for, lover (Completed; editing)

Chapter 51

I burst out into laughter. "You did not."

Ben sighs and shoves his hand in his pants pockets, withdrawing a small velvet box. He pops it open and sure enough there's a pretty sizable, lustrous diamond ring. I don't even want to know how much that costed.

"Ben! Are you insane? You guys have been dating for like...what? Six months?"

He stares at me blankly.

"Bree? Who is at the door?" Tony calls out, walking up behind me still with a shirt.

Ben looks at him, then back to me, lifting his eyebrows. "Did I interrupt something here?"

I roll my eyes and scoff. "That's not the point. Let me check Maddy's location." I whip out my phone and start opening up the app.

"No use. She blocked me from seeing it. I called her mom and she said she wasn't there. I even stopped by the bar and a few places downtown. I can't find her or her car anywhere and she won't answer my messages."

"You pissed her off this badly because of a proposal?"

He looks down, shrugging. "It could've been more than that. I dunno."

"Gosh, I have no idea then. Her location isn't showing up on my phone either." I sigh, shoving my phone into my back pocket.

"You don't know any places she could've gone to? Somewhere she likes to go to get away?"

I screw my eyes shut, trying to think of any place she could've run off to. We've only been to a handful of places together. Maddy's the type to explore when she's upset so she can clear her head. There's only one place close to home that I can think of where she would go.

"How well do you know the downtown area?" I ask him.

"Pretty damn well. I'm here all the time now."

I jog across the living room and lift the painting off the wall that was next to the television stand. I bring it back over and flip it around to show him.

"Do you recognize this oak tree? Maddy painted it some time last year. She said it was somewhere downtown. I figured if anywhere, she'd go somewhere like this to let off some steam."

Ben scratches his head and studies the painting. "It looks like a regular old tree to me. I have no idea."

"I know where that is." Tony speaks up. "It's right off of E Third Street. Marshall Park."

I've been there a few times. It's no surprise that I didn't recognize a random park tree.

"What's in Marshall Park?" Ben asks.

"Hopefully your girlfriend. Let's go." I grab my keys and wallet from the coffee table and jog out the door.

Tony picks up his shirt from the floor and slides it over his head. "Do you want me to come with you?"

Ben eyes me, nonchalantly shaking his head.

I sigh. "No, I can handle this. I'll call you?"

Tony bites down on his lip, bobbing his head up and down. "Okay. Goodnight."

I wave to him one last time and bolt to my car.

"Shouldn't we just take mine?" Ben yells.

"No because she'll probably run away from you! Just come on!"

He groans, stepping across a few empty spaces to where my car is. As soon as we're in, I drive downtown without setting directions.

Ben anxiously shakes his leg. He clearly wants me to smack him.