Dedicated to Nikki because she's one of the sweetest and funniest people on wattpad and you guys gotta check out her works. (She recently posted a new story AND I'M SO EXCITED FOR ITTTTT) 

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Chapter 8

I didn't think he recognized who I was, because he kept smiling at me with this kind of dumb smile on his face. I took a careful step back, wishing he hadn't seen me in the car earlier. I wasn't sure how I could possibly outrun even just one-third of the Hulks. I ran every morning, just to stay physically fit, but I'd seen this guy run earlier and I didn't doubt he'd be able to catch me.

He was giving me a once-over, which probably didn't give him much to look at considering I was wearing my unflattering Go Cougars!! shirt. I took another step back, trying to find a good escape route.

"Aw, where are you going?" he asked me, taking a step forward.

I bumped into something behind me, and when I looked up to see what it was, I saw another of the Hulks, a smug look plastered on his face. There was a telltale sign of a bruise starting to form around his left eye, so I figured this was the one Austin had punched. I exchanged looks between them, wondering if I should just make a run for it before they could actually physically restrain me.

There was a sick smile on Hulk One's face and I struggled to keep my face neutral. If what Austin said about them was true, then I could only guess what could be going on in his head.

He sidled closer and tried to sidestep, but he grabbed my forearm and pulled me towards him.

Because we were in the middle of the dance floor, and everyone was probably intoxicated, I wasn't exactly surprised when people didn't notice how a girl was basically being manhandled right beside them.

I fought against his grip. "Let go of me."

Staring him down, I refused to show any sign of weakness. His fingers tightened around my wrist, but the smile on his face never wavered. I tried to pull away but seeing as he was basically much a reincarnation of the Hulk, it didn't do any good.

"Why are you in such a rush, babe?"

I glared at him. "You are disgusting."

Movement from my peripheral vision made me look away from Hulk One. I turned to the right, just in time to see Austin. He hadn't seen me yet, but his eyes were darting from here to there, searching the crowd, and my heart sank to my stomach.

Before I could look away, his gaze landed on me and locked with mine. He didn't see the Hulks at first, so he probably didn't understand my frantic go away look. If the Hulks found him, they wouldn't hesitate to get on with the lovely reunion and finish the whole chase earlier. I knew I had to get away from them but Austin helping out would probably only increase the chances of us not getting away safely.

I looked away from Austin and back to Hulk One, trying to shake his hand off.

I clapped my other hand to my mouth, pretending to vomit. Hulk One's smile disappeared.

"Holy shit, the bitch is going to fucking puke."

I doubled over so it seemed like I was going to throw up all over his shoes and he quickly released me to take a step back. I was about to sprint away, but then I heard Austin's voice over the noise.

"Red, what the fuck is—"

There was a moment of silence as we all looked at Austin and he looked back, eyes flicking to me and the two Hulks standing just two steps from me. I cursed under my breath and ran, just as I heard Hulk Two say something about Austin being "that pussy!" earlier. I grabbed his hand and pulled him with me.

"I told you to go away!" I yelled over the music as we pushed past the crowd. We'd gotten a few indignant calls as we continued to run.

"You did not!"

"I was giving you the signal!"

"With what?"

"My eyes!"

I dared a look behind us and saw that all the Hulks were now pursuing us. They didn't care if they had maul over everything and everyone. For a second, I was glad they were big and bulky, making it harder for them to slip through the throng of dancers, but when I looked ahead, I realized the crowd was thinning as we reached the edge.

We slipped through what seemed like a corridor, one that looked a bit like the one we'd gone through from the backdoor. Austin and I continued running, ignoring the offended Hey! from the people behind us.

I dared another look behind us, just to see one the Hulks emerging from the crowd, and immediately looked away.

We made a turn, following the corridor as we continued running.

There was a fire exit right ahead of us, but Austin didn't head to it.

"Quick," he said as he pushed open a door to his left. Before I could even wonder how he managed to know it wasn't locked, he was already pulling me inside with him. He took me by surprise so I ended up placing my hands on his chest on instinct. He immediately shut the door, plunging us in darkness. I heard the muffled click of a lock.

The sound of footsteps thundering closer made me hold my breath almost unconsciously, making me inch closer to Austin.

When the stomping went past us and started becoming more distant, I let out a sigh of relief and nearly slumped down on the floor. My knees had gone weak as the adrenaline started to wash out. I could feel the blood rushing to my ears as we stood there, enveloped in the darkness, trying to catch our breaths.

 "Well," I said, taking my hands off his chest. It was kind of embarrassing, but I didn't want to dwell too much on my moment of weakness, for lack of a better term. "That certainly felt like déjà vu."

"That's all you can fucking say?" he suddenly lashed out.

"What else am I supposed to say?" I snapped back.

My eyes started to adjust to the darkness and if I looked around, I could see vague shapes of equipment piled together in the room. It seemed like some kind of storage room, but I couldn't be too sure. The music was slightly muffled here, but I could hear some drums pounding along with a guitar riff, and I figured the next band was starting their set.

"See, we almost got our asses kicked because we came back here," he continued ranting. "I told you it was a bad idea, but did you listen to me? No."

"What other choice did we have? It's not like we could just run around town without any further leads, Einstein." I huffed, trying to fix my ponytail. It had come undone from all the running we'd done and loose strands were sticking to my face and neck.

"Well, you didn't have to almost get us killed," he said. "One run-in with the Hulks is enough to last me a lifetime."

"I was doing okay until you showed up."

"Well, you were taking too long."

Somehow, despite the fact that I could hardly see him, I could tell we were probably wearing identical scowls at the moment. Clearly, Alyssa couldn't have been more wrong when she said we got along so well, seeing as I was simply trying my best not to lose my temper at the moment.

"At least," I said, "I found McKenna."

There was a pause. And then, "Really?"

"Yeah." I told him about what I gathered during my little talk with that purple-haired witch. There wasn't really much to tell, seeing as we didn't exactly have a specific music store in mind, but something was better than nothing.

"And how many music stores are there in town?"

I wasn't even sure why there were still music stores and CDs when people could just get every song they want from the internet, but then I thought back to Georgina and remembered that people like Lewis and Austin exist. I made a mental account of the town map, trying to come up with an answer, before saying, "I'm not quite sure. Around three, I think?"

He groaned. "I didn't think finding those idiots would take so long."

"That's what we should call them. The Idiots," I suggested without really meaning it, but he agreed.

(That was how Tori and Lewis became Idiot One and Idiot Two, respectively, and together we called them the Idiots.)

"So," he said. "What's our next—"

"Plan of action?" I interjected before he could even finish.

"Yes," he said through gritted teeth. "Plan of action. I don't see what's wrong with that term."

I snorted and decided not to answer that. "In any case, we don't have a choice but to try all the music stores in town. If we're lucky, we might still catch them. Let's start with the closest one."

"All right," he replied. "You think the Hulks are still out there?"

There were no signs of them outside, but I wasn't taking any chances, so I replied, "Maybe we should wait around for a while."

"Alyssa and Warren might be worried," he pointed out.

I considered the thought, but I couldn't help being too paranoid when it came to the Hulks. As much as I hate to admit it, he was right when he said being chased by the Hulks could be a life-changing moment for a person. If anything, I was relieved they weren't smart enough to try checking for the doors. I knew it was locked, but they were the Hulks. I wouldn't be surprised if they smashed it open.

"Just five minutes," I said. "At least until we're sure that they're not out there anymore."

"All right."

I could feel him shifting. There was a slight rustling as he moved from where he was standing. The room, with all the equipment stuffed inside, didn't have a lot of space to accommodate the two of us, so I felt his arm brush against mine as he moved.

"What are you doing?" I asked him.

"Finding a light switch."

"You're touching my boob."

"What?" He jumped back, hitting something that clattered on the floor. "Shit. Wait—I—"

His reaction was priceless. I started laughing. It was that kind of real, uncontrollable laughing that was loud, too loud in the confined space of the storage room. "Oh my god, it was a joke."

"What?" he snapped.

"You didn't really touch anything," I said through fits of laughter. "You didn't feel like you're touching—"

He grunted. "Well, now that I think about, you're flat as a board so I wouldn't be surprised if I didn't feel anything."

My laughter died down. "I have boobs."

"Right."

"I have perfect boobs," I insisted, not liking the unconvinced tone he was giving me. "They're the perfect size as far as boobage goes. Do you know what happens to boobs that are too big when women grow older? They sag. They start—"

I was cut off by the sound of his laughter, not unlike my own earlier.

"I'm serious, when boobs—"

"Okay," he said, still laughing.

"Imagine wrinkly, saggy—"

"All right," he said, "your boobs are fine."

It was only when his laughter grew louder did I realize my cheeks were flaming for having talked about boobs, of all things.  I couldn't believe I just said all of that. Seeing as I suddenly developed a liking for my own body parts, I was beginning to wonder if narcissism or just plain idiocy was contagious.

I felt stupid, but I couldn't just stand there while he kept telling me about how I was as flat as a board. I wasn't. While I may not have D cups or whatever, they weren't flat. Were they?

After a few more seconds, I said, "Do you really think my boobs are too small?"

He spluttered. "What?"

I flushed. "Nothing."

"Did you just"—he started laughing once more—"did you just ask me that?"

"No," I replied.

"Red," he said, sounding like he was trying to suppress another fit of laughter. "Don't worry. They're the perfect size, as far as boobage goes."

I punched him in the arm and was satisfied when he let out a small yelp. "You suck," I said.

"At least I admitted that I think your boobs are okay. You never said anything about my ass."

"You're an ass."

"You're a boob."

I was glad for the darkness concealing my flaming cheeks. "What does that even mean?"

"It means I have a sexy ass and you know it."

"You don't have a—"

"All right, all right." I could still hear the laughter in his voice. "I think the coast is clear. We should probably go back to Alyssa and Warren."

---

"We were starting to wonder where you both disappeared to," Warren said as soon as he caught sight of me and Austin walking towards them.

"I bet you weren't too bored," Austin said, looking at them both as he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

It was a ridiculously funny sight and I couldn't help but laugh a little at it. He shot me a sideways glance, a silent question. "Don't do that again," I told him. "Your eyebrows just make your face look weirder when you wiggle them like that."

Of course, he started wiggling them more, entirely focused on me. "You don't like this?"

I bit down my lower lip and rolled my eyes, looking away from his ludicrous eyebrows to look at Alyssa and Warren, both of whom were eyeing us with a look I didn't like. Not even a little bit. Trying to compose myself, I said, "Come on. it's getting late."

"All right."

As we started walking, Austin and Warren immediately fell into step with each other, talking about something I could barely understand. The two of them walked a few steps ahead of us and I noticed Alyssa eyeing them both.

"So," she said after a while, "what was that earlier?"

"What?"

She nudged me with her elbow. "You know, when Austin actually made you laugh. The whole eyebrow thing."

"That," I said, "was nothing. It was just ridiculous. How could you not laugh?"

"Didn't seem like nothing to me," she replied.

"I already told you, I don't do romance."

There was a slight pause as she contemplated this once again. When I looked over at her, the teasing in her eyes was replaced with a more somber look. "You know," she said, "I don't know what pushed you to become a cynic, but I'm just worried that you might miss chances at happiness."

"Relationships rarely make people happy for a long time," I said.

"It's not just about that, though." When I looked at her, her eyes were fixed on Warren, who was laughing at something Austin had told him. "It's more than just that."

"Then what is it about?"

He shook her head, finally tearing her eyes from Warren's back as she sent me a small smile. "It's hard to explain, but you'll get there someday."

I doubted it. I would have said otherwise; would have told her she was wrong, but after seeing the look on her face as she gazed at Warren earlier, I found it hard to summon the words. I didn't believe her, not at all, but it seemed to me like I couldn't make her think otherwise either.

So I said, "Maybe."

---

When we dropped Alyssa and Warren off at their friend's house, I actually felt sad about losing their company. They carried this certain air around them that made it hard not to immediately like them.

Right before we drove away, Alyssa gave me her phone number. "If you guys need anything, give us a ring and we'll see what we can do."

"All right," I said, genuinely smiling at her. "And I hope your car's all right, after leaving it unattended for a long time."

Warren shrugged. "Nah, I'm sure it's all right."

After another round of quick goodbyes—and another of Alyssa's knowing smiles—Austin and I finally drove off. After the lively chatter we had with Alyssa and Warren, the silence in the car seemed strikingly obvious. Just five minutes ago, the car was filled with lively talks regarding everything that happened at Sluggers.

 Austin told them about finding me with the Hulks and "saving" me from them (to which I snorted). We told them about running to escape the Hulks and hiding in the safety of the equipment room. The dickhead even had the nerve to tell them in detail about my outburst on the topic of boobs, which made both Alyssa and Warren roar with laughter as I continued to glare at Austin.

Now that they were gone, though, I kind of missed the sound of their laughter from the backseat.

Austin, ever the kind of person who liked rubbing things in other people's faces, noticed this.

"See," he said, "I told you there's nothing wrong with picking up hitchhikers."

"It could have gone differently." It was the truth, really. We were only lucky that they didn't happen to be serial killers or psychotic cannibals.

"Well, it didn't." His eyes were fixed up ahead and his voice was completely neutral, so I couldn't tell if he was irritated or not. "See, they even helped us get into Sluggers."

He did have a point, but still. "You shouldn't trust people so quickly," I said.

"As opposed to you not trusting them at all?"

"I trust people," I said but immediately squirmed when he snorted. I wrinkled my nose. "Just not as quickly as you do. You're most likely to get stabbed in the back by some man you helped with something."

"Well, Red." He sent me a sideways glance, a small grin on his face. "Maybe we make a good team."

"Yeah, and maybe true love exists."

The smile on his face dissipated. His brows creased and he gave me a genuinely curious expression. "You don't believe in true love?"

"Do you?" I shot back.

His eyes were back on the road ahead us. I watched his expression closely, but if there was anything I should be seeing on it, he was hiding it well. A moment passed and just when I thought he wasn't going to reply, he took a deep breath.

"No," he said. I stared at him in shock. "Not really."

Maybe it was because he was quite optimistic and trusting, I thought he would be someone who at least believed in the concept of true love. I couldn't help but feel a little surprised as he continued to drive with that blank face of his.

I had a flash of that redhead in his wallet in my memory, as well as the picture in the glove compartment where he seemed like a completely different person.

Of course, I didn't want to think about it, especially since it wasn't really my business at all, but somewhere at the back of my mind, I was beginning to wonder who Austin really was.

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I should be doing my homework, but it's been two weeks and I figured I needed to update. Someone needed to write about the perfection of Reed's boobs, right??? Thanks so much for reading ily