Not to be found

Chapter 11 - The surprise

"How are you?" Noah asks as we drive further away from Willsbury.

Where is he taking me? Its making me nervous, my hands are shaking and to make sure that he doesn't notice them I clasp them together and place them in my lap. I can feel the temperature of my body increasing, so much in fact I swear I can feel a bead of sweat on my forehead. Cautiously but carefully I enclose my hand in my sleeve to mask the shaking and then drag the soft cloth across my forehead. I need a distraction, anything will do right now.

"I'm okay thank you," I say shifting in my seat, "How are you?"

I see him looking at me out of the corner of his eye, I can tell the look of worry when I see it, I'm familiar with it. I remember it from the look my mum used to give my dad when he was really ill after a car accident and was laid up in bed with a collapsed lung and both legs broken. We'd visit him everyday and my mother would sit at his bedside every time with the exact expression Noah is giving me now.

"I'm also okay, pretty good actually," he smiles at me without looking at me.

"I'm pleased to hear that," I reply, shifting in my seat some more, "Where are we going?"

Noah averts his eyes from the road for a brief second and turns to look at me, a faint smile emerges across his face, its weak but it still reaches his eyes making him glow slightly. He says nothing and instead moves one of his hands off the steering wheel and turns on the radio. A distraction, finally.

"The search for 19 year old Lacey Grey is still ongoing, Lacey who disappeared on her way to university still hasn't returned and police are now fearing the worst being that she has been missing for just over two weeks now. If you have any information about Lacey or where she maybe please don't hesitate to call 999 and report it."

That wasn't the distraction I needed, I move my head down so that I am looking at my hands that sit in my lap, I focus on my breathing taking myself out of the situation that I'm currently in, I shut out all surrounding noises so that I can only hear myself; the deep inhales and the heavy exhales. Its hard and it hurts. My vision goes blurry and I can't feel my limbs, everything is numb and my blood that was once warm now goes cold.

".....Gracie.......Gracie?" is all I can hear, Noah's voice maybe? It has to be him he's the only other person in this car.

With a final jolt I'm snapped out of whatever trance I'm in, "Gracie?" Noah jolts me again, he has a hand on my right arm just below my shoulders and he faces me towards him.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asks me the look of worry that was once just in his eyes has spread across all of his facial features.

"I'm fine, just got a little dizzy that's all." I force a small smile.

"When was the last time you ate?"

"Yesterday, at the airport. With you."

He removes his hand from my arm and places it back on the steering wheel, "We're going to get you something to eat then."

**********************************

I sit in the front seat of the car with a sandwich in one hand a bottle of water in the other, from where I'm sitting I can see the fuel pumps and Noah coming towards the car, his hands in his pockets and hair freshly groomed. He is handsome I'll admit it, anyone with a perfectly capable functioning pair of eyes could make that judgement. So what's drawn him to me? The university runaway dressed in jeans with a plain t-shirt and hoodie. When there's him who is dressed also in jeans but is wearing a white shirt and his blonde fluffy hair neatly kept.

"Better?" he asks as he sits beside me in the drivers seat placing his bottle of water in the drinks holder.

"Better." I reply actually managing a smile this time.

"Good because we're on the move again." he says starting the cars engine and pulling out of the petrol station.

I take another bite out of my sandwich and look out of the window, Willsbury is far behind us now it even looks like we're heading into a city not a big one but its bigger than what Willsbury is that's for sure. However, we never hit a motorway and instead enter the small city via a country lane. The city is nice with cars zipping to and from, and the streets are bustling with life and activity. Noah pulls the car into a car park and we both hop out, I raise my eyebrows at him but he just smiles and directs me out of the car park and down the street. We pass shop after shop and I bump into several people in the process, but Noah grabs my arm and pulls me into a clothing store that looks way over my budget.

"Is this the surprise?" I ask looking at him through wide eyes.

"Its part of it yes," he admits looking cautious.

"Well I love it and appreciate it but I don't have the money to be buying clothes from this place," I admit allowing a small laugh to slip out of my mouth.

"I wasn't expecting you to pay for anything in here because I will."

For a moment I am absolutely gob smacked I can't let him pay for me to go on a shopping spree, that's ridiculous.

"Oh Noah, thank you but I can't let you do that." I reply.

"Its my money and I'll do what I want with it." he challenges me.

I smile and put my hands on my hips, he then pushes me towards the women's department and I begin to sift through the mountains of clothes that lye before me. I find a dress that I quite like, its black and it would hug my body so that my curves would show and would probably sit at just the top of my knee. I throw it over my arm and keep it in mind. As I'm sifting through the piles of expensive clothes I pick out a few pairs of jeans and a few tops that look better than the ones I currently keep on the backseat of my car in a carrier bag.

When we get to the checkout the total for our shop comes to £1245, I have to hold onto the side of the counter to prevent myself from collapsing and when Noah pushes his debit card into the machine without even having a look of regret on my face I wonder just how rich is this guy and his family?

"Ready for stop number two?" he asks as we walk back down the street and into the car park.

"You bet I am," I say enthusiastically.

He smiles at me and takes the two bags out of my hands and puts them in the boot, he then joins me in sitting in the car and we pull out of the car park.

I can't help but wonder where we are going next, I'm desperate to know and the anticipation is killing me. I think I really like Noah and I really hope this lasts.