Chap. 46
"Oh my gosh! Amanda is that you?"
I turn in surprise. One of the clerks is looking at me funny. She's about my age with blonde hair cut into a bob. She looks familiar. "C-Courtney?" I'm not really sure it's her because the last time I saw her, her hair was red.
"It IS you!" Courtney throws her arms around me, squeezing me tightly. Ow!
"C-Court, can you let me go?" I ask, trying not to sound like I'm in too much pain.
She lets me go and looks at me with a pout. "Where have you been?"
"Is this someone you know?" Quatre asks from behind me.
"Yes. This is Courtney. We went to school together." I'm not sure why I'm suddenly feeling so confused. I mean, I should be happy that Courtney remembers me, right? But on the other hand, I'm not sure I was ready to run into anyone I knew…before. I'm not sure what to tell her about where I've been.
"It's very nice to meet you Courtney." Quatre offers her a hand and she shakes it, giving me a funny look as she does so.
"Nice to meet you, too…Mr. Winner."
"Please, call me Quatre."
Courtney blushes a bit. "Um, 'Manda, can I have a quick word with you?"
She pulls me a few aisles away before I can protest. "I can't believe you."
I look at her in surprise. "Wh-what do you mean?"
"You ran away so you could get him first knowing full well that I called dibs in third grade!"
Oh good hell. I forgot how obsessed with Quatre Courtney had always been.
"It isn't like that, Courtney. I only met Quatre a few months ago."
She crosses her arms and gives me a look that says she doesn't believe me.
I sigh. "Courtney, I was kidnapped on my way home from school all those years ago. I was found by the Preventers a couple of months ago and they've been helping me. And Quatre does some consulting work for the Preventers sometimes so…that's how we met." I'm not sure what else I can safely tell her. I'm pretty sure Quatre doesn't want it to become common knowledge that he works for the Preventers right now.
"Oh, 'Manda, I was just kidding!" Courtney is horrified. "I really didn't mean to make you feel bad. I…I guess I just thought that teasing you about going after my crush would keep this from getting awkward. It kind of backfired, I'm sorry."
I give her a small smile. "It's okay, Courtney. Under different circumstances, it would have worked better."
She nods. "Do your parents know you're safe?"
Oh, boy, do they ever.
She continues, not even realizing that I didn't answer her. "They thought that Tanya and I knew where you were. But then, like, all of a sudden, they said that looking for you was a lost cause and they called the search off. It was weird."
"What's weird is that they bothered looking for me in the first place," I mutter.
Courtney frowns at me. "What do you mean?"
"Courtney…they…they sold me to the man that took me. They knew where I was the whole time."
Courtney's eyes widen. "No shit?"
"Yeah."
"Oh…Amanda…I…that sucks so much. What are you going to do now?"
"I'm not sure. I can't figure that out until some other stuff gets taken care of."
"Oh. Well, here's my number. Give me a call when you can hang out, okay?"
"Thanks, Court." I give her a hug. "I missed you so much."
"Yeah, I missed you, too."
We end the hug and I ask, "So…what about Tanya? Is she working in the mall somewhere, too?"
Courtney looks down. "No. She actually disappeared about two years after you did. Her parents said they found a note saying she was running away. She always said that she hated living here and she was going to go to New York and make it on Broadway, but I figured she would have at least told me she was leaving. Or called me when she got her big break, but I haven't heard from her."
"Oh…Courtney I'm sorry I wasn't there. That must have been so hard for you to lose both of us."
She nods. "Hey, at least I didn't have any competition for Mitch." The joke is a weak one, but it helps to break some of the awkwardness.
"So are you two still together then?"
"No." She waves a hand. "He's totally not who I thought he was. He turned out to be a jerk. He only invited me to homecoming because he thought he could get me alone in a hotel room afterwards. I ended up giving him a black eye."
"Good for you, Court. I wouldn't expect anything less."
She grins at me. "Well, I guess I'd better let you get back to the hotties you're shopping with. But before you go, can I ask you a favor?"
"Sure."
"Can you get me Quatre's number? He's gone from cute to gorgeous!"
I chuckle. "I'll ask him, but no promises."
"Tell me honestly, do you think I have a chance with him?"
"I don't know him well enough to tell you, but I'll put in a good word for you."
"Oh, 'Manda, you're still the best!"
She gives me a quick hug and she dashes off before she gets in trouble for not working. I make my way back to the cash register where two preventers and a circus star are waiting for me.
"Everything all right?" Duo asks me.
I nod.
"Great. All this shopping is makin' me hungry. I vote we hit the food court next."
"Duo, you're always hungry," Quatre says, shaking his head. "But if it will keep you from complaining through the next few shops, I suppose we ought to get something to eat."
We go to the food court. I'm not overly hungry, but there's a smoothie stand, so I get one of those. It's yummy. The others are getting food at different shops, so Quatre tells me to find a table near the eatery where he's ordering his meal. I sip at my smoothie and look around while I wait. There are a lot of people here, but the only people I recognize are Duo, Cathy and Quatre, all of whom are standing in different lines to order food. I'm not sure if that's a good thing because I don't see any of his people, or a bad thing because they might be here anyway and I wouldn't know it.
"Hey, sweetcheeks. This seat taken?"
It's one of the teenagers that was eyeing Duo earlier. He's got messy dark hair and is wearing ripped jeans and a black leather jacket. "Y-yes, it is."
He narrows his eyes. "By who? That fag that had his arm around you?" The guy sits anyway. "I know what you want. You want a real man." He puts his hand on my knee. I move my leg and he grabs my knee again. "I can give you what you want." His hand travels up my leg. I push his hand off me.
"Please leave me alone."
He smirks at me. "And if I don't?"
I throw my smoothie in his face.
He jumps up, wiping the frosty drink out of his eyes. "You'll pay for that you little bitch."
Suddenly he is twirled around and Duo punches him in the face. He ends up on the floor, clutching his nose. Duo is glaring down at the teen. "Stay away from her if you don't want to go home in pieces."
The guy gets off the floor and wipes the blood from his obviously broken nose. "You think you're somethin' tough? Come on, fag, let's go."
Duo's eyes narrow. I'm thinking he learned that look from Heero. "Leave. Now."
"You think a homo like you is gonna make me?" The teen's friends have started to close in around us. "This is our turf, got it? Even the cops around here know not to mess with us."
"You don't know what you're messing with, kid. Go home before you hurt yourself." Duo looks at me. "Cathy's over at the pizza joint. Find her."
I nod and get up to leave.
The teen grabs me. "Oh no…this little tart's comin' with me. I promised to show her a good time."
I struggle in his grasp as he lifts me off the ground. "Let me go!" He's hurting me. "Please…let me go!"
He pulls me off as his friends surround Duo.
"LET ME GO!" I scream as the teen tightens his grip on me.
Everything happens so fast that I'm not entirely sure how it happens. The guy holding onto me suddenly lets me go and I fall to the floor. I turn and see Quatre sitting on his chest beating the snot out of him. I look over at Duo and there are five guys around him on the floor, groaning in pain. Duo comes over and taps Quatre on the shoulder.
"You know, Quat, I really hate it when you take over my projects."
Quatre gives the guy one last punch to the face and gets up, dusting off his hands. "Well, you were taking too long."
"I totally had it under control." Duo looks at me and offers me a hand. "You okay, Kiri?"
I nod as he helps me up. "H-how? There were five of them, Duo." I know I'm not making any sense, but this whole thing doesn't make any sense.
"I know, they were outnumbered and I shoulda gone easier on 'em. But next time maybe they'll think twice before messing with someone they don't know." He winks at me. "Let's get you another smoothie, okay?"
I nod, completely dumbfounded. How did he do that? I thought for sure they'd overpower him, but he doesn't have a mark anywhere. And Quatre…I haven't seen him hit anyone like that before.
"Kiri? Are you sure you're okay?"
I look up at Duo. He's frowning a little at me. "Y-yeah…just a little shaken up, I guess."
He gives me a serious look. "You're sure? You're not hurt?"
I shake my head. "No. He grabbed me a little tight, but I don't think he did any real damage."
Duo frowns. "You're absolutely positive?"
I nod.
"If you're sure…"
I nod again.
"Well alright. What kind of smoothie did you want?"
I get a new smoothie and Duo puts his arm around me to lead me back to where Quatre is speaking with the mall security and a few local cops, who are taking the teens away. I flinch as the one who grabbed me glares at me. Duo glares back at him and the guy pales a bit before quickly looking away.
Duo has me sit at a new table and he quickly grabs his tray of food which miraculously wasn't ruined during his tussle. He sits next to me and starts eating. Quatre joins us shortly afterward with his own food. Cathy comes a few minutes later. The line at the pizzeria was the longest in the food court, but everyone got to watch the fight. That's another thing: why did no one bother to help them or me? Everyone just stood around watching. Maybe it happens a lot here? That doesn't make me feel any better.
"I can't take you anywhere," she huffs as she sits down next to me. "Honestly, boys, don't you think you could have handled it without beating those stupid teens to a pulp?"
Quatre and Duo look at each other before turning to Cathy and answering "No" in unison. I swear they're both trying not to laugh.
She gives an exasperated grunt and rolls her eyes. "Boys," she mutters. She looks at me. "Are you alright, Kiri? They didn't let you get hurt, did they?"
"I'm fine, Cathy." I concentrate on my smoothie.
"Kiri, don't let what happened bother you," Duo tells me quietly. "Those guys have been eyeing you since we walked into the mall. I knew it was only a matter of time before they started something. Now it's over with and nobody should bother us anymore."
Quatre frowns at Duo. "Was that why you claimed to be hungry already? So you could have it out with those kids?"
"Hey, I wanted to get on with the inevitable. This way it's all done and Kiri and Cathy can shop in peace." Duo takes a bite of his sandwich. "And, this is my favorite joint. Not every mall has an Earl of Sandwich in it. I figured if I ate somethin' now I'd be hungry again before we leave and I can get another one."
Quatre shakes his head. "Only you, Duo."
I try to shake it off, I really do, but I was almost taken again. I can't help it when the tears trickle down my cheeks. I try to wipe them away before anyone sees, but Duo notices.
"Kiri? Come here." He scoots his chair closer to me and puts his arm around me, pulling me into his chest. "It's okay," he murmurs into my hair. "Shhh…it's okay."
I sob silently against his shirt. At least it's black so the wet spot won't show as much. I wish Trowa was here. But it's my fault he's not. He got hurt because of me.
"What else does Kiri need?" Duo's voice rumbles in his chest as I lean against it.
"Well, shoes…and she said she wanted to get her hair cut and I was going to let her get whatever else she wanted," Quatre says. "Kiri, do you want to go back now? We can if that's what you want to do."
I don't know what I want. I don't want to ruin everyone else's mall time, but I'm probably going to be a bit jumpier now, even if those dumb boys are gone.
"I have a suggestion," Cathy interjects. "Since she needs shoes, why don't we go to the shoe store and then Kiri can decide if she wants to stay or go back."
That's reasonable. I nod against Duo's chest. I think I've calmed down enough to try and finish my smoothie. I pull out of Duo's arms and wipe the lingering tears from my eyes.
"You let us know if you're uncomfortable, okay?" Duo says softly. "We don't even have to find shoes here if you don't want to. There are plenty of places to go in this city."
I nod, grateful that my bangs are so long so no one can see my eyes as I look down at the table. Why does this have to be so hard? If that had been the only time someone tried to abduct me and I was rescued by guys as hot as Quatre and Duo, I'd be fawning over them and thanking them profusely. I mean, if a random hot guy saves you when they don't know you, it's because they're chivalrous and stuff. Not that Quatre and Duo aren't chivalrous anyway but…hells bells my train of thought is derailing. How distracted am I? I should be grateful but instead all I can do is try not to cry.
I flinch as a hand ghosts across my back. I relax as I realize that Cathy is running her hand across my back. The action calms me further.
"Hey, if you want to leave we can," she says softly in my ear.
I shake my head. "I'm…I'm okay." I take a deep breath, exhale and look up. "Really. I'm…fine."
Quatre gives me a searching look but nods his agreement. "If you change your mind, just tell us."
I nod. I take my smoothie and sip at it. I focus on the texture and how it tastes in an effort to get my mind off of what happened. It seems to work. By the time the others are finished eating, I'm at a somewhat normal level of unease as opposed to complete panic. I wonder if I'll ever actually be comfortable being out in public. Well, dwelling on it isn't going to make it better, so I push the darkening thoughts aside and try to focus on our next task: Shoe shopping.
I haven't quite finished my smoothie, so I bring it along and sip at it as we head to the shoe shop. Duo walks next to me, his arm over my shoulder and I let him keep me close. It makes me feel safer this way. Quatre and Cathy are ahead of us, debating which shoe store to try first. Quatre keeps darting looks around him, as if he's watching for something. I hope he's just being overly alert and there isn't anything actually about to happen.
He glances at me and stops walking until I am next to him. "You're sure you want to stay?" he asks, falling into step with Duo and me.
"Y-yeah."
"Kiri, you don't need to pretend with me."
I stop walking and glare at him. I can't believe him. He thinks he knows so much about me just because of his stupid empathy or whatever he wants to call it. Fine then, since he knows everything, he can just figure out why I'm mad. I turn and walk off.
