Trapped✔️

1

Was it always so hot out here, or did had fate just specifically prepared the skies to be clear of clouds on this particular day?

Because if they had, Nina would probably murder the next person that had the misfortune of wandering through the same patch of corn maze she was in. Actually, correction: the next person that wandered through the patch of corn maze they were in. That's right, they. Because of course, on this day when she was seriously regretting her choice to wear a shirt that had been white this morning and would be seriously sweat-stained by afternoon, she was stuck in a corn maze with Holden Freaking Green, her ex-crush and current worst enemy. Of-freaking-course.

"Having fun?" He asked, sarcasm dripping from his mouth - his very kissable mouth. Was it possible for someone to be as annoying as they were attractive?

"What does it friggin' look like?" She snapped, trudging down yet another dead end. With a sigh, she turned back, and he followed. "Ow!"

A stabbing pain hit her left foot, and she stumbled, hopping backwards - right into Holden. "Hey!" They fell, and he caught her awkwardly, with her legs between his and his hands on her elbows. "If you wanted to be on top, you could have just said so."

Nina stood, not bothering to help him up. "Shut up and help me find a way out of here."

"Come on, is my company really that bad?"

There was a time when she would've said no, not at all. There was a time when this would've been fun and exciting. There was a time when she would have wanted to be on top of him.

Fortunately, that time was long past.

:::

Three Years Ago

"Missed me, missed me, now you gotta kiss me!" Nina called as she ran away from Holden, laughing.

"That's gross! What are you, twelve?" He joked, running after her.

"No, I'm thirteen!" And she was, she finally was. Holden had had his birthday first, lording their two-month age difference over her since May, but now it was August and her birthday had been two weeks ago, making her finally, finally thirteen.

Holden had come over for cake, and his sister, Hailee had brought her a present. Holden had come empty-handed, but she had just wanted to see him anyways, to figure out the weird butterflies in her stomach when she was around him, the fact that it was strange now when he held her hand or touched her in a game of tag. Not just because the older kids teased them about it, but because... because he was Holden.

He wasn't a boy, or one of the cute guys in one of the boy band posters that Hailee always had up in her room. He was her friend, her closest friend who made her feel better when she was sad and could make any long car ride exciting, the one who had gone to four funerals - three grandparents' and her kitten, Sparkles' - with her. She wasn't supposed to wonder what it would be like to kiss him or blush when they were swimming and she saw him with his shirt off.

They were friends. There was nothing closer than that. It wasn't like Holden would feel the same way, anyways.

"Caught you!" He tagged her shoulder, and she recoiled like he'd burned her. "Hey, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she answered, turning away. "Just fine."

:::

This Morning

"Please, pretty please, Nina, won't you babysit my brother for me?" Hailee Green begged her. "Please?"

"Which one?" Nina quipped, wedging the phone between her ear and shoulder as she wriggled into her jean shorts. The weather had forecasted a high of 28 degrees Celsius, which was meant flowers wilting, butter melting, and severely sweat-stained shirts. She probably shouldn't wear white. Was that a kid crying in the background of their conversation? "Where are you even?"

"I'm outside your house. With Bobby." Well, that explained the noise. Bobby was Hailee and Holden's seven-year-old brother.

"Excuse me?" She grabbed the first shirt she saw out of her closet and threw it on in a rush, grabbing her purse. "Can't your brother do it?"

"He's busy. He just started work at that new corn maze or amusement park or whatever... so he can't do it. And I have a date today, you know that - "

A kid's voice in the background, and Hailee changed her tone to a "talking-to-children" voice. "What, Bob? No, I don't - People don't French kiss on dates, that's gross! Where'd you hear that from?"

Then, she switched back to her normal voice. "Please come down! I swear, I'll do anything if you agree. Please."

Nina groaned. "You've left me with no choice. I guess."

After she'd rushed through breakfast, gotten in the car, and was halfway to the corn maze she planned on taking Bobby to, she looked down and realized she was wearing white.

Could this day get any worse?

:::

Present

"You work here, Holden. Shouldn't you know the way out?" Nina huffed as they pushed past the tall corn stalks to find yet another dead end. She'd long since pulled out the splinter in her foot, but now she had a host of other irritations, Holden being one of them, among hunger, lack of a hair elastic, and the extreme wish that she thought to bring a water bottle.

"I just started, okay? This is my first day!" He said, a defensive note colouring his voice. "Can't you use your phone and, I don't know, GPS our way out?"

"GPS our way out? Impressive grammar," she scoffed bitterly, but dug in her purse anyways. Her phone, her phone...

She found lip gloss, a compact mirror, one of those mini packs of tissues, by not once did her fingers close over the promised, cool metal of her phone. She thought back. Where could it have gone?

"Oh, shoot," Nina said out loud. "I left it with your brother."

"Seriously?" He looked at her in angry disbelief.

She shrugged, and turned away from him, walking briskly through another path.

Seeing his face like that... it would only remind her of the last time they had talked, right before their friendship had ended.

And that was far too painful to even think about.

"Hey! Nina!" He called after her.

She ran faster, wishing she'd kept training long after cross-country had ended. Tears stung her eyes, or maybe the wind, but none of it mattered.

The look on his face had been the one he'd given her two years ago, when his parents had divorced, when their friendship had fallen apart, when her whole world had shattered.