A Way Out

Chapter 3

I sit there, staring at the picture before me. The girl standing there, with her flaming hair. The girl, looking supernatural, while holding the one who knocked her hat off, at arms length. He is scrambling to get to her, but she just looks annoyed.

Once he stopped struggling, she set him down and proceeded to look for something, as if what just happened, didn't. That's when I noticed the object being searched for. With the glasses, that had fallen to the ground in hand, I walk towards the person searching for them.The moment those silver orbs land on me, they shift to the glasses. She hesitates.

"You know I don't bite."I speak like I would to a tiger. "Never said, I didn't." Maybe I am talking to a tiger. She finally takes them from my grasp and perches them on her nose. I don't know how she fight without those. I noticed how thick they were when picking them up, and it is safe to say she is practically blind.

I look to see her retreating figure bent over her book again and a hand raised, in a goodbye gesture. After looking to see the few guys that hadn't already, getting up sore, I decided to split.

The next my mom decided to send me off to pick up the summer reading, when it's still only June. Doesn't she know that no one even reads the book. We only watch the movie or read a plot summary. Either way, I made the choice to meet her wishes. And don't you even dare, call me a momma's boy.

Upon my entrance to the bookstore, I was expecting to see a dark building filled with nerds and hipsters. It turns out there weren't many people, and those people seemed ordinary. Even when strolling past bookcase upon bookcase, looking for my book, the few people I spot seem as normal as any.

I finally find the genre my book was supposed to be under, but when I turned into that aisle, that wasn't what I found. Instead, of heading to where, alphabetically, my book should have been, I stood and stared at the set of hazel eyes in front of me.

This time, instead of the fear then relief, they are now filled with this comfortable joy. While they're not directed at me, they still seem to boar into my soul. That's when I see what they are in fact directed at, the red head from yesterday. I wonder if the two of them were friends, or even more... (cue my eyebrow wiggle) The thing is he doesn't seem masculine enough for her. She seems like she goes for someone who actually has a backbone. And what I got from yesterday, he didn't have one. He was the kind of person you wanted to scoop up and keep from harm...

Ahem, of course, I don't do that, unless maybe for a girl with a smoking bod. Anyway, while I seemed to of gotten...distracted, those eyes turned to me. This caused the red head to also turn their attention to me.

"Hi." Her monotone voice invoked a response, so I waved to her and then, in turn, Mr. Hazel-eyes. Red head over here(I should ask them their names. If only I cared), looks between him and me. "You know each other?", she asks no one in particular. While she does so casually, almost bored, she still expects an answer.

"We, uh... met the other day. Right before I saw you actually, at the health center."She looked between us again, but this time with worry in her eyes and he wouldn't meet them. Maybe she likes being able to worry for him and that's why they're together.

"Yeah... We had a nice chat, but I never got your name." She didn't seem to entirely believe what I said, but let it go.

"So, what are you here to get the summer reading too?"

"How did you know?"

"You don't seem like the type to read, or even can." Well... it seems like someone has some sass. While I can tell from her smirk, that she is only trying to get a rise out of me, it was still surprising.

"Well, why read about handsome and charming characters, when I am that and more." What do you think of that? You aren't the only one with sass as a weapon.

"What books are you reading? I don't think I have read a book with a character that loses to you in that competition." It seems I was wrong. She doesn't have a weapon; she has an arsenal. "Either way, I'll go get the summer reading for you." And with that she left me with Mr. Hazel-eyes.

"She works here. That's why she..." He was still avoiding eye contact, but this time with me. It's good he doesn't sound as timid as yesterday. "By the way... Uh, thanks again. I mean, for what you did yesterday..."

"Na, man. It's cool. Of course, with a girl like her, you don't need me to worry about you. I mean, for you to get a girl like her, you must have some game." He was about to say something, but I just continued. I couldn't stop and don't know why.

"Come on, how do you get a girl like her. She has some sass, but spunk can be hot. Her looks can make up for a lot, even if she has this-"

"Hey!" I looked at him. He seemed sort of mad, but still wouldn't look at me. Probably due to hitting on his girl like that. However, now he looked more embarrassed about interrupting me, with his red face. "We aren't..."

This time It wasn't him doing the interrupting. "Hey, what are you guys talking about?" I am pretty sure she just saved us from that awkward conversation.

"Nothing... I was just, uh, telling him how I was expecting this place to be filled with hipsters and nerds." Nice save Peter. Give yourself a pat on the back.

"So, which one are we?"

"Uh... you didn't let me finish... I was saying that I thought that, but when I entered, everyone here was normal." Way to go...

"So hipsters and nerds aren't normal?" The Hazel eyes, who has been quiet, speaks up. "Does that mean we are normal?"

She is just standing there, with her smirk back, trying to get me worked up. It was working.

"N-no, they're normal, just like you. Not like normal is bad! I-it's great, actually, because you aren't strange. Maybe weird. Wait! Not weird, but special. Yeah, special. That's it, special..."

"Smooth..." Huh, look at this little shit. He was so shy one minute, now he's whispering smart remarks to Red head. Well, at least he has warmed up around me. Earlier, he was completely silent , practically hiding behind his girlfriend.

"Okay, ha ha, very funny.", I say, while scratching the back of my neck, to hopefully move to another subject.

"Here's the book for your summer assignment." I turn to see Red head over here handing a book to me I didn't notice before. After I take the book from her grasps, she focuses her gaze on me and then switches it to hazel eyes.

When her eyes settle on me again, I see something in them that says, she is going to plow ahead and do what she whatever she wants next and not care what we think. The only thing going through my head is, shit.

"Well, I wanted to say thanks for helping my friend here." Her words disregard the excuses we made earlier to cover what happened, but before we can add a few more to convince her, she just keeps going. " So, how about having lunch with us tomorrow as a thank you? Does the park around the corner at noon, sound good?"

I am just dumbfounded. I wasn't expecting that... She literally, insinuated that she would bite me yesterday and now...

"Yeah" As the word left my mouth, I wasn't sure if I am glad they did. It seems that neither is Hazel-eyes. He then turns his equally as dumbfounded expression towards Red-head, for even asking.

She ignores both of our expressions as she nods and turns to leave. But not before saying, " By the way, if you didn't get our names. I'm Reese and this is Jamie." When she leaves, I look at the person she was pointing at a moment ago.

So, Mr. Hazel-eyes' name is Jamie... It suits him. Sweet name for a shy boy. Of course, what doesn't suit him is this awkward silence happening right now. It doesn't help when he shyly peaks up at me and we make eye contact for a moment. In that moment, those eyes pierced into me, giving me jolt.

Once he breaks eye contact, he gives me a nod goodbye and follows his girlfriend.

When he's gone, I realize I was holding my breath.

******

Hope you like this chapter. And I know I suck for taking so long to update.

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