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Chapter Twelve
Brady's P.O.V
I'd been unable to relax all night.
Since I'd dropped the flowers off at Mack's place I'd been completely distracted and unfocused. When I'd ordered pizza for my younger siblings because mum and Jasmine were out I couldn't bring myself to focus on the menu or the pizza guy and kept ordering the wrong thing or asking him to repeat himself, and when he'd delivered the food I'd given him the wrong money three times. I'd eaten dinner without tasting it, I'd left the TV on an adult horror movie and scared the living daylights out of the kids when they'd walked into the lounge room and even showed them to the wrong bedrooms when it was time to put them to bed.
The only thing I could think of was that tonight had to go according to plan. Nothing could go wrong.
Mum was out on an overnight business trip so I was depending on Jasmine being home by 11pm like she'd promised, but I now realized what a stupid idea that was. What if she was late? I couldn't just go out and leave the kids alone. If I didn't show up tonight every chance of Mack forgiving me would be eliminated. She'd blocked me so I couldn't even send her a message or call her, so I really wouldn't be able to explain why I'd dropped roses at her door with a proposal to meet and then bailed.
But what if she was the one who didn't turn up? What if she'd just laughed when she'd seen the flowers? What if she'd just tossed them away and torn the note to shreds without reading a single letter?
By 9pm my nerves were running higher than ever when my phone went off.
It isn't hard to guess who I was desperately hoping it would be.
But much to my disappointment, it wasn't Mack.
ONE NEW MESSAGE: BIKERS
A few months back Mack and I had both fished out our old mobile phones and went on what we figured would be mission impossible; teaching the Wet Side Story gang how to text. The phones were basic and simple to us, but widely complex to sixties teens, but once they'd worked it out we'd let them keep them so we could contact them. The bikers shared one and the surfers shared one, which was exactly what their names in our contacts were.
"Don't be Lela. Don't be Lela." I uttered.
To my great relief but also slight resentment, it was Chee Chee.
9.01pm
Bikers – Where R U? –Chee Chee XX
I sighed, still relieved it wasn't Lela but annoyed because Chee Chee was the one who told Mack about Lela, so she probably hated me now, meaning this would be a fun conversation.
I typed back my one word reply.
9.02pm
Me – Why?
9.03pm
Bikers – Bcoz U need 2 be on the beach NOW! Come, it's important. We're all her – Chee Chee XX
I re-read the text a few times, trying to decide how to reply.
9.04pm
Me – All of U? Here? In California? I'm babysitting, what's so important?
9.05pm
Bikers –Well not all of us. Lela, Tanner, Butchy, Giggles and me. Mack came to 1962 drunk so we took her home but she isn't cooperating any further than that. Don't know how to deal with her. Help! – Chee Chee XX
I gasped loudly and slapped my palm to my dropped jaw. Mack? Drunk? No. That doesn't happen. Ever. She can't stand the taste, the smell or even the feeling of alcohol. Those two words just don't go in the same sentence.
I waited patiently for another message to enter my inbox from Chee Chee, explain she'd made a typo and autocorrect had annoyingly changed her message, what she'd meant to say was the Mack was upset, or that someone else was drunk.
But when a new message came through, it certainly wasn't Chee Chee explaining a typo.
9.09pm
Bikers – Umm, hello? R U coming? – Chee Chee XX
So her text was correct.
I knew I didn't have a choice. Mack had never been drunk before so I had no way of knowing if she was the kind to do something stupid or not, and I defiantly didn't want to find out.
9.10pm
Me – Will be there soon
9.11pm
Bikers – Thank U. C ya then - Chee Chee XX
I opened call on my screen and dialed the number I knew just as well as I knew Mack's.
"Brady?" Mack's grandpa sounded overly surprised, then slightly annoyed. "Why are you calling?"
"Mack's in trouble." I gushed quickly. "Where are you?"
There was a pause.
"At Antoinette's house." He said slowly. "Mack was her too. She went missing about half an hour ago but she said something about having plans for midnight this earlier afternoon."
My heart sped up. So Mack had planned to come and see me.
"Actually." He continued. "I don't know how long she's been missing. She hasn't been participating in the party the way her Aunt wanted her too, but hiding and shying away and sneaking off. I haven't seen her for at least an hour but Antoinette and I have only officially confirmed she's not in the house half an hour ago when we searched the whole place."
I took a deep breath.
"Look sir, I know I don't deserve your trust, but whatever happened, and whatever does happen, I love Mack. I know where she is and she's in trouble and she needs me. I just wanted to call and tell you not to worry. I'm onto it."
And without waiting for a response, I severed the line and called the bikers number.
"Brady!" Chee Chee picked up after only about half a ring.
"Chee Chee, send someone to my place to watch my little siblings. I can't leave them unattended."
I heard a shuffling noised like Chee Chee covering the mouth piece with her hand and then some whispering.
"Giggles in on her way." She informed me after about a minute.
"Good. I'll leave her as soon as she arrives."
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