Run Away

Chapter 11

When I wandered into the kitchen the next morning, Garrett was no where to be seen. As I made myself some toast and coffee I thought about last night and felt extremely thankful to him. He has saved me from gang members, offered me his house and bed for as long as I need it and then comforted me. His parting words ran through my head.
"We'll figure it out in the morning ok?" That had me wondering where he was and a small seed in my brain was worried about his safety. After all he was in more trouble than usual and all because of me. As I moved to the table, I noticed a note on the table and stopped to read it.
Something came up. I won't be around today. Sierra will come pick you up later -G
A sinking feeling of disappointment rose in me and it confused me. Why should I care that I wouldn't see him today? Even though he had helped me and was kind to me didn't mean that I should be attached to him in any way. It kind of hurt that he was just handing me off to Sierra even though I was excited to see her. Again I was confused about the feeling and realized that I wanted to see him. I quickly finished off my toast and coffee and went to the bedroom to change. I found myself picking up my phone and powering it on. The last time I had it on was when I sent the text to everyone back home. My phone buzzed as texts came in.
Mom: I'm glad to know you're ok Tayia but is this that important? Just come home honey!
Anger boiled in my vain at that. Of course it was that important. Tessa was my best friend and I couldn't give up on her, even if everyone else had.
Dad: Come home kiddo please. We need you here more than you need to be out there.
They didn't understand and the anger was growing steadily.
Drea 🙈: Wow pretty amazing that you even bothered to let us know you were ok. Since it seems like you like making lives worse than they already are and all.
That one hurt and I could feel my heart dropping into my stomach and I felt like I could throw up. I forced myself to read Luke's text.
Luke: I really don't know what to think about you anymore. You betrayed all of us. You left us when we needed you to stay. I'm giving up on you too.
They didn't understand. Couldn't they see that I needed someone too? Couldn't they see that I was so badly effected by Tessa's disappearance? Didn't they see that I just needed someone to believe me and not give up on her? Maybe if just one person would have agreed with me I would've stayed but they were all too selfish to realize this. As I sat there with a sickening feeling in my stomach and a whirling in my head I heard the buzzer go off and Sierra's cheerful voice come through it crackling slightly.
"Hey girl it's me Sierra. Hope Garrett told you I was coming to pick you up. Come down when you're ready!" I took a deep breath and tried to compose myself before making my way down the stairs. Sierra sat in a tan car just outside the door and wave excitedly at me when I exited the building. As soon as I got into the passenger seat she startled talking.
"Tayia! How's it going? You know we should really exchange numbers so we can text each other."
"Hi." I smiled at her. I agreed to exchange numbers and we put each other's into it phones before Sierra put the car in drive.
"So what do you want to do today?" She asked as she merged into the oncoming traffic with ease.
"I don't know. Maybe just go back to the house?" I suggested and watched as her face fell a bit.
"Umm. We can't use the house today. The boys are uh... busy." She stammered out and I knew that it had something to do with the gang.
"Ok." She looked relieved that I didn't ask her any questions and the car fell silent for a few seconds.
"Uh did Garrett say anything about umm what he does?" She questioned and I knew she was trying not to give to much away.
"I know that he's in a gang and that Jordan is in it. I know that you help them out but aren't a member." I turned to look at her and again saw relief cross her features.
"Oh good. And you know about Stuart right?" I nodded and we fell silent again before the question that was burning a hole in my mind popped out of my mouth.
"Do you know what Garrett is doing? Or like when he'll be done?" As soon as her eyes snapped to me I felt myself going red. She was silent for a bit before she shook her head.
"I'm sorry hon but if he didn't say anything I can't give any information up." Then her eyes turned mischievous and she winked at me. "Does someone have a little crush on Garrett?"
"No! I just met him! I don't like him at all." I protested but she just smiled knowingly at me.
"Ahh he is cute. And he's a pretty good guy." She cocked her head a little bit and looked at me before turning back to the road.
"No I swear I don't like him at all. I barely know the guy."
"If you say so. I mean I kind of think he has the hots for you too. This could turn into something." She waggled her eyebrows at me and I turned even redder.
"No we don't know each other. I won't be sticking around for super long either." I shook my head but a little part of my mind was remembering how he held me last night. I was looking at her and noticed her face fall for a second when I said the last sentence but she quickly composed herself and changed the subject, chatting about a new coffee shop that had opened. We decided to head there and fell into easy conversation that I felt myself loosing myself too and getting lost in.
*****
It was late when Sierra dropped me home again. We had spent the whole day visiting over coffee and she showed me some of her favourite parks in New York that were beautiful. I found myself laughing at her a lot and having a ton of fun with her. As I stepped into the empty apartment, I found myself disappointed that Garrett wasn't there. I wondered what he was doing and my mind turned to Sierras teasing. I didn't have a crush on him, did I? I got ready for bed and crawled in and after staring at the ceiling and worrying about Garrett and wondering where these feelings came from I drifted off to sleep.