Chapter 12 – Late Night Helper
Lucas was frantically searching the hotel for Peyton. He had seen no sign of her since the night before. He was starting to get worried. What if she was in trouble? No one was there to save her. How could he be so stupid? How could he just leave her like then and then treat her as if she didn't exist? He couldn't even think of the answers to his own questions. The only thing he could think of at the moment was finding Peyton.
He ran into Nathan on his way down to the lobby. "Hey Nate. You haven't seen Peyton have you?"
"No. I haven't seen her since we landed." He said shrugging his shoulders. "Don't you room with her?" He asked questioningly
"I did." Lucas stated simply as he handed Nathan the letter. "She must have left last night when I was at the bar. She put a Do Not Disturb on the room and they won't tell me what room she's in."
Nathan stared at him shocked by what was coming out of his mouth. Not 24 hours earlier he wanted nothing to do with this girl. Now he's all about finding her. "What's it matter to you where she is? You sure as hell didn't seem to care yesterday." Nathan's eyes bore into Lucas. He was getting severely pissed off with Lucas. Of all the people to start caring out of the blue... he's not one of them.
"OH! And you did? C'mon Nate... Face it... None of us has been kind to her, but that doesn't matter right now. We need to find her." Nathan's face softened at the seriousness of Lucas voice. Maybe he really was concerned about where Peyton was.
"Fine... Lets split up. I'll take the top 6 floors... You take the bottom 4 and the bars and lobby." Lucas nodded his head in agreement. "Call if you see her and I'll meet you where ever you're at."
"Sounds good" Lucas said before walking off. "Oh and Nate." He stopped and turned around. "Thanks"
Nathan flashed a smile. "No problem. Now lets get going"
X-x-x-x-x-x-X
I walked into this bar on the first floor of the hotel around 10. I was tired of watching absolutely nothing on TV and being slap bored out of my mind. I walked up to the bartender and order a shot of Jack. He asked for my ID and poured my shot. Thank god for fake Ids. A guy around 25-30 came and sat down on the bar stool beside me as I ordered another shot.
"Long day?" He asked. I looked at him and laughed
"Long year more like it." I said before downing another shot.
"What made it so long?" He asked as he ordered a vodka tonic.
"You really don't want to hear my sob story. Trust me." I decided to change up my order a bit and ordered a double shot of Jack instead. OK so maybe it was changed that much but it made me feel better.
Later on that night.
"You had one hell of a year to say the least" He said as I drank another shot. Probably my 10th of the night. I was just a tad bit drunk by now.
"Eh... who cares. No one else seems to." I said as I swayed back and forth on my bar stool. "I think I need to get back to my room" I said grabbing my stomach. It was doing back flips by now and I needed to lay down.
"One more shot?" He questioned. I sat there for a minute before giving in. "All right... One more and then I have to go" I held up my finger and laughed goofily as he ordered the last round of shots.
X-x-x-x-x-X
"I still haven't seen her Nate. I've been back and forth to every room on every floor. No one has seen her?" Lucas was really getting worried now. How could 4 floors of people not have seen her. She was kinda hard to miss. Unless she was one of the rooms with no answer.
"We'll find her Luke. She's gotta be around here somewhere."
"Unless she left" Lucas said solemnly. "I'm gonna go check the front desk one more time. It's suddenly become and emergency and there gonna tell me what room she's in and give me a key." He was determined to find her. Nothing was gonna get in his way anymore.
"I'm gonna call Brooke and Haley. They might have seen her. You check with the front desk and if they tell you anything let me know." Lucas wasn't the only one getting panicked. Nathan has known Peyton for quite some time and she's never been one to pull a stunt like this. He was gonna find her.
X-x-x-x-x-X
"OK last one... I have to get back to my room" I stood up slightly and had to grab the barstool to stay standing.
"Let me walk you" He said as he wrapped an arm around my waist to hold me up. "What room are you in?"
"Ummm..." I started laughing as I tried to remember the room I was now staying in. "What was it again... 3... 3... You know... I don't quite remember."
"Well where's your room key... It says it on there."
"Oh right" I said as I pointed a finger in the air. "I got it" I searched my purse before coming across the slim bit of plastic. "Right here" I held it up and he grabbed it.
"Room 313... Gotcha"
X-x-x-x-x-X
"C'mon Brooke answer your damn phone" Nathan said into the receiver for what seemed like the millionth time since he started calling. Nathan had been calling Brooke and Haley's cell phones for the past 20 minutes, unsuccessfully.
"What Nathan... I'm kinda busy" Brooke said irritatedly as she answered her phone.
"Brooke... Finally! Do you not know how to answer your phone"
"Why yes Nathan of course I do... I also know how to hang up. Now what do you want?"
"Have you or Haley seen Peyton? She's missing and we can't find her."
Brookes heart sank. "What do you mean she's missing. She was staying in Lukes room... Didn't he see her go?" She asked starting to panic
"She moved out of his room last night when we were all at the bar. No one has seen her since. We've been searching for nearly 2 hours and we still can't find her."
"I'm on it!" Was all she said before hanging up the phone.
"Hales... lets go" Brooke grabbed Haley by her arm and drug her out of the room.
"Brooke... stop... where are you going?" Haley asked as she tried her best to get out of her grasp.
"Peyton's in trouble" Was all Haley needed to hear as she quickly followed behind Brooke in a frantic search for Peyton.
X-x-x-x-x-X
"I've already told you sir, we are not permitted to give out room numbers." The clerk said trying to keep her voice down
"And I already told you that she's in trouble. She could be hurt and dying right now and no one would no it b/c you won't let me know where she's staying" He yelled at her. "Where's your manager... I'd like to speak with him."
"Sir, He has the night off he's not in. If you're that sure that she's in trouble contact the cops and let them take it."
"I'm not calling the cops damn it! Just give me her room number" He was starting to get tears in his eyes just knowing that she could be in danger and he was no where around to help.
Frustrated with not getting anywhere with the clerk Lucas walked off. He was gonna have to find her on his own. Apparently no one here cares about whether or not she's safe. He began to walk off as a young man stopped him.
"Sir..." Lucas turned around with an angry look in his eyes. "I think I know what girl you're talking about. She's got long curly blonde hair. She's fairly tall... Really light skin? That girl?" He asked hoping he could help
"Yea... Have you seen her?" Lucas asked with hope filled words for the first time that night.
"Yea... she was in the bar with some man just a little while ago." He said as Lucas' eyes bulged out of his head. "She was pretty wasted and I think he walked her back to her room"
Lucas couldn't help but feel scared now. She was with some random guy up in her room with no one to look out for her.
"You didn't happen to find out what room she was in did you?" He asked with the same hope in his eyes.
"Actually I did... and I just so happen to have a universal key." Lucas looked at him awkwardly. "I clean rooms here on occasion for some extra cash."
"Oh OK... so what room was it?"
OK guys... I wasn't actually planning on doing this chapter this way, but I got the idea while I was at work and decided to change it up a bit. Lucas finally came to his senses about Peyton. So has Nathan, Brooke and Haley.
I'm gonna try and get another chapter posted tonight but I might not finish it all. So if anything it will be posted tomorrow!
PLEASE REVIEW! THERE VERY MUCH WELCOMED!
Hope you liked it!
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