Trapped✔️

3

They had been walking in silence for almost twenty minutes, and they still couldn't find their way out of the maze.

Nina vowed to herself that if she ever found her way out, she would never go inside another corn maze again. Or babysit again. Or come near Holden Green again.

Maybe she should've just said no to Hailee. Or rewind time to twelve years ago and never become friends with Holden and his sister to begin with. But she couldn't change anything now, so all Nina did was keep walking forwards. Soon, this day would be over. Soon, the only thing today would be was a royally disastrous memory, but a memory nonetheless, filed away with all the other ones involving Holden Green: the fun, the happy, the sad, the angry, and most importantly: the lonely ones.

The recollections from nights full of waiting for phone calls or texts or a SnapChat or anything from him, the nights when all she got was word from his sister telling her he's hungover the next morning or yo, it's Holden, leave a message on his voicemail. The nights that she worried he had been in a car crash from driving high, or that this was the night that he had alcohol poisoning and ended up in the hospital - all of those terrifying, nerve-wracking, devastating memories were reminders of Holden, and the power he unknowingly wielded over her.

Holden was very, very bad for her. She just needed to remember that.

It was easier said than done, though, when he was smiling at her, warming her body as well as the sunshine did, and his arm was steadying at her back, his scent close to her, filling her head with dangerous fantasies. She could kiss him without trying, without meaning.

After a while, he apparently decided to start up the conversation again on a neutral topic: school. "So, did you take all three sciences last year?"

"No, just Physics and Chemistry. You?" Nina kept her voice cautiously polite. She did not want to be caught in another one of his traps, snared in the memories he weaved so tantalizingly, the history that would be so easy to fall into.

"Oh, I'm only taking Biology. I was never very good at math anyways," he said wryly, chuckling.

"Yeah, I remember," Nina said softly. It was strange, so very bizarre, to be talking to him like a stranger would, with the weight of their history hanging above their heads, threatening to break this fragile peace.

"You were - you were always great at it though." As if sensing her tension, her anxiety at the turn the conversation had taken, Holden added, "So, how's Todd doing lately?"

"Uh, we broke up." It hadn't been a surprise to her; he'd been a year older, and had graduated this May, two months before her birthday. He hadn't wanted anyone "holding him down" and thought it "wouldn't be fair to either of them", and had suggested that they "see other people". He'd been boring anyways.

"Oh, I didn't know that." He did sound surprised; she'd heard from Hailee he was busy with tutoring all of last school year, catching up on math and other subjects. He probably hadn't had much time to hear the latest gossip. She didn't know why that admission hurt her.

But then again, everything about Holden hurt her.

"So, are you seeing anyone?" She asked, trying to return the favour.

He laughed, putting on his arrogant, bad-boy mask. She wanted to see the old him, the soft him, but this one, this new persona would prevent her from remembering just how wonderful it had been to be his friend. "Why, Nina Edwards, are you asking me out?"

"Don't misunderstand the question," she snapped. "Never in your wildest dreams."

"Really?" He flirted. "Because I have a lot of wild dreams."

She rolled her eyes, pushing him good-natured-ly. God, she'd missed him. Even if this was an act, even though it would never happen again, she'd forgotten just how good he made her feel, the way being around him was like immersing herself into a tub of hot water and having all her problems washed away. "Well, they're just that - dreams."

"Do you ever dream about me?" He asked her, meeting her gaze with his green one.

All the time, Nina wanted to say. "Only in nightmares, Holden."

That was true, too.

Eighteen Months Ago

"Are you sure you'll be fine on your own?" Nina leaned through the car window of her brother's Buick, her hand on Holden's shoulder.

"Just go back to your stupid boyfriend, Nina. I'll be fine." He was slurring his words. She could hear her brother, Harry, starting up the engine.

"Yeah, sis, chill." Her brother was acting weird, but she hardly had time to think about it as Todd, holding a plastic red cup of beer, appeared from the teeming mass of people that had spilled out from his house into his front yard. The party had moved outside, it seemed, and there were people dancing to the beat of music that was still audible from out here, people vomiting into the bushes, people making out. This had been her escape every weekend since school had started a month ago. Her parents were none the wiser.

"Don't worry, dude, I'll take care of your little sister." Todd put his arm around her, groping her ass, and as she turned to tell him to stop, he shot her a wink, and turned his eyes on her chest. He was drunk, or maybe tipsy; surely he wouldn't act like this otherwise.

Nina pulled free of Todd's grasp to ask Harry one more time if he was okay to drive, but then Todd was kissing her, pinning her body against one of the trees in his front yard, and he felt good. He was a good kisser, an excellent kisser. He was hot, and popular, and he wanted her. Right now, all she wanted was someone to want her.

By the time they broke apart, both Harry and Holden were gone.