Heart Strings

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Henry's POV

It's now been two days. I've been keeping count of the hours. Still no call, I had cleaned everything that needed cleaning. I thought about Sabrina and her environment. What were they even doing? I just couldn't get the thought out of my head that she could be alone. What if she was locked in a bathroom or worse? Chad had done it before and this time I wouldn't be able to help her.

Sabrina was all I knew, she could only trust me. Mom wasn't capable of being responsible. Chad was a weird man with devilish temptations. He wasn't to trusted, I refused to trust that man. I blew out a breath and grabbed my phone. Who would I even call? I didn't even know what beach they went to. Should I call every beach? Every beach that had hotels?

A loud ringing interrupted my train of thought. A number I didn't recognize popped up. Was it Sabrina? My stomach was twisting inside.

"Sabrina?" I asked when I answered the phone barely containing my excitement. Just the thought of being able to hear her voice was making me emotional.

"You forgot my number...and my name?" Serenity asked confused. I bit my tongue to hold the regretful sigh.

"Uh. I didn't know we had each other's number. I thought this was someone else." I muttered. I got my hopes up for no reason. I didn't even know I gave her my number.

"Yeah, I asked Maddison for it. The whole project thing." Serenity explained. Huh, that would make sense.

"So, you called for that project?" I asked confused. I thought we would meet on the weekends. It's Tuesday and I didn't have plans to do anything educational except watch documentaries. I was tempted to hang up.

"Um, no I called because I was wondering if you wanted to hang out?" She asked with hopefulness laced in her tone. God, she's like another Maddison, clingy and obsessed with public outings.

"No. I'm sick." I replied quickly.

"You don't sound sick. Do you need me to come over? My mom makes amazing-"

There's two ways I could go about this. I could tell her no and hang up. Possibly block her number in the process but that would be awkward because we got to the same school. I don't need the extra drama. Two, I could just tell her yes to end the phone call. Besides I have my own car I could always leave when I didn't want to stay. I smiled to myself, perks of having a car and a drivers license.

"Henry?" Serenity's voice was in my ear again.

"What did you want to do?" I asked. Maybe this would be good for me. I wouldn't have to sit at home and wait for a call. I wouldn't have to sit and think about all these worst possible scenarios. God knew I was great at that.

"Great, we could grab something to eat and maybe go to the mall? You could meet me at Stevie's Diner." She said happily, I could hear shuffling on her end.

"Uh, sure. I guess I'll see you soon." I said with a nod. I hung up and regretted agreeing. I agreed with Olivia and look where that went. I agreed with Maddison and that was drama. Drama followed girls, what if Serenity was the worst of it? I didn't need that. Yet, part of me was...almost excited to see her. I didn't know why, did I have a lust for punishment?

I looked around the empty living room. It's not like I could use Sabrina for an excuse. She was gone. This was just a distraction, nothing more and nothing less.

——-

"I'm so glad you decided to come out with me." Serenity said walking us to a booth. The diner was packed with people. The place smelt of grease and bacon. The floor was pink and white tiles. Serenity's wedges clicked against the tiles. The booths were a shade of light pink. It was like a little girl's dream house. Once we were seated, I sighed and leaned my head on my hand. I stared out the big window.