Chapter Four

I was a creature of habit. I had my two separate routines and I liked to stick to them. I had my hellish school life where I kept to the back corners of classrooms in the hopes to stay out of sight and I attended all of my classes before going home. When I said out of sight, I meant that I tried to stay invisible to the entire student body.

Then I had my personal life where I either stayed home with Netflix all day, went to a coffee shop with Skylar if she managed to coax me out of my room or I worked on Sundays at the local supermarket.

It had been exactly one week since I'd lied to Parker, saying I'd go out with him if he left my house. One week since he warned me that he'd annoy me for the rest of time and make my life miserable if I didn't keep my end of the deal.

He hadn't been kidding.

I hadn't answered the door when it rang that night and I had barricaded it with a few items of furniture just for reassurance. I had ignored the odd glances my mum sent me and told her not to worry, just under no circumstance should she answer the door. Fairly used to my antics, she had just shaken her head and went back to reading her newspaper, still sour about having to pay for my new car tires.

After that, Parker seemed to appear everywhere I went. In classes he'd wait for me, if he noticed me in the corridor he'd yell my name, drawing a lot of unwanted attention toward us. Sometimes I'd even come out of the girls bathrooms to find him leaning against the wall outside, waiting on me with a smile (and how he knew I was emptying my bladder I don't know).

Word spread like wildfire around school about his odd behaviour ("Parker hangs around with that girl afraid of intimacy now." "What? No way. Frigid Flora? What does he do with her if she can't put out?") and so my normal routine of being invisible didn't quite work when students with nameless faces approached me 24/7 to ask what was going on between Parker and I.

Though I should have blamed myself for not taking his warning seriously enough, I didn't. I was just angrier at him than I was before. Honestly, I could have dealt with Parker interfering with my school life. It was bad anyway and students wouldn't stay hung up on the one bit of gossip forever. It was tolerable.

However, what I couldn't deal with was him meddling with my personal life.

"He's got a nice butt," Becca - a girl who worked on the next cash register over from me in the supermarket - said appreciatively as the customer she'd just served left. "That makes up for his face. I'd give him a seven out of ten."

"Mm hmm." I nodded in agreement, not really up for debating over the fact that a boy she thought was a seven I'd probably rate a negative two. He had an alarming amount of fake tan on and that just wasn't my cup of tea.

The worst part of working in the supermarket was when the place was relatively quiet with only a few customers wandering around the aisles. Becca, who always had a piece of bubble-gum flying around her mouth, took it upon herself to make conversation. I think she was under the impression that we were somehow friends just because we scanned items near each other. I didn't like that.

"This guy however," I heard her pop her bubble-gum in appreciation and start moving about. She was probably trying to fix herself up to channel her flirting game, aka, popping open a few top buttons of her work shirt and readying herself to start leaning over at unnecessary times to scan the customer's carrots or whatever. "This guy is off the scale hot. Damn, I like this one."

"Go for it." I mumbled, too busy reading the thick romance novel sitting on my lap which I'd borrowed from the school library. It was very cliché, with damsels in distress and multiple Prince Charmings, but I did enjoy that once in a while. I had to keep it hidden under the cash register in case my boss spotted me.

"So how are you enjoying your shopping trip?" Becca asked in a flirtatious tone. I sighed, trying to block out their conversation to focus more on the words on the page in front of me.

"There doesn't happen to be a Flora Montgomery working here, does there?" The customer asked, not answering her question. I froze upon hearing my name and looked up to see that Becca was serving no one other than Parker Heywood himself. I could only see Becca's back seeing as her cash register was in front of mine, but Parker's profile was as clear as day. It would only be a matter of seconds before he spotted me.

I dropped to the floor, not too majestically might I add seeing as the hefty novel fell from my lap with a thump and my chair wheels squeaked. My legs screamed in protest at the awkward position I'd forced them to cramp up in to stay out of sight underneath the cash register.

It smelled of cheese down there. I didn't want to question why.

"And who might you be?" She asked, sounding more than a little peeved that he had so easily dismissed her flirting. He wasn't interested in her and that was a first for Becca.

"Flora's boyfriend." He replied without missing a beat. I bit the inside of my cheek, desperately wanting to shout vulgar names and a string of curse words at him to deny that statement, but if I did then I'd reveal my hiding place.

"I- you are?" There was a long pause. I'd no doubt be thoroughly questioned by Becca afterward for keeping my apparent boyfriend a secret. "She's just over the- Well she was over there like ten seconds ago."

There was the dreaded sound of fast approaching footsteps before a rather large, dark shadow was cast over me. I reluctantly looked up. The fact that he managed to find out where I worked sent a feeling of deep uneasiness through me.

"Honey, what are you doing down there?" Parker asked in a sickly sweet voice. I wasn't sure if it was just to annoy me or if it was to make it appear as though we were an item. Either way, I wasn't having it.

I glared up at him from my position on the floor. He was very tall but from down here he looked gigantic. "I was- checking for rats. I've seen them around. Big old nasty fellows with grey fur and beady eyes. I'm the store's uh- part time rat watcher."

"Have I ever told you how cute you are, Honey?" He cooed, extending a hand out to help me up. "But you can't lie for shit." He said in a quieter voice, lips twitching upward in amusement. I stared at his hand with a raised eyebrow before getting up unassisted.

"Don't call me that." I snapped.

"Honey it is." He quipped with a satisfied smirk. Once standing I could see that he wore his usual dark clothes - black jeans, black shirt, dirty grey sneakers - but this time with a slightly over sized bomber jacket. It had some kind of patch sewn into the sleeve but I couldn't quite make out what it was.

That was another thing about Parker that I disliked. He could wear completely plain or ill fitting clothes and still manage to look like he just came off a catwalk.

"What do you want?"

"I wanted to see you, is that so hard to believe?" He asked, leaning himself against the counter.

"As a matter of fact, yes."

He let out a reluctant sigh. "Fine. I also want to bang you but that isn't exactly why I'm here."

"Why are you here then?" I ignored his provocative comment and the embarrassed flush I could feel creeping up my neck and face. I knew Becca was watching us but I couldn't bring myself to care about her at that moment.

"For my end of our deal."

"I'm not going out with you Parker." I whispered harshly, noticing how more customers were beginning to fill the store.

"You know, other girls would love to be in your position right now."

"Well I'm not like other girls, okay? Get lost." I gripped the edge of the cash register nervously as people began to queue behind the unmoving Parker who hadn't and nor was intending to purchase any products.

"I know you're not, Montgomery." I was rewarded with one of his rare, genuine smiles. He almost seemed impressed with the fact that I was something different. Then it dawned on me that it might not have been because he was impressed, but because he was entertained by this. By me. This was some kind of game to him like cat and mouse. He liked the chase- liked watching me run.

I'm still not sure why my co-worker decided to intervene at that moment. Perhaps she wanted him to leave after her failed flirting session or perhaps she sensed how helpless I was standing there in front of a boy who was basically twice my height and to a certain extent, rather intimidating to look at. I looked like a little kid beside him.

"I think you'd best leave." She said, leaving her cash register to stand by mine. I sent her an appreciative smile. I think it was the first time that she'd ever cared about anything more than blowing big bubbles in her gum or rating boys.

"Really? And why is that?" Parker said coldly, all traces of playfulness dissipating as he turned to face Becca. It made me realise just how different he could be. This version of him was more than slightly intimidating, it was scary. I took his distraction as an opportunity to flee, scuttling away from the drama that was about to unfold and the customers staring with their mouths agape.

The store was pretty small so it didn't take long for me to reach the stockroom. The plan was to wait inside until things calmed down and Parker was thrown out. What actually happened at the cash registers was the opposite of calm. Around five minutes later, Parker burst through the doors of the stockroom in search of me demanding that we both leave whilst shouts from customers sounded through the ajar door.

"What did you do?!" I all but yelled, only hearing some of the commotion from the main part of the store from where we stood hiding.

"I just got mad," He groaned, pulling at the roots of his chestnut hair. "Look can we just go?"

"I work here."

"Well take half the day off."

I stared at him for a moment, cheeks flushed from his recent fury and both hands pulling at his hair in agitation. I peered around the door, getting the gist of what happened. Customers were waving their hands about in the air in a what-the-heckity-heck-just-happened sort of way whilst dancing around a few tipped over racks of items. Becca stood next to our boss making wild, animated hand gestures between my cash register and the direction of the stockroom. I hurriedly closed the door shut. Chances were, my boss would blame me for the mess and panic. I couldn't be bothered dealing with that.

"The back door is through here." I replied, stalking away from him to weave between the highly stacked cardboard boxes on shelves. He followed suit until we had successfully left the building. That was when he got distracted.

Another one of my co-workers stood outside smoking a cigarette. He had been leaning against the wall with his eyes half shut, blissfully unaware of the commotion inside as he held a cigarette between his lips. That was until Parker interrupted his peaceful stance.

"Hey man, do you have a lighter?" He fished out a pack of cigarettes from his jean pocket and I choked. Not only was I slightly shocked he smoked, but I could scarcely believe after being so adamant that we leave he was making time for having a cigarette. The police had probably been called by now due to all the disruption and he was taking his sweet time, getting a guy he hadn't met to light one for him. "Thanks."

I watched, grimacing as he took a drag from it. "I hate to interrupt you killing your lungs and all, but I thought we needed to leave?"

"I've got it covered." He replied, seeming much more relaxed now that he was out of the building. I however, was on edge. Wouldn't I get in trouble for aiding him in his escape or something? We needed to go.

I gulped, readying myself, before I tugged at his arm slightly. "Come on."

He stared at my hand, frowning. "Well that isn't fair. You get to touch me but I can't touch you?"

"That's different. I prefer not to do either but touching someone else is easier to handle than them touching me. This is a matter of police or no police and you aren't moving so can we please go."

He rolled his eyes, clearly thinking I was being melodramatic, before getting his phone out of his pocket and dialling a number. He pressed his phone to his ear.

"Axel, I need you to do me a favour." He paused, listening to the reply from the other end of the line.

"Come pick me up?" He kicked a stray rock that lay on the ground, frowning. "Nah, I'm with a girl. No, not like that."

I peered inside the stockroom. I could just make out my boss looking around in search of us and I began pulling at Parker's sleeve again. He let me drag him down the street a bit.

"The shitty supermarket with the run-down sign." I frowned at his description, feeling slightly protective over my place of work. The sign wasn't that bad. "The one where you got hit on by the girl at the cash register," Classic Becca. "Okay, thanks man."

He put his phone back into his pocket and took another drag from his cigarette.

"Well?" I asked nervously, looking around. I almost expected to see bright red and blue flashing lights in the distance. There wasn't any. Yet.

"Luckily he's in the neighbourhood. He'll be here soon."

True to his word, a sleek looking sports car rounded the corner a few minutes later and stopped in front of us. I looked nervously between Parker and the vehicle that had parked itself dangerously half over the pavement. Whoever it was behind the steering wheel was clearly just as bad at driving as he was.

Parker opened the door, gesturing for me to get inside. I hesitated a moment but when I caught sight of my angry looking boss charging toward us shaking a fist in the air, I all but hurled myself inside and was quickly followed by Parker who yelled at the driver to move.

I clutched at the seat for dear life as the car sped away, flying past the streets so quickly that it made them look like nothing more than a grey blur. It felt like years until the car slowed to a relatively normal speed. It was at that time that my hammering heart finally calmed down. It had been beating so hard that it felt as though it were trying to break free of my ribcage. I wouldn't be surprised if I now suffered from severe internal bleeding.

The car's fancy exterior was rather misleading seeing as its interior was... not. With greasy food wrappers stuffed down every available crevice and ominous looking marks staining the tattered leather seats, it seemed as though a trash can had been emptied inside. It was then that I noticed something tangled around my foot. I shook it off. It was a lacy, hot pink bra. I suddenly felt very uncomfortable sitting on the stained seats.

Parker must have noticed me staring at it because he laughed and said, "Axel's family is loaded. He bought the car to attract the ladies."

"The thing is a mess. I'm sure it'd do a better job at repelling them." I grimaced.

Parker laughed at that but Axel let out an irritated noise. I met his gaze in the rear-view mirror and it was at that moment I realised that Axel was in fact Axel Cambridge from school. The boy who had kindly reminded me that I was known to the student body as Frigid Flo on our first day back after the summer and who'd rudely asked me for answers in class. I wasn't sure why I was surprised, I knew that he and Parker hung out in the same group. What other Axel was there?

"I'll have you know that I just let my filth collect over time." Axel huffed.

"That's called a mess."

"Right, shut up Frigid Flo." He retaliated pathetically, having nothing else to say.

"Her name is Flora. Don't call her that." Parker replied seeming almost irritated as he threw his cigarette out of the window. I stared at him for a moment out of the corner of my eye, surprised. He would have been one of the last people on earth that I thought would defend me.

"Whatever you say mate," Axel agreed. "So are you going to tell me what happened back there? What's the deal? Running from the cops or just a grumpy dude with a moustache?" He asked, clearly referring to my boss who had rather bushy facial hair.

Parker paused a moment before responding with, "Long story. We might need to lie low for a bit though so can you drop us off somewhere secluded?"

"Oh," Axel chuckled knowingly. "I get it. Somewhere private for some sexy time. I wouldn't recommend the park then," He gestured with his head to the empty park we were driving by. "I've banged someone there before. Let me tell you, there's too many bushes and nature-like shit, it's jaggy as fuck on your-"

"Man, we're just lying low from the cops, don't get too excited. The park is fine." Parker replied at the same time I exclaimed,

"Oh my god no! My innocent ears did not need to hear that."

I saw Axel roll his eyes in the rear-view mirror as he pulled over at the park. "What, are your ears virgins to naughty words now?"

"If it has anything to do with me then yes, so shut the hell up."

Axel killed the engine, turning to face Parker with an amused look. "She's got attitude. I quite like her. You never go for the ones with the big personalities, just the big ti-"

"Well!" I interrupted with haste, "I'd thank you for the ride but considering this has been sufficiently awkward and I've probably sat on a bodily fluid of some sort what with you having frickle frackled on the seats before, I think I'll leave without giving you one."

I left the vehicle and a few minutes later, Parker did too. Axel drove off, tooting the car horn and shouting something out of the window about "using protection" and "avoiding twigs".

I didn't want to dwell on it.

I sat on a rusty swing in the children's park and for a moment I thought it would buckle underneath my weight. Parker tried to take the one adjacent to my own but the loud creak that sounded was enough to put him off. He sat on the grass in front of me instead.

"Where even are we?" I asked after a few minutes of squeaky swinging.

"No clue," He shrugged. "I'll get Axel to pick us up later."

"He's a real joy to talk to." I replied sarcastically.

"He's actually a decent guy, he just acts like a cocky little shit around girls. Especially attractive ones." He looked up at me with a cheeky smile.

"If that was supposed to make me swoon then you didn't do a very good job."

He grumbled something under his breath before getting what looked like a Twinkie out of his pocket. "Want one?" He asked as he tore open the wrapper. "I helped myself when we were in the stockroom."

"I'm going to pretend you bought it so that I don't feel guilty eating this." I replied, taking the offered piece.

"Whatever makes you sleep at night, honey."

It suddenly dawned on me just how much trouble Parker Heywood was. Yet here I was, sitting in a deserted park, sharing Twinkies with him and hiding from the possible threat of police.

Trouble seemed to follow Parker Heywood wherever he went. Parker Heywood followed me. I couldn't help but wonder if that meant trouble followed me too now.