𝐀𝐏𝐎𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐘𝐏𝐒𝐄 | 𝐬.𝐡.

𝟎𝟖. 𝐎𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐂𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐌𝐞𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐓𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐆𝐢𝐫𝐥

By the time she got here, she was already exhausted from the ride. Lorelei left the bike on the sidewalk, honestly not giving a shit if it got stolen at that moment, and she headed up the driveway.

In hindsight, this was most likely another one of Lorelei's absolutely, batshit insane and all-around terrible ideas. But if she spent another minute alone in her house, she would have freaked out for good. She did not care that she looked crazy, running up Dustin's driveway with her hair blowing behind her - Lorelei needed someone to explain, and she needed it now.

She rang the doorbell twice before leaning back and waiting for the door to open, and once it did, Lorelei was faced with an upset-looking Mrs. Henderson. The woman had a look of worry on her face, and for a moment, Lorelei considered going home, but then she heard Dustin speaking to someone inside the house and knew there was no way she was backing out now.

"Are you alright Mrs. Henderson?" Lorelei asked tentatively, wishing for the woman to move aside from the doorway.

"Dusty and I are having trouble finding Mews," the woman sobbed softly.

"The um - the cat?" Lorelei questioned, merely getting a slobbery response before Mrs. Henderson stepped aside and allowed her in.

Lorelei nodded her head at the woman's response, her eyes scanning around the room to see that Dustin seemed to be on the phone with someone - searching for the cat, was Lorelei's guess. It seemed unimportant to her; worrying about a cat whilst her father - a human being was missing. But still, Mews had been quite a cute pet, and Lorelei felt for Mrs. Henderson.

"Yes, all right," Dustin spoke into the phone, his eyes darting between Lorelei and his mother "thank you so much! Okay - we'll do that, bye."

An eyebrow on Lorelei's face raised at the manner in which Dustin was speaking into the phone. Everything in his body language suggested that he was hiding something, from the foot that was tapping on the floor, to the sheen of sweat on his forehead. Something was up.

"Good news," he told his mother.

"They found her?" Mrs. Henderson hoped.

"Well, no-" Dustin winced "but they did see her around Loch Nora."

"Loch Nora?" Lorelei questioned under her breath.

"How did our baby get all the way over there?" Mrs. Henderson furrowed her brows.

"I don't know, but you should go over there, see if you can find her," Dustin ushered his mother out of the house.

"But-"

"I'll stay here in case someone else calls, alright?" Dustin smiled nervously, already pushing his mother out the door "we're gonna find her!"

"We'll find her," Mrs. Henderson nodded tearfully before grabbing her handbag and shutting the door behind her.

Lorelei crossed her arms over her chest, her gaze burning into Dustin's face as she showed just how little she believed him. As she stared straight at him, a crashing sound made both Dustin and Lorelei jump up in fright - with the latter turning back to him and wondering what on earth he was hiding.

"What was that?" Lorelei asked carefully.

"Nothing," Dustin quickly replied "maybe you should go, Lora. I'll be busy taking calls about Mews so I don't think I'll be much fun."

"You're not getting rid of me that easily Dustin," Lorelei admitted "I have some questions to ask you."

"And I'll be happy to answer them," he grinned nervously "later."