“Why, you real y do have a crush on me,” his eyes narrowed knowingly.
I smiled, though that was the last thing I wanted to do now. He inched closer. Whoa. This wasn’t
part of my plan. My leg covered the cutter which was now rested on my foot.
“Back off!” Anthony protested. Carl just scoffed at him. He kicked Carl’s knee forcibly, I almost
felt how painful it was. He swung his fist and…
“Carl!”
It was the first time I was relieved to hear Carley’s voice. She strode to where we were and
pulled Carl backwards by the collar. “Just what do you think you’re doing?”
“He kicked me!”
“So? You weren’t supposed to be here in the first place!”
“Stil ! He can’t just kick me like that!” he scurried toward Anthony but Carley caught his shirt.
“Enough!” she shoved him away, toward the door. I didn’t know how strong she was to push a
guy like that.
She shot us a look which meant behave. I looked away.
Then she locked the door as they disappeared behind it.
“You could’ve at least given me a warning.”
I blinked. “Huh?”
“I real y thought you liked him. I thought you liked jerks.”
Was he…?
“Where’s the cutter?”
Sudden change of topic, eh? He’s getting moody. “Here.”
With my foot, I pushed it toward his back where his hands were tied.
Guess I heard him right. Maybe he really did like me.
***
Chapter 27
How I ended up with Anthony standing in front of me so close that we could exchange faces
seemed a bit blurry in my mind. One minute we were on the floor, tied up like a bunch of zoo
animals for shipment, and then the next minute, we were fighting off Carl whom we tried to
strangle just to get past him (and we managed to knock him off that he passed out. Ha!) and
now we were pushed up against a wall hiding since we tried to turn on a corner when suddenly
a sound of movement emerged from the other side of the bend. What if the sound came from
Carley? From Zed? We’re dead!
“They’re fine. Relax, man,” an unfamiliar voice spoke.
“What if they aren’t?”
“What’s with the fuss, man?” Their voices seemed distant that I anticipated I wouldn’t be able to
hear the response.
“I just have a fee-----“
Then my hunch was right. They were out of earshot. I was about to step out from our hiding
place when suddenly Anthony’s hand was on my shoulder, holding me in place. He looked
down at me and as soon as I looked up back at him, I regret doing so. Our proximity was like
that in the movie scenes where the lead actors have their first kiss. Which was very unlikely to
happen in our situation right now.
My eyes widened at our awkward closeness, and I could tell that he too, noticed it. He turned
his face away, and then whispered, “Later.” If we had been in another situation, I would have
smiled my heart out in delight at the sound of his voice. Obviously, I can’t do that now. But his
voice still lingered in my ear that I could almost hear it echo. Later. How was it possible that one word could melt a girl’s heart?
Okay, so I’m fantasizing right now. And I have to stop.
I felt his grip on my shoulder. I forgot that he still rested his hand on it. Trying with all my might not to smile, my eyes looked up at him. I did not dare look up to him by raising my head.
I shot him a questioning look.
He furrowed his eyebrows as if in confusion. Then I got his question. Are you okay?
Why did he have to ask me this now? Even with the slightest nod, a part of my face would touch
his chin. Those parts would be: my nose then my lips.
For once, my mind started to work properly. I thought of a way to send the message without
getting all smoochy with him.
Since I didn’t want to nod, I raised my eyebrows instead. An affirmative raising.
With that, his eyes flashed understanding and I was able to save some of the shame I have left.
Whew. That was close. I almost smiled at the metaphor.
After a few more minutes of being at the awkward position, Anthony finally decided that the
coast was clear. He let me get out of the hiding place first, then he followed.
“Are you okay?” he whispered just by my ear. Was he doing it on purpose? He was real y
getting all sweet lately. But we don’t want to get caught, didn’t we? So we have to be as silent
as possible. And besides, he’s a nice guy and it’s just natural for the typical nice guy to look
after his companions. Companions? What a traditional term. My brain is getting weird again. I
guess that’s his effect on me.
I nodded.
“Sure?”
I shot him a look that said of course.
He smiled an assuring warm one and took my hand in his. We started toward the hallway we
assumed the guys we heard earlier didn’t take. From time to time, we would glance sideways.
Since Anthony was leading me ahead, I obliged to watch out for out backs. We had our backs
toward each other as he led the way forward, and I was checking out unwanted personalities
that might be lurking at our trail. After all, we have to be cautious if we want to get out of here alive. After a few corners, Anthony suddenly gripped my hand tightly that it caused me to look
up at him and momentarily let go of my duty.
He had his eyes fixed at something in front of him. My heart nearly dropped to my gut. I followed
his gaze and my emotion shifted a hundred eighty degrees. I almost cried at the sight of it. It
was a door. The rays of sunshine outside came bursting at the ends of its frame. And I saw from
where I was standing that it wasn’t locked. At least from the inside.
Slowly, Anthony led us toward the door. Resuming my watching out duty, I held his hand tightly
as if letting up would somehow make the door disappear.
