LewRice Chronicles

Safe

If you so happen to be uncomfortable with gang activity and violence, this one shot is not for you. You should probably click off. For those of you who are, enjoy it. Hope I do it justice.

-Bre

Sean's POV

"You're an hour late, Lew!" Julian sneered at me, my other friends scolding me as well. I rolled my eyes and shrugged at them. We all met in our local skating park. No one would expect us to be here, which was why we scattered our locations as long as it was in our territory.

The night sky surrounded us, its stars shining bright. It was half past 12am. "I was handling some things. Anyway, any update on the Seminoles' location?" I asked, dismissing the insignificant statement.

"Yeah. I saw them behind Patrick's Diner 10 minutes ago on sweep duty." Ken stated with crossed arms. Yes, we had duties. In our gang there was Julian, Josh, Ken, Dario, Corey, and I. We all grew up together in the same neighborhood.

"You didn't wear anything where they could tell it was you, did you?" I asked, stating the obvious. If they even thought someone was with us, they'd track us down and kill us all. "Of course not! I'm not stupid." He exclaimed, leaning against one of the ramps.

We were breaking down our plan one more time, but when I was talking, I saw Julian and Dario got distracted. "Hey buddy! You can't be here!" Dario shouted. I looked up and saw a thin figure in the distance skating up and down a ramp. The mysterious figure proceeded to skate, doing turns around the entire skating park.

"Hey!" I yelled, cupping my mouth. Their trucks got even more complex and they were headed our way as our confusion set in. "This will shake him." Ken said, grabbing his pistol then shooting three of the ramps surrounding us.

They jumped, flipping their skateboard then landed perfectly. The figure turned our way and proceeded skating. I waved my hands wildly, causing them to come to a slow stop a few feet away from me. They took their AirPods out of their ears and picked up their skateboard.

"May I help you?" When they let their hood down, long brown waves were revealed. It was a girl. A beautiful one, at that. "You can't be here, beautiful." I informed her. She looked to be around our age. Despite the night surrounding us, her eyes twinkled like the stars, the hazel in them revealing itself.

A smirk adorned her face. "Yes, I can. It's a public park." She chuckled, holding her arms out beside her, gesturing to what surrounded us. Corey stepped up beside me and put his hand on my shoulder. "Look..what's your name?"

"Who's asking?" She argued, putting up a fight. Ah, so she's one of those. "Beautiful, I suggest you leave unless you want to end up dead, okay?" I warned her. She let out probably the cutest giggle I've ever heard, a genuine smile on her lips. "What? You guys are going to kill me? I don't think you have the heart."

We heard a shotgun cock from higher up then looked at each other. "No, but they will. Everybody, take cover!" Ken yelled over the missed gunfire. Every one of us bolted to behind a ramp, me snatching the girl to take cover with me.

"I need you to stay in hiding for as long as you can, alright? These guys are-" I tried informing her. "Bad news, dangerous. I know. Do you have an extra gun?" She finished. She took off her bag and pulled out a dagger. I scoffed, but pulled out my revolver then made sure it was loaded. "Do you even know how to shoot a gun?" I asked, lifting my brow at her while handing it over.

"Nope, but it can't be that different from throwing knives, right?" She shrugged, twirling it on her finger before shooting at one of the Seminoles. With the smack of my teeth, I grabbed her small hand gently then adjusted it on the gun. "Put your index here, your thumb here. Keep that grip tight and your fingers together under the guard. Her hand was warm, but surprisingly, she wasn't shaky or anything. Almost as if she was used to this. My stomach flipped when I felt her hand fit in mine perfectly. "I trust you have good aim." I said slowly.

She smirked and began shooting back. When I peeked out I only saw three out of the five still standing. I gave her a look of respect, but proceeded in the war that we started.

One of their bullets grazed my abdomen, causing me to yelp through gritted teeth. I still continued to fire my weapon, yelling to check up on my companions occasionally. Everyone stopped their fire once we began to hear sirens nearing from the distance.

"How fast can you run, beautiful?" I asked, panting heavily in cover. "Who said anything about running?" She asked, raising a brow. She grabbed her skateboard, getting out of cover carelessly. I pulled her back down then glared at her for her stupidity.

"Put your hands on me like that again and I'll-" She started but I cut her off. "Oh, let me guess. Shoot me in the dick. Heard it all before, beautiful." I smirk, unfazed.

"Funny. I was going to say slit your throat but that'd be interesting." Kaycee replied dryly. My jaw dropped at her violent mind, opening and closing my mouth. "Anyway! You need to keep your guard up. You can't just go into open fire like that! You could've died and then it would've been all on me." She laughed genuinely then got up once again.

"You're cute for thinking that, but don't worry about me." She smiled before hopping on her skateboard. "Wait," I rushed to my feet despite the sharp pain on my side. "I never got your name." I said, putting my guns away in my pants.

Her smile still beamed as she looked at me with a glint in her eyes. "Clermont Haze. 24th Diesel Street. 5:45pm." She shouted while making intentional swerves in her path. Her figure got further and further away as I stared at her back.

"Sean, come on! They're almost here." Julian yelled from the car he was driving. I hurriedly ran to the car and slid in the backseat with Dario and Josh.

~~~~

24th Diesel Street. Clermont Haze.

Yep, this was the address. It only echoed in my head for 2 weeks. She never told an exact day to come but I assumed she'd be here, especially since she gave me a time of day. I walked into the rustic coffee shop with no further thought of what was to come. I sat down at a small two seat table. I looked around at my fellow customers, scanning the room for her familiar face.

A tired sigh left my lips when I didn't spot her. I checked the time on my watch to see if I was too late or something but I wasn't. 5:45 on the dot. I was trying to decide what I wanted from the menu when I felt a presence in front of me.

"Welcome to Clermont! I'm Kaycee, your server this evening. What can I get you?" The familiar voice asked cheerfully. I looked up to see her beaming smile that made my heart beat quicker. Her outfit was the complete opposite to what she wore that night at the skatepark. She wore a blue hat that let her curly ponytail stick out the back. With her wearing a short sleeve navy blue t-shirt, her skin was more exposed. I could see that she had a small beautifully done tattoo on her wrist.

Her long legs were displayed in her fringed light wash jean shorts. "Done checking me out, bad boy?" Kaycee asked, crossing her arms in amusement. My eyes met hers, the sunset already complementing them.

"Not quite." I replied before letting a smile take over my face. Kaycee rolled her eyes but smiled nonetheless. "Look, I just got off but I can make you some coffee or something in the back real fast." She offered kindly. I instantly shook my head and stood.

"Too bad. I'll be right back." Kaycee giggled. After about 2 minutes, she came back out with a smoothie and a hot coffee to-go cup.

She nodded her head towards the door, having me follow her out. I held the glass door for her and two teenage girls that walked in after I stepped out. "Here's coffee so you can stay up and do your fun little gang activities." Her hand stuck out to hand me the coffee which I gladly took. I grinned in amusement at her comment, sipping the hot beverage afterward.

"Yeah, uh, sorry about that." I paused, halting in my tracks. "Speaking of, I want to make it up to you." I said, turning to face her. Her eyebrows furrowed, but her eyes told me she was intrigued.

"When's your curfew?" I asked, causing her to let out a laugh. "I'm 18. I don't have one." She shrugged. "But I will say, I'd like to know your name before I go roaming the streets with a gang leader."

I stuck out my hand and she grabbed it, shaking it firmly. "I'm Sean. Nice to meet you, Kaycee."