It's Complicated (Troyler)

Hold Out

*Tyler's POV*

The Mellet's had been a lot more proactive than I had, immediately calling around and asking people on the street. I wanted to help, but it was all I could do to stay on my feet as I watched from afar. I was still in the same spot I'd been when I'd hugged Laurelle, and I was beginning to wonder if I'd ever be able to move again. Maybe I was overreacting, he could still just be down the street getting a coffee with his phone on silent. I watched as Steele approached me, a fed-up expression on his face.

"The cops won't do a thing until twenty-four hours are up. I guess I understand that, but this is so out of Troye's character, something's got to be wrong." I knew this, I'd been repeating it to myself since finding the car empty, but for some reason hearing him say it crushed me. I started slowly sinking down the wall, eventually landing on my knees on the cold concrete. Normally I would never do such a thing, sit on the ground like this, but I couldn't stand right now either. Steele was looking at me with a very concerned expression so I decided I'd better reply to him.

"You called them?"

"Well, yeah. It's been nearly an hour now, if he was coming back he would have by now." He said gruffly, looking over to where the rest of his family was approaching. Did he have to be so blunt about every single thing? I needed sensitive right now. Good thing Laurelle was approaching. She was the sweetest thing, I'd be honored to have her as my mother in-law someday, after we'd found Troye. If we found Troye. I cursed myself for thinking like that and forced myself to my feet, to avoid looking like the total baby I was. They all shared the same grim expression that told me none of them had found anything out. The same expression that made me debate falling back to the ground.

"Hey guys, any luck?" Laurelle asked, her soft tone stating that she already knew our answer. Steele shook his head, but I didn't have the energy too and she didn't seem to mind.

"I guess there isn't anything else we can do until twenty-four hours are up." She mumbled, still looking pretty torn up about this decision. I noticed the way Tyde was practically falling asleep and realized why she was saying it. She couldn't forget about her other kids worrying over Troye. She can go home and get some rest, but I'll be damned if I waste another second not out looking for him. I was about to say my farewells to them when Laurelle grabbed my upper arm.

"Do you want to stay with us tonight, Tyler? I doubt you want to stay alone and our hotel is closer to the Playlist center anyway." I frowned ever so slightly despite my efforts to fight it. The very thought of going to Playlist tomorrow while Troye was missing disgusted me, but I guess we'd cross that bridge when we came to it. Right now I had to either come up with an excuse not to stay with them or just give in and try to get some sleep tonight.

"You wouldn't have to share a room or anything, Troye and Wyatt had their own room." An annoyed scoff escaped my lips before I could stop it, but they just laughed. Obviously they'd been just about as into Wyatt as I had.

"Where's Wyatt staying now?" I asked curiously. He obviously wasn't staying with them any longer if they were offering me his room, at least I hoped not.

"We don't know, we haven't seen him since the first day of Playlist, so yesterday, when you guys all ran off. We were out at the time but when we came back all of his stuff was gone." I smiled to myself. The idea of sleeping in a bed that Wyatt had used sketched me out, but if he'd gone missing yesterday he wouldn't have slept in it at all. I still didn't really want to give up on searching for Troye though, even if it was just for a few hours. 

"Actually, I think I'll just-"

"Tyler, there is nothing you can do tonight. We've asked anyone that was anywhere around here at the time, we've looked for clues and waited for him, we've even called the police and none of it has worked. Let's just get some sleep so we can be extra helpful tomorrow, when we can do something." I hated that Steele was right. At least he wasn't smirking at me this time, but maybe that was just because of how severe the situation was. We may have been friends now, but he still treated my like his little brother's boyfriend.