Psssst.

Don't read this if you haven't read ALL of A Proscriptive Relationship in Holly's POV (the real story) yet. It will ruin everything.

____________________________

“Chris.”

I paused upon hearing my name. It was a voice I recognized far too well for my liking. With a deep sigh, I glanced over my shoulder to see Dan and a four of his buddies standing behind me threateningly. Three of them I didn’t recognize, but I immediately identified Jack and Mikey— two of the most annoying members of my old gang.

After another moment of watching them I turned my back and continued down the alleyway. It was just like Dan to attack someone in such a clichéd spot. Why did it have to be tonight that I decided to go for a walk? The last thing I wanted was to get in trouble for being involved with another fight. That would ruin my chances at my new job— and I needed the job.

“Running away, Heywood?” Mikey sneered.

A small grin crossed my face and I kept walking. “You know it.”

“Stop him!”

The smile dropped from my face. They were seriously going to try to take me on? This just wasn’t my night.

A strong hand roughly grabbed my shoulder, pulling me to a stop. All five members of my former gang swiftly surrounded me. I faked a yawn, hoping my lack of interest would cause them to lose their incentive to assail me.

It didn’t.

I dodged the first blow with ease. It was from one of the new guys— I wondered briefly who the person who’d let them join was. Obviously he didn’t test out their skill before. More punches were thrown, as well as some slander, but I avoided and ignored both. As long as I didn’t fight back I wouldn’t be in any trouble.

“Surely you can do better than that?” I teased, smirking as I easily caught Dan’s fist as he moved in to strike me.

He scowled, yanking his hand away. “Don’t act so arrogant.”

“Arrogant is my middle name.”

“I see all that time in jail hasn’t done much for you,” he commented snidely. “I thought at least you’d lose some of that inflated ego.”

Shrugging, I moved my head to the left so one of the new guys’ fists wouldn’t hit me. “What can I say? It’s one of my charm points.” I flashed him a handsome smile.

He suddenly lunged at me. Taken by surprise, I stumbled back a few steps so he couldn’t reach me. Every swung he took at me I easily dodged or blocked, making him increasingly frustrated. It was almost comical— actually it was comical.

“Stop dodging, you asshole!”

“Maybe I’m not dodging. Maybe you just have bad aim?”

This time when attempted to strike me, I stepped to the side, shoving Mikey out of the way as I did so. Either he had awful balance, or I’d used more force than I meant to, because he fell into the brick of the ally wall, letting out a loud groan.

“Aren’t you going to fight back?” Dan demanded angrily, his face red from the effort he’d been putting in to land a hit on me.

“I told you,” I responded slowly, rolling my eyes. “I don’t fight anymore.”

His eyes flashed. “Yeah. Like I’d believe that. If you don’t fight back, then you’re just letting us beat the shit out of you.”

I shrugged. “Whatever. It’s not like feeble punches from you will actually harm me.”

“Suit yourself,” he grunted, cracking his knuckles.

I made a face. If there was one thing I absolutely hated, it was when people cracked their knuckles to look intimidating. Well, it wasn’t my fault if they ended up with arthritis later on in life.

He moved in on me. This time I stood my ground. If worse came to worse I’d just knock Dan out. The newbies and Mikey wouldn’t dare come follow me after that. Sighing again, I watched as Dan brought up his fist…

“Wait!”

All four of the surrounding men snapped their eyes to the source of the shrill, girly squeak that’d come from behind me. My heart sunk in my chest when I realized whoever had just intervened had brought a shitload of trouble onto herself. Now I’d have to fight if I didn’t want anything to happen to her.

“Well what do we have here?” Dan commented, a sly smirk spreading across his face. “A pretty young girl? What are you doing out here so late?”

More like what is that stupid girl doing stepping into the middle of a fight.

“It doesn’t matter why she’s out here so late,” one of the new members said, his eyes glued to the female behind me. “She probably heard us talking and came to see what was up, right?”

There was silence behind me and I was tempted to look to see who it was, but I didn’t trust turning my back on these guys. Instead I narrowed my eyes at Dan when he started to move closer to me.

“Well then, missus, you can watch the fist punch to this man’s pretty face,” he told her.

I cocked an eyebrow at him. “You think my face is pretty? That’s cute.”

Dan scowled, bringing up his fist. I kept my head straight, resisting the urge to whistle. If I was going to fight, I was going to make it quick and then escape before anyone noticed the hustle. I positioned myself to block as Dan brought his hand back to punch me. Before I could blink there was the quiet sound of rustling plastic and he suddenly shouted out in pain, stumbling backwards.

“Run!” the same girly voice from earlier screamed, and a small, warm hand enveloped my own, yanking me away from the scene.

For a second I debated about letting this girl lead me away, but decided to just go with it. It didn’t seem like she’d let go of my hand anytime soon. My eyes landed on her for the first time— but only the back of her head. My breath caught in my throat when I realized her hair was the exact same shade as Holly’s… My chest tightened uncomfortably at the thought of my ex-girlfriend.

The young woman tugging me was panting not even a minute into the run. I kept up easily, doing my best not to run ahead of her. She turned onto a new street, shoving her free hand into her pocket, searching for something. I noticed the plastic bags she was carrying digging into her wrist and frowned. That had to hurt.

Finally we made it to what I assumed to be her house. She bounded up the steps of her porch, still not letting go of my hand. As she shoved the key into the lock I tried to slip my hand out of hers, but it wasn’t happening. Was she seriously going to let a strange man she didn’t know into her house? A strange man who’d been fighting in an alleyway only moments earlier?

Two small hands suddenly pressed into my back with surprising force, shoving me into the building. I cocked an eyebrow, turning around only to see that she once again had her back turned to me as she slammed the door. With a shaky hand she managed to lock the door behind us, twisting the door handle to make sure it locked properly. Sighing, she proceeded to drop to her knees, breathing heavily.

For a few seconds I watched her, her shoulders heaving as she tried to regain her breath. It was kind of amusing. Eventually I decided I’d better use my manners. “Are you okay?” I inquired.

She jumped and gasped, obviously surprised by my voice. A small blush spread across her face as she pushed herself to her feet, wiping off her palms on her pants. “Couldn’t be better,” she mumbled, still keeping her head down.

I cocked an eyebrow, waiting for her to look at me. Her hair reminded me so much of Holly’s… I needed to see her face. Much to my disappointment, she turned her back on me once again, standing on her tiptoes to look out the front door. Her back tensed for a moment before relaxing again.

“Looks like we lost them,” she sighed in relief, turning to face me now.

“Looks like it,” I responded slowly, my heart speeding in anticipation of seeing her face. Any second now she’d look up at me… I mentally slapped myself. Why was I getting so excited just to see a stranger’s face? There was no way she was Holly, so why did it matter?

Finally she lifted her head. When she did, it felt like I’d been kicked brutally in the chest.

“Holly?” I mumbled, unable to take my gaze off her face.

My mouth felt dry, standing before me with wide eyes and an open mouth was Holly. Her bright, gorgeous, blue eyes were the exact same shade as I remembered, as well as her pouting pink lips I’d kissed just about a thousand times. Her hair was cut just the way I recalled as well— except she grew it out longer. Even her petite, slender body was sending me into nostalgia.

Then she spoke again.

“What?” she whispered.

My world came crashing down around me. No, this wasn’t Holly. Now I was noticing the differences. This girl was much shorter than Holly, and looked softer too. Holly had more muscles than this girl. My gaze raked over her again, taking in what I’d missed earlier. Her eyes were definitely the same shade of blue, but this girl’s were round and striking doe-eyes. The thing that caught me the most was this girl looked much younger than holly.

However, they could have definitely passed off as sisters— twins if you ignored the age difference.

The doe-eyed girl stared at me expectantly. It took me a second to register her earlier response. “Nothing,” I said, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in my heart. Of course it wasn’t Holly. She didn’t ever want to see me again. Isn’t that why she broke up with me just before I went to jail?

“Okay…” the Holly-doppelganger responded, staring at me again. Her eyes pierced into mine, making me feel uncomfortable. She reminded me so much of Holly…

I crossed my arms over my chest, flicking my eyes away from hers. “Are those guys gone?”

She nodded.

“Good,” I responded, letting my shoulders sag. “It wouldn’t have been so great if I’d been caught fighting again.”

She gave me a wary look. I raised an eyebrow, causing her to quickly advert her gaze. A smile crossed my face as she took a sudden interest in her shoe. There were a couple moments of silence between us.

I glanced at the door again. “I should probably go,” I told her, feeling torn between my decision to leave. As much as I wanted to stay and stare at her, I knew it’d eventually freak her out. Not only that, but being around this girl was bringing back memories of Holly I wanted to keep suppressed.

“Already?

I blinked at her as a warm blush spread across her face. Her face twisted into annoyance and I figured she was scolding herself for saying that. It was cute. After another moment I couldn’t hold it in anymore and let out a chuckle. “I don’t want to impose…”

A smile made its way onto her face. Mine faltered slightly. Even her smile was exactly like Holly’s. “You wouldn’t be,” she assured me. “But I am afraid of what my mom would say if she came home and found a strange man here.”

“I’m not that strange,” I insisted, not wanting her to think I was.

She laughed quietly. “No, you were just going to be assaulted in an ally like any other average person, right?”

I cocked my head to the side. That was new. Holly was never sarcastic like that. An amused smile formed on my face again. “You should be one to talk. Coming out of nowhere and shouting at them in your girly little voice.”

“I do not have a girly little voice!” she denied forcefully. “I really thought they were going to beat you up!”

Holding up my hands defensively, I shrugged again. “Well thanks anyway, but as a tip, don’t try to stop anymore fights. You might get hurt.”

With that, I forced myself to move around her towards the door. Any more of this and I wasn’t sure I could hold back my feelings. Even if she wasn’t Holly, she looked so much like her… I forced myself to think about something else. The door. It was only three feet away now…

“Wait!”

My mouth grew dry again as I paused, turning to look at her. It never ceased to amaze me how much she looked like Holly. “What?”

“What’s your name?” she questioned, giving me a pleading look.

I smirked. “Secret.” She stared at me in surprise as I opened the door, slipping out. “Have a nice night,” I called just before the door shut.

As soon as I was out in the cool, fresh night air I let out a deep breath. If I were lucky, I’d never see that girl again…

Or maybe if I were lucky, I would get to see her.

__________________________________________

You've probably already read this... I keep putting it on and taking it off, but this time it's on and here to stay because I guess people don't like going to go to Quizilla to read it :L

Anyway, I won't be doing the whole chapter, but I'll do random ones from time to time... If I feel motivated enough. I'm trying to decide what chapter to do next... it can be from APR or ASR. Not sure yet :s