Almost Home

Home Meeting

A/N This chapter is dedicated to....... b-rock5000 , she is a fabulous friend and is so kind and supportive! Anyway, on with the chapter!
I started the car and pulled out of the parking lot and headed on the road to my house. The car was filled with an awkward silence for quite a while, then Brian spoke up. "So, you're single?" He asked.
"Yes," I replied.
"That's cool," he said. He leaned back in the passenger seat. "Have you ever had a boyfriend?" He asked.
"Once," I replied. That I said a little coldly. I did have a boyfriend once, and let me just say, we were head over heels in love for each other. Or I was, at least. Then I realized he was cheating on me, so I broke up with him. It was awful, I was crying for days. Kayla would comfort me, at least until she was kidnapped. That's when I sucked it up and went to search for her. For all she knows, I'm still mourning him, if you could say mourning for a break up.
"Did it end badly?" Brian asked. I guess he could tell from the coldness in my voice.
"Let's just say he cheated on me after we had been dating for two years, so I had to break up with him," I replied.
"How long ago was it?" He asked.
"A few days before Kayla was kidnapped," I replied.
"Oh," he said.
I stopped myself from tearing up. "But I'm over him now," I said, relaxing into my seat.
"That's good, you deserve better than that jerk," Brian replied.
"Have you ever had a girlfriend?" I asked. No, I was not flirting, I just wanted to know. You know, for educational purposes? Anyway, not flirting.
"I've had a few," he replied, "But none lasted for longer than a few months. I didn't ever really feel it, so I broke up with them in the kindest way I could think of."
"Nice," I said. I gripped the steering wheel a little bit harder. The feeling of Brian dating somebody felt......wrong. I don't know why, but it really did.
"Are you okay?" He asked. He obviously saw the sudden tension in my arms after he said that last sentence,
"I'm fine," I said, trying to make it not sound like sarcasm. Luckily, it didn't, because it wasn't. I was fine. Perfectly fine. Nothing felt weird, I was just sitting in a car, driving to my house, with a guy. Who happened to be sort of attractive. But I didn't know him well, so I didn't like him like that. I know what you're thinking, but no, I am not kidding I don't like him like that. At least I don't think so, at least.
"If anything's wrong, you can tell me," he said. He reached over his arm and rested his hand on my still tense arm. A spark seemed to race up my arm and made my heart skip a beat. My arm relaxed quickly and I sighed. What is this feeling? I never felt this feeling with Gray, my last boyfriend. Wait, why am I comparing him to Gray? Do I like him?
"I'm fine," I said. "Really," I added when he gave me a skeptical look. We got to my house and I pulled into the driveway. We were the first people home, but Henry and Lilith's cars pulled up as we were getting out of the car. They walked out of their cars and over to greet us. "Hi," I said to them.
"Hello," Lilith replied.
"Let's go inside," Henry said.
"Yeah," I replied. We all walked up the front steps and I opened up the door. My mom was making lunch in the kitchen.
"Hi, Sarah," mom called out.
"Hi mom. Henry, Lilith, and Brian are here," I said quickly. We started down the hallway to my room when my mom replied.
"Who's Brian?" She asked, walking out to face us.
"Me," Brian spoke up.
"No duh, Sherlock," I muttered to him. "Mom, Brian was our waiter at the restaurant and he heard that we were looking for Kayla and wanted to join our search. So here he is," I said.
"Wait, you were on a search for Kayla this morning?" Mom asked, her hands on her hips, "Why didn't you tell me this?"
"I didn't feel the words were that important. None of us were killed, we didn't find Kayla. But we did get another text," I said.
"Another text? When are you going to accept its just the kidnappers messing with you?" Mom asked.
"Never," I replied, "Let's go, guys." Lilith, Henry, Brian, and I headed over to my room. I opened up the door and welcomed the, all inside, slamming the door behind me. Lilith took her usual spot on my bed, and Henry in 'his' beanbag chair. Brian casually sat on the ground. He looked kind of like a puppy obeying its owner, which made me laugh. I then opened up the windows and sat on my bed next to Lilith.
"So, let's discuss our clues," Henry said.
"A knife, a backpack, and two texts," Lilith replied.
"Wait, a knife?" Brian exclaimed.
"Yep, it was in her room," I recalled.
"Creepy," Brian responded.
"Which means the kidnapper may have used the knife to kidnap her," Henry stated.
"No, Kayla started keeping a knife in her room about a day or two before she was kidnapped," Lilith recalled.
"Maybe Kayla knew that she was going to be kidnapped!" I exclaimed.
"How would she know that though?" Brian asked.
"Maybe she was getting threats, or had a bad feeling. Kayla's gut is spot on when she feels something good or bad is going to happen," Lilith said.
"She was kind of saying that something bad was going to happen the day before she was kidnapped," Henry said.
"And when she came over to my house to comfort me, she would always be getting texts from a random number. I remember once she was complaining how some creep kept on texting her," I said, "I can't quite remember the number, but I do remember it didn't have our area code."
"Weird," Brian replied. He had a quizzical look on his face that made one of his eyebrows rise and that made his blonde bangs slightly rise. Wait, why am I paying attention to his facial expressions?
"Anyway, those are our clues," I said, "So we don't know where she is, but she's almost home, feeling wise and literal wise, she was kidnapped, and had a clue it was going to happen."
"Hey, it's more than we had before," Henry pointed out.
"True," Lilith said.
I sighed. We still weren't that close to finding out who kidnapped Kayla, or where she was. And then there's the random dream about Brian. What did it mean? Why was I running? Then I realized the dream was a metaphor. And the metaphor kind of scared me. It was a metaphor for me running from Brian, love-wise, then tripping up and falling for him. I needed to tell Lilith.
"Okay, well that's good for today, you guys can leave," I said. Henry, Lilith, and Brian stood up. Henry and Lilith moved, but I called Lilith back. But Brian didn't move.
"I need a ride," he smiled.
"Right," I groaned, "Lilith, can you come over later for a sleepover?"
"Sure," she replied.
"Okay, Brian let's go home," I sighed. I followed Lilith out and I stepped into my car. Brian followed me inside. I started up the car and headed down the street. "Where do you live?" I asked.
"Don't you think that sounds a little bit creepy?" He smiled. His smile made me smile. A little bit.
"Well, I promise I won't stalk you," I said, "But unless you tell me, you won't be going home until we knock on the door of every house in town." That made him laugh. His laughs seemed to spread across his entire body, and it seemed like not just his face was laughing, but his arms, legs, and torso.
"Well, would that take a while?" He asked with a smile.
"What do you think," I scoffed.
"Well, in that case, maybe I won't tell you," he smiled.
"Why?!" I cried.
"Because then I can spend more time with you," he grinned.
"Oh, whatever, where do you live?" I asked again, a smile spreading across my face as well.
"Fine, I live in the house directly across from the restaurant you ate at for breakfast," he said.
"Good boy," I smiled. I drove there and dropped him off, then went back to my house, ready for my mom's questioning.