I haven't felt this amount of jittery feeling before. My hands are shaking, I cannot even afford to put them in my pocket as one is holding my phone and one I need to sway as I kept running along the quiet halls of the school.
"Taylor, Taylor, calm down." I told her. Aside from the fact that her voice had been quavery since the beginning, the reception sucks which scared me twice more than I was.
A million things had rung inside my mind. Out of all the many people she could have called, why me? Why couldn't it be her best friend whom she had texted awhile ago to go home because she's fine?
Also, where is she? Why would she call me like that as if she badly needed me to be there? What the hell did she do?
I heard slight hums of machineries while I was talking to her, added with the fact that she is somewhere wherein the signal is absolutely dreadful, I had to call her back several more times than I am now.
"You're in the kitchen? Right? Which one?" I asked, bloody hell, she needs to be more specific! She had been telling me about a kitchen repetitively for a while now.
All I heard where chopped off statements and then the call was off again. "Damn it." I muttered, I called her again and it took her a while to answer but she immediately did.
"Ju— high can—" and the call ended again.
I took about a minute to try to freaking decipher but I realised soon that she meant the junior high canteen, the kitchen there because first of all, in their buildings, the signal is quite awful.
What the hell?! I shouldn't be so worried. But I am. Why? Because Taylor is freaking calling for you somewhere, idiot!
My heart is racing against my footsteps and to be honest, I don't know which one is faster. My head started pounding as well as sweat formed on my forehead.
I swear, this girl will give me a freaking heart attack!
After a while of puzzling myself and going through the ghostly hallways, I got to the next building, to the Junior High side of the school. When I got to the canteen, everything was locked.
"Absolute bollocks!" I grumbled to myself as I walked towards the door to the cafeteria. It's the only way I can go to the kitchen. I looked around and all of the CCTVs are still activated. "Well, damn, I'm getting out of here at the end of winter anyways."
I took my credit-card knife from my wallet because it is the thinnest I've got. I used it to unlock the doors, went in and shut it since I wouldn't want anyone checking it out. That is the last thing I would probably want.
I made my way through the empty cafeteria, almost tripping through the tons of tables and chairs scattered around. I partially sprinted to the door right through the kitchen which was locked again. And again, I used my knife, gladly there are no chains.
Seeing as it isn't that dark yet, the kitchen was partly well-illuminated. There's this abundance of steel and shiny objects all around with a few machineries still humming.
Now I'm just hoping I came to the right place.
I walked around quickly as if it were a puzzle. Truth is, I've never been here before so I'm doing everything blind. Twice. . .Freaking twice of doing this blind because of the one and only Riptide.
"Taylor?" I asked, raising my voice so she could hear me if she's really here. My voice echoed against the walls as the hums of kitchen equipment fill the room. "Tay, you in here?"
"Harry!" I heard her muffled voice from somewhere. First of all, what is she doing here?! Secondly, where the hell is she? And lastly, how did she end up here?
"Where are you?" I asked, looking around in different directions. I started feeling a little dizzy but I managed to shrug it off as I feel much more panicked than woozy.
"Inside the —"
"Oh, no." I muttered once I've realised where she was.
I don't know if this was relief that I found her or scared because even if I did, I don't know how to get to her.
I walked towards the gigantic refrigerator the size of a normal house loo. It's coloured silver as most of the kitchenware and it's shut real tight. "Please don't tell me you're in there." I said, walking towards the door with a rather tight lock that can only be opened with a key. . .
"Harry, help me. I don't know how to get out!" She yelled.
"Well, obviously, you wouldn't call for me if you can get out on your own." I muttered in the most audacious tone. I looked at the lock and if there's one thing I really do not know, it's lock picking. I should've listened to Walter Lee. "Hang on, I'll try to get something. Stay there." The last part was to tease her.
"Harry!" She snapped at an annoyed tone.
"Yes, on my way, madam." I said. I looked at the lock again, "How do you open this thing? There's no knobs!" I don't really know if I am really asking her. For all I know, I'm just trying to figure out what to do. I could find the key but I don't know where it is.
"Taylor, do you know where the key is?" I asker her.
"I believe it is in Madam Rosetta's drawer." She replied.
"That's helpful." I muttered sarcastically. I'm starting to get rather irritated, I just don't know why. My head is starting to fill out with these sudden confusion and annoyance that everything is leaving me less reasonable. "Where is it?" I asked, now both distressed and agitated.
"Canteen. Uh, you have to pick the lock." She said.
"Tay, I do not know how to pick locks." I said, emphasising the word, not. "Options?"
"Really? You can't — " she groaned, "do the same thing you do with the doors but use two knives, one at the gap and one at the lock." She instructed.
I didn't even reply. I just went along with my feet as they ran towards the drawer. At the very top, a locked cabinet was on.
I've had had it with these locks!
I took out both my knives, one with the pen and the other on I've been using for a while now. Once I've opened it and got the keys, there were too many in one ring. I left it the way it is and then ran back to the freaking kitchen where everything turned dark all of a sudden. I didn't mind it. I relied on my memory and if I couldn't find that refrigerator, I'd burn my eyes because it is gigantic as hell.
"Harry, are you there?" Taylor asked, her voice still quavery and of course muffled by the steel.
"Yeah. One sec." I said and started using the keys, trying to figure out which one really fits. "How long have you — been in there?" I asked, struggling to take the first key out. So I went on with the second one.
"Thirty-seven minutes. . . in the kitchen, four hours." She answered.
"What?!" I almost yelled and then went on with the next key. "What were you even doing here?"
"I — I needed a way out. My head hurts and I'm getting stressed out." She replied.
"Didn't I tell you just call for me?" I asked, then tried the next key. "Anytime, just call me."
"If I didn't call you, you wouldn't be here, wouldn't you? I needed some time alone." Her tone was low key making me guilty though all I'm doing is helping her. There is something about her voice that sounds so melancholic, like the sound of a songbird trapped in a cage.
"Why are there so many bloody keys?!" I asked, absolute frustration sweeping through me. I wiped the sweat from my forehead and sighed, trying to calm down as my hands are shaking awfully.
"Calm down, you're not the one trapped and suffocating. Assuming I don't freeze to death for the next five — minutes."
"That's not really helping!" I almost yelled, I feel pressured like it's my life on the line. Or someone else's when I know for a fact that she is fooling around.
I heard her laugh a little, "I'm just so glad I'm not claustrophobic. I'd be panicking by now."
"Yeah thank God, that's a real bright side." I grumbled.
"Just trying to cheer you up, you sound so tensed!"
I wanted to say something back to her, I wanted to say the comeback that is on my head yet, somehow her tone was too serious for me to ignore.
I worked my way with the next two keys and neither of them worked. There are only a few keys left and one silver had inserted perfectly.
"Please be the one." I muttered and I heard that familiar click. "Oh yes!" I exclaimed. I opened the door as quick as I could.
"Tay, you could now--" I grunted, Taylor never let me finish me sentence. The moment the refrigerator door fell wide open, I suddenly felt her cold body against mine.
She wrapped her chilly arms were around me and her face is already buried against my shoulder. I've heard loud, tensed heartbeats with rapid beating and I've got no idea whether it is mine or Taylor's.
I welcomed her inside my arms, I didn't comment or try to think of some things else but the embrace as I didn't want to assume and I didn't want to break it off. I knew she needed this, for the fact that she did that out of nowhere, I can say she needed this very badly.
I tried so much to calm myself down, playing a random slow song inside my head. It is my mistake that I've thought of Closer You and I. Damn it.
When she let go, she did it so swiftly that I almost didn't have time to comprehend what was going on. "Thank you." She said with a sigh.
I ran my fingers through my hair and sighed, "Anytime." I wanted to ask her a lot of other things related to her stress factor but somehow I couldn't find it to myself to do it.
Something is just telling me that it just might be the last thing she needs right now.
Taylor is too stressed out –that's all I can tell at the very moment. Her braided hair had now turned into a mess of loose locks, in fact, you can't even call it braided anymore. Her uniform is all wrinkled and her eyes looked like she's been crying.
She kept her arms close to her, hugging herself and biting her lip as though she is a missing child.
To break the awkwardness of me staring at her for far too long, I closed the refrigerator door. I scratched my head after, "I'll — I'll walk you out?"
"Five minutes." Taylor said in a quiet, trembling voice. She sat on the floor, leaning against the refrigerator. She sat there, curled up with her head on her arms.
Oddly, I find her beautiful though my mind can honestly say she's looking like a mess.
I sighed, I sat beside her and let myself recover from the rush and pressure of everything. "Alright, what do you want me to do?" I asked.
She took a deep breath first and faced me, yet her head is still in contact with her hand. "Stay."
"That I am doing." I said with a smile, "What else? D-Do you want me to stay quiet or or—"
"Can you find me?" She asked, completely out of context.
"Erm, I might have just found you." I replied, slightly confused.
She smiled, "Are you sure?" She asked. "I'm pretty sure when you hear my name, this is not the kind of image that flashes in your head."
"Well, you're not wrong." I said, yet I meant it in a lighthearted way. I know what kind of image comes into my mind when I think of Taylor she definitely doesn't strike me as someone who will cower in the corner. "Do you want me to show you what I see in my head?"
"Yes." Taylor answered. And I wanted to start from that. I've observed, in most times, she'd formally say 'yes' rather than the normal teenager replies 'yep' 'yo' or most likely, 'yeah.'
"Yeah." I corrected.
I took the rubber off her hair, I removed the pins and everything holding her hair back. I ruffled my fingers through her hair gently and carefully. In a matter of time, her hair is now falling loosely on her shoulder.
I stood up, I extended my hand to her and she stood up. All along the way, she just kept her blue eyes on me without saying a word.
To be quite honest, I've never done this before. But then again there were a load of other first times. I've never broke into a school cafeteria just to get into the kitchen and get to a girl who so-randomly trapped herself in the fridge. I've never had a girl talk to me this way. She is up and front about what she wants to say but, she almost sends it like a puzzle she wants you to figure out.
I've been staring. . . so was she. Her blonde locks were a little messy but it's much better than the mess of braids from earlier. Her eyes were slightly red.
"No, not quite." I said, almost teasing her and she chuckled a little. "Add the smile and that's how I see you."
Slowly, her red lips had pulled to a smile.
"There you are." I said. "Do you want to get out now? Clearly, we've been here for more than five minutes."
She laughed a little, "Okay."
As we walk out, I took out the traces that we've been here. I've locked everything that was locked and put the things back the way they were. By the time that we got out, it was probably already six-thirty, if you want the exact time ask her.
I didn't ask her about anything at all. I didn't ask her about why she was in there. I didn't ask her because I didn't want to be nosy. And for one, I know if someone's having issues, it's either they want to have every conversation about it or, they do not want to be reminded about it. Judging on her rate right now, it was the latter.
We used the wall at the back to get out because walking out the front gate seemed a little too much. Mostly, we were quiet but when we got out, I know something else is bound to get out.
"Why is it that you called me instead of Kendall?" I asked, looking down at my footsteps as I am following behind Taylor. That was the only question I've asked so far and it was the furthest from her distressful experiences.
She stopped in her tracks so I turned my gaze up and she looked at me. "She would panic."
"And you think I didn't?!" I almost regret raising my voice. Scratch, I regretted it but it was too late to take it back.
Taylor laughed, "I knew you freaked out but, she she'll freak out far much more than you have."
"Ah."
"Plus you know what to do, no one else does." She said and then started walking.
"Alright. I'm fine with that reason." I said, calmly letting the silence on as I knew what I asked for and that's that. I'm not pushing it any further is that was the end of it.
"Lastly," she trailed on, leaving me hanging onto her long pause. "you were the one I really needed. . . wanted."
I swallowed hard, I might have just heard it wrong. . . but I knew I heard it right. "Now, you're just fooling with me." I said and let out a faint chuckle.
"I'm not." She answered calmly. "Thanks for hanging around with me, I just — thanks. People barely keep up with my kind of attitude."
"You have the squad to keep up with you." I said with a smile. "They're the most amazing people. I'm not saying it's your fault but sometimes, you gotta let people in. You barely spent time with them. Once you do, you'll realise how brilliant they are."
And then I decided to take that back because I reminded myself that I'm not the best person to give advice. "Oh sorry, forget I said that."
"N-No, you're right." She said, "I just don't want to get attached too much."
"Why?" I asked.
"Like you," Taylor started on, "I'm not permanent here. You know how my parents are running the company and I uh— with my brother uninvolved, I'm next in line."
"Oh." We got to the road side of the road and I continued, "You should at least enjoy it while we're here."
"Um, definitely not that easy."
"It is."
"Maybe for you." She said. "You make friends easily and everyone instantly likes you."
"Apparently apart from some of the guidance counselors and the jocks." I said because ever since the start of highschool, I've been dealing with jocks. "You know, the team is really up for it in making some quality time with you, specifically wanting us to be complete for some time."
"I'm not available for the rest of the schooldays until next month." She said, not even in a proud way, she sounds like she's ashamed of it.
"Easy, weekend." I told her. "Saturday night, it's Halloween. I'm sneaking you out whether you like it or not."
She raised an eyebrow and smiled, "What if I don't agree?"
"Remember the loud misleading noises? I've never done that before would you like me to —"
"Eww! God, no! Styles that's —" she groaned, "Seriously, that's so —"
I licked my lips mischievously and said, "You know to yourself that I will do it."
"Still no." She muttered. "Never ever going to happen."
I pouted, "Sadly, I won't take 'no' for an answer, princess. I will do it, Taylor, you know I will." I smiled mischievously and pulled her hand. I leaned towards her, my lips inches from her. "I'll do it, you know it."
"Hmm, you know you won't be able to live for the rest of the night if you do it." She warned and moved her face a little closer. There she is, the Riptide I'm looking for.
"It sounds so wicked wrong if you say it that way. Brilliantly, daringly wrong." I said. "Come on princess, the whole team will be there and you wouldn't want to miss it."
She rolled her eyes, "Alright, I'm coming." And then she started backing away. "Make it count."
"Wear something Marvel." I told her because that'll be awesome.
She nodded, "I'll think of something."
"You won't regret it."
"I'm already regretting it." She answered and then kept walking but I know a lie when I hear it.
"We are so odd." I muttered.
"I know." After a while of walking, she faced me again, "You're really cool, Harry. Thanks again."
"As I said, anytime."
Anytime, anywhere. . . any timeline and any lifetime.