Unexpected Rendezvous

Chapter 7

Leigh-Anne's POV

In the studio, my entire being had a single, simple goal: get away. So once I bolt through the back door, into a deserted street with no police and no other people in sight, relief floods through me. 

For about five seconds. Then all I can think is, now what? Jade bursts out of the door after me, carrying a still unconscious Perrie. The car park is a good half a mile away, and Nelson...Jesus. 

Jesy Nelson might've died back there. 

I've known Nelson since primary school, long enough to remember why people only refer to her by her surname. It was in year 2, when we all had drawers in the classroom labelled with our names. We'd made the labels ourselves with coloured markers. One day, a kid in the class tripped while carrying a cup of water, sending its contents splashing over Nelson's Jesy Nelson label. The marker ran so badly that all you could read was the part where her surname was written. Everyone dropped her first name after that, and Nelson stuck.

Jade leans against the side of the building, Perrie cradled into her chest, and glances at me like she's expecting maybe I had a plan beyond crashing through the back door. I don't. All the decisiveness I had upstairs deserts me in an instant. The only choice I can make now is whether to throw up or pass out. Both seem like solid answers, but my stomach decides for me. It seizes, and I bend over to vomit into a patch of grass.

"Okay," Jade says when I stand and shakily wipe my mouth. "We need to regroup."

She has that Determined Jade look I remember from the tail end of our friendship, when her Dad hit the road to "find himself" as a roadie for some old rock group cover band. Like Jade had finally realised she'd been letting a useless person dictate half of her life, so she was going to have to step up and...oh. Oh, okay. I've become the useless person that Jade has to compensate for, and I both recognise and accept that in an instant. I'm relieved, actually. All I want is to follow someone else's lead for a while.

Jade strides towards the pavement, Perrie still in her arms, and looks both ways into the deserted street. An engine roars suddenly, way too close for comfort, and we barely have time to exchange panicked glances before a car races around the corner. But it's just some man on his phone, who doesn't even spare us a glance as he speeds past. As soon as he's gone, Jade starts moving again, half jogging across the road before she ducks into an alley between two buildings. I follow nervously, too shell-shocked to ask questions, as she winds through the narrow passageway.

It feels good to keep moving. When I focus on putting one foot in front of the other, I don't have to think about what happened back there. Not just in the building, but in Andre's literal studio. His latest drawing half finished on the nearest easel, as though he'd just been working on it. Which he should have been on a Tuesday morning. It's his only day off, his best chance to create, and he's always said he can't concentrate at home.

So why wasn't he there?

And why was Nelson? Because that had to be her, right? Even though none of us had the guts to look beyond the boots, we saw her go in.

But we never saw her come out. 

My stomach starts rolling again, and I force my attention back on to the pavement in front of me. I have enough presence of mind to wonder whether eventually, we'll run into someone who demands to know why Jade is carrying an unconscious girl. Seems like minimum responsible adult behaviour on a city morning, but the only person we pass is a drunk old man slumped against the side of a building.

Jade turns another corner, then pauses at the edge of a large metal door. "Keys are in my right pocket," she says. "Can you get them?"

"I...what?"