The Time Capsule

Amber

A sliver of light shines through the curtains, forcing me to eventually open my eyes. The first thing I notice is that Greg is holding onto me like his life depends on it. The second is the fact that I’m still in the clothes I wore the day before.

And then the memories come rushing back. I almost got kidnapped. How’s one supposed to deal with that?

“Greg,” I say quietly, trying to wake him up.

“hmm?” He asks, not opening his eyes.

“We need to find the two brats. We’re supposed to be at Selena’s soon.”

He sits up faster than I could say fire. “shit!”

“what?” I ask, watching as he runs to the window, looking out at the backyard.

“We don’t know what happened to Selena and James.” He says, slowly turning towards me, “I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but…”

“let’s call them.” I solve the problem that was now in the back of my head. How could we have forgotten about them being out there alone? I pull out my phone and dial Selena’s number while Greg does the same with James. You’ve reached Selena…

“Voicemail.” We say at the same time, staring at each other. I gulp, not wanting to show how scared I was, “they’re safe Greg, they have to be. They’re probably just sleeping so let’s go check the rooms.”

He nods but I can tell he only half-believes my words. Together we walk down the halls, checking each individual room. The more the rooms showed up empty, the more worried I got.

Suddenly one of the doors at the far end of the hall opens. Selena steps out into the hall wearing nothing but a guy’s shirt. She turns back around with a smile and laughs at something. What was going on here? As she starts to walk down the hall towards us, not noticing Greg or me yet, an arm reaches out and grabs her. Selena looks up and spots the two of us standing there, our mouths dropped open. James steps out of the doorway, asking what’s wrong.

Greg and I glance at each other, sharing the same look of shock. We leave them alone to talk things out and they’re relationship suddenly jumps ahead ten spots. “We didn’t sleep together!” Selena blurts out causing James to smirk.

“didn’t we?” he asks in a joking manner.

Selena slaps him, “no, we-”

Greg holds up his hand to stop the explanation, “really Selena, we don’t need to hear it.”

She blushes and ducks her head, hiding her embarrassment. “Guys, stop teasing her and go get ready. We’re due for lunch at her parent’s house in an hour.” They both scatter to get ready, leaving Selena and me alone in the hallway. She still seemed embarrassed but looked thankful for me stepping in. “So, did you two do naughty things last night?” I ask smirking.

Selena glares at me, “no we did not.” She states sternly. “and what about you? No separate bedrooms last night?”

“I-uh…”I didn’t know how to tell her about the incident that occurred. Wasn’t it best for the two of them not to have to deal with our problems? But even so, too many people have lied to her, “Greg and I will tell you both at the same time.” I say, taking the safe way out. It would be easier for me if Greg were there too.

She shrugs, accepting that answer, “well, let’s go get ready. You know how my parents are about lateness.” Selena pushes me back into the room I came out of and then goes into what was supposed to be her room. I finished pretty quickly in the bathroom and went to my suitcase to find something to wear. One problem of being distracted easily is that you don’t realize when someone is in the room.

“Didn’t know geeks could pick up hot girls.” A voice said from behind me, one that I definitely did not recognize. I gulp and stand up to face the person I’m sure was going to kidnap me. He smirked, “now don’t scream.” I look around the room quickly and spot a red button. I wonder what that’s for.

Seeing as this would be the time to use a red button, I turn slowly and back away from him. “please don’t do this.” I beg like a victim would. The guy walks forward as I walk back and finally I hit the wall.

“big mistake sweetheart.”

“I-I-” I pretend to stumble on my words as my finger press down on that red button. A loud screeching sound started and before the guy could make another move he was tackled to the ground. Wow. That’s quite a security system.

When I finally move, I see that it’s Greg who tackled the guy. He throws a couple of punches and leaves the dude unconscious just about the time that Simon gets there. Selena and James show up in the doorway along with Greg’s parents.

Greg doesn’t even blink an eye in their direction. He just walks over to me and pulls me into a tight hug…one that you wonder if the person will ever let go. “Thanks for noticing that button, Am.”

“How do they know so quickly?” I ask, mumbling into his shirt.

“All it takes is one person to see us and a little bit of research. We’ll be a lot safer once we’re back in California.

James was the first to speak up. Of course Bridget and Doug knew what happened, but Selena and James had no clue. “What the fuck is going on here?”

“uh, Amber almost got kidnapped…?” Greg suggests that as the answer.

That’s when I look up to see them. Selena was wrapped in James arms, shocked at both the scene and what Greg just said.

“And why in the world would Amber get kidnapped?” Well, here goes that awkward conversation I didn’t want to have with them. Greg motions for the four of us to sit on the bed while Simon took the unconscious kidnapper out of the room. Then Greg starts telling out two friends what exactly happened last night.