It's Only Skin Deep

Chapter 6: The Distraction

November 1st, 1:44 a.m.

"Rubi!" I called into the remains of the party. One or two people were passed out on the lawn after partying too hard, but other than them everyone else was gone.

Hannah, Salem, Jake and I were sweeping the house and yard in search of Rubi. She had been missing most of the night, and there was a large possibility that a skin-walker had taken her. The more we searched the more I started to lose hope that we would find her.

"Over here!" Hannah suddenly called from behind the house. I rushed there to find Hannah holding Rubi's leather jacket. The one she had worn for her vampire costume.

My shoulders sagged as I took the jacket from her. No Rubi.

Salem came around the corner of the house carrying something... no someone.

Rubi.

Her short black hair was stuck to her face and stuck out in all directions. She was only missing her jacket, which I held in my hands.

She was safe.

I met Salem half way across the yard. "Where was she?" I asked incredulously when I reached him.

"I found her passed out in a bush." Was he serious? His tone said that he was 100% serious.

"Thank you." I truly was grateful to him for finding her.

We called off the search after rounding up Hannah and Jake.

"Bye Jake," I said awkwardly as Salem gently set Rubi in the back seat of my car. Hannah climbed in beside her.

He pulled me in for a second hug that night, "See you later."

Salem stood beside my car watching Hannah put a straw in Rubi's open mouth. "You need a ride?" I asked him.

His dark eyebrow inched up. Right, he had drove me here. He shook his head before heading off down the darkened street. I was starting to realize that Salem didn't talk much and that when he did it was typically short and clipped.

I turned over the ignition after I hopped in and drove away from the long ended Halloween party.

***

November 1st, 2:00 a.m.

Hannah's house was dark when we pulled up in front of it. Nobody was home currently as her parents were away on separate business trips.

It was just Hannah, a drunken Rubi, and me. I wondered if Salem was still searching for Essex and Georgia, despite the hour.

Hannah and I looked back at Rubi in the backseat. She was spread the length of the seat and had one of her arms covering her face. "How are we gonna get her out of here?" Hannah questioned.

"I have an idea." Mischief was clear in my voice. I grabbed the bottle of water setting in the cup holder, unscrewed the cap, and upended it on an unsuspecting Rubi. The ice cold water poured all over her.

Rubi jolted upright with a squeal, "Cold, cold!" She fixed me with a, no pun intended, cold stare. "Why'd you do that?" she asked incredulously.

I shrugged to Hannah with a small laugh then jumped out of the car.

Hannah unlocked the front door and the three of us stepped inside. Rubi and I immediately collapsed in the guest bed. "Night- er- morning." Hannah said as she parted ways for her own bedroom.

Exhaustion took over and my eye lids drooped. I fell asleep.

***

November 3rd, 7:17 a.m.