We finally came to rest in someone’s backyard, using our stolen bags of food as pillows during the night.
Not that it mattered much.
I would wake up with a pounding heart every so often, certain that the owners were going to discover us and call the cops.
And it seemed like every other time I woke up; I could see Jack sitting up straight gazing at the sky. Though I wanted too, I didn’t say a word to him, letting him have a moment of peace before morning came, and with it a whole new set of problems.
Who honestly knew whether or not we could trust Todd’s parents? No matter how much I wanted to believe Todd, I knew that his sense of reality was a bit warped. His parents could easily manipulate him in one way or another.
But what other choice did we have?
There were no other choices. And so we’d have to throw ourselves off the cliff, not knowing whether we’ll land on a nice, soft feather bed or in a pit filled with three foot long metal spikes.
Whether a gift or a curse, paying a phone call to Todd’s parents was the only course of action.
Still, it made eating that stolen food even harder than it had to be. My stomach was rollingin squeamish nervousness.
“This way,” Jack tugged on my hand as he led Todd and me down another alley.
“Where are we going again?” I frowned, “We’ve already passed about a gazillion payphones.”
I thought we were getting the phone call over with, but apparently not. Instead Jack had been trying to drag us around as quickly as possible without attracting undue attention to ourselves.
And it was really starting to get on my nerves.
“You’ll see,” He muttered as he dragged us into an increasingly shabby part of the small town.
“This is ridiculous,” I pouted.
“Hold on Princess, I’m just trying to help us out a bit in the long run. You said yesterday that we stuck out, and, well, I’m going to fix that.”
“Okay…”
I remained confused until some way, somehow, I found myself standing in front of a thrift store.
Oh. Clothes.
“You’re a genius,” I turned to Jack, grinning.
“Thank you, thank you very much,” He put on his best Elvis impression before giving a short bow and gesturing us towards the shop.
I entered the building and was hit by a musty wave of air.
My eyes gazed over the racks as I let my fingers trail across the used clothes.
Nondescript, nondescript, I thought.
“I thought you didn’t approve of stealing,” I jumped as Jack’s low voice sounded softly in my ear as his breath fanned out across my neck.
“I don’t,” Then my eyes widened a bit, “We don’t have money…right,” I sighed softly so that only Jack would be able to hear.
“Don’t worry about it princess- half of these things are things no one wants anymore –we’re not hurting anyone.” Jack pinched the side of my waist lightly.
“I guess…” I bit my lip as I turned around to face him. Looking down at his t-shirt up to his face, I saw that we really stood out.
“Hey,” I pursed my lips, “Does that mean that you’re going to take all your piercings out?”
“What?” Jack jerked in surprise.
“Well…if we’re trying to be nondescript…” I cast a long glance at his face, “Your piercings are kind of a giveaway.”
“We’ll see,” Jack quipped sharply.
I held my hand up in defense before turning back to the clothes. Someone was a bit touchy about the metal in their face.
I thumbed through a lot of cardigans on the racks, but resisted the urge to take them.
Nondescript, I told myself once again.
Finally I found myself a boring grey tank top and a plain black hoodie in what looked to be my size.
I then turned myself towards the jean section, grimacing.
Even though I hated the thought of being stuck in jean, I knew a skirt didn’t exactly scream out nondescript.
I picked out a pair of dark skinny jeans, slinging it over my arm before searching for Todd and Jack.
I found Jack with a plain black t-shirt and Todd with a plain blue one. I smiled at them in approval, especially when I saw Todd’s choice of a black beanie – it covered his neon orange hair perfectly.
“Okay…So are we going to go?” I bit my lip nervously as I shifted my weight.
Stealing felt so…wrong.
But I sucked it up and mimed returning the closes to the rack while really holding them so that they were covered by my skirt. As long as I walked out with my other side facing the clerk, I would be A-okay.
And surprisingly it was (for once). The clerk didn’t even lift up her head as we left, too focused on the People magazine in her hands.
I didn’t stop holding my breath until we were in the safety of the alleyway once more.
“Whoa there,” my eyes widened as I caught Jack mid-change.
“My abs are pretty amazing,” Jack teased, wagging his eyebrows suggestively.
Narrowing my eyes, I told him and Todd to turn around while I changed.
“You don’t honestly think I’d look do you?” Jack pouted innocently.
“Yeah, right,” I’d scoffed. “ I don’t trust you for a second.”
“That hurts. It really does.”
I rolled my eyes as Jack turned around, hand pathetically held to his chest.
Oh Please.
I cautiously checked the alley’s mouth once more, then noted that Todd was facing the wall and Jack hadn’t moved either.
As quickly as possible, I did my best attempt at girl scout changing,
“Thanks for not being a douche and turning around,” I patted Jack’s shoulder as I meandered to Todd who was still stoic against the wall.
Jack sent me a questioning glance, but remained quiet when I put my finger to my lips.
When I was directly behind Todd, I attacked.
I couldn’t help laughing as I tickled his sides mercilessly
“No fair- Stop. Stop!” Todd whined as he laughed, doubling over.
“Ally Stop!”
I thought it was hilarious that now of all times, he remembered my name, but son after he yelled, I felt myself being lifted off the ground.
“Hey,” I protested as I was forced to prematurely stop my tickling rampage.
“Are you trying to alert the entire world that we’re here,” Jack’s voice was low and serious.
Oh. Right…
“sorry,” I squeaked as he set me down.
“Let’s just get our phone call taken care of,” Jack muttered.
“Sorry,” I repeated.
“No worries princess, I’m just being overly cautious.” Suddenly he stopped, “That reminds me. You’re right- I need to get rid of my piercings.
I blinked in surprise as he started taking out an earing.
“Wait…you don’t have to take out all of your piercings.” I hesitated.
“What?”
“You heard what I said,” I murmured, feeling embarrassed that those words had come out of my mouth.
“Who knew.” Jack smirked, “princess is falling for the bad boy charm after all.”
“What? No. No way in Hell,” I narrowed my eyes as I crossed my arms across my chest.
He raised an eyebrow at me until I relaxed my pose. “It’d just be weird if you didn’t have any piercings,” I elaborated.
He chuckled softly, “Well which one do you want to keep.”
My eyes widened as I bit my lip. He raised his eyebrow again and I only chook my head no in response.
“Come on Please tell me. Otherwise I won’t know which one to keep.” He stepped closer to me so that I could feel his hot breath against my face.
I sighed, “Lip piercing.”
“What was that?”
“Lip piercing,” I mumbled louder, narrowing my eyes.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you. What did you say?”
“Shove it!” I growled, “I know for damn sure you heard me.”
“Aww princess,” Jack teased as he gripped one of my hips.
“Don’t ‘aww princess’ me,” I glared at him forcefully though it didn’t faze him.
“Lip piercing,” He mused. “I like it- it stays.”
He took out his eyebrow piercings promptly before fixing his gaze on something behind me, “You ready to go Todd?”
“Yeah, I’m just collecting any dignity I have left over here.”
“Christ,” Jack muttered, “I think you may have scarred the kid for life with that tickling trick.”
“Please,” I rolled my eyes, though I did notice Todd eyeing me warily as he sidled up next to Jack.
I tapped my foot anxiously as Todd made his phone call to his mom. Whatever was going on, it didn’t look like Todd was thrilled about it.
I watched as he sighed, rolling his eyes as he motioned to me. I gave him a questioning look, but approached the phone booth wondering what he could possibly need me for.
“Hello,” I asked hesitantly as Todd shoved the phone to my ear.
“Who is this?” A woman asked over the phone.
“Umm…Ally…Todd’s friend.”
“Todd’s friend?” She asked incredulously.
“Yep,” I mumbled.
“Oh sorry dear, I just wanted to make sure Todd wasn’t getting caught up in that wild imagination of his.”
“Right…”
“So is it true, did he run away to help you escape?”
“Yeah,” I mumbled, shyly, realizing what she must think of me.
“Well that’s just wonderful,” She cried out, almost blasting out my eardrum.
“What?” My eyes widened.
“Oh nothing dear, could you please give the phone back to Todd. I want to tell him how proud I am of him.”
“Yeah…sure,” I handed the phone back to Todd feeling mildly confused and shaken from my first encounter with his mother.
A couple minutes later, Todd put the phone back down with a grin.
“We’re going home,” he declared proudly as he slung an arm across mine and Jack’s shoulders.
Kind of a filler chapter more than anything else, but oh well:p I'm still super swamped so you're lucky you're even getting this haha. Anyways feel more than free to let me know what you think ;)
Thank you so much for all your support (even though I know this 'thank you' is getting really tiresome)
-BNW <3
P.S. This is unedited...like a lot...so please excuse any big/annoying errors!