"This is....... shocking. And interesting!" Austin noted.
"Well..it is something alright!" Max said in affirmation.
"I'm at a loss for words!" Austin said.
"I'm not.." Max said, "Hey, where are you?" She was talking to her phone. Austin had not seen her pull it out and dial it.
"Who are you talking to?" Austin asked but she ignored him.
"Can you get here by the fire like yesterday! ....you're gonna wanna see this....I don't care, Brock can wait.....would it help if I told you it is about a certain someone who stole your boyfriend ....that's what I thought, see you in two!" She hung up and looked at Austin mischievously.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but...shouldn't you be freaking out right now?!" Austin asked skeptically.
"Why?"
"I've known you for quite some time now and you are not great with things that don't go your way!" Austin explained, "By now, you would have been roasting her head on a spit !"
"I'm trying a different angle of dealing with basic whores."
"Which is...what exactly?" Austin asked doubtingly.
"It's a secret." She responded, "Nicky is gonna love this!" She brought up her phone and snapped a picture using her camera phone.
"I'm sure she is gonna have a field day...but what about you?" Austin enquired further.
"What about me?"
"I mean...you like the guy and you just walked in on him making out with another girl!" He was trying to explain to her the gravity of the situation.
"I know." She sounded unaffected by it, "But this is really about Lira."
"So she cheated on Michael with Randy, big deal!" He jibed.
"Oh, sweetie, Randy is like number fifty!"
"What do you mean?" Austin asked, suddenly interested in what she was saying.
"Apparently, what she lacks in hotness, she more than makes up for in promiscuity."
"Oooh..tell me more!" Austin asked excitedly.
"She has slept with like half of the football team and chess club!"
"Really, that's a nasty rumor to spread."
"You should know by now that I don't spread rumors...if it ain't true, I'll make it true!"
"You even have a motto?" Austin puzzled his eyebrows in a frown.
"I've just done it so many times, the motto basically made itself."
"So, what percentage of her whoring around did you contribute in?" Austin cocked his eyebrow at her.
"Surprisingly, none!" She said as if she couldn't believe it herself.
"So, what are you going to do?" Austin asked, a bit more seriously.
"About her?" she asked venomously.
"No, about Randy."
"I don't know," Max shrugged. "Looks like he is more than willing to suck face with every floozie within a five mile radius."
"Exactly how long have you been pining after this guy?!" Austin asked curiously with his hands on his hips.
"I wouldn't call it pining ..per se." She rolled her eyes.
"From what I can see, you seem pretty smitten by him."
Max looked like she was getting annoyed by talk of Randy, "Can we please talk about something else that does not revolve around RANDY!!!" She shouted in frustration while flailing her hands in the air.
Unknowingly, she had said the name loud enough to turn Randy's head in her direction. She threw her palm over her mouth as her eyeballs popped out of their sockets and her face turned crimson.
"Oh," Randy said with a slight smile as he walked towards Max and Austin, leaving Lira standing by herself. "You talking about me?"
"Y-you?" Max stuttered, "No...not at all. Wh-why would you ask that?" She shook her head and asked softly, trying to act casual but it was not working very well. The hand placed sloppily and awkwardly on her waist was not helping either.
"Nice seeing you here, Max." He seemed pleased to see her.
"Seems that way!" Austin snorted sarcastically.
"What does that mean?" Randy asked him.
"Nothing says 'nice to see you' quite like sticking your tongue down the throats of every girl you bump into, huh." Austin did not hold back much.
"You have to forgive him, this is my ...cousin, Austin..he may have some mental issues ...don't listen to anything he says!" She said, trying to mask the fact that they had been watching him make out with Lira.
Randy looked between them, clearly puzzled by how these two could have been cousins., or related in any way. Max maintained a wide, toothy smile while she stared up at Randy.
Randy was incredibly handsome. Austin could easily see why Max was acting all hot and bothered in his presence. He was tall, had short, slightly spiky hair, well defined jaws and his eyes were almost an electric blue. His cheeks were lightly dusted with cute freckles and his body left nothing to be desired.
He was the second guy Austin could comfortably admit was actually, by every definition...hot. But he had nothing on his Noah. In his eyes, nobody could compete with Noah.
"Are you talking about the red head?"
"Nooo.." She cackled.
"That chic is crazy, she just walked right up to me and started kissing me out of nowhere!" Randy explained dramatically.
"Really, bro?" Austin tsked, "That's the story you're gonna go with?"
"You don't need to explain anything to me.....you can go back to, you know...that..right?" She dismissed, but she also wanted to know the answer.
"A-actually, I do." Randy sounded unsure.
"Huh?" Austin and Max said together.
Before any of them could know what Randy was talking about, he grabbed Max by the waist, pulled her against him and started kissing her.
Austin stood by awkwardly and averted his eyes in an attempt to give them some privacy, which did not seem to be an issue for them.
His hair was being blown in all directions by the wind that was blowing strongly. He kept brushing it away from his eyes but it was useless.
"Hubba hubba..." Nicky appeared beside him, "Is this what she was calling me for? ..wait a minute, is that the milkshake boy?"
"You know him, too?" Austin asked her.
"Yea, Max has been in love with him for months..practically since he started working at the mall."Â Nicky filled him in, "Jeez, It's really freezing out here!" She commented while hugging herself.
"And he was making out with that French hussy not more than five minutes ago."
"She is at it again!?" Nicky exclaimed.
"Ok, I'm gonna go look for my boyfriend before the two of you drive me crazy!" Austin said.
"Awww," she cooed at him.
"What?" Austin asked.
"You said boyfriend!" She said it like it was one of the most incredible things she had ever heard.
"You do know that that's not the first time I'm saying the word, right?"
"I know..but it still warms my heart!" Her eyes shone in adoration.
"Goodbye, weirdo."
"He was playing Edward Fortyhands near the cliff with some guys!" She called after him.
He followed Nicky's instructions and headed in that direction. The wind was getting colder and the sky roared from above. The biting cold made it seem like it was about to start raining. Even the crowd around the beach was getting slimmer and the fire had started to die down.
He reached the place where Nicky had mentioned but he couldn't see Noah anywhere. There were a bunch of guys messing around and only a few of them looked familiar because they went to his school.
Austin canvassed the area to no avail. Noah was nowhere to be found. He recoursed to asking the people who were around if they had seen him but nobody could tell him. He was starting to get worried. It was not like this was a very safe place. It was a dark beach, filled with mostly drunk strangers and Noah was most definitely drunk too if he was straight out of an Edward Fortyhands game.
His mind was starting to go to dark places, like, maybe, kidnapping. The worst one was thinking that he might have drowned in the freezing waters. Well, that was certainly not a good thought to have because he was now panicking.
"Man, he left that way a few minutes ago." One guy finally offered him useful information. He still had beer bottles duct taped to his hands which meant that he might have been hanging with Noah.
"Was he with anyone?" Austin asked urgently.
"Yea...some fairy came here insisting to talk to him." The guy slurred before taking a large gulp of the forty ounce beer.
"Fairy?" Austin asked.
"Yea, some queen who looked like he really wanted to get with him. Noah tried pushing him away but he gave in eventually and they went to talk over there." He pointed towards the extensive side of the cliff.
Austin had a pretty good guess about who Noah was with. It did not sit well with him. He immediately knew that Jesse was at it again.
"That little weasel!" Austin cussed between gritted teeth.
"Whatever dude."
Austin set off towards where Noah had gone and no sooner had he taken a few steps than it started drizzling. It was a few droplets at first and then it started full on pelting.
People ran and scattered all around, scrambling to find shelter. The party was officially ruined.
Austin could not just leave. His car was all the way back at the shack but he would have to endure the ice cold, devilish droplets falling from the sky and almost piercing through his skin. He wasn't wearing a jacket, which made it worse.
He scanned everywhere but there was no sign of anyone. After fifteen minutes of searching and nothing, he gave up and decided to leave, assuming that Noah had already gotten out of the rain.
Besides, he knew that Noah could not tolerate Jesse for longer than a minute. He did not even know why he was so worried, he felt silly for even thinking that Jesse would somehow do something bad to Noah. It was a ridiculous thought.
He quickly made his way back to the shack. His car was among the last in the parking lot. He was getting in when his phone rang in his pocket. He answered it quickly, thinking it was Noah calling him.
Now he felt more stupid, remembering that it would have been easier just calling Noah instead of being drenched in the pouring rain.
"Noah, wear the hell are you?" He asked immediately after answering.
"Noah? What are you talking about?" It was his mother's voice. It was great that his mother was calling, but hers was not the voice he really wanted to hear at the moment.
"Oh," his face fell. "Hey mom!"
"What's wrong?" she asked in a worried voice.
"Nothing mom, everything's ok." He assured her.
"Are you out in the rain?" she asked sternly.
"No, I'm in my car."
"Good, are you planning on coming home any time soon?"
"Yea, I'm on my way."
"Where is your sister?"
"She was with Max. Don't worry, she is fine."
"Alright, take care. Don't get sick and drive carefully... I don't want to find you wrapped around a tree!"
"I won't."
"Alright, I'll be waiting up."
"Ok, bye mom."
He hung up and immediately dialed Noah's number. It went straight to voicemail. He cut the call and redialed again and again. Noah wasn't picking up.
"Hey babe, it's me," Austin left a voicemail. "Where are you? I've been looking for you but I can't find you anywhere. Call me when you get this...I'm starting to get worried. My mom just called me home. I'm gonna be waiting for your call...so, please, don't make me wait too long. Love you, bye!"
Something in his gut told him that something was really wrong somewhere. He couldn't pinpoint what exactly, but he just couldn't shake the feeling. He tried to reassure himself with positive thoughts but it did not help.
No matter what he thought, it always came back to that heart-wrenching, stomach-twisting feeling that made his nerves go haywire.
He called Noah's phone one more time but there was no answer. He silently prayed that Noah was ok..that maybe he was not answering his phone because he had lost it. Nothing was working.
He started the car and drove off.
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