with a confused look.
It started raining….
I yelled, “You want to know who I am. You want to know what I’ve become. Carter, I’m not your Amber anymore. I’m not “Oh look at me, I’m perfect.” No, I’ll never be like that again. Carter, I do drugs. I drink. I have been expelled from school at least 15 times. Right now, I’m not even allowed on school property. People have restraining orders against me. I sneak out of my house every night to go party. I’m not Amber “Oh I’m perfect” Meadows anymore. I’m Amber “I don’t give a crap about what’s going on” Meadows. And you want to know something else. It’s your fault. It’s your entire fault; you left me when I needed you most. When everyone was picking on me and calling me names. I needed you there. You weren’t there for my parents divorce or me being sent to jail. No, you haven’t been there, Because you have been oh god knows where, having a great time forgetting about me, not thinking about what I was doing or who I was becoming.” I cried a little then stopped. I walked toward him and then right past him and walked home.

Carter’s POV:
I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. My perfect little Amber was gone, replaced by some trouble maker. I couldn’t believe it. I just stood there until I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around to see a semi-familiar face.

“Remember me? I’m Lexi. But you know it’s been what five….” I cut her off.
“Yeah I remember you; you were Amber’s best friend. What happened to her?” I asked my voice shaky.
Lexi sighed and sat on a nearby rock. She motioned for me to come and sit. “Well after you left, she changed. Me and her aren’t friends anymore, because it got to the point you couldn’t even say hi to her without her snapping at you. I should have been there for her, but I couldn’t deal with how awful she was acting. She started getting into fights and hanging out with people nobody should be around. Next thing I knew she was being expelled and running away. It just got to the point where I think she wanted attention and since you were gone and her parents were busy with the divorce she didn’t have anybody there for her. It’s gotten really bad and everyday since you left I have been praying that you would come back and help her. She really misses you; I can see it in her eyes. Like she just wants to go to wherever you are and be with you. I think now she is scared that if she gets close to you again, you’re going to leave her like before. Why exactly did you leave in the first place?”

I sat there and looked at her trying to absorb everything she just told me.

I looked down and then up again. “I didn’t want to leave, I really didn’t, but I wanted to see the world, so when my parents decided to go traveling, I went with them and I thought not saying goodbye would be best because I thought we would be back in a couple of months and then months turned into years and next thing I knew we lived in Germany for 4 and ½ years. I wanted to come back and see her, but I wasn’t allowed. And now I see I should have stayed here, or at least said goodbye. She needed me and I left her.” Then I heard a rustle in the bush. Amber came out from behind it with tears in her eyes. She ran over to me and hugged me.
In a low voice, “I missed you so much. I can’t believe your back. It’s like all my dreams and wishes are coming true. I’m afraid if I let you go your going to disappear. Don’t leave me again. I need you. I love you.” She said through sobs.
“I promise Amber, I’m never going to leave you again. I love you to much to do that to you again.” I lifted her chin up and kissed her softly.

Amber’s POV:
It had been about 3 months since Carter had been back and we were still going strong. But for some reason I couldn’t stop falling into old habits. I knew I had him, I knew he was staying, but I had gotten so deep into what I was like when he wasn’t here, and I just couldn’t stop. I had no idea why. My dad and I kept fighting and it got worse as time went on. Of course, I didn’t tell Carter, he knew about my habits and he knew that I wasn’t going to just up and stop. No matter how much I wanted to, I just couldn’t.

I walked down the pathway to the park. I rounded a big tree and over some rocks to find Ricky sitting there waiting for me.
“You got the stuff? I’ve got the money.” I said walking up to him, reaching in my pocket.
“Yeah, I got it. You got all 30 bucks?” he asked pulling out a bag from his pocket.
I handed him a 20 and a 10. I took the bag and walked back out of the park. I couldn’t stop going back for more. I was addicted, and yeah I knew it wasn’t good for me. But I couldn’t stop.

A COUPLE WEEKS LATER:
My dad sat on the couch with a couple of bags in front of him. I grabbed them and got angry.
“YOU WENT THROUHG MY STUFF?! HOW COULD YOU?” I yelled.
“They were in plain sight. I went to get laundry and there they were sitting on your desk in plain sight!!” he got up and walked to me. “I’m sending you to a place where they are going to help you. You won’t be there for long, 5 months tops.” He sighed and tried to hug me.
I jerked my body away with so much force I almost fell. “Right when my life is starting to be great, you decide to send me away. When, I am finally happy after, like forever, you decide to send me away from what is making all my smiles come back!” I screamed with tears rolling down my face. I didn’t even try to stop them from falling, it was no use. I was leaving Carter after I had just got him back. I had to tell him, find some way to keep from going.
I ran outside and across the street, “CARTER! HELP! CARTER! I DON’T WANT TO GO! IM NOT GOING TO LOOSE YOU AGAIN!” I ran in his room without knocking and came to a dead stop. Right in front of me was the love of my life on top of my best friend. I screamed at the top of my lungs and ran out of his house and broke down right in the middle of the street. I could hear people calling my name and telling me to move, but I couldn’t, my legs wouldn’t let me. Next thing I know, I feel my body flying through the air and then hit something hard and then everything went black…..
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3 YEARS LATER:
Carter’s POV:
I sat in my living room with Lexi sitting beside me. We were watching twilight for the 10th time in like a week. But I knew she loved the movie so I watched it with her.

FLASHBACK:
“I wish they would make a movie about vampires.” Amber had said at the movies.
I chuckled, “Why? Vampires are stupid. Why would anyone want to watch a movie like that?” I asked her.
“I don’t know, I just think it would be cool. But anyways, lets see what movies are playing” she said pulling me over to the theater.

“Carter! Are you listening to me?” said Lexi.
I looked at her, “uhm, yeah? But what were you saying, I kind of blacked out.” I said smiling sweetly.
Lexi giggled and kissed me.

Everything about Lexi reminded me of Amber. Same long curly blonde hair, same giggle, same big blue eyes. It was like Amber was born again and put in Lexi’s body. I knew it wasn’t fair to be with her just because she reminded me of Amber, but I couldn’t help it. I missed Amber so much and I couldn’t bear the thought of her out there by herself or with people who treated her bad or even worse…dead. After the accident, Amber slipped into a coma and every one was told she wouldn’t make it, but one day the doctors walked in to find her missing, like she just got up and walked out. I spent the next year looking for her everywhere. But every one told me it was no use. So I gave up and went to the next best thing. That’s were Lexi came into the picture. We had now been dating for two years and our anniversary is on the same day as the day Amber went missing.