XO (FOB FanFic ft. Brendon Urie)

[Chapter 12] No One Was There

I burst into the bedroom hallway and began pounding on Claire's closed door. "Claire! Claire! I know what we need to do!" I exclaimed, my heart thumped against my chest and the adrenaline coursing through my veins. I took a step back and waited for a response. Nothing. "Claire?" I knocked again. Still no response. I walked right up to the door and pressed my forehead against it repeating in a whisper, "Claire. I know what we need to do. We need to find XO."

*****

I ended up falling asleep in the hallway after trying to get her to respond to me. I even told her that I would sleep with her again just so she wasn't mad at me anymore, but she continued to ignore me and the door remained shut.

I woke up with a start when a loud series of knocks echoed through the apartment. I was sitting on the floor of the hallway when I was awoken. I jolted up and a pain quickly emanated from my lower back and neck. I gasped in pain before getting up and walking into the front room, rubbing the back of my neck with one hand and putting pressure on my back with the other.

Everything was left as it was from the night before. The dinner was still on the table and the TV remote was still where I left it when I set it down after watching the weather. I looked out the balcony doors and, like the weather person predicted, there was two feet of snow covering the ground and all of the outdoor furniture.

The knocks sounded again.

"I'm coming, I'm coming..." I groaned as I made my way over to her front door. I grasped the doorknob and pulled the door open. Only, there was no one there. I raised my eyebrow in confusion before stepping out into the hallway and painfully looking both ways. No one. "Hmm."

I turned back around and noticed a post-it note stuck to the door. I snatched it down and read what was written down on it in black ink.

I heard you wanted to find me. Millennium Park. Cloud Gate. 9:30p.m. Come alone. -XO

My eyes widened.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

I jumped once again, spinning around to where I heard the voice to see Claire standing in the hallway outside of her apartment. Her hair was pulled up in a pony tail and she was wearing athletic apparel. In her hands was her iPhone and in one of her ears was a white ear bud. I assumed she just came back from a run. But in this weather? I thought.

She pulled the ear bud out and gave me a puzzled look, "What do you have in your hand?"

"Um...nothing. Well, it's not nothing. It's...um, it's a note," I answered, showing her the post-it, "From XO." She took it into her possession and read it.

"No way!" She replied, looking up at me and the corner of her lips curling up, "Is this what I think it is?" I nodded my head eagerly, failing to suppress the smile that was stretching from ear to ear. She laughed and pulled me into a hug. "I can't believe it!"

"I can't either!" I retorted, hugging her back. We stepped out of the embrace and she handed me the note back.

"I don't know about you going alone, though..." Her cheeks grew a faint shade of pink, "I still don't feel safe about us being separated."

"But what if you come...XO doesn't?" I proposed, "I need to do this, Claire. I need to find my friends. And if I have to go alone, then I'm going alone." She gave me a mistrustful look. I clutched her upper arms and looked into her eyes, "I promise I'll come back tonight. I promise."

"How can you promise something like when you have no idea what XO's going to do to you once you get there?" She questioned worriedly, stepping out of my hold and walking into the apartment. She set her phone down on the small table next to the door and unzipped her jacket, revealing the tank top she was wearing underneath it. I walked in and closed the door behind me.