The Bad Boys Are Back

17

I woke up in a strange place. My neck ached, and I needed to pee urgently. My eyes were burning too, after sleeping in contact lenses. I'll probably suffer long term vision loss from this.

My gaze traced the stream of sunlight pouring in, to a darkened glass window situated at the top of the wooden wall. This was no strange place, this was the Warehouse.

I could still taste the remnants of puke since last night. Or this morning.

Grabbing my glasses from my bag, I found my way to the bathroom, already expecting it to be subpar. Places frequented by males were always subpar, hygiene-wise.

Surprisingly, the bathroom looked fresh, with a citus-y scent. I did my business, then proceeded for the sink where I could remove my contacts and replace them with my trusty glasses. When I was done, I splashed cold water on my face, and tied my unruly hair into a high ponytail.

When I emerged from the bathroom, I noticed movement.

The terrier, Arnold. He was eyeing me like I was prey.

I tensed, quickly making my way to the couch where I had been dumped. Did I tell Finn to drop me here last night? I think so.

I began searching for my phone, and finally found it at the bottom of my bag.

Lo and behold, 15 missed calls from mother.

The time read 1pm too.

By my estimation, there should be a nation-wide police search for me right now.

And then I noticed another human being staring down at me from upstairs. Yes, the Warehouse was strangely enough, a liveable place. It should have been a mess but it had seemingly been renovated into a cozy loft.

"Hi," I waved up at Levi. "Um, I'm just gonna go now. My mom's probably at the police station. And I'm probably on the news."

He looked confused. Then he called down, "Nah they only start searching after 20 hours. Do you wanna get some fast food?"

I was horrified at his casual behavior.

"No! I gotta get home, stat."

He shrugged. "Alright, I'm gonna head back to sleep."

"Wait. Do you live here?" I asked, incredulously.

From above, he grinned. "I thought you knew. But yeah, just me and my boy Arnold here. Don't pet him."

"Wasn't planning to," I mumbled under my breath as I whipped out my phone to summon an Uber.

"If you stay a little longer Finn's baby brother is coming over in the afternoon."

As I frantically keyed the address in, I panicked when I realized this place didn't exist on the map. "Why would I wanna meet his brother? Also, this place doesn't exist on the map, and I need to call an Uber right now."

"Go on Google Maps and hail a ride from there, it'll get your exact location." He just said. "Also Finn's brother is the best kid in the world. Why wouldn't you wanna meet him?"

I ignored the second part of his speech, focusing on gathering my stuff while the Uber tried finding me a ride. Finally, I got a ride, 10 minutes away. I sighed to myself.

My mother was probably planning my funeral now.

Then I thought about my Calculus worksheets. Where were they? They weren't in my bag. Finn confiscated them last night and never returned them. I groaned internally.

Nancy 1, Ava 0.

"What now?" Levi asked.

I wasn't aware he was still watching from above.