C string to short[] method

STRING TO SHORT[] Method

public short[] stringToShort(String inString, out short[] outShort)
    {
    
     if (inString.Length % 2 == 1) {
     inString += " "; }
        char[] bufChar = inString.ToCharArray();
        byte[] oufByte = Encoding.Default.GetBytes(bufChar);   // new byte[bufChar.Length];
        byte[] bufByte = new byte[2];
        outShort = new short[bufChar.Length / 2];
        for (int i = 0, j = 0; i < bufChar.Length; i += 2, j++)
        {
    
            bufByte[0] = oufByte[i];
            bufByte[1] = oufByte[i + 1];
            outShort[j] = BitConverter.ToInt16(bufByte, 0);
        }
        return outShort;
    }

    private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
    
        short[] arr2 = new short[16];
        String inString = "12ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZPP34";
        stringToShort(inString, out arr2);
    }