Take Me Away | ✓

» 27

P H O E N I X

The service ended shortly after Kaden and I came inside. My mom had left a while ago with Kat and Ethan, for work purposes she'd said. But it seemed to me like she really wanted to get out of there. After all, it had only been a few months since she'd attended her son's funeral.

"You coming?" Chloe said, inclining her head to where the rest of our little group was standing.

I nodded, following her out. We'd all either come with our parents or with each other but it looked like neither of us wanted to go home and there was an unspoken, collective agreement as Kaden led the way, being the only one with the car. We all stood in the shelter of the alcoves and judged the distance to the car and how wet we'd become from the rain.

Nobody moved from their positions so I decided to make a sprint for it. "Shotgun!" I yelled and was off.

It was raining so heavily now, I could barely make out what was in front of me, let alone which direction I was going in. My teeth chattered and my eyes were blinking furiously to get rid of the droplets falling on them. But I managed to be the first one to the car.

Of course, it was locked.

"I have the keys, genius." I heard Kaden say from behind and turned to see him smirking.

I gave him a look as he unlocked the doors and jumped in. He turned the heating on just as a few more car door slams were heard and Elsa, Chloe and Jay piled in.

"It says there's a storm on its way." Jay read off his phone while tousling his hair and wiping the moisture from the screen.

"Let's get home before it reaches us." Chloe collected her hair and drained it like you would to a wet towel. I watched Kaden grimace as water began to fall on his seats.

Just before he started the engine, the doors opened once more and a breathless Sam stumbled in, tripping over Elsa's feet and falling face down on Jay's lap.

"You didn't think you were leaving without me, did you?" His muffled voice came.

"What's your brother going to say?" Kaden asked.

He shrugged, sitting upright. It looked like a tight squeeze in the back. "I can't go back to the house."

Elsa's arms were immediately around him when his voice broke at the last word. Chloe patted his shoulder whilst Jay offered consoling words.

"Tell the detective he's with friends and not to worry." Kaden said quietly, handing me his phone.

I nodded and after that, we really were on the road. I called my mom, telling her I'd be staying over and judging from the angry grey clouds, it looked like it was going to be a long night.

The drive was agonisingly long and it was made even more uncomfortable when we were all in damp clothes. "What's taking so long?" Elsa asked.

"Traffic." Kaden muttered. We all peered out the rain pelted windshield and at the rows of cars and angry drivers beeping their horns. I grabbed Kaden's hand just as he was about to do the same thing.

"You're better than that."

"I'm really not." But he moved his hands away nonetheless.

In the distance, a flash of lightning scored the darkening sky. "How long will it take for that to reach us?" Sam questioned.

"Depends. Could be from half an hour to an hour. Maybe even less." Chloe answered.

"We won't be outside long." Kaden frowned, tapping the wheel and added, "Hopefully."