Bad Memories // a.u.

chapter 16: unexpected help

We've spent the last hour trying to figure out what to do about Skylar. Jake had fallen asleep with his face on the table, a line of drool coming out of his mouth. We had all texted her multiple times with no response. I was getting really frustrated and worried about her. She's never done anything like this before and I just wanted her to come home. 

"Do you think we should call the police or go look for her?" I asked, frantically pacing throughout the kitchen.

"Elle, you need to calm down," Keaton grabbed onto my shoulders to hold me in place. "We can go out and look for her if you want. I'm sure she's ok though. Didn't you say she was taking a walk?"

"Yeah, but she's been gone for so long. This is so unlike her. What if something happened? I just don't know where she would even go. If we were home, I would but I just have no idea." For some reason, I still described Rhode Island as my home even though this felt more like my home. I covered my face and willed for my tears to go away. "Someone needs to stay here in case she comes back and we can't leave Jake by himself."

"Why don't you stay here and Drew and I will go out?" Keaton suggested, pulling me to his chest. His strong arms made me feel safe and I nodded. "We're gonna find her," he whispered into my ear before pressing a kiss to my temple. 

"Keep in touch," I reminded him He nodded as they made their way out of the kitchen. I took a seat on the opposite side of the table as Jake, bouncing my leg up and down. The house was completely silent except for Jake's soft snoring. I couldn't take it after a couple minutes, so I attached my iPod to the speakers we had on the counter and put on some music. It distracted me for a few minutes, but I couldn't stop coming up with the worst scenarios of what happened to Skylar. Images of her lost and bloodied somewhere entered my mind. Then I couldn't stop the images of my parents and my breath started to become labored. I leaned over the table, trying to steady myself and make the images leave. It wasn't working and the images just got stronger. 

"Noelle? What's going on?" I heard Jake's voice in the distance and his arms lightly grabbed my waist. I tried to respond by opening my mouth to speak, but no words came out. "Come on," he slurred, still not sober from all he had to drink. He pulled me to the chair he had just been sitting in and kneeled in front of me. He touched my face gently with his hand. "Shhh, Noelle. Calm down. You're ok."

I took a deep breath and slowly the images of my parents covered in their own blood, tied to their bed posts drifted away and I saw Jake's face. "Thanks," I murmured. "You didn't have to help me."

He stood up and took the seat next to me. "You were going mental. What was I supposed to do?"

I shrugged, looking away. "I know you don't like me."

"I don't hate you, Noelle. I just wish you guys didn't move away and I can't blame you for what happened to your parents. Skylar is a great friend to you and I can't blame you for our problems. I'm not a jerk all the time, you know? But I was jerk to Skylar so I do understand why she picked that other guy. I was stupid to come here."

I looked over to him. "You're not so bad, Jake and I really am sorry for everything."

"Don't blame yourself Noelle. If we belonged together, we would be together," his voice clear, seeming to have sobered up over the last few minutes. We sat in slience, except for the music drifting from the speakers and I checked my phone, which still had no new messages. "Where did everyone go?" Jake looked around the kitchen.

"To look for Skylar," I answered, not looking up from my phone. I stared at the last text I got from her.  

I need to clear my head so I'm gonna take a walk. I broke it off with Jake for good so you should be happy about that. 

My phone beeped, seeming louder than it normally did causing both Jake and I to jump. I frantically unlocked it to find a message from Keaton. 

Drew and I are on our way back, checked everywhere and asked around. no one has seen her. sorry, babe. 

My shoulders slumped and I looked up to find Jake looking intently at me. "Why are they looking for her? Did she never come back?"

I nodded. "Yeah and she isn't texting me back. I don't know what to do," I said as I heard the door open. I stood up and rushed there at the slight chance it was Skylar, but the person that I saw coming into my house was Sam. 

"What the hell are you doing here?" I sneered.

She sucked in a breath. "Before you get angry, let me explain. I found Skylar on my way home from work and she was a mess. I tried to convince her to come home, but she wouldn't listen to me. She practically ran away from me, so I-"

"Where is she?" I interrupted her, not seeing my best friend anywhere. 

"I'm getting there," she rolled her eyes. "As I was saying, she was trying to get away from me. Apparently she didn't want to go home? I don't know, but it looked like she'd been crying and I told her to at least tell you where she was. I got no response so I followed her."

"That still doesn't tell me where she is," I pointed out. 

"I know," she sighed. "So I followed her and she goes to this hotel. The one in town? I don't know if you know it since you haven't lived here very long, but she goes there and I try to stay far enough behind so she doesn't notice I'm following her. She goes in and rings some room but gets no answer. She leaves a frantic message, I couldn't hear what she was saying though. I caught her as she was rushing out. She seemed pissed that I followed her. She yelled at me about boundaries and personal space. She took out her phone, but put it back away because it had died."

"That's why she wasn't texting me," I thought aloud.

"Yeah, whatever. So I asked her why she was at the hotel and she ignored me, saying that she needed to go take a walk. It was like 11 by this point and she still seemed a mess. I convinced her to come with me, but then when we got here she bolted. Like she couldn't come in here. It was so weird."

"Where did she go?"

Sam shrugged. "I don't know. It looked like she could've gone to the beach or something. I tried to help."

I nodded. "Thanks, but I think you've done enough."

"Seriously? I haven't done anything to you, Noelle."

"You know exactly what you've done to me." I held open the door for her and she gave me a death glare before walking out. I walked into the kitchen to where Jake was still sitting at the table. "Are you gonna be ok if I go down to the beach for a minute? Drew and Keaton should be back any minute."

"Yeah. I'm fine. Is everything ok?"

"As ok as it can be," I replied and before slipping out the sliding door. I found Skylar with her legs hugged to her chest, her zippered sweatshirt hanging off one shoulder, and her pony tail falling out. I bit my lip as I approached her, afraid of the state she was going to be in. 

"I'm sorry if I scared you, Noelle," she said before I even reached her. 

I sighed as I sat down beside her. "It's ok," I told her, even though it really wasn't. "Just tell me what happened."

"I had second thoughts on my walk, so I went back to see Jake. But he wasn't there." Because he showed up drunk at our house, I wanted to tell her. "So I was stupid and left him a voicemail telling him I loved him even though I don't. I like Drew. I don't even know why I did that and I can't take it back." She put her face in her hands. "I'm so stupid, Noelle."

I put my arms around her. "No you aren't. We'll figure this out, ok? I'm sure if you talk to Jake, he'll understand." After talking with him tonight, I had gained some respect for him.

"Yeah?" she asked, sounding somewhat hopeful.

I nodded and she leaned her head on my shoulder as we looked out at the dark expanse of the ocean with the moon as the only source of light. 

sorry for making you wait awhile for this chapter but yay, skylar is found! what do you think of what she told jake on his answering machine? who do you like better - jake or drew? please vote/comment xx zoe