To Catch a Dream

Chapter Nine - Welcome to Nevada

The van filled with laughter as we crossed the state line between Utah and Nevada. It had been almost four hours since we last stopped.

"How're we feeling about Nevada so far?" Logan asked, peering back into the rear-view mirror to look at us.

"Better than Utah," Maya said snarkily, a peal of laughter following her comment. She turned around to see the backseat. "Right, Jasper?"

As she turned around she noticed the third row of the van was empty, and all that sat there were Jasper's things.

"Jasper?" Maya mumbled, trying to search for where he could possibly be in such a small van.

"What's going on?" I asked, I turned around and was met with the empty third row.

"Where is he?" Maya yelled out, turning to me.

"Oh my GOD! We totally left him at that gas station in Utah!" I realized what had happened.

I had begun to panic. Not only had we lost our keyboardist, but he was four hours behind us and stranded at a gas station.

I reached into my pocket and grabbed my phone, quickly searching for Jasper's name everywhere in my notifications.

"Jasper's missing?" Zahra whipped her head around to see into the second row of the van.

Maya and I had been visibly anxious about the matter at hand. Zahra made a face at us in a mocking way, waiting for a response.

"Yes!" Maya and I both screamed.

"Seriously?" Logan muttered as he pulled over onto the side of the road. "Did we seriously leave him behind?"

"We haven't stopped anywhere else!" Maya rationalized the idea.

"Can you guys check your phones and see if he texted or called?" I ask, swiping through my phone more.

Everyone quickly pulled out their phones, checking for any missed calls, voicemail messages, or texts from Jasper.

"Nope."

"Nada."

"Negative."

"Crap," I mumbled. "Crap, crap, crap, crap! We have to go back for him!"

"What if he didn't stay at the gas station? We'd never be able to find him." Zahra said.

"I'm gonna call him," I mumbled, quickly navigating to his contact in my phone and calling him.

"What if he doesn't have service?" Maya worried.

Ring...

Ring...

Ring...

Ring...

Beep!

"Crap!" I yelled out. I turned around and looked into the third row of the van once more. My eyes scanned the seats he had rested on at the beginning of the drive, and I noticed two objects that remained sitting on his seat.

A wallet, and a phone.

"Well, no wonder he hasn't called us," I mumbled as I stretched my arm out to grab his phone, and presented it to the rest of the group. "He left it in here."
"Of course he did," Zahra mumbled. "God, damn it."

"We have to go back for him! Please! We can't just leave him stranded with nothing! How did we forget him? Oh, God, I knew it was too quiet in here. Oh my God," I rambled, running my hands through my hair.