Stolen (Joe Sugg AU)

Chapter Sixteen: Hope

Please answer the question in the a/n at the end of the chapter.

It turned out that Zoe was fine and that she wasn’t responding because of the KO gas my dad used. Other than that and high stress levels, the doctors said she was stable and that we could take her home.

                Alfie and Joe were both so tired that I offered to take the wheel this time.

                “Wait, you can drive?” Joe asked, yawning.

                I nodded. I barely drove because I was always a bit distracted to pay attention to the road, but I did have my license and I knew I would be focused this time.

                Joe nodded and handed me the keys. He sat in the passenger’s seat, and like his car, Alfie’s has a built in GPS. He put in an unfamiliar address (probably their actual living space) and I started to drive, following the directions the device gave me.

                I looked over at Joe and he was staring straight ahead.

                “You can go to sleep you know? I’m fine.”

                Joe shook his head. “I’ll sleep later.”

                “You need to rest Joe. It’s-“

                “Alex, I’m okay! We’re almost to my place anyways.”

                I didn’t argue any further and for the last three minutes of the drive, I thought about what I was going to do. Should I tell Joe? Should I not? The options were eating at me. If I told him, he’d probably try to stop me, but if I don’t tell him, the guilt will eat me alive. But I need to go with the lesser evil, but which was it?

                We arrived at an apartment complex and Joe woke up Alfie, who carried a sleeping Zoe out the car. I passed the keys back to Joe and we walked up the stairs and to his front door. He opened it and we all filed in, and I took a good look around his apartment.

                I have never been in here before, so the sight of where Joe lived surprised me. It looked normal, and though there were empty boxes in the corner and a bunch of maps on the table, the place looked cleaned. I remember how Joe mentioned he had a roommate, and I wonder if he’s back yet.

                “Is your roommate still in South Africa? What’s his name again? Ca…?” I asked Joe. He was getting some water from his fridge when he answered.

                “Caspar. And yeah he is. I told him to stay there, since he’s going there for the holidays anyways. I didn’t want to drag him into my business.”

                I nodded and sat down on the couch when Alfie came back upstairs.

                “I put her in Caspar’s room. She’s still resting,” Alfie stood by the table, and I had to turn my body so I could face the both of them.

                “What time is it?” I asked.

                “Umm, it’s almost eleven am. Why?” Joe answered, looking at his watch.

                I shook my head. “No reason.”

                “Well, I think we can all rest now, unless we have some final things to talk about?” Alfie asked, looking at me then Joe.