Reaching High

Sam was not expecting a voice, having been so wrapped up in his task that he hadn't been aware of anyone else in the Atheneum. That the voice was so clearly Remi's (already, he recognised the accent) shocked him further and he turned automatically, finally tipping the chair back and sending him flying off it -- right into Remi's hesitant, almost-helpful hands (and indeed the rest of him).. The fall dazed him and he for a moment only felt the physical, the pain in his knees having smacked the stone floors and the flipping of his stomach. But soon enough he noticed Remi beneath him and his eyes widened. It would be embarrassing enough with anyone else, of course. But with Remi it was nearly unbearable. Not only had they had their tense meeting a week before but he'd had time now to read his diaries, had seen just how wondrous and turbulent their past really was. Words like love and future and in the last entry, not good enough for him and doomed; it had been a harrowing read, one that had made him determined to avoid the Alchemist as much as he could. "I'm-I'm so. I'm so sorry." He said hurriedly, trying to pick himself up off Remi and the floor. Samuel At seventeen, I started to starve myself I thought that love was a kind of emptiness And at least I understood then the hunger I felt And I didn't have to call it loneliness