Dedicated to @danibee5 for  her lovely comments and support, not just here but in my other stories as well <3 

Chapter 15

The bar didn't require IDs at the entrance, although I probably won't be allowed to buy drinks. Not that I planned to drink anywa. Austin seemed much too at ease about this idea of him, making me dislike him even more than I already did.

Not only was this a completely random place to check out, I was also sure he was going to find a way to get me up on that stage with what will probably be a Katy Perry song or another.

There were a lot of people milling around, lively chatter filling the place as a trio of three drunk college dudes continued to sing some rap song up on the stage. I could barely understand the words. They were all slurring and fighting for the mic.

Austin led me to the bar, taking a seat and gesturing for me to sit on the one next to him. I frowned at him but followed anyway.

"What are we really doing here, Dick?"

He shrugged. "Loosen up. We might as well ask around."

I knew for a fact that we weren't here just to "ask around." I looked away and quietly observed my surroundings instead, looking for familiar faces.

"Can I get you guys something?"

Austin and I both turned to look at the direction of the voice. It was the bartender—a blonde woman who seemed to be around her early twenties. I noticed how her eyebrows rose upon seeing Austin, automatically making me roll my eyes.

"Two cokes," Austin replied without missing a beat.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "You're not drinking?"

"I'm driving, remember?"

I wasn't going to argue with him, but I couldn't deny that it surprised me. I thought for sure that he was going to order some beer. The bartender—Kristy, according to her nametag—eyed the two of us, as if silently observing what the relationship between us was, before moving to get our drinks.

Austin was frowning, facing the stage. He had to turn on his seat, so his body was angled a little but towards me, one elbow braced against the black surface of the bar. "Those three should stop singing."

I snorted. "That's rich, coming from you."

"Hey," he said indignantly. "At least I can actually pronounce the words."

"The sad thing is that they're better than you, and you're sober."

He casted me with a narrowed gaze, obviously unamused with the fact that I had just dissed on his singing once more.

Before he could say something, Kristy the Bartender came back with our drinks. Austin took his wallet from his pocket and I tried my best to keep my eyes from straying to it. Despite the fact that I was growing more and more curious about the redhead in the picture, I didn't want to let him know that.

I noticed, however that Kristy's eyes lingered a second longer than necessary on Austin.

(Not that I cared.)

I reached for my drink and turned away, focusing on the stage instead. Fortunately, the three guys have stopped singing, a lone table hooting and clapping. I could only guess that those were their (possibly deaf or incredibly drunk) friends.

"Hey," I heard Austin say. I snuck a glance at him, thinking he was calling for me, but then I realized he was talking to Kristy. "Have you seen an Asian girl with a blonde guy here earlier? Somewhere around our age."

Curious, I looked at Kristy as well.

She seemed taken aback by the question, but she quickly recovered, shaking her head. "Sorry. My shift just started."

"Oh." Austin nodded slowly. "Okay, then. Thank you."

"I can ask the others," she offered.

I raised an eyebrow when Austin's lips tugged into a smile. "Really? That would be great, Kristy"

Kristy mirrored his smile. "Yeah, all right."

When she left, I immediately turned back to the stage. A woman was setting up with the help of two guys. They were helping her plug an acoustic guitar.

"Why are you frowning?"

I turned to Austin. "What?"

To my surprise, he lifted a hand, placing two fingers between my eyebrows. "You're glaring at everyone."

I slapped his hand away, feeling the heat from where his skin had touched mine. "I was not."

"You were. See, you're scowling again." He pointed at my face. "With that face on, you'll definitely scare away the guy checking you out."

Unable to tell if he was joking, I followed the direction he was looking at. Adjacent to where we were seated, there was a guy drinking a cocktail from a tall glass and—sure enough—he was looking this way too.

"I really don't care," I muttered, uninterested, before sliding my gaze back to the crowd of dancing people, dismissing the matter altogether.

"Really," Austin said, obviously unconvinced.

"Really," I echoed, taking a long gulp of my coke.

He nudged me lightly with an elbow. "He looks pretty okay."

"Why don't you hook up with him then?"

His eyes were lit with amusement, a smile playing on his lips. "Always so snarky. I can't even imagine how you'd be when you're on your period."

"I can't imagine you dealing with your period. If you had it, I mean. I'm pretty sure you'd cut out your own vagina—"

He spluttered his drink out. "What the fuck?"

I started laughing at his reaction. "What?"

Glaring at me, he used the back of his hand wipe some of the coke on his face, coughing a little. He set his drink on the counter. "Do you always have to be so vulgar?"

"Oh, Dick. Your reactions are priceless."

He didn't do anything to hide the fact that he was unhappy. I could tell he was about to say something, but seemed to think better of it. "Hold on a sec."

I knew, right then, that I wouldn't like where this was going. He stood up from his seat and I almost reached for his arm to stop him. "Where are you doing?"

"I won't be long." He winked at me. "Don't miss me too much."

"Dick," I said slowly, widening my eyes with a warning look. "Whatever you're planning, don't you dare."

He chose to ignore me, quickly walking away before I could stop him, easily disappearing into the crowd. I reached for my coke and took another long gulp, finishing half of it in one swig. I was about to finish my drink to follow him, but stopped when a figure on peripheral vision made me pause.

When I looked up, the guy who had been "checking me out" (as Austin had put it) earlier had confidently occupied Austin's empty chair. He was still holding onto the same drink.

"Hi," he said with a slight smile. "Can I get you a drink?"

"I'm fine," I replied without missing a beat.

"You look like you need one."

I raised my glass. "I already have one."

I had to give him credit. Most people would have turned away by now. He was still sitting there, a close-lipped smile on his face. "Did you and your... boyfriend have a fight?"

It was his way of asking whether or not Austin and I were together. I was just about to deny his assumption when a thought occurred to me. He might quit if I told him he was my boyfriend, but the mere thought of it was enough to make me gag, so instead I ended up not replying at all.

The moment of hesitation must have been enough of an answer for him. His smile had widened. "I'm Will." He offered his hand.

I debated on whether or not I should accept his introduction. Austin was right when he said the guy seemed pretty okay. His dark brown hair was neatly cropped and behind his full-rimmed glasses, he had bright green eyes that Tori would probably appreciate.

On another night, I would have taken a chance on him, but tonight, I was simply uninterested. The look on his face, however, made me release a small sigh. "I'm Reed."

"Reed," he repeated, nodding slowly. He seemed pleased enough that I let him know my name.

"Hey."

Both of us turned to Kristy. If she was wondering where Austin was, she didn't show it.

"I think one of my co-workers had seen them," she replied. "They came around an hour ago."

To say I was surprised was an understatement. I didn't expect that they would really go here. Austin had only chosen this place at random—what were the chances?

I turned to face her completely, bracing two hands against the edge of the counter. "By any chance, do you know where they might have been headed?"

Will exchanged looks between me and Kristy, as if looking at our faces would somehow let him know what we were talking about. The blonde shook her head, looking just slightest bit sympathetic. "Sorry."

I nodded numbly. "Oh." Taking a deep breath, I chastised myself for getting my hopes up. When a guy from the other end of the bar placed an order, Kristy excused herself. I thanked her.

Will was giving me a puzzled look. "Are you looking for someone?"

Running a hand through my hair, I closed my eyes and released a deep sigh. "Two idiots."

He raised an eyebrow. "I'm guessing you haven't had much luck."

"Apparently so."

"My friends and I had been here for two hours now. What do they look like?"

I looked at him, wondering if he might be able to help out after all. "A short Asian girl with a guy."

It didn't take three seconds for Will's face to brighten, straightening a little in his seat and turning to me with such vigor. "Was her name Terry? Shit, no, that's wrong. Tara?"

My reaction was instantaneous. I sent him a wide-eyed stare, suppressing the urge to slap myself to check if this was simply my exhausted mind playing tricks on me. "Tori," I said. "Her name's Tori."

He snapped his fingers. "Yes! Tori."

I wasn't sure how exactly I should ask him about the Idiots. If Will actually knew her name, then that meant Tori had actually introduced herself to him. "How—how do you know her?"

"One of my friends know the guy she's with. What was his name?" His eyebrows creased together, his gaze trained on the ceiling. "I think it was Louie."

"Lewis," I corrected.

"Right." A sheepish smile crossed his face. "Sorry. I'm kind of forgetful. Anyway, one of my friends knew Lewis and he took them back to our campsite."

I almost didn't want to believe it. It seemed too good to be true to have found a lead in such a random place. For once, Austin's idea actually worked. "Campsite," I said, trying to suppress the excitement. "Tori and Lewis went to your campsite."

"Yeah.  A bunch of my friends and I are camping at the beach tonight," he replied.

"You think maybe you can give your friend a call? See if they're still there?" I knew I was bordering on being impolite, but I couldn't contain myself. We were this close to actually finding them and ending this blind chase around the town.

It seemed, however, that my high hopes were just about to get crushed, judging from the apologetic look that settled in Will's features.

"Sorry. We all kind of decided to have this no-technology-while-camping rules."

I reeled back. "Oh."

"I can take you there." I turned, surprised. He cleared his throat. "I mean, you and your friend. I'll bring you to our campsite. They might still be there."

Ever the pessimist, I paused and didn't reply. I tried my best not to let my doubt show on my expression. Unlike Austin, I just couldn't find myself readily accepting a stranger's help.

It turned out I didn't have to mask my doubt for more than five seconds anyway, because not a moment later, my name was called from the stage.

My head snapped to the direction of the man on stage, squinting into the spotlight as he scanned the crowd. Once again, he repeated my name, "Reed Oakley," reading it from a piece of paper in his hands. "Singing Teenage Dream."

"You're going to sing?" Will asked me, a smile on his face.

"No." I slid out of my chair, not bothering to look at Will. "I'm going to kill somebody."

I wasn't even sure if I was kidding or not.

---

The first thing I wanted to do the moment I saw Austin was to wipe that smirk off his face.

In fact, I wanted to make it physically impossible for him to smirk again.

He was leaning against the side of the stage, ankles crossed, hands (of course) shoved in his pockets. In my head, it went like this:

I took a running sprint to cover the rest of the distance between us, let out a feral growl that mimicked that of a zoo animal on rampage, and tackled him to the ground to pummel his face in.

In reality, I managed to trip on someone's foot on the way.

The floor rushed to meet me for a heart-stopping moment and I prepared my hands to shelter my fall. At the last minute, I did see Austin's eyes widening, his smirk disappearing, as he lunged to catch me, but he was too late.

I winced from the pressure on my already-injured hand, but I was glad to know that there wasn't anything too serious.

"You—you should have seen your face."

I looked up to find Austin trying—and failing—to keep himself from smiling. He offered both his hands, which I eyed carefully, before taking them. Instead of letting him pull me up, though, I did the childish thing and pulled him down instead.

He let out a slight yelp as he lost his footing.

Of course, I realized how wrong of a move this was only when he did fall.

Right on top of me.

He didn't really land on me, or anything, but I ended up having to brace my elbows on the floor as he planted his hands on the floor, almost but not quite touching me.

"And you call me immature," he said, surprisingly calm about it.

I found myself trying to inch backwards, especially when he raised his gaze and looked me dead in the eye. Our faces were only a few inches apart.

He must have noticed our proximity, because he quickly moved back, falling on his butt instead. In the dim lighting, I could almost make out the slight coloring of his cheeks.

He cleared his throat. "I—I should have seen it coming, though. There's no way you'd willingly accept someone's help."

I didn't know why, but this particular remark sliced through me like he had meant them to hurt me. Which was ridiculous. His tone was anything but offensive. He had said them matter-of-factly, and to be honest, I agreed with him because he was right, but for some reason, I almost felt as though it should be something I should be embarrassed of.

Looking away from his gaze, I pushed myself up, dusting myself off as he stood up as well.

"No Reed Oakley?" I heard the guy on the stage say. "Last call for Reed Oakley."

I could feel Austin watching me, as if he was waiting for me to react, but I pretended to continue removing imaginary dirt.

"We don't have time for your childish whims," I told him, finally looking him in the eye. "I found a guy who knows where the Idiots are."

He was surprised enough not to complain when the guy calling my name had moved on to the next one in queue. "Really?"

"Yes," I replied. "So we have to hurry up."

Finally, he eyed the stage, just as a new name was called up. When he looked back at me, there was a slightly conflicted expression on his face. "Before the night ends," he said, "I'm going to hear you sing."

I shrugged. "Keep hoping."

An amused smile crossed his face. "Trust me." He tipped his head to the side. "I will."

We started to make our way back to the bar, him slightly lagging behind me. I narrowly dodged a clumsy waiter holding a tray in hand, stepping back to move out of the way. This, in turn, resulted to Austin bumping into me, only just slightly, at the abrupt halt.

Almost as if I'd been electrocuted, I jerked away.

He didn't miss my reaction. "Jesus," he said. "It's not like I have a contagious disease or anything."

"Yeah," I said, "you're just disgusting I couldn't help it."

He scoffed. "That wasn't what you were thinking when you pulled me down to you earlier."

"Maybe you missed the part where I inched backwards to get away."

A smirk. "Oh, Red." He shook his head. "You still pulled me closer."

"Yeah?" I huffed. "Well, you were blushing."

The corner of his lips turned down. "I was not."

"Right."

"I wasn't," he exclaimed.

"Uh-huh."

This went on for the rest of the walk back to the bar. The guy was persistent. He only stopped when the bar was finally in sight, instead saying, "Whoa, is that—" he looked at me with both eyebrows raised. "Is that the guy who had been checking you out earlier?"

"He wasn't," I mumbled.

Of course, he didn't seem convinced. "Red, he was. Judging by the fact that he's occupying my seat, it's obvious he came over to talk to you."

"Whatever." I realized we both stopped walking, just watching Will sitting alone in the bar, occasionally looking up to scan the crowd, as if he was afraid I'd just ditch him. I stepped into view, catching his eye. A smile made its way to his face.

Even without turning, I knew Austin was behind me. Will must have seen him, because his gaze flickered over my shoulder, his smile faltering a little.

"Hey," I said, stopping just a few feet away from him. I turned to the side just the slightest bit so that both of them were in view. "Will, this is Dick."

Upon hearing the name, Austin immediately turned to me with a grimace. "Really, Red? Really?" When I merely ignored him, he looked back at Will and gave him a curt nod. "I'm Austin."

There was a confused look on Will's face, but the smile he had on was still intact. "How is, uhh, Dick short for Austin?"

"Apparently," Austin replied, "it's a term of endearment, coming from Red here."

"Term of endearment my ass," I said.

"Admit it, Red."

"Red," Will echoed, eyeing me as if he was waiting for an explanation. When I didn't say anything, Austin spoke again.

"It's a term of endearment as well." He shrugged. "We're just that dear to each other."

My foot moved before I could even think of it, kicking his leg so that he had to jolt away in surprise with a sour look on his face. "What was that for?"

I smiled. "It's a gesture of endearment."

---

A/N: 

hi sorry this is a week late sorryyyyyy but anyway here goes and i hope you guys like it bc i'm fairly proud of the last bit hahaha. i'm sticking with #restin for their ship name bc the world may end but this ship ain't #restin' (YES?? YES?? no? no? ................oh.) 

as always, tell me what you think and thanks for reading (: