Save Me (Karma Series Book2)

“No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.”-Buddha “Without music, life is an error.” -Friedrich Nietzsche ———————————————— While sketching in my pad; I look up and realize that I am surrounded by kids. Not little kids, but middle school kids. At least I think that they are? Granted, I have my ear buds in, but still… I didn’t realize that today was a field trip day when I came to the zoo. I tuck my feet up under me and put my hoodie top up, luckily I have sunglasses on but people will still notice me, somehow-they usually do even if I’m not dressed in my usual garb. My natural hair color is light brown and I have brown eyes. Many people have told me that my eyes are they color of warm chocolate. Whatever. They’re just plain brown. I wear colored contacts, not because I have vision problems, far from it. As I mentioned before, I just like to look different. Today I’m dressed pretty normal, too normal for my taste anyhow. I have on jeans, rolled up at the cuff. Black eight-eye Doc Martens, my Clash t-shirt and a plain gray Nike hoodie. My hair is black with red highlights and is pulled back into a pony-tail. Of course, I have my hoodie up now. I remove one ear bud to hear if (hopefully) the kids will be moving on soon. I hear a man speaking and he sounds so familiar to me. I look around and my gaze settles on a tall man, nicely shaped, from the back anyhow. He’s wearing a polo and khaki pants. His hair is just a little too long and messy to be a teacher. Or maybe he’s a parent? His voice is pretty sexy as I listen to him address the batch of students. I turn down the volume on my iPod so that I can hear more. There really is something familiar about this guy, I’m sure that I’ve seen him around somewhere. Before I can catch myself, I turn over a new sheet and begin sketching him. The curse of being an artist I guess. If the mood strikes, I gotta draw. I keep glancing over at him to make sure that I capture all of the details and notice that he’s turned slightly towards me. He has a boyish face and a nice smile from what I can see at this angle. I begin checking out his profile as I am drawing. His butt is a rounder than what I originally thought. I’ve always been a sucker for a man with a nice ass. Shame that he’s wearing khaki’s, I bet he’d look totally hot in jeans. I look up in time to see him laugh at something one of the kids has said. I also notice that a couple of kids have noticed me looking in that direction so I quickly put my head down and pay attention to my sketch. “Hey, what’s your name?” I look up and see a boy of about thirteen, maybe fourteen standing in front of my bench. I smile and tell him that he should probably get back to his group. “I haven’t seen you in school, you new here?” He continues to try and have a conversation with me. “No, I’m out of school,” I respond, politely “That’s so hot,” he says, clearly checking me out. “Becker, leave the lady alone and get over here.” I glance over to the voice and notice that the guy has come a little bit closer. Man, he really looks familiar. “So what’s your name?” He asks again. “Becker, is it?” I ask. “Yeah,” he smirks. “Ok Becker, I’m probably old enough to be your mother.” I remove my hood and lift my sunglasses to sit on top of my head. “Cool hair,” he says. “Right,” I pause, “And since I’m like a ‘parental’ figure,” I hold up my fingers as quotes, “You should probably get back to your group or your teacher will undoubtedly come over and get you…like he is right now.” I shift to glance around him at the approaching figure. “Becker!” The voice calls again. “Man, you’re hot,” the kid says again. “Thanks Becker.” I smile at the kid. He’s charming. “Becker, leave her alone and let’s go.” My face must register shock as the man approaches. His eyebrows form a frown. It’s my next door neighbor Bryan something. Man, this whole time I’ve been ogling my neighbor. I shake my head at the thought. “Hey, Mr. Avery,” the kid says. That’s right, his name is Bryan Avery. Damn, he looks even better up close. Too bad he has a girlfriend and she’s such a b***h. Bryan studies me for a minute, like he recognizes me but can’t quite place me. Of course I think that the last time he saw me, I had blonde hair with pink streaks in it. “Sorry ma’am, he sees a girl and just has to talk to her,” Bryan smiles his apology at me. I lower my sunglasses to my face. “It’s Lex and it’s not a problem, really. I was just trying to get him to go back over to your group.” “Lex. That’s such a hot name,” Becker says. “Sorry again,” Bryan smiles and says. “Come on lover boy, we have a lot of ground to cover.” I laugh as they walk away. I watch as Bryan puts a hand on Becker’s shoulder and says something to him to make him laugh, and then Bryan wags a finger at him. It gives me an idea. I finish my sketch of Bryan and add Becker to it quickly. I look up and the group is slowly walking away. I pull out the page and pack up my pad and pencils into my Social Distortion backpack. As I glance up to see where they are, Bryan turns around to look at me. ZING! Goes my heart. He quickly turns back around, having been caught. I hoist my backpack over my shoulder and jog over to where they’re heading. “Hey,” I say to Bryan, lifting my sunglasses to my head again. I hand him the sketch and say, “Nice to finally meet you…neighbor.” His face registers shock as he says, “You? YOU’RE my neighbor?” “I thought you looked familiar,” I say to him. “You’re 214, right?” He nods. “I’m 216,” I smile. He glances down at the picture and starts laughing, “You just drew this? “Of course. It’s not like it was that hard. Plus you guys stood still for quite a bit. Thanks for that.” “Well, you definitely captured what I wanted to do. Unfortunately, I can’t act on it,” he looks over at Becker. “Becker’s a good kid…most of the time.” Becker pipes in, “She drew a picture of me? Lemme see.” He looks over Bryan’s shoulder to the sketch. “You’re choking me?” “Becker, I would never choke you.” Then he looks up and winks at me. “This is really cool though Lex. You’re a good draw-er.” “Yeah kid, keep up in school. Especially in grammar, sounds like you’re going to need it,” I say to him with a laugh. “Whatever…” He rolls his eyes. “Anyhow, enjoy your day, boys,” I smile and put my sunglasses back on. “Nice to meet you, Avery.” “It’s Bryan.” “I know,” I say, walking backwards away from them.