Whoa, I totally fell off the face of the Earth for a while. But here's a new chapter! There's only one more episode left and it's quite the doozy!
Apparently, Emma's mom had a kid with Brandon James before he died or whatever actually happened to him. Unfortunately, she didn't think this information was pertinent to mention to us until Audrey voiced her reluctance to believe Branson was the murderer. I kind of understood where Audrey was coming from, we had all these big puzzle pieces but were lacking the biggest connector piece of all.
"Okay, let me make sure I have all of this perfectly clear: Branson could be the kid your mother had with Brandon James and then put up for adoption? That could be the connection piece this entire puzzle is missing," I announced from my spot leaning against Noah on a couch at the coffee shop.
"Why didn't you tell us about this before, Emma? It's kind of important," Noah agreed.
"I was embarrassed and afraid you guys wouldn't want to be my friends anymore. It's awful how mom did it and kept things a secret," she tried to explain, desperate for us to be on her side. "After everything that happened, I couldn't lose you guys, too. I've lost too many people already."
"Em, we're still your friends and friends always deserve the truth," Audrey told her, squeezing her arm reassuringly. "Now that it's out in the open, we can move on from it."
"And move on to the Halloween dance that's basically the perfect playground for the killer on the off chance that it's not actually Branson?" I suggested, twisting my fingers with Noah's absentmindedly.
"But it's totally Branson! I mean, we found a bloody knife in the air duct in his classroom and big brother type malware on his computer," Noah argued, making me move away from him and sit up straight. "It's got to be him."
"Noah's right, it has to be Branson," Emma said. "He killed our friends and he needs to pay for what he did. I watched the love of my life get sawed in half because of it."
"Oh, so I guess that means you're not going with Kieran to the dance tonight then?" I asked, my frustration bubbling to the surface.
"Excuse me? Are you seriously asking me that right now?" she asked, eyeing me viciously. "I have been through a lot, okay? And Kieran listens and helps me."
"Yeah, and it's all the 'cry for Emma' show, right? No one else has lost anyone, just you. You're the only one that's allowed to be upset. I totally forgot!" I said cruelly, an uncharacteristic sneer working its way onto my lips as I looked at her.
Noah put his hand on my thigh before I could stomp out of the coffee shop dramatically. "Okay, we need to chill with the anger. Everyone's sad and frustrated, but yelling at each other isn't going to change or help anything. Just chill and let Emma explain everything, it's okay, Gwendolyn, everything's okay."
I was still fuming, but I knew he was right so I let him pull me back deeper the couch. I sat up straight this time and looked right at Emma. She has always kind of rubbed me the wrong way, even if they killer was targeting her and basically torturing her psychologically. I don't know, maybe there's something wrong with me for thinking that, at this point it wouldn't even be much of a stretch. I wouldn't even be surprised if all of Lakewood was crazy now.
"The thing is, I could never figure out why the killer was so focused on my family," she continued, a little stiff but still trying to be inclusive. "But, I mean, if Branson is my family, then it all makes sense."
"Well, what happened when you sat across from him? I want the fava-bean-by-fava-bean recap," Noah replied, leaning forward like it would make him hear everything she said better.
"Well, he played it pretty cool," she admitted begrudgingly. "That's why I need to know for sure."
"Brandon's son, Bran-son," Noah said suddenly. "He picked that name, it redefines hiding in plain sight!"
"Okay, that's good and everything, but there's still no connection between Branson and Rachel," Audrey cried suddenly.
"Maybe we just haven't found the connection yet, Audrey," I reasoned, squeezing her hand only for her to tear it out of my grip. "They're harder to find in real life than they are on TV."
"The news reports don't even mention her name when they talk about the victims. It's like they forgot her suicide was staged," she sighed, her eyes growing glassy and allowing me to take her hand in mine this time.
"Audrey, you want to know the truth and we're going to help you find it," I promised, rubbing my thumb over the top of her hand comfortingly.
"Yeah, let's prove it beyond a doubt," Noah agreed, placing his hand over ours in the table. "Bi-curious and the Virgins are on it."
"And the crime world trembled," she replied, but I could hear the gratefulness in her voice as the three of us got up and left Emma sitting at the table on her computer.
We were walking out when Noah slammed into Piper Shaw. I hadn't talked to her since she'd kind of ambushed us at Nina's memorial at school. Noah consistently listened to her podcast when we were together, sometimes even choosing it over making out with me. That's how you know a boy is obsessed with serial killers, he'd rather listen to a crime podcast that kiss you. I tried to not let it lower my self-esteem…
"Piper! Hey, wow," Noah started, but I grabbed his hand and kept pulling him to the door with Audrey in tow. "We were just leaving, right. And, you know, for the record, totally not-"
I rolled my eyes and Audrey told him to stop, but the boy's word vomit was on a roll neither of us could stop now.
"Totally not a virgin," he finished, his cheeks red and mine getting their quickly. "Okay, go get 'em!"
I finally dragged him out of the coffee shop with Audrey laughing. "You are such a dork, oh my god. I highly doubt your virginity or lack thereof is going to make Autopsy of a Crime, Foster."
He jutted his bottom lip out and I stood on my tiptoes to kiss him. Instead of being angry, I felt him take my hips and his lips turn up into a smile against mine. It wasn't anything too PG, but I heard Audrey groan in disgust anyway. We tried to keep the PDA to a minimum, it just didn't work out like that sometimes.
"I still want to know the connection between Branson, or whatever his name is, and Rachel," she said when we pulled apart and looked at her.
"Do you still have that SD card with all her footage on it?" I asked, opening the passenger door.
"Yeah, it's in my pocket," she said sheepishly. "I never leave home without it, it makes me feel closer to her. Don't judge."
"Never."
"I think she was suggesting some black hat level snooping," Noah supplied once we were all in his car. "Which is very hot, by the way, and totally doable."
He drove to the video game store and we holed up in the TV room like usual. The last time I was in here, I was laying on that couch with Noah on top of me and his mouth doing very interesting things to my neck, but this wasn't the time for reminiscing.
"I have to find something that links them together. There has to be something," she muttered as she clicked through all the files.
We'd been sitting there for almost an hour when Noah said, "Never thought the life and times of a sexually-confused Catholic girl could be so dry."
"You wanna feel the sting of this sexually-confused atheist's foot up your butt?" she replied, pushing his hip with her Dr. Marten-clad foot.
"Hey, I made you microwave popcorn, okay?" he cried, scooting closer to me.
"Where is that? I didn't know Rachel or anything, but she didn't strike me as a bar scene kind of girl," I asked, pointing at the current video on the screen.
"It's the bar on Eighth Street, she actually loved sneaking in there with her hidden camera," Audrey laughed. "She got so much free drama: fights, flirts, old men swapping stories from the bottom of a bottle. Rachel loved all of it."
"We know how much you miss her," I said, getting up from behind Noah and moving over to wrap my arm around her. "We're always here for you."
"Rachel might be gone, but I'm going to make sure she's never forgotten," Audrey swore, fast-forwarding through some of the footage until Noah reached out and stopped her.
"Whoa, is that Nina?" he asked, pointing to the familiar redhead on the screen.
"An even better question: is that Kiran leaving with Nina from a bar?" I asked.
"Shoot, it's getting late. I have to go set up for the dance," Noah groaned, glancing at the watch on his wrist. "Do you guys want a ride home?"
"I'm going to do a bit more snooping and then head out. I'll meet you at the dance, G?" she asked, not looking away from the computer screen.
"For sure, but text me if you find anything else," I said, hugging her before heading out of the store with Noah. "That is insane! Was Kieran hooking up with Nina, too? Emma's going to be crushed."
"Let's not jump to conclusions, we don't know everything yet. Let's just get you home so you can be the cutest Little Red Riding Hood in all of California," he said, winking at me while we waited at a red light. "Have I apologized for volunteering to deejay instead of being your date? Because I feel bad."
That made warmth fill me from the tips of my toes to the top of my head. I leaned as close to him as I could get with the console between us and pressed kisses up his neck and across his jaw. He pressed the gas a little too hard when the light changed and sent be jolting backwards away from him.
"Wow, sorry, that was not a good thing. You just distracted me and I didn't realize what I was doing, are you okay?" he said in quick succession.
That made me laugh and lean over to kiss his jaw one last time. "I'm fine, just a fractured spine, nothing to worry about."
I had just finished perfecting my eyeliner when Sophia came into my room. "Hey, Soph, can you braid the sides of my hair back for me while I put on these lashes?"
"Sure," she grinned standing behind me at my vanity stool. "You look so good! But dad's never going to let you leave in that skirt with those thigh highs."
I used my tweezers to get my eyelashes into place before replying to her. "That's why I'm not going to let him see me. I'm going to tell him goodbye from the entryway and slip out the door to the car where Jackson's going to be waiting."
"You are so good at being sneaky, Gwen!" she sighed, securing the braids back with a couple pins and spraying them so they'd stay put. "I wish I was as good as you."
"You have much to learn, young grasshopper," I told her, turning my body so we were facing each other. "And I am just the sensei to teach you."
I made it out of the house without a hitch and Jackson left the driveway without speaking to me. It was a perfect getaway. He was dressed as a caveman, more fitting than he would ever realize, and apparently had the vocabulary of one as well.
He parked at the school and we parted ways, him finding his girl of the week and me searching for my dork and Audrey. I ducked into a bathroom and maneuvered my way around the horde of girls to put my hood up over my hair. It looked a lot better and made me look mysterious, it also completed the costume but whatever.
"You're Gwen, right?" a girl dressed like Tinkerbell asked. When I nodded, she frowned, "Well, you need to get off your high horse already. Jake Fitzgerald is the hottest guy in school and he's only interested in you. So sleep with him already so we can have a chance, stop being such a fucking prude."
That actually made me laugh and Tinkerbell's frown deepen. "Be careful, Tink, forever's a long time to live with frown lines and there isn't enough clapping in the world to cure the STDs I'm sure that Neanderthal carries."
I clapped my hands twice for emphasis before walking out of the bathroom, giggles from the other girls following me. That was very impressive, I couldn't wait to tell Noah all about it. Or Audrey, she was the one that would probably care.
The dance floor was a cacophony of sounds coming from people in costumes, colored lights, and tons of fog billowing out around everyone's feet. It look so much like a school dance you could almost forget there was a psycho killer induced curfew when it finished. Almost.
"Just like I thought, the cutest Red Riding Hood in the world," Noah said, coming out of the deejay booth and up to me with his cape fluttering behind him.
He moved to kiss me, but I held up a halting hand. "No way, Count Dorkula, I don't want that fake blood on my face! It'll ruin my costume!"
"So picky," he tutted, making his fangs almost fall out of his mouth. "What have we here? A Steampunk lady with a soupcon of Goth."
I turned and saw Audrey walking up to us in a costume that looked exactly like what I imagined the inside of her head looked like. All dark colors and mixed fabrics, but it was super cool and I never could've pulled it off.
"And you're a master of ceremonies?" she asked, bumping her fist against mine in greeting. "And a little red?"
"At your service," I smiled, curtsying to her playfully. "Well, I tried to curtsy, but this tutu is too short and this thigh highs don't cover enough."
"I was gonna be the Babadook, but then my mom made this cape," he told us, twirling around so we got the full effect. "I couldn't break her heart."
"Yeah, well, I should tell Emma about Kieran, right?" she asked, completely changing the subject.
"What? No, Mr. Branson has to be the killer. I mean, I led the cops to their best evidence," Noah said in outrage. When I elbowed him, he quickly rephrased, "WE led them to their best evidence."
"Kieran was leaving a bar with Nina. Then Nina got dead. And he saw Rachel filming him," she said, ticking off the evidence on her fingers.
Before either of us could say anything, she disappeared into the crowds of people. I just let her go and turned back to my adorably dorky vampire boyfriend. He was already looking at me and waggled his eyebrows with his fangs nowhere near his mouth.
"I was wrong before, you're not the cutest," he said, moving closer to me and putting his hands on my waist and pulling me close. He leaned forward and brushed his lips against my ear before he breathed, "Sexy is a way better word."
Shivers coursed down my spine and my knees felt like Jell-O. Noah was never like this when we were together. His eyes were droopy and I forgot about the fake blood, holding the sides of his neck and pressing our lips together. His grip on my hips tightened, making a quiet moan escape my lips and vibrate against his.
He pulled away and rested his forehead against mine, breathing heavily. "Whoa, I have to go before this song ends, but we have to finish this later."
I kissed the corner of his mouth before going on the hunt for Audrey. She was standing off the side with a cup of punch a glare. I made a beeline over to her and snagged her cup, taking a drink and wincing at the burn.
"You're getting drunk at a high school Halloween dance?" I asked, giving it back and crossing my arms. "I don't know if I should be impressed or disappointed."
"I told Emma about the video and she pretty much said I was crazy. That Kieran was no more the killer than I was, the killer was just filming and showing us things he wants us to see," she told me before taking another long drink. "Now I want to be drunk and go to Brooke's stupid party where I can get even drunker."
"Let's go find Noah and tell him your plans. He's going to help me tell you that you've lost your mind," I told her, taking her hand in mine and heading over to the deejay booth.
I got his attention and he jumped down, eyeing me saucily before looking at Audrey. "Do I smell whiskey?"
"Yes, help me tell Audrey getting drunk isn't going to make any of this better. This is not the time to be the stupid, drunk girl in horror movies," I begged.
Before he could say anything, the big screen showing some old black and white horror movie turned to color. The Sheriff was chained to a tree with a hook in his mouth, holding the rest of his body to the huge tree. I gasped along with the rest of the dance patrons and grabbed Noah's hand in mine, hiding my face against his chest.
"That says 'Branson has escaped and is armed.' That's not good," Noah breathed, holding me close and kissing the top of my head. "That's very not good."
Thaaaaaaaaaanks for reading!