Lovers in California: Held For Ransom

• 28 •

*RING RING* goes my mobile phone.

I quickly grabbed it from my pocket to have a look. It was Andre. Fuck.

"Shit, sorry girls, I have to take this," I apologised, which got some understanding nods from them, "hey, is everything okay?" I quickly answered while turning away from them, not that that stopped them from hearing what I was saying.

"Uh... I don't want to alarm you," Andre started saying - oh god. "But Isabelle went off into the bathroom upstairs and she's been in there a while" he finished saying. I noticed he had lowered his voice, I guess so Isabelle wouldn't hear him.

"Okay, um... Can you hear the water running? She tends to have a bath if she's stressed out."

"Let me listen," he replied and the phone went silent for a few seconds, "nope, it's not running."

I let out a sigh and scratched my head, "okay, can you hear her moving around in there? Or anything?"

Again, the phone went silent, "I don't know, man... I could be wrong but I think she might be crying."

"Shit okay, the groceries will have to wait, I'm coming straight home now," I quickly said and walked to their desk to grab all the mail, "just leave her in there and if she comes out, let me know."

"Yup, will do."

"Thanks, bye" I then said and hung up. I looked over at the girls and let out a sigh, "I'm so sorry, I'm going to have to go."

"Is Isabelle okay?" Melissa asked with a worried expression on her face.

"Yeah, Andre, our friend who's with her now, said that she's been in the bathroom for a while and reckons she could be crying. Normally I would leave her and let her cry things out, but like I said, she's really not doing well."

"Definitely go and see if she's okay. Is there anything we can do? I couldn't help but hear you needed to get groceries too?"

"Yeah, but they can wait, I'll have to do them another time."

"No seriously, I can do it for you" she offered. However, I felt so bad and I could never ask anyone to do that for me, therefore I hesitated to answer. "Please, just go and be with Isabelle, she needs you."

Again, I hesitated slightly but then quickly replied, "honestly only if you're sure?"

"Yes! Just send me a list and I'll get them this afternoon and put them on your doorstep."

"Thank you so much! I'll pay you back straight away and seriously just grab any brand, we aren't fussy about what we eat" I said and made my way to the door, "Oh! And we're going to give you all a bonus as a thank you. Bye!" I waved and quickly left before they could protest about us giving them a bonus.

I quickly hopped in my car and away I went.

***

About 10 minutes later, with a tiny bit of speeding here and there (oops, sorry police), I finally got back home and parked my car in the drive.

Even though it must have been at least 15 minutes since Andre rang me, I didn't have a message to say she had come out of the bathroom. So either Isabelle was still in there, or Andre had just forgotten, and to be honest, I kind of hoped it was the latter.

I used my key to let myself in, as I didn't want to ring the doorbell, put all the mail on the side and then headed upstairs. Andre was sat on the sofa in our 'snug room' which was quite near to the bathroom. I respected that because he was still near to check on her, but also giving her her space.

I greeted Andre with a friendly nod and then mouthed, "is she still in there?" To which he nodded to confirm she was still in the bathroom.

I walked over to the bathroom door and decided it would be best to knock instead of just barging in.

"Belle? It's Nathan, I'm home now" I said in a soothing voice and gently knocked on the door a couple of times - no answer. "Babe, are you okay?" Again, no answer.

I sighed and glanced over at Andre, who had now moved to stand by the snug room doorway to see. I pulled a worried face and we just shrugged at each other.

"Belle, please open the door, I just want to know you're okay" I continued saying and leant my hand on the door frame and waited for a reply that I didn't get. "If you want to be left alone just say and I'll go, but you're worrying me now." Still nothing. Fuck sake. "Alr-"

I got cut off by Isabelle quickly rushing out and into me. I immediately embraced her and she burst out crying into her hands and on my chest.

"Hey hey hey, shhh..." I softly spoke to her and stroked the back of her head with my right hand, hugging her with my left and kissing the top of her head. "It's okay" I added. I glanced over at Andre and mouthed, "water please" while pretending to drink water with my right hand so he knew what I meant. He nodded and went downstairs.

The next few months or so were going to be difficult, but all I knew was that I really needed to stick by Isabelle and support her right now, and that's what I will do.