A/N: Thank you so much to the reviewers. You guys just blow me away, honestly. Extra thanks to peaceloveejonas for her super long, super awesome review. You rock. Ps. Mike/Oliver didn't die. Anyways, I stayed up until five thirty in the morning writing it for you guys, so enjoy the chapter :)
Disclaimer: Don't own.
Anyone But You
Chapter Two
My eyes were scanning every inch of the crowd. I was searching for any sign of a curly head of hair like my own or some anime-type hairstyle. Basically, I was looking for anything that resembled the head of my two brothers. They couldn't have gotten that far, and I knew they wouldn't have just left me behind, so they had to be here somewhere. Though, it was getting increasingly difficult to find anyone in this mess, with the flashes going off and the sound of sirens in the air. People were going crazy just trying to get as far away from the crime as possible.
When I couldn't seem to find either Jason or Shane I began to panic, even more so than I already was. I was pretty much alone, except for Lola, who hated every bone in my body. We were standing still in the crowd, people moving all around us. That's when I realized I couldn't feel my hand in hers anymore and I looked around frantically. I had promised Hannah I would watch out for her, take care of her, and she had run off without me knowing.
I whipped my head around, spotting Lola's long, vibrant red hair just a few steps away. She hadn't really run off, we'd just gotten shoved a few feet apart in the chaos. I managed to push my way back to her against the current, standing next to her. I didn't try to hold on to her or keep her close to me, she probably knew that she should stay close if she didn't want to get lost. She didn't seem to be moving to go anywhere, so I continued to focus on finding my brothers.
Thats when I heard her. Even through the deafening noise of the mob, I could hear the fear in Lola's breathing. I stopped my search, turning to look her over. I hadn't spared her more than a glance before, but I could see it now. Her arms were wrapped around herself and her eyes were downcast, just staring at something so intently. Her body was rigid, but shaking and her lips were moving, muttering something, but no sound came out. She looked absolutely terrified.
"Lola?" I tried to say. My voice was drowned out by the screams and panic of those around us. My arm reached up to shake her shoulder, but she didn't move. Her eyes stayed focused on that one spot, and she only gripped herself tighter. Everyone was moving around us, shoving us occasionally, because we were stationary, but my eyes were trained on her. She wasn't moving, and she wasn't responding to my shake.
"Lola, come on," I shook her harder, my forehead creasing. She remained almost frozen to the spot, completely blind to the situation around us. It was almost as if nothing was around her and she couldn't feel or hear or see.
"Nate!" I snapped my head up, looking for the voice. It was easy recognizable as Shane's because I had become so accustomed to hearing it. My eyes were quick, inspecting every inch of the crowd until I found him. He was running towards me, sliding roughly through the crowd with Jason trailing behind him. When he reached me, he slammed into me from the force of the mass of people. Jason was able to stop himself, but I ended up bumping Lola before I could find my balance.
"Nate, we have to go," Shane told me fiercely, the alarm clear in his voice. I don't think I had ever seen Shane as scared as he was in those few minutes. His hands were shaking, despite how tough he was trying to look. I could see his eyes darting around the crowd nervously, his breathing hard. He grabbed my upper arm, and turned to drag me away. I pulled out of his grasp forcefully and he turned, his pleading eyes meeting mine.
"I can't just leave Lola," I explained, looking over my shoulder to make sure the red head was still standing there. She was, her form still numb and immobile. Her body hadn't moved more than a few centimeters since we had reentered the crowd. She just wouldn't move, her eyes still staring with the faraway look in them.
"She'll come with us," He answered quickly, turning around again and starting to steer his way out of the crowd. He was panicked, wanting to get to safety as soon as possible.
"Shane!" I called, and he turned, his eyes boring into mine as if to ask why I was holding us up.
"She-" I looked back again at her, "She won't move." Shane came back a few feet towards us, looking at Lola. His eyes shifted around at the scene and he seemed to come to a conclusion. He looked her over again, and shook her arm. Like when I'd done it, she had no response. In a quick and spontaneous motion, he hauled her onto his back, slouching a little at the added weight. Straightening up, he wrapped his arms around her legs, giving her somewhat of a piggy back ride. Nodding at me, we then urgently made our way through the madness. Pushing and shoving, and Shane trying to keep Lola balanced on his back, we finally found an out. I was cautious as we went through a side street, remembering the last short cut I had tried to take. When we emerged on another main street, I was put at ease.
Shane slid Lola off his back and onto a bench next to a bus stop. She wasn't unconscious or asleep, she was just wasn't capable of moving on her own. I found myself sitting next to her, my head falling into my hands and my fingers digging into my curls. My breathing was rigid as the memory of moments before came rushing back. In the crowd, I'd been so concerned with finding my brothers and the chaos had distracted me. Now, as we waited on a quiet street corner, I finally became aware of the extreme danger we had been in. We had almost been as good as dead. That was a thought that just blew me away, the idea that everything could have just ended there.
I could vaguely make out Jason calling someone to pick us up on his cell phone. Out of the four of us, he was the most put together, but that was to be expected since he was the oldest and had to stay strong for us. Shane didn't sit, he only paced, but Shane came to sit on the other side of Lola. I pulled my head from my hands when I felt Lola's head drop onto my shoulder. Her eyes were wide, her pupils dilated, her body still shaking. Me and Jason both shared a look, myself just wondering if she was going to be okay.
"I think she's in shock," Jason's eyebrows creased as he made his diagnosis. He watched her both curiously and fearful at the same time. Neither of us had seen someone so rigid and unresponsive in our lives. Even if we didn't get along, she was scaring me, my fear deepening with each moment that passed without her reacting to the world. She looked as if everything had just dropped away from her, as if her entire world was gone and she could do nothing. It was like Lola wasn't even there at all.
"Will she be okay?" I asked. Jason didn't answer me and I almost panicked. He just tilted her head slowly off my shoulder until she sat straight. He looked her over like a doctor checks their patient, his eyebrows furrowed the entire time. I could easily tell he was worried.
"Yeah," He mumbled. I wasn't sure if he was being serious or if he was just trying to put me at ease. Either way, it wasn't working well. There was still the bubbling of terror in my stomach and the clench in my chest. It was getting difficult to breath and I desperately tried to swallow the growing lump in my throat. Thankfully I didn't have much more time to consider anything more because a car pulled up next to us. Our mom jumped out of the passenger seat, running to us and engulfing Shane into a hug. When Jason stood, she wrapped her arms around him too, frantically telling us she was so glad we were okay.
I moved from my position on the bench and my mom made her way towards me. I hugged her shortly before pulling away, glancing down at Lola. My mom noticed and her eyes went the same track mine did. When she looked back at me she was concerned. I ignored the questioning look and bent down to grab Lola off the bench. The only thing that stopped me was the digital video camera that I still held firmly in my hand. I hadn't noticed it before then, but I didn't take it for much either. Seeing that it was still on, I quickly shut it off, passing it to Jason before lifting Lola to her feet. When it became obvious that she still wouldn't move, I looked to Shane. I could have carried her myself, but whether or not I would admit it in such a serious moment, I still held resentment for her. When Shane pulled her into his arms bridal style, my mom must have realized she was coming with us. Mom opened the back door quickly and we all loaded into the car, Shane in the back seat watching Lola for any signs of movement.
Both me and Jason were speaking silently to each other. Shane's vision was solely on Lola. He had her sitting on his lap, her head leaned stiffly on his chest. Her eyes were wide and her body shook in his hold. One of his hands was tangled into her hair, and his head was tilted, trying to catch her gaze. I was watching them intently, turned in my seat. Shane looked up from her, joining the silent conversation. The three of us were all worried about her.
I knew Jason was the most afraid. He and Lola had been pretty close friends for around two years now. Shane and her weren't the closest, but he genuinely cared about her. He considered her a friend, but they weren't nearly as close as her and Jason. Me and Lola, we were an entirely different story. We had met at Hannah's sweet sixteen birthday party after Jason had introduced us to her. Initially, we were indifferent to each other. There wasn't an instant friendship, but we didn't dislike each other back then the way we did now. I'm not really an open person, not like Jason or Shane, so since we hadn't known each other well, I'd stayed a lot closer to Hannah the whole night. Besides, maybe I did have a teeny bit of a crush on Hannah at the time, but it wasn't like I was attached to her hip the entire party. Lola, who completely blows things out of proportion, had some sort of instant thought that just because I wasn't joking around with her like my two brothers, that I hated her. Since then she pretty much ignored me and did anything possible to show her hatred. Somewhere along the line I stopped tolerating it and the feeling gradually became mutual. But still, I at least tried to be nice when we had to be together, and even if I practically loathed the girl, I wasn't a bad guy, I was still worried about her.
It was quiet when we pulled up to the house. Jason had his own apartment now since he was turning twenty four this year, but I didn't think he was ready to go to an empty apartment after tonight. I got out of the car and Jason slid out after me. Shane passed the still frozen Lola off to Jason so he could get out also. All three of us were still shaken up over the night's events, but Lola was much more of a concern at the moment. The three of us were fine, safe, but I wasn't so sure about her. She had hardly moved and her body, although it had stopped shaking as violently before, was still trembling.
Shane offered to piggy back her into the house when he saw Jason supporting her. He was probably the strongest out of us so neither me or Jason opposed, especially not me. I may be worried about her, but that didn't mean I had to act like I liked her. When we got into the house, our parents insisted we go get some rest and that we'd all talk in the morning. My mom hugged us all again tightly, well, she hugged Shane a little looser because of the extra body on his back. The three of us told our parents goodnight and that we loved them before making our way up the stairs, trying not to wake Frankie. Shane was the first one upstairs, and he decided to bring Lola to the first empty room he found. Of course, that room just had to be mine. If Lola was in my bed, where was I supposed to sleep? I didn't see how it was fair that I'd be confined to the couch.
"Nate," Kevin whisper yelled to me. He was standing next to my bed, where Shane had just placed Lola. Instead of my eyes snapping to Jason's voice, they trailed over to Lola. The first thing I noticed was that her eyes were no longer wide and frightened, instead they were closed. My eyebrows furrowed and I responded to Jason, not daring to look away.
"Is she okay? Her eyes... they're closed now."
"She'll be fine," He assured, his gaze also settling on the limp body laying on my bed, "She's asleep. She'll be better in the morning."
"Oh," I responded lamely. I tore my eyes from Lola and turned to Jason. He was still looking at her, his face held a deep frown, clearly showing how worried he was.
"Hey Nate," Shane's voice entered my thoughts, "Go get one of your shirts for her, she can't sleep in her dress, especially after you tipped punch all over it."
"Firstly," I turned to him sharply, annoyed, "The punch was an accident, she did this on purpose," I gestured to the shirt I was still wearing that had a large red stain right down the middle of my chest, "And secondly, Gross. You expect me to change her? No way."
"Grow up, Nate," Jason spat, crossing his arms over his chest. Obviously he didn't accept my obvious distaste for Lola.
"Tell her that," I fired back, "She's the one thats supposed to be an adult. I still have another three months."
"Seriously Nate," Jason's eyes narrowed at me. They darted over to Lola, softening when he looked at his friend, "Look at her," I did, "Can't you act reasonable for just one night. I know you guys are arch enemies or whatever, but take the high road, okay? Just for tonight. In the morning you can go back to annoying the hell out of each other."
"Fine," I caved, sighing theatrically, "But I'm still not touching her. One of you can put the shirt on."
"I'll do it," Jason volunteered. I figured that would be for the best anyways since Jasonn and her were closest. I mean, really, didn't my brothers know that she'd personally murder me if she knew I'd seen her in anything less than her current attire? I'd been close enough to dying tonight, I didn't want to face it from her in the morning too.
I stood there, arms crossed, as Shane riffled through my closet for a shirt big enough for Lola. Not that I was a super skinny kid and none of my regular shirts would fit her, it's just that he needed to find something that would cover her more than a normal fitting shirt would. He pulled something off a hanger and tossed it over to Jason. My eyes visibly widened when I saw what Shane had picked out.
"Oh, No way!" I whisper yelled, trying not to wake Lola, "That's my Elvis Costello shirt! She can't wear that! It's my favourite!" Jason, however, shot me this look of utmost hatred and I instantly shut up. I knew he didn't really hate me, more how I was acting. But come on, it was my Elvis Costello shirt. My only Elvis Costello shirt, and now I'd never be able to wear it again. Not only does she take my bed, which will have to be cleaned and sterilized in the morning, but she gets my shirt too?! Too far, definitely too far.
I basically stood in the centre of my room, annoyed to hell, until Shane nudged me. It amazes me how she can not only get on my last nerve when she's conscious, but she also has a way of doing it while she's asleep. I mean, really,thats how much she hated me. But to be honest, I wouldn't say I hated her back, just... a very very strong dislike. The biggest dislike that comes before hate. Yeah, that summed it up nicely.
Shane nudged me again, pushing me until we were outside my room. Oh, so she can kick me out of my own room too, and she doesn't even have to be awake to do it. Pure talent. When I was kindly allowed back into my room moments later, Lola was snugly tucked into my bed, and my shirt was basically dying on her, screaming at me to save it. Believe me, I wanted to, but I wasn't willing to go that far. Everything else in the room was exactly the same, except Jason had set down my camera on my desk top. He looked slightly uncomfortable too, but that was expected. That kind of comes naturally when you see one of your best friends in a less than decent state, even if you were just putting a pair of pajamas on them.
"Where am I supposed to sleep?" I asked, looking around. We didn't have a guest bedroom, and I was hoping neither of them would suggest the couch. It was really uncomfortable. I was kind of hoping one of them would offer me their bed, but that was extremely unlikely.
"In here," Jason told me. Well, if I was expecting anything at all, it definitely wasn't that.
"What?!" Was my natural response.
"Someone has to watch her," He said, stressing the someone and looking at me pointedly. Man, I was in for a long night. I reluctantly agreed to sleep in the same room as the bane of my existence, and settled into the only other slightly comfortable surface; the green chair that was in the corner of my room facing towards the bed. Luckily, I had the odd ability to fall asleep in any position, anywhere, so after a few hours of being awake I dozed off. I hadn't slept at first, still terrified of what had happened only hours ago, but a person can only stay awake for so long. It seemed that a person could only stay asleep for so long as well, because I woke up what felt like ten minutes later to Lola screaming.
My eyes had shot open immediately at the high pitched noise. She was sitting up stock straight in my bed, eyes wide and breathing deeply. For a second I had forgotten the fact that she could be pure evil and rushed from my chair to the bed. She wasn't frozen anymore because she turned instantly to me. As soon as I had reached her side, her arms had wound around my neck, pulling me to her. Awkwardly, I had smoothed down her hair, almost as if I was afraid to touch even a hair on her head. I was scared she would pull away from me and yell and complain that I had infected her with her fictitious disease, jerkitis, that apparently I had. She did nothing of the sort though. It was like she had completely forgotten who I was and every memory of our two year rivalry was gone. All she did was cry into my bare shoulder. I'd gotten changed earlier out of the stained shirt and skinnies and into a pair of sweat pants so I'd be more comfortable. It wasn't helping now, however, because this was the most uncomfortable situation I had ever been in. What do you do when your nemesis suddenly becomes so...vulnerable?
I didn't move from our position and neither did she. She held tightly to me, just sobbing and whispering incoherent words and phrases about a man in black. I could only hold her awkwardly and try to reassure her, telling her that everything was okay and that she had just had a nightmare. She kept shaking her head though, insisting that it was real and that she hadn't imagined it. She had had a nightmare, but I didn't have the heart to tell her that it had actually happened too. I didn't have the heart to tell her that she was reliving the events of what should have been a fun eighteenth birthday surprise party. Well, it was definitely a surprise, just not in the way Hannah had meant it to be.
Finally, twenty or so minutes later, Lola's grip on me noticeably loosened and her sobbing slowed and eventually stopped. Her breathing became even and she fell back asleep. Carefully, I had pried her arms off me and leaned her back into my bed, pulling the covers up over her and tucking her tiny body in. The fear was so clear in her features and when I looked at her I almost felt bad for disliking her as much as I did.
I didn't sleep after that. I was worried that Lola would wake me up with another nightmare, and I was half scared I would have one myself. For the first while I didn't do much except sit in the green chair and watch Lola sleep. I couldn't help but think that maybe, just maybe, if her features hadn't been so scared she might have actually looked okay, just okay, in my Elvis Costello shirt. But still, it looked so much better on me. That was undeniable. When I finally realized that morning wasn't going to come any sooner if I just sat in a chair and did nothing, I began to look for something to occupy myself. The only thing I could really find that would keep me busy and my mind off of the memories was my computer. I didn't know if the bright light from the screen would wake Lola up, but I sincerely hoped it didn't.
Another hour passed as I surfed random sites and played some online games. Eventually the internet stopped being interesting and was no longer contributing to keeping me busy. That was when my eyes veered just a little left of the keyboard. The digital video camera was sitting where Jason had placed it. My head tilted, my eyes watching it for a moment, examining the object. After a minute or two, I picked it up. I snatched the memory card out of the side of it and put it into the computer, loading the videos to my files. Opening the folders I had saved the videos to, the mouse hovered over the files, tempting me to click them. The temptation didn't take long to convince me, because before I knew what I was doing, my video player was up and the scenes were playing.
The first thing I saw was Hannah. She did somewhat of an introduction of "Lola's Party" and explained to Lola, who we had planned to show the video to later, that she hoped it was the best eighteenth birthday ever. The camera then kept changing, showing different faces of people at the party all wishing her a happy birthday and saying special messages. Some of them I knew, but a lot of them I had never seen before in my life. After the birthday messages, there was some footage of the red carpet, and then when Lola had arrived. A couple of shots of the party in action came next, but then I was caught off guard.
The camera was shaky and I was the one on screen. Shane or Jason had apparently been filming me from afar. As I watched, the camera zoomed out a little and I realized that that had been when I was making my way towards to snack table. I couldn't help but chuckle a little at the audio on the video that came with the scene.
"Boom! Crash!" Shane was the one making bombing noises, "Jason, look! War is about to be declared!" He said seriously, seeing that I was walking up to Lola. The camera rustled a little and you could see Shane's feet for a split second before it turned off. I guess this is when they'd ran up to Lola, probably to stop us from bickering at each other.
The screen was black for a few seconds until the next shot came up. It was Lola. I had been the one filming this, trying to be considerate on her birthday. I had asked her nicely what it was like to finally be eighteen, and of course she had given me a snooty response back, as well as insulting me. Sitting at the computer, I had had a semi smile on my face as I watched the video, right up until I heard Hannah's panicked voice. The smile instantly slipped off my face and my stomach dropped. The fear was back.
The events played out on the screen, and for the most part it was all screaming, me yelling at Lola, and the shoes of everyone in panic. My breathing became rigid, my mind telling me over and over to stop the video, but yet my eyes were still trained on the screen. I watched the ground change, and then I recognized the alley way. So far, the video hadn't had any real footage of the events of last night, but that suddenly changed. In the alley, when I'd spotted the man in black, I had stopped immediately. My one hand had clasped over Lola's mouth, trying to keep her quiet, and at the time I hadn't realized I was doing it, but my other arm had wrapped around her, pressing her to me tightly. I guess my natural instincts had kicked in and I had actually been trying to protect her. Unfortunately, this action had given the still filming camera a near perfect view of the alley and of what we had been seeing at that exact moment. When Lola had breathed out and the man had turned, I'd unknowingly captured his face on film.
My motionless body snapped into action when I heard my door creak open. In no time at all, I paused the movie and minimized the program. Turning towards my door, I could see it cracked open, Shane inching into my room.
"Hey..." He whispered. I nodded at him and he opened the door wider coming in, "I couldn't sleep."
"Me neither," I admitted, my eyes shifting to Lola momentarily to make sure she was still alright. The girl laid sound asleep in both my bed and my shirt, seemingly unplagued by the nightmare she had had earlier that night.
Shane shut the door behind him and tiptoed across the room towards me. He found a seat on the floor next to my desk, leaning up against the wall. He stayed silent for a couple minutes, his hands in his lap as he sat cross-legged.
"You okay?" I whispered, looking at him.
"I don't know," He sighed. I shot him a confused look and he continued, "Just, what happened back there? I mean, that's- that's not supposed to happen." When he looked up at me I could see the anxiety flicker through his eyes. It was so unlike Shane to really be afraid of something; his nickname was Danger after all. I had grown up thinking he had been pretty much fearless.
"What if it had been one of us?" He asked, his eyes dropping down to the hard wood floor. When I caught sight of how truly terrified he was at the thought of any of us being the victim of this crime, I decided then and there that I wouldn't tell him about my run in with the criminal. I wasn't going to scare him any more than he already was.
"Don't think about that," I told him, "We're all going to be okay- No, we all are okay." And as I said this, my eyes darted down the the minimized program. I let my eyes linger on the evidence just a little longer, just wondering how true my statement was, and if it would really stay this way. Having evidence had the ability to both keep me alive and sign my death certificate, I just didn't know yet which one it was going to be.
A/N: Today's question: You've seen Nate's thoughts on what happened, what do you think Lilly's first reaction will be when she wakes up in the morning?
Review please :)