Through His Eyes

Through His Eyes [24]

{{Dedicated to @EmSlough for the gorgeous banner she made and for being the loveliest person as well as an author I look up to}}

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

When she hung up the phone, Rhea suddenly realized she hadn't given any thought to how she would get to Last Call as she'd promised she would. That she'd be there in twenty had rolled off her tongue like sort of a reflex or a knee-jerk reaction. She could make the walk to Last Call in twenty minutes but she'd have transformed into the snow monster from Frozen by the time she'd have done so. For the first time ever she regretted being a stubborn butthead about getting her driver's license; she could have used it right about now. Asking anyone for a ride was pretty much out of the question, everyone was already settled into whatever they'd had planned for the night. She could ask one of her parents but that would take a lot of explaining as to why she was asking for a ride to a bar of all places.

Sighing with resignation, she got dressed in the thickest sweater she owned and a pair of black jeans and made her way downstairs. She stepped into the living room where her parents as well as her grandparents were sitting in front of the television and watching one of the New Year's Eve specials.

"Hey guys," she said and every head in the room turned to her. "Turns out I'm going out tonight after all."

"Why the change of heart?" her mother asked.

"Eh, you know Willa, she can be really persuasive." She didn't know why exactly she was choosing this moment to lie to her parents for the first time in God knows how long. It wasn't like they'd forbid her from going out if she told the truth, so she decided to take a little turn and curve her lie as close to the truth as she could. "There's a party at Last Call and she insisted I should join them. Apparently it's too good for her to let me pass it up." There, at least they'd know where she'd be.

This time it was her father who asked, "How are you getting there?"

"Willa's on her way to pick me up," she said, lying through her teeth once again.

"Alright sweetie," her mother said, "Call if you need us to pick you up."

"Thanks mom," she said.

After giving everyone in the room kisses on both cheeks she made her way out of the living room and to the front door. She grabbed her coat from the coat hanger and reached for the doorknob. Just as she was about to open it and leave, she turned back and made another beeline for the coat hanger. She retrieved the dark red scarf she'd worn every single time she went out in the past week, draped it around her neck and stepped out of the house and into the chilly night.

As she stepped off the porch, she stood still for a moment, contemplating her options. Admittedly, knowing Caleb needed her, she'd brave much direr conditions. She still wanted to get there with all her limbs intact though and the weather outside told her her toes could freeze and fall off any second.

A light bulb went off in her brain as she looked toward the garage door.

***

Five minutes later she thought okay, maybe riding her bike to Last Call wasn't her brightest idea.

Her cheeks were numb from the cold air that constantly whipped at her face and sent her hair flying in a million different directions while the helmet she had on made sure the top part of her hair would be pressed closer to her head than it'd ever been, ensuring that she'd look like she'd stuck her head in a washing machine by the time she made it to her destination. Her hands that were gripping the handle bars felt like they were glued to their spots with the way they'd gone numb because of the cold. Another thing she could have really used tonight? Gloves.