A/N: First of all, thank you SO much to the lovely guest who left a very kind review on the last chapter. That made my day. :) Secondly, GUYS THERE'S LESS THAN TWO WEEKS UNTIL THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG SOMEONE HOLD ME I'M NOT STABLE AHHHHHHHHH

Oh MAN is this gonna be an intense several days for me. Anyone going to a midnight showing? :D Sadly, I can't because of school, but I am planning on going with a bunch of friends and some family the evening of the 13th. I can't wait! :D

Enjoy this chapter!

Chaos Unleashed: Chapter 19

Erin's POV

I'd been treading on thin ice at work for awhile now, and going into work today, I didn't expect things to be any easier. Jared was infuriatingly suspicious of basically everything I said or did, and he was constantly trying to squeeze information out of me by popping in not-so-subtle questions about my home life into nearly every conversation. I really wanted to punch him...but of course, I couldn't do that and risk getting fired. Then we'd be in an even deeper hole.

But one day, he pushed me to my absolute limit. It was a Wednesday afternoon shift, so business was slow, and I was charged with stacking the front shelves with copies of the newest games to hit the market. I'd been trying to avoid Jared for the most part, but as fate would have it, he was setting up a cardboard display for some new Call of Duty game right next to me. "Are you doing anything tonight?"

It was an unexpected question, but I didn't react too much. "No. Why?"

"I figured maybe we could hang out."

I shot a mild glare his way and scoffed. "Is that code for 'I just want to come over and search your house?'"

He sighed. "Not really. I was just gonna offer to take you out to dinner. Maybe 5 Guys or something, I don't know."

I paused in sliding the plastic box further onto the rack. ...Is he serious? What happened to Interrogation Jared? I decided to play along, though, to see if he was being sincere. "You'd pay?"

"Yeah. I...I figured it would be a decent way to apologize."

Okay. What the hell. I completely stopped and turned to face him. "Seriously?"

I was pretty shocked to see that he actually did look shameful. "...Yeah. I was thinking about everything we've been through over the past couple days, and...Look, Erin, I'm really sorry for being such a dick."

I could've laughed. "Glad to see you finally noticed the obvious."

He winced the tiniest bit. "I know. I was being stupid. I...I didn't mean to make you so mad, I was just worried. You just seem like you've been going through a lot of stuff lately, and I knew you were stressed out enough to being with, so...I-I thought-"

"You thought I'd gone insane over that?"

"Kind of. I thought you were just losing it because you couldn't find a way to cope with everything." He paused. "That sounds terrible too, doesn't it?"

"A bit..." I looked him over again. "...but I understand where you're coming from."

"I swear, I didn't mean to be so rude about it." He looked at me like he knew he deserved the absolute worst. "I only wanted to help."

I stared back at him. Hmm. Okay. "And you realize now that you went about it in one of the worst possible ways?"

"...Yeah. I did, didn't I?" He laughed nervously, and I smiled the tiniest bit. Maybe he really is sorry. "But...I still feel like I should make it up to you. And I want to talk about this more."

I looked around. "Well, we probably shouldn't do it here. Dinner would be best."

His blue eyes lit up in excitement. "Really? You mean it?"

I sighed and smiled again. "Why not. Five Guys at six tonight?"

"Y-Yeah!" He grinned back at me, then moved back to his station to finish his job. "I'll meet you there."

"You got it," I said, nodding as I returned to mine as well.

oOo

Legolas' POV

"This is the most maddening idea I have ever heard."

"We have no other choice! It's the best way to go about this."

"How? We will not last more than then minutes!"

"That's all we need! Legolas, you must listen to me! This will work!"

"And will probably end up killing both of us in the process! Have you lost your mind?"

Boromir's eyes bored into mine as we argued over his insane plan. "Do you have a better idea on how to do this? If we don't, we will be forced to leave Erin and Kathryn behind!"

I exhaled in frustration. "I realize that, but this is not a plan that I am willing to go along with, even for their sake!"

"You can't be serious!" he said, exasperated. "You would leave them behind simply because you fear the other outcome?"

"When that outcome is death, yes!" I clenched my jaw as the Gondorian rolled his eyes. "Boromir, this is not going to work. Not even Manwë himself could accomplish it!"

He, unfortunately, was just as stubborn in his side of the argument. "I will acknowledge that the chances of success are slim, but that does not mean it is without hope! We have to try." A pause. "...And if you don't want to join me, then I will do it on my own. Either way, I won't leave the girls behind."

"And you do not think Kaia would notice something as obvious as this?"

"Of course she would!" he laughed. "That's why we're going to need someone else to cover our escape."

I stared at him. "Valar help us if you have dragged another into this."

"Don't be such a stick in the mud, Legolas. Pippin was more than willing to-"

"Pippin?! Of all people?"

He frowned. "He's smarter than you give him credit for!"

"No no no, I know that," I said. "But how would he be able to cover such an obvious escape?"

Boromir pointed to the instructions he'd messily scrawled out onto the paper in front of me. "He's going to be the one to convince Kaia to have us stop. While everyone else is preoccupied, we can leave."

I stared at the writing some more. "And you think ten minutes will give us enough distance to lose them?"

"Ten minutes for us is at least half an hour for them once we get away."

I shook my head, reading the paper over one last time. As foolish as it was...I had to admit that he had taken some time to work out all the details. If everything went according to plan, we could have a small shot at making this work. But...it just seemed so idiotic to even attempt! Ada would have my head for even thinking to do something like this.

Boromir sensed my uneasiness in the silence and tried again to persuade me. "Legolas, please. I need you to help me with this. I mean, I could do it on my own, but...it would be much easier with someone else to help me. And we stand more of a chance convincing Erin and Kathryn to let us stay if we both go."

I hesitated, then looked up at him. "...They will not allow this, you know. They will both send us back to Jesse's."

"Maybe," he replied, "but it's worth a shot. They will need us before this is over, Legolas. I know they will."

I stared at him for a moment longer, then back to the papers. He makes a good argument...but can I trust that this will even work? It will likely get us killed. Or arrested. Or both. Though...he is right. It is better to make a stand than give in and go to Baltimore. And I absolutely do not want to do that. After much thought, I let out a breath and straightened up, sticking out my hand for Boromir to shake. "If this ends up failing, know that you will have both our blood on your hands."

He grinned impishly and winked. "Might as well raise the stakes as high as we can."

oOo

Erin's POV

As I climbed out of the car and waved to Kaia as she drove away from dropping me off, I nervously glanced into the small burger joint. I'd agreed to meet Jared here, but my stomach was in knots. I was trying to be optimistic about it and hoped that he was actually trying to mend our weird friendship through doing this, but I was also incredibly worried that this wasn't going to end well somehow. I really hope I don't screw anything up. I went to pull open the door and gave it a good yank, frowning when it didn't budge. After struggling with it for several seconds, a light bulb went off in my head, and I mentally swore as I realized it needed to be pushed open, not pulled.

I slowly opened the door the correct way and headed inside, quickly locating Jared at the back corner of the restaurant. He was laughing to himself, so I assumed he'd seen the whole display. "Sorry," I said as I walked up to the two-person table and sat down. "I'm dumb."

"It's fine," he said. "Happens to me all the time."

I smiled back and shrugged my jacket off, cursing the fall chill. "What are you thinking about getting?"

"Uh, I actually already ordered for us, if you don't mind," he said with a hopeful smile.

"Oh!" I blinked. "No, I uh...I guess that's cool. You know me well enough to know what I like, after all."

"Yeah. Thanks." We sat in a brief moment of silence, and my phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out to see a text from Kaia, asking how things were going so far. We'd set up a sort of protection system so that if something happened and I wanted to leave, I could just alert her and she'd drive over from where she sat in the parking lot of Target across the street to pick me up. She had her iPod and other ways to entertain herself, so she was cool with it.

I replied to her, saying that everything was okay so far as Jared cleared his throat and spoke up. "So...about this whole deal."

I gestured to him. "It's your move, dude. I'm open to whatever you have to say."

"Right. I, ah...I guess I just wanted a chance to explain myself more. I mean, you know how much I care about you, Erin. We've been friends for so long now, and I...I was just worried for your health."

I nodded slowly. "I get that. That's fine. I just want you to know that accusing me of stuff like that and flipping out about it so much was absolutely ridiculous. If you're worried about me, you just have to tell me."

"But...that's the thing. I do tell you that, and you always just brush it off like it's no big deal," he said, choosing his words carefully. I could tell how nervous he was about this. "I feel like you're always so afraid of being open with me."

I bit my lip. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to be that way, I just...there's some stuff that you don't go telling everybody, you know?"

He nodded. "Yeah...but I thought we were close enough for that. I mean...we are, right?"

I didn't answer right away. "I...I guess so, yeah...but I didn't want to just divulge everything to you. I mean, it was private stuff, yeah, but...I don't like burdening people I care about with my problems." Another text from Kaia to check in. I responded under the table with an 'it's all good.'

"Well, I don't mind that," he said. "I just want you to feel like you can be open with me." At that moment, a guy behind the counter shouted out a number, and Jared looked up. "Hang on a sec. That's our order." He stood and quickly left, and once he was gone I stared down at the table blankly. Have I really been that cold to him? I don't mean to exclude him so much.

He quickly returned with a large paper bag and two paper cups filled to the brim with soda. "I got you a mix of Sprite, fruit punch, and peach Fanta. Is that okay?"

I smirked. "You know me better than I thought."

He smiled back. "And a bacon cheeseburger for you, too." He dished out the food, with a regular hamburger for himself with all the toppings except mayo and mustard, and set the overflowing cup of fries between us. We stopped to eat for a few minutes, and my phone went off again. I sent Kaia another 'it's fine' text under the table when he went up to get more ketchup for the fries.

When he sat back down, I was about half-finished with my meal. "So like I was saying...I don't want to be just some dude to you. I-I mean...I want to be someone you can open up to."

I swallowed another bite of burger and looked at him. "Well...I mean, I know we're friends, Jared, but...there's only so much I can tell you. I mean, I trust my friends, but honestly I don't think any of them know everything about what's going on in my life."

He didn't answer for a minute. "...So...even as a friend, you don't feel like you can open up to me like that?"

It sounded a bit harsh, but that was the truth. "Yeah, kinda."

Another pause. "I...Would there be a way for me to change that?"

Now I was the one to hesitate. "...What do you mean?" Another buzz from my phone.

"I mean...like...Wow, I really don't know how to word this."

Suddenly this got really weird. "Jared?"

He exhaled. "I mean...what if...we weren't necessarily friends anymore?"

...Oh no. No no no no no no. "Jared, are you-"

"I mean, you know how much I've always liked you, Erin..." He looked at me expectantly, waiting for an answer.

I just sat there, staring at him. "...Is this...Is this your way of asking me to be your girlfriend?"

He laughed nervously. "I-I guess...I know this is probably a really bad time to do this, but...I mean, I just want to help you however I can, and...I just want to be the person you feel like you can tell everything to."

Another vibration. "...Wait, hang on. ….What?!"

He slowly slid his hand across the table and touched my arm. "If you're still super pissed at me, I understand. I just...I want to help you."

Something doesn't make sense...I...I can't...I'm so confused, oh my God. "Jared, what-"

"But...if it's okay with you, I...I mean, I've wanted to ask you for awhile, but..."

Kaia was furiously texting me now. I grabbed his hand so he'd look up at me instead of down at the table. "Are you being serious right now?"

He looked back at me and nodded. "Of course I am."

"...If I said yes...what...where would we go from here?"

The sparkle in his eyes was insane. He looked so happy from the implication. "Really? I...That's great! I mean, I didn't expect you to...wow..."

"Jared, answer me," I said quietly. "This is...this is a commitment. I don't want this to be something that would ruin our friendship forever." My phone could've doubles as a vibrator by this point.

"I...I don't know...I mean, I guess we'd have to make it official and start telling people, right?"

I sighed. "Yeah...I guess." I laughed a bit. "Kaia and Kathryn would want to know."

He smiled even more. "So...is it a yes?"

I waited for a long time, thinking. "...Yes. My answer is yes."

He stared at me for several seconds, smiling so wide I thought his face was going to split in half. "...T-that's awesome! I..." He laughed, hardly able to speak. "Erin...that's great. You're amazing, you know that?" He moved his hand so our fingers were interlocked.

I smiled back at him, glancing away for a second. "So..." I chuckled nervously. "...I guess we should get started telling people, huh?"

"Yeah...I guess so!" He laughed too. "...Kaia and Kathryn first?"

I nodded. "Seems logical."

"Okay...okay, cool." He looked at his phone to check the time. "It's not quite seven yet...Do you think maybe we could head back to your house and-"

As soon as the words were out of his mouth, I laughed. "Oh, I knew it! I knew it." The laughter built a bit as any affection I'd shown on my face a second earlier dropped like a stone, and I wrenched my hand away from his.

He frowned. "..W-What?"

"No. No, fuck you!" I stood up, whipping out my phone to shoot Kaia one final text. 'It's over. Come get me.'

"E-Erin?" He also stood, looking confused...but I also picked up a smidgen of frustration in his eyes. He reached out to grab my arm again. "What-"

"Don't you touch me ever again." I stepped away. "You're a pathetic liar, Jared. You know that?"

He blinked. "I-I..."

"You think playing with my emotions is a good way to get on the inside? You really got so desperate for information that you thought it would be a good idea to pretend to love me? You're an asshole. Don't talk to me ever again."

He blinked, looking slightly angry now. "I'm sorry? I didn't-"

"Shut up," I hissed. "What kind of idiot do you take me for? I know you, Jared. I know how relentless you are about this kind of stuff. I was pissed off at you before for trying to extract information from me like I was a fucking orange in a juicer, but this is low, even for you."

"Well...I-I thought you needed help, okay?!" He was done pretending now. The rude, prying Jared that I'd seen for so long now was back. "I'm only trying to do something to help you, since you've clearly lost it and won't do a damn thing to help yourself!"

I laughed. "I've lost it? Okay! Okay, sure! You're the one standing here coming up with these delusional theories about how much I've cracked because you can't seem to wrap your mind around the fact that I'm telling the truth about the Fellowship being in my house!"

He threw up his arms. "See? This is exactly what I mean! You're delusional, Erin! That doesn't fucking happen!"

"Why would I even have a reason to lie to you?" I said. "Why? Have you ever stopped to think about that, asshat?"

"I know you love these movies, Erin, but this is just too far. You've seriously fucking kidnapped people or something to satisfy your weird fetishes?"

"FETISHES?" I screamed. The few people that were in the restaurant with us turned to stare at my outburst, and I was about ready to rip him to pieces when I saw Kaia's car pull up at the sidewalk through the front windows. "You know what, no. I'm done. Think what you will, do what you want, but if I ever see you come near my house – or near me, for that matter – ever again, you're fucking dead. You hear me? Fuck you. We're done here." I quickly yanked my jacket off the back of the chair and walked out, whipping it on just as I stepped outside and climbed into the car. "Drive," I said through clenched teeth. "I'll explain later." Kaia didn't ask a single question, just nodded and took off, leaving an incredibly pissed off Jared in our wake.