IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT- I am putting all my stories EXCEPT this on and A Summer to Remember on temporary hiatus because it's really hard to work on all of them at once and I'm getting all frantic and frazzled (haha I love that word) so I chose 2 stories at random to keep working on for the time being. I won't work on any of my other ones until both of these stories are complete. yeah, that's it.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Never did, never will. I don't own Applebee's either.
The next day, I followed Mitchie first to a day care center, then to her workplace. It was at the Applebee's across from the Gershwin theater, where I worked. I wondered how long we had lived like this; so close, yet never knowing. I always imagined that she would be found in a different state, like... Idaho, or Kansas, or something. Not just down the street. All those years, I'd been searching in the most likely places, ignoring the most obvious ones.
I was distracted the whole day, my mind on Mitchie. Only Lola seemed to notice, though.
"Shane, what's up?" she asked me at the end of the day. "And don't give me any of that nothing crap. You've been acting weird all day." I looked down at my shoes, which were suddenly fascinating.
"Lola, you remember Mitchie, right?" I asked quietly. Lola sighed and stopped walking. I stopped walking too, and looked Lola in the eyes.
"Shane," she said slowly, "you have to get over her you know, move on. It's been 10 years. Most likely, whoever took her, killed her. And I know you don't want to hear that, but that's-"
"I found her," I interrupted. "She lives down the street with me, along with her son named Joseph. She calls him Joey. I don't know if she's married though, and she works at the Applebee's across the street.
Wishful thinking," Lola muttered, shaking her head. She began to walk again, but I grabbed her wrist and pulled her the other way.
"Shane! Where are we going?" she demanded.
"I'm gonna prove it to you," I said. She began trying to pull her arm out of my grip, but it was useless.
"Hi, welcome to Applebee's," a girl greeted us when we walked in the door.
"Hi, um, I'd like to speak to a worker here," I said. "Her name is Mary. Can you get her for me?"
"Sure." The girl flounced off, and Lola glared at me.
"Shane, this is stupid," she said, placing her free hand on her hip.
"Lola, I swear it's her."
"No it's not! There is no way that she is-" Lola focused on something over my shoulder.
"-Mitchie." she finished. Her eyes were wide. I turned, and there she was, with the girl who greeted us. Her mouth was open, and she dropped the tray she was carrying.
"You," Mitchie said, her eyes narrowing when she saw me.
"What?" Lola said. "You... missing... how is this possible?"
"Told you," I gloated. Lola glared at me and slapped my arm. Mitchie was shaking her head.
"I can't believe you," she said. "I told you yesterday, you had the wrong person."
"Mitchie, you know I don't give up that easily."
"My name is Mary."
"Mitchie, we all know it's you," Lola said. Mitchie looked pissed now.
"Mandy, I need to pick up Joey. Table 5 needs a diet Coke, a water and a lemonade." Mandy nodded, then trotted off. Mitchie glared at us before grabbing Lola's wrist and the sleeve of my jacket and leading us outside. She kept walking for a few buildings, then turned down a less busy street.
"What are you guys doing here?" she hissed through her teeth.
"We're working on a broadway show together," I said.
"What's going on?" Lola asked. Mitchie started to pace and run her hands through her hair.
"Mitchie?" I said. She ignored me and kept pacing.
"Mitch?" I tried the nickname I used to call her. She was still pacing, so I stepped around Lola and grabbed Mitchie's shoulders, pulling her to a stand still.
"Mitchie, what is going on?"
"You guys can't be here," she said. She broke out of my grip and started walking backwards.
"Why not?" Lola asked.
"Mitchie, what's wrong?"
"You can't. You just... you can't. It's not safe." She turned on her heel and took off running, leaving me and Lola to ponder her words.
OMG u guys are going to love me! I've been writing chapters for this in a notebook, and my friend has been reading it, acting as a beta of sorts. And I have like 5 chapters already written and read, so all I have to do is type them up and then post them!