Set Me Free |Jonas Brothers

10

I freeze.

Will she go away if I don't move?

Probably not.

"It's me, Helen." I finally say to her.

"It's been a while! How are you?" She asks enthusiastically.

She's such a fake ass bitch.

I glance at Joe who stands beside me awkwardly, before looking back at her. "I'm fine, how are you?"

I don't care.

"I'm good! It's so weird, I just saw Mike here a little bit ago!" She says, glancing through the crowd.

I'm hit with a sudden wave of nausea. I feel like someone punched me in the gut as hard as they could.

I can barely breathe.

"Oh." Is all I could manage to get out.

My reaction peaks Joes interest. He steps closer towards me, keeping his eyes on mine face as I try and process what she's said.

Helen glances at Joe, but continues anyway, "Yeah I haven't seen him since you guys went to court and everything. And now you guys are both here. What a coincidence." She laughs casually, as if she doesn't know how big of a deal this is.

Dumb bitch.

I don't laugh. I just look past her, wondering where he is. Can he see me right now? Does he know I'm here?

"Well anyway, it was nice seeing you." She says before walking away to one of her kids that was calling for her.

I don't move.

I can't move.

"Ruby?" Joe says. But I can barely hear him. I feel like I'm under water, drowning.

"Ruby May, what is going on?" He asks again.

"We have to go." I grab his arm and pull him away from the line. I run into a woman, almost knocking her hot chocolate onto her. She cusses at me but I don't stop. I hear Joe apologize to her from behind me as my steps get faster.

"Ruby!" He yells, yanking his grip from my arm and grabbing onto me himself.

He brings us to a stop and I face him, eyes wide with panic.

This is bad. I haven't felt this way in a long time. I'm about to have a panic attack.

"The car is the other way." He tells me.

So I head in that direction, making him trail behind me. He runs to catch up, keeping up with my pace now. I look at no one, just stare ahead at the Jeep as it gets closer and closer.

I get in and lock my door, waiting for Joe. He gets in then and looks at me, annoyance on his face. I take deep breathes, trying to calm down. My hands are shaking.

"What the fuck is going on Ruby?" He asks quietly. He wasn't yelling, he wasn't mad. He just wanted to know what's happening.

"Please just drive." I say.

He sighs and starts the car, throwing it in drive and pulling out of our spot. He almost hits the poor man directing traffic as he pulls onto the main road. I glance one more time at the crowd, and that's when I see Mike. Looking right at us before we pull away.

Silence...

After a few minutes, I speak up. "We can't go to the inn. We can't stay here."

"What? We'd have to drive four hours to get back to the venue." He tells me.