Hurricane, Pt. 1

It was a windy day, the sky had tones of sepia in it, and I was walking down the street. Things were pretty peaceful, but I felt slightly worried about Sergei. We were joined by the hip, but today, we wanted time to think alone. We were always together. If there was some work or chore to be done that involved going out, I would either go alone, or we would both go. He rarely went out alone, but that didn't mean he never did. Sergei was very reserved and didn't talk to people. At all. He wouldn't speak a single word to anyone. He only talked to and communicated through me. Today was one of those rare days Sergei was going out alone; there was a decision to make, and although it wasn't the first time I'd left him alone, it still felt odd. I had just left him at the entrance of the woods he was going to take a walk through, feeling somewhat reluctant despite that comforting smile of his. So, here I was, taking a walk through town.

The wind was getting stronger and autumn leaves, shades of orange and yellow, were flying in circular currents a couple of feet above the ground, some flying straight into my hair, which was whipping around my face. As I brought my hands up to control my tresses, I looked around myself, stopping with my arms in the air. I blinked, wondering whether the street had been empty when I had entered it. I glanced behind me over my shoulder; I saw two silhouettes in the distance, but otherwise, there was not a soul in sight. Turning my face back ahead, I was met with what almost felt like a slap in the face. The wind was rapidly turning into a gale, and I hadn't even realized – no wonder there was nobody around. But I didn't have time to run back home; the gale was getting stronger – blowing so hard that I was having trouble breathing if I faced it directly. Oh crap.

I scanned my surroundings frantically, looking for someplace safe to go, finding only locked buildings until I looked to my left. I was standing outside a closed store, but the metal shutter hadn't been closed properly – there was a small gap where it should have met the floor. I grabbed the handle at the bottom and started to wrench it upwards. It was rigid and stubborn of course, but the gap began to widen slightly as I pulled on it. "Damn!" I hissed, exerting as much force on it as I could muster. As soon as the opening was large enough, I dived inside. The area between the shutter and the store wall was small, but the shutter provided enough protection from the hurricane outside. I'd only been pushing the shutter back down for a short while before a voice sounded from the other side, "Wait!" Two pairs of hands appeared at the end of the shutter, pulling it back up again.

The owners of the hands scrambled inside and we shoved the shutter down once more, leaving a small gap so it could be opened again. The small space was dim, the only light available coming through the opening. The owners of the hands turned out to be two boys. Who were currently staring at me, frozen. Oh great. I'm stuck with two hormonal guys in the middle of a hurricane, in a not so roomy area. Could this situation get any worse? It did. SERGEI! I stared straight at the shutter in front of me for who knows how long.

"Well, hello there mademoiselle," One of them spoke up jokingly. "Name's Marshall. Pleasure."

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[Marshall's POV]

I gaped at the girl and my body seemed to stop working momentarily; she was beautiful. I got a grip on myself and looked around at Miles. . . My mind imploded. THE WORLD HAS COME TO AN END. Miles, of all people, was blushing. This is it. We must be dead. I blinked and stared at him. Indeed, his cheeks were rosy red, and he was staring determinedly at the shutter, hands in his pockets. Miles never paid attention to girls. Ever. He didn't care much about . . . well, anything. But if there's any ray of hope, no matter how small, of him falling in, I'll push him into the deep well known as love. . .

Oh shit, I sound like a freaking chick. Be a man, Marshall.

Well, if I'm going to make this happen, I may as well make the most of it and have some fun. Just as this thought crossed my mind, Miles turned to look at me. Seeing the blatant mischievous, look in my eyes – that clearly said: I already know -, his eyes widened, and he shook his frantically. As if I would comply with his current wishes.

I looked back at the girl and spoke.
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I snapped out of my trance and looked at him. He was snow haired, and grinning. I rolled my eyes.

"Really, Marsh?" The other one said. I continued eyeing the snowy guy with skepticism.

"What?"

"In the middle of a hurricane?" I asked. Our hair was still rippling from the wind coming from below.

"Just makes it that much more interesting, doesn't it?" The snow haired guy replied, smirking.

My eye twitched. If I had a baseball bat. . . Guys didn't really irk me when they talked like that, but there was something about this particular snowy that had 'peeving joker' written all over his face.

"My magnificence obviously hasn't struck you yet. . ." Marshall muttered under his breath.

The other guy snorted and I found myself trying to control silent laughter. But it was short lived, as my thoughts were still on Sergei. At that moment, my phone rang and I pulled it out, seeing that it was him. I slapped myself mentally; why hadn't I thought of calling him myself? Oh, that's right. The snowy had started trying to chat me up. I'd have to make this a quick call though; the gale was getting worse, and the signal would drop in no time.

"Are you okay?" I asked into the phone.

"Yeah, are you?" His serene voice replied. His tone held concern. Not for himself, however.

"I'm fine, I'm taking shelter. Where are you?"

"Remember that cave we used last year? There. Listen, don't worry about me, and just take care of yourself."

"Never mind me, you stay there. I'll come and get you soon." I didn't let him reply and hung up.

Only he could remain so calm whilst being in a forest during a hurricane. Generally, I had a very blasé personality, but how could I possibly lay back when the only person close to me was out, alone, in a storm where trees could come crashing down on him any second? I knew he could take care of himself perfectly well. The only thing that bothered me was that I wasn't with him. If I were in that cave with him, the trees would be so far off my mind, you'd need a telescope to see them. It was irritating beyond belief that we'd ended up in a situation like this on the only day we'd ever decided to wander off solo. I sighed and sat down on the floor.

"Boyfriend?"

If I had been eating or drinking anything, I would've choked. I looked up; it was that Marshmallow of course.

"No."

"Then who?"

"What, can you not think of who else he could be?"

"Pretty lady like you, I doubt it."

I sighed again. I wasn't the type to lose my natural laid back aura for someone I didn't know. The other guy sat down too, and I finally turned my attention to him. I wish I hadn't. He was astonishingly attractive: messy, deep aqua hair, and midnight blue eyes. Oh this is so not the right time. . . Especially not in such a closed area.

"You like what you see, eh?" Marshall said.

I would've choked a second time. I glared at the shutter in front of me and didn't reply. This sucks. I didn't really think there was any other way to describe the situation.

"Why so serious?" He snickered.

Maybe his skull's so thick that the baseball bat would just break if I hit him. . .

"Hey, come out." A voice spoke from the other side of the shutter. "We're going to take you to the public center. Everyone who is outside has been brought there. You'll stay there until the hurricane ends."

We started working on pulling the shutter up again, but my mind was battling on what to do. I wasn't, under any circumstances, going to the center without Sergei and I highly doubted these people would go and look for him with me in a forest. They were only collecting people still out on the streets. There was only one thing to do. . .