new - daniel seavey

Chapter 4

As I get into the kitchen I notice the dishwasher ajar. The dishes that were on the edge of the sink were gone too. I open the dishwasher up all the way and realise that Daniel had filled it and put it on as everything in it was clean. I go and chuck my bag on my bed, noticing that my bed was tidied up and so was my desk. I go back out into the lounge room where Daniel is now sitting with Kay. "Uh, Daniel, you know you didn't have to clean my whole apartment right?" I was still a little awkward talking to him, especially we have been avoiding each other and not speaking for the past month. "Yea I know but Corbyn and I made a mess last night, so while we cleaned that up, I made him help me do everything else cause I felt like it needed to be done" Kay was sitting behind Daniel so he couldn't see her expression, but I could see the aw in her face. "Well thank you anyway" I say, still standing there as I feel the awkwardness build up. I turn around slowly, dashing back into my bedroom. I get my phone and go sit back down next to Kay. 

Silence filled the air for a bit before Daniel spoke up, "Uh Y/n? Why did you leave yesterday? Jack mentioned that you found Ashley's keys and that you went for a drive to look for her, but why didn't you come back?" I missed hearing that caring tone in his voice. I could feel Kay looking at me, also wanting a response. I sighed, looking down at the ground before glancing at Kay and attempting to answer Daniel's question. "Well um, I-" Kay moves her head down so that her eyes could meet mine that were staring at the floor. "I thought I would be ok to drive around and looks for Ash. But the whole time I was just thinking about how much I miss her and the fact that I might never see her again" I could feel my voice beginning to shake. "I eventually had to pull over and decided to walk to Gabbie's house across the road. But within 5 minutes of me walking Jack called and told me to go back to my car, so I did" 

I explained the rest of the story for Daniel and filled in the blanks and details for Kay as I had told her most of it last night. I let a tear or two slip as I was thinking about Ash. It was now about 2:30 p.m. and Kay was getting ready to leave. She was going to drop Daniel home cause it was on the way back to her apartment. I thanked Daniel again for cleaning the majority of my apartment and said goodbye to them both. Once they left, questions regarding Ashley clouded my mind. Where is she? How long will she be gone? Did someone take her?  Why would someone take her? If she was taken, does that mean that someone broke into the apartment? 

I knew I was going to go crazy if I didn't distract myself so I called Zach. He answered immediately.  "Hey, what's up?" He paused to let me respond but I froze" Are you ok? Do you need me to come get you?" He quickly replied to the silence. "I- Uh-" Why couldn't I get any words out? "Y/n?" Zach asks in a suddenly worried tone. "Uh- yea. I'm ok. Could you come over?" I eventually get out. I hear his car unlock in the distance. "On my way" He says as the call ends. Then I am again alone with my buzzing thoughts.

Suddenly there is a knock on the door. "Zach can't be here already, it's been less than two minutes " I think to myself. I hesitantly walk over to the door and open it. Daniel. Not who I was expecting. "Hey I- um- forgot my phone" He stutters. "It should just be on the couch" He continues. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. I go, to the couch and get back to the door with his phone. "I should've checked before you left. You always manage to lose your phone" I say trying to lighten the intense mood. "Yea I'll try not to forget it next time" He laughs before saying goodbye and leaving for the second time today. 

Just as I am about to shut the door, I fling it open again. Daniel turns around after hearing the door bang on the wall from me opening it so fast "Daniel?" I call. I was going to ask if he could stay with me until Zach got here, but I changed my mind, suddenly feeling like it was a bad idea. "Yea" He replies as he walks back towards my door "No doesn't matter " I start to close the door again. "Lier. What's wrong?" Daniel asks, putting his hand in between the door, stopping it from closing. "Um- Zach is on his way, but could you wait with me until he gets here?" I ask. "Yea sure. I just need to call Kay" I step back inside with Daniel following. 

He got off the phone to Kay and joined me on the couch. "So what's up?" Daniel turns his body to face me. "Nothing" I shrug. "Don't say that. I can tell when something is wrong" I sigh, knowing that he is right "I've just been thinking about the fact that if Ash is missing and doesn't have her car or anything, she must have been here at the apartment. And if she left with someone she would've text me. Which makes me think that someone might have broken in." I start crying again and Daniel hesitates before coming closer to hug me. We stayed like that for a few minutes, me quietly sobbing into his chest. We were interrupted by the door swinging open. 

Zach appeared in the doorway. He was out of breath and stopped, leaning down on his knees. Daniel and I sat there watching him for a few minutes, not saying anything. When Zach stood back up he noticed Daniel sitting next to me and we both burst into laughter. "What's so funny?" He asks sounding annoyed. "Apart from the fact that you just burst through my front door, nothing really" I reply, still laughing a little. Zach comes and sits down next to Daniel. "Could we maybe go down to the pier?" I ask looking in Zach's direction. "Of course". "I might go home then" Daniel speaks up. I nod. "Uh, would you be able to drop me home on your way to the pier maybe?" He continues. "Um..." I look in Zach's direction to see his response, as he is the one driving. "Yes" Zach says finishing my response. 

I had been in my room for about 20 minutes, just getting ready and putting all my stuff together to go to the pier later. We had decided to go earlier than planned as we were dropping Daniel home on the way and we didn't want him to have to wait until we were ready. I came out of my room after another 5 minutes and then we left. 

Zach dropped Daniel back at his house and we left quickly making it to the pier about an hour and a half before sunset. "Come with me" Zach suddenly says as we are walking along the beach. We had this 'secret' spot just by the beach. It was a little clearing surrounded by trees and large rocks that were at the edge of the water. When we found it a few years ago, it was perfect because there were a few rocks there in the formation of a bench. We would go there every day, but now only go when we need privacy or are alone and want to chill, like we are now. 

Zach pulled me past the trees and through to the little clearing. "Wait here a minute" He said as I sat down on the rocks. I waited there for just over 10 minutes wondering what he was doing and why it was taking him so long. Soon enough I heard the trees rustle and was startled by Zach appearing with two ice-cream cones. "Your choice" he said, holding out both the honeycomb and salted caramel. Zach sat down next to me as I grabbed the honeycomb. We sat in silence for a bit just eating out ice-creams. "Thank you" I pause. "Not just for the ice-cream but for getting me out of the apartment. I needed a distraction" "Anytime" Zach says with a solemn look on his face. "I know this whole Ashley situation is affecting you more than most of us, maybe even Corbyn" He continues. I laughed at his last words. "I don't think that will ever be possible" I answer. 

We eventually walked out of the clearing and climbed up on top of the big rocks. I stared out at the waves and the slowly setting sun. I sat down and waited for Zach to join me but he stayed standing next to me. He turned to me and reached his hands out, not saying anything. I grabbed both his hands and pulled my self up, jumping a little at the end. The sun hadn't set completely yet and it probably wasn't going to anytime soon. Zach pulls my hands as he walks close to the edge of the big rock. The waves at the bottom were calm. Zach and I had jumped off this rock before but we nearly got caught cause we weren't supposed to. It was kinda dark now. "You wanna do it" Zach is peeing over the edge. I check the time and look to see if there was anyone on duty. No one, 8 pm. I nodded my head eagerly. Looking back towards Zach I see that he already has his shirt off. I had spare clothes in Zach's car so I left mine on. Zach jumped first, screaming a little once he hit the water. Panicked, I ran up to the edge to make sure he was ok. "I-i-it's just c-cold" he stutters. I walk back a bit so that I could run off the edge. Starting to run, I begin to think about everything that could go wrong. I get to the edge and nearly jump, but I changed my mind and move my foot back from the edge. That didn't work though. I was off balance and fell anyways. It wasn't a big drop but it felt like I was falling forever. The water stung my back and I felt something hard against my head. I managed to get back to the surface just as another wave crashed over me, pushing me back down under the water. Again, I got to the surface but my head was hurting badly and everything was spinning. Another wave crashed and I closed my eyes as I resurfaced, trying to settle my pounding head. I heard a faint masculine voice coming closer and hoped it was Zach, sinking back into the water to keep warm.