Chasing Shadows | ✓

Part Two: Chapter Twenty

A PIN DROP COULD HAVE BEEN HEARD.

There was an eerily deafening silence that clouded the air, causing my skin to prickle like a million small ants were crawling over me.

Noah clamped a pale hand over his mouth and staggered back a few steps - almost tripping over his own feet as he did so. Travis' face had whitened to a shade whiter than snow, beyond anything I had ever seen. My mind instantly reeled with a million different thoughts and scenarios - each darker than the other.

For once, Noah and Travis sidled closer to one another; their eyes flicking back and forth as if they were trying to convey a secret message. It was then, my lips hardened into a straight line and I narrowed my eyes into slits to glower at them.

What in the hell was going on in here?

"Lying to me?" I finally echoed when no-one made a move to speak, "What are you talking about?"

Travis' face was the first to turn a dark shade of bitter. He angled his head towards Noah, flashing him a warning glare - almost daring him to speak. Beads of sweat built up on Noah's forehead and I watched as they trickled down his face, despite the cold weather outside. He tried his hardest to plaster on a smile, but even he seemed to know he wasn't fooling me.

"I was just mad, Nat. You know I tend to blurt random things out when I do."

Annoyance and irritation surged through my veins and with reverence, I shook my head. How did he expect me to believe that pathetic excuse now when he had spent long weeks glaring and glowering at Travis - always being on the edge of wanting to say something, but holding back?

"Please don't lie to me," I hardened my voice into a firmer tone, "You know I hate when you do."

Noah's fingers wove in and out of each other - pulling and tugging on the reddening skin. His eyes kept darting to the side and behind me; his leg only itching to start running far, far away. Travis refused to meet my gaze for the first time ever and instead, focused on the ground. Noah coughed and tried to turn away from me, but I crossed my arms and sighed - dragging his attention back to me.

"Nat, come on, let it go."

Travis tried to intervene, softening his voice into a mere whisper. He shuffled closer, golden-brown eyes boring into mine and almost pleading with me to forget it. He reached over and tried to place a warm hand on my shoulder, but I stepped away and shook my head.

"You guys have been keeping something from me since the day we met. Don't tell me I'm suddenly imagining things."

With every passing day, there had been an unexplainable tension in the air, whenever these two were within an inch of each other. At the time, I had brushed it off without giving it too much thought - thinking it was simply an unimportant issue. But it was my fault, for I shouldn't have ignored the signs and the way in which they seemed too familiar with one another.

It was then that a pained expression flashed across Travis' face and in a last attempt, he tried to salvage whatever situation Noah had planted them in.

"We're not Natalie-"

"Don't even."

I held up my hand in the air and cut him off mid-sentence. His mouth clamped shut, but his eyes still begged with me to listen.

But if all he had to tell me was lies, why should I listen?

"I'm not asking you guys to give me a whole background check. Nor am I asking for you to explain every single little detail to me. If something happened between you two - frankly, that's not my business and I can respect your privacy. But if you're lying to me, that is my business."