Invisible

Chapter 15: When it Rains, It Pours

Author's Warning: This chapter contains a section which may be upsetting to some readers, It is marked with an = at the beginning and end for those who may choose to skip it.  

Disclaimer: Tissues may be required to read.

~Blaze~

"Why the fuck does everyone I love keep trying to control me?" I screamed it. Then I saw Lacey.

Lacey was crying.

Fuck, I'm an asshole.

I turned around and rubbed my face with my hands to try to calm down. None of this was Lacey's fault. Fuck I wasn't even really mad at her. My stupid loving family with all their goddamn "advice" all night had wound me up. Shit. I had to fix this. Hopefully that "just apologize" advice Mal had given applied for even a fuck up of this magnitude. I would just apologize and tell her I didn't mean any of it and explain what had me wound up and then we'd kiss and make...Wait. No. No kissing. She doesn't like the smoking. If I want more kissing, I have to give up smoking. Yeah, that was a hard choice. I couldn't even remember why I'd started smoking in the first place but that one brief taste of Lacey and I was completely hooked. So, yeah, kissing won. Okay, time to man up and apologize. I turned...

...and cursed.

Lacey was gone. In the next breath panic took over. We were in downtown Charleston. There were neighborhoods not far from here where a girl who looked as fucking hot as she did right now should not be walking around alone. And what if she had another panic attack. Shit, shit, shit! I raced for the bike, texting Mal in the process to let her know to come pack up. How the hell was I going to find her? Call in reinforcements? Hell, it was a good thing I had a big family. Shit, Mr. Henshaw was going to kill me if anything happened to her. I came to a dead stop in front of the bike. Mr. Henshaw had given me his number, told me to call if anything happened. Well, I guess this qualified. Maybe if I were honest about what happened he'd only beat the ever living fuck out of me.

I made the call.

"Blaze?" Mr. Henshaw answered after only a couple rings, man must have been practically sitting on the thing.

"Mr. Henshaw, I'm sorry. I fucked up. I blew up at Lacey and she took off. I only turned my back for a minute, I swear. I just needed to calm down but when I turned back around she was gone. I don't know where she is, or how to find her and anything could happen and oh fucking shit!" I punched the wooden light pole I was standing near, splitting my knuckles open. I couldn't care less.

"Calm down, kid. I can find her. I'm disappointed in you though. You had better make things right. Where are you?" He was a lot calmer than I had any right to expect. Although I could hear the barely restrained worry in his voice.

"Downtown by Miller's pond. Please tell me if you find her, sir." Mr. Henshaw hesitated for a minute and I was sure I was done. This was it, he was gonna tell me never to see Lacey again. I deserved it. Fuck, I deserved so much worse.

"Yeah, sure. I'll let you know." he hung up without another word and I took off on my bike to find Lacey.

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~Lacey~

The tears streaming down my face weren't helping my darkening vision any. I needed to stop running, to calm down. I needed to figure out where the hell I was. I knew all this, somewhere deep in me. Just like I knew Blaze hadn't really meant to snap at me and in reality it probably had nothing to do with me. The bit of me that knew these things though was buried under the part that hit full blown panic and fear. As I darted between a couple buildings, I stumbled from the dizziness threatening to overwhelm me. I hit the pavement, tearing my knee open. Biting back the urge to cry out in pain, I got back on my feet, limp-running like a zombie in one of my favorite movies. I had no direction, fear and panic driving me to just keep running.