Page 6 of No Way Out
She giggled, pushing him off with barely enough time for her to mouth a ‘sorry’ to me as he threw her over his shoulder and pulled her into the maze.
Assholes.
I didn’t resent her for it—she’d been drooling over Kyle for the last two years, and now that he’d finally returned the sentiment, I couldn’t be upset that she was dropping everything for him, even if it was painfully obvious there was something insidious about his timing of interest and my breakup with his best friend. I couldn’t prove it, and I wasn’t about to ruin her chance to cross off a name on her bucket-fuck-list with my paranoid delusions about the world’s maliciousness.
I shifted my weight from one foot to the other, crossing my arms impatiently as I tried to pretend to be invisible to the rest of the line behind me. There was something about being perceived as alone in public that rubbed me the wrong way. I knew damn well I came here with friends, but no one knew that right this second. They only saw me here, standing at the front of this line all by my lonesome with no one to talk to, and for some reason, that was a mortifying thought.
I pushed down the desire to walk through the line and tell every person one by one that I was, in fact, not alone.
“Are you always this anxious?” I heard from behind.
“Honestly, I’m surprised I haven’t found a way to make money from it at this point,” I retorted with a smile, glancing up to find my new lab partner.
Had he been behind us this whole time?
Holy shit, did he hear me and Naya talking about his piercings?
My face flushed with heat.
“You seemed fine in the lab.” He peered down at me like he was studying me.
Was he here alone? He didn’t seem to give a shit about how people perceived him. Damn, I’d spent far too much time with Noah, letting the opinions of his social circle dictate the strength of my self esteem.
“I’m comfortable in the lab. It’s a safe space for me.” I shrugged.
“There are no safe spaces,” he said flatly. “Anything can happen anywhere at any time.”
“True,” I admitted, enjoying his refreshingly negative perspective. “But there are places where I’m not as afraid to be myself. Harkins’ lab is one of those places.”
His eyes narrowed. “Why’s that?”
“There aren’t hundreds of people watching me.” I stated the obvious, shrugging my shoulders.
“You don’t like being watched?” He gave a mischievous smirk.
I raised an eyebrow. “Depends on the context, I guess.”
“Well, then.” He leaned closer, his face moving toward mine at rapid speed, like he was about to kiss me. “I’ll keep that in mind,” he said, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear before stepping out of the line.
My lips parted, stunned with how forward every attractive man around me was suddenly acting now that I was single for the first time in three years.
“I’ll see you in there.” He nodded toward the maze before giving a two finger salute to the kid working the tickets.
The kid acknowledged him, and in one quick move, Zeke hopped over the stack of hay bales blocking the entrance to the maze.
“I thought you said it was full?” I whined to the kid.
“For paying visitors,” he clarified.
What the fuck was that supposed to mean? I crossed my arms again, knowing there was no way in hell my best friend was still waiting for me at the entrance. She was likely getting railed by Danvers behind a stack of pumpkins somewhere in that maze. I’m sure if I listened closely, I could hear the faint sounds of his buddy high-fiving him for getting it on out there.
Maybe Naya was right.
Maybe all I needed was a rebound to cure this feeling.
It felt like an entire hour had gone by again before my turn had finally arrived. Kids rushed past me in line, screaming and laughing in frantic attempts to find the exit.Left behind even by a group of children.
Naya and Kyle were absolutely nowhere to be found, a heavy silence draped over the maze, bringing almost a paranormal feel to it. The fog was thick through the corn field, though whether it was natural or from some hidden machine was beyond me, but I didn’t care to investigate further.
