Chapter 16

Kendall walked along side me as Gabby followed behind as we met up to The rest of the gang. "That was epic dude." Dustin said to Kendall giving him props for the professional like performance back there. James then smiled evilly.

"I can't believe we came in last." Alexa said shoving her husbands shoulder playfully. Carlos laughed and shrugged.

"I have priorities, safety of my wife or winning a flashlight challenge." Carlos said taking her by the waist and planting a kiss on her cheek.

"Okay, okay. So, obviously, you three won." Kendall announced to the three standing with permanent smiles on their faces. James took a step forward and looked at the rest of us.

"So as winners of this challenge, we," he gestured towards him and his passengers. "Decided on a losing team already." James smiled in Gabby's direction. I instantly felt better for myself, but then I felt bad for Gabby. She was going to be lost with Alexa with no flashlights.

"Kendall and Sophia." James said as his eyes landed on me. Kendall's mouth fell open.

"Dude really?" He asked. James scoffed.

"We weren't going to pick Logan and Dustin themselves, or myself and Carlos. So that left you two teams, Alexa and Gabby are small girls, they could get lost." James said shrugging. I scoffed then.

"What if I get lost?" I asked him. "I'm a girl too." He shrugged.

"You have Kendall. He likes to say he's from Kansas, didn't they raise you to find your way out of a tornado?" James said then originally talking to me and then switching to Kendall with a smirk. Kendall rolled his eyes.

"Let's just get going." Carlos said trying to fight off the tension. Gabby gave me an apologetic look as she grasped my forearms in her hands.

"I'm going to ride with Alexa and Carlos now." She said as I nodded understanding her not wanting to ride in the loser car with us. James took Kendall and mines flashlights and we all headed into our cars. Kendall and I were alone.

"Sorry about that." Kendall mumbled as we followed James's car and led Carlos's into the mountains. I shook my head and curled up in a ball in the seat. My chin rest on my knees that I pulled up to my chest. I hugged them to me as the night wind blew my hair all crazy.

"It's okay. It'll be an adventure, won't it?" I asked smiling at him to try to lighten the mood. Kendall smiled touching my back for a second before pulling his hand away. James's car came to a little meadow eventually, that was illuminated by moon light and headlights. We could see quite a lot, but that might have been because the moon was three quarters full. James pulled off and all three cars stopped in a row. Everyone turned off their lights and we all gathered in front of the cars in our teams.

"We as the winning cars, have chosen a team now as seekers." Logan said. Kendall and I looked at one another and shared a weak smile. James stepped forward. He was acting like it was something noble, to be seekers. It was a game of hide and seek, not the Hunger Games and he had volunteered as tribute for someone. Carlos then stepped forward as well as they smiled at the rest of us and clicking on their flashlights simultaneously.

"We will count to twenty to get yourselves a head start. You may use your flashlights only as a distress signal of being lost and not being able to find any other teams which is automatic disqualification, but as for you two," Carlos said and then shining the light on Kendall and I. We groaned and shielded the light from our eyes. "You two will only be able to shout in need, which is also disqualification. So if we don't hear you, you're screwed." Carlos shrugged as if it were nothing and turning off his flashlight. I rolled my eyes. This wasn't as fun as I thought it would've been.

"Alright, use your hiding skills, running skills, and survival skills. Longest to last out in the forest without becoming lost, or found, wins." James said. "We give you, to the count of twenty, now." James and Carlos said turning to face the cars as soon as the rest of us darted towards the tree line. Alexa and Gabby had joined arms and were sprinting together into the trees where as soon as Kendall and I reached the tree line, they were lost in the brush and shrubbery. Kendall and I looked at each other as James and Carlos were barely at fifteen. I grabbed Kendall's hand, interlocking his fingers with mine. He nodded and we were off, flashlight less.

Logan and Dustin were pretty even with our pace as they ran next to each other panting and pulling out their flashlights to see the ground in front of them. Kendall and I looked at each other as we jogged. We kept our eyes on the ground and tried to miss any foliage or random logs or holes. We lost track of every other team and it was just Kendall and I now.

"Let's stop for a second." Kendall said slowly down as we panted. I agreed with a nod. We tried gaining our breath back but we couldn't quite before we saw flashlights glimmering behind leaves of trees and the stumps themselves. Kendall hadn't loosened my grip since we left the tree line and so he squeezed it suggesting we start running again. We started off again and we were now farther than we had hoped. We stopped and then knelt behind a huge rock that shielded our bodies as long as we were very close.

We had had to maneuver our bodies well enough so we couldn't be seen from any angle. Kendall was kneeling covered by a curtain of dying foliage while I had a log shielding me kneeling in front of Kendall. I had to grip onto Kendall's hoodie in order to not lose my position and be in plain sight of anyone that passed by. Kendall and I were basically breathing in each other's faces.

"Definitely an adventure. Can cross out number one." Kendall whispered to me. I smiled at him.

"No kidding." I whispered back as our breathing slowed and were steadying ourselves. We sat quiet for a second as I felt a tingling on my neck.

"Kendall?" I asked him. He nodded looking into my eyes.

"Are you by chance, touching my neck with a third hand?" I asked closing my eyes and dreading the worst. Kendall had both his hands on my waist, I knew he wasn't. Kendall lifted one hand and gently ran his fingers along my neck until he felt something. He immediately made a face as I opened my eyes and threw something out of our hiding spot. "If it was a spider, don't you dare tell me." I whispered closing my eyes again and leaning my forehead on his shoulder. Kendall tensed at first but then held me closer.

"It wasn't." He assured me. He was lying, but I had asked him to. I sighed in relief that I had him here to pull bugs off me.

We waited for what seemed like hours in our little nature hut. We had gotten in an even more comfortable position, Kendall sitting Criss crossed and me sitting on his lap, facing him with my legs propped against his sides as his upper arms rested on my thighs. It was one of the most awkward positions imaginable but we were comfortable as well, so that's all that matter. Our faces were inches away and I felt weird being this close. "Sorry this isn't as fun as your plan probably was." Kendall apologized quietly. I shrugged.

"It's fine. I always wondered what it was like to be a Hunger Games tribute in the arena." I joked making Kendall smile.

"I'll make it up to you." He told me looking at me seriously. I smiled.

"Why?" I asked him. He shrugged.

"You don't seem to be having fun." He said shrugging. I smiled.

"You're what makes this fun." I told him a little boldly I might add. He furrowed his brow and tilted his head.

"I thought you were going to back out when you found out I was your partner." Kendall admitted. I snorted and then covered my mouth knowing that was loud. Kendall covered his mouth then to stop from laughing.

"Why would I back out just because of you? I was happy I got you!" I whispered. Kendall sighed.

"I saw your face, Sophia. You were disappointed." He said. I shook my head.

"I was more like nervous rather than disappointed." I admitted then myself. He looked at me confused then.

"Why were you nervous?" He asked me quietly, and not really in a whisper. I looked away from him for a second when we heard rustling bushes and crunching leaves. I basically dove as close to Kendall as I could get. I hid my face in his neck and wrapped my hands around his neck. His body tensed and his arms wrapped around me as he pulled me in closer with his hands on my back. We held our breaths as we saw light shining into our natural nature hut.

Soon they by passed as two sets of foot steps kept going. We waited another few minutes before I pulled my face out of his neck. My face was soon close to his face that I felt like the night of the concert again. I wanted to kiss him, then and there. I wanted to say screw it to whatever was holding me back.