~Deception~

Chapter 4

I snapped my eyes open. I was covered in cold sweat. I was shaking. My heart was pounding like crazy. I got up cautiously, shivering and rubbing my forehead and eyes. I stumbled into the bathroom. I looked into the mirror slowly, I feared I'll see Miranda's cold crazy blue eyes.
The sun shined bright through the window, washing away the vestiges of the nightmare. I wondered why Miranda came to my dream? Was she trying to tell me something? Is she in trouble?. "But it was just a dream!" I said talking to myself, somehow it made me feel better. But not better enough to stop the insane thoughts from filling up my brain. I brushed my long choppy brown hair thinking of her. "The best thing to do is call her, if she's in trouble or if she wants to tell me something, she'll tell me, yeah" I assured myself.
"You talking to yourself again?" Thalia teased. "Oh hey there, Thalia....." my voice trailed off. "What's up? You don't look like yourself today, something wrong?" She tilted her head to one side questioningly. "Yeah.. I had this really weird dream..." "Oh, what was it about?" "It was... it... it was about Miranda..." "Miranda?? What Miranda??" Thalia replied looking agitated. "Yeah... it was bizarre!! I decided to call and check on her... I haven't spoken to her in a while too" I said looking away and searching for my phone...I found it under a pile of clothes, I called her hoping with all my heart that nothing was wrong, that she was totally fine and that nightmare was just a nightmare. I waited biting my lip, Thalia stood next to me looking rather worried. "Aghhhh what's taking her soo long, pick up the phone Miranda" I muttered. "Maybe she's busy" Thalia said, just then Miranda's message came with a long beep "Hey this is Miranda, but I'm unavailable so, You know what to do, just leave me a message". "Hey Miranda this is Renee, I just wanted to talk to you, are....??You know what, just call me back when you get this message". Frustrated I threw my phone on the bed. "Come on, don't look soo worried I'm sure she's fine, what are we gonna do today?". "Well...I thought about meeting Chloe, Zeke,and spencer at the brew today, I'm sure they would love to meet you...how about it?". "Yeah, that would be fun" she said absently running her fingers through her wavy jet black hair. "I'll go get changed". One hour later we were on our way to the brew, a place where my friends and I loved to meet up since long before Thalia moved. "Old habits never change huh?" Thalia said "Never!" I drove into the parking lot of the small elegant café and parked. We went inside. Just as we walked inside Thalia stopped dead, staring at a guy sitting on a couch beside the restrooms. "What's wrong?" I asked. "Nothing, looks like the the other three aren't here yet, let's order something, I'm starving" "Sure" I said, I turned to the counter and ordered two mugs of steaming hot chocolates and some fritters. "Let's sit over there" pointed Thalia and led me over to a table that was very far away from the man. Thalia began to get restless, she kept shifting positions and craning her neck to look at that weird guy. Okay something is definitely fishy about the way Thalia was acting, I thought, time to time she becomes very distant, whenever I mention Miranda, she shuts the conversation off. Maybe... just maybe...Thalia knows something about Miranda. A couple of minutes later our friends came. "Hey Thalia!!" Spencer said, at this Thalia snapped back into reality. "Heyy! How are you guys?!, it's been a long time!!" she hugged them. "How's Celeste?" She asked Zeke referring to his younger sister. "She's good actually, but my mom is still mad at her for driving the car without permission..." We cracked jokes and goofed around for a bit. Then, Spencer said that she had to get going because she promised her mom she'll babysit her younger brother "I don't know why though, he's 12! And perfectly capable of taking care of himself" she complained. After she was gone Chloe left. Then, Zeke left, Until the two of us were left alone. I grabbed this opportunity to ask about Miranda "You know something about Miranda don't you?" I blurted out. Thalia looked at me utterly surprised and shaken, she tried to talk, she looked as if she was trying to swallow a mouse. Five seconds later she regained her composure and replied shakily "Wha..what makes y..you say that Renee??". "Oh I don't know, but you look like you know something and if you do please tell me, I won't be mad". "I don't know anything Renee" "Thalia please I know something is wrong with Miranda what is it??, I won't be mad that you didn't tell me before, but please tell me now". Thalia stared at me for a moment then, she said coldly "You have nothing to be mad about because I don't know anything, if something was wrong with Miranda and I knew about it, do you really think I wouldn't tell you? Do you really think that I would stoop that low, you are my best friend Renee, how could you think something like that?". "I'm soo sorry I.. I didn't think, I'm really sorry"."It's fine let's just leave this place and do something fun" ."Yea.. this day has been a hectic one for me". "You go get to the car, I need to use the rest room". I nodded and went. As I walked out of the door I thought about what Thalia has said to me "How could I have been soo stupid?" I said to myself "Thalia would never do something like that to me, I could trust her with my life" I smiled to myself and went to get to my car, I searched my pockets for the keys, it wasn't there, then I remembered that I left it on the table at the brew. I walked back to the café, but when I went inside, I saw Thalia talking urgently to the guy we had seen before. Curiously I picked up my keys and went over to Thalia "What are you doing??" she jumped and turned around, she laughed uneasily "Don't creep up on me like that!" "Sorry, who is he??". "Nobody, I just bumped into him so, I apologised.. let's go to the car..."