disclaimers, notes, etc on chapter 1.
+++
Two months later
+++
His fingers fumbled with the clock radio that seemed to screech a Cher song into his bedroom. In his sleepy haze, he turned up the volume, instead of turning it down. He growled as his level of anger rose with each word she sang.
If I Could Turn Back Time
If I Could Find...
Finally having enough of this crap, he grabbed the radio and ripped it from it's socket, sending it crashing to the floor as he let go, another broken clock at the hands of a frustrated Dudley.
"Stupid clock." Bubba moaned as he snuggled back into his covers. "Had two more hours of good sleep before wake up time."
He turned over and encountered the warm body next to him, he knew it was her, he knew she had probably had another nightmare or she had been too afraid to sleep alone. It reminded him of Ann in the best possible way, a little girl frightened by the unknown wanting to sleep with big brother.
Bubba brushed a few stray hairs away from Lita's mouth and chuckled as she let out a loud snore.
Settling back into a comfortable position on his side, he kept his eyes on Lita, watching every small movement that the girl beside him made. He knew he should sleep, get a few more hours in before the rush of phone calls about sightings of Trish or more wrestlers asking for updates and for more flyers to put up in the next town on the stop on their tour, but he couldn't, he wanted to protect her more than anything, both Jeff and Lita.
They were too young to go it alone, the way he tried to do. He knew they'd end up bitter and angry like him and he just couldn't let it happen. He heard another noise that sounded like a yawn, a few feet away from the bed. Bubba rubbed his eyes as they focused on a sleeping Hardy, in his leather recliner, with a small quilt over his body.
Bubba smiled, even though it was hard times, he did enjoy the company of the duo and the way they smiled at each other, the wisecracks they loved to spout back and forth.
They also had their share of bad times in the last two months, every false lead or prank played on them by some stupid fan. The fact that the police on both sides of the border didn't seem interested in chasing a suicidal celebrity didn't help matters. When it got quiet and all the phones stopped ringing, when Jeff decided to sit out on the porch and drink a little, Lita would shut herself in her room and cry.
Bubba took another look at her before finally closing his eyes and falling back asleep. Hopefully, today would bring good news.
+++
Jeff hurried over to the collection of phones in the middle of Bubba's living room as two began to ring.
"Trish Stratus missing person's center, please hold. Trish Stratus missing person's center, how may I help you?" He politely spoke as he dropped four sugar cubes into a glass of hot coffee.
"Oh, alright, we'll get those mailed out to you as soon as possible, okay? Thank you for supporting us. Alright, bye bye. Hello, Trish Stratus missing person's center, how may I help you?"
He listened to the caller for a moment, jotting down a few notes about the next sighting of Trish. This time she seemed to be in Biloxi, working in a diner, going by the name Lynne. He lit up as Lita and Bubba entered the room and he waved, giving them a smile, pointing to the two cups on the desk in front of him.
Bubba mouthed a thank you as he grabbed his cup and Lita gently kissed Jeff on the cheek as she grabbed hers and headed to the kitchen to work on some more on labeling fliers. He blushed but didn't let her see it, he turned to face Bubba who was grinning at him. He shook his head gently and wrote down the callers phone number.
"Alright, thank you for calling, uh huh, thank you. Bye bye." Jeff hung up the phone and sighed. "So, Trish is a waitress in Alabama, she's a maid in Montana and apparently, she's working as a used car saleswoman in Albany."
"Whole lotta nothing, huh?" Bubba asked.
"Yep." Jeff nodded, hanging his head. "We've got a few donations from the guys, enough to cover mailing costs of the fliers and it'll cover about half of the printing costs of the bumper stickers."
"That's good. I'm going to go check my cell phone and you keep plugging away." He walked towards the kitchen but stopped and turned to Jeff. "Oh and Jeff, she likes you too." He winked at the younger guy who just bashfully smiled and turned his attention to other matters.
Bubba's house had seemed to turn into a headquarters for finding Trish, the two kids working their butts off in the living room and kitchen, had moved in with him, they all worked hard to get Trish's picture and the word out on her. It had been two months, two months of hell with no valuable leads at all.
The only thing that known about her disappearance was that it didn't show any of the signs of a kidnapping, her money had been drained from her account and bank surveillance videos showed Trish happily withdrawing her money and out to her car with no one around to force her to do any of those things.
Bubba sighed when the only messages left on his cell phone message box were friends from old organizations sending good thoughts his way.
He headed back into the living room and into the kitchen, he took a final sip of his coffee before heading over to the machine to pour some more. He watched as Lita quickly slapped on labels for multicolored fliers, asking for donations or tips on Trish's disappearance. Lita had taken some time off from the WWE to help out, she seemed better off here than pretending to be happy in some ring doing a hurricanrana.
"How are you holding up, kid?"
Lita smiled as she slapped on another label. "Aye aye captain, doing okay!"
"You seem cheery today."
He settled into a chair and grabbed a stack of fliers, helping thin out the pile.
"I've got coffee and I'm on a good start today."
"Didn't have a nightmare last night, huh?"
She didn't react, her hand kept going back and forth from the labels to the fliers, stacking them up, higher and higher. He reached over and stopped her hand from moving for a minute, she glanced back up at him and nodded.
"Jeff had fallen asleep on the couch and I was alone and... I just got scared, I hope you didn't mind."
He released her hand, gently rubbing it. "Of course I don't. He was on my chair last night."
"Jeff?"
"Yep." He nodded as she shoved a stack of labeled fliers out of the way.
She smiled and dropped another stack of fliers into a bin beside her chair. "Well, fliers for most of Southern Idaho are done."
She rubbed her wrist a little as she slipped off her chair to grab some more sugar cubes from the cupboards. "Think they'll actually do any good?"
He shrugged as he took a sip from his cup. "Hopefully."
"Hey, you guys!" Jeff came bounding into the kitchen, his voice filled with excitement, waving his cell phone at them.
"David called from California with a follow up on the lead we got from that woman and he says it looks a lot like Trish. He's emailing some photos right now!"
And as quickly as he came, he was gone, waiting beside the computer for his incoming email. Lita and Bubba looked at each other, knowing that this would probably be another fluke, knowing that it was probably just another chick with blonde hair and a tiny bit of a figure but that didn't stop them from smiling at each other and running out to the living room, taking the space on both sides of Jeff, who was sitting on Bubba's ottoman.
"He said he was so sure it was her."
"Yeah, did he seem drunk?" Lita snarked. "Bubba, honestly, I don't see why you pay him, he's not much of a private eye."
"He's a friend from way back, Lita. He's found people before."
Lita shrugged and turned her attention back to the screen. Bubba gave her a sideways glance before turning his eyes to the monitor too.
You've Got Mail
Jeff squealed and opened last piece of mail in the box and clicked 'download attachment'
They waited in silence as the zipped folder downloaded. Bubba could hear Jeff whisper something over and over, it sounded almost as if he were praying but he couldn't be sure.
Download complete.
Bubba swallowed as Jeff opened the folder and clicked on the first photo, Lita closed her eyes and crossed her fingers, hoping it really would be the big break. She heard them swear softly and opened her eyes, only to spot a blurry photo on the desktop.
"Fucking bastard. Trish isn't pudgy looking and this girl, she's not even blonde!" She cursed.
"Hey, she could have dyed her hair!" Jeff spoke up only to have Lita glare at him.
"Stop being so optimistic! It's annoying."
"I know a little something about hair dye." He huffed as he turned away from her.
Jeff squinted his eyes and clicked open another photo. There were twenty five in all, most of them were blurry shots of a dark brown or black haired girl, doing various things outside of a large home. Mostly gardening, watering the lawn. And there were a few others of the woman, driving a blue car, shopping at a supermarket, talking to another woman.
"Couldn't he afford a camera with better zoom?" Lita asked.
Jeff rolled his eyes and handed Bubba the cell phone. "He asked for you to call. I really think it is her, Bubba."
Bubba looked down at phone in his hand and then to Jeff's eyes, they always seemed so hopeful and open. He shook his head as he snatched the phone from his palm.
"I'll be back."
Bubba headed out to through the den and out onto the patio. He dialed the number and waited for David to pick up.
"Marisino." The voice on the other end seemed tough, someone you didn't want to make angry.
"It's me."
"Oh, hey, kid." His voice softened as he realized who it was. Bubba listened for a moment to the deep sigh on the other end before he spoke.
"So, is it?" He asked, knowing that David didn't need many words.
"Bubba, you know I've only sent you info about the most promising leads and this really does seem like it. There's just something there. Yeah, she seems a bit out of shape and she does have dark brown hair but her face, it's still... I just know."
Bubba nodded. He knew he could trust David with these sort of things, even in the previous times he had sent info he had told them that he didn't think it was her but this time he couldn't help but hear the hope in his voice.
"Alright. So, where is she? Do you have any info on what she's doing?"
"She's in northern California, it's a small town around Sacramento called Henrickson. Sorta suburban, sorta country. I'm doing a check on the house to see what the renters info comes out as."
"Okay, since you think this is good. I'll fly out and you can give me the rest of the info, I can check it out. I'll probably bring Jeff to tag along, he's known her for longer, he'll be able to maybe tell by body language." Bubba shrugged as he turned around, only to see the faces of Lita and Jeff squished up against the den's picture window. He frowned and they pulled away from the window, giving him slightly shrugs and slight grins.
"Hmm, that's a good idea. Call me when you get to the airport, I'll pick you two up and take you around the area but remember if she sees you, she may run again."
"I understand that. Thanks again. Goodbye."
Closing the cell phone, he kept his eyes on it for a moment. Could it be? Two months of sending out fliers, calling people for help, sleeping very little. Would it really pay off? So lost in thought, Bubba didn't see the two eager people in front of him but he certainly felt them when he slammed into them, sending them to the floor.
"Okay, first, ow." He whined, rubbing his chest as they picked themselves off the floor.
"Ow? You? I just got my ass handed to me by a stomach." Jeff joked as he dusted off his pants.
"What happened?" Lita asked, pushing past Jeff, who frowned as she did so.
"Well, if it is her, she's in California, small town USA. He's going to figure out some stuff about the house, who owns it, who's renting it. In the meantime, Jeff, you and I are going to go check it out."
"Why can't I go?"
"You guys had that fight right before she left. I just don't think it's the best idea."
"Oh, okay. That's alright, I can stay here, keep track of calls and stuff." She said, disappointment filled her features.
Bubba moved forward, placing his hand on her shoulder.
"Lita..."
"No, it's okay. It's fine."
She shrugged his hand away and quickly left the room, her arms wrapped tightly around her frame.
"I'll go. You get some plane tickets ready."
Jeff quickly followed Lita, winding through the living room, ignoring a ringing phone and down a hallway, stopping at the door to her room. He softly knocked and waited for an answer, when none was heard. He opened the door, closing it behind him.
Lita was sitting with her back to him, she sniffled and rubbed her nose with the back of her hand.
"It's not your fault." He said, walking slowly to her side.
"Then why do I feel it is?" She asked, her voice filled with hurt.
"Because us humans are stupid, we try to reason how things go wrong, why they go bad and when we can't figure it out we end up blaming ourselves in the end because we're the only ones left behind to place the blame on."
She shrugged, her eyes still downcast.
"She was depressed, Lita. Depressed people do..." He trailed off as he watched her body shake, her hands came to her face, covering it as the tears began to pour.
"I just don't know why it has to happen to the people I love." She cried.
"I don't know either." He settled next to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder, pulling her into his embrace. "I don't know."
He rubbed her back slowly, soothing her slowly as she stopped crying.
"Thanks for being a friend." She whispered into his shirt before she pulled away a bit.
"I'm always here for you, remember that."
She tried her best to muster up a smile for him.
"Thank you." She said, genuinely.
He smiled and brought his lips down, placing a gently kiss on her forehead. He pulled back and noticed something different... there was a spark, something there, something new in her eyes. Jeff leaned down a bit further and gently kissed her lips. He half expected a slap, half expected her to ask him what the hell he was doing but she did neither, instead, she wrapped her arm around his neck, kissing him back.
They got lost in each other for a tiny moment before being brought back to earth by Bubba's booming voice.
"I got the tickets, come on, Jeff!"
Jeff winced and pulled away from her, heading to the door. He looked back at her for a moment.
"We'll talk later." He whispered, as he closed the door.
She sat there long after she heard the engine of Bubba's car fade away.
+++
The two men sat in the van, watching the dark house near the end of Bishop Lane. David thought they were insane for wanting to immediately go out and stake out the house, he tried to reason with them that the results of the search for who was living in the home would be faxed over during the morning hours of the next day but they didn't care.
It had been two months of worrying about whether their girl, as they now dubbed her, was dead in some ditch, a Jane Doe in some coroners locker. They wouldn't sleep now, not until they got a glance of her.
Jeff glanced at his watch and sighed. Midnight. His fingers tapped against the dashboard, waiting in anticipation.
"Think it'll be her?" Jeff asked, turning to Bubba, who was staring at the woman's front door.
"Hopefully." He replied, his eyes still attached to the red door.
"Y'know I think..." He stopped as he heard a giggle that sounded extremely familiar.
"What?"
"Shh!" Jeff hushed him as he looked down the sidewalk, away from her house.
There were two girls walking closely together, laughing and walking quickly towards them, he watched in awe as the girl's face came closer, it couldn't be...
"Oh my god." Jeff kept his eyes on them as they inched closer.
"What?"
"It can't be..."
"What!?" He asked, agitated with Jeff's vagueness. Bubba unbuckled his seat belt and leant over Jeff, his eyes fixed on the girl as she flashed a smile to her friend. That same smile she would flash to the boys backstage.
"Holy..."
It was Trish.
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I know, the suspense was short but I suck at it, so on with the story. Hope you enjoyed.
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Two months later
+++
His fingers fumbled with the clock radio that seemed to screech a Cher song into his bedroom. In his sleepy haze, he turned up the volume, instead of turning it down. He growled as his level of anger rose with each word she sang.
If I Could Turn Back Time
If I Could Find...
Finally having enough of this crap, he grabbed the radio and ripped it from it's socket, sending it crashing to the floor as he let go, another broken clock at the hands of a frustrated Dudley.
"Stupid clock." Bubba moaned as he snuggled back into his covers. "Had two more hours of good sleep before wake up time."
He turned over and encountered the warm body next to him, he knew it was her, he knew she had probably had another nightmare or she had been too afraid to sleep alone. It reminded him of Ann in the best possible way, a little girl frightened by the unknown wanting to sleep with big brother.
Bubba brushed a few stray hairs away from Lita's mouth and chuckled as she let out a loud snore.
Settling back into a comfortable position on his side, he kept his eyes on Lita, watching every small movement that the girl beside him made. He knew he should sleep, get a few more hours in before the rush of phone calls about sightings of Trish or more wrestlers asking for updates and for more flyers to put up in the next town on the stop on their tour, but he couldn't, he wanted to protect her more than anything, both Jeff and Lita.
They were too young to go it alone, the way he tried to do. He knew they'd end up bitter and angry like him and he just couldn't let it happen. He heard another noise that sounded like a yawn, a few feet away from the bed. Bubba rubbed his eyes as they focused on a sleeping Hardy, in his leather recliner, with a small quilt over his body.
Bubba smiled, even though it was hard times, he did enjoy the company of the duo and the way they smiled at each other, the wisecracks they loved to spout back and forth.
They also had their share of bad times in the last two months, every false lead or prank played on them by some stupid fan. The fact that the police on both sides of the border didn't seem interested in chasing a suicidal celebrity didn't help matters. When it got quiet and all the phones stopped ringing, when Jeff decided to sit out on the porch and drink a little, Lita would shut herself in her room and cry.
Bubba took another look at her before finally closing his eyes and falling back asleep. Hopefully, today would bring good news.
+++
Jeff hurried over to the collection of phones in the middle of Bubba's living room as two began to ring.
"Trish Stratus missing person's center, please hold. Trish Stratus missing person's center, how may I help you?" He politely spoke as he dropped four sugar cubes into a glass of hot coffee.
"Oh, alright, we'll get those mailed out to you as soon as possible, okay? Thank you for supporting us. Alright, bye bye. Hello, Trish Stratus missing person's center, how may I help you?"
He listened to the caller for a moment, jotting down a few notes about the next sighting of Trish. This time she seemed to be in Biloxi, working in a diner, going by the name Lynne. He lit up as Lita and Bubba entered the room and he waved, giving them a smile, pointing to the two cups on the desk in front of him.
Bubba mouthed a thank you as he grabbed his cup and Lita gently kissed Jeff on the cheek as she grabbed hers and headed to the kitchen to work on some more on labeling fliers. He blushed but didn't let her see it, he turned to face Bubba who was grinning at him. He shook his head gently and wrote down the callers phone number.
"Alright, thank you for calling, uh huh, thank you. Bye bye." Jeff hung up the phone and sighed. "So, Trish is a waitress in Alabama, she's a maid in Montana and apparently, she's working as a used car saleswoman in Albany."
"Whole lotta nothing, huh?" Bubba asked.
"Yep." Jeff nodded, hanging his head. "We've got a few donations from the guys, enough to cover mailing costs of the fliers and it'll cover about half of the printing costs of the bumper stickers."
"That's good. I'm going to go check my cell phone and you keep plugging away." He walked towards the kitchen but stopped and turned to Jeff. "Oh and Jeff, she likes you too." He winked at the younger guy who just bashfully smiled and turned his attention to other matters.
Bubba's house had seemed to turn into a headquarters for finding Trish, the two kids working their butts off in the living room and kitchen, had moved in with him, they all worked hard to get Trish's picture and the word out on her. It had been two months, two months of hell with no valuable leads at all.
The only thing that known about her disappearance was that it didn't show any of the signs of a kidnapping, her money had been drained from her account and bank surveillance videos showed Trish happily withdrawing her money and out to her car with no one around to force her to do any of those things.
Bubba sighed when the only messages left on his cell phone message box were friends from old organizations sending good thoughts his way.
He headed back into the living room and into the kitchen, he took a final sip of his coffee before heading over to the machine to pour some more. He watched as Lita quickly slapped on labels for multicolored fliers, asking for donations or tips on Trish's disappearance. Lita had taken some time off from the WWE to help out, she seemed better off here than pretending to be happy in some ring doing a hurricanrana.
"How are you holding up, kid?"
Lita smiled as she slapped on another label. "Aye aye captain, doing okay!"
"You seem cheery today."
He settled into a chair and grabbed a stack of fliers, helping thin out the pile.
"I've got coffee and I'm on a good start today."
"Didn't have a nightmare last night, huh?"
She didn't react, her hand kept going back and forth from the labels to the fliers, stacking them up, higher and higher. He reached over and stopped her hand from moving for a minute, she glanced back up at him and nodded.
"Jeff had fallen asleep on the couch and I was alone and... I just got scared, I hope you didn't mind."
He released her hand, gently rubbing it. "Of course I don't. He was on my chair last night."
"Jeff?"
"Yep." He nodded as she shoved a stack of labeled fliers out of the way.
She smiled and dropped another stack of fliers into a bin beside her chair. "Well, fliers for most of Southern Idaho are done."
She rubbed her wrist a little as she slipped off her chair to grab some more sugar cubes from the cupboards. "Think they'll actually do any good?"
He shrugged as he took a sip from his cup. "Hopefully."
"Hey, you guys!" Jeff came bounding into the kitchen, his voice filled with excitement, waving his cell phone at them.
"David called from California with a follow up on the lead we got from that woman and he says it looks a lot like Trish. He's emailing some photos right now!"
And as quickly as he came, he was gone, waiting beside the computer for his incoming email. Lita and Bubba looked at each other, knowing that this would probably be another fluke, knowing that it was probably just another chick with blonde hair and a tiny bit of a figure but that didn't stop them from smiling at each other and running out to the living room, taking the space on both sides of Jeff, who was sitting on Bubba's ottoman.
"He said he was so sure it was her."
"Yeah, did he seem drunk?" Lita snarked. "Bubba, honestly, I don't see why you pay him, he's not much of a private eye."
"He's a friend from way back, Lita. He's found people before."
Lita shrugged and turned her attention back to the screen. Bubba gave her a sideways glance before turning his eyes to the monitor too.
You've Got Mail
Jeff squealed and opened last piece of mail in the box and clicked 'download attachment'
They waited in silence as the zipped folder downloaded. Bubba could hear Jeff whisper something over and over, it sounded almost as if he were praying but he couldn't be sure.
Download complete.
Bubba swallowed as Jeff opened the folder and clicked on the first photo, Lita closed her eyes and crossed her fingers, hoping it really would be the big break. She heard them swear softly and opened her eyes, only to spot a blurry photo on the desktop.
"Fucking bastard. Trish isn't pudgy looking and this girl, she's not even blonde!" She cursed.
"Hey, she could have dyed her hair!" Jeff spoke up only to have Lita glare at him.
"Stop being so optimistic! It's annoying."
"I know a little something about hair dye." He huffed as he turned away from her.
Jeff squinted his eyes and clicked open another photo. There were twenty five in all, most of them were blurry shots of a dark brown or black haired girl, doing various things outside of a large home. Mostly gardening, watering the lawn. And there were a few others of the woman, driving a blue car, shopping at a supermarket, talking to another woman.
"Couldn't he afford a camera with better zoom?" Lita asked.
Jeff rolled his eyes and handed Bubba the cell phone. "He asked for you to call. I really think it is her, Bubba."
Bubba looked down at phone in his hand and then to Jeff's eyes, they always seemed so hopeful and open. He shook his head as he snatched the phone from his palm.
"I'll be back."
Bubba headed out to through the den and out onto the patio. He dialed the number and waited for David to pick up.
"Marisino." The voice on the other end seemed tough, someone you didn't want to make angry.
"It's me."
"Oh, hey, kid." His voice softened as he realized who it was. Bubba listened for a moment to the deep sigh on the other end before he spoke.
"So, is it?" He asked, knowing that David didn't need many words.
"Bubba, you know I've only sent you info about the most promising leads and this really does seem like it. There's just something there. Yeah, she seems a bit out of shape and she does have dark brown hair but her face, it's still... I just know."
Bubba nodded. He knew he could trust David with these sort of things, even in the previous times he had sent info he had told them that he didn't think it was her but this time he couldn't help but hear the hope in his voice.
"Alright. So, where is she? Do you have any info on what she's doing?"
"She's in northern California, it's a small town around Sacramento called Henrickson. Sorta suburban, sorta country. I'm doing a check on the house to see what the renters info comes out as."
"Okay, since you think this is good. I'll fly out and you can give me the rest of the info, I can check it out. I'll probably bring Jeff to tag along, he's known her for longer, he'll be able to maybe tell by body language." Bubba shrugged as he turned around, only to see the faces of Lita and Jeff squished up against the den's picture window. He frowned and they pulled away from the window, giving him slightly shrugs and slight grins.
"Hmm, that's a good idea. Call me when you get to the airport, I'll pick you two up and take you around the area but remember if she sees you, she may run again."
"I understand that. Thanks again. Goodbye."
Closing the cell phone, he kept his eyes on it for a moment. Could it be? Two months of sending out fliers, calling people for help, sleeping very little. Would it really pay off? So lost in thought, Bubba didn't see the two eager people in front of him but he certainly felt them when he slammed into them, sending them to the floor.
"Okay, first, ow." He whined, rubbing his chest as they picked themselves off the floor.
"Ow? You? I just got my ass handed to me by a stomach." Jeff joked as he dusted off his pants.
"What happened?" Lita asked, pushing past Jeff, who frowned as she did so.
"Well, if it is her, she's in California, small town USA. He's going to figure out some stuff about the house, who owns it, who's renting it. In the meantime, Jeff, you and I are going to go check it out."
"Why can't I go?"
"You guys had that fight right before she left. I just don't think it's the best idea."
"Oh, okay. That's alright, I can stay here, keep track of calls and stuff." She said, disappointment filled her features.
Bubba moved forward, placing his hand on her shoulder.
"Lita..."
"No, it's okay. It's fine."
She shrugged his hand away and quickly left the room, her arms wrapped tightly around her frame.
"I'll go. You get some plane tickets ready."
Jeff quickly followed Lita, winding through the living room, ignoring a ringing phone and down a hallway, stopping at the door to her room. He softly knocked and waited for an answer, when none was heard. He opened the door, closing it behind him.
Lita was sitting with her back to him, she sniffled and rubbed her nose with the back of her hand.
"It's not your fault." He said, walking slowly to her side.
"Then why do I feel it is?" She asked, her voice filled with hurt.
"Because us humans are stupid, we try to reason how things go wrong, why they go bad and when we can't figure it out we end up blaming ourselves in the end because we're the only ones left behind to place the blame on."
She shrugged, her eyes still downcast.
"She was depressed, Lita. Depressed people do..." He trailed off as he watched her body shake, her hands came to her face, covering it as the tears began to pour.
"I just don't know why it has to happen to the people I love." She cried.
"I don't know either." He settled next to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder, pulling her into his embrace. "I don't know."
He rubbed her back slowly, soothing her slowly as she stopped crying.
"Thanks for being a friend." She whispered into his shirt before she pulled away a bit.
"I'm always here for you, remember that."
She tried her best to muster up a smile for him.
"Thank you." She said, genuinely.
He smiled and brought his lips down, placing a gently kiss on her forehead. He pulled back and noticed something different... there was a spark, something there, something new in her eyes. Jeff leaned down a bit further and gently kissed her lips. He half expected a slap, half expected her to ask him what the hell he was doing but she did neither, instead, she wrapped her arm around his neck, kissing him back.
They got lost in each other for a tiny moment before being brought back to earth by Bubba's booming voice.
"I got the tickets, come on, Jeff!"
Jeff winced and pulled away from her, heading to the door. He looked back at her for a moment.
"We'll talk later." He whispered, as he closed the door.
She sat there long after she heard the engine of Bubba's car fade away.
+++
The two men sat in the van, watching the dark house near the end of Bishop Lane. David thought they were insane for wanting to immediately go out and stake out the house, he tried to reason with them that the results of the search for who was living in the home would be faxed over during the morning hours of the next day but they didn't care.
It had been two months of worrying about whether their girl, as they now dubbed her, was dead in some ditch, a Jane Doe in some coroners locker. They wouldn't sleep now, not until they got a glance of her.
Jeff glanced at his watch and sighed. Midnight. His fingers tapped against the dashboard, waiting in anticipation.
"Think it'll be her?" Jeff asked, turning to Bubba, who was staring at the woman's front door.
"Hopefully." He replied, his eyes still attached to the red door.
"Y'know I think..." He stopped as he heard a giggle that sounded extremely familiar.
"What?"
"Shh!" Jeff hushed him as he looked down the sidewalk, away from her house.
There were two girls walking closely together, laughing and walking quickly towards them, he watched in awe as the girl's face came closer, it couldn't be...
"Oh my god." Jeff kept his eyes on them as they inched closer.
"What?"
"It can't be..."
"What!?" He asked, agitated with Jeff's vagueness. Bubba unbuckled his seat belt and leant over Jeff, his eyes fixed on the girl as she flashed a smile to her friend. That same smile she would flash to the boys backstage.
"Holy..."
It was Trish.
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I know, the suspense was short but I suck at it, so on with the story. Hope you enjoyed.