Welcome to the Jungle (David) (The Lost Boys)

Introductions

"This is Aurora," Raven replies.

The one I label as the leader, the only one I made eye contact with earlier, looks at me when they stop a couple feet away.

I stare at him, and he stares back. He's attractive, I won't lie, but I'm not sure I like the vibe he's giving off. I turn back to Raven.

"Anyways, thanks. My brother just won this for my sister, so he'd probably be pretty mad if I lost it," I say.

Raven's smile widens. "No problem."

"Aurora?" Emmett comes over.

His dark eyes scan the large teenage boys standing by us. I look at them again. The two blondes in the front are watching me. The one with long dark hair is focused on Raven, and the other two are watching Emmett.

"Who's this?" Emmett questions.

Raven holds out one pale hand. "I'm Raven."

Emmett shakes her hand, smiling at her.

"Hi. I'm Emmett. Who are all these guys?"

The one in the front smiles.

"We better introduce ourselves, guys."

Despite what he said, he's the one that gestures to each one and states a name. Paul, Dwayne, Marco, Michael, and then himself. David.

The name replays in my head a few times. David. It's a good name. A little generic, and I wouldn't have expected it to belong to him, but I like it.

I smile at all of them. The little one, Marco, whispers something to the one named Michael. Michael chuckles, and they look at Emmett. I narrow my eyes at them.

"What?" I ask.

David, who was talking to Raven, looks over at us.

"Nothing," Michael says with a smirk.

I cross my arms. "What'd you say?"

Marco shakes his head, then his blue eyes meet mine.

"We were just saying that we think your brother is forming a little crush over there."

I look at Emmett. His face is turning red. Raven chuckles, looking at my brother as well.

Emmett looks at me, avoiding eye contact with any of the people around us.

"I got this for Hayden. Do you think she'll like it? Stella wasn't around to ask..."

He holds a little stuffed dog.

I nod. "Yeah. She'll love it."

Raven steps forward, determined to make Emmett look at her.

"You know," she says, "you aren't bad looking. And you seem sweet enough..."

I drop my gaze, feeling awkward to watch the two of them talk.

"Boys, why don't we give Emmett an Raven a little... privacy?" David suggests.

The boys don't say much, but I take that as an agreement. David looks at me.

"Care to join us?"

I pull my bottom lip between my teeth. It's only been about ten minutes, but I don't want to wander off alone with a bunch of strange teenagers.

"Um, I have to go find my sister," I say.

He raises an eyebrow.

"Okay. Another time, then."

I nod, turning around and heading in the direction I saw Stella go. I feel eyes on my back as I walk, but I don't turn around.

I find Stella paying at a little clothing store.

"Stella," I sigh.

She looks up at me.

"Hey, Rory. What's up? Has it already been half an hour?"

I shake my head. We walk out of the store, back into the warm night.

"No. Emmett started talking to a girl, and I didn't want to go off alone."

I cover the truth a bit. No need to tell her the full story.

As we walk, slowly, back towards the ring toss game, I see the group of boys standing by a store. I watch as a couple of girls approach them. The one with darker skin and hair twirls a strand of it around her finger. The bigger, paler one puts her hands on her hips.

It doesn't seem like they know one another, but they converse nonetheless. Then a guy walks up, stepping in front of one of the girls.

We're close enough now that I can hear them.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing, talking to my girlfriend!?" The guy demands.

David laughs. "Relax, man. She approached us."

David looks over at me then. I drop my gaze and quicken my pace, wanting to be out of his staring range as soon as possible.