1000 Miles - Chandler Riggs // Austin Abrams

Chapter Forty Four

October 29

"Do I have to do this?" I groan, looking in the mirror at my Halloween costume. It's kind of tight. 

"Yes. I am not going to this alone. Besides, I'm a cool kid now. I gotta go." Elliot grins. 

Elliot has been hanging out with people that play Lacrosse and has decided to give it a try. So now I'm basically the only person NOT on a sports team out of my siblings. Unless Marching Band counts, which I'm not doing anymore because I only did it in Knoxville but whatever.

"Come on, you look adorable." Elliot says. I let out a sigh. I'm going dressed as Little Red Riding Hood. The costume covers most of my skin which I'm highly glad about. I feel like most girls will be showing as much skin as possible even though it's a school dance. 

Elliot is going as Waldo from Where's Waldo. Most of the LAX guys are dressing up as something really dumb like that so it's okay. His 'cool reputation' won't be ruined.

"Okay come on Red." He smirks and walks out of my room. I trail behind him. 

As soon as we're downstairs Katherine stops us. "Lemme get pictures!" She smiles. Katherine wants to take pictures of EVERYTHING to keep 'memories of our new family'. 

"Momm." Elliot groans. She cuts him a sharp glare. Elliot sighs and slings his arm over my shoulders. 

We smile for the picture and then head to the car. The ride to the school was filled of Elliot telling me how much fun we were going to have and that maybe he could hook me up with one of his lacrosse friends. 

My phone starts ringing causing Elliot to shut up. It's Kaylin wanting to video chat. I swipe the answer button and she grins.

She's going to a Halloween party tonight with Nat and Cara and a couple others that I don't know. 

"Hiiii!" She says with a grin and her Harley Quinn voice. "Puddin, say hi." She tells Nat who is dressed as the Joker. They're wearing matching couples costumes. She's Harley Quinn and Nat's the Joker. 

I laugh. "You guys are lame." 

"Noo we're cute." Kaylin sticks her tongue out at me.

"Hey, where's Waldo?" Cara grins. I laugh and turn my phone camera to show Elliot. He waves and continues driving. We're almost at school. 

I talk to Nat and Kaylin the rest of the way until we get there. "I think I'll just stay in the car." I smile as I open my car door. Elliot shakes his head and stands in front of me. "Nope. You gotta go. I'm already here. Besides, Mark has taken an interest in you." He wiggles his eyebrows and I let out a sigh and get out. 

"You mean that guy that sits behind me in Math and 'accidentally' pokes me in the shoulder with his pencil every day? Yeah no thanks." 

Elliot rolls his eyes. "Come on, he's nice." 

"Nice isn't good enough anymore." I mumble and walk in front of him, careful not to trip over my long dress. I don't know why I decided to choose this costume, but I did. 

As soon as we walk into the gym of the school the stench of teenage hormones and punch that is more than likely spiked, feels my nostrils. No way am I gonna drink that.

"Elliot, over here bro." Someone yells from the far side of the gym. It's Mark and a couple other of Elliot's jock friends. 

I follow my step-brother over to his friends and stand there awkwardly. "Woah, Poppy, looking good." Mark smiles. He's dressed as a coke can. 

I give him a small smile and turn around to try and find someone I know yet the only two people I talk to is Sam, Elliot, and Chandler. 

"So Poppy," Mark starts. I turn back around to face him. Elliot is involved in some conversation with some of the other guys that he knows. 

"Heard you were single." 

What am I supposed to do now? 

"Yeah, I am." I force a smile. Please just go away. 

"That's pretty cool." 

"Not really." At that moment I realized I said the wrong thing. Mark started inching closer to me with a grin. "Well, how about I fix that?" I can feel his minty breath hot on my face. 

I place my hand on his coke can chest and push him away. "No thanks. I'd rather be single than a-"

"Is everything okay here?" A familiar voice asks. I let out a sigh of relief. 

"Yeah man. Everything's cool. I was just seeing if Poppy here wanted to go on a date or something yano what I mean?" Mark smirks. Was he implying he was going to get me to have sex with him?

"No, she doesn't want to go on a date." Chandler says, snaking his arm around my waist. "She's with me." 

Mark lets out a laugh. "She literally just said-"

"I know what she said. But she's with me." 

Mark looks at me and then back to Chandler. "Right, okay." He mutters and walks away. How cliche. 

As soon as he's a reasonable distance away, I turn around to face Chandler who is dressed up as a knight. I fight back the urge to giggle at how dorky he looks. 

"Thanks." I tell him. He hasn't removed his arm from around my waist. "It wasn't a problem."

"Chandler, I'm sorry." I whisper. He stares at me a moment but then leans in. His lips meet mine and I feel my heart start to beat a little faster. 

The kiss doesn't last that long. We pull away and he smiles a little. "Looks like you really were my knight and shining armor after all." 

"So does this mean you forgive me?" He asks, still holding me in his arms. I nod. "Yeah, I was overreacting. You were right. I guess we can consider it even between us." I tell him. He nods and I see Elliot staring at the two of us. He gives me a thumbs up. For someone who hated Chandler yesterday, he sure can change his opinion.

"Are you thirsty?" Chandler asks. I shake my head. "No, I don't really trust the drinks here." I tell him. He laughs. "Same, I think I actually saw Tyler and Zac put alcohol in it earlier."

We stand in silence for a minute before Chandler turns to me with wide eyes. "How much does Kaylin want to kill me?"

I smile and pull out my phone to facetime her. She answers with a screech. 

"Why's he there?" She glares at Chandler through the phone.

"It's okay, Kaylin. We're back together." I tell her. She sighs. "Poppy the innocent." Then she points her finger at Chandler through the screen.

"You ever hurt my lil child again, Nat has a shotgun." She threatens with a half smile. 

"I won't." Chandler smiles."

"Good, because if you do, it'll be the last thing you do."

For the rest of the night Chandler and I talked and hung out. Sam talked to us a little bit and then went off to dance with some girl. Sam has finally found love. I feel like a proud mom.

Now, I lay in bed with a small smile on my face. Chandler and I are back together. Hopefully things will be better from now on. 

--

A/N: no words rn 

BUT IMPORTANT QUESTION

Would anyone possibly want to make a new cover for the book? (I'll give full credit I promise) 

and maybe I'll give whoever does it like a part in the story or something? I don't know you could decide.

on another note i kind of just want to throw a curve ball and make sam and poppy be a thing but then that'd be really bad oh my gosh.

or maybe sam and cara? 

who do yall wanna see sam be with?