An Unexpected Collision

Ashley and Victoria returned to the street outside of the Walker Newspaper headquarters, moving considerably slower now that Kurt wasn’t around to help Victoria along. She still had her crutch though, so she was able to hobble, following Ashley down to the small parking lot just outside her family’s business. They went to the street edge and looked up and down, attempting, in vain, to see Kurt or any indication of which direction he had went. Down the street were a woman’s clothes shop, a sweet store and a book shop. Up the street, they could see a coffee shop, a barber’s and a store selling outdoors hiking, fishing and camping equipment.

“Well, there’s more shops down this way, but…” Ashley pondered looking up and down the road again. “Jennifer’s a ranger, so she’d maybe like something outdoorsy.”

Victoria nodded, agreeing with that conclusion, “So, we should go check it out. Maybe he’s in there or someone in there seen him come in.”

“Right,” Ashley said as they began walking up the street, the petite blonde deliberately keeping a sluggish pace to keep in step with the taller blonde. “I do hope we find him quickly; Heather needs to know what her father is up to.”

“Sorry,” Victoria pouted sadly. “If I wasn’t injured…”

“Don’t even think it,” Ashley cut in, reaching around and rubbing Victoria's back reassuringly. “Your leg doesn’t bother me. I just can’t believe we lost another person.”

“We didn’t lose him,” Victoria corrected her. “We know he’s out shopping somewhere. It’s a pity neither of us have his phone number.”

“Heather will have it,” Ashley said, looking up the street to see that they were about half way to the store. “If Kurt isn’t in here, I’ll call and get it from her.”

“Good plan,” Victoria agreed, and then with a pensive frown, “Do you think she’ll believe what you have to say about Robert Ravers?”

“Heather is very close to her father,” Ashley conceded, without knowing exactly how close they had become over the past day and on that very day. “But she’s not blind. If presented with the evidence, I know that she’ll at least talk to Robert about it.”

“And you think he’ll tell her the truth?” Victoria asked, thinking of all the ways this could go wrong. “I mean, why would he jeopardise his plan? Wouldn’t he just lie, and then Heather would trust her father’s word over ours?”

“Heather constantly says that her father has always been honest with her,” Ashley reminded her best friend, and then giggled. “It’s a little annoying at times, remember, when we’d be complaining about our parents and how they they’re such hypocrites and Heather’d be like ‘my daddy is always honest with me’, ugh.”

Victoria laughed along with her friend, suddenly feeling that the situation wasn’t quite so dire. “Yeah, that is irritating. Guess it works out for us though.”

“Right!” Ashley said encouragingly as they came to the store front of the outdoors shop and looked inside through the glass doors. “Now, let’s be positive that Kurt is in here, so we can get back to Heather pronto.”

“Right!” Victoria shouted triumphantly, walking in to the store through the door that Ashley held open for her.

The taller blonde limped into the store a little bit, clearing the door so that others could get in past, and scouring the shop floor with her eyes as Ashley entered behind her, joining in looking around for Kurt. They saw sports equipment, fishing equipment, tents and camping essentials, a shelved section of hiking boots, climbing ropes and spikes and dozens of people swarming around all of it. It was impossible to make out Kurt in this cluster of bodies.

“Shit, this place is busy,” Ashley growled with an irritable exhale. “Alright, I’m going to try and look around a bit. Go ask at the till if anyone has seen him.”

“Okay,” Victoria said, hobbling over to the cashier’s desk as Ashley disappeared into the sea of people, weaving a path through them, and looking at the face of every person she met. There was a line at the counter, but Victoria went to the top of the queue, and addressed the employee currently ringing up a family’s worth of camping equipment. “Excuse me?” she squeaked.

“Miss, you have to go to the back of the line,” he dismissed her.

“No, I’m not purchasing anything,” Victoria clarified quickly. “I’m looking for someone.”

“Have you lost a child?” He asked, glancing up at her.

Victoria balked, wondering what kind of teen mom this guy thought she was. “No, he’s my friend. I think he may have come in here.”

“In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re quite busy,” the employee replied firmly. “I don’t have time to help you find your boyfriend.”

“He’s not my…” Victoria shook her head, frazzled by this guy’s lack of care, realising that what Kurt is was less important than where he is. “Look, he’s tall and blonde and about a year older than me. Did anyone matching that description buy anything from here?”

“Miss, do you see all the people in here?” He asked impatiently. “Do you think I remember every tall, blonde teenager that buys something from us?”

Scowling, Victoria retreated from the cashier’s desk, having gotten no useful information and clearly never going to get anything from that jerk. Five minutes later, Ashley re-emerged from the crowd, squeezing past two larger guys to join her friend.

“Any luck?” The smaller blonde asked hopefully.

“None,” Victoria admitted. “I don’t think he came this way. Or if he did, he already left.”

“Shit, well, let’s go outside and call Heather,” Ashley suggested, already moving towards the door. “It’s too loud in here.”

Victoria nodded, again exiting through the door that Ashley held open for her. Ashley followed, already attempting to fish her phone from her pocket as she passed through the doorway on to the street. She was so distracted trying to pull her phone out that she didn’t see the young man walking towards her. She stepped out in front of him so quickly that he didn’t have time to stop either, the pair them bumping into each other and tumbling onto the pavement.

“Ashley!” Victoria cried, stepping forward but helpless to prevent the collision.

“Oh shit, I’m so sorry,” said the young man, bouncing up onto his feet, and offering a hand to Ashley to help her up. As she lifted her head, he saw her face, and called her name, incredulous. “Ashley?”

Looking up at the face of the young man that had barrelled into her, she saw a familiar pair of dark eyes staring at her and gasped as she recognised him, “Dustin?”

“I can’t believe I just ran into you guys,” Dustin gushed as Ashley took his hand and he helped her back to her feet. “This is so unexpected.”

“Ran into, quite literally,” Ashley joked. “Vicky said you were back in town, volunteering with the Rangers. Thanks again for helping to find her last night.”

“Yeah, shouldn’t you be out with the Rangers right now?” Victoria asked, a little more suspicious than her best friend. “Jennifer mentioned something about a scientist coming to look at some bats.”

“Oh, that was earlier. When we were done, Jennifer gave me an early day after what happened yesterday,” Dustin said with a smile as he scratched the back of his head. “She left me off in town because I wanted to buy you a present, V. To make up for last night.”

“What happened last night?” Ashley asked, arching her eyebrow.

“Remember I told you, he lied about knowing I was going to be at the cabin,” Victoria said, still watching Dustin closely.

“Yeah, I know, I should have just told you the truth.” Dustin admitted, frowning and swallowing hard. “I guess I’ve been spending too much time around my brother. I haven’t made a lot of new friends in our new town, it’s why I was so excited to come back and see everyone again. And I feel like I’ve just ruined that now.”

“You haven’t ruined it,” Victoria replied, relaxing slightly, understanding how difficult it must be for her ex-boyfriend to have to move to a new town where he doesn’t know anyone. “I just don’t like being lied to…but maybe I did overreact. It was only a small, white lie.”

“No, you were right to be mad,” Dustin corrected her. “I just wanted to make it up to you somehow.”

“Well, you can do that now by taking her on a date,” Ashley suggested.

“What?” Victoria burst out.

Dustin shook his head, “I don’t think that’s a good idea. It’s too soon.”

“And I’m still wearing all my clothes from yesterday, and I’m using a crutch to get around,” Victoria listed, still baffled by her best friend’s suggestion. “And I have no way home.”

“Don’t you also still have a sort-of boyfriend?” Dustin remarked. “I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes.”

“How did you guys get together in the first place without people like me? Honestly, Vicky, yoga pants are a good look on you,” Ashley laughed, giving Victoria a light smack on the bottom. “If you get tired of the crutch, I’m sure Dustin won’t mind you using him for support. And you can take Zack’s car. I’ll get Heather to pick me up. I have to call her to get Kurt’s number anyway.”

Victoria pouted, trying to think of a good rebuttal and feeling tense after having been spanked, albeit once and softly, by her best friend in public, especially in front of her ex-boyfriend. Before she could reply, Ashley turned to Dustin.

“I wouldn’t worry about Gavin,” she assured him. “I think he’s out of the picture for the time being.”

Dustin looked at Victoria with open arms. “Well, V, I can’t think of a reason why not…unless you’re uncomfortable with it. What do you say?”

Victoria opened her mouth to respond but it was Ashley’s voice that came out. “She says yes,” Ashley called over her shoulder, already beginning to walk away, calling Heather as she went.

Victoria sighed and resigned herself to the fact that whether she really wanted to or not, she was going on a date with Dustin Lewis. But, after the past couple days she’d had, she supposed that she was due some fun, and with an exhale told herself just to enjoy it. So, she looked to her ex-boyfriend and asked, “Alright then, what do you want to do?”