Chapter 19
As Caleb and I run through my yard I can hear Aidens and Michells counting getting quieter and quieter. Based on the direction we're running in, I think Caleb is leading me to a big tree on the woodline. It's a super fat, tall tree we could both easily hide behind but I think Molly and Alex are already hiding there and even if its a big tree, four people would be obvious.
"Slow down football star not everyone is as fast as you!" I whisper shout at Caleb as we near the tree.
I hear Aiden and Michelle yell '36' and I know they're almost done counting. "Sorry!" He whisper shouts back and I stop for a moment, still holding his hand he notices my sudden halt and turns around. "We gotta keep going, I know you're tired but we're almost there."
I shake my head, "Molly and Alex are already hiding there." I gesture to the tree and he looks up to see Molly laughing at something Alex said.
"We can go over there and get behind that bush." I point to a bush near a little creek in the woods and start running, hoping Caleb is following.
We jump behind the bush just in time to hear Michelle yell 'ready or not here we come!'.
I start laughing at the way Caleb jumped behind the bush like he's batman and he covers my mouth. "Shh Audrey." He laughs while I grin behind his hand.
It's a small bush so Caleb and I are squished together so we're not easily seen. I'm sitting on my knees and he's crouched over me, peaking over the bush to see where Aiden and Michelle are. I look around and see Michelle standing still like shes scared so Aiden reaches out to take her hand and they begin walking together, trying to find their seven friends.
He's so gentle and sweet with her, like he's never seen anything more pure and has genuine interest in the twins that makes me wonder where he got his love for kids. Does he have a younger cousin he babysits?
Suddenly, I hear a crack and look over to see Alex tripping over a tree root. Instead of standing up he just lays on the ground and hopes Aiden and Michelle doesnt't see him. I check to see if they noticed and Alexs plan to lay on the dark ground seems to be working because Aiden is looking for the source of the noise but doesn't seem to be able to find it.
Molly's laughing really hard so Alex starts laughing, giving away their hiding spot. "Run!" Shouts Michelle and her and Aiden take off running to Alex and Molly. They both start running towards base which is the porch and Aiden stays beside Michelle the entire time, his hand never leaving her tiny one.
When Molly and Alex finally reach the porch Michelle was too slow to catch them so her and Aiden just turn around and start looking again.
Michelle walks over to the shed with Aiden following. They look around the wheel barrel and old trailer, not finding anyone.
I look up at Caleb, "Wanna make a run for it?"
"Do you think you can keep up?" He smiles and takes a step back so I can stand up.
"I think I can try." I laugh and take off running to the porch.
Aiden and Michelle turn around and see Caleb and I's shadows running in the dark. Knowing Aiden is faster than I am, I try to speed up but fail miserably and trip over my own feet. I'm almost to the porch so I half run half crawl the rest of the way since I don't have any time to waste standing up.
Aiden and Michelle are running as fast as her little legs can take her before Caleb lets them tag him.
"Gotcha!" Michelle shouts and laughs.
Even though allowing Michelle to tag me would be a good big sister thing to do for her pride and all, it also means letting Aiden win and even though he would win easily without dragging a little girl around, I still can't do that to my ego.
Michelle and Aiden smile at each other and turn around to find the final team of three. Caleb comes to stand with us on the porch and Molly smiles at him, "Softie." She says referring to how he let Michelle tag him. He just rolls his eyes and sits down on our porch swing.
"Run Michelle!" I hear Alex shout and I look up to see Michelle running after Mason and Aiden is chasing James. Emery is just standing there like she isn't sure where to run, "Come on Em!" I yell, "Run!"
She takes off running while Mason and James are distracting the taggers. James falls on the ground and Aiden trips over him causing me to laugh, they both just lay there for a moment before they say something and laugh.
Mason gets away without Michelle tagging him and Aiden and James eventually get up and walk back up to the porch.
"That was a good game guys but we have to play at least one more." Aiden says, "James and Caleb since you both got tagged you're the next taggers, Audrey you're with me."
Caleb walks over to James and they start laughing about something. I walk over and get by Aiden. Michelle, Mason and Molly are on a team and Emery and Alex are on a team.
"Let's go over there and count so they can hide." James says.
Caleb stands there for a moment, "Use your head dude. If we count here we can listen to the footsteps and know where they are."
I shake my head, "Caleb," I laugh and point to where James is trying to go, "Just walk with him."
He sighs and turns around to walk to the other side of the house with James. When I turn back around Aiden is gone, great teamwork. I start walking around for a moment until a stick hits my head and I turn around to see him hiding behind a fallen tree next to the creek. Rubbing my head, I take off running in the direction of the fallen tree.
When I get to it, I have to do the only thing I can do in order to be on the side Aiden is on. I climb over the tree. Bringing one leg over, I fall onto the leafy ground beside Aiden.
"You looked so graceful when you did that." He says with a smirk and I glare at him.
"Laugh all you want but at least I don't have a spider on my shoulder."
In a matter of seconds his smile is gone and his face is full of fear, "Don't even joke about that Audrey. Is there really a spider?" He says with all seriousness and I fight back the urge to laugh.
"Hold on," I say and lean in. I put my hand in the air and smack his shoulder. Bringing my hand back, I can no longer fight the urge to laugh so I just look at my palm before saying, "got it."
"Haha very funny Audrey." He fake laughs, "Whenever you die from a spider bite don't come crying to me about how your body hurts from death by spider." He says and I get confused with his rambling.
"Okay sorry." I laugh and he smirks. Suddenly, I see a real spider crawling on the log in front of us and I contemplate telling him or not. I decide telling him would end funnier so I point to the small spider crawling in front of his face and he completely freaks out.
He lets out a shriek and jumps back, being on a hill makes him lose his balance and he starts rolling. The hill isn't very big so he's only rolling for a few seconds before he lands in the creek at the bottom.
I can barely control my laughter when he sits up and is covered in muddy water. I try to be as quiet as I can without Caleb or James hearing me while I walk to the bottom. When I see him completely, he's sitting in about six inches of muddy water with a blank expression on his face which makes me laugh even harder.
"You can laugh after you help me out?" He asks with a mischievous look and holds his hand out. My stomach hurts from laughing so hard but I hold out my hand regardless. With a simple pull at my arm, I inevitably fall over and land beside him in the creek. I was too weak from laughing to hold myself up properly, I don't know why I thought I could keep myself up and help him up. Even though I know he intended for me to fall.
My smile drops and I frown at him, "That's cheating."
He just shakes his head and laughs, "Looks like you fell for me." He replies referring to how I just landed on my butt, ignoring my previous statement about him cheating.
"You just bruised my ass so you can use a cheesy pickup line?" I ask with disbelief and he purses his lips.
"Yes, actually." He says with a smile, "I can kiss it though and make it feel better." He offers and I laugh.
"You do realize you just volunteered to kiss my ass right?" I ask and realization crosses his face.
"Hmm... that sounded sexier in my head." He says and then shrugs. I just roll my eyes and stand up, "Coming?" I hold my hand out for him to take and he begins propping himself up so he can take my hand and stand up but just before he grabs it I snatch it back, making him fall.
He starts laughing, "I guess I deserve that." He says and stands up.
"Mhmm," I reply and begin to walk back up the hill so I can see how the game is going. I'm surprised they haven't found us yet honestly, it's not like we've put out an effort to be quiet.
I know he's following me because I can hear the sloshing noise in his footsteps behind me.
When Aiden and I reach the top of the hill, we see Caleb chasing Emery and James chasing Alex. Michelle, Mason and Molly are all on the porch kicking a soccer ball back and forth.
I turn around and look at Aiden for a moment before I start running to the porch, the two taggers are busy so I think I can make it.
Aiden passes me, even with his wet shoes on and is at the porch in a manner of seconds while I'm still only five feet from our hiding spot. Curse his long legs and athletic ability.
Emery gets tagged and walks back to the porch pouting and Alex kicks a soccer ball at James making him fall while he runs to the porch.
"Run Audrey!" Aiden shouts and I know he wasn't cheering me on, he was pointing out to Caleb how I'm vulnerable in the middle of the backyard.
I turn around and start running away from Caleb, deciding it'd be best to take the long way around the house if I could outrun him for that long. After about thirty seconds I feel his arms wrap around me and pull me back to him.
"Why are you wet?"
I laugh and he lets me go, I turn around to face him. "Aiden made me fall in the creek."
He gives me a quizzical look, "That sounds... fun?" He says more as a question than a statement.
"Yea it was fun." I laugh and he puts his arm on my shoulder, using me as an arm rest and we start walking back to meet everyone else on the porch.
"You run like a girl." He comments and I give him a sardonic look and push his arm off of me.
"So do you." I say and he gives me a wide-eyed expression, "actually I do recall you telling me earlier that you couldn't keep up because you're not a football star like I am."
"I only said that to help your ego." I reply and walk up the porch steps, he just laughs and replies, "Mhmm, I'm sure."
From the corner of my eye I see Aiden watching us but when I look over at him his face is expressionless. I just shrug and sit down beside Emery.
A/N: This chapter is a long one compared to my others! I had so much I wanted to write in this chapter so it's almost twice as long as the others so YAY! Thanks so much for reading and don't forget to vote! Have a great day lovelies!