Matt doesn’t object to dropping me off at Leda’s house the following afternoon, clearly pleased that she and I had gotten along so well the other night. I was a little surprised when Leda invited me over the next morning, since I had never had a friend like that before.

“You seem cool,” she had said, as she handed back my phone, which she had entered her number in. “You should come over tomorrow.”

I wasn’t entirely sure whether or not me “seeming cool” was a good thing or not, but sometimes, you have to take what you get. The guys back home did, after all, have a very positive and encouraging reaction when I told them I had made a new friend already. Remembering that almost helped calm the nerves that I was feeling as Matt dropped me off in front of Leda’s house.

Almost.

I was a little shocked to see Matt’s car speed off before I even knocked on the door, but I try to push this to the back of my mind as I brace myself for… whatever. To be honest, I had no idea why I was freaking out so much. It was quite possibly because I had never had an opportunity like this before – an opportunity at having a friend that was not only my age, but also female.

Having knocked, I wait patiently on the front step, rocking back and forth nervously. Finally, the door is flung open, and I can’t help but gasp slightly. A teenage boy, just a little older than me, stands in the doorway, wearing nothing but boxer shorts. He is perfectly tanned, just like you’d expect someone who has been living in Southern California their whole life to be, and he has a six-pack coming in. I can’t help but stare; I had honestly never seen someone this close to me in age that looked this good – besides Dillon, of course.

At the thought of Dillon, I shake my head in an attempt to quit staring. I look up at him, so our eyes meet – they’re a piercing gray and they send shivers down my spine. He stares right back, nothing but hostility filling his eyes.

“Hunter!” I hear Leda exclaim. She runs up from behind him, pushing him away. I can tell that she didn’t push him hard enough to make him stumble the way he did; she simply caught him off guard. She smiles widely when she sees me. “You can come in if you want. Just ignore him.” She points her thumb at, who I can only assume is her older brother, Hunter, before stepping out of the way so I could come in.

As soon as she shuts the door behind me, Hunter gives me one last hostile look, before rolling his eyes and shaking his head and wandering off down the hallway in front of us.

“Should I take off my shoes?” I ask politely, trying to do as Leda had said to do and ignore him.

“Oh, we’re not staying,” she tells me. “I just have to grab a few things, and then we can head out.” I blink, not having been told that we would be going out. If I had known this, I would’ve brought some form of money with me – or probably just asked Matt if I could have some, as he had yet to say ‘no’ to one of mine or Gus’ requests. “Why, is that not okay with you?” she asks me, frowning at my slightly off-put expression.

“No, no that’s fine!” I reassure her. “I just wish I had brought money with me, you know? Just in case…” She laughs and shakes her head.

“Oh, don’t worry about that; I have plenty.” I frown, not wanting to have to make her pay for me, if it did come to that.

“You don’t have to do that…” I say, following her down the hall, which is lined with various family photos. Most of them, I realize, are of Leda. Any other pictures with one or both of her aforementioned brothers are quite often group photos, and there’s only one picture of just her parents.

“Honestly,” she says, stopping outside a door I hadn’t quite noticed. “Don’t worry about it.” I decide to not say anything further, especially because her tone scared me a little.

She then opens the door, stepping into what appears to be her room. I inhale sharply, realizing that it was a lot like mine back home – you know; before I tore everything down. Pictures of bands torn from various magazines form a giant, floor-to-ceiling collage, covering almost every inch of the wall. It makes the room seem a lot smaller than it already is; the queen-sized bed is jammed in the corner, and there’s only room for a small wardrobe on the other wall.

I don’t venture farther from the doorway. I watch as Leda digs under her bed for a moment, pulling out various articles of clothing and CDs with broken cases, before finally sitting up, cradling a small shoe-box. She opens it, takes out a wad of cash, and shoves it back under her bed, kicking everything else back under with it.

“C’mon,” she says, grabbing my arm and pulling me after her. She seems slightly rushed, and that makes me nervous.

“Leda?” someone calls right as we reach the entryway. She stops, cursing under her breath, before turning back towards the direction of the voice. After waiting a couple seconds, the owner of the voice appears out of the hallway, grinning when he sees me. “Is this your friend?”

I notice her tense up beside me, and she moves in front of me a bit. I frown, realizing that there was something about this man that was standing in front of us that scared her.

“Yes,” she snaps, “Yes she is.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you… Autumn? Right?” I give him a small nod, and Leda glares at him.

“Anthony. Fuck. Off.” He doesn’t seem too fazed by this. He just smirks.

“Whatever. It was nice meeting you, Autumn.” The way he says my name seems to have more of an effect on me than Hunter’s eyes had – and not in a good way.

Leda growls after him, before turning back towards me. I’m about to say something, when she hold s up a hand to keep me from speaking.

“Let’s just go.”

~

I hadn’t been many places in my life, but after wandering around with Leda for a while, I could definitely say that Huntington Beach was, by far, one of the best. Not better than Washington, but certainly up there – except for the heat.

Conversation came easily to us, I found. We talked mainly about ourselves – Leda told me more about her brothers, mainly Hunter. I learned that he was an asshole most of the time – when he wasn’t locked up in his room, blasting his metalcore music, he was often harassing his younger sister over stupid things. And as for Anthony, well, I wasn’t able to get much out of her about him. But whatever it was that scared her, I could tell it wasn’t good.

Meanwhile, I told her about the guys back home – how much I found that I missed them. I had never considered myself to be so close to them, until Gus and I were shipped off to California for the summer.

Everything was going well; we had stopped in front of the infamous pier and were currently debating whether or not we should walk down to the Ruby’s at the end for lunch. All of a sudden, Leda seems to have seen someone she recognizes; I can tell by the way her eyes widen and her face pales that it isn’t anyone she wants to be associated with.

“Shit,” she whispers, grabbing my arm and pulling me away quickly. However, whoever she’s running from appears to catch up with us, stopping her by simply calling her name; the situation reminds me, for a moment, of our run-in with Anthony earlier.

She turns around, shaking slightly, and I turn with her. The boys who are advancing upon us look rather ordinary, so I’m not all too sure why she seems to be on the verge of a panic attack.

“Leda!” one of them, who appears to be their leader, exclaims enthusiastically, shooting her a friendly smile. “I haven’t seen you in forever!” She shifts uncomfortably, tugging at her sweatshirt sleeve (how she was wearing a sweatshirt in this heat, I would never understand).

“We saw each other just last week,” she mutters. “You know, on the last day of school?” He rolls his eyes, and the rest of his friends just laugh.

“Yeah, whatever. Hey, look; I was wondering if you could maybe talk to your brother? about that thing we discussed earlier?” She gulps noticeably, and I frown slightly. “Oh, I didn’t notice you!” he exclaims suddenly, his gaze moving to me. Immediately, I feel frozen under his gaze; I want nothing more than to sink in the ground and disappear. “Never seen you before – are you a friend of the O’Connors?”

“Hey!” I jump, whipping around to see a fuming Austin marching over to us. The boys become blatantly afraid; I wouldn’t blame them – he could be scary when he wanted to be, and he certainly appeared to want to be. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he demands, stopping behind Leda and I.

“N-Nothing,” the boy stammers, his eyes filled with fear. “We were just talking to our friend.” There was that word again – it seemed that every time I’ve heard that word today, it has a chilling, negative connotation behind it.

Austin isn’t buying it; he crosses his arms across his chest, his tattooed one seeming to gleam in the sunlight.

“I don’t want to see you talking to either of these girls again,” he snarls. “Do I make myself clear?” The boys all nod.

“Yeah, whatever. See ya, Leda.” They turn and run off; I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I had been holding in.

“Who were those people?” I ask right away. No one says anything.

“Leda,” Austin turns to her. “Why don’t you take Autumn home?” It’s not a suggestion – she nods reluctantly, turning back in the direction of her house.

“Leda!” I call after her. I don’t even bother to say goodbye to Austin, she’s walking away so fast. “Leda – who were those people?” I ask breathlessly once I catch up to her. She stops suddenly, and I look up, not realizing how close her neighborhood was to the beach.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she says quietly. “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to bring you into my drama. I think it would be best if you called your dad to come pick you up.” I frown, but I pull out my phone anyway, finding Matt’s number, as he had me program it in my phone before I left this morning.

He picks up almost instantly; I can hear the frown in his voice when I tell him that I’m ready to come home. I had a feeling I was interrupting something, but I wasn’t really thinking too much about that.

Leda refuses to go back inside to wait for him. Instead, she paces the front step, rubbing her arms nervously. I keep wanting to ask her what’s wrong, but every time I look in her direction, she gives me a look that tells me to keep my mouth shut.

After about twenty minutes, Matt’s car finally pulls up in front of her house. I stand up, and turn to Leda, intending to say goodbye. Instead, I don’t say anything as I try to interpret why she is staring at the car so longingly.

“I’ll call you later,” she finally tells me, snapping out of her daze and going inside. I just blink after her.

“What was that all about?” Matt asks me as I slide into the front seat not a minute later. I shrug.

“I have no idea.”

Notes

A/N: I don't know if there will be an update on Wednesday, since I haven't been keeping up too well with writing...

Hope you all enjoyed =)

~WOLFY~