The feeling of emptiness felt like a storm over Lola's head, always hovering but never consuming her completely. It didn't fully register yet that Julian had run away from her house in the middle of the night.
She was in a daze as she sat down and had breakfast with her parents, ignoring her phone that was beeping non stop since she updated her friends that he had gone missing.
Engaging in idle chatter with her happy go lucky parents seemed to be a chore that morning. Even though the sun outside was bright, Lola's world was grey, the waffles on her plate tasteless and no amount of jokes her father made was enough to distract her from that dark cloud over her head.
If her parents noticed, they didn't pry further which was something she loved about them. They were always ever ready to talk but only when she was.
"Umm Lola, is that your ride for school?"
Lola's eyes shot up at her dad's words and all three of them turned to the front door to see a dark jeep hovering outside their driveway. It was Damien's.
"New friend?" Lola's mom arched an eyebrow, her gaze inquisitive but Lola was in no mood to explain her relationship with Damien.
Her chest flooded with relief when Nalini stepped out of the passenger seat and all but ran to her front door. Hanna walked out as well, her gait much less frantic than Nalini's but Lola could see the panic on both of their faces.
The moment Damien stepped out, Lola noticed her parents straighten up in their seats, sizing up the first boy they had ever seen with the girls.
"Good looking," Lola's mother muttered proudly as he walked to the front door and knocked. "And well mannered. Is he Nalini's boyfriend?"
Lola swallowed hard before replying, the piece of waffle she had eaten had lodged in her throat. "Umm, no he's just a friend."
Her dad opened the door and the three of them stood at the door. Due to her Asian descent, Lola's mother was very strict about no shoes in the house. Her best friends were well aware of that, so when Damien greeted her parents and proceeded to step inside, both the girls pulled him back by his shirt.
"We're here to pick up Lola." Hanna smiled, her most innocent smile and both her parents turned to putty. Her parents were inquisitive people but all questions about Damien, and his sudden friendship and his jeep flew out the window. Hanna was skilled like that.
Her parents even scolded her for making her friends wait.
"Okay, okay. I'm leaving," Lola said as she stuffed her face with another bite of food, grabbed her bag and rushed out of the house.
Nalini's fingers dug into her arm as they walked to Damien's car. "Lola, are you okay? What happened? Why did he leave?"
"We were making so much progress," Damien sighed wistfully as they sat inside.
Lola begged to differ because aside from the pictures of Tyler with Fiona and Eva, they really didn't have much to fall back on. But there was a small part of her, deep inside that couldn't help but feel angry and betrayed.
Julian didn't believe they could help him and that was why he left.
Lola knew this might not be the main reason. That the person in the car spying on them probably scared him off more than anything but still she felt the disappointment.
They were trying so hard to help him and he just left like that. After everything he told her last night. After he admitted he had feelings for her. Thinking about it made Lola's lip tremble and she felt like crying.
"Lola, what happened?" Her friends bombarded her with the same question over and over again until she finally answered.
"I don't know. We fell asleep and when I woke up he was gone," Her voice cracked a notch after admitting it out loud and Hanna stroked her arm soothingly. Lola leaned closer to her friend, needing her comfort now more than ever.
"What an asshole," Damien muttered, his voice filled with frustration. "How could he just leave us high and dry like that."
"He was probably worried about our safety. There was someone else watching Lola's house. Which could mean someone else knows what we're trying to do," Nalini was the voice of reason and Lola turned to her in surprise.
She was the last person Lola expected to defend Julian.
Damien scoffed at her answer but he didn't say more. They drove in silence and Lola could make out the school's main building from afar but then Damien pulled over and stopped the car.
"He couldn't have gone very far. I'm gonna drive around and look for him. If you girls don't want to skip school, I'll drop you off first."
Lola's heart softened. Damien was a really nice guy and an even greater friend. And to be honest she wasn't even in the head space to go to school and listen to her teachers blabber away while she wondered where Julian was.
Was he safe?
Did something happen to him?
Where the hell does a fugitive go to hide?
"I'm in," Lola said quickly. "I can't concentrate on anything else till I find that idiot."
"Me too," Hanna muttered sheepishly. "Plus I didn't finish my assignment so I was gonna skip Lit anyway."
Only Nalini remained silent as everyone turned to her.
"I have a free period but I can't skip Chem guys. And if my parents find out I ever skipped school I'd be dead quicker than you could say Hallelujah."
Lola almost laughed, everything was currently a mess but Nalini's passion for school was something even the Gods couldn't deter. They dropped her off at school and the trio proceeded to drive around their small town, looking anywhere and no where in particular.
They passed the local diner by the road that lead to the highway, West Point and the woods by the park but they didn't find Julian anywhere.
Every place scouted was another tick off Lola's list of places and she was slowly beginning to worry about his safety. What if something had happened to him?
They stopped by the gas station and bought three ice cream sticks each, the stress getting to all of them.
Damien leaned by the side of his jeep while he filled up gas and the girls stood by the side. Lola was already on her second ice cream.
"Do you think he would have gone to the abandoned factories by the lake?"
Lola stood up straight as she contemplated Damien's words. There had been a huge controversy about two years ago regarding the factories and its contribution to the local lake's pollution. She couldn't remember the details but the companies there were eventually ordered to go green or something like that but they ended up moving elsewhere, abandoning their already downtrodden factory spaces.
For some reason that area was never redeveloped and had become a hub for the local riff raff, drug dealers and homeless people.
It seemed plausible that Julian would end up there just to buy time.
"Is it safe?" Hanna asked. She threw her ice cream wrappers into the dustbin and walked back to the car. "I heard some people there have guns."
"What are they going to do with three teenagers?" Damien shrugged nonchalantly but he looked a little worried as well.
The two of them turned to Lola for the final vote but she had already made up her mind at the thought of finding Julian safe no matter where it was.
"Let's just take a look. If it's dangerous we'll leave?"
Hanna nodded and she looked away, trying to hide her fear. It only made Lola's heart sink further while the anger for Julian grew.
Here his friend and her friends were going all out to help him and he just took off like that. She prayed they would find him there huddled in a blanket or something. Maybe then she could slap him for making everyone panic and go on a wild goose chase like this.
They drove down the lone, two way lane that lead to the deserted side of the city and when the old, decrepit buildings came into view, Lola felt a knot of fear twist in her gut. There were a few people hovering by the entrance to one of the buildings in front.
Some of them looked harmless but there were a few yellowed eyed older men staring at them as they neared. They looked rough and the hunger in their eyes made Lola highly uncomfortable. She saw one of them shift a little and caught a glimpse of a knife in his hand.
"I don't think this is a good idea," Hanna said warily and even Damien slowed to a stop. The crowd had gathered at the entrance, all of their eyes fixed on the jeep.
"I think you're right," Damien said and he backed up nervously.
The men standing by the entrance started shouting profanities and Lola's heart almost stopped beating when one of them stepped forward, looking like he was about to give chase. Damien picked up the speed and soon they were zooming away from the large abandoned factory nearest to them.
Lola stared at its faded grey walls, all stained and cracked and then her eyes fell on the broken sign board hanging lopsidedly at the top.
-ximus Simmons Ent--
The words at the front and the back were broken off but Lola already knew it belonged to Eva's father, the great entrepreneur Mr. Maximus Simmons.
"This place, it belonged to Eva's father," She said after they had driven back down the two way road, towards a safer civilisation.
"Yeah, we talked about it a while back. Julian mentioned the court cases against the Simmons family a few times," Damien replied.
"He was familiar with it?" This news was years ago and not many students paid much attention to it, so it piqued Lola's interest that Julian had spoken about this. "Was he always interested in local news and politics?"
Damien ran a hand through his light brown hair and he glanced at Lola through the rearview mirror. "No, not really. But now that you mention it, he always seemed pretty interested in news involving Maximus Simmons."
"That's weird," Hanna muttered and she was right, it was definitely weird.
"When did this start? Was it after he came back after going missing for all those years?" Lola leaned forward in her seat, the wheels in her head slowly turning.
She remembered the crying boy by the driveway, forced to leave with his father. They had left Mr. Mahoney - his father - behind at the time. Julian and his mother had disappeared and Mr Mahoney had remarried all in the span of a few years.
And Julian came back guarded, aloof and angry, like a different person. She never saw him with Mr Mahoney, doing things that fathers and sons usually did. Not after his parents divorce.
She remembered her conversation with Julian, the first time he stayed over. He had mentioned that his life was in danger in juvy. That his father's enemies were gunning for him.
Mr Mahoney didn't seem like the type to garner that type of attention but one look at the abandoned factories and the people there made her think maybe Maximus Simmons had a line of gangsters either working or gunning for him.
What if? What if....
Lola shook her head. She was definitely spiralling.
Before she could ask Damien another question her phone rang.
"Lola! You guys need to come back. Edward's here and he managed to recover some footage. There's proof of Julian sitting on the bench that night! I saw it! I saw it with my own eyes!" Nalini's frantic voice was loud and piercing but her message was music to Lola's ears.
He did it. He actually did it! Lola wanted to scream out in happiness.
She put down the phone and smiled at her two friends. "Guys we need to head back. Edward came through."
Heyy sorry for the long absence. Was just too busy with work and Im gonna try and sort out my time management so I can update more lol. Hope you guys enjoyed :) :)