Chance Encounters

four

Dedicated to Carine because she's awesome and I'm still fangirling about her reading this story um.

Chapter 4

After all the crazy things my best friend had dragged me into, I wasn't sure I could say I was surprised by the sudden turn of events. I knew, somehow, that whenever Tori Matsunaga was concerned, things were bound to go crazy.

That, however, didn't stop me from wanting to brutally murder her.

Austin and I were both breathing heavily. I could feel my heartbeat thudding against my ribcage from the chase and registered, numbly, that there was a dull throbbing on my ankle. It wasn't as bad as I first thought it was, but it would probably take a few more minutes until the pain disappears completely.

"Where's Tori?"

He raised both eyebrows and let out an exasperated laugh. "Aw, no need to thank me. You're welcome."

"Where's Tori?" I repeated.

"I don't know."

I was about to cross my arms over my chest before realizing that my hand was bleeding. "Shit." I angled my hand to catch some light from the house next door to examine it more closely. It didn't seem too bad—really, nothing but a slight cut—so imagine my surprise when I looked up to see that Austin was inching away from me, eyeing the blood with a repulsed expression.

"Someone's afraid of blood," I remarked.

He coughed. "Yeah? Well, someone was checking me out earlier."

The effect was instantaneous. I felt all feelings of gratitude going down the drain, leaving nothing but irritation. His arrogance was unbearably appalling. I felt like even simply breathing the same air as him was enough to piss me off.

"I wasn't checking you out."

He smirked. "Right."

Annoyed, I thrust my wounded palm closer to him as a response. He jumped away quickly, looking queasy. I mirrored his previous expression.

He continued to glower at me, but he didn't make an attempt to come closer, most likely afraid of my oh-so-scary blood. I checked to see our surroundings, trying to make sure that the coast was clear. Some people were still running and I saw some others being escorted or interrogated by the officers.

There was one officer who seemed to be looking around the place, inspecting any possible hiding places. He was just a few paces away from our tree.

"We can't stay here," he said.

"Don't you think I know that?"

"Just follow me, Red."

"It's Reed."

"Whatever," he said, looking slightly ridiculously as he dropped on all fours in a crawling position.

I wasn't quite sure about that, especially with my already wounded hand, but the officer was getting closer and closer, so I dropped down as well and tried to work out how to crawl when my hand was already gushing out blood (I used the back of it instead).

It was only after I started crawling did I realize how awkward this situation was. In our position, with me crawling behind him, the only thing I could see in front of me was Austin's butt.

And it was a really nice butt too.

I kept my eyes trained on his shoes instead—worn-out Vans that looked strikingly similar to a pair I owned back home—and focused on not making a sound. Somehow, Austin managed to lead us to some bushes until we reached the backyard next door.