CPOV

My heart was still pounding after knocking Nick around like my own personal punching bag. After landing one last quick blow to that sweet spot between his legs, he slouched off, cursing me all the way and promising revenge. Personally? I don't think he has the nerve to do anything to me himself. I was so betting that he'd drag Vanessa and Jessica into this new mess. Just the thought of that made me hurt, so I pushed it away. Far, far away. Cause really? Who wants to think about having the crap beat out of them?

"Dude! Do you realize how awesome that was?" Aaron shouted flamboyantly, and I just shrugged my shoulders and started walking back to my house. The adrenaline that had been racing through my veins so fiercely just moments before, was now leaving me shaky and tired. But I was still on my mental high. Good for me!

"No, no, no," Aaron grabbed my arm with one hand and wagged one of his fingers in my face with the other. "Where do you think you're going?" I just looked at him. I wasn't going out with Nick, so there was no reason for him to stick around…or drag me off somewhere.

"Bed," I said flatly, and ripped my arm out of his grasp, not that he was holding it hard or anything, I was just edgy.

"Want some company?" Aaron said while wiggling his eyebrows suggestively while I just stared at him. Wasn't he Ash's best friend or something? And if he was, why the hell would he want to get me in bed? My brow furrowed even more as confusion began to make itself at home inside my poor head.

"Dude! I was joking!" Aaron said, rolling his molten brown/gold eyes, "I'm not going to keep you company in bed - no offense or anything. I'm still rescuing you." What did I still need 'rescuing' from? Hadn't I proven, like, triple gazillion times already that I could take care of myself.

"What?" I asked dully, frowning in confusion.

"See? You can't be left alone at the moment! Your mental state is in perilous condition," he knew what 'perilous' meant? "You'd probably try to start a fire in the microwave! Kindling, logs, your head and everything!" Aaron finished dramatically while I rolled my eyes. Whatever. I spun on my heels and began trekking back inside. I didn't need anymore crazy shit happening to me today, or a billion years from now.

But a toned arm wrapped itself around my waist and began to drag me away. Stupid Aaron.

"Let me go," I whined pathetically. I was so tired of all of this.

"No can do." with those words, I was shoved - gently - into the backseat of a car.

"What the hell!" I screeched and really started flailing around. If I was going down - being kidnapped - I was so going down with a fight.

"Hey! You just freaking scratched me!" Aaron yelled out, grasping at his forearm and staring at it like it was about to fall off at any second. Wimp. "What'd you do that for?" he whined. Oh I don't know. Maybe because he was being an ass. "Do you see what you just did?" he shrieked, while shoving his arm into my face and pointing a very light pink line that I had to squint to see. Again, he's a freaking wimp.

"You're kidding, right?" I asked him.

"Kidding about what? You almost sawing my arm off with a your bloody freaking claws, or me kidnapping you?" his head was cocked to the side, and he reminded me quite a bit of a puppy. A very annoying, overly hyper, crazed and silly puppy. In my head I could actually see him with a puppy dog head. It was fluffy, and pristine and so cute it almost made me squeal. Of course, I shook myself out of it, wincing. I blame that little image on weariness, just so you all know.

"Both." I finally said in answer to his question. I couldn't look at him though. All I could see was the fluffy dog head, and the insufferable urge to laugh would start building up in my throat. It was driving me crazy.

"Well, I'm not kidding about you almost amputating me, and as for the kidnapping thing," relief made my body sag, this was all just a big, stupid joke. "Well, I'm not really kidding about that either. Although, I wouldn't really call it kidnapping…it's more like abduction." The hope that I had clung to had been dashed away brutally, so I just sat there and contemplated what he'd just said.

"What the hell is the difference between kidnapping and abduction?" I asked finally, confusion making me forget why I wasn't supposed to look at him anymore. Choking, I looked away. Was it bad that I had truly considered going out and buying him doggie-biscuits? Okay, yeah, don't answer that. I don't want to know.

"Ah, my small friend, the difference is great," he paused, and I looked at him, wanting a little bit more information than that, cause I still didn't get it. And for probably the first time ever in my life, I didn't feel stupid about not understanding something. Because really? Who the hell truly understands the randomness that is Aaron?

"What?" I asked him, since he still hadn't elaborated.

"Huh? You really don't get it? God, I thought you were smart," I glared at him. I was smart. "Okay, see, the difference is kidnapping doesn't sound nearly as cool as abduction." He spoke nice and slow, trying to get his oh-so-complex idea across to a stupid person like me. Oh so very slowly I raised my hand, as if I had been enlightened by his amazing spark of brilliance…and then I brought my brilliance down onto his empty skull.

"What the hell was that for?" he whined, and glared.

"For being a bad dog," I said, grinning maliciously at my own inside joke.

"I'm not a dog, though," confusion laced his voice, as he rubbed his head and finally got into the drivers seat and started the engine, while dialing someone on his cell phone.

"Well, you're close enough."

APOV

My heart was pounding and I felt sick. Surly Aaron was just messing with me. Cathy couldn't have been kidnapped, right? But then again, I didn't think that even Aaron would find such a cruel joke funny. So…he was being serious.

Okay, now my dinner was seriously considering taking a return flight out of my stomach and back into the real world. Oh god. I hate puking.

"Hey, you still there?" Aaron's voice came through loud and clear and I jumped. I had forgotten that I was still on the phone.

"Yeah," I choked out. "Hey Aaron?" I asked and he grunted in reply, "Please, just please, tell me that you're joking."

"Nope, I'm glad to say that I'm not," he said cheerfully and I growled.

"You're glad to say that, huh? How glad will you be when I put you in a cage full of turkeys, and leave you to your fate? Will you be glad then?" A frightened 'what' came from the other end of the line and despite my anger, I felt guilty. Aaron had told me in confidence that when he was little, a flock of turkey's had attacked him. To this day, he cowered at the sight of them, and he spent Thanksgiving praying for the safety of all of the brave hunters that had shot down the ugly birds. He has actually passed a bit of his fear along to me…not that I'm ever going to tell him that, nor anyone else for that matter. I mean, I'm not really afraid of them, they just look creepy…and they make weird sounds that for some reason remind me distinctly of serial killers.

Okay, so I'm afraid of them. What are you going to do about it?

"Aaron, I didn't mean it…I'm just stressed out and worried," I said when I heard another whimper come from him. Some best friend I am, huh? God, I'm awful.

"It's okay, I know you didn't mean it. Besides, I have some news about just who abducted Cathy," Aaron said, his voice shaky at first, but by the end he sounded like his normal, goofy self. I'm starting to think that maybe he might need to see a therapist about his fear. Maybe I'll drop a hint someday, but for now, I'm just going to cling to what my friend had just said.

"Who? I swear that I'm going to beat the crap out of them and make them beg for death," okay, so my reaction to all of this was a bit cheesy. I made fun of people who said things like that. But…well, I think I have a certain right to cause them pain. They'd caused me pain. It might not be a physical pain, but it's so mentally painful that it's borderline physical. So it's close enough. I think…what the hell, I'll beat them up for giving me a headache about whether or not I should beat them up.

"Um," Aaron trailed of, nervousness was clearly evident in his voice.

"Spit it out, man."

"Um, on second thought, I really don't know who did it. I just, um, thought that it would be cool if I did, cause, um, well, all the best spies say really cool things and I just thought that it would be cool for me to be cool, too. Don't you think that that would just be, well, you know, cool?" Aaron's voice was shrill and I jerked the phone away from my ear. What was his problem anyway. He only went all shriek-y soprano on me when -

"Okay, Aaron. Is there a turkey beside you, or are you lying to me about something."

"No turkey."

"So you're lying to me?" I tried to keep my voice neutral and friendly.

"No, not - not exactly. I did think that it would be cool…" his voice trailed off and I thought about what to say next. Sometime getting something out of Aaron was like dealing with a very complex crossword puzzle. You had to know the right words to fill in the blanks.

I hate crossword puzzles…

"So, where does the 'not exactly' come in, buddy?"

"Um, it comes in where the kidnappers name is supposed to be…"

"Why are you saving their skins? They're kidnappers!"

"See, I kind of like where my skin is."

"Well - wait. Your skin!"

"Huh? No, no, no. What are you talking about? Where'd you get my skin from? My skin's perfectly fine. No sunburn whatsoever. Really. I use the highest SPF I can find." He was babbling. Another sign that he was lying.

"Really? Then why'd you say that you like where you skin is?"

"Cause I think that anyone would be really uncomfortable if they lost their skin, so I was just…um, sympathizing with their very, very harsh punishment. Seriously. That is a very harsh punishment. Although, I won't ever be losing my skin because I didn't do anything at all." In the background, I could just barely pick up someone saying the word 'liar' in a what seemed to be a disgusted tone. At first, I thought that I had imagined it, but then I heard Aaron shushing someone.

"Do you have company?" I asked him, while a bad feeling made its way to my gut. What the hell had Aaron got into this time?

"Huh? No, no, no. It's the radio, it's flipping out on me!" Okay, now I was sure that I'd just heard someone speak again. And the voice was familiar…

"Aaron, please, please, tell me the truth now. Please." I heard him take a deep breath and sigh dramatically.

"Okay…IkidnappedCathy," he said in a rush, and I didn't capture anything he'd just said. Or maybe I just didn't want to.

"What?"

"I, ugh, kidnapped Cathy?" slow, embarrassed laughter met my ears and I pulled the phone away from my ear, staring at it for a moment, before bringing it back up.

"You did what?"

Okay, yeah, I'm a lousy updater. I suck, I know. But schools finally out and so I'll most likely have more time to right…although, to be truthful, I don't really like the idea of spending all of my vacation sitting at my desk typing until my fingers fall off…but I WILL spend more time writing!

Serious time now. I'm giving a BIG shout out to all of you who are still sticking with me! Y'all ROCK!!! Thank you so much for reading my story, reviewing, alerting, and adding it to your favorites! You guys are the only reason that it's actually gotten somewhere, and I hope that you all know just how much I appreciate you! Well…goodbye for now, hopefully you'll get another update soon!