So, it seems most of you guys liked the last chapter. I decided to do a sort-of follow up chapter. Anyway, read and review! Tell me if you like it. :)
I guess it'll always be like this: you always running, me always two steps behind.
Two months can really change a person, Zach thinks as he watches her out of the corner of his eye. She seems more poised, but also more wary. He'll have to be careful if he doesn't want to be seen.
Why she's in Florida, he has no idea, but seeing her after so long hurts. He wants to come up with some sly remark and startle her, but she reminds him of a deer. Frightened and alone, prone to running if scared too much.
Instead, he stands in the shadows and watches. Something seems off about the situation. For instance, where are her friends? He's scanned the area, but can't pick out any Gallagher personnel. Shouldn't there be trained agents, and her mother, somewhere in the area, watching her, keeping her safe?
A thought strikes him. Could she be alone? But she'd turned down his invitation to run with him. Then again, knowing Cammie, she must have had her reasons. What, then, were her reasons for being here now?
It's just that every time I run, I stop and look back to see if you're following me.
Cammie catches her breath as she walks along the sun-drenched, crowded streets. It'd be easy to get lost here, which is why Cammie feels so safe – at any moment she could blend into the crowd, just another tourist milling about or a young girl enjoying the sunshine. That is what she's doing, more or less. She knows she's on a mission, but it doesn't feel that way, because there isn't anyone to meet. It's just her. All she has to watch out for is the Circle – which is why she soaks in every sight, trying to detect something unusual.
But it's nice this way, Cammie muses. She isn't being watched and guarded by the people she loves. It doesn't feel as if she's a burden or anything. For the first time in a while, Cammie sighs contentedly, feeling free.
Then, suddenly, she spots movement out of the corner of her eye. Was that a mop of brown hair? Cammie doesn't know. She keeps moving, not wanting to disturb the flow of people, but the image nags in the back of her mind.
Could he be here? After their last meeting, he'd just walked off. She'd been left there, confused and slightly angry. Why would he follow her here? Part of Cammie chides herself, saying she's only imagining things. A quieter part of her whispers, You wish he'd followed you here. Cammie can't deny it. She misses him, hopes that maybe he really is here –
– there it is again. This time, there's no mistaking it: the green eyes, the brown hair. He really is here. Their eyes meet, for the briefest of moments, and then he disappears. The same thing he always does – leaves her waiting, wanting, wondering.
Stop and stare…you start wonder why you're here, not there…
He knows, even before their eyes meet, that she's spotted him. As he swivels around, his green eyes connect with her brown ones. For one moment, maybe two, they stand frozen, staring only at each other. In that one moment, Zach sees that she doesn't hate him – that she couldn't possibly ever hate him. Knowing that is enough to fill him with a surge of relief. Satisfied, he breaks the connection and turns away. He'd come to make sure she was safe, and she is, for the time being.
So he does what he does best – slips away, his presence missed by no one.
Except Cammie.
But they'll meet again. Zach will make sure of it.
