Convincing Matt to let me spend the night at Leda’s house took much longer than it should have, but she and I both knew that there wouldn’t be a way out, what with all the drugged-up partiers blocking the entry. So either way, we were trapped in Anthony’s house, whether we liked it or not.

For most of the night, sleep seemed damn-near impossible; so we spent most of it lying on Leda’s comforter, talking aimlessly until things outside finally began to die down. It must’ve been almost six o’clock in the morning when I finally began to drift off.

As soon as my phone goes off on the bed beside me, blasting Paramore’s “Ignorance” around the small room, I sit up fast enough to throw me off the foot of the bed. Groaning, I curse under my breath as I feel around the floor for my phone. I finally find it and pick it up, desperate to shut off the music before it wakes Leda. When I finally am able to grab it, I check the caller ID; it’s a number I don’t recognize – no wonder the default ringtone I had set had been playing.

Groaning, I sit up, rubbing my head. I immediately notice that Leda is missing.

I shoot to my feet, glancing around wildly. That’s when I notice the chair isn’t where she left it last night – in fact it isn’t even in the room at all. I begin to feel panicky – where the hell could she be?

I force myself to step out of her room and into the hallway. It reeks of marijuana smoke (at least I assumed it was marijuana smoke, since I’d never actually smelled it before), vomit and alcohol. I pull my shirt up so it’s covering my nose and mouth before walking down the hallway in the opposite direction from the entryway. At the end of the hallway, it separates in two directions; I choose to go right.

My innocence was demolished on the spot.

Dozens of people lay sprawled on the floor and countertops of what appeared to be a kitchen. The bright California sunlight was glowing through the dirty, sliding glass doors, as if to shine a light on all the nudity that met my once-innocent eyes.

Suddenly, I feel someone grab my shoulder tightly and I let out a small scream. I turn around and come face-to-face with Anthony. He gives me an amused smirk, and I shudder.

“Wh-Where’s Leda?” I stammer. He chuckles lowly, causing my blood to run cold.

“Don’t worry about Leda,” he mutters, tucking a stray strand of my hair behind my ear. I want to slap him away, but I’m too scared to do anything. “Worry about you. You look petrified.” Yeah, because of you. “Must be all these assholes,” he mutters, looking over my head at the naked, passed out bodies behind us.

I gulp, the look in his eyes making me even more afraid. I just wanted to call Matt to come get me and get out.

And find Leda.

“Are you hungry?” he decides to ask me. I look up at him almost instantly, not having expected him to ask such a simple question.

In all honesty, I was starving. Leda and I hadn’t gotten a chance to eat last night due to us being practically locked in her room all night. But the scene behind me has already made me lose my appetite, so I shake my head.

“I actually would just like to get home,” I mutter. He smirks again.

“Really?” His lips curl into a sly smile. “But there’s so much to do here.” I take a step back and he grabs my arm. “So much…”

“That’s enough, Anthony,” Hunter growls, appearing suddenly behind me and placing an arm on Anthony’s. Instead of smirking at him like I feel he normally would, he narrows his eyes at his younger brother. While I am on the verge of cowering behind him, due to Anthony’s death-stare, Hunter seems completely unfazed.

Angrily, he lets go of my arm, not taking his gaze off of Hunter.

“Fine.” He pushes past us and walks the opposite direction from the kitchen – a way I might have rather gone down instead.

Hunter grabs my upper arm and begins pulling me back down the hallway, only stopping for a moment in front of Leda’s room so I could grab the very few things I brought with me. He then leads me outside to where there’s an old red pick-up parked in the driveway. I crawl into the passenger seat after he unlocks it, and he tears off down the street.

“Where’s Leda?” he demands as soon as the house is no longer within seeing distance. I shrug, and he hits the steering wheel angrily. “Shit.”

I don’t realize that he knows where I live, until he pulls up in front of Matt’s house. I then realize that I forgot to call Matt and let him know that I was on my way home. For all I know, he and Val could be going at it again, and I could be about to walk right into it – again.

“She’s okay, right?” I ask quietly, hesitating to get out. He sighs.

“I have no clue,” he mutters. “I’ll have her call you as soon as I find her.” Knowing that this was as good as it was going to possibly get, I throw open the car door, and step out.

“Thank you,” I say. “You know; for saving me from… him. And for the ride.”

“Whatever, kid.” I slam the door behind me and run up the walkway to the front door, ringing the doorbell since I had no key of my own… yet.


Matt opens the door rather quickly. He looks like he’s just woken up – his hair is all messed up, and he’s squinting in the bright sunlight that was inconveniently shining directly into his eyes. However, he’s still wearing his clothes from the previous day, so I can only assume that things with Val did not go well, and he had been sleeping on the couch, right near the front door.

“You’re home.” It’s more of a question than a statement. I nod, stifling a nod, before stepping inside.

“Did you sleep alright?” he asks gently. Not really in the mood to talk, I just shrug in reply. I can practically feel him frowning; I turn around to face him. “Are you alright? You look pretty shaken up.” He narrows his eyes. “You didn’t go to the party, did you?” Even though I know what he means, I can’t help but want to say something along the lines of ‘well, no; I couldn’t go to the party, because I was technically already at the party’.

But I don’t.

“No,” I tell him, trying to sound as sincere as possible. “I just didn’t sleep real well.” He doesn’t believe me. I can tell from the look in his eyes. It’s unfamiliar, but I’ve seen it once or twice to know what it was.

Was I really that untrustworthy to him already? He had barely known me for a week…

He runs a hand down his face, letting out a long, drawn-out sigh.

“Go get some rest,” he finally tells me.

Relieved, I rush upstairs to my room, throwing myself down on my bed. I was emotionally drained, but I couldn’t help but worry about Leda. All I could do was imagine the worst. Did Anthony do something? or maybe even Hunter?

For the next few hours, all I can do is lay on my new comforter, staring at my phone; waiting for it to go off; waiting for Leda to call me and tell me that everything was okay. Even though deep down I knew that it wasn’t okay, I knew that if I at least heard her say that it was, that I would finally be able to rest easy.

At about five o’clock, the call finally came. I answer it quickly; heart pounding.

“Autumn?” She’s breathing heavily, as if she’s just ran a marathon.

“Leda?” I practically shout, my voice coming out just as breathless. “Leda, is everything okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine now,” she answers.

“What do you mean? Where did you disappear to this morning?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she snaps, and I jump slightly. “I’m sorry. I just… I’d rather forget about last night, okay? So, how are you? Did Matt come and pick you up?”

“Tired,” I admit. “And Hunter drove me home.”

“He did? Willingly?” I laugh at her shocked tone.

“Yes,” I reply, laughing slightly.

“He must like you,” she concludes. I frown slightly.

“Or he was just rescuing me from Anthony.” I can hear her breath hitch in her throat.

“You ran into him this morning?” she asks quietly. “Did he try anything?”

“When I told him I just wanted to go home, he said that there was ‘so much to do here’…” Just repeating those words out loud sent shivers down my spine.

“I don’t think you should come over again,” she tells me quietly; her words shaking nervously. “It’s just… It’s not… safe for you here. If you ever want to hang out this summer, we’ll have to either do it at your house, or at Austin’s.” I freeze up at the thought of spending my afternoon at Austin Carlile’s house.

“Yeah. Yeah, okay.”

“Are you alright? You got all quiet there for a moment…”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I should go; it’s time for dinner.” I bite my lip nervously, not sure if she’s buying it or not. I hear her sigh softly.

“Okay. I’ll text you.” Then, the line goes dead.

Notes

A/N: Hope you all enjoyed. Please tell me what you think =)

~WOLFY~