When you were finished with the rest of your outfit, you put on your oversized red jacket. Alex had woken you up an hour earlier, and you had no recollection of snuggling close to him since he had carefully peeled himself away from you so as not to startle you. He was careful not to bring it up because he knew how much you would apologize and how flustered you would be.
You did, however, recall what happened when you and Alex were watching Full House earlier. You grinned at the memory as you stared at nothing. When you're with him, you'll forget about your worries and dreams. You seemed to be in a good mood.
Just as you wanted to flop in your bed to let your squeals out, you heard Molly shouting from outside. You quickly left your room and saw her walking down the stairs while Nico was walking up the stairs to meet Molly. "I've been looking for him the past 15 minutes!" Molly yelled in panic. "Topher's gone! His room's empty." Molly glared at Nico as they both met in the middle of the stairs. "And he left because of you."
You dashed down the stairwell and took stood next to Nico to confront Molly. "Molly, calm down, you're exaggerating."
Molly shook her head. "No! Nico made him feel like he didn't belong here." She darted her eyes to you. "And you went along with her!"
You huffed while Nico argued back. "He left because he thought you'd lead him to enough rocks to refill his vial." She stated. "And you didn't."
"That's bullshit!" Molly exclaimed.
Your eyes went wide along with Chase and Gert who was upstairs, listening to the argument. "Did Molly just curse?" Chase questioned Gert as he looked down at her. Gert nodded as she crossed her arms. "Yep." She replied. "PG-13, but definitely a curse word."
"He cares about me!" Molly argued with Nico.
"He cares about getting high," Nico remarked.
Alex walked into the main hall to stop the argument. "Okay, enough!" He exclaimed. "Let's not jump to any conclusions, all right? Maybe Topher's just out there raiding Cheesecake Factory dumpsters for breakfast."
You shook your head at Alex while Chase looked back at Gert with a sigh. "I'd even settle for Islands." When he noticed Gert's unamused expression, Chase dropped his smile. "For Molly's sake." He quickly added.
Gert sighed. "Guys, he could just be out getting things for people that they need, like toothpaste."
"Hey, guys." Karolina came out from the dining area and entered the main hall, standing next to Alex. "I don't think he's coming back here."
You and the others followed Karolina into the dining room, where you searched for the missing piece of Alex's conspiracy wall. Alex let out a frustrated groan. "Shit, he took the map to the dig site."
"And the card about the rocks my parents found," Molly added when she noticed there was a missing card near her parents' drawing portraits. "He asked me a lot of questions last night."
Gert turned her head to Molly. "Questions about the dig site?"
Molly looked back at Gert. "What? We were trying to figure out our connection."
Gert raised her hands in surrender. "Oh, no, I'm—I'm not mad, I'm just—"
"He's gone to find more rocks," Nico stated, interrupting Gert's sentence.
"We gotta do something," Chase replied.
Karolina glanced down at Nico in worry before looking back at the wall. "Do you think he would try to get in the hole? Because that's not safe." You and the others looked at Karolina, causing her to think of what to say next. "For him. I mean, because he might get hurt."
"Or he gets high and he hurts someone else." You added.
"If he gets caught, who knows what they'll do to him?" Molly asked. "Which is the same thing that I did to Graciela."
Chase shook his head in reply. "No, she was a sweet, innocent lady, not some shady rock molester."
Alex sighed. "Look, what happens to Topher is on him at this point, okay? But no way can he screw up our plan."
Chase nodded, agreeing with Alex. "We gotta get down there. Fast." When he detected Gert's unsteady breathing, he returned his focus to her. "You okay?" He asked worriedly.
Gert nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay, I think..."
Nico looked at Karolina to see her worried expression. "Are you?" She asked her girlfriend. "You seem a little spun out."
Karolina smiled down at Nico. "I'm fine." She reassured. "Let's go."
You and your friends walked out of the dining room and into the garage. You motioned for Gert to take the wheel of the car. "Gert, you drive. You can stay in the car later." You said as you entered the passenger's seat along with the others while Karolina sat at the passenger's seat. Gert nodded shakily but was glad to learn that she would be staying in the car if Topher and the rest of the crew got into a heated argument.
Once all of you are settled, Nico sparked the two wires with her Staff of One and Gert began driving to the dig site. You peered outside to see if Topher was still around the city, but all you could see was another sight of your deceased brother Pietro. You winced and shook your head as you immediately looked down. "You okay?" Alex asked, who was beside you. You nodded. "Yeah, just got some dust in my eye..." You lied.
Soon, all of you arrived at the dig site, but it was a bit too late. Through the window, you and your friends noticed a few workers assisting an injured worker. There were also police officers with their cars present. "Holy shit." You and Chase gasped.
"We're too late." Nico breathed.
"Oh, my God." Gert gasped. "What is wrong with him?"
Alex shook his head as he watched a few workers bringing the injured man out from a fallen truck filled with sand. "Oh, Topher, what did you do?"
"Is he gonna be okay?" Molly asked worriedly.
Topher was only a few feet away when Karolina looked out in front of the vehicle. "Look!" Karolina exclaimed, drawing your and everyone else's attention. You all observed him take the rocks he discovered at the dig site, which made Nico scoff. "Guess he found what he was looking for."
Topher crossed the other side of the road and was nearly hit by a car. When the car came to a stop to keep Topher from being hit, the tires screeched. In anger and hurry, Topher yanked the door open and dragged the hapless driver out in a fit of rage and haste. "Oh, my God, he's carjacking that guy!" Gert yelled.
Topher drove off, leaving you and your friends speechless and the driver groaning in frustration. "We gotta stop him," Nico exclaimed.
"Or maybe we let him go," Alex suggested. "Worry about what's happening at the dig site."
You looked at Alex and shook your head as you surveyed the dig site. "Alex, honey, the dig site appears to be a little occupied at the moment." You sternly replied.
"How far into the hole do you think he got?" Gert gave a shaky chuckle in response to Karolina's worried question. "I'm not sure that's the most pressing issue here." Gert hissed.
"Well, if he gets caught, he kinda knows everything, including where we live," Chase stated.
"Follow him!" Molly yelled.
Gert panicked. "I-I only agreed to drive 'cause you said I could stay in the car!"
"There's no time to switch seats," Chase replied to Gert. "Gert, you can do this."
"Gert, let's go!"
"Come on!"
Gert closed her eyes for a brief moment before driving to keep up with Topher. When Gert turned the car to a corner, you all saw how fast Topher was driving, so Gert stepped on the gas pedal to accelerate. You held tight to Gert's seat and Alex's hand. "He's driving like a maniac!" Gert exclaimed.
"Stay on him!" Karolina instructed as she tied her hair.
"He's not using a turn signal!"
"When you're in a car chase, you won't be thinking about signals!" You replied, feeling Alex's hand was also gripping yours.
"He's gonna kill somebody!" Chase yelled when he noticed how fast Topher was driving.
Gert glanced at you and Nico. "Nico, (Y/n), you two are not wearing any seat belts!"
Chase lowered his gaze to Alex, who was secured by two seat belts. "Yeah, because Alex is wearing two of 'em!"
When you realized that there were two seat belts wrapped around Alex, you couldn't help but laugh uncontrollably at the wrong time. Alex panicked and snapped his head towards Chase. "Because I've ridden with Gert before, that's why!" He excused, which made you laugh even harder.
"Bad time to laugh right now, (Y/n)!" Molly exclaimed, trying to scold you but also ended up trying to not laugh out loud.
"Sorry!" You quickly apologized as your laughter gradually subsided.
"Can I just say right now, that being the driver was supposed to be the easy job!" Gert shouted. "Does this look easy, what I'm doing right now? No! This is illegal and unsafe, and you're really undermining my self-esteem."
Topher turned hard left and almost hit a car. "That was totally an illegal left," Gert stated.
"This is LA!" Nico exclaimed. "Two cars turn left after the light turns red!"
Gert swerved to avoid a car, causing all of you to move to the side. Molly grew frustrated. "Just go faster!" Gert followed where Topher headed and found yourselves in the suburbs. Because you and your friends had lost Topher, Gert began driving slowly and turned the car around a corner. "I think we lost him," Alex said.
Karolina shook her head. "No, there's his car." She pointed at a car parked in front of a house. Gert parked the car, and you all spotted the house with a broken door nearby. "Yeah, this looks like the place," Nico replied.
Gert breathed heavily. "I-I'm thinking I'm gonna just stay here and keep the engine running."
Chase nodded. "Good idea." He replied before getting out of the car with you and the others.