"Okay, we've traced the kids' cell phones to this bus. Savanovic, Dietzel, check under the seats, see if the bathroom is locked."
"This is an artist's projection of what he might look like now. The beard may be a little full," Mr. Keenan announces, a tinge of desperation in his voice. He held up a sheet of paper with a drawing of Patrick on it. The only thing different about it was the full beard and mustache. Frank stands next to Karen, and they both sigh.
"They aren't here. This is a waste of real time, Davis," Frank groans.
"You can check under the bus if you want. There's not a lot of air that can make it under there, but..." the bus driver announces. He looks toward the small compartment and shrugs. Both Frank and Karen make their way towards the underneath of the bus.
"Listen to me. Our son ran away about eight years ago," a tall, awkward look male declared walking up to Mr. and Mrs. Keenan.
"I'm sorry. Did he come back?" Patrick's dad asked.
"Well, it was a really hard time for us," he says. His face falls and Patrick's mother's hope falters slightly. She desperately tries to find out if his son came back, but the two officers lug him off.
"You need to lean on each other!" the man shouts after them.
"What does he mean?" Mrs. Keenan asks, worried.
"He doesn't mean anything."
"Get him back on the bus," the female officer orders.
"No, I don't want to get on the bus. I'm a licensed therapist!"
Next to all of the commotion, Frank and Karen make a discovery. It was Joe's book bag. "This is Joe's bag. It's empty," Frank announces.
"Give that to me," Karen says, snatching the bag from his hand. When she does, something falls out and hits the ground with a thud. She gives Frank a smirk, declaring she was right, before leaning down to examine the items.
"That's Patrick's phone," his parents speak up. Karen reaches for another phone and holds it up.
"That's Joe's." And then she sees another phone. It is black and small, and the back was decorated with different semi-peeled off stickers. It was Charlie's phone.
"Some dude had a beeper?" the bus driver asked. And, before anyone could say anything, he added, "That's dope."
"Wait, what is this?" Karen asks, picking up a small silver game piece. Frank graciously takes it from her hand, examining it with distaste.
"It's a Monopoly piece. My piece. He's taunting me."
~
"Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!" Biaggio shouts. "We have to do this for real." The four were currently at a pipe they found while exploring. Large sticks were found in their hands as they slammed them repeatedly against the aging pipe. The four had attempted to make a song, but just ended up creating a cacophony of sound. Biaggio finally had the right idea to put some rhythm to it.
They begin again, Biaggio and Patrick on one side and Charlie and Joe on the other. The sticks met the pipe with force, and, soon, a great new melody was being created. Although there was the occasional mess up here and there, it sounded beautiful. The beat was rugged and clearly represented their life here.
After every time a stick struck the pipe, Charlie felt herself enlighten. Her body felt lighter, and she felt happier. She knew now why she came out here to live with these three boys. At first, she had her doubts—especially with the bad omen—but everything was perfect here.
She ran away to find meaning in her life.
What good was running away to find freedom only? That was an added gift all in itself. Charlie came here so she could be free and to feel deeply, to connect to herself in respect to her environment. She wanted to choose a life that suits her. And it was then she realized that this suited her. That thunder before meant nothing. They would get through the storm together, and they would live here as a family for as long as they could.
~
"Cheers," Joe says, clinking his beer bottle with Patrick's. They sat on the edge of a cliff, overlooking the wide expanse of thick brush. It was beautiful, in Joe's opinion. Everything here was beautiful. "We have water, shelter. We can put a balanced meal on the table. I mean, we answer to no one." There was a brief silence before he continued. "We're men."
"Just now?" Patrick jokes. "It just happened?"
"Just happened, man."
"You don't say." There is another comfortable silence between them as they overlooked the land. Behind the boys, Charlie stands in between the trees. She traveled off on her own, looking for more fruits to pick when she stumbled across them. She hadn't wanted to eavesdrop, but her natural curiosity made it hard for her to leave. She tried to her best to disguise herself and she listened in on their conversation.
"All I'm saying is that if anything was missing from all of this...it'd be a woman's touch," Joe states wistfully. Her heart stops for a second as she takes in the information. As crazy as it sounds, she could be that...woman. She had serious feelings for Joe, feelings that were always pushed down. Charlie had a suspicion that he liked her back—he always got nervous around her and seemed highly disappointed and jealous when she went off with Patrick.
"We have Biaggio," Patrick jokes. Charlie found it quite odd that he didn't mention her. In all fairness, she was the only girl there. She made a mental note to ask him about it later...if she decides to tell him she was eavesdropping.
"Doesn't count," Joe chuckles. They both stare out into the distance while Charlie stealthily makes her way back to the house. She just hatched a horribly nerve-racking plan, and she hoped it would work.
It was only about ten minutes later when the teen girl arrived at the house. She quickly ran to her book bag, rummaging through to find something to make her look presentable. Her usual ratty converse and frizzy hair were not cutting it.
She finds the only dress she packed here and grimaces at it. It was obnoxiously yellow, and it made her look like a giant flower when she wore it. Desperately, she tries to search for something else but finds nothing. Sighing, she peeks her head outside to make sure no boys were coming and then begins to get dressed. Her dirty clothes were thrown in a pile next to her bed.
Charlie makes a mental note to wash her clothes later.
Looking in her bag once more, she finds a brush and a small bottle of soap. With them only being a small distance away, she didn't have time to go to the nearest river and wash her hair. She settles on giving it a nice brushing.
The teenager furiously detangles her hair and hopes she looked okay. They didn't get a mirror for the house, so she had no idea how she looked. That's why she usually stuck with buns or ponytails.
By the time she was finished, the door of the house swung open revealing Patrick and Joe. They stand in the doorway for a moment, seemingly confused on her sudden outfit change but quickly shake it off. "Hey, where's Biaggio?" Joe asks, the question directed at Charlie.
She lets out a large sigh and looks around, forgetting about him completely. She felt guilty—it wasn't everyday you forget about such an eccentric friend like Biaggio. "I think he's still out exploring and stuff."
"Oh, cool." Joe stands next to her for a minute, the silence in the room very uncomfortable. "Um, do you want to take a walk with me?"
Charlie's face flushed, and she hoped he didn't notice them. She graciously accepts his request, and they walk out of the house. Her plan was working quite well, although this part wasn't planned.
The duo walks in a comfortable silence for a while until they reach a large clearing. It was the same field they raced in previously. The wheat in the field was very tall, and it nearly came up to Charlie's hip.
They reach a spot in the middle of the field and the girl lays down, her nose towards the sun. She then thinks about her obnoxiously yellow dress and hopes Joe didn't tease her about it. He lies down next to her.
"I think you're on the news," Charlie states. It wasn't a far stretch—four underage kids go missing, and you're bound to have some news station cover it. Joe just sighs.
"Okay, please. My dad is loving every second of this."
"No, Joe, I seriously doubt that. I mean, I know how your dad can be, but I don't think he's that insensitive." There was a silence and the dusky girl swore Joe's hand inched closer to hers. "Why did you ask me out here?" Her face is still turned towards the sky, her closed.
"I, uh, brought you here to invite you—obviously—and one a couple friends here." He knew that they made a promise not to invite anyone here, not to show anyone or have anyone speak of their house, but he was desperately trying to impress her.
"Are you serious?" she questions. Her face is no longer to the sky, but facing him. Her green eyes with brown flecks looked straight into his boring ones. He nods and lets a crooked smile come across his face. "What about the whole pact?"
"Well, I figured you missed your friends..." The brunette male trails off in his thought, trying to think of a better reason as to why he is making exceptions for her. "If you wanted to."
"Yeah, obviously I want to, but how do they...how do they get here? Do I need to blindfold them or something?"
Joe lets out a hearty chuckle. "If you think it's absolutely necessary, then go ahead. But, I need you to promise not to let them tell anyone about this. I need you to bring your most trustworthy friends, all right? We can't have other people knowing about us."
"Yes. I promise."
"This is life or death, Charlie."
"Okay, okay! I know the rules. I live here, too," she laughs, her eyes crinkling at the corners. They fell into another bit of silence before the girl remembers her plan. She needed to somehow bring up the conversation he had earlier with Patrick.
She looks at him and notices that he was looking at her. His lips travel all around her face, lingering a second longer on her lips, before returning to her eyes. Charlie sits up abruptly, causing Joe to follow suit. "What's wrong?" he asks. His eyebrows furrow in concern, and he places a hand on the small of her back. She shivers delightfully under his touch. He was dangerously handsome, and the teen girl felt herself falling into something that might be dangerous as well.
Pushing aside those feelings, she leans forward and gingerly presses her lips to his. There wasn't anything cliché like fireworks or bombs. There was none of that, only raw emotion. Everything she felt and everything she was going to feel came out in that moment. Her stomach flipped, and her heart sped up. His hand traveling up her spine left a trail of chills. His hand came to rest on the nape of her neck, holding her closer.
All too soon, they pulled apart. She felt cold for just a moment before his lips pressed to hers, a little more forceful this time. His hands grip her forearms as he pulls her back, her body falling on top of his. Together, they lay there in complete euphoria. With Joe's lips moving against hers, the sun beating down on her back, she was full happy.
She kisses him slower now, reveling in the feeling. "I've been waiting for this for so long," Joe mutters against her lips. She just smiles through the kiss, thinking the same thing.
______
Word Count: 2022
This is probably one of my favorite chapters because of Joe and Charlie. I had so much fun writing this.
Okay, I figured I would ask some questions at the end of each chapter since I have enough reads. I really hope people respond or that would be really embarrassing lol.
Anyway, I have two questions for this chapter.
Question one: Should I change the name of the story and make it original, or should I keep the title and the book cover?
Question two: What do you guys think about Patrick and Charlie's relationship? Because, let's be honest, there was some real flirting going on between them even though it was obvious Charlie liked Joe more.
Feel free to follow me Insta and Twitter!
Insta: httplilly_
Twitter: httplilly
I also made a playlist for Joe and Charlie, so I'll post that as another chapter.
Charlie's Outfit: http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=168876372
Also, go and follow my best friend droolingjacks. She has a good Jack Johnson (the Magcon guy, not the singer lol) and she is thinking of deleting it. Show her some love!!