Breaking Free (BXB)

Chapter 2-Stranger Danger

"You're coming." Rosie insisted over the phone, her voice determined. I rolled my eyes and put one hand on my hip. I wasn't going to go to some stupid party where people would inevitably get drunk and throw up all over each other. It wasn't my thing. Frankly, I don't know how it was anyone's thing.

"I'm not coming." I Reiterated for the fifteenth time. Rosie huffed and I could practically see her raising her immaculately plucked eyebrows at me.

"Owen will be there." She sang, her voice lilting. She knew she'd won. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to get rid of the picture in my mind of Owen and me in the middle of an intense make-out. I really, really didn't want to go, but if Owen was there it was a completely different story. Owen could tell me to go to hell and I would go with a smile on my face. Groaning, I shook my head. Glancing at my overflowing closet filled with sweaters and old jeans I rubbed my hands on my face.

"I don't have anything to wear." I pulled the phone away from my face as I heard Rosie squeal excitedly.

"Get ready loser, we're going shopping!" She cried over the phone.

"Did you just quote Mean Girls?" I groaned, but the only response I got was the click of the line going dead.

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I wanted to bash my skull in. This was the fifth store we had been to in the mall and we hadn't gotten anything to show for it. Except for a small shark tooth earring, we were completely empty-handed. The earring was kind of odd with all sorts of lines on it and a golden colored metal plating at the top, but I had to admit it was kind of hot, even if this whole shopping spree was kind of pointless. Is this what girls think is fun? Poor things.

Cries reverberated around the plaza, and I turned to see three familiar birds, their eyes glowing, staring straight at me. My blood ran cold. It was an outdoor mall, so it wasn't a surprise to anyone that there were birds here, but these were the birds who had been following me for weeks. My fingers began to twitch from nerves.

"Oh! Oh, I know just the place to go!" Rosie exclaimed with a clap of her hands, drawing a few lingering stares from strangers. Shaking my head I plastered on a smile and turned to face her, trying to push all thought of the birds from out of my mind.

She instantly grabbed my free hand and dragged me down a short set of stairs and into a dark and rustic looking shop. It was kind of crammed with stuff, but business was slow so it didn't feel too claustrophobic. There were all sorts of clothes on the racks but Rosie dragged me impatiently by the majority of them and stopped right in front of a rack of button downs. My eyebrows rose. I hated button downs.

She had a shit eating grin on her face and I wanted to hide behind one of the racks or lock myself in one of the stalls to avoid her right then and there. I'd take the creepy ass birds to this. "Stay right here," Rosie said before diving into the many racks and piles of clothes. However much I disliked button downs, Rosie had much more of a fashion sense than I did, so, begrudgingly, I trusted her.

Rolling my eyes I began to look through the rack in hopes to find the least frat-boy looking button down. Each seemed to be worse than the last one, with all sorts of player patterns on them. I kept going until I found one near the back in my size. It was a dark jean color and the sleeves were rolled up. It didn't seem like such a bad idea, so I pulled it out and stood there waiting for Rosie. Five minutes passed, then ten, and I was pretty sure the stacks had swallowed my friend whole. Moving to find her, a man appeared in front of me and I jumped. Rushing forward, he gripped my shoulder in his iron fist. I squeaked, fear coursing through me.

"What the hell!" I cried, trying to tear my arm out of the man's grip. He was a big beefy man with dark eyes, dark skin and three long, jagged scars from his hairline to his chin, a glazed, blind eye separating the parts. I shivered, it looked like the guy had been mauled by a bear. He didn't apologize or explain why he'd grabbed me, just glared daggers into my skull.