Chapter 20- Missing Friends and Notorious Trends

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                “So, Sammy, Adrian, and Drew all went to the movies?” I ask a smiling Lucas as he squirms lightly in his seat under my scrutiny. He nods without hesitation.

                “Why didn’t you go with them?” surely, he would’ve gone with them if they all wanted to hang out.

                “I’m not a movie person,” he shrugs. He stares at anything in the living room except directly at me. Somehow, I think he’s hiding something. Could it be the way he continues to stray his eyes around the room or the conversation I heard him having, pointedly telling someone on the phone that he’d keep me distracted, I don’t know, it could’ve been anything really. What I do know is that the guys are all trying to keep something from me, now all I have to do is figure them out.

                “You, The Fast and the Furious lover, is not a movie buff?” I raise an eyebrow at him.

                “They went to watch chick flicks with Sammy, believe it or not Drew and Adrian have a thing for those kinds of things,” he waves his hand in what’s supposed to be nonchalance. I nod in mock agreement.

                “So, you’re saying that Adrian the sarcastic douchebag and Drew the gang leader’s son, are out watching chick flicks?” I confirm. Is it me or does this sound pretty farfetched to anyone else? It’s like saying I’d marry broccoli.

                “When you put it like that it sounds a bit wrong,” he grumbles.

                “What’s really going on?” I run a hand through my disheveled hair. I’d woken up to Lucy in my bed but Drew had been nowhere to be seen and I vaguely recall him in my room last night. When I went looking for him the house was practically empty, Lucas the only one hanging around watching Shrek, and he says he doesn’t like movies.

                “Nothing they can’t handle,” he placates with a sigh. He rubs a hand over his face and I now notice the dark circles around his eyes, something seriously has him distraught.

                “They left you here to look after me, didn’t they?” I voice my theory. I can see the thirst in his eyes, the thirst to be with his friends, family, to help them in whatever it is that they’re doing. I understand, if it were Lucy or Kohl, I’d probably be in the same situation or worse.

                “You can go you know, I promise not to do anything crazy,” I breathe. He looks up at me for a moment in complete silence, moment in which I ponder over where Drew could be. I know I should probably be wondering where they all are, and I do, but Drew just stands out a little more. That blue eyes boy will be the death of me.

                “Khloe, could it be that you’re worried about Drew?” Lucas breaks the silence with a goofy smile on his face.

                “No,” I answer a little too quickly, unfortunately he notices.

                “Could it be that he’s getting to you?” he continues to tease. Geez, I don’t know, I’ve practically made out with the dude a couple of times, we’ve been on a date, no, I just to look at the dude. Would it be too bad to have a crush on Drew? Apart from the somewhat illegal stuff he’s not as bad a guy as I made him out to be in the beginning. But, I’ve never really seen myself liking someone to a certain extent, some girls may see themselves in a relationship of some sort but frankly I’m so awkward when it comes to these things. I tried reading Seventeen magazine for some enlightenment but alas, it was no help at all. I’m a hopeless girl.

                “No, I don’t like him,” I lie straight through my teeth. He snorts in response.

                “Every time you guys are in the same room together he looks at you like whatever he’s thinking will most definitely land him in jail, and you look at him the way you look at Harry Potter,” Lucas’s eyes shine with amusement. In my defense Daniel Radcliffe is beautiful.

                “He’s no ‘the boy who lived’ but he has a certain appeal,” I roll my eyes playfully.

                “So you’re admitting to a slight infatuation?” he bats his eyelashes.

                “I am not in a position to admit or deny such accusations,” I state.

                “Why?” his brown eyes show genuine curiosity.

                “There’s no use in liking Drew, when all this is over you guys will leave and I’ll most likely remain. Ties will be severed and that will only lead to heartache, I’m not stupid enough to put myself in that situation,” I explain. It’d be idiotic to go for something you know won’t last.

                “Haven’t you ever heard-,”

                “Of closing the goddamn door?” I just had to cut in.

                “I meant, haven’t you ever heard of ‘tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all’?” so he thinks he can beat me by quoting Alfred Lord Tennyson, huh?

                “‘Better a witty fool than a foolish wit’,” I retort.

                “This isn’t a battle of quotes,” he brings his arms across his chest.

                “If you can’t hang, there’s the door baby,” yeah, I may be goofing around but that’s better than answering a question to which I’m afraid what the answer might be. It’s like watching a show on TV, you watch it on time every week but you dread that season finale knowing that you’ll have to wait the whole off season for new answers.

                “Would you stop with the song quotes?”

                “Call me when you’re sober,” okay, I just had to add that last one cause I mean, Evanescence is awesome.  

                “Who’s sober?” whew, saved by the Kohl. I smile at my brother as he goofs around with Lucy in his hands. I ignore the look Lucas gives me and grab Lucy from Kohl before rushing upstairs. I lock the door to my room before plopping down on my bed.

                “Lucy, it’s a good thing you have a long time before boy problems become part of your life,” the blue eyes girl merely stares at me before clapping her hands and giggling to herself. I make a game of making faces at her and just laze around with her. Yet, that nagging question in the back of my mind still lingers. Where’s Drew, is he okay? What is he keeping from me, why can’t he just trust me not to freak out? Okay, maybe I am vulnerable to freak out but come on, have a little faith in me. I can be a cool and collected, smoother than Nutella type of person. Maybe my alter ego but the point is I’m susceptible to change.

                “You remind me so much of her,” I squeak at the male voice in my room before jumping up and standing in front of Lucy with a protective stance. That was until I saw the man in my room. I’m a girl not a bulldozer. Green eyes look at me with amusement as I look up the tall frame of the muscled man standing in my room.

                “Uhm, who are you and how long have you been standing there?” my voice doesn’t come out as strong as it did in my head but I don’t think I can be blamed. The man looks like freaking Thor and I’m more of Elena in her human years, if you get the gist.

                “Why do you care for the girl so much?” he nods to the unknowing baby behind me. I look back at the bed where Lucy crawls around and kicks her little legs up. I can’t help but smile at the sight. Her azure eyes connect with mine and I feel my heart tighten at the thought of anything happening to her.

                “You care for those you love,” I answer without hesitation as I face the man once again. He laughs a throaty chuckle that has no sense of humor in it, nothing but a sorrowful trail of bitterness. The sound almost has me showing concern but Lucy’s more important.

                “A stranger shows more love for my daughter, more than I ever could,” he rubs a hand over his face, trait I’ve seen many times on Lucas. His words sink in and I begin to back up closer to the bed.

                “Why are you here?” I ask nervously. If this man’s Lucy and Drew’s father he’s a gang leader as well and I kind of don’t want to anger him. I’m not quite sure what their policy on disrespectful brats is and I don’t want to find out.

                “You’ve heard about me,” it’s not a question, more of a statement as he begins to pace the room.

                “Vaguely.”

                “Nothing good I’m sure,” he deadpans.

                “You’re kind of a taboo subject,” I sheepishly remark. He stops his pacing and turns to give me a calculating gaze.

                “You remind me of your father so much,” his words stop my trail of thought, warning bells going off in my head.

                “What do you mean, you knew my parents?”

                “Contrary to popular belief, I’m not the bad guy here, that’s something you’ll need to remember,” he smiles ruefully at his daughter’s figure on the bed. He moves closer to the bed and for some reason I just stand there and watch. I watch the tall man lean down and stoke his daughter’s head, as she laughs her blue eyes twinkling with happiness and as he lets out a lone tear fall down his cheek. I turn my head to the side feeling like I’m intruding on a private moment. I feel my own chest contract at the father- daughter moment.

                “How did you know my parents?” I question as he heads for the window.

                “Go to the café by the library you’re so fond of and you’ll find Ruby there. I’m pretty sure you guys will have a lot of explaining to do then but to answer your question, my kids wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for your parents,” and with those cryptic words he jumped out of my window. I stand there too stunned to move until he makes his way down, I look down only to see him run through the garden and make his escape. What the hell just happened? Wasn’t daddy Collins the big bad wolf in all of this? Wait, what did he mean with that reference to Ruby?

                I grab Lucy from the bed and make my way downstairs where Lucas and Kohl seems to be discussing something. I shake my head at them before sneaking off to the kitchen where Claire already bustles around making what seems to be dinner for an army.

                “Do you think you can watch Lucy for me?” I speak up after a moment of admiring all her hard work.

                “Oh yes, come on baby,” she coos at the attention loving girl as she gathers her in her arms. I smile before sneaking out the back door and the front gate. I have a feeling that if I just directly confronted Lucas and Kohl they’d try to get out of whatever this is. I make the short walk to the dainty café where I indeed find Ruby with a buff man standing by her table. She looks around nervously and seems relieved when she spots me. the guy merely nods as I make my way over and leaves once I take a seat.

                “What happened?” I ask the golden question.

                “Oh my god, you’ll never believe this crazy ass journey I just went through, pardon my French. So, I ordered a pizza yesterday because I was having a movie marathon of one and Rebel without a Cause was about to begin. Off topic, James Dean is a dream there and he’s too cute. Anyways, it wasn’t a pizza guy instead there’s this huge dude there who handcuffed me to him and took me to his huge ass home, more like mansion and I was so scared. I was literally freaking out even though he said he wasn’t going to hurt me but don’t all killers say that? He kept asking me questions about you guys but I didn’t tell him anything don’t worry.

                “Then he went on with this bizarre story about Drew being in a gang with Lucas and Adrian, but that just can’t be right, right? I mean, Adrian does seem a bit dangerous and Drew with that dark aura thing he’s got going for him. Lucas just seems like a flirt but Sammy doesn’t seem like a killer,” she rambles. I think her mind’s having a bit of trouble processing what she, in the deepest crevice of her mind, knows is true. I wait for her to come to terms with herself.

                “It’s true but they’re not killers,” I confirm. She stares at me before a wide grin begins to spread on her olive complexion.

                “When they make this into a movie, I want to play myself,” well she definitely took this better than I did.

                “Well, now I just need you to go home with me because they guys decided to keep this from me and I’m tired of them thinking I can’t handle things. Also, I need you to go in front of me because last time I walked out on them they went on complete chaos, I just hope they haven’t noticed I’m gone,” I laugh nervously before blushing as I remember what happened with Drew and I the last time I left. Even now I can feel my lips tingling with that slight sensation and my stomach erupt in butterflies at the memory.

                “Oh, they noticed,” my breath hitches at the voice and my laughter comes to a complete halt. Ruby just watches in awe as I turn around and face an angry looking Drew, his eyes show my doom. My eyes dart around the room nervously looking for an escape.

                “I don’t suppose you were low on your daily dose of caffeine,” that response sounded lame even to my ears. I have got to learn to come with better answers on the spot.

                “Do you like angering me?” he begins to step closer to me but before any of us can blink I’m out of the door and running to anywhere but there. I hear his angry screams calling for me to come back but I lose the idiot in no time. I lean over and place my hands on my knees as I try to catch my breath. I look up to see I ended up at the park, one block from the café. My athletic skills are at an all-time low.

                “You barely ran,” a snotty little girl decides to pint out as I battle my lungs for air.

                “So,” is my brilliant response.    

                “You’re weak,” oh hell no, I am not about to be bullied by a four foot girl with pigtails.

                “Look, oompa loompa, don’t mess with me I’m bigger than you,” I roll my eyes.

                “Yeah, by like a foot,” did she just call me short? Why am I being told off by a little girl, life has seriously messed up for me.

                “Ooh, is he a prince?” I roll my eyes and turn around to see whoever she’s admiring. My eyes widen as Drew draws closer to the park and that’s all I needed before I run off again. It was all going perfectly fine until some kid’s ball bounced off my head and made me lose momentum causing me to land butt first in one of their play tunnels. Yep, this is the notorious life of Khloe Mason.

                “You alright there?” he’s trying to sound angry but I can see the amusement in his blue eyes.

                “Yep, just enjoying the park,” I look away from Drew.

                “At least now you’ll have no choice but to listen to what I’m sure you knew was coming,” he begins. I can already feel him droning on and on about how dangerous it is to be sneaking out with whoever’s supposed to be after me, blah, blah, blah. Man, I’m starting to lose feeling in my butt, I hate feeling butt-less. It’s weird.

                “Are you listening to me?”

                “Huh, yeah, uhm, can you help me out of here? I can’t feel my butt,” it’s embarrassing to reveal that little piece of info to him. I nod as he begins to laugh.

                “You done yet?” I snap. He nods before holding out his hand, I take it and he hauls me up easily, crushing me to his chest. My breath hitches as his eyes lock on to mine. All laughter dies as his eyes darken and he begins to lean in…until a bunch of childish laughter snaps us out of it. I turn around only to groan in embarrassment.

                “What?” Drew questions. I motion to my backside and he snorts trying to hold in his laughter.

                “I told you I couldn’t feel my butt,” I snap as I reach behind me to remove the small tunnel from my hinny. I have short arms, unfortunately, ad no matter how hard I try I can’t get the damn thing off of me.

                “Can you help me?” I sigh in frustration as I waddle to a nearby tree. I don’t need any more people witnessing this great moment in Khloe’s life, note the sarcasm. He suddenly sobers up and begins to fidget nervously.  

                “Can’t you just wait ‘til we get home?”

                “I’m not about to waddle all the way home, come on just take it off,” he looks at my behind with apprehension. What the hell is his problem?

                “What’s wrong Drew?” I sigh.

                “I feel like I’ll defile you, it just seems inappropriate,” he admits. Aw, that’s so cute.

                “It’s fine dude, just please get this off of me,” I laugh at his cute worry. He gulps before moving to my back and carefully removing the damn thing off my ass. I cough when he continues to stare long after. So much for ‘defiling’ me.

                “Okay, well I’m off,” I try to walk away from him and go home before he gets to say whatever it is he wants to say. Shouldn’t I be the one mad? He kept the little news of Ruby being missing from me, is it possible to turn this around on him? I think so.

                “Khloe, don’t walk away from me,” his voice sounds closer than it should be. I turn around glaring at him.

                “Please do not start with me, you kept the Ruby thing from me and it’s not like anything happened, so please let’s just go home,” I yell. He smiles before coming even closer towards me.

                “I wasn’t going to say anything anymore but you do look hot when you’re mad,” he kisses my cheek before his arm drapes over my shoulders and he begins to lead us home. I can feel the heat in my face and mentally kick myself. It is so like me to always embarrass myself in front of the one person I try to look cool.

                “How did you find me anyways?” I ask referring to the café. I snuck out like a ninja, there’s no way they would’ve caught me.

                “I have someone trailing you ever since the last incident,” and just like that I begin to scream all over at him, refusing to go home by his side. Eventually he gives up and just hauls me over his shoulder. It’s funny how people just stop and stare at the girl being dragged by a guy, screaming at him to let her go and hey just stand there gob smacked. Like no, there’s no way she might be in danger let’s just look at the funny sight.

                “Hello Khloe,” Adrian smirks at me after Drew steps inside the house with me still over his shoulder.

                “Hi,” I retort flatly. Drew just continues on his merry way up to my room where he thrown me on the bed.

                “Stay,” he orders. With a grunt of frustration I begin to throw the pillows on my bed at him and when I’m through I just begin to grab random things until he eventually gets the picture and leaves. Now I have a mess to clean up thanks to him, I wonder what they did with Ruby. Is she in the loop now, is she still our friend? Is she team Drew or team bad guy? I don’t know what’s with the random questions in my head, it just happens. A knock on my door brings me out of my thoughts. I grab a pillow and ready it for attack just in case the intruder happens to be a blue eyes boy with amazing lips.

                “Hey,” Sammy draws out giving the pillow in my hand a weird look. I smile dropping the feathery cushion down. She locks the door before moving

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