Chapter Six

"Caution, Dangerous Curves Ahead"

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“You don’t think Tyler’s going to be pissed that you’re stealing his car?” Audrey mused as she hopped into the front passenger seat.

“Borrowing without permission.” Reid corrected as he slid the keys into the ignition. The hummer purred to life.

“I do it a lot. He’s used to it.”

“You are so bad ass.” Audrey smirked, tying her blond hair up into a ponytail.

“I like it better down,” Reid frowned, as he pulled out of the parking lot.

“Hrm.” Audrey mused as she pulled it out again and began fixing it in the mirror.

Reid drummed his hands on the steering wheel, eagerly anticipating what he hoped would happen by the end of the night. They drove through the rest of downtown Ipswich, past little shops and stalls and out into the country.

“Ouu, the dells.” Audrey remarked as they drove past the rusted old high way sign. “Intense Garwin.”

“Don’t mock. I’m taking you somewhere special.” He grinned as he turned the hummer down a dirt road.

“Sketchy. This is like a low budget horror movie. Any minute now you’re going to reveal to me that you’re secretly a vampire who’s thirsting for my blood.”

“I was actually going for the whole crazy psycho killer bit, but vampire is a step up.” Reid laughed

They had reached their final destination. Reid parked the hummer and hoped out. Audrey squinted through the windshield and smiled; the cliff’s that surrounded the dells. She’d been here before only a few times, but remembered loving it. You could sit and gaze up at the stars perfectly on any given cloudless night.

Reid opened her door, and bowed graciously.

“Why thank you.” Audrey laughed and stepped out onto the cliff. The air was cool and she shivered slightly, hugging her jacket closer to her body.

Reid opened the trunk of the hummer and dragged out two sleeping bags and a blanket.

“Fortunately,” he said as he walked past her. “I always come prepared.”

“So this is my big surprise?” She grinned as she watched him neatly spread out the blanket on the earthy rubble at the foot of the cliff.

“Well, there’s a little more to it.”

Reid stood with his back facing the edge of the cliff and began to slowly walk backwards.

“Garwin what the hell are you—“ she jumped and gasped out loud. Reid had just stepped completely off the cliff and was now suspended in mid air.

“Forgot I could do that?” He cocked his head with a smirking grin and flipped upside down in midair.

“Show off.” Audrey muttered, venturing closer to the edge.

“Care to join me?”

“Not sure if I trust you enough.” Audrey said coyly.

Reid pouted. “Oh come on. I’ll be nice! I promise.” He held out his arms, daring her.

Audrey took a deep breath. She couldn’t back down to a challenge, especially if Reid Garwin was the so-called challenger.

“All right fine. You win.”

She clenched her teeth and reached out for his arms. He held her by her forearms.

“See? Easy as pie.” He murmured.

Audrey gazed into his deep liquid black eyes. Then she glanced to the ground.

“Fucking hell!” She swore and clung herself to Reid’s body.

“Relax!” He laughed, pulling her in closer to his chest. “Nothing bad can happen while I’m here.”

Audrey took a deep, steadying breath. The scent of Reid was having a strange calming effect on her nerves, but her stomach still had butterflies and she was pretty sure it wasn’t from the height.

“You want to go for a walk?” He grinned and took a floating step back on the thin air. He held Audrey’s hands and led her along as he walked slowly backward, out to the middle of the seeming bottomless drop.

“I’ll admit this is actually pretty cool.” Audrey mused, as she grew used to the idea of walking on air.

“What did I tell you? Nothing to worry about.”

They walked on the thin air for the next few minutes, laughing and joking in the calm night breeze. When they stepped back onto the firm earth, Audrey breathed a sigh of relief. Reid sprawled out on the blanket and patted the spot next to him, motioning for her to join. She obliged and sat down beside him, staring up into the night sky.

“It’s getting late.” She said, suddenly feeling the nervous tension between them.

“Since when does Audrey Tunney have a bedtime?” Reid scoffed.

“Since she started caring about her senior grades.” She laughed.

“You uh, wanna go back to the dorms?” Reid asked, his blue eyes feigning innocence.

They drove back in almost silence, the music playing loudly to drown out any awkwardness. All in all Audrey was feeling slightly blissful, but what worried her was the upcoming farewell. Was he expecting more then just a friendly goodbye? Was she? She shook the thoughts out of her mind. This was not like her; she never got nervous around guys. Why was there something about Reid that she had never noticed until now?

Reid was tapping his fingers nervously on the steering wheel as they pulled up in the student parking lot. His breath was slightly rattled as they walked back to the dorms in silence. Why was he faltering? Pull yourself together, he told himself.

Reid’s mind wandered back to the last girl he had messed around with. Candace Renner; captain of the volleyball team. Candace was a Tall, tanned girl who was very skinny but blessed with a nice rack and bleached blonde hair. This had all went down the last month of summer before school started. Reid had gotten bored quick, as usual. The sex, which had been good, had only lasted for a few weeks after she had broached the ‘can’t we go out for a date once in a while’ spiel.

It wasn’t his fault really. He could make any girl in the closest six area codes fall under his spell. So why the sudden jitters with Audrey? Sure she was hot as fuck and actually had an interesting personality, but in the end, she wasn’t any different from the others, right?

No, he’d just been out of the game for a while. That was all. Once he got his legs around hers everything would be perfectly normal. His lips formed a smirk at the thought and studied her closely.

The turquoise fabric of her dress clung to her lean legs as they entered the warmth of the heated dormitory building.

“So how did you enjoy your night Tunney?” Reid walked close to her down the hall, they’re footsteps echoing off the crumbling old walls.

“Satisfactory I suppose.” Audrey shrugged, stretching her arms above her head in a fake yawn.

“Oh really?”

They were nearing the parting point of the hallway. They slowed their pace and stopped in front of the girls’ shower room. Audrey leaned against the wall, fixing her honey blonde hair absently. Reid had her exactly where he wanted her.

He leaned close to her, taking a strand of hair and running it threw his fingers, then letting them drift slowly across her jaw line.

“There’s something else I can do to that you will enjoy.” He whispered in her ear, his warm breath causing her to shiver.

“Oh really?” Audrey smirked, her heart pounding in her chest with anticipation.

He didn’t hesitate a moment longer. As their mouths met in an almost violent kiss, something inside Audrey snapped. She didn’t care if Reid was a player, or if he actually liked her or not. She didn’t care if Ashley would reprimand her. All that mattered right now is that she wanted Reid, and bad.

Reid slid his hand up her smooth thigh and hooked his fingers around her underwear. They broke apart from kissing and looked around. They couldn’t just do this in the middle of the hall. Reid glanced over to the bathroom and back towards Audrey. She shrugged, good enough.

Ashley glanced up at the clock in the bar, shifting uncomfortably in her seat. Caleb was on her left, looking grumpy. Ashley knew without even guessing it had something to due with the fact that Audrey and Reid had been conspicuously missing for the past hour. To her right, Tyler was building a tower out of salt and pepper packages. Pogue and Kate we’re across the table, being sickeningly cuddly and kissing each other.

“It’s getting late.” Ashley mused for the fourth time in the past 10 minutes. She really just wanted to go home and find out what was going on with Audrey. She had been blocking her out for the whole day. She hated when there were rifts between them, it made her unsure if Audrey was mad at her or not.

Ashley coughed. Tyler looked up from his tower that had now collapsed on the table. He sighed, gathered them up and tossed them back into the basket.

“Want to head back?” He asked.

“No.” Caleb grumbled bitterly, taking a swig from his drink and staring moodily at the wall.

“I do.” Ashley sighed. “We have class tomorrow.”

They bid farewell to the others and stepped out into the cool Ipswich air.

“Oh fuck my life.” Tyler grumbled as they realized the absence of his prized Hummer in the parking lot. “That bastard.”

“I wonder where they went.” Ashley muttered darkly.

Tyler looked surprised. “You don’t know?”

Ashley shook her head. “No, she’s shut me out.”

Tyler tried to suppress a small smirk. He had a good idea of what they were up to.

“Well looks like we’ll have to walk back. Caleb doesn’t appear to be in a state for driving.”

They set off down the deserted sidewalks of downtown Ipswich, preparing for the long walk back to the school.

“So, about what happened the other night.” Tyler ventured, running a head through his soft brown hair nervously.

“I’m sorry about that.” Ashley frowned. “Things like that…they just happen every now and then and it really freaks me out.”

“Like before you left?” Tyler asked.

“Yeah. Like that.” Ashley trailed off quietly.

The wind picked up and howled around them. Tyler pulled off his sweater and wrapped it around Ashley’s shoulders.

“Thanks Ty.” She smiled hugging the soft fabric of his sweater around her. It smelled of beer and Tyler’s cologne and gave her a strong sense of feeling at home.

“No problem Ash.” Tyler beamed at her, and together they walked back to the dorms.

Audrey sighed heavily as Reid finished off and turned around to dress. Her hair was a sticky mess of sweat all over her face, her body tired yet satisfied. The past 45 minutes had been like a dream, a strange, bizarre, utterly surreal dream. And now there she was, waking up to the harsh coldness of reality.

“It’s really late.” Reid mumbled.

“Yeah.” Audrey replied, suddenly all to aware of the massive tension between them. She dressed rather quickly and attempted to fix her hair in the bathroom mirror.

They stepped out into the hall, not saying a word. Reid touched the small of her back and the heat rose to her cheeks. He grinned, tugged at a piece of her hair.

“Fun night Tunney.” He whispered, kissing her softly.

Then without another word, he walked away down the hall and disappeared behind the corner. Audrey blinked. That was it? A night of insanley heated sex and then he just walks away? Audrey felt hot tears of rage well up in her eyes. Had she really been stupid enough to fall for his tricks? She laughed grimly at her own vulnerability. She was just another notch in her bedpost, wasn’t she?

“Fuck.” Audrey swore. “I wasn’t even bedpost. I was bathroom wall.”

A/N:

Hmm, so what will happen next? I'm not even sure myself just yet haha. Stay tuned! Please if you read it, REVIEW IT! Give me suggestions as you what think should happen!