Edited by: EDIT0RR

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"I know." I tried to hide a smile, unsure of whether to laugh or cry that me, Carter Mason just got into a fight at a party.

"Do you want to go home?" Luke asked, shoving his hands in his pockets. "We can leave now if you want."

"No, no," I blurted. "It's ok, we can stay a little longer if you want."

"You sure?" Luke's eyebrows knitted together.

I nodded. "Yeah."

"Just tell me when." Luke started to walk out of the kitchen.

"Wait." I paused as he turned. "Would I be giving Gabe a ride too?"

"I don't know," he shrugged. "I'll see if he needs one."

I nodded and Luke left. I leaned up against the counter, thinking to myself about what just happened and trying to drown out the thumping music from the next room.

"Hey stranger," Mandy smiled.

"It's only been a couple hours. We aren't strangers yet." I gave a soft smile back.

"Yeah I know, I just hate it when we fight." She stayed on the other side of the kitchen, hesitant to come stand by me.

"So do I," I agreed.

"I'm really sorry for blaming you. It was so wrong of me and I hope you'll forgive me." Tears pooled up in her blue eyes, threatening to spill over and smudge her makeup.

"Of course." I pushed myself off the counter and pulled her into a hug. A tear leaked out and wiggled down her flushed cheek.

"I'm really sorry," she choked out over her sobs.

I nodded into her hair and pulled away. "What are you going to do?"

She laughed over the last remnants of her fleeting tears. "I have absolutely no idea, but I gotta say, you punching Lauren made my night."

I snorted. "It hurt so much."

"I'm really sorry again." She wrinkled up her nose and put her hands on her hips.

I rolled my eyes. "Mandy, I know. You've already said that at least fifty times now. I forgive you. But that's just how people like Lauren are, they're manipulative and-"

"No, not that," she laughed, interrupting me. "I'm sorry about your dress. You look like a zombie bride." I glanced down at my once perfect dress now in tatters, folding my lip out so it looked like I was trying to cry.

"Ew gross don't make that face at me. We're not that friendly yet," Mandy teased. I grinned and threw a playful punch at her shoulder.

"So, uh, zombie bride," Mandy deepened her voice. "Would you care to join me for a dance?"

"In this dress? Of course," I giggled and let her lead me out to the dance floor. She pulled me to the center of the pulsing crowd. Hips, elbows, and hands bumped and nudged me from all angles. It took all I had not to shove them out of my way and demand them not to come near my personal space bubble.

"Um, Mandy, actually," I shouted over the vibrating bass, "I don't like people."

"Oh shut up and come on." She flicked her hair and suddenly stopped.

I saw her lips form the words, "Oh crap."

"What?" I yelled in her ear.

"I dropped my scrunchie. Can you get it for me? I would get it but I have heels on."

I huffed and dropped to the dark floor. I found her blue scrunchie by a puddle of mysterious liquid that I carefully avoided. I stood up, stumbling back a step because Mandy was so close in front of me. There was a rush of air up my ripped dress and I felt my butt touch something. Hold up, did I just accidentally grind against somebody? Keep in mind, grinding isn't what I do. In fact this whole night was new territory for me.

So when I handed Mandy her scrunchie, and heard a deep, "Hey girl". I immediately froze. My whole face felt like an oven and I could feel it go red. I spinned slowly on one foot to find...

"Gabe?" I swear my face overheated so much that I almost fainted.

"Nice moves, Carter," He smirked.

"Gross," I gagged.

"Hey, you started it. But anytime you wanna finish it, I'll be here." He laughed at my shudder. Escaping over to Mandy, I saw her doubling over cracking up with laughter.

"What happened?" I asked.

"You happened," she managed between fits of giggles. "You have so much to learn." I folded my arms and pouted.

"Come on." Mandy unfolded my arms and started to dance. I tried to mimic her moves but felt ridiculous.

"Stop thinking," Mandy shouted. So I did. The music dipped and swirled as the night went on. Mandy and I were always in sync with the beat. The crowd still pulsed like a living thing, bodies and limbs still bumped into me, but it just didn't matter anymore. I lost track of time just living in the moment. But when I felt a tap on my shoulder, I jerked around, waking up to reality. It was Luke. He was saying something but the music was too loud to hear him. He was talking too fast to read his lips.

"What?" I shouted.

He leaned closer, an inch away from my ear. "We need to go!"

"Why?"

"Sam's missing," he yelled. The word "missing" seemed to echo in my eardrums, electrocuting me from the inside out. The world went hazy for a minute and the music muted, and then everything came back into focus 1000 times clearer. I became acutely aware of how close I was dancing to guys that I didn't even know, of how many bodies were knocking into me.

Luke was still yelling at me to "come on" and it was like a switch. All of a sudden I was agitated and irritated, panicked and crazed, saying bye to Mandy, and leading Luke out of the throbbing crowd. People grumbled from my thrown elbows but I didn't care, I had to get out of there fast.

Sam. Sam, my sister. I just dropped her off at her friend's house today. She can't be missing. Gone? How can she be?

I found an empty corner next to a couch. My mouth tasted dry. "Did you say Sam is missing?"

"Yes I did. That's why we have to go, now." He gripped my hand and dragged me behind him.

"What about Gabe?" I asked. Wait, why am I checking about Gabe? Sam should be my main priority.

"He's fine," Luke dismissed. "I texted him and he'll get a ride from someone."

"Ok, ok," I muttered to myself, mostly just to keep myself sane. But that didn't last long because the last doorway into the foyer was hogged by a couple making out, leaving no room to walk through.

Luke stopped right in front of them and paused. "Uh, can you move?" They patently ignored him and I huffed, shoving myself forward.

"Gotta do everything myself," I mumbled just loud enough for Luke to hear me. Then a little bit louder I announced, "Let's go, keep it going. We don't have all day." The girl looked at me sideways but still ignored me.

"Rude," I frowned and pushed through. They broke apart, stumbling out of the doorway, throwing curse words in my running direction.

"Carter, you could be a little nicer," Luke advised as he lead the way to the car.

"Our sister's missing Luke. Do you want to leave now or in five hours when they're finished?"

"Just get in the car you grump."

We hopped in and I sped off, gunning it. My parent's cars were missing but Natalie's was still there when we made it to the house. Racing inside, we found only Natalie on the couch in the living room. She was watching tv and picking at her fingernails nervously. When she saw us she immediately got up and hugged us.

"Your parents are out looking for her." She held on and finally pulled away as I started talking.

"What about the police?"

"They're looking too. But it's dark, I'm not sure about the luck they will have."

"When was she last seen?" Luke asked.

"Well when your dad went to pick her up from her basketball game, she wasn't there."

"But she was at the game, right? I dropped her off at Julia's earlier," I remembered.

"So what happened?" Luke's eyebrows furrowed and he shoved his hands in his pockets.

"I don't know," Natalie shrugged. "After the game no one saw her. It was like she just, vanished." 

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Hey thanks again for reading! I hope you enjoyed the fourth chapter of One By One! Please let me know what you think! :)

- _ginger333_