When my purse landed on the chair Eric grabbed me by the waist and lifted me onto his shoulder. “Eric Halvorsen, put me down!” I shouted and punched his back. He ran up his stairs despite my protest, Lucy running behind us barking happily.  He tossed me on the bed and went to his drawers. “I need clothes.”

“Duh, that’s what I’m doing.” He tossed come clothes at me and I quickly changed, not caring that he saw, because well, he’s seen it all. We sat on the bed, our backs against the wall, as Eric flipped through the channels on his TV.

“You’re going to fast! I can’t even see what’s on!” I shouted at Eric as I swatted the remote out of his hands.

“Hey, go get it now!” he said pushing me over, then we started wrestling with each other.

“…policemen have reported that a patient from the local asylum has broken out of his cell this evening and is on the loose. We are informed that he is possibly armed, and highly dangerous….” We both stopped moving, Eric on top of me, and me trying to keep his hands away. “Daisy is alone. We should go get her.” I said worriedly, looking up into Eric’s eyes. He smiled reassuringly, “Don’t smile at me this is serious.” He pressed his lips against mine. “Eric! Daisy’s alone.” I whined

“No, John’s with her, he took her shopping for her birthday.” Eric kissed me again. “She’s fine.” He pulled me up and into a hug, about to kiss me again, when his phone rang.  He reached across to the dresser and grabbed it. “Hello… Hey Rachael, I’m with Alyssa, Daisy’s with John. Yeah, no it’s fine… Okay, we’ll be right there.”

“What happened?”

“All the girls are freaked from you’re horror movie incident last night. And they want everyone to get together; they are all already waiting at the apartments.”

“That’s a good idea,” I mumbled “We’re taking my car. I hate yours, with all my heart.”

“Hey, leave my white wolf alone.” I rolled my eyes and walked out the door. “My mom is going to love finding a girls clothes in my room, and no girl.” I walked back to the door.

“Stop trying to act like you’re innocent.” I stuck my tongue out, “Now, I’m interested in what she will say, so my clothes are staying here.”  I grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the room and down the stairs. When I grabbed my keys I looked around for Lucy. “I think Lucy should come.” I said, not wanting to admit I was really nervous about this crazy guy on the loose. Having a dog around would make me feel better.

“Want to go for a trip?” Eric asked Lucy, like she was going to answer. He grabbed her leash and hooked it to her. “You okay?” he asked me, with a small smile.

“Yeah, I guess I feel safe around you now.”

“Stockholm Syndrome.” Eric said with a bigger smile.

“Exactly.”

-*-*

We all sat around waiting for Daisy and John. It was ten minutes before I heard banging and yelling from outside. “Hey, we moved everyone here. My apartment was getting too crowded.”

“You should’ve called, I was about to have a fucking heart attack.” she said. “Is everyone here?”

“Yeah, Eric, Rach, Garrett, Kennedy, Lauren, Pat, Rhianna, Nick, Justin, Austin,  Tessa, and Jared.” I stepped out of the way to let them walk in.

“And Gabi?” she asked, “Guys, where’s Gabi?”

There was a moment for silence; before I heard glass break and I turned my head to look. It was Kenny, with broken beer bottles at his feet. “Oh my God.” He said, panic written all over his face. The he started running around, grabbing his jacket and looking for his keys. “Where the fuck are my keys?” He shouted, and everyone began to panic, someone yelled call her and Kenny was throwing the sofa cushions. I walked over to him and slapped him. Everyone stopped moving and gasped. Kenny was about to yell at me when I cut him off.

“Get your shit together, you’re keys are in your fucking pocket for one thing.” He reached into his front pocket and pulled them out and tried to walk away. “Wait,” I pulled him back, “Someone needs to call her, maybe she’s at home.”

“No, she always goes jogging at this time. I need to go find her, this is my fault.” He ran out of the apartment before anyone could stop him.

“Okay, we should all think about this rationally.” John said looking around at everyone. “Did she answer her phone Rachael?”

“No.” she said sadly, staring at her phone.

“Okay, try her house. Ask her mom where she went to jog. You and Garrett stay here in case she comes or calls.” He roughly pushed his hair out of his face. “The rest of us will split up.” he lifted his hands indicating that’s all he could think.

“Come one Babe, we’ll go to the high school and see if she’s there.” Eric said pushing me towards the door, as everyone else said where they would check. He drove, because I didn’t know where anything was yet. We sat in silence for a while before Eric started laughing. I pinched his arm.

“This isn’t funny.” I snapped.

“I know, but you slapped the shit out of Kenny.” I just stared ahead, as he laughed harder. “Did you see his face?” I pinched him again. “Okay, I’m done, sorry babe.” He pulled into the parking lot and we ran the track.

“She’s not here!” I stomped my foot. “I’m going to have to murder a murderer!”  I watched Eric pull out his phone, press the screen of his stupid iPhone, and smile. “And what are you smiling about? Our friend is missing.”

“Kenny found her, she was at a park. She’s fine.”

“Really?” he showed me the text and I sighed in relief, but it was short lived as the power went out. I screamed and ran to Eric. “We’re gunna die. That’s what happens in all the movies. The power does out and the people standing on the high school track die.” He wrapped his arms around me and lifted me off the ground a bit.

“You’re a sissy, you know that?” he kissed me and set me back on the ground. “Hurry up, let’s get to the car before we get murdered.” I couldn’t see his stupid face but I knew he was smiling at me, so I reached over and pinched him. “One day I’m going to pinch you back, you jerk.”

“Why didn’t we bring Lucy with us?” I whined as Eric navigated us through the high school and to the parking lot.

“Cause Lucy is a sissy like you and would run off, not attack.” We finally got to the car and drove back to the apartment. “Can I laugh about you slapping Kenny now?”

“I guess…” I mumbled, crossing my arms as his laughter filled the car and he described Kenny’s reaction. “I guess it was kind of funny.” I said giggling as he pulled into the parking space. “I thought he was gunna hit me back.” I said, still giggling.

“I would’ve killed him.” Eric said seriously, before he got out of the car. John’s car pulled into a spot next to us, and he stepped out along with Daisy and Austin. John and Daisy both had a guilty look on their faces, but when I looked at them to ask them what was wrong, they quickly turned away and headed towards the apartment.

“Congrats man,” Austin said slapping Eric’s back.

“For what?” Eric asked as he laced out fingers together.

“Losing your virginity.” We both stopped walking and stared at Austin with our mouths open.

“DAISY! JOHN!” we both shouted at the same time before they reached the door. Daisy tried to keep walking but John stopped her and turned around, causing her to turn around too.

“We’re sorry; we forgot Austin was in the car.” Daisy said. I slapped my forehead and Eric groaned.

“Way to go morons.” Eric said, and pulled me along, walking past them and into Daisy’s apartment. Lucy ran full speed to Eric and jumped on him. He hugged and kissed her, then started to wrestle with her. I walked over to the couch and flopped down in between Tessa and Rachael.

“These have been the craziest four days of my life.”

“Of all our lives.” Tessa corrected. “Can we get some freaking candles burning or something?”

“I’ll get some,” Daisy said as she entered the room. Moments later the dark apartment was lit up by a few candles. “I feel Amish.” She mumbled as she squeezed on to the couch.

“Since we aren’t doing anything,” Jared’s voice sounded from behind me, “We should play a game.” He put a bottle of jager down and some shot glasses. “Never have I ever.” Everyone groaned and Garrett shouted that he hates that game and him and Pat walked out of the room, probably to eat something. We all sat in a circle, with our shot glasses, and the game started. “Never have I ever thrown up from drinking.” Jared said, starting off the game. The bottle went around the circle, some people filling their glass, some people passing it on.  The game went on, and most of us were really wasted.

It was Daisy’s turn she said, “Never have I ever had sex.” The bottle went around and everyone but John and her took a shot.

“Wait a second, Eric? Since when man?” Jared laughed with a confused drunken look. Eric ignored him and slammed his glass down after taking his shot.

“Never have I ever,” Austin started, “Had sex with Alyssa.” I stared at him in disbelief.

“What the fuck Austin?” I shouted, but it didn’t faze Eric as he causally took the bottle out of Tessa’s had and poured himself another shot. I hate you Austin Gibbs. I thought furiously as I chucked a pillow at his face. The lights turned back on, along with the TV.

“You’re a dick, Austin.” Eric said standing up, and walking towards the bathroom. Tess and Rachael turned to me with shocked looks.

“What?” I snapped. “It’s none of your business. I’m going home.” I stormed out of Daisy’s apartment and into mine and stood facing my closed door until Eric came knocking. I was so embarrassed and I felt like crying.

“Let me in,” Eric called from outside, I reach over and swung the door open. Lucy ran in first and started smelling around the place. Eric closed and locked the door behind himself and when he turned to look at me I ran into his arms and started to cry. “What’s wrong, why are you crying?”

“That was really embarrassing.” I cried out, “Everyone is going to think I’m a slut now; I’ve only known you for like a week.”

“No they won’t, they are all really mad at Austin right now. You don’t have anything to worry about; no one thinks you’re a slut.” He stroked my back and gave me random kisses. Which lead to a heated make out session, which lead to another night of sex. Maybe it was because we were drunk, maybe it was because I was mad, or probably the most plausible reason, is that in the past four days, I had fallen head first for Eric Halvorsen.

Everything you do makes it easy to fall in love with you.
- Easy To Fall in Love; Brighten.
Chapter By: Krystal