The Phone Swap

chapter ten

I woke up in a dark space. I tried putting my arms out to feel just how confined I was, but I felt something hard and cold within one arm's length away.

"Dalia?" A voice asked.

"Who are you?" I screamed.

I slid my hands down the walls of the cage I was in and felt...plush cushioning?

I was in a car. It was night.

"Dude, you passed out when I tried to pull you away from the guy with the gun," The voice added on.

"It's Alec." He continued.

I was really glad it was dark because my facial reaction had went from terrified to what the actual f*** in about a tenth of a second.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I yelled at him.

"It seems like a lot of shit has happened since I left for Australia, stuff I didn't know would be brought back from the past..." His voice faded away and I was instantly curious. Could the gunmen have been his fault, and not mine?

Was the hacker after me still, or was it both of us?

"What are you talking about?" I asked as I repositioned myself on the plush seating. Were we in a Porsche, or a Lamborghini?

"It's nothing," He sighed.

"Um, no, I was almost shot today after your brother pushed some paparazzi out of the window of my apartment and there were fake cops playing me!"

"Wait, what did Nolan do?"

"A paparazzi was trying to break into my apartment and get pictures of us together and Nolan pushed him out and he said he was sick of them screwing with his life. Then he just left, I don't know where he is."

"Oh my god, is the man dead or what?"

"Nah, apparently he was paid to fall out the window."

"This is worse than I thought. I can't believe it."

"What are you not telling me, Alec? Both of our lives are at stake here. Fess up!"

"About...two years ago, I think... I got really drunk at some A-list party...and I guess I slept with some girl and stuff....but when she asked for my number I yelled at her and said lots of things a hungover dude would say....and I'm pretty sure she called me out for revenge," In the bare moonlight, I could see him cringing badly.

"But I didn't take it seriously because I was an up and coming actor and she was a random girl and this stuff happened all the time and-"

"What exactly did she say to you about revenge?"

"She would ruin my life when the time was right."

"This is a double whammy." I said suddenly, not even fully understanding my thoughts. But then it clicked. Whoever slept with Alec, was also on my cloud list, so whoever it was, I knew them from school.

"Huh?" Alec asked.

"Whoever it is, they went to my school. They're using us as a way to ruin each others' lives. Could you pick her out of a picture in my high school yearbook?"

"Honestly, probably not. I was mad hungover when I finally saw her, and I've met thousands of fans since that day. I wouldn't remember her face at all."

I rubbed my eyes.

"Whoever it is, she has money, and lots of it."

"True,"

"But before we start this investigation, we should really make sure that Nolan isn't like kidnapped or something." I pointed out.

Alec took at his, er, my phone, and I stared at it longingly. Honestly, I didn't even want it back.

He chuckled quietly.

"Wow, I forgot this is yours. How long has it been? Here," He said reaching his arm out to me. I didn't lunge for the phone, I just stared at it. One stupid piece of technology has thrown my world for a loop in the past three weeks.

It wasn't worth it.

"Dalia?" Alec asked.

I grabbed the phone and took out his. When he grabbed it, our hands slid across each others and I felt the sparks fly.

What?

He must've noticed it too because he didn't move.

We sat frozen like that for a good two minutes before I coughed and ended our perfectly romantic moment.

"So, um, Nolan." I sighed.

"He's going to be impossible to find...wait," It seemed as if an actual lightbulb went off in the dark. Oh wait, that was just his Twitter feed updating.

Two thousand more followers. The usual.

"What?" I asked quickly.

"That tracking app for iPhones... what's it called?"

"Find my friends?"

"Yeah, yeah!" He unlocked his phone and opened the app, but then his facial expression merged into something new.

Why couldn't we just have a simple answer like, Nolan's at home?

"What the....?" He began.

"What, is this getting even more complicated now?"

"Nolan's in New York. Like New York City to be exact."

"What?"

"Looks like we're going on a road trip..."

*****

Yeah, I realize this isn't a very good chapter...

This is also a work in progress, when I finish the book I'm editing the entire thing.

Anyway, the next chapter will be a lot better structurally so it'll probably be up in a week or two.

I haven't had a lot of time to write
this past week.

Thanks for reading!

Tell me what you think!