pretty girl (Lauren/You- first person)

chapter forty.

It was Jake's turn to drive down the highway as I sat up straight in the passenger seat, with Lauren stretched out across the back, a pair of headphones on her head that were attached to her phone while she swayed slightly to the music. Dinah and Normani insisted on coming with us, even when I tried to discourage them, so they followed in Normani's car. We all agreed that having two vehicles could benefit us in many different ways for the various "what if" scenarios we had imagined while coming up with our plan.

A plan that there wasn't much of, truthfully. Once Anthony's mother understood what was going on when the police contacted her before Anthony ever did, she spoke easily with us and the police and gave us all of the information she had, albeit not much. She remembered a few of Ally's relatives names, firsts only of course, and a passing conversation where Anthony mentioned the highway exit they get off at when they visit Ally's aunt and uncle in San Antonio, exit thirty one. Considering the police still hadn't seemed to find any last names or addresses, or make any sort of progress for that matter, I was attentive to anything she had. Taking the few names she had given us, I occupied my time spent not driving by scouring social media, trying to find the link we needed to bring Delilah home. I was growing frustrated all over again, a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach telling me that they had a one-up on us somehow and we were starting a game of cat and mouse by getting more involved than some might think we should.

"What's up with the San Antonio police? You should look them up, see if they've ever actually worked a case before or if they're only good for traffic stops." Jake let out a puff of air to punctuate his sentence, glancing over as he shuffled in his seat, undoubtedly feeling as antsy as I was being cooped up in a vehicle for so long.

"You're right actually. Such a big city, with a big police force, this isn't their first kidnapping, can't be." I stared out the window at the blur of gray pavement and green trees from the wooded area that lined the highway for miles, wondering what was really going on. Just as I opened my phone to do some more research, gentle fingertips brushed against the back of my arm.

"Hey pretty girl, I thought you had fallen asleep." I cooed, catching Jake rolling his eyes as I turned as far around as I could so I could see my wife. I sneered in his direction before focusing my attention on the girl behind me, making all of us laugh quietly.

"Kinda, for a while." She giggled as she finally sat up fully and properly, stretching her arms to the ceiling and cracking her neck back and forth. I watched in adoration as she did the simplest things, blushing when she gave me a look that said she noticed.

"I'm on the SAPD website," Lauren said as I reluctantly turned back around. "It's a little slow to load, but there's a tab that lists all of the officers on the force, and like rankings or whatever." I could hear Lauren shuffling around behind me, but didn't pay much attention to it until I heard the flick of a lighter followed by the window rolling down. I spun around again to find my wife with a joint between her lips, puffing on it to get it started.

"So you thought of everything then?" I asked with a smug, teasing smile. Lauren easily matched my facial expression, exhaling as she passed an unlit joint and her lighter to me.

"Don't I always?" She winked, leaning back in her seat comfortably when I took the items from her hand. Just as I had lit the joint, my brother decided to clear his throat obnoxiously. I side eyed him, knowing exactly why he did that but choosing to play dumb instead. As I brought my hand up to start smoking, he snatched the joint out of my hand.

"Hey!" I laughed out, reaching for the joint but purposely missing while Lauren egged us on from the backseat as she mimicked the sound of a crowd cheering. Jake playfully waved it around before bringing it back to his lips, and at that point I decided to just let him have it. As I waited impatiently for him to at least pass it back to me for a few hits, I felt soft fingertips on my arm again. Turning, I was met with a pair of bright green eyes and yet another joint.