Caraphernelia

2 - matteo

Saturday

I feel the hands on my shoulders before my eyes snap open, awake, to find myself nose-to-nose with a boy sporting startling gray eyes that I don't recognize.

The next thing I feel is the floor rushing up to punch me in the face after he shoves me off the bed.

"Where's my fucking sister?" He demands.

I groan and rub my face as I sit up, not looking at the boy. "What the hell--?" My voice trails off when my eyes finally meet him, running up and down his lean, skinny figure.

He has blonde hair that swoops in fringed bangs across his face, and he's clad in a plain red t-shirt, black jeans, and a beanie. He has hard, striking gray eyes behind black large-framed glasses and a single lip stud glints in the light. He looks like the smaller, geekier version of. . .

His sister.

"M-Matteo?" I stammer when it hits me. Matteo is Cara's twin brother - though they couldn't be more opposite. Cara's sassy and goes out a lot, Matteo's snarky and kinda introverted. I don't know him too well, I only ever see him when he's with his sister, which isn't often.

"No shit, Sherlock. Who else would be screaming at you at ten in the morning with your keys in his hand?"

My gaze falls to his outstretched hand, a set of keys - my keys - dangling from his fingers. I scramble to my feet and yank the key from his grasp as if they will disappear if I didn't.

"Where'd you get these?" I ask.

Matteo just shrugs. "Cara dropped them off at my place yesterday, didn't say anything about it. I came by to bring them back but she's not here. Where is she?"

"I don't know," I groan and fall back onto my bed. It's too early for me to be interrogated. "Haven't seen her since yesterday morning, either. When I came home last night she wasn't here."

"Have you called her?"

"Of course. No answer."

"Well, where--" He begins, but his voice trails off. "What's this?" He picks up something off the dresser and hands it to me as I sit up.

A sick feeling settles in my stomach as soon as my fingers take it. "It's Cara's phone. . ."

Suddenly I jump to my feet and find myself frantically searching the house. Her laptop is out and open on the kitchen table. All of her toiletries remain untouched in the bathroom. Then something catches my eye: her purse, the buckle shining.

"Spencer, what is it?" Matteo calls after me.

"S-she left all of her stuff. If she left somewhere, she would have taken her phone and purse."

Realization dawns on his face. "Maybe she left in a hurry," he offers. Then he adds. "Wait, look at this."

He's opened her phone, a picture already pulled up on the screen. A bear logo, and under it the words California Republic.

*insert photo here*

"What's that?" I ask.

"It's the California State logo," Matteo answers, looking at me with answers scribbled over his features.

I shake my head at what he's thinking. "You think she went to California?" He can't be serious, can he?

He nods, "She has always wanted to go to Cali, hasn't she?"

He's right. She has. Ever since I've known her, all she dreams about is one day driving to California, living with the strobe lights beaming from every window and bars on every corner.

"But she wouldn't leave all of a sudden without telling anybody, would she?" I ask, disbelief evident in my voice, even though that's just the thing that Cara Gryffin would do. She's stubborn, won't let anyone control her; and if you try to stop her, she'll run right through you. And she is always leaving without telling me - she's hardly even with me anymore - so I wouldn't be all that surprised if she is on her way across the country right now.

"Unless she didn't want anybody trying to stop her."

"What the hell are you saying, Matteo?"

"How would you feel about taking a little road trip to California?"