-CHRIS-

-Man, Girls Scare Me-

What gives him the right to do things like that? 

We were half way down twenty-third street on our way to the food district, and I was still feeling a little confused, but slightly optimistic about what happened before.

After Alex had turned to go out the door, Octavia slid up and gently took the packet from my hands, placing it on the countertop behind us. She got up close again and put her head up right next to my neck, as close as she could get to my ears. I had a feeling she was on her tippy toes, by why point it out and ruin whatever the moment was.

“You gonna let him treat you like that?” She said quietly and smoothly. I panicked slightly and took a small, half-step back, turning my head slightly to glance at her face. She glanced up at me and smiled. It felt almost dangerous. Octavia then narrowed her eyes at me, still with a slight smile. 

“What’s wrong?” She asked, still in the same quiet tone as before. I smiled smoothly back at her.

“What’s wrong,” I started. “Is that there’s a drop-dead gorgeous psycho in front of me, and Alexander won’t let me touch her. BUT, I’m not quite that blind. You are trying to manipulate me, aren’t you?” I said, running my hand past her neck and into her wiry hair. She giggled again and started to walk backwards, watching me.

“You’ll have to wait and find out.” She winked, then turned and strode towards the door. 

Feeling like she’d somehow made fun of me, I’d decided to reassure her that I could be just as mysterious.

As we stood in front of the elevator doors, I waited for Alex to turn away before lowering myself down right next to her ear and whispering. 

“I can be just as mysterious as you. I can totally mess with your brain”

She silently chuckled and turned to me as the elevator doors chimed and opened. 

“You’re so cute. Naive lil’ Chris” She mocked as she entered the elevator.

Oh, HO! She’s just playing hard-to-get! I can do that! I can be cool! I can be TOTALLY not-caring and stuff like that. I should show her my motorbike, chics like guys with bikes. Take that, Candi! I’m TOTALLY a bad-boy now∼ I thought loudly to myself. 

So now here I was, strutting down the street with my arms crossed, a pace or two behind Octavia, feeling like a pimp. Octavia didn’t seem to notice though, she had her hood pulled low and her sunglasses on, quickly glancing around like she was full of paranoia. Alex noticed this and fell back some paces to walk beside her.

“What’s your problem?” He asked apathetically.

“Nothing, something just… smells weird.” She replied. Alex laughed loudly and sped up to his original speed.

“It’s New York,” I reassured her. “It’s every smell combined in one big shit-burrito.”

She chuckled but still held her jacket up by her face.

We soon came to a large parking lot by a small park. The parking lot was full of food trucks and stalls, and had large fairy lights strung across it that lit up at night. The sky was grey and overcast, the nicest day we've actually had in a while being totally honest. 

“This has got to be the only place you ever come for food” I said to Alex as he tidied his jacket. 

“It’s ‘cuz of Oaklynn isn’t iiittt∼” I mocked, shaking Alex and undoing all the preening he had just done. He growled and continued forwards. 

“Who’s Oaklynn?” Octavia said, coming up beside me and pulling her hood back a little.

“Oh, just the girl that Alexander has juicy dreams about∼” I said with glee as I watched Alex’s shoulders tense with anger.

“He’s so easy to piss off, it’s entertaining” I whispered to Octavia as Alex sped up. 

“I know, I kind of got that hint. This’ll be fun” She whispered back to me with a large smile, gently punching my arm.