Innocent

Chapter 16

Bull crap, I wanted to say, but I kept my mouth shut. Instead I ask my aunt to switch off the television. I couldn’t stand to listen to another lie about James.

Aunt Zoe stood up from the couch along with the two men that was with her. “Ellie, I would like you to meet my boyfriend Ethan and his friend Ash.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” I greeted them both, shaking their hand. Ethan was tall with blond hair and blue eyes with a slight tan while Ash had dark brown hair that was almost black. He was a bit chubby as well and a little short.

“It’s nice to meet you too, Ellie,” Ethan replied as he and Ash shook hands with me.

“I didn’t know you were dating anyone, Aunt Zoe,” I told her.

“We have been dating him for about a year now,” she answered.

I smiled at my aunt, glad that she was with someone she was happy with. Throughout the years she had on and off relationships. I’m hoping that someday she will be able to settle down with someone.

“Well, it was nice meeting you, Ellie,” Ash said. He turned to Aunt Zoe. “Thanks for the coffee, Zoe.” He turned to Ethan. “We better get going, Ethan, if we want to catch that storm.”

“What storm?” I asked.

“Oh, there’s a storm building up near Plainview and it’s possible a tornado might form.”

I have seen on television of the crazy people who chase tornadoes for a living. It’s not something I would do, but I guess it would be fun to track them down. I have been in them a couple of times when Daniel and I visit Aunt Zoe. She had her house destroyed a couple of times from the storm, but lately she has been really lucky whenever there is one in her town. Her house is usually the one the tornado leaves alone and destroys the house next door.

“Cool, that sounds like fun,” I told them. “Have fun.”

“Oh we will,” Ethan replied with a great big grin on his face. “It’s going to be fantastic out there.”

“Ellie, why don’t you and James go with them?” my aunt asked me.

I was surprise to hear my aunt even ask me that. Truthfully I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go. I didn’t have the thrill to go and chase tornadoes. I have always been scared of them growing up after being in several of them. It could be fun, but chasing them wasn’t for me. And I knew if my parents were here, they would disapprove, especially because I would be surrounded by men and they would make Daniel tag along with me.

But my parents weren’t here and they couldn’t control me forever. Maybe doing this with James will be good for the both of us. At least we could set everything a side and forget what our problems were for awhile and enjoy life rather than running for it. Yeah, we are on the wanted list right now and probably every police in the country were after us. But maybe this is something we both needed to do.

James agreed to go. He had never seen a tornado before and thought it was cool to be able to chase them. I hugged Aunt Zoe goodbye and headed out to Ethan’s car with James in the backseat beside me. Ash turned on his laptop and switched on a program that showed the weather radar. I didn’t understand anything that was on there. He and Ethan talked a bit, discussing how they were going to get there and what road to take. When they decided what they were going to do, Ethan started up the car and we were on the way.

Ethan and Ash talked to us a bit, getting to know us. Aunt Zoe must have told them about James and I was glad they were treating him like a normal human being and not as a criminal.

It was a long drive to Texas. I have never been to Texas before and I was excited about visiting the state. Ethan and Ash talked about the weather to each other while James and I listened to my iPod. We didn’t say a word to each other and just let the music fill our ears.