The Neighborhood Watch

Chapter Eight - Even Those Closest

Sabrina didn't notice us at first when we made it upstairs. She was on her phone, texting someone, and looking upset. I saw her mouth something similar to the words only chance. Maybe she was texting her mom, trying to convince her to let her go to the party tonight.

Or maybe she's texting that ex of hers. That other boy in California. My shadow warned me. Maybe she wants him back and not you. She's been lying since we met her, maybe the kiss was a lie too. Maybe it's his only chance to win her back before she settles for you.

I didn't think that was true, but I did worry there was some truth in the idea that she was lying about something. Everything with the scope and her lucidness, about her mom being so nose-deep into our case for just moving here, moving next door to us to be specific. Maybe there was a bit of an inability to trust people that I'd been raised with that was talking, but my intuition was singing with alarms. There was no way all of this was just coincidence.

"We found him," Leo called to her as we came further down the hall, making her look up from her phone.

It wasn't immediate, and she didn't rush to hide her phone, but there was a moment when she grasped her phone tighter and quickly shut the screen off. See? Liar. "I'm glad, everything okay?"

Marrisa nodded. "Yeah, Hannah found him. She's going to come to the party tonight!"

"Oh good," Sabrina smiled. "We'll have a lot of fun!"

Marrisa picked up the bottle of vodka on the floor and took both the girls back to her bedroom, waving at us before she left.

"So," Leo frowned, leaning against his bed and pouring me a shot. "What happened out there in the woods?"

I accepted the shot from him and shrugged. "I just needed some air."

Leo watched me as I downed the alcohol and raised his eyebrows. "Right, and when you were panicking and you ran out to Hannah, nothing happened and Marrisa just found you two together, because you needed some air, and nothing happened."

Handing him the glass back, I started unbuttoning my shirt. "I mean, I had a panic attack, I went out to get air and ran into Hannah, and she calmed me down. She understood what I needed to hear and she said it." I shrugged. "That's it."

Leo glanced at the doorway before walking over to shut the door. "Did you and Hannah have a moment?" He asked, coming back to sit on his bed. "But I thought you and Sabrina are a thing?"

I poured myself another shot and quickly took it, the taste no longer bothering me. "I- well she- we kissed. But I told her I kissed Sabrina, and that I had to think about things, and that I didn't want to string her or Sabrina along, so I told her I needed time." By the last word, I was already pouring another drink.

Leo reached over and took away the bottle, waiting until I'd shot back what alcohol I had poured. "What happened to make you kiss Hannah?"

"She calmed down my panic attack and it seems stupid now-" I began.

"If I calm you down next time, are you going to kiss me?" Leo asked teasingly.

I rolled my eyes at him and continued. "She just said things that I realized no one else would ever understand." Leo sobered at that, his smile fading as he shifted to listen better. "Sabrina was the first girl to see my shadow and not run, the only girl I assumed could ever see my shadow and still think of me like that. But then Hannah helped me today, and I realized she not only did that, but she understood what it's like to have a shadow. Hannah just looked at me and I knew that I didn't have to explain myself."