The Locket

Chapter Thirteen

Before heading back to Brooke's, I decide to just go to the front door. I ring the bell and patiently wait. Nothing. I ring it again. Still nothing. The curtain in the window next to the door doesn't seem to be fully pulled closed so I decide to look through the gap. From what I can tell there doesn't seem to be anyone in there. This is so strange. It's like he vanished.

As I head back to Brooke's house, I mentally run through the last time I saw him. He didn't act any differently than normal and didn't do anything that would make me think he would just leave. It is all very strange and I don't like that I don't know where he is. I wish there was someone else I could contact about him.

When I step into Brooke's house, she is waiting there for me. I give her a puzzling look.

"Why are you just standing there waiting for me?" I ask.

"So Danielle called me and told me that she moved the dinner up to tonight. Her nephew is getting there in about an hour so she decided to have it tonight instead." Brooke started grabbing my arm and pulling me upstairs.

"That still doesn't explain why you were waiting by the front door like weirdo," I say.

She rolled her eyes at me. "I knew you were going to be at the church so I didn't want to be rude and text you or call. So I decided to wait at the front door so I could grab you right away because we have to get ready for tonight. We don't have as much time," she says. She continues pulling me up the stairs and into my room.

I wasn't sure if I was going to tell her about Father Mulligan but I decided to.

"So I was actually at the hospital," I say as Brooke rummages through my closet.

"Why were you there? What happened to going to the church?" She asks.

"Well I went to the church first but Sister Eleanor told me that Father Mulligan was in the Hospital, there was an accident."

Brooke's eyes widened and for a moment I thought they were going to pop out of her head.

"What happened? Is he okay?" She asks.

"Yeah I think he will be okay. I'm not sure what happened really. When I got there, he was sleeping and I didn't want to bother him. I figured I could go back tomorrow or something."

I decided to leave out the details. She doesn't need to know that he was attacked. The less she knows, the better.

"Oh my. That's shocking. Do you want me to go with you tomorrow?" She asks.

"No I'll be alright," I say. I love her for offering but she doesn't need to get involved. Father Mulligan was almost killed because of me; I'm not about to let my best friend get hurt as well.

"Okay, but if you change your mind, let me know. I'm here for you," She says.

"Thanks," I say and smile her.

"Okay, so you should wear this tonight. Oh and your new shoes." Brooke hands me a pair of floral skinny jeans with a dark blue V-neck shirt.

"Why do you care what I look like for tonight?" I ask her.

"I just want both of us to look really nice. Danielle kindly invited us to her home and I want to at least look nice," Brooke replies.

I can tell there's more to this than her just wanting to look nice because it's polite. "I'm not going to wear that unless you tell me what you're really up to." I fold my arms and stand my ground.

"Fine... Danielle's nephew is coming tonight and I figured since you're nursing a broken heart, he'll be the perfect distraction for you,"

"Brooke I love you for thinking of me, but I'm not nursing a broken heart. I'm fine. I barely knew Chase anyway. Chase was the distraction from everything that had happened to me over the past few months. I'm fine, I promise."

"You may say that you're not broken hearted, but don't forget, I know how you are when you're heart's been broken. I've been with you through it before. You can't fool me. You fell for Chase hard and it's okay. He fooled us all but Aiden is going to help you get past it," She says.

"Aiden? How do you know his name?" I asked.

Brooke looks away from me. She looks so guilty. "Oh you know. I may have asked Danielle a few things about him."

"A few things? Like what?"

"Well, his name for one and I know that he's single and his favorite color is blue. Which you guys totally have in common!" Brooke says.

I roll my eyes at Brooke and hit her arm with the shirt I was holding. "How did you find out those things?" I ask. I'm not really sure if I even want to know.

"Well I told her I wanted to bring a dessert and I wasn't sure what color to decorate it or how much to bring, so I threw in 'is his girlfriend going to be joining us', it was all very covert."

"Okay so where is this desert that you promised to bring, because I didn't smell any baking when I came in," I replied.

She put her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes at me. "I called the bakery and they're going to have it ready for when we head over there."

I should've guessed that she would have the bakery make something for her. Brooke heads out of my room to go change. I quickly jump in the shower to wash off the hospital stench that I know doesn't exist but I still feel like it's there. I get dressed into what Brooke told me to wear and as I'm about to finish up I stare at the necklace on my dresser. I haven't worn it since the day of the Hunter and something draws me to it tonight. I decide to just put it on. I've forgotten what it feels like to wear the necklace. It makes me feel whole again and the pain in my abdomen seems to lessen the moment the necklace is on me.

Brooke comes back into my room. She's wearing a floral patterned sundress with a yellow sweater and her white wedge sandals. "Is the theme for tonight flowers?" I ask.

"You are hilarious Charlotte and no I just really like those jeans and this dress."

"Come on let's justgo," I say. I grab my purse and link my arm with hers to lead her out.