Damon's POV
I was excited to back in LA. Hell, I was glad to back in America! Europe was great, but there are some things you can only get at home. I was dying to go home and see Emily. I knew that we had agreed to met under the Eiffel Tower after the 2012 Olympics, but that was in two years. I needed to see here know. I hopped a flight to Boulder, where I learned some good and bad news. I went to see Razor to ask him if the Shelter Pups wanted to be my opening act at a couple night club gigs in LA. He immediately accepted the offer and froze up when I asked him what time Emily was coming in.
"Um, dude, she doesn't work here anymore," Razor replied nervously.
I shrugged. "Okay then, I'll just go over to her place." I said nonchalantly. I was walking toward the door when his voice stopped me.
"Dude, she won't be there either," Razor told me, staring at the ground.
All of this was starting to frustrate me. "Well, where is she? At a meet or something?" I asked, annoyed.
"That's the thing, bro. No one knows where she is. She took off, vanished. No one's heard from her in a year." Razor answered nervously. At first, I thought he was lying, but Razor is a horrible liar.
"What happened?" I asked, desperate to know where Emily was.
"Her and those other girls, the brunette one and the non-bossy blonde one, were driving here to celebrate their win at Worlds or something. Emily won the all-around and the brunette and bossy blond both won something. They were driving and a car slammed into the passenger side. The blonde one was fine and Emily just needed five stitches in her hand, but the brunette died on impact. Emily felt really responsible, since she was driving. She packed up all her stuff and left a note. No one has seen her since." Razor told me, clearly glad that I finally knew the story.
I was in total shock. How could Emily give up on her dream? We made a pact to follow both our dreams. She had won Worlds, for god's sake. She gave up. Something she told me crept back into my mind. "My mom, she always ran away from places when things got hard. We never stayed and fought. This the first place I've stayed and fought." I knew she was just going back to what's comfortable for her, which is running away. That is the only thing she's ever seen anyone do. Her mom, her dad, even me.
It took me a while to say something. "Thanks, dude. I'll call you about all the airline crap and stuff tomorrow?" I told him as I grabbed my jacket.
"Don't rock stars have fancy agents and managers to do that stuff for them?" Razor mocked.
I shock my head. "Sorry, but I prefer not to be turned into some cookie cutter pop sensation." I answered as I walked out the door. I actually did have a manager, but I didn't let him handle anything too important. I spent a hour driving around Boulder. It hadn't changed much, or at all. Before I knew it, I was in the parking lot of the Rocky Mountain Training Center. I don't know what compelled me to go here. I just knew that this was were Emily felt at home. That was enough for me.
I walked into the Rock, not knowing what to expect. Suddenly, I spotted the bossy blonde one and Carter arguing. I think her name is Laura or Lauren or something. I'm almost positive it starts with an L.
"Hey, Carter, what's up man?" I said as he turned to face me. His expression was shocked, but it soon turned into a grin.
"Hey, Damon. Not much is happening here. Same old, same old. So, when did you get back? How was Europe?" he asked, reminding me what a resemblance he had to a puppy. Maybe that is why all those girls are fighting over him.
Before I could answer him, the bossy blonde one piped in. "Have you seen Emily?" she demanded, her eyes full of rage. She looked like she wanted to wring out my neck.
"Lauren!' Carter scolded her, his eyebrows raised in that "What the hell are you doing?" kind of way.
"What? She was mooning over him before the accident. I just thought that maybe she went to Europe to be comforted by Pizza Boy." she defended, shrugging her shoulders to make it look like she didn't care. Too bad her face didn't match her I don't care attitude. Her forehead was scrunched up in worry and her snake like lips were set in a concerned expression. I knew Lauren was worried about Emily even though she was rumored to not possess a heart.
"Ah, the bitch of the beam has a heart after all," I replied sarcastically. That was what Emily had told me the other girls called Lauren behind her back.
"Okay, let's get this straight, Band Boy. Emily's gone, which makes my stepmother unhappy and that makes my dad unhappy. Then I'm unhappy. So it's in everyone's best interest to find her." Lauren lied through her teeth. I knew Chloe and Mr. Tanner had gotten married, but I knew there was more of a reason to find Emily than that to Lauren. She knew her team was already missing a member due to unforeseen circumstances, but it was worse to have a team member run off without a word.
"Wait, I thought I was Pizza Boy? Did I get an upgrade?" I mocked, trying to see when she would snap. Instead, I got the ice queen glare and a ponytail whip right in the face. Carter just shook his head and followed Lauren to the uneven bars, where they resumed their argument. That relationship baffled me. How did Carter not bang his head against the wall every second of the day?
My thoughts then wandered to where Emily would have gone. I remembered her telling me about her non-gymnast best friend, Julie, who lived in Las Vegas. She was the reason Emily had loved her family's year in that city. For a year, they were as close as sisters until Chloe decided to pack up and leave again. The girls had stayed in touch and were still pretty close. I remember seeing a picture of them together on a jungle gym. Julie had blonde hair and calm blue eyes. A light bulb went off in my head. Las Vegas! I didn't need to be in LA for a week, so I had time to go check it out. If she wasn't there, maybe the friend was. Or someone else who knew where Emily went. I would go to Chloe first and tell her my plan. If she objected, I wouldn't go.
I took a cab to the Kmetko/Tanner resident. It was certainly an upgrade from their crappy apartment they first lived in after arriving in Boulder. I knocked on the door and some Portuguese maid answered the door. "Um, may I please speak to Mrs. Tanner?" I asked in English, praying that she understood what I was saying. She nodded and briskly walked into another room. I stepped into the foyer, clearly seeing the elements Chloe had added to the house. Cheetah print pillows, disco ball, and a framed black and white picture of Emily, Brian, and her over the mantle. Emily had her short hair and side bangs. I wondered what she looked like now.
"Damon! Oh, it's see great to see you! When did you get back?" Chloe asked, obviously surprised but pleased with my visit. She hadn't changed much in her signature skin-tight cheetah print dress, wild curls, and electric blue eyeliner. The one thing missing was the sparkle in her eye. I'm guessing Emily took that with her too.
"Today actually. Early today. I went to the Pizza Shack to Razor." I said casually.
Chloe nodded sympathetically. "You heard the news," she said, her voice flat and void of emotion. I just shook my head yes. She broke down crying, blubbering like crazy. "I just don't know what I did wrong! She's always been so responsible, always focused. Then, she just gave up her dream. I never had a dream. I just worked crappy jobs to keep us afloat. I was hoping she'd be different. I didn't even get to talk to her after the accident. Payson said she just took off running. I called Julie's mom, Alyssa and she said Emily stopped by and Julie went with her. Of course, Julie calls her mom once a week. Alyssa doesn't actually doesn't know where her daughter is either, but only because Emily insisted on it. I knew I should've stayed in one place during her childhood. I only taught her how to run away from problems. God, I just want to talk to her!" Chloe mumbled as she cried on my shoulder, her eyeliner dripping down her face. I immediately felt bad for her. Emily was the Kmetko's great white hope, the one who would accomplish something, or at least that's how Emily saw it. I knew that her mom wouldn't care if she were winning gold medals or delivering pizzas as long as she was happy.
I handed her a tissue out of the box sitting next to me. "Listen, I'm going to LA for a couple of gigs, and when they're done I'm going to look for Emily. Everywhere I think she would've gone. Everywhere she mentioned to that." I told Chloe with a comforting look.
She burst out smiling and nearly squeezed me to death in a bear hug. Lauren walked down the stairs, her warm-ups replaced by a glittery top and shorts. "Um, Chloe, don't kill him," she said laughing at the sight laying before her. Chloe blushed and let go of me. I took a deep breath.
"So, you're going to find Emily. First thing's first. Payson and I have to come with you." She cut me off as I began to protest. "Look here. We are Emily's friends, her teammates. Having us there will help your odds." Lauren looked to Chloe for support. She nodded in agreement. Since when did these two get along that well? Last Emily told me, they were fighting like cats and dogs. Kaylie's death really must have matured Lauren.
"Fine." I grumbled, pretending to be upset that two girls were accompanying me. I knew having them would help me lure Emily back home.
"Okay, so when do you leave for LA?" she asked me, probably trying to figure out how to convince her coach to let Payson and her take a month of training.
"LA? Why would we start in LA?" I asked curiously. Emily had told me how she had hated the constant sunshine and superficial people.
"Wow, clearly Emily only loved you for your looks. The pool party in LA? The one where Kaylie and I made up? That's the only place she could go that reminded her of us in a good way." Lauren answered as if that was the simplest logic ever. This girl was a lot smarter than anyone ever gave her credit for. That had never even occurred to me.
"We leave in a week. Meet me at the airport on Friday. Call Payson and work out whatever needs to be negotiated." I answered in my business manager voice.
"I'll take care of everything," she reassured me. I took her word, gave Chloe a goodbye, and got back in my cab. The cab driver ripped me off like no cab driver had ever done before, but it was worth it.
The week went by before my eyes. The band was taking the bus while the girls and I traveled by plane. I'd talked to Lauren a few times; Sasha was making an exception since they were trying to reunite their team. Apparently the Rock had been hit hard by Kaylie's death and Emily's disappearance and he thought it would boost morale. I hadn't talked to Payson, but I kind of excepted that. It was probably easier for Lauren to go on the trip than Payson. Payson was there and saw it all. Yet, she still was going after a lot of arm-twisting.
I waited for them near our terminal. Lauren checked a total of four bags and carried two. Payson checked one bag and carried another. My "manager" had Fed-Exed my stuff a few days before. "This is awesome! We're going back to LA!" she squealed delightedly. Payson and I both glared at her. "I mean. yah, we're going to find Emily!' she tried again. We stuck with that one. The plane ride was short, but long enough for Lauren to annoy the crap out of me by talking about Carter.
Payson finally lost it. "Lo, can you shut up? Do you not have anything else more important to worry about? How about our friend who took off without no more than an ill-written note and is afraid to even call her mom?" she shouted at Lauren, clearly letting out built up frustration. I noticed she said friend instead of teammate. Emily had once told me that she didn't know what the other girls considered her. She told me she considered them friends. Lauren remained quiet for the last hour of the flight.
It felt great to step out into the sunny LA atmosphere. Payson seemed to relax once we got to the hotel. "Pay, is this…" Lauren trailed off her question.
"Same hotel the pool party was at? Yeah, it is." she responded quietly. I mentally cursed that "manager" of mine for booking us rooms here, out of all the hotels in LA.
"Don't worry. We won't be here very long tonight. My gig's in five hours. It'll be fun. Clubs here are much better than keggers in Boulder." I reassured them. That made both girls smile. A bellhop grabbed our bags and motioned for us to follow him. We were on the top floor, a huge three bedroom room with an amazing view of the city. I gave the guy his tip and he nodded.
Lauren immediately grabbed her stuff and said, "Come on, Payson. Let's get ready!"
She rolled her eyes at Lauren. "We have four and a half hours. Even you can't take that long to get ready." Payson responded sarcastically.
Lauren batted her eyelashes. "Please! Don't you want to met a hot guy to make Nicky jealous? He deserves it for hooking up with Kelly Parker!" she pleaded jumping up and down.
"Fine, but no leggings this time. That was a total disaster the last time." Payson answered grudgingly. Lauren jumped up and down some more, squealing with delight.
I needed space away from Lauren, so I made up something about getting fresh air. They were too into their makeover to care where I was going. I wandered around for a while before finding a tiny diner called Diner. Original. In desperate need of caffeine, I stepped inside. It was pretty empty except for an old couple sitting in a back booth. I looked around saw three employees, two guys and a girl. The girl looked around my age while the guys might've been a year or two older. She was very innocence and sweet looking with black hair and pale skin, but had the essence of strength around her. I think it was in her amber eyes. One of the guys was tan with short brown hair and green eyes. He and the girl looked like siblings. The other dude had dirty blonde hair that was spiked up and brown eyes.
I sat down in one of the booths, quietly observing the place. The guys and girl were talking about their plans for the night.
"So, Rick, what time are you bringing the Partymobile around to our house?" the girl asked the blonde guy. So the two black haired people were siblings.
"Around eight probably. I'm not sure. I'll probably pick you guys up first, then Emily." Rick answered casually. My ears perked up. Emily? All kinds of thoughts were going through my head before I stopped myself. Damon, there are thousands of Emily's in the country. It's probably not her. For some reason I couldn't shake off the idea that these people knew her. This seemed like the type of place Emily would've instantly gravitated to. It reminded me of the Pizza Shack in the weirdest way.
"What about Julie and Sam?" the black haired guy asked with a skeptical look.
"I'll know which one I'm picking up in about two minutes," Rick answered, his hand pulling out a sliver cell phone.
"What was the bet this time?" the girl inquired with an amused expression on her face.
Rick was just about to answer her when his phone rang. "And that would be our answer," he said while answering his phone. "Hey. Yeah, Tony and Rina are working with me. No, Emily took the day off. Dude, I don't know where she went. Okay. So, who won? You lost? Ha-ha, you have to work tonight! Hey, I don't include myself in your bets. Language! Oh, I see a customer! Bye!' The conversation was interesting.\
"Sam lost again," Tony guessed.
"Yep, and you owe me twenty bucks," Rina stated, smiling smugly.
"Darn Sam! I need to start betting on Julie!" Tony shouted.
Rick rolled his eyes and walked over towards the table I was sitting at. "Hey, dude, can I get you something?" he asked, clearly ready to call it a day.
"No thanks." I answered as I walked out the door. I had a pretty good idea of where to find Emily now. After my gig, I was going to find her.