The Outlaw

Chapter 3 - The Gazelle

I had been in LA for just over a week now. Things had been alright, considering I was now homeless. I spent my nights couch hopping; walking into a random party, acting like one of the crowd, finding a quiet spot and "passing out" for a few hours.

Eating wasn't that bad, I mostly got my food from the cafeteria in the college. It was alright, for cheap food anyway.

Anyway, I didn't have any classes today, so I had decided to hit the college gym with the membership provided by my scholarship. They could provide a fuckin' gym membership, but not a damn dorm? Yes, I was still pissed about the fucking pages being stuck together.

Moving on though, I was actually going to meet up with a friend I had met in class. He was a really good artist, but had actually been here before as a 14-year-old for a month long acting course. He was around the same age as me, even if he was a few inches taller with a voice waaayy deeper than any dude I'd ever heard before.

I walked through the doors and looked around for him. You'd be surprised how easily a tall ass dude with bright blue eyes, a full tattoo sleeve and jet black hair could be overlooked and blend into the crowd.

Hey, I'm a very observing guy! I know I know, I sound like a teenage girl. I swear I'm 100% straight, don't get any fuckin' ideas.

Anyway, as friendly as he was, he was very secretive. He'd never really tell me anything about himself; anything about his past, whereabout he comes from, he wouldn't even tell me his full name. All I knew is that his first name was Andy, whom I spotted by the window on the treadmill.

"Hey gazelle legs.", I smiled and dropped my bag in front of the machine next to him, referring to his long, skinny legs that made him look like he was prancing rather than running.

He planted his feet on either side of the belt, pressing the "STOP" button. He returned the smile and wiped his face with a towel.

"Geez, what marathon did you run?" I laughed.

"Steady 9.5 bursts for 5 minutes, dingus." He lightly smacked me over the back of the head and dropped his sweaty towel onto my head.

"Ew ew ew ewewewew!" I smacked the towel to the ground, ruffling out my now almost flattened hair.

"Woah, chill white girl. Thought a cowboy like you would be used to a lil bit of sweat." He laughed and sipped from his water bottle.

"Hey, sweat is fine, other dude's sweat is disgusting! I don't wanna be in all about that shit!" I whined, shuddering slightly.

"Really? Oh, I just remembered, it's our one week friend-iversary! Come give me a hug brotha!" He got off the treadmill and came towards me, arms open.

"Hell no! Don't you dare." I backed away, almost tripping over my bag.

"Cmoooon, I wanna give my new friend a huuuug!" He gave me the creepiest grin he could, eyes wide. I had befriended either a really good actor, or a psychopath. Nobody could fake a smile like that.

I turned to run, but felt my arm being pulled back and my shoulder being pushed forward, and before I knew it, I was on the ground, Andy on top of me. I was too stunned to say anything.

He laughed and got off me, giving me a hand up.

"What the hell, where did you learn that?!" I asked, hitting his arm.

He just shrugged. "Picked it up somewhere." He said and smiled.

"Ok Mr Fitness Freak," I narrowed my eyes, "how about we take this outside."

"Hm?"

"800m track race, I'll kick your scrawny ass." I crossed my arms and smirked.

"In your dreams, porn star." He chuckled, kneeling down and putting his towel and water bottle into his bag.

"What did you call me?"

"Cmon princess, let's get this over and done with. I wanna get some lunch." He picked up his bag & started walking outside.

I picked up my bag and followed him, and soon we were standing by a 200m track, doing a few stretches.

"Alright," Andy took his place at his starting line, "if, when, I win, I'll buy you lunch for being a good sport." He smiled and patted my head patronisingly.

"What if I win?" I smacked his hand away and fixed my hair quickly.

He shrugged and thought for a moment. "I'll tell you a lil bit about myself."

I raised my eyebrow, "Like what?"

"Whatever your little heart desires, princess." He smirked and winked at me.

"Be prepared to be left in a trail of dust, sunshine." I walked over to my starting line.

"3... 2... 1... GO!" Andy shouted, suddenly whooshing by me at a high speed.

"WHAT THE F-" I suddenly began sprinting, trying to catch up to the prancing gazelle.

After about 3 minutes of sprinting, Andy and I were neck-and-neck on the final stretch. I'll admit, he was really fast, but no way was I letting him win. I gave myself one final push and ended up on the other side of the finish line barely a second before Andy.

"Tie!" Andy yelled, doubling over a bit to catch his breath.

"No way, bullshit! I won that fair and square!" I panted.

"Fine, since you're the new guy, I'll let you off easy" he smirked.

"Excuse me?" I asked, giving my best possible offended look.

Suddenly Andy's phone rang. "Shit, I gotta take this," he said, looking at the caller ID. It was a pretty expensive phone, probably one of the latest. I wouldn't know though, where I'm from, you don't need a mobile phone, so I never had one. He quickly answered and told the caller to give him a sec, scribbled down an address and handed it to me, telling me to meet him there at around 7pm.

With that, he picked up his bag and rushed off.

I didn't even think to question why I would be meeting him at such a specific place at such a specific time, I guess I trusted him.

Anyway, I was left with a more urgent and pressing matter; what the fuck was I gonna do about lunch?