Seven Summers Gone- A Kissing Booth Continuation (Fanfiction)

Chapter 27

Bethany shoves me forward into the empty lift.  I don't want to make the situation worse so I focus on the doors in front of me and stay quiet.   I silently pray that when the doors open Noah comes to the rescue.
I know it's wishful thinking since Noah was still in the shower when we left, but I'm still hopeful.
A million thoughts go through my mind as we descend.  I know she hates my guts so what is she planning? Is she just trying to scare me? Is she planning to hurt me? Has she completely lost the plot and has already picked a spot to bury my body?
A cold shiver runs down my spine, then I notice in the reflection of the door she is just standing there staring at me.
After what feels like hours the doors finally open and I'm shoved again into the basement carpark.
I desperately look around for someone to help.
Oh, come on! How is nobody around, it's like everyone has just disappeared to make it easy for Bethany to kidnap me.

She grabs my arm and leads me to a shiny red, convertible, Mercedes-Benz.  Why am I not surprised this is her car.
"Get in the driver's seat," she says to me forcefully.
I stand still for a little too long and she pokes me in the back with her gun.
"Ok, ok," I say.
As I get in she walks around the car and gets in the passenger seat. 
"Head towards the exit then turn right, and don't even think of trying anything."
I do as I'm told, I don't want to antagonize her, she's already lost the plot if she's doing this.
How on earth did she get in here anyway I'm pretty sure you need a code or a card or something.
Then just as I'm thinking this I have to stop in front of the roller door and next to a small box with numbers on it.  I look at Bethany,
"The code is one, one, four, six."
I punch in the numbers and the door starts to move up.
I look back at her perplexed.
"Whoopsy, looks like Noah should've changed his code," she says as if it's funny.
As I'm pulling out of the building my phone starts ringing in my pocket,
"You won't be needing that," she says and pulls my phone out of my pocket and throws it out the window onto the sidewalk in the pouring rain.
Great, she obviously forgot to take it from me before, and now it's gone.  I start to feel tears pooling in my eyes, I don't want her to see me cry but I'm starting to really freak out a bit here.   I don't know her very well and I don't know what she's capable of.  
I know I joked about her being a bunny boiler, but I never really thought she would actually be capable of doing anything this crazy.
"Where are we going?" I ask trying to keep the emotion out of my voice.
She doesn't answer me and just stares straight ahead.
"Where am I driving to?" I try again.
"Just drive straight ahead until I tell you to turn." I can hear the annoyance in her voice.

She ends up telling me to get on the motorway going west, as we drive in silence for a bit she points the gun at me again.  I start to feel numb and my body goes on autopilot as I keep driving.  I look straight ahead wondering if this is it, I finally find my way back to Noah after years of us both thinking the other had moved on, only to be separated again.
"We were fine until you showed up again,  you know that don't you?  You ruined everything!"
"I..I'm sorry." is all I manage to get out.
"You should be; you will be, " she says angrily.
She puts the gun back down by her side.
Oh, thank goodness it's not pointed at me anymore.
"I really am sorry you got hurt," I add.
As much as I dislike Bethany, I know what it's like to have Noah then to lose him to someone else.  It wasn't a nice feeling.
I see her looking at me out of the corner of my eye.
Then she does something I didn't think she was capable of. 
She starts to cry.
"I really thought we were the real deal.  I've been with so many jerks and then I met Noah.  I thought he'd be just another one in a long line of assholes, but I soon realised he was different.  I may have led you to believe it was just physical between us, but I fell in love."
OMG, where did that come from?
The heartless wench has a heart after all.
"Bethany, can I tell you something?"
She nods and wipes at her wet cheeks.
"I have known Noah all my life and I've been in love with him since I was in high school.  When we broke up, I struggled too.  Then I saw him with another girl and my heart broke in two.  I never really got over him.  You want to know something ridiculous?"
She looks at me.
"I haven't had a serious relationship since Noah, I have compared everyone to him and no one ever came close."
"Is this meant to be helping, cause it's definitely not?" she says as she sniffs really hard.
"I'm sorry, it's probably the opposite of what you want to hear, but that's how it's been for me, and Noah too.  He told me he felt the same like no relationship ever came close to what we once shared.  He never meant to hurt you but the love between Noah and I has been there for a long time. Way before you were in the picture."
We sit in silence for a while, the rain still beating down on the windscreen, the wipers going crazy, trying to keep up.
"I really wanted it to work between me and Noah, I was so used to being treated like shit by previous boyfriend's.  Then Noah came along and treated me with respect.  I couldn't quite believe it, he was perfect in every way.  I guess that is until I found out he was in love with someone else and had been for a long time.  Deep down I know it's not anyone's fault, but I just can't help but feel like something has been stolen from me!"
She looks so sad.
"That's fair.  I felt like that too when I thought I'd lost him.  But maybe now that you know guys like him do exist you won't settle for anything less anymore.  I know I don't know you very well and there's not a lot of love lost between us, but no one deserves to be treated like crap in a relationship. I'm really sorry that you didn't get your happily-ever-after with Noah, but there's someone out there for you, someone more perfect for you than Noah.  I really believe that."
And I do, I think everyone has a someone that is their perfect, and It just so happens that Noah is my perfect--the perfect person for me.
"Thanks," she says and let's loose with the tears.
"I'm really sorry for all of this I don't actually have any bullets in the gun.  My dad made me get it when I moved to New York for self-protection, I've never even fired it," she adds.
"Can we go back to Noah's please?"
"Yeah, pull over at the next exit and I'll drive you back."

After the longest ride of my life, we finally make it back to Noah's apartment.
"I'm really sorry Elle for doing this to you, I just--I was so angry when I saw you here with Noah, I just wanted to scare you and make you both hurt like I'm hurting."
"We really didn't mean for you to get hurt Bethany, that definitely wasn't my intention or Noah's for that fact."
"Yeah, I know........Oh, and tell Noah I'm sorry about his tyres," she says looking down at the steering wheel.
"I did wonder," I say smiling at her.
"You know, in different circumstances, I think we could have been friends," she says.
Hmmm, maybe--I think to myself.
I smile at her and turn to get out of the car.
"If you want to call the cops I fully understand."
I stop with my hand on the door handle and look back at her.
"I think we've all been through enough, although I can't make any promises about how Noah is going to react," I say.
I really do feel sorry for her and she's already been humiliated enough over the last few months.  Not that she didn't deserve some of it, but I feel like we have all been through enough.
I open the door to hop out. 
"Hey, Elle."
I look at her.
"Yeah?"
"Noah's a really lucky guy."
She smiles at me.
"Thank you," I reply.