Innocent

Chapter 11

I woke to the sound of water running. I turned to see that James wasn’t lying beside me. I sat up and grabbed my phone to check the time. It read 8:15. I also check to see if I had anymore new messages or calls. There was a few. I didn’t dare to answer any of them.

The water cut off and within a few seconds James opened the door, walking out in only a towel. As soon as he saw me, he blushed.

“Oh, I didn’t know you were awake,” he replied.

“I just woke up.”

He walked over to his bag to search for clothes to wear. As he crouch down he made sure his towel wouldn’t slip off. “How did you sleep?”

“I slept okay I guess. I had a few nightmares last night, but I slept okay.”

He glanced over at me and smiled. “That’s good to know.” He stood up, holding onto a pair of black jeans and a stripe tank top. He disappeared into the bathroom to change.

I decided to do the same. I slipped on my t-shirt just as James came out. We took a seat on the edge of the bed together, trying to decide what we should do now. My mind was completely blank. I wasn’t even sure how we were going to get to Wichita from here. It seemed like a good idea last night, but now I’m wondering if it’s still a good idea.

“Where do you want to get something to eat for breakfast?” James asked me.

“Any place that won’t be near our families,” I answered.

We gathered up our belongings and paid the motel owner. We waited down the street in search for a place to have breakfast. Being a gentleman, James carried my luggage for me. As we walked we kept glancing around us and making sure no one was following us. We kept a look out for the police as well because we knew that our families would have called them.

We found a café not far from the motel and headed inside to eat. We ordered our food and sat there to wait.

“So what’s the best way to get to Wichita?” James asked me.

“The bus is the best way,” I answered him. “So as soon as we finish here, we can head over to the bus station and get on a Greyhound.”

“Does she know we are coming?”

I shook my head. “I haven’t told her yet.”

“Are you sure she won’t tell on us?”

I shook my head. “No, she won’t. I promise. We will be safe once we get there.”

“How long are we going to run away for? I mean, you have a job here and I will be on the wanted list since there’s no doubt that my dad would have told the police lies about what happened.”

“I don’t know. Listen, I will call my aunt to let her know that we’re coming.” I stood up and walked outside the café to call my aunt.

Aunt Zoe picked up the phone on the fifth ring. “Hello?”

“Hi, Aunt Zoe. It’s me, Ellie.”

I felt her smile through the other end. “Ellie, it’s nice to hear from you. How are you?”

I smiled. “I’m good. Um, the reason I was calling you is I’m just letting you know that a friend of mine and I are coming to visit you. I hope it’s okay.”

“Yeah, you can come on over. I love to catch up with you, Ellie. I haven’t seen since the incident with that guy. I heard he is out on parole.”

I bit my lip, hesitating to whether or not if I should tell her that James was coming. But if I tell her, I didn’t want to get into some kind of argument and then have her turn around to say that I couldn’t visit her. If she turns us away then I don’t know where James and I could go.