Nineteen

Chapter Eighty-One

"Yes, you are," Clark says.
"Try to text Collin," I say.
He gives me a look, but hands me my phone anyway. I type out a message asking if he wants to come over later, and then I place my phone in my back pocket.
"You're going to my dorm until we hear something, at least," he says. I nod and agree, as much as I don't want to.
Clark grabs my bag and the blanket and pillow, and walks out in front of us. As I begin to follow, Mac grabs my arm.
"Hey, if you don't want to stay at Clark's I can stay with you at your place," he says. I give him a thumbs up and a shy smile. He returns a warm and bright one.

When we get outside, Clark is parked beside of Mac's car and they both wait awkwardly to see who I'm going to ride with. "I need to go home," I say.
"I can take you," they both say at the same time. I smile a little as they look at each other.
I walk to the side of Mac's car, mostly because I don't want to listen to Clark talk about the whole situation. Both of the boys crawl into their cars as I get in with Mac.

We stop by a drive through and he gets me something to eat before we go to the dorms. It hurts to eat, so I mostly drink on the milkshake he got me.

When we pull into the dorm parking lot, it's almost nine o'clock. I lift my head from the window and gather my things. When I step out of the car, I'm almost taken to my knees. Parked on the other end, beside of my car, is a black truck. The black truck. Mac starts in front of me, my backpack strapped to him. I almost yell and tell him to go back home, but he's already going, and I know that he won't listen.
I'm walking on pins and needles the whole walk to the building. I know what he's going to assume, seeing me with Mac, after being missing for two days.
"You okay?" He asks as he holds the door open for me. I give him sympathetic eyes and a thumbs up, but he squints his eyes at me.
"What's going on?"
We start the stairs and I don't feel like explaining it. He's so close to finding out for himself. I take them as slow as I can. I should be excited to see him, but I'm terrified.
When we get to the top, I see him before he sees us. He's in a pair of work pants and a white shirt, both of them covered in oil and grease. His face wears the same thing, and he's leaned against the wall, sitting flat on the floor. His hat is placed on his lap. When we begin to walk down the hall, he turns to us.
His eyes first get wide, but when he takes in my appearance, he stands.
"What the hell happened?" He asks.
"She has a broken jaw," Mac says.
"Did I fucking ask you? I asked her," he spits at him.
"Chill out, man. I've been with her for two days and she's tried to get ahold of you multiple times with no luck," Mac fires back.
Collins eyes cut through him as he pushes him against the wall. "I'm not in the mood for your shit," he says.
"Maybe I'm not in the mood for yours," Mac replies.
Collin doesn't know what to do. I can tell that he's used to people backing down from him almost immediately, and Mac isn't doing that.
I walk past the both of them and open my door. They both follow me.
I throw my stuff onto the bed against the wall and lay down on mine.
"Did you decide if you wanted me to spend the night?" Mac asks, and I can tell he's doing it on purpose.
If Collin could shoot venom with a look, I'm sure he'd be doing it right now.
"You're pretty damn stupid if you think you're staying here," he says.