Proxy [l.h]

10. Rendezvous and Big Reveals

xbedriddenx is my favorite sandwich of the week

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«DAY 7 cont.»

Lissa

The kiss lasted for about five seconds.

... I mean, not that I was counting. Luke barely gave me enough time to register what was happening, and then suddenly pulled away, leaving me light-headed and stunned.

I take in a shuddering breath. Luke's breathing just as heavily, but he doesn't move away. His nose is still touching mine, his hand on the wall on each side of my head, trying to glance over his shoulder without making it too obvious. Behind him, a few civilians pass by with questioning expressions on their faces, making me blush. The freaky hooded man is gone. But the taxi that tried to capture us still stands where it was before, and Luke takes that as a sign to move, quick.

"How did they find us?" I whisper as Luke presses my hat further down my forehead and wraps his scarf tighter in preparation to go wounding through the streets.

"Credit card. We need to switch to a different hotel," he mumbles breathlessly, pulling me along.

"Ben controls your credit card?" I ask in surprise.

"Of course he does," he says, gripping me tighter. We see a big group of laughing girls heading our way, one of them wearing a noticeable 5SOS tee, and press our chins to our chests, walking faster. If there is anything worse than the hooded man, it would be to be mobbed at a time like this.

Once we go further down the block, Luke pulls his scarf down and motions for a taxi. He taps his fingers on his thigh impatiently, anxiously, as he waits for the driver to pull up in front of us. When the door opens, I see him glance quickly at the face of the driver before settling in and pulling me next to him. Luke's fingers type rapidly on his phone to find our next destination, and then the car's moving, taking us someplace else. First, we drop by our room to get our bags. Then we spend the rest of the ride to the new hotel downtown in silence. My lips are still tingling. And when the silence engulfs us, it really settles in. Luke Hemmings had kissed me. Unconsciously, my fingertips touch my bottom lip, where he bit on purpose, and a weird shiver spreads through my body. I'd just had my first kiss, and it was nothing close to romantic as I expected it to be.

Luke

"Please? I wanted to go out and do something today," Lissa sighs for the second time . I glare at her in warning. Here we were, sitting in our fourth (or I may have lost count) hotel since we've arrived in California. This one is more of a one-room motel, and somewhat smaller than the last. I'm paranoid that the reason they found us last time was because I chose a hotel that was too flashy. If the big bucks go flying out of my card, Ben is bound to notice. This time, we have a pull-out couch and a single bed. Ivory walls with flower patterns. A bathroom and a kitchen, lined with oak cupboards.

Lissa sighs again, falling back on the bed. The mattress plunges under her weight. Across from her on the couch, I'm researching on my laptop, reading through the list of nurses' names, trying to see if any of them are familiar to me. This is it. If I know the name, I have the ultimate lead. A key to finding her.

"Do what?" I sigh in defeat, looking up from the laptop. If her request was something as simple as turning on a movie, I'd do it for the sake of entertaining Lissa. Maybe then she'd leave me alone.

"I don't know. Just...something fun, since we don't have a lot of time here and all..." Lissa says sheepishly.

I close the lid of the laptop and shoot Lissa a glare. "Look, I get that this is your home or whatever and you want to go out and have fun. But you saw what just happened. We're staying in the hotel for the rest of the day until we know we're not being followed."