I changed back into the original clothes I was wearing when Quinn rescued me from Rory's and brought me here. They have a little dirt on them and definitely aren't the cleanest outfit I could wear, but it's the only option I have.
I'd been wearing clothes that Mike and Quinn had given me to wear, but like hell I'm wearing them home. The fewer things I take from this place the better; I need to make sure that I never have to come back here, under any circumstances. By not taking any of the stuff they've given me, they can't track me down and ask for it back.
I'm brushing through my hair one last time before I plan to make my way out of the room when I hear the door open and close. Even with my back turned, I already know who's going to be standing there if I turn around.
"Get lost, Fabray. There's nothing you can do or say to stop me from leaving, so don't waste the energy." I put the brush back down on the bathroom vanity and walk back into the bed area to grab a bottle of water for the trip home.
"Santana, will you just listen to me for a second?" I hear her plead behind me.
I shake my head, getting more frustrated by the second. How come when someone obviously doesn't want to talk, people still try to make them?
"No, Quinn. I told you to leave me alone." My back is still turned, but I can hear her walking towards me. "Stop," I turn around and put my hand up. "I told you…I'm. Leaving. So don't try to badger me into staying because it's not gonna work. I already know Mike told you to come and talk to me anyways, which is honestly smart on his part because if I was alone with him right now I'd probably lose what little control I actually do have and-"
"That's not what I'm here for," Quinn interrupts. I raise my eyebrow, skeptically looking at her to see if she's being genuine. "I mean, yea, Mike did send me in here to talk you into staying…but I'm not doing that." She says as she shakes her head and looks down to the ground in shame.
I keep quiet, assuming she's going to continue and explain why she really came in, but it's silent for a few moments before she speaks.
"I just wanted you to know that I didn't have anything to do with…that." She puts her hands in her pockets and looks into my eyes. For the first time, I see something other than a sarcastic and mischievous glint that's usually sparkling there. Instead, I see what looks like…sympathy? "And I'm sorry that you had to go through that. That was completely uncalled for on Mike's part."
I narrow my eyes slightly and look at the girl in front of me. I swear, I've never seen her this small.
"Thanks, but you don't need to apologize on his behalf. He knows damn well what he did was wrong, but he decided to do it anyways." She nods her head in response and digs in her pocket for a second before pulling out some type of card. "What is this?" I ask as I reach out to take it gently.
"They key to the jet," I look at her with wide eyes and she chuckles. "Don't worry, there's no way in hell I'm letting you fly it…Artie's getting loaded and he can drop you a few blocks from your house."
"Then why are you giving me the key?" I'm a little confused as to why she would give me a key if I wasn't going to be the one flying it.
"It's a key…but there's also an alert system on there. If you ever get into trouble, or need our help for any reason, you can just swipe your thumb along the surface and we'll be sent your location to come help."
I furrow my brows. It's a nice guesture, but at the same time, I never want to come in contact with this place again. I want to block this part of my life out, and all I have to do is learn to control my powers so nothing will go wrong from here on out.
"Don't want it," I shake my head and hold it back out to her. She just crosses her arms and rolls her eyes.
"Look, you're taking the key whether you like it or not. I'm not saying you ever have to use it, but just know you have options."
I take a moment to think over what she's telling me, and I realize she has a point. It's not like I'd ever let her know that, though. "Well, if I ever get into any trouble I can just call you right?" I ask with a smirk. She chuckles in return.
"That's another option, yes."
I turn the small black card in my hand over a few times before gently swiping my thumb over the surface to see it light up. After my thumb grazed over the top, a small red exclamation point lit up and started blinking.
Quinn reaches in her pocket and pulls out an identical card that's also blinking with a red exclamation point, but hers seems to be making a small beeping noise and vibrating. She taps the card and all the activity between both cards stops. Seconds later, the card lights up with a green checkmark-looking symbol, I guess signaling that they received the message.
"He designed this, didn't he?" I ask, still looking at my card in wonder.
"Yea…it was a really good design," Quinn says with a nod of her head as she puts her card back in her pocket. "It's actually similar to how we found you at Rory's."
Effectively grabbing all my attention, I look up to her with bafflement etched all over my face. I was wondering how they managed to find me, and right at the perfect time, but I figured no one would tell me - with how secretive everyone is around here - so I didn't even bother.
"What do you mean, how did you find me?"
Quinn shrugs her shoulders slightly. "We have an energy tracker for around the globe, but we mainly supervise Rory's compound. We picked up a new energy wave that we hadn't seen before and figured it could be something to check out. Rory's kinda been known to kidnap supers and try to convert them to his side, but we try to get to them as soon as we can."
I notice her voice sounds a little somber on the last sentence. I don't want to ask since I already know why she sounded so down. They try to get to the supers as quickly as they can to try and avoid a repeat of what happened to her.
"Makes sense."
"I mean, even though I turned out okay in the end you can never tell how quickly and to what extent Rory's gonna work. Just trying to keep him from branching out…ruining people's lives."
I hear her getting bitter as she continues to think about the situation. I don't blame her either, she has every right to be as angry and bitter as she is now.
"I don't know where I'd be right now if it weren't for you, so I really mean it when I say thanks…and you know I don't do that a lot," I add with a small laugh to try to lighten the mood again. It seems to work since she smiles and shakes her head slightly.
"Well, you better get going before Mike realizes we're not coming back up to the roof to continue training."
I tap the card on the palm of my hand as I slowly walk past her.
"Hey, Quinn?" I ask as I reach the doorway. She turns to face me with eyebrows raised. "There's a new spot open on our Friday friends night…you wanna come?"
She smiles brightly for a moment before clearing her throat and attempting to act more casual. "Yea, I'll see if I can swing by one of these days." She shrugs her shoulders and cocks her head to side, acting like she's mentally checking her calendar.
"Sounds good," I give her a smile and tap the door frame before heading down the hall. I get a good ways down before I realize I have no idea where I'm going.
Inwardly groaning at myself, I turn back around and stomp back down the hallway back to my former living quarters. I'm relieved when I reach the door and see Quinn still standing inside the room, looking around at the space. Her attention turns to me as I enter the doorway.
"Um, I have no clue where this jet is," I rock back and forth on the balls of my feet and put my hands in my pockets.
She laughs and shakes her head as she starts walking towards me. "Come on, Ms. Fugitive, I'll show you the way," She says as she throws her arm around my shoulder and starts leading us down the hallway.
/
The flight home was insanely quick. I guess it makes sense since we flew all the way from Rory's compound in Albuquerque to just outside of Lime in 20 plus minutes.
Artie slowly lowered the small jet in an abandoned parking lot a few blocks away from my apartment less than 5 minutes after we left. Guess we really weren't that far after all.
"Thanks for the ride," I say as I stand from the co-pilot seat and make my way towards the back ramp that's being lowered. He gives me a friendly smile and nods in return.
Just as I'm about to walk off the ramp and onto the pavement, a thought enters my mind. I run back up the ramp quickly and back into the cabin where Artie's looking back at me with a questioning look.
"Do you think you could, um, maybe…follow me home?" His eyebrows scrunch in confusion. "I, uh, I just don't have the best track record when it comes to walking back by myself," I add with a chuckle.
His eyes light up in recognition and he nods his head quickly. "Yea, that's not a problem."
I let out a sigh of relief. "Great, thanks," I give him a small wave as I exit through the ramp, once again, and start to make my way back home.
I walk out to the street and thankfully recognize where I am. As I'm walking, I look up in the air every now and then to see the jet flying high above me. Low enough to still see me, but high enough to not bring suspicion to it.
/
Walking up the stairs to my apartment is probably the most nerve wracking thing I've ever done. I have no clue how everyone's going to react, if anyone's even home, or what they're going to say. I still don't really have an excuse as to why I was gone for so long, but I'm a quick thinker so I guess I'll just have to come up with something on the fly like normal.
I near the final set of stairs and approach the familiar door in front of me. Slowly, I take my keys out of my pocket and move to unlock the door. Part of me wants to stop and just leave but I know I'll have to deal with this sometime.
I wince as I slide my key into the doorknob - with the almost deafening silence, the movement makes a noise louder than usual. I take a deep breath as I gently turn my wrist to unlock the door and slide the key back out. With my hand on the doorknob, I try to mentally prepare myself for what could await me inside.
Just rip if off like a Bandaid, Santana.
With that thought, I turn the doorknob and open it slowly to be met with absolutely nothing. Well…that was very anticlimatic.
Deciding that no one's home, I walk further into the apartment but stop dead in my tracks when I notice 4 pairs of eyes on me from the living room. We're all just staying frozen in our spots, no one saying anything for a few moments.
Kurt's the first one to break the silence by jumping up and running towards me, practically lunging in my arms when he gets close enough. Over his shoulder I see Mercedes, Tina, and Brittany stand up from their seats and make their way over to me.
I can feel Kurt's hot tears on my shoulder and realize I'd never felt worse in my life. I knew that they were probably worried about me, but it just multiplies by a hundred when I can physically see their emotions.
"Thank God you're okay," He chokes. I wrap my arms tighter around him and can feel a lump in my throat. Damn it, I hate when people cry.
"Move!" I hear Mercedes behind him as she grabs Kurt's shoulder and shoves him to the side as she takes her turn to pull me into a hug. He shoots her a glare as Brittany quickly moves to catch him, preventing him from falling on the floor.
"Hey," I say softly as she hugs me tighter.
When she lets me go, Tina's the next one to pull me into a hug, but it doesn't seem as frantic as the last two. She pats me twice on the back and then rubs for a second before letting go and stepping aside.
I turn to watch her walk a few feet away, but my attention immediately shifts and I'm drawn to the blonde that's now stepping in front of me. She looks as beautiful as ever, but her eyes seem to display signs of exhaustion. She doesn't seem as chirpy as she usually is, and I notice what looks like tear tracks on her cheeks.
She lets out a tiny sob as she wraps her arms around my shoulders and buries her head in my neck. I close my eyes tight as I bring my arms to circle her midsection tightly. I can feel the lump in my throat grow bigger by the second, along with the burning in my eyes of tears wanting to fall down my cheeks. It becomes too much too quickly and before I know it, I can feel cool drops run down my face.
One thing about me…I never cry. Like ever. Sure, I get my feelings hurt and get sad, but it never pushes me over the edge to cry. I'm usually really good at keeping my emotions at bay.
The only thing that can really cause me to cry is when I see people I care about crying. If it's something dumb like Kurt crying over a horrible outfit on Project Runway, it's fine; but it's when they're really hurt or truly emotional about something that it gets the better of me.
Brittany and I stay in each other's embrace for a few more seconds before she lets go and wipes her cheeks.
"Sorry," She mumbles. I shake my head and give her a small smile, telling her she has nothing to be sorry for, before I turn to my other friends in the room.
"I'm really sorry, you guys." I shove my hands in my back pocket in nervousness, not really knowing that to say to them.
"We're just glad you're okay," Kurt's the first to speak again as he comes and puts a hand on my shoulder. It brings us into another period of silence, obvious tension throughout the room with unanswered questions they want to ask.
"Wh-what happened? Where did you go?" Mercedes pipes up.
Well, shit…I don't really have an answer for her question. I was kinda hoping everyone would just avoid the giant elephant in the room and never ask.
"I, uh- I just had to get away for a bit," This, I figure is the best way to explain where I was without really lying. I mean, yea, I did have to go away for a bit, even though it was pretty much against my will.
"What does that mean?" She asks in return.
I roll my eyes internally because I don't really have any answers for them. Mike made it pretty clear that I couldn't tell anyone about this, which I argued with at first, but the more I thought about it the more it made sense. Even if I were to tell everyone close to me what really happened, there's no way in hell they'd believe me. They'd think I've gone off the deep end again.
"Just…shit went down and I needed space," I'm honestly proud of myself that I've managed to answer the questions vaguely enough to where I'm not lying, but not exposing myself and what really happened.
Mercedes just nods her head, I guess getting the drift that I don't want to talk about it anymore.
"Well, we're all glad you made it back okay," Brittany says with a nod of her head and a soft smile.
"Okay, enough of this sad mumbo jumbo. Santana's back safe! We should celebrate!" Kurt says with a tiny clap of his hands. "We could have an impromptu friends night and just spend time together - really appreciate the relationships we have with each other," He sounds more sentimental on the last sentence, which causes the guilty pang in my chest to flare up again.
Mercedes smiles brightly and nods her head in agreement, Tina still stands there looking rigid with her arms crossed, and Brittany's posture still looks somewhat deflated.
"What do you say?" I snap out of my head and turn to Kurt, who's looking at me expectantly.
I clear my throat and nod my head. "Yea, that sounds great, guys," I give them the best smile I can manage as they both start bouncing on the balls of their feet.
"I'm thinking we should do pizza and a game of Pictionary," Kurt says excitedly. "It's a great way to lighten the mood since we always laugh at Santana's horrible drawings anyways," I hear him mutter to Mercedes.
I turn to glare at him and he cowers back into the living room slightly.
"You wanna stay and hang out with us, Brittany?" Mercedes turns around to ask the blonde.
She seemed to be lost in her head because at the mention of her name, she seems to snap back to reality and looks at her in confusion.
"I'm sorry, what?" She asks politely.
"I asked if you wanted to stay and hang with us tonight." Mercedes and Kurt are looking at her with hope written on their faces.
"Oh, um, thanks, but I really don't wanna intrude on you guys' night together." She smiles sheepishly and shrugs her shoulders slightly.
"Don't be silly…you're part of our group now, so you're more than welcome to stay."
Brittany looks over to Tina, who tries to give a genuine smile and nods her head, and then over to me. I give her soft smile and a nod as I mouth please to her, which causes a small smile to graze her lips.
"Alright, I'll stay with you guys." She says as she turns to Kurt and Mercedes. She seems more perky now, but she's definitely still not back to her normal self. I want to kick myself because I'm more than likely the reason why she seems so defeated.
"Yay!" Kurt does a mini clap with his hands. "Okay, some of us need to go to the store and grab the supplies - and oh! - someone needs to call Mike and tell him the news!"
I tense at hearing his name again. It slipped my mind that even though I left the headquarters I'd still have to figure out a way to avoid him here, too. Just the thought of him brings back what happened this morning, which causes my anger to flare up again. I remember to take deep breaths to calm myself down, which seems to be working for the most part.
"Don't bother," Tina says, which snaps me out of my furious daze. "He's working late tonight, I'll just text him and tell him she's home." I can't help but notice how her voice sounds clipped.
"Ohhkay?," Kurt replies with his brows furrowed as Tina pulls her phone out of her pocket and starts typing. "But someone still needs to run to the market for the pizza ingredients…and a bottle of wine," He adds softly.
"Santana and I will go," Tina says without looking up. All eyes snap over to her in disbelief. She seems to notice because she looks up with her brows furrowed. "What? It's not like I'm gonna let her run away again…we just need to talk," She shrugs her shoulders and looks back down at her phone.
Everyone looks around at each other apprehensively, almost like they don't want me to leave the apartment again in fear that I'm going to disappear for another week.
"Okay, let's go," Tina says as she puts her phone back in her pocket and shuffles towards the door. She grabs her keys and wallet off the table before grabbing my forearm and practically dragging me out the door.
I can already tell that I'm definitely in deep shit now.
/
The ride to the store is quiet, which usually wouldn't bother me when it comes to Tina but she seems to be pretty pissed right now. The radio in the background is turned to a low volume, but I'm not listening to it. I'm more focused on the interrogation that's bound to happen in a matter of minutes.
We pull into the grocery store parking lot and she quickly finds a spot to park before shutting off the ignition and opening the door to get out. I stay rooted in my spot, confused as to what's going on, when she bends back down and looks through the door at me.
"You coming or what?" Her voice breaks me out of my thoughts. I quickly scramble to unbuckle my seatbelt and open the car door, not wanting to hold her up and risk pissing her off even more.
We walk into the store and grab a cart, with Tina telling me to push it while she grabs the stuff off the shelves.
"Flour, yeast, pizza sauce, cheese, and pepperoni," She starts listing items. "We have everything else at home."
"Don't forget the wine or Kurt'll kill you," I add, trying to lighten the mood. She doesn't find it amusing since she just nods her head and keeps walking in front of the cart.
15 minutes later we're on the way back to the apartment, all the groceries in the backseat. The drive back is in silence too, which makes me wonder why she wanted me to come with her at all.
She pulls the car into her usual parking space, next to mine, and I notice my car is backed into my parking space.
"How did that get back here?" I ask out loud. I really didn't intend for that to slip out but God knows I have no filter a majority of the time.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" She rolls her eyes and turns off the ignition. I'm honestly getting tired of her attitude. I get that I put everyone through hell and back by disappearing, but I apologized…and it's not like it was really even my fault to begin with. If she's going to stay pissed at me, she could at least tell me instead of forcing me to walk on eggshells for who knows how long.
"Yes…that's why I asked," I respond to her comment and unbuckle. As I reach for the handle, she presses the lock button on her door to stop me from getting out of the car.
I turn to look at her with my eyebrows furrowed and see that she's glaring at me with a knowing look.
"Why're you looking at me like that?" She doesn't respond for a minute, just keeps glaring at me. It's almost like she's wanting to watch me squirm in the seat for a second before she gives me the satisfaction of responding.
"I know why you disappeared," She says even toned.
Well, shit…that's the last thing I expected her to say. But if she knows why I went missing, then why is she mad at me. Shouldn't she be mad at Mike or Rory? Anyone but me, since I didn't intend for any of this to happen. Something's just not adding up.
"Okayyyy, and why is that?" I ask, just for clarification on what she knows.
She takes a deep breath and I swear I see her pissed demeanor falter for just a second. "I saw your mom's letter ripped up in the trash."
"How the hell did you manage to find that? What, were you searching for it or something?"
"No, matter of fact. You went missing, Santana! I looked all over the house for any clues as to where you'd have gone, hoping to God that you disappeared voluntarily and not against your will." I see tears start to form in her eyes, making me regret my accusation.
It's not really something I'm good at controlling. Any time my parents are brought up in any way, shape, or form…I snap. It's been like that for a while, and I always assumed that it would be that way for years to come.
"But when I found that letter, I knew you left because you just needed to get away. The only thing I didn't anticipate…was that you'd be gone for over a week!" Her voice starts to raise. "I mean, what the hell, Santana?! I get it that it's overwhelming and hard to deal with, and I get why you'd need to get away for a while. But couldn't you have called me, sent a text, sent an email, flew a fucking pigeon to me to let me know that you're at least safe?!"
Her tears are freefalling now, which is causing me to choke up. I don't know what to say to make this all better. I can't tell her where I really was, why I really didn't call her.
"I-I don't have my phone," I stutter, trying to at least clear up that portion.
"Yea, I'm well aware. Brittany found it on the sidewalk, along with your abandoned car, after your lunch."
Wait, how did Brittany find my phone? I mean, obviously Rory probably took it out of my possession and left it so nothing could be traced back to him, but Brittany parked in the opposite direction.
"H-how-" I start to ask, shaking my head and narrowing my eyes.
"Does it really fucking matter?" She asks, seeming like she's out of energy and full of defeat. "It's all over and done now - and at least you're safe - but you're definitely not in my good graces again. This happened before, Santana…you knew how much this would concern me, concern all of us, and you went and did it anyways. Except this time you left for an even longer period of time, which I don't think I'll ever understand."
I don't have anything to say to her. If the situation actually was what she was describing, she'd be 100% right, but I can't tell her it isn't. I just gotta take what's given to me and try to get past it.
I nod my head and look to her. "You're right…I'm sorry," That's all I can think to say.
"I'm sure you are," She laughs bitterly before shaking her head and unlocking the door. She gets out and grabs the grocery bags before I have a chance to and walks up the sidewalk to our apartment building.
Even though none of what she said was true about the situation, why do I feel so guilty like I had actually done what she's accusing me of?
/
Three hours later we're all sitting in the living room, wrapping up our fourth round of Pictionary. There's two teams, Mercedes and Kurt versus Brittany and I. Tina decided to sit this one out and just watch.
Mercedes and Kurt seem to be the only ones genuinely enjoying themselves. Tina's sitting on the recliner still looking pissed, Brittany's being friendly but still not her bubbly self, and I don't know what to do to move past this.
"Okay, you're turn!" Kurt says as he bounces a little on the couch and hands the marker over to Brittany.
She smiles as she takes the marker and lifts up a card off the coffee table.
"Ready?" He asks, and she nods in return. "Go!" He flips the timer over as Brittany starts scribbing on the small handheld whiteboard.
She starts by drawing a stick figure and then making swirls around all the limbs to make the figure look kinda fuzzy. She then draws two big eyes on the face, and quickly draws a fishbowl next to the drawing.
"Elmo!" I blurt out, causing her to stop drawing and smile brightly at me.
"Yea! Good job," She hands the board over to Mercedes who looks at it in confusion.
"How the hell is this Elmo?" I hear her mutter under her breath. Kurt leans over to look at the board over her shoulder and furrows his eyebrows in confusion.
"Beats me," He whispers back.
While they study the picture, I decide it's an appropriate time to take a little break and refill my glass. I stand up and point to Brittany's cup, silently asking her if she wants a refill.
"I'm good, thanks," She says with a smile that I return as I walk into the kitchen.
Tina hasn't made a noise since the end of dinner about an hour a half ago, which stirs my anxiety just a little more. I know the reason she's pissed at me now, and even though I know she has every reason to be, I just want her to go back to her normal self. She's one of my best friends…I don't know how much longer I can stand her being this mad at me. I look out of the kitchen and over to her, still sulking in the recliner.
My eyes drift over to everyone else in the room. Mercedes and Kurt are giggling about something - at least they seem a-okay - but when I look over to where Brittany was sitting, I see her seat is empty. She must've gone to the bathroom or something.
My thoughts start flitting over to the blonde and how she's different. She's still every bit as friendly, but I can tell her smile doesn't quite reach her eyes. She's trying her best to act normal, and I guess she's fooling everyone else, but I can tell the difference.
"What are you looking at?" Brittany says from behind me, effectivelty startling me. Speaking of the blonde…
"Nothing, just looking around. Feels like forever since I've been here," I say, hoping it's not too soon to make comments like that. She just nods her head and looks to the ground like something's on her mind. "You okay, Britt?"
She brings her eyes up to meet mine. "Can we talk in private?"
It's just a simple question, really…doesn't necessarily mean anything bad's in store. So why did I just get insanely nervous when she asked that?
I swallow nervously and nod my head, apprehensive as to what she wants to talk about. "We can go out on the fire escape if you want?" I suggest as I point to the window in the kitchen.
She turns to look where I'm pointing and nods her head.
I make the first move forward as I walk towards the window, sliding it open and climbing through with Brittany following closely behind.
"What's up?" I ask as we sit down, trying to keep the nerves out of my voice.
She doesn't say anything for a moment, but looks back at the window we just climbed through. "Can we close this? Or will it lock us out or something?" She asks as she points at the window.
"No, you can close it," I say as I lean forward and slide the window down. As I lean back in my seat on the staircase, I notice she's surveying my face carefully, almost like she doesn't know how I'm feeling or going to react.
Yea, that's just great for my already jittering nerves.
"Britt?" I'm trying to egg her on to start talking but also trying to allow her to have as much time as she needs…even though I'm practically dying inside, but it's whatever.
Once again, she waits a beat before she starts talking.
"I saw you get taken," She looks down at her feet, seeming like she can't make eye contact.
In that moment, I feel like all the air's left my lungs and my heart starts hammering impossibly hard against my chest. I'm actually concerned about having a heart attack right here and now.
What am I supposed to say to that? Do I explain what happened? Do I let her keep talking and ask what she wants to know about it?
"Wha-" I begin, but just as quickly as I started, my mouth shuts again in bewilderment.
"You don't have to explain anything if you don't want to…I know it was probably scary." She looks up at my face, probably seeing how distressed I am.
"H-how did you…you know?" I choke out.
"Well…I was walking to my car after our lunch and then realized that I, um," She pauses for a second. "Forgot to tell you something!" She says a little too loud, like she's just now having an epiphony. "So I turned around and started walking to your car. I noticed people around me were walking hurriedly in the opposite direction, but I didn't think too much of it. When I got within eyesight of your car, I saw some skinny guy in a green suit sitting on your hood and a big guy holding you still in front of him. I presumed that nothing good was going on, so I hid behind a nearby building, but still kept my eye on you. I saw him inject something blue into your neck and then your body went limp," Her voice starts to sound strained now, like she's holding back tears.
"Hey hey," I move down so I'm eye level with her and rest my hands on her shoulders. "Pause and take a deep breath for me." She looks at me and takes a deep breath before continuing.
"Sorry. Anyways, then I saw them carry you to this dark gray van and load you in the back. As soon as it drove off I dashed towards your car to see if I could find anything that would help locate you and bring you back. That's when I saw your phone on the ground. I called the first person I could think of, Mike, and described what happened. I was expecting him to tell me to hang up and call the police, but he got all frantic when I mentioned it and told me that he would handle it," She shrugs her shoulders and gives me an apologetic look. "I guess he didn't do a very goood job, did he?" She asks with a sarcastic chuckle. "I should've just called the police."
She shakes her head and looks down at her feet in shame. I take my pointer finger and lift her chin back up to look back in my eyes.
"No," I say firmly. "I don't want to hear you blaming yourself for this in any way possible…do you understand?" She looks at me but makes no move to agree. "Britt, none of this is your fault…believe me, even if you'd have called the police, they wouldn't have been able to do anything. Calling Mike was the right thing to do, you gotta trust me on that."
She's still looking deep into my eyes, not saying or making any move.
"Okay?" I ask, practically begging her to agree.
It takes her a moment, but she slowly starts to nod her head. "Okay," She mumbles quietly.
"Good," I wipe the tear tracks from under her eyes. "But I do have one more question." She gives me a small nod, telling me I can ask her. "Why did you call Mike?"
"He was the only one I thought of, to be honest," She shrugs her shoulders. "I mean, I have Tina's number and I could've called her, but I know Mike more. Plus he's super smart so I figured that he would know what to do," She says the last part with a small laugh that lets loose butterflies in my stomach.
"Makes sense," I respond with a laugh of my own.
We stay in our position, looking into each other's eyes for a while, before I reach forward and wrap my arms around her shoulders. It's not often that I initiate hugs with people, but with Brittany, it just feels natural. I could stay this close to her all day.
"I'm so glad you're okay," She whispers as she buries her head further into my neck and tightens her arms around my waist. "You have no idea how scared I was," I can hear her voice getting choked again.
"Shh, shh, it's okay," I say as I start rubbing my hand up and down on her upper back. "Everything's fine now…everyone's safe now," I reassure.
"You promise?"
"I promise."
Even though I can't guarantee the future or what's going to happen, I can guarantee one thing: I'm going to keep her safe.
Hey, guys! I actually got this update uploaded in time! Aren't you proud, lol?
This is kinda where the start of the Brittana part of the story is starting to take off (if you couldn't tell by the end of this chapter :p.)
As always, I love reading your reviews and hearing what you guys have to say about the story! Feel free to leave one, but don't feel like you have to!
Until next time! :)