168 Hours of Miles Fonte

Chapter 8: Monday

Everything fell apart.

The underage were freaking out the most, throwing their cups on the ground and rushing around. We heard a few screams, following shushing...and I watched Tyler splash around trying to get out of the pool. Miles grabbed my arm, and ran as everyone else was, we were by the wire fence when Andre slapped Miles on the back and said, "let's meet up?" Andre grinned, this was fun to him?
"Where?" Miles said with his normal bored expression.
"At the Bridge?" Andre offered.
"Sure." Miles said.
I saw red and blue lights flashing against the roof. My heart sank.
"Not that I don't love a good chat, but can we get going, please?" Andre gave off a loud laugh that made me wince and I realized, all to late, that I grabbed and sank my forehead into Miles arm.
"Yeah, we better get her out of here before she pisses herself." Miles smirked. That made me release my grip from his arm and scowl. Andre laughed again, "I'll spread the word." He rushed off, to tell the rest of the group, I assumed.

Miles then put his hands on my shoulders and guided me in front of him, I was glad to be able to stick close, despite the piss comment, we could push through the crowd of bustling college kids easily without me falling behind.
We made it to the woods at the back of a different house, he pushed some bushes aside to reveal a dirt pathway. "After you," he grinned.
I could tell the trail wasn't used often, it was uneven and branches kept catching on my hair as I moved through, I was slowing us down.
"So, is this you're first cop raided party?" Miles started.  I rolled my eyes at the thought and said "even if we chose to do something crazy back home, the policemen in our town are all home by 8."
Miles chuckled.
"Well, you handled it well. You didn't scream like some of those newbies...and I see you didn't piss your pants."
I stopped, stepped aside, and said in my most pleasant voice, "you can go ahead of me if you'd like." He laughed out loud at that, walking ahead of me.
It worked out better him being ahead; he could brush all the tree limbs aside first so my hair didn't get caught on a branch again.

The woods dragged on, and with every step I noticed more and more my soggy crocs. "Ugh, the soaked clothes are starting to get to me now."
"Its your own Fault." He pointed out.
"It's kind of your fault too for not taking up those girls' offers." I replied snidely. He turned around "the dry clothes." I explained.
"I know, I get it." He smirked. "Why do you care about those girls so much?"
"I don't?!" My voice got squeaky. Dang it. "I just think it's funny how they were throwing themselves at you."
"Were not" he said.
"Were too!" I argued.
"So what if they were...I'm sure guys have done the same for you."
"Nope." I answered honestly.
"Liar." He mumbled.
"What?"
He turned around and poked me, "I said you're a freaking liar." He smiled.
"I promise you I'm not. Which I guess I'm thankful for."
"Yeah?" He asked.
"Yeah, cause even if someone did do that to me, it would make me cringe. Like watching you with those girls tonight." My face reddened. When I was watching you?! Stalker alert!
Thank God he didn't call me out on it.
"Wow, it is good no one has ever made a pass at you, I'd feel sorry for the guy...you'd be ruthless in turning them down." He said as he pushed through some bushes and moved off the path.
I followed suit as he continued, "And you don't have some small town boy back home waiting for you?" His tone was snarky, but I still answered him "no", hoping that he was truly curious.

We finally made it to a paved road, with occasional street lights dimly lighting our way. We walked silently, I was still tormenting myself internally. "watching you." Ugh.

Then we got to the bridge, the bridge we bungee jumped off of. Miles put his hands in his pockets and walked over to the edge and leaned over the side. I hesitated, but then walked over beside him.

"We've got some time to kill, the others will probably take a while..." he looked at the lights in the distance. I tried to pinpoint the exact thing he was looking at, trying to be a part of his mind for once.
"Tell me something." I said.
"Like what?"
"I don't know, anything, tell me something true."
He sighed, thinking. "I...am an only child."
"Hey, I am too!" I replied. He laughed.
"Uh, my favorite color is blue, antelope's freaks me out...and your hair is starting to smell musty." He scrunched his nose. I didn't know how to respond to that. I hit his arm and then instinctively pulled a lock of my hair to smell.
"What about you?" He asked.
"What about me?"
He sighed dramatically, "tell me something true."
I wanted to say something meaningful, something clever, that would make him remember me. But nothing came to mind.
I stopped overthinking and just picked something.
"I like old musicals." I offered.
He looked at me quizzically.  "Like...'Cats'?"
"Hah, no, like...My fair lady." I replied.
"Huh." He picked up a pebble and dropped it off the bridge. We both waited for the noise.
Plop.
"Sorry, I only like 'Cats'." He continued.
"Oh gosh." I laughed.
He picked up a pebble and handed it to me. "What else?" He asked.
I threw the pebble.
"I like this bridge." I said quietly. "How'd you guys find it?"
"Now that's a good story." He sounded excited. I smiled.

He told me about how he had insomnia his freshman year, how he got all his studying, workouts, and everything done at night. When he got bored of that he'd run. One night while he was running he thought he heard gunshots in the woods. He followed the noise and saw it was fireworks. A few kids; Tyler, Heather and Andre.

"No way! The bridge is how you all met?!" I loved it.
"Yep, it was a great night. Andre and I hit it off immediately, and I introduced Kali and Brandon the next night. Here started the chaos." He patted the bridge's metal.
I was grinning ear to ear. He is too charismatic for his own good.
Then it hit me. "Wait...Antelopes?" I reverted back to.
Miles laughed, "In elementary school, our teacher showed us this video of a crazy antelope running around a suburban area, I can't get it out of my head." He shivered.
"That reminds me of the time-" I was about to tell him about the time a deer jumped out in front of my moms car and now she refuses to drive home on backroads at night.
But Andre snuck up behind us and made me scream.
"Oh my god, Andre." Miles took a deep breath, "and what the hell April?! Don't do that."
"He scared me!" I said in my high pitched voice.
Andre put his arm around my shoulder. "Ah, sorry April I couldn't help myself."
Kali and Brandon weren't far behind, and Heather too.
"What took you guys so long?" Miles asked, as he hit Andres arm off of me.
"Ask Heather." Andre laughed. We all looked over at her, she had a companion, the guy who spilled beer down her dress.
"I'm wearing a dress!" She called back, her plus one laughed. She leaned up against him and tried to take off her heels, he wasn't complaining. I smiled. She got him wrapped around her finger.
Her complete confidence amazed me. I looked over at Miles wondering if I leaned up against him right now, with the kind of confidence Heather had, would he brush me off?
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