When I awoke, clamorous rumbles of thunder were still rolling outside, but I was too distracted by the sight in front of me to care. Anthony was dead asleep, sprawled out on top of his sleeping bag. It made me wonder how he managed to get out of it while asleep. One of his hands was still clamped to mine, which made me smile. The other one was laying across the cold floor, all the way stretched out. The main part of his body was at a diagonal angle, putting his head extremely close to mine. It was literally only five inches away now. His dark hair was falling into his face, and with each breath he exhaled a few pieces of his fringe would go up with the breeze.

            It took me a few more minutes to realize that if I could see him, it meant the lights came back on. I silently cheered to myself. The lights made me feel a lot more comfortable. Carefully, I lifted Anthony’s wrist up to my face to check his watch. It was ten in the morning. Tuesday. My eyes widened. It definitely didn’t feel like I’d slept for eleven hours. What was even more surprising was that I didn’t even wake up once during the night. Even at home I’d wake up at least once or twice.

            My stomach rumbled loudly and I quickly clapped my free hand to it, my eyes widening. Luckily, the noise didn’t wake up Anthony. Being as careful as I could, I slid my other hand out of his and managed to scoot my sleeping bag far enough away from him so that I could slip out of it without hitting him. For a second I debated about waking Anthony up to have him come with me, but realized how childish I was being. Nothing was going to come out and attack me. With new resolve, I headed off for the food section.

            Honey Bunches of Oats… Fruity Pebbles… Pops… Cheerios… Special K… Reese’s Puffs… Smacks… Trix… Captain Crunch… I walked back and forth along the cereal aisle, biting at my lip. There were so many, it was hard to choose one. It wasn’t everyday you could almost literally have anything you wanted for breakfast. I knew if I really wanted to, I could open up a microwave or a mini-oven and find an outlet to plug it into to heat something up. Hell, I could even open one of those single burners and make eggs. However, I decided not to waste money and do that. Eventually I settled on Fruity Pebbles. The next stop was milk. To my dismay, I found myself wondering what brand of milk to get. Since when did I become so indecisive? Didn’t all milk taste the same?

            “I enjoy Hood.”

            Startled, I dropped the box of Fruity Pebbles, which fell to the ground with a quiet thump. The person behind me chuckled and I turned to see Anthony stand there, his hair sticking out everywhere. “Morning, Ellie,” he greeted me, punctuating his words with a yawn.

            “Morning,” I mumbled, running a hand through my hair. Hopefully it didn’t look too bad. It felt greasy though. Disgusting. “Did I wake you?”

            He shook his head. “No. I just noticed you were gone so I came hunting for you. I see you found breakfast,” he commented, stooping down to pick up the box of Fruity Pebbles. “Perfect choice. Just what I wanted.”

            I smiled, happy I’d chosen something he liked as well. “Really?”

            “Really,” he insisted, reaching past me, and opening the fridge door. He pulled out a carton of milk before closing it again. “I hope you don’t mind whole milk.”

            “I only like whole milk.”

            He gave me an appreciative nod. “That’s good to hear. I like girls who aren’t afraid to admit that.”

            I titled my head to the side in a questioning manner. “What do you mean?”

            “Some of my old girlfriends would tell me they didn’t drink whole milk because it was too fattening, but then when I went to their house, that was the only milk in their fridge,” he explained, smirking at the memory. “Of course I never said anything, but still. I prefer girls who like whole over 2%.”

            There was no one on Earth happier than me about liking whole milk at that moment. I wordlessly thanked my mom for raising me on it. “Do we still have those plastic bowls and utensils at the campsite?”

            Anthony grinned. “Campsite?”

            I felt my cheeks start to tingle, but forced the blush back. “I don’t know what else to refer to it as…”

            “No, I like campsite. It’s fitting,” he told me. “And yes, we should have both bags lying around somewhere. Let’s head back.”

            “Sure,” I responded, falling in step beside him. This was becoming a habit— me walking beside him just so I could feel his arm brushing against mine. For a brief second I wondered if this could be considered creepy. Well, even if it was, I didn’t care.

            Anthony gave me a sidelong glance. “How did you sleep?”

            “Um, good,” I responded, unable to meet his gaze. We’d fallen asleep holding hands because of my childishness… That was something to be embarrassed about. “You?”

            “Well since you held my hand all night long, I wasn’t scared at all.”

            This time I couldn’t stop the blush from blossoming on my cheeks. “S-shut up!”

            He laughed, bumping his hip against mine. “Sorry, Ellie. You’re just really fun to tease. Most twenty year olds are over their childish fears. It’s refreshing to see you aren’t.”

            “More like lame,” I muttered.

            “Or cute.”

            “No, just lame.”

            He chuckled again. “Let me take a guess. Did your brother tell you too many ghost stories when you were younger?”

            “Julius too,” I said disdainfully, remembering all the times they’d forced me to stay up with them just so they could scare me half to death. “Every time Julius would sleep over they would do their best to recite the scariest stories they knew. Julius had this creepy way of talking when he told his stories too.”

            “He still has it,” Anthony notified me. “Sometimes he tells the team some stories when we have away games. They’re never scary though…”

            “I was young,” I defended myself. “When I grew older the stories stopped scaring me.”

            He raised an eyebrow. “Then shouldn’t your fear have gone away?”

            “No, because I was old enough to go to the movies with them at that point.”

            After a short moment of silence, he started laughing. “Man! They totally harassed you!”

            “It’s not funny!”

            “Yes, yes it is.”

            I scowled at him playfully. “Whatever, jerk.”

            “Aw, come on, Ellie. Don’t be a grouchy grouch,” he taunted, sending me a teasing smile.

            “I just want to eat,” I grumbled as our campsite came in sight. “I feel like I could eat a horse.”

            “Well maybe if you ate more than a bowl of cereal for dinner…”

            I frowned at him. “It was what I wanted.”

            He pursed his lips at me. “It’s not healthy. You’ll have to eat more tonight.”

            “But—”

            “There are no windows in here,” he told me randomly.

            I furrowed my eyebrows. “Huh?”

            “It means the air will get stale. Stale air is unhealthy air, so you need to stay as healthy as possible, otherwise you’ll get sick.”

            “Wait, seriously?”

            He nodded. “Yep.”

            My eyes widened. I hadn’t even thought of that. What if we ran out of air? No, the air was still able to pass through the vents… However the stale air was very possible since not all the air could be replaced.

            “Didn’t you learn that in your biology class?” he inquired, looking confused. “I think we studied different effects on the human body for at least half a year.”

            Crap! I had no clue what college students studied! My mind raced, trying to think of a lie to cover this one up. “Umm, I think we might be working from the other end of the curriculum or something. We haven’t studied any of that stuff.”

            “Ahh. That’s right. Different places work differently,” Anthony responded, his eyes twinkling in amusement.

            I couldn’t figure out what was so amusing. Was it my hair? I tried to stealthy run my hand through it a few more times, hoping to make it at least a little bit more presentable. Looking like Cousin It wasn’t exactly flattering, in my opinion. While Anthony was bent over retrieving the plastic bowls and spoons, I licked my hand, running it over the top of my head. I would have killed for a shower.

            “Here you go,” Anthony said, handing me a bowl and spoon. “Want me to pour your cereal for you?”

            “I can pour it,” I responded, resisting the urge to roll my eyes. “Give me the box.”

            He obeyed my command, handing over the Fruity Pebbles. After taking a seat on my porch swing, I placed my bowl on my lap, tearing open the cereal. I poured myself a large helping before giving it to Anthony, who had taken a seat next to me on the swing instead of across from me on his lawn chair. As he filled his bowl, I reached for the milk, filling up my bowl with it. When my mouth made contact with the first spoonful of my breakfast, I realized I was actually really thirsty. Instead of eating the cereal, I began to put spoonfuls of the milk into my mouth.

            “A wildebeest through and through, huh?”

            I stopped shoveling milk into my mouth to glower at him. “Eat your breakfast, Anthony.”

            He snickered, putting a spoonful of pebbles into his mouth. “Feel free to drink from the carton if that doesn’t quench the beast inside.”

            “I will,” I muttered, returning my attention to my bowl. I really needed to stop making myself look like an idiot in front of him. Using a more elegant way of eating, I took a spoonful of milk and cereal this time, eating it slowly. No more being called a wildebeest for me.

            “Hey, Ellie,” Anthony spoke up after a few moments of silence. “Can you help me with something after we’re finished eating?”

            “With what?” I asked curiously.

            He tugged at a piece of his hair, looking sheepish. “I kind of want to wash my hair, but…”

            “There’s no shower,” I finished for him. Now I was more confused. “So what can I help with?”

            “I was thinking you could dump a jug of water over my head?”

            I nearly burst out laughing at the thought. Was he seriously going to wash his hair by dumping water over his head? “What about the rest of your body?”

            “Well I was going to clean that privately, but if you’re up for it, by all means—”

            “I’m good,” I cut him off, adverting my gaze. “But if I help you, you help me.”

            “Well, I can’t say no to that. I would never turn down washing a girl’s body for her—”

            I interjected again. “No! Just with my hair! If you get to clean your hair, I want to too. I hate greasy hair. So if I help you with cleaning your hair, you help me with cleaning my hair, and my hair only.”

            “Dang,” he said in mock disappointment.

            I shook my head at him, grinning. “You have a dirty mind.”

            “So do you,” he countered.

            “My mind is definitely not as dirty as yours!”

            He hesitated a moment. “Actually, that’s probably true. I am a guy, after all. It’s like, in my nature. Although Julius has the dirtiest mind of us all…”

            “Ew, don’t even mention dirty and Julius in the same sentence.”

            Anthony chuckled. “Geez. From the sound of it, I’m going to enjoy hanging out with you and Julius.”

            I stared at him. Did that mean he wanted to hang out with me when we got out of this? If I could’ve, I would’ve done a little dance of excitement. “We hang out a lot, so be prepared to be amused.”

            “I can’t wait. You know what you should do?”

            “What?”

            “Come to one of our lacrosse games,” he told me, our eyes meeting. “You should come cheer me on.”

            Now he wanted me to go cheer from him? Could this day get any better? “Sounds good to me.”

            He grinned broadly. “Good! I’ll hold you to that. I wonder if my college is ever going to play yours.”

            “Maybe,” I responded vaguely, trying to remember what college I said I went to. Was it Umass? Or Smith?

            “Don’t bring any guys,” he warned in a light tone.

            I pressed my lips in a straight line to keep myself from smirking. “You don’t like guy cheerleaders?”

            “I don’t mind those,” he responded, taking a quick bite of his cereal before proceeding with his mouth full, “I just don’t want to see you with another guy when you come to cheer for me.”

            “Oh.” My mind went crazy with ideas. Did he mean something by that? What if that meant he had a crush on me? I almost had a heart attack right then. Fortunately I managed to calm myself before I passed out. It was funny (and a little scary) how obsessed I was with him. I definitely fell hard for him. The best part was that I barely knew him. I almost laughed. At least he didn’t turn out to be a jerk.

            The conversation sort of died after that, leaving the two of us to finishing our breakfast. Anthony managed to scarf down four bowls in the time it took me to finish two. By then, I was full. Partly because I had eaten enough, and partly because watching Anthony eat so much was making me sick. He stood up, dropping his empty dish to the ground. “Okay! Are you ready to help me do my hair?”

            “Yup,” I responded, climbing to my feet. “Where do you want to do this?”

            “Well, first I have to find some shampoo and conditioner. Then a laundry basket or something so water doesn’t go everywhere. And then we can just go to the drink aisle so we have the entire stock of water to go through if we have to.”

            I nodded. “Okay. Let’s do this.”

            After collecting all we needed, we trudged back to the food section. It seemed like we were spending a lot of time in the area. Anthony set down the wide, aluminum trashcan he’d found instead of a laundry basket and took out the shampoo and conditioner mix, comb, towels from it. He placed them next to it, then reached up and pulled down a few jugs of water. With his hand, he motioned for me to move toward him.

            “So what do you want me to do?” I asked, standing by his side.

            “Just slowly pour the water over my head,” he instructed, putting his head over the trashcan. “I’ll do everything else.”

            I took the jug of water from him. “Okay. When do I start?”

            “Whenever you’re ready.”

            It took me a few moments to open the topper of the water, but after I did I began to pour the jug’s contents onto Anthony’s head. He complained about the temperature of the water, but after I told him to suck it up, he shut up. When all of his hair was completely soaked (which didn’t take too long seeing how he didn’t have that much to begin with), he lathered the shampoo and conditioner in his hair. I paused, waiting for the okay to start dumping the water again. It only took about a minute more for him to wash all the suds out.

            “Hey!” I complained as he shook his head, getting off all the excess droplets of water from his hair. It just so happened the drops hit me. “You’re getting water on me!”

            “Am I? My bad,” he drawled, looking far too amused for me to think it was an accident.

            I glowered at the back of his head. When he turned to face me, my heart skipped a beat. With his hair wet, he looked more attractive than usual. A few stray droplets of water were running down his face, and before I realize what I was doing, I wiped them away. Immediately I yanked my hand back, turning my focus to the empty jug of water in my hand.

            “Your turn now,” he commented, oblivious to my awkwardness.

            “Umm,” I hesitated. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. But I didn’t want greasy hair either… “Fine,” I sighed, lowering myself to the ground.

            “The water is cold at first,” he warned me.

            I put my head over the trashcan, steadying myself. When the water first hit my head, I gasped, the coldness surprising me. The room temperature had to be higher than that! After I got used to it, it wasn’t so bad. Although my hair was much longer than Anthony’s, it only took about five minutes more to clean it. Just as I finished rinsing out my hair, I felt water dowsing my back. I drew in my breath quickly, surprised by the act. Anthony started guffawing shortly after. I scrambled to my feet, glaring at him. “Anthony!”

            “Oops,” he managed to say between laughs. “I guess I missed!”

            “Ew,” I complained, pulling my waterlogged camisole away from my body. “You’re going to pay for that,” I told him.

            He gave me a smug look. “Are you going to waste another jug of water on me?”

            I shook my head, slowly starting for him. He moved around me, as I’d predicted. I waited until he was standing in front of the trashcan before lunging at him. Just as I planned, he stumbled backwards, falling over the bin full of water. Wasting no time, I used all my strength to overturn it onto his lower body. He bolted straight up, making a disgusted face. “That’s playing dirty, Ellie! Literally! That water is dirty!”

            “You started it,” I retorted, satisfied by his reaction. “Now it looks like you peed your pants.”

            He gave me a mocking look, shoving his body off the floor. “Yeah well it looks like you have an unhealthy drooling problem.”

            “Good one.”

            He swiftly grabbed another jug of water off the shelf, before marching past me. “I’ll be back.”

            “Where are you going?”

            “To finish washing my body, and then to hunt through the clothing for dry clothes to wear. I suggest you do the same before you catch a cold.”

            I decided to heed his suggestion, grabbing a bottle of water and the rest of the towels before scampering off to the women’s clothing section. My body wash was a quick one because I was paranoid Anthony was going to come out of nowhere when I was still in my undergarments. After I was finished drying myself, I wrapped a towel around my body, searching for new clothes. I was beyond feeling bad about taking anything now. Usually I didn’t wear Walmart clothing, so this would probably be a once in a lifetime thing. After getting clean undergarments, I managed to find a pair of light colored skinny jeans that I liked and a cute, white camisole. I threw on a black cardigan as well, just in case I got cold.

            Anthony was returning to the campsite at the same time I was. He looked stunning, like usual. Instead of the work clothing I was so used to seeing him in, he was in a pair of faded dark jeans and a dark green plaid shirt. His shirt brought out his eyes fantastically. “You have tags sticking out everywhere,” he told me when he was close enough to do so without yelling.

            “That’s okay, I’m— hey!” I protested as he began to rip them off for me. “I was going to return these when I was done with them!”

            He pursed his lips at me. “You’re not allowed to do that.”

            “What they don’t know won’t hurt them.”

            “Well seeing as how they includes me…”

            I made a face. Whoop. I forgot Anthony worked here. I let out a sheepish laugh, scratching the back of my head. “Whoops.”

            He shook his head at me, grinning. “Silly Ellie.”

            An unusually deafening crack of thunder resounded overhead, sending my heart into a frenzy. I’d grown so accustomed to the continuous, quieter rumbles that I didn’t even notice them. The louder one, however, had obviously startled me. Startled me right back into reality. Here I was, having fun with Anthony without a care in the world, while outside, a hurricane that could be killing people was raging. Immediately my mood dropped.

            Anthony appeared to have noticed this because he offered me a kind smile. “There’s nothing we can do, Ellie. We’re stuck in here.”

            “I know, but it sucks.”

            “Hey, I’m not that bad, am I?”

            I cracked a smile. “No, not you. I just mean the situation.”

            He nodded his head in agreement. “Yes, it does, but like I said, we can’t do anything. We might as well keep ourselves distracted, shouldn’t we?”

            “Distracted how…?” Perhaps a make-out session— No, I scolded myself strictly. I couldn’t think of things like that.

            “How about a movie?” he offered. “There’s a television with a DVD player in the break room.”

            A movie didn’t actually sound that bad. It would keep me occupied for a good hour and a half at least. “That sounds good to me. What movie do you want to watch?”

            “What move do you want to watch?” he countered.

            I thought about it for a moment. Walmart literally had every movie I could think of that wasn’t too old. “How about… Sherlock Holmes?”

            Anthony grinned. “I honestly think we were meant to be trapped here together,” he commented, gesturing with his hand for me to follow him. “I loved that movie.”

            “Me too!” I said excitedly, glad he liked it as well. “My friends wouldn’t watch it with me so I had to see it myself!”

            He wrinkled his nose. “Some friends. Tell you what: if you ever need someone to go to the movies with, call me. I’ll be more than willing to join you.”

            “Really?” I said, my heart skipping a beat.

            “Really,” he assured me.

            Warmth spread through me again. I was starting to get used to it now. Anthony always made me feel warm. I stole a glance at him, biting my lip to keep from grinning like an idiot. This had to be the first time in my life I was more thankful to Walmart than anything else. If they hadn’t hired Anthony, I wouldn’t have met him. Which would have sucked.

            “Thanks,” I let out in a breath, looking around the store lovingly.

            “What was that?” Anthony asked.

            “N-nothing!” I responded quickly, cursing myself inwardly. What was I doing? Thanking a store? I really was a strange person.

            A strange person with a gigantic crush on the college boy in front of her.

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ATTENTION: From this point on I'll be advertising a random person's story with each chapter! All you have to do is leave a comment (NOT saying "pick me" or anything like that. If I see a pick me, I won't pick youuu) and vote! :D That way I know you guys aren't some random kid commenting without even reading just to get your story advertised. It's my way of giving back! I'm actually going to choose four this chapter to put one in chapters two, three, and four, and this one.

Anyway, yay! Next update! There was a mini-earthquake today from the one in Virginia. At first I thought my house was going to collapse because it's really old, but then I went on Facebook and everyone was like OMG EARTHQUAKE. And I was like PHEW. I thought it was my house. It was the weirdest feeling ever.

Today's song is... erm... Secret Valentine by We the Kings. I like this version a lot better than the others.

Today's story is Don't Kiss And Run by Katilicious! Here's the summary!

When Nick West is dared to kiss the next girl who comes around the corner, he never expected to fall for her. He doesn't even know her name, but he is going to find her. No matter how long it takes. He's in New York for goodness sakes! It could take forever...