Hooked The Making of an Addict

Chapter Eighteen: Hiding in Plain Sight

It had been a week since CeCe took off. A very long week. 

I had barely slept. I felt like the entire thing had been my fault. I should have just gone outside. I should have checked on her. Nobody knew where she was. We called all of her friends from school, went to Jake's house, we even asked her mom on the off  that she may have changed her mind. 

The police said that there wasn't much they could do since she was a runaway and not kidnapped. We would just have to wait it out. 

I waited in the park everyday after school. I sat by our tree hoping she would come back. I just wanted to see her. I wanted to know why she ran. 

Today Jake sat with me under the tree. He was worried about his sister too. I had just recently found that out. They were half siblings on her dad's side. She had so many little secrets she refused to share. 

"You think she will come back?" I asked passing the joint back to Jake. 

He took a puff and waited a moment before responding. 

"I think she just needs time. Her mom and our dad really did a number on her." 

I sighed. She had told me some of the things that happened to her but never in detail and Jake made it sound like there was so much more. 

"How come you haven't tried taking custody? Can't siblings do that?" 

"I'm twenty five, running a restaurant that can barely stay out of the hole and living in a run down house in the bad part of town. Do you really think that any judge would give me custody of a sixteen year old girl?"

"What are you guys talking about?" CeCe said sitting down beside me as if she had never left. 

Jake and I looked at each other then back at CeCe. 

"What?" She asked holding her hand out for the joint. 

"Where the hell have you been?" Jake almost yelled. 

"At a friends house. You going to pass that?" 

"Fuck no. Explain yourself!" 

"I'm not going back with mom. I'm just going to stay with my friend for a bit while I get everything figured out."

"You can't do that Cecelia."

"Why not?"

"Your sixteen!"

I sat back and watched them argue. I was still in shock that she was even here. I was waiting for the beeping of my alarm to wake me up. 

"Hello earth to Aaron." CeCe said waving her hand in front of my face.

"Huh?"

"Miss me?" 

I don't know why but I was suddenly really angry at her. I had spent a week worrying while she was off at a friends house. And she said it as if it was no big deal. 

"You couldn't call?" 

"My phone is still in my room."

"You couldn't come by and let someone know you were okay?"

"I'm sorry?" 

I had been waiting for this moment for a week but not all I wanted to do was walk away.

"I'll see you later Jake." I said as I walked past CeCe. 

He had a stunned look on his face. He knew what I had been going through. He had heard about the nightmares. 

I heard footsteps running behind me. I knew it was CeCe trying to catch up but I couldn't turn around. 

"Aaron please wait. I really am sorry I just needed to clear my head."

I kept walking. Everything I wanted to say to her was beyond crossing the line of mean and I promised I wouldn't hurt her. 

"Aaron please! I love you!"

That stopped me dead in my tracks. I turned around to look at her, expecting an evil grin, but she looked back at me with the most serious look on her face. 

"I really am sorry." CeCe said never taking her eyes off of mine. 

"What about the other part?"

She nodded and I understood. It's hard enough to say it once and even though I wanted to hear it over and over again I wasn't going to force it out of her. 

"Me too." I said mimicking our conversation from that night. 

She smiled at me and all of my anger just disappeared. I couldn't be mad at her when she look like that. 

"I promise I won't hurt you." She replied. "Not again." 

I wrapped my arms around her and held her, never wanting to let her go. 

We stood like that for a few minutes until Jake decided to interrupt by clearing his throat. 

"Not to be the party pooper but Aaron should probably be getting back to the house."

I looked at the time on my phone. It was almost time for dinner. Ann had made it very clear that she wasn't going to tolerate me missing dinner anymore this week. 

"Are you coming back?" I asked CeCe. 

"I can't. They will call my mom."

"So where are you going?"

"Can you come back after dinner?" 

"Probably not. We have a new curfew on week nights."

CeCe looked down at her feet. 

"Just come home. We can talk to them and ask them not to call her until the morning." I pleaded. 

"They would probably give you the night to get everything straight. They know how it's going to turn out." Jake added. 

She sighed in defeat.

"Fine. But the second they reach for the phone I'm leaving. I'm not going back to my mom. Not this time." 

"Let's all just go back." Jake replied.

CeCe nodded and we all began walking back towards home. I took CeCe's hand in mine and she held on tight. 

I felt better knowing Jake would come too. I felt like he might know what to say to Ann and Michael to get them to avoid calling her mom for as long as possible. I knew what she was planning and I was going to help her do it. 

I finally understood why she was so willing to hold my secret unless it became a danger. 

It was my turn to keep a secret for her.