(Unedited)
"You weren't here! You haven't been in a long time so stop trying to act like you were."
Willow grew up in a house with six brothers, one of them being her twin. She's grown up in a two bedroom apartment with an alcoholic mother who never...
"I don't know what I'm more afraid of: to see you again or to never see you again."
...
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It was 7am by the time Cameron returned to the apartment.
He was exhausted. His head ached, his feet were sore, his legs felt like jelly, and his back was ready to buckle. In short, the boy felt like he was ninety years old and on his deathbed, and still, even as he began to stumble and go light-headed, Cameron felt nothing more than guilt as he found himself crashing.
Cam had barely made it through the door and flicked the lock shut before he collapsed, falling down onto the couch with a huff. He sinks back into the cushions, kicking his shoes off and letting them fall to the ground with a thump, following their lead and falling over onto his side. He groans as he flips onto his back, arching his spine to reach beneath himself and slide his phone out of his back pocket before caving in on himself once more, reaching around on the ground for a charger he was sure he had left behind.
Plugging in the device, his hazy eyes settle on the time and he could feel his heart squeeze in his chest. It had been all night, and he found nothing. There was no sign of Willow, despite her disappearing nearly seven hours ago, and he was beginning to lose hope.
She didn't want to be found, but he needed to find her. He needed to make sure she was okay- to save her before it was too late, even if she didn't want to be saved. He was her brother. It was his job. And it wasn't as if anyone else was up for the task.
Cam sighs at the thought. It had been a long, long night, and he just needed a bit of rest. But the second he got up, he would continue his search. He would fix this - he was sure of it.
One O'clock, he tells himself, setting a timer along with his expectations. He was going to give Willow until the afternoon to come home. If she didn't - if she was still hiding by the time it went off - he would try one last time to find her. He would make his calls and do his rounds, search high and low all over again, but if he didn't find her- if she didn't come home, he would be forced to find help, instead.
He would find her brothers and tell them what was going on. And if not them, then Victoria- or perhaps even his own mother could be of help. There were a variety of options, and he decided that he would give Willow until tomorrow afternoon to show up before using one.
Leaving his phone on the table to charge, the boy turns over, pulling a blanket off the back of the couch and draping it over himself as he gets comfortable. He just needed a little break, and who knew? Maybe when he woke up, this would all have been just a bad dream.
One could only hope.
"I hope you had a good time tonight," Sam says, gently nudging the girl beside him.
Willow hums, smiling as she sways away from the contact. "I did," she says, thanking him.
Between the long, late night drive filled to the brim with broken traffic laws, the endless supply of weed and beer, a questionable decision of "borderline breaking and entering" - as Jess had called it, insisting that since they hadn't broken anything in order to enter, it was different -and a pool party to watch sunrise, Willow could confidently say that this was a night she would never forget. It may have just been the best night of her life- if not just the best one she's had in years. But that could just be the wistfulness of the weed talking.
She tells Sam as much, the two sharing a laugh as though it was the cigarette they pass between themselves, having snuck away from the rest of the group - who were much too rowdy for their taste.
"How much longer till they crash?" Willow wonders, yawning as she hands him the last of the cigarette, telling him he could finish it off.
"Any minute now," Sam answers. "I'm kind of surprised they lasted this long. Usually they get a sleepy high once it passes four."
"They must've had extra motivation tonight," she brushes it off, laying her head back against the brick of the house, eyes flicking up to see the morning sky. The morning was always so beautiful- so fresh. She loved when a new day began, all so she could forget about the last.
"Must have," he agrees, tossing the cigarette to the ground. "It paid off, though? You really had fun?"
Willow smiles, eyes flitting to his as she nods. "Yeah..." she promises. "I really had fun."
"You should stick around," he says, growing a smile of his own as he suggests, "we could do it all again tonight."
It was tempting- it really was, and as much as it killed her to say, it sounded better than going home. She had nothing waiting for her- no people, no plans, no fun, nothing. At least here, with these people, she knew what she was signing up for. It was trouble; it was dangerous- stupid, even. But it was so much fun. It made her feel free, and it gave her a rush she hadn't felt in forever.
And most of all, it gave her people- friends.
How could she say no to something like that?
She couldn't, and so she only shrugs. "I'll think about it- assuming we don't get arrested, that is," she says, following the boy back toward the house. "Are you sure it's a good idea to stay here? What if someone shows up when we're sleeping-"
"The family isn't supposed to be back for days still and everyone they know lives outside of the city," he explains, asking why else they would have hired him if they had other options. "Who else is going to show up?"
"I don't know... A neighbor? The police?" She points. "Anyone, really-"
"It's fine," he assures her, sliding the glass door open and flashing her a grin over his shoulder, telling her that it was too late to go anywhere, anyway. "Look at this."
Willow joins him in the doorway, looking down at the three friends they had left attended for all of ten minutes, and they all fell asleep. Jess and Derek lay across the couch- the girl draped across her boyfriend's chest, while Lucas sleeps across the ottoman connected on one end.
Just like Sam said they would, they crashed.
The girl laughs, quietly following the boy inside. Looks like they couldn't leave, even if they wanted to. "Guess we don't have much of a choice now, huh?"
"Nope," he shakes his head, reaching behind her to click the door shut. "Might as well get some rest. We'll need the energy for tomorrow-"
"Technically today," she corrects, watching him take a seat on the ground, nodding.
"Today... right," he mutters, getting comfortable on the rug he claims as his bed and smiling when she doesn't disagree with him or his plan. "So... does that mean you're staying? 'Cause last night was fun and all, but we could do way better. No offense-"
Willow laughs. "Like I said, we'll see," she says, her own smile growing as she takes her place in a chair - the last available piece of furniture and her new designated bed. She shrugs the leather jacket off of her shoulders, choosing to use it as a blanket instead as she throws her legs over one arm of the chair, using the other as a pillow. "Goodnight, Sam."
