Match Me

Chapter Ten: I'd Be Like Hannah Montana With A Flute

CHAPTER TEN: I'D BE LIKE HANNAH MONTANA WITH A FLUTE.

XOXO

"Missing? What do you mean by missing?" I ask, horrified.

Carrie seems equally as shocked as she seats herself beside Harley, silently accepting his excuse for standing her up.

"I mean exactly what I said," he says, putting his head in his hand, creating a dent in his coiffed hair. "I don't know where he is. He's been gone for two days!" He cries, drawing stares from other customers at the café.

Two days... It was only two days ago since I last saw Levi, two days ago since the anniversary of his dad's death.

I take a sip of my cold cup of hot chocolate, sad to find that the whipped cream has disintegrated into the drink. The chocolate tastes bitter. "Has anyone filed a missing persons case?" I ask, trying to be calm about the situation but feeling incredibly guilty about all of this.

What if he's hurt? What if he did something stupid? This is all my fault; I shouldn't have been angry enough to let my hurt cloud my thoughts and actions. Even if Levi was being a jerk, I shouldn't have acted the way I did.

"I.. I don't want the police to get caught up in this," he sighs. "The Jetts have already dealt with so much. Levi texted me about two hours ago, but he never said where he went." He says, taking a shaky breath though trying to conceal it. Harley's freaked out, with good reason.

"The café will be closed in a few minutes." A waitress says, directing her eyes over to him. Apparently the twenty-something redhead likes what she sees, as her eyes rake over him unabashedly.

"Thanks, we'll get going now." I dismiss her; slinging my purple raincoat over my arm as the others gather up their things.

As we walk out the café, I notice the sun has began to set, a shadow looming over the bright and cheerful Main Street. Shop keeper's signs turn and blink off, signalling the end of another work day as the clock ticks to five. Dim street lights illuminate every corner, casting an eerie yellow glow over the concrete sidewalks. No one's out at this time but us.

"What did Levi say?" I ask, shrugging on my violet coat, glad for the warmth the furry down feathers provide.

Harley blows smoke through his chapped lips, the grey and white vapour resembling that of a cigarette's, though the smoke is only a result of the cold weather. His eyes don't leave the smoke as he responds: "The raven pecks out my eyes; the flashes of grey, black and white the last things I'll ever see, and the only things I've ever seen."

Both Carrie and I raise an eyebrow in confusion when he shrugs. "Don't ask me. Levi spouts the mystic shit far more often than you'd think a soccer-crazed teenage boy would." He lets out a laugh as he intertwines his fingers with Carrie's. "Your guess is as good as mine." He says, like he's reading my mind.

I bite down on my bottom lip, thinking of where Levi could have gone. Ben mentioned something about having a match later on tonight. "Soccer fields?"

He shakes his head. "I've already checked. The preppy guys are practicing there, I think they're getting ready for the match against us tonight. He wouldn't stick around long enough to watch them; he's probably pissed they booked the fields though."

I nod, knowing that Isaac always complains when he can't get his extra practice in. It got to the point where my parents made our backyard into a mini soccer field, but Isaac says it's not big enough.

Ravens... Something about those birds rings a bell to me, they're not just nuisances. It's on the tip of my tongue. "Any other texts?"

"The others are, uh, sort of confidential."