Chloe's POV
"She packed her things after that." Mom said. "We tried to talk to her but she refused and we let her be."
I closed my eyes in frustration, "Did you at least make sure she was safe?"
My phone's charging upstairs, I've been calling her since the moment I found out and she hasn't been picking up. Knowing her, she most likely turned it off or had it on DND.
"I left money on the table..." Dad said. "But it was untouched when I got home."
"We're so sorry Chloe."
"It'll be okay, she'll come around."
I clutched the spoon tightly, I can't eat in this situation.
I miss her so much.
I regret saying all those things to her, I wish I just listened to her yesterday.
"Maybe we can go somewhere fun," Dad's words pulled me out of my trance, "you know, to distract you from—"
"I'll be going to school now."
Pushing my chair away from table, I stood up and didn't give them a chance to reply as I walked away and go get my phone upstairs.
"Hey, Chloe I heard what happened..." He said in a heartbeat after I got in the car.
"It's okay Gerard." I bit the inside of my cheek, repressing the urge to cry. "Take me to Tori's."
Thankfully he didn't ask any more questions and he started driving.
I opened my phone and went straight to messages.
"Hi" I typed, I waited for a couple of seconds but no reply.
"Tori?" Double texting her but still to no avail. Finally after a couple of minutes, I got a notification.
Tori
Hi
Tori?
G
oodmorning to you too
Are you at school now?
No I just woke up
Feeling sick so I might
skip school today
Oh
Is it okay if we talk?
I'll get you meds and food too
I'm sorry I just don't feel like
being with people at the moment
Are you okay?
I just don't want to talk about stuff
im sick so yeah, really tired
It's about liz...
Did she tell you something?
Please tell her to pick up my calls
---------
Did something happen between them?
---------
No I was going to
ask if she's there
She left the house even
before I got home
What?
I'm worried and
I need to talk to her
Please I just
need to fix things
Wait.
She's not there?
Tori you're scaring me.
Where is she?
YOU'RE scaring me
Fuck.
Come over. Now.
--------------
I locked my phone and gulped.
Where is she? Even Tori doesn't know where she is and I feel like it's all my fault.
The air's thin and I'm slowly drowning, I started breathing faster and it felt like it didn't work.
I hope she's okay. Please I pray, I hope she is.
My hands were getting cold and it's making me nauseous. I was overwhelmed with worry that I can't think of anything but her being somewhere dangerous.
I hope she's okay. It's my fault for lashing out like that. It's all my—
Something freezing cold touched my neck and made me jump, tearing me from my thoughts.
"Hold it." Gerard handed me a cold bottle of water.
I didn't even notice the car parked at the side of the road.
"How does it feel?"
"...what?" I looked at him, confused.
"The water."
"Oh." I blinked, "It's cold."
"What does it say?"
I turned the bottle, examining the contents written on the cheap plastic around it.
"I dunno," I shrugged, "it's just normal water, why?"
"You were close to having an anxiety attack."
Oh.
"Thank you." I muttered, surprised at how he quickly knew what to do.
"It's nothing, overthinking about Elizabeth?"
"Yeah." I shakily twisted the cap off and drank the spikey cold water, ironically hoping for it to calm my nerves.
"We're here." He parked in front of Tori's house, she was already standing on the porch, waiting for me.
He got out of the car and opened the door for me, "should I wait?"
"No." I waved my hand in dismissal, "I'll just call."
He nodded.
I waited for him to drive away before meeting Tori.
"Hey." She said, her gaze away from mine. She was holding her elbow and her eyes were puffy.
"What happened...?" I couldn't help but ask. Did they have a fight too?
"Uhm..." Tori sniffed before offering me to go inside, "Let's get in first."
*
"Are you fucking KIDDING me, Tori?!"
This is so UNBELIEVABLE. I've never put a hand on someone but I was stopping myself from slapping her so badly.
"Please— please I know I-" She hiccuped, "-I messed up I didn't know how to tell her."
She was aggressively crying, wiping her eyes with her wrists in desperation.
"Do you know where she is?" I said, not sparing her a second to beg again.
I was angry but my worry weight more than this pathetic situation.
"Do I look like I know." Another hiccup.
"You're really making it hard for me to stay here right now." I clenched my jaw.
"Just her dad..." She said, her voice lowering to the point where I couldn't understand what she was saying.
"Speak up." I demanded.
"Just- just her dad," she repeated, her eyebrows scrunched together, as if she's confirming something, "and her ex."
Her ex?
I mean I wouldn't be surprised but who's her ex?
Have long have they been together? Does she still love them? Do they know her better than me? Is she going back to that person?
These questions clouded my mind all while feeling the white heat in my heart: jealousy.
"But I only said that because those are the only two people I know she's close with the entire years that I've known her."
"Her ex?"
"Yeah," She nodded, "if she's not at his dad's, she's at his house."
his. Of course it's a guy.
"It's very unlikely so until then, let's go to the police station to make a missing person report."
*
It's closed.
I stormed back in Tori's car in frustration. "Are they serious?!"
"We'll have to wait for an hour," she went inside too and shut the door, "what if I ran to the police station if I was getting chased? This country's fucked."
Her ex huh.
"Hey can you tell me more about this ex?" I played with my fingers, just realizing that I always do that when I'm anxious.
"Ah, you wouldn't want to meet him," she shook her head, "but I could tell you about Lia."
An unknown name made me look at her in confusion, "who's Lia?"
"We'll be here for an hour, " she said, "I'll tell you all about her while we wait."