Chasing Shadows

19 Snooping

A L E C

Reagan's car was gone, had been gone since not long after she stormed out last night. I heard her peel out of her driveway. When I went to bed she was still gone. I woke up at six, still gone. It was after noon now and her car had yet to materialize.

She was with Pierce. I knew it. He got his claws in and seduced her into spending the night. What was she thinking? He didn't love her. He would never love her. She threw away everything for him. I should text her, make sure she was alright.

"Are you still snooping?" Helen's voice broke through my reverie, making me jump.

"I'm not snooping. I'm just watching the clouds."

"Uh-huh. If you're worried about Reagan, she's fine."

I continued to peek through the blinds, scanning the street for her. "How do you know?"

"Because she texted me for a favor. She's at the Pruitts'. I guess her mom tossed her out."

I crushed the blinds in my fist. I nearly pulled them off the window when I swung around. They clattered against the windowpane. "What? She didn't tell me."

"You chased her out of here last night. I wouldn't tell you either."

"But if she needed a favor, I could have done it."

Helen looked at her nails like I bored her. I could hear the whine in my voice, but I didn't care. Reagan had needed me and she turned to Ella instead. Better than Pierce I suppose, but what if Ella told her about our fight? How she was at the center of it.

"I should have been the one to go."

"Even if you were on speaking terms, I don't think Reagan's packing extra bras for her."

My face got hot and Helen laughed. The last twenty-four hours were a nightmare. This conversation just made it worse.

"Calm down," Helen said. "Reagan won't stay mad with you forever."

"But she needed help and I wasn't there." My voice felt meek. I felt meek. I couldn't even go over to comfort her. Ella would never let me in her house, even to see Reagan. I needed to convince her to meet me on neutral ground.

"Dry your tears, Alec. Just text her."

I grabbed my phone from my desk but stopped. "How did she look? What happened with her mom?" I demanded, shaking my phone at her.

"Tired and you can ask her about her mom yourself." Helen turned on her heel without another word. She closed my door behind her.

I heard a car coming down the street. I pulled the blinds all the way up, hoping to catch a glimpse of Reagan's car. It wasn't her. Sighing, I texted her with an apology and begged for details.

Since I knew Reagan wasn't coming home anytime soon I decided to get out of the house while I waited for her to respond. I would go crazy staying cooped up all day. Going for a walk around the block would clear my head.

The day was humid, making my skin sticky within minutes of my walk. The sun beat down on me, heating my head up. Sweat prickled at my hairline. Maybe a walk wasn't such a good idea. I was already agitated, the hot air and humidity wasn't making anything any better.

By the time I got home, there was no word from Reagan. Not a text, not a call, nothing. Every inch of me felt betrayed. Her car still wasn't in the driveway. Whatever went down at her house must have been bad. My only solace was she wasn't staying with Pierce.

I got on Instagram for lack of something better to do. Helen had updated a few pictures of her and her friends. Ella posted a few pictures of her and Reagan eating popcorn and lounging in her dad's home theater, #HughGrant4Life was underneath. I refreshed and several new pictures from Reagan came up.