Simon's POV
Tori fell back into the chair with a frustrated huff. "How much longer are we going to sit here? We clearly pissed him off enough that he's not coming back."
My phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out and saw Derek's name on the screen.
"It's Derek," I said, everyone was looking at my phone. They probably hoped it was Matt.
"Hey," I said as I answered.
"Hey, we're on our way back to Tess' now. Where are you guys at?"
I hit speaker and set the phone next to me so everyone could hear and I wouldn't have to relay the conversation.
"Same hotel still. We uh kinda really pissed off Matt and he bailed. We've been trying to stick around as long as his credit card will let us to see if he was coming back."
"Maybe he's with them," Liz said.
"He just left?"
"Yeah," I said. Not wanting to say more about why, I didn't need a Derek lecture right now.
"Have you tried calling him or tracking him?"
I rolled my eyes annoyed. He still found a way to criticize. "Of course we tried that. His GPS is disabled and he's not answering."
Derek told Chloe to call him.
"Waste of time," Tori said. "He wouldn't answer me."
"That's cause no one likes you Tori," Derek said.
I chuckled and Tori threw a pillow at me.
"He answered her," Derek said.
"What did he say?" Kyle asked.
There was a minute of silence while Derek listened to the conversation.
"He didn't give her any answers," Derek said finally. "But he said he left his car so you guys can get back to Tess'. And that Simon should drive."
Tori rolled her eyes, "Of course."
"Alright," I sighed. "We'll see you there soon then."
I hung up and set my phone down on the table. They all watched me as I stood up and began throwing all my loose items into my bag.
"What're you doing?" Kyle asked. "Are we leaving right now?"
"Yep," I nodded. "No sense in sitting around any more. Grab your stuff guys."
They did as they were told. We gathered up our things and everything that Matt had left behind and checked out. I pulled the map route up on my phone as we got into the car.
"Do you think Matt will ever come back around?" Kyle asked. I think he was feeling guilty.
I shrugged and nodded at the same time, "Yeah, I do actually. He lived with Tess for a very long time, there's no way he walks away from that friendship especially with everything going on with her and Elijah. He'll be back to check on someday. I don't know when. Maybe weeks maybe years. But yeah he will be back."
"So what happens now?" Tori asked.
I shrugged, "We go back to Tess' and regroup and figure that out."
"I finished school already, what am I supposed to do if we stop hunting? Get a real job?"
"I don't know Tori," I said getting agitated. I pulled the car out of the parking space.
"Well you're in charge so you should be figuring these things out," she said.
"Shut up already Tori," I snapped. "I'm not in charge of anything but driving! Figure your crap out for yourself!"
Well that shut her up. Tori didn't say a word until we stopped for gas two hours later. And all she had to say was that she was going inside the gas station for a bathroom.
The car ride was fairly quiet except for the radio I had playing softly. I spent the time wondering about what Tori had said. What are we going to do now? I enjoyed this hunting thing but I hadn't wanted to do it forever. I was just a few credits away from an associates degree with all those classes Derek and I used to take at the Lyle House. I could start a normal life somewhere if I found work that I enjoyed but what kind of work did I want to do? My life had always revolved around magic in some way or another, I couldn't walk away from it into the normal world. Maybe there was a job out there like Tess' job where I could help others in need and still be somewhat part of the real world. She made running a safe house look pretty easy, how hard could it be to shelter and feed people that are going through situations just like we went through?
I wondered a lot about Kyle and Liz too. If we all move on from our lives away from this hunting thing, then what was left for them? They were visible but they were still ghosts. Dead. They can't get jobs or go to school or be in one place for too long. People would notice that they never aged. Would they decide to go off on their own together and keep hunting? Or just traveling to sightsee? Or would they decide to move on back to the other side, where honestly, they belong. I felt bad thinking that because they were my friends and I didn't want them to go, but Tori went against the laws of nature. They shouldn't actually be here.
What would my dad think about all this? It's been ages since I've talked to him. I wondered what he was up to lately. What he thought about me and my decisions. I should call him when we get back to Tess' and catch up with him.
After four more hours of driving we stopped for food. The tension in the car was finally starting to lift when we all had something to eat. We cracked some jokes and started conversations.
We made it another two hours before I was becoming too tired to drive safely. Tori insisted she could drive so we wouldn't have to stop but I said no. I pulled us off into a truck stop to nap. I didn't want to pay for another motel just for an hours worth of sleep.