Runaway Man

Chapter 15: Relaxation... or NOT!!!

Quick warning: prepare yourselves.

___________________________

Chapter 15: Relaxation... or not!!

Diana had invited me to go to town with her for Saturday afternoon then we would have a sleepover with Jessica. Of course, I accepted her offer because for one: she had always been my best friend and secondly because I loved shopping. She would have invited the others but we weren’t as close as we should have been outside of school with them.

For our shopping trip, I scavenged around in my drawers for what felt like forever. I really had a bad floordrobe so in the end, I simply wore some classic skinny jeans, red converse and a hoody that I'd worn to the last concert I went to. My outfit was mediocre, not too casual but not too formal. It was just the town centre so why dress up?

We hadn’t had an outing with just the two of us in ages, since our Halloween shopping actually. I'd kind of missed how it had been just us two but now, things were back together. Well-ish, anyway. At least I didn't have to put up with Linda's ugly face! Heh. Just saying that brought so much pleasure to me.

But what ruined our trip was that we actually saw Linda lurking around like a lost soul in the town centre. Her hair was puffed up like a frizzy nest but chances were, this was to cover up her bald patch and she was wearing a lot of make-up. I watched her strut her stuff as she walked over to some hooded boys at a padlocked shop that had run out of business many moons ago.

Smoke drifted from their lit fags and as they extinguished them onto the brick wall beside them. I tried to ignore them, supposing that if they want to kill themselves with drugs then let them. Linda seems perfect for that crowd. She'd probably end up pregnant sooner or later and the dad would be one of them.

"Should we go say hi to her?" Diana teased, giving me a nudge in the stomach gently with her elbow. This made me roll my eyes because to be frank, I would have been better off forever if I never saw her again or if she exploded into bits and pieces. Preferably, the second option.

"No, no, don't.... you idiot," I pleaded as she tried to pull me along to the gangstars as a joke. However, as we drew nearer to the crew, I noticed yet another familiar face in the group.

It wasn't a girl. It wasn't anyone in our school actually.

It was Joey.

I watched as Linda's hands wrapped around Joey's waist and as she went onto her tippy toes to kiss him. This wasn't a quick or friend's kiss but a long romantic one.

My jaw flung open as I stared in horror. I would have continuously vomited if I could but the puke wouldn't run up my throat. I shifted my gaze over to Diana and she was pretty much flabbergasted too... but probably not as much as me.

All she could say was: "That's.... um something you don't see every day."

I didn't know whether or not I was more upset or angry. He had led me on, made me believe that there was something then this. Or was Linda to blame? Had she overheard too much of our conversations about the mystery man? All of these questions fizzed in my mind like a shaken up drink and I felt like I was going to erupt. Why did I care so much?

I wanted to run. Run far away from this chaos but I couldn't. I was frozen to the spot with my best friend beside me. It must have been awkward for her because she probably had no clue what to do to relax me. I didn’t blame her either because if I was in her position, I would be stuck.

They broke away from the kiss and Linda's usual icy glare shot me a look. I felt like pooing myself. Wait no, pooing bricks. Really.

"Um... I think we should go," Diana suggested, tugging at my arm. I nodded my head, knowing that it was the best option for all of us. I couldn’t bear to watch any more of their little show. It made me sick.