Dead Romance - Chris Manawa & Nick Clark (B1)

0.7

I awoke in the arms of another. I had a pounding headache and my body felt like it was on fire. I slowly opened my eyes and found that I was in the arms of Chris. He stared down at me startling me slightly as I felt an oncoming wave of dizziness. 

"W-what happened?" I questioned as I slowly sat up crawling out of Chris' lap,  instantly regretting it as the room began to spin.

"You punched a soldier after he gripped hold of Alicia and then he hit you back. You passed out as soon as you hit the ground." Chris said glumly. He sounded defeated. As soon as the room stopped spinning I began to worry as I realised something was wrong.

"Wait? Where's the car?" I questioned as I began to frown in the direction of the car then looking back behind me to see Alicia standing around anxiously.

"While you were out, w-we gave them the car. They were gonna kill us." Alicia said in a nervous tone. She was pacing around as she feared for the worst.

"What about our stuff?" I panicked as I worried of my belongings. My gym bag had everything I needed to survive. I looked over at Chris and he was staring straight back.

"We managed to get a few things, not a lot." Alicia said pointing towards the corner, and sure enough, my gym bag was there. I breathed a sigh of relief as I began to wonder allowed.

"How long has it been since the others left?" 

"A couple hours. They should be back by now!" Alicia frantically said as I began to stand up to comfort her.

"Hey, we'll be alright. They'll be alright. Just calm down." I said as I placed my arms on her shoulders to still her. She looked into my eyes and I could see so much fear. "We're going to be okay." I said one last time to reassure her, although I think it was more for myself.

There was a sound that came from around the corner. We all exchanged looks with each other before we all began to investigate. The group was back. Nick was back.

"Nick!" I yelled as I ran towards him. I gripped hold of him for dear life. my arms wrapped around his torso as I felt his face bury into my neck. We stayed like that for a moment before pulling apart. He looked down at me and his smile turned to a frown.

"What happened to your face?" Nick questioned. I was confused for a moment before I pulled my hand up to my eye and instantly felt an aching pain in my cheek bone. Before I could reply we were jolted out of the conversation by Travis.

"Where is the car?" He said in a worrisome voice as his eyes darted between Alicia, Chris and I. It was only then I noticed a new face had appeared within the group. Suddenly a voice interrupted us all.

"Stop." It was a soldier I remember from the suburbs, although I believed he was involved with Ofelia, Daniel Salazar's daughter. "Salazar." He said in an icy cold tone. He had a gun in his hand pointed at the old man as Ofelia stood beside her father with a look of horror etched on her face. Daniel stood there, staring the soldier down, not showing one sign of fear.

"Andie?" Ofelia asked as she took slow steps closer to her father, trying to diffuse the situation. "Andie, It's okay. You don't have to do this." She said in a soft voice as she looked him in the eye. Andie's eyes darted between her and the old man before he pulled the trigger shooting Ofelia in the shoulder. Travis was quick to jump on top of Andie as he beat his face bloody and raw while he let his anger collapse upon him. Eliza and Daniel were quick to Ofelia's aid while Maddie tried to pull Travis off the soldier that laid crumpled on the floor. The rest of us stood back and watched the scene unfold in front of us. Nick grabbed ahold of me pulling me in closer to him, and as he did so I watched Chris glare daggers towards Nick's arms wrapped around me. At that moment I felt truly guilty. I didn't know who my feelings were supposed to be for. I felt torn between both of them as I felt a wave of guilt wash over me for what I was feeling.

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We pulled up to the house of the unfamiliar man from earlier who'd joined our group. He lived in a fancy, rich beach house. He was a man who was accustomed to great money in his life, you could tell just by the suit he was wearing. Everyone got out of their cars as we all gathered in Strand's living room of his house. Eliza was with Daniel fixing up Ofelia's shoulder. Nick and Maddie stood outside as they spoke to each other. I hoped Maddie was apologising. Chris and I stood with each other in the kitchen as we finally were away from all the chaos of the world. 

"I'm sorry for yelling at you, earlier on in the car." Chris said as he looked down at me. I smiled back at him accepting the apology.

"It's okay. I know. You were just upset. We were under a lot of stress." I said as I looked down at my feet. 

"The thing is though, I meant everything I said. I really like you Lilly. Actually, I think I've liked you since the day I ever set eyes on you." He said as he grabbed my hand. I felt like an explosion went off in my body when he touched me. He was tearing me apart. I had to choose between my best friend who had feeling for me and Nick. Although I really liked Nick, I couldn't deny that there was tension between Chris and I. 

"That's sweet and all, but I'm with Nick now and you're one of closest friends. Do you really wanna just throw that away?" I asked him as I looked up at him with sad eyes.

"I want to be more than just friends. But I know your with Nick, so I want you to know that I'll wait for you." Chris said as he let go of my hand and walked away to be with his dad. I felt at ease but I felt guilty for even considering being with him when I was with Nick.

I found Alicia who was digging through the fridge for food. She grabbed me an icy pole before she dragged me along to sit outside with her. The evening had been long and we'd been awake for more than 24 hours. It felt soothing to just be there, and be present in the moment rather than worrying about everything going on around us. Alicia and I talked about the evenings events before Chris came out with an icy pole and sat with us. He smiled at me, a genuine smile, before shoving the rest of the icy pole in his mouth. Alicia and I laughed at his actions before we began making jokes about the colour of each others tongues. Her tongue was bright red while mine was purple. Alicia poked her tongue out at Chris and pulled a funny face which made all of us laugh before Chris muttered under his breath.

"Weirdo's" He said as we all laughed again. It felt good to laugh, it felt like I hadn't laughed in days. Things seemed to be looking up for once. The sound of a gunshot rang across the beach as we all stopped. Chris grabbed my hand while we took off into a sprint towards the sound, Alicia following too. By the time we made it there we found a lifeless body on the ground. I couldn't recognise who it was so we moved closer. My heart shattered as I felt sincere pain for Chris. Eliza lay on the ground with a bullet hole to her forehead. Her blood had spilled out across the rocks. Chris fell to his knees as he gripped onto his mother's lifeless body. He wailed out as tears began to flow down his face. I held tightly onto him, hugging him. The only thing I could do for him was be there for him and support him. Sobs ran through his body making him shake. Tears streamed down my face just seeing Chris like this.

I grabbed his hand as he sat there shaking while he screamed out for his mum to come back. Chris looked back at me with sad, sorrowful eyes as a waterfall streamed down his face. My eyes watered and my heart ached even more for him just seeing him like this. 

I don't know what I was feeling but in that moment I pulled his face closer to mine and gently kissed his lips. His lips were soft and I felt his wet tears stream down my face as he grabbed hold of my neck, pulling me deeper into him. He needed me and I promised myself I'd be there for him.

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FINAL CHAPTER! FTWD season 2 starts Monday! Book two will hopefully begin too. Thank you to everyone who was patient enough to last through this book. I'm so grateful for your gratitude and kindness and I can't wait to start the second book.

Love Courtney

xx