Swept Away

13 - Juillet

It's been two days since I've seen or heard from Colby. But I don't think I'm alone in that. In the past two days, I've seen Paige, Elle, Tanner, and Ren and none of them seem to know where Colby is or what he is doing.

"He asked me to cover his shift today," Elle said, when we saw her at Colly-Scoops, "but I haven't heard anything else."

The rest of them said things along the same lines. Ashlyn and I have been trying to find Danny around town, but we always seem to miss him. Until today.

The all too familiar mop of dark blond hair on the all too familiar teenage boy, is moving up and down a few feet ahead of us. "Is that Danny?" I ask Ashlyn, grabbing her arm in excitement.

She stands on her tiptoes and looks around the crowd of people in front of us in line at Colly-Scoops, "Where?"

"Right there," I point to where the now obvious Danny is standing behind the counter helping a customer, "See."

Danny winks at the teenage girls in front of him, no doubt that they will be his vacationers for the night. He told me all about how he picks one out, and spends a night with them. From my understanding, it doesn't usually go further than kissing. But there is, as Danny puts it, "always a possibility for a little irresponsibility."

"Oh yeah," Ashlyn nods her head, "That's definitely him."

A grin spreads across my face, "Perfect."

I take out my phone to check if Colby maybe texted me back. But all I see are my texts from before.

Me:
Colby you'll never guess who I just saw 😱
Is everything okay?
Did I do something wrong?
Colby?

I send one more text to him before we reach Danny to give him our orders.

Me:
I know that you're alive Colby. Can you just tell me what's going on? Cause I'm gonna ask Danny

"'Sup ladies," Danny smiles when we reach the counter. Now that we are closer I can see that Paige and Elle are both also behind the counter along with the owner, Jake. "What can I get for you?"

"Mint chocolate chip," I tell him with my sweetest smile, hoping that it will get me further, "and an answer."

Danny looks confused at my order, "An answer to what?"

"Don't play dumb," I scowl, "I know you know where he is and what he's doing. So could you maybe tell me?"

Danny shakes his head, "Don't know what you're talking about Frenchy."

I scoff, "Yes, you do. Where is Colby?"

Elle walks over to us, but quickly turns away at Danny's next remark, "Tough luck 'cause I don't. The fucker won't tell me."

"Daniel!" Jake yells, "Language!         

"Shit!" Danny curses under his breath.

"Danny!" I squeal, "Stop giving me this crap."

Danny starts scooping my ice cream, "I would really like to help you Frenchy, but for the first time ever in my life, Colby won't answer me."

"Is he at least at his house? Like he didn't flea the state and not tell anyone, right?"

Danny shakes his head again when he hands me my ice cream, "I don't know...just...I don't know."

"Fine. Thanks anyway."

After paying, Ashlyn and I walk out of the ice cream shop, "Ash?"

"Yeah?" She says in between licks.

I take a deep breath, "Do you know where Colby lives?"

She nods.

"Can we go there?"

"Can we finish our ice cream first?"

I laugh, "Hell yeah."

Ashlyn laughs along with me until her face suddenly goes cold. "What's-"

"Tanner! Up-y!" I hear a little voice yell from behind me.                                                        

I turn around to see Tanner, clad in a baseball uniform, holding a little girl in his arms. He waves to Ashlyn causing the little girl to turn towards us. She sees us and curls into Tanner to hide her face, but that doesn't stop him from walking over to us. To Ashlyn.

"Hey guys," he says.

"Hey!"

"Hi," Ashlyn takes a deep breath, "Is this your little sister?"

"Yeah," Tanner pokes the girl in her arm, "this is Avery. Avery," the little girl lifts her face to look at her brother, "these are my friends Ashlyn and Juillet."

Ashlyn smiles up at the girl, "Hi Avery!"

Avery doesn't respond, so Tanner pokes her arm again, "Can you say hi?" She shakes her head no. "I know you can," he tickles her and she giggles, "so you might as well say it." It surprises me how good he is with her. The two of them are so connected despite the fact that there is such a big age gap between them.

"Hi," Avery says pushing back her blond curls. She looks like a baby Tanner. She turns to him and whispers, "She's really pretty."

He looks down at Ashlyn, "Yeah, I think so, too."

Ashlyn blushes at his statement. She smiles at him. Avery speaks up again, "Tanner, can we get our ice cream now?"

He sighs, "Yeah, lets go. Bye girls."

"Bye."

As soon as Tanner walks into the store, I turn to Ashlyn, "You like him!"

She blushes, "No, I don't!"

"Oh my gosh," I gasp, "Yes, you do!"

She takes a deep breath, "No, I don't because I can't. He wouldn't be good for me. And we're too close for me to ruin the relationship I have with him."

I look back to where Tanner had just disappeared, "He clearly likes you. Don't you think that's worth the risk?"

"You know I'm not good with this kind of stuff," she stirs her quickly melting ice cream around, "And he's got so much shit he's dealing with at home. I don't want to add to that."

I shrug, "Don't you think that if it's love it's worth the risk?"

"I will never risk anything on the chance that it's love," she says, staring deep into my eyes.

I match her expression.

"I would risk everything."