Stage Fright

Chapter 57 ~ Can You Dig It?

Josh

No. 

Poor Heather was in a ball of tears, rocking back and forth and mumbling all of her worries one after the other. I couldn't believe things had taken such a turn for the worse. She just had to get to the twenty-third, then she'd be safe in Aspen for a week and a half.

It really bothered me that just the existence of Zeke did this to her, that she could start falling apart just knowing he was out there. But I knew she had reason to be scared, he'd assaulted her, smashed up her car and broken my nose at homecoming just for dancing with her. It made me sad that she'd gone out with him for so long, not knowing that this was how bad he was.

She'd just gotten over all of it, started smiling again and living her life. She wasn't scared anymore and now he was out there.

Her dad probably didn't exactly keep her calm with that phone call, we weren't going anywhere for at least a few hours and his panic just freaked her out.

I didn't know what to do to make it any better, she'd stopped crying but she wouldn't let me go. She was clinging to me, refusing to put any space between us. 

I don't know how long we've been in here, but I locked the door so no one could come in. I knew that everyone would swarm her and overwhelm her if I didn't keep her somewhere private and safe.

Her phone starts ringing and she takes a deep breath, getting it out of her pocket and answers the call.

"Hello?" She says weakly.

"Hi Honey, are you alright?" I hear her father ask over the other end, and she sniffles. 

"Yeah." She breathes. "I-I'm with Josh."

"Good." He sighs. "I'm almost there, are you ready to go?"

"Kind of." She nearly whispers. "D-dad where are we going?"

"To a hotel." I hear him say over the other end. "Just until we figure something out."

"Can Josh come?" She asks, a small tear leaking over her cheek. "Please dad, just for tonight." He sighs a bit and clears his throat. I felt a little awkward knowing that this was making the entire situation more awkward.

"Okay, as long as it's alright with his folks." He warns and I nod, letting her know I'd go with her. "I'm coming up the street, come down and hop in the car."

"Alright." Heather sighs. "See you soon." She hangs up the phone and I give her a good hug.

"Let's go." I whisper and she nods. She sits up and I help her stand, walking through the busy house. I let her go so she can put on her coat and shoes when I feel a tap on my shoulder. Taylor stands behind me and I cringe knowing it'll be some comment about how we're leaving so early.

"Is everything okay?" She asks quietly and I do a double take at her concerned tone. "She's been gone forever but the last time I saw her she was on top of the world."

"She's having a family emergency." I say quietly and she nods, looking worried.

"Oh god, she can't catch a break." She mumbles. "At least she has you, go on, I'll make up a lie." She sighs and I smile. It looked like it killed her to be that nice and it almost surprised me. Little did she know I'd already fed her a lie.

"Bye, Heather." She says and Heather gives her a weak smile. I pull on my shoes and coat, getting her gift that Julia gave her. We walk out to her dad's car and immediately her father gets out and Heather runs over, giving him a hug.

"Hi honey." He says and I can hear an audible sob. "It'll all be okay." He assures her. There seemed to be some driver in the front seat, on the phone with someone else and suddenly this whole situation felt very tense. "Get in the back with Josh, alright?" He asks and she nods.