Chased (Xavier Samuel)

Chapter 1

MEL

I roll my eyes as I watch yet again Lara and Finn share kisses. It was probably their tenth one, and we had only just left home ten minutes ago. Chase, who is sitting next to me at the back of the jeep, smiles at my reaction. 

"So, have you ever been camping Mel?" Finn asks from the drivers seat.

"Not at the outback that's for sure." I reply, staring out the window. 

"It's going to be great, no adults, no neighbours, just the four of us."

"Yeah great, and the snakes and the spiders," I begin.

"Relax Melly," Finn laughs and I cringe at my nickname.

"Are we there yet?" 

"We haven't even reached the bush yet, we're still in town."

"Okay well I'm going to sleep and when I wake up hopefully I'll be back in my bed." I say and lean my head against the car door, closing my eyes. 

"Mel, wake up." I hear Chase's voice, his hand shaking my shoulder. I stir out of my sleep. 

"What?" I ask, confused as to where I am. 

"We're setting up camp here, it's getting dark soon." 

I look out the window and all I see is desert, a long main road that seemed to never end, and some shrubs. Finn and Lara have already set up their orange tent, and mine and Chase's is lying a few steps away, still needing to be set up.

"Oh, okay." I step out of the car and start to make our tent. In ten minutes, our black tent is set up and standing high. We all put our bags in our tents and set up a fire and chairs. 

I pull out my phone from my bag. "Won't get any signal up here," Finn says, taking a sip of his can of beer. 

"Are you serious? What if there's an emergency?" 

"There won't be an emergency, calm down." Lara laughs. 

I groan and throw my phone back into my bag. "I can't believe you dragged me into this." I mumble, loud enough for Chase to hear. 

Chase chuckles, his smile making my heart melt. "Sorry." He throws his arms around my neck and I fall back. I giggle as Chase kisses my cheeks continuously. 

"Save that for later tonight!" Finn yells from outside, making Chase and I awkwardly pull away. Chase and I weren't a couple.

We had known each other for ten years. We met Lara and Finn five years ago. We were all eighteen now. When my mum died from cancer, about two years ago, Chase was there to comfort me. He had held me in his arms and cried with me. He told me he would always be there for me. And so far, he has kept his word. In these last ten years, there is no doubt that I started having feelings for Chase. He always told me that he loved me, but not in that way. He probably meant like a sister. It broke my heart knowing we could probably never be together. I'll be honest I am a bit jealous of Finn and Lara's relationship. They're always together, they do sweet things to each other, even planning their wedding, and having sex almost all the time. Me, on the other hand, I am still a virgin. I wouldn't give up my virginity to anyone. Except Chase. But we weren't even together so how the hell would that happen?

I step out of the tent and the sky is turning grey. "What's for dinner?" I ask, slumping down in one of the chairs. 

Lara fidgets with the bag and pulls out some cans. "Um," She squints her eyes to read the small label on the can. "Canned noodles soup." She says, throwing one towards Chase and Finn. They heat the soup up and we eat in silence, watching the sun go down.  Soon, our surroundings were completely dark and the only light there were, was coming from our fire.