Blurred Lines

Chapter Fourteen

"Does your dad know anything about it?" Bri asked, turning left down the hill. We were on our way to grab lunch with some friends we went to high school with.

I shrugged. "He seemed shocked about it and when I asked, he said that the first time he was hearing about it was on the news today."

"He'll probably learn more about it soon enough. Is he going into work today?

"For a little bit, but he didn't get called in to work on the case."

"Interesting." She frowned, slightly pressing her foot on the brake to stop at the red light. I snuck a side glance at her to see her finger tapping against the steering wheel to the beat of the soft music.

I bit at the edge of my cuticle for a minute, thinking. The curiosity was eating away at me, I wanted to know so badly who killed Dave. It didn't seem fair that after all this time, he was just gone. I wanted revenge, I wanted him to feel the pain that I had felt. The heart pulling, gut wrenching pain that seemed to wreck my insides and rattle my brain. I wanted him to feel all of it.

Now, the only hope I had was that his loved ones, his girlfriend Victoria Johnson, could understand. Understand that she had chosen, after all this time, to stay with a man who was a murderer of innocents and despite how much I hated myself for it, I hoped she felt the pain.

I watched as the light turned green in front of us, and I tried to shake my head of all the nasty thoughts that were poisoning me.

Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes and I cleared my throat. "I'm just curious as to how she's doing, you know?"

"I guess so. She's probably hurting."

I hope she is. "Yeah, but aren't you just curious?" I continued to press. "I mean, I'm thinking I might drive by sometime."

Bri's head snapped over to look at me. "Drive by? Drive by Victoria Johnson's house?" She stared at me in disbelief.

"Yeah, I-"

"Blair, you can't just drive by," she interrupted. "You can't just check up on people like that, I've told you this before."

"I know, I-"

"No, seriously, driving by will make the situation worse." Her tone was hard and stern, leaving no room for interjection.

"How?" I protested. "I'm just curious. Can't I be curious? It's not like I would talk to her or have any kind of interaction."

Bri turned into the plaza, heading towards the café set in the middle of the shopping center. I could sense her getting frustrated with me. She thought about things too logically and I was the emotional one that thought with my heart, not my head. But I had a right to think with my heart, this man left me broken.

"Look, you just need to leave it to the detectives." She sighed and turned the steering wheel, pulling into a parking spot. "Don't get yourself involved, okay?"

I gave her a tight smile and unbuckled. "Sure. No problem." I dropped the subject, knowing she wouldn't be able to understand my twisted way of thinking. It wasn't her fault, it was just hard for her to put herself in my shoes sometimes.

Grabbing our purses, we made our way across the blacktop and over to the restaurant doors. We were greeted by a rush of wind from the cool air conditioning and it sent goosebumps up my arms. A couple of the girls, Cassie and Emma, were already here with a table in the corner.

"Hey, girls." Bri hooked her purse over the back of the chair. "Where's Kate?"

"Late per usual." Cassie rolled her eyes and checked her phone.

"I'm sure she'll be here in a few minutes." I settled into a seat next to Emma. "How are you guys doing?"

"As good as I can be, I've been working for my mom this summer and you know how we clash," Cassie huffed, straightening her top. "I just really want to get into the fashion industry and somehow she convinced me that leadership positions in her boutique were a great place to start."

"That sounds like good exposure," Emma offered.

Cassie shrugged, tugging on her straw for a sip of water. "How about you? What have you been up to?"

"Well, last night we went on a double date with a guy I know from college, Jonah, and his friend, Patrick." Bri grinned.

Cassie leaned in and Emma asked, "How was it?"

"It was great," Bri gushed. "Jonah was amazing and such a gentleman, wasn't he Blair?" She looked at me for a second before continuing, "I don't want to get too ahead of myself, but I'm really excited about where we're headed."

"Was this your first date?"

"First official date, yes." She tapped a finger on the table. "But we've been talking for a while and we've hung out before."

"Oh, this is so exciting," Cassie squealed before turning her attention to me. "And how was Patrick, Blair?"

"Well at first, he gave a bad impression. But he apologized later for it and said that he was just nervous for how the night would go. But he loosened up and I ended up really enjoying myself."

"Would you go out again?"

I pressed my lips together for a moment, suppressing a childish smile. "Yeah, I would."

"Are you-" Emma's attention was diverted when she looked up, waving over at someone.

"She's finally here," Cassie muttered. "Good grief, she is literally slower than my grandmom with her cane."

Kate came over and sat down in the empty seat on the end. Our waiter came over shortly after to get the rest of our drink orders, and then later for our meals. It felt good to laugh and poke fun with everyone, and I could feel the stress slowly melt away from the way it tensed my shoulders and stiffened my face.

***

When Bri pulled into my driveway, she gave me one last pleading look. "I hope you feel better after lunch. I know it's so hard what you're going through, but please just leave the investigation to the detectives."

"I do feel better." My smile was soft and delicate. It was true, I did feel better. But my thoughts didn't just magically disappear like mist in the afternoon. "I'll try to forget it."

"Good." She appeared satisfied with my answer. "If you need anything, call me."

"Will do." I got out of the car. "Thanks for the ride."

"Bye."

I shut the door and walked to the front door, waving as she drove away. Dad wasn't home when I got inside and he probably wouldn't be home for a few more hours. Instead, I tried turning on the TV and drinking a glass of water. But my curiosity got the best of me and after about five minutes I grabbed my keys, locking the front door behind me.

"This is a bad idea, Blair," I mumbled to myself, turning the key in the ignition. Before moving, I looked up the address and plugged it in to the GPS. Slowly backing out of the driveway, I cursed myself the entire way for the lack of self control I had in me.

The GPS calculated the directions to get there, the audio confirming the forbidden address out loud in the too-quiet car.

Victoria Johnson's address.

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Thank you all for reading :) What do you think of this chapter? 

Did you like Blair's friends from high school? They've hung out before in a previous chapter, but this is the first chapter where you find out a bit more about them.

- Payton