Chapter 16: Looking for Kaylee

ADDY

I’m just a few steps away from the door when I look up into tired eyes.

“Blake,” I say, giving him a questioning look.

“I need to talk to you,” he finally says after a long pause. He turns around and walks out without another word.

I follow him, glancing back to see Mom giving me a double thumbs-up. I shake my head at her before closing the door.

“Blake, is Kaylee not here?” I ask when he doesn’t say anything. I study his face. He looks off, so I step closer.

“Blake, did you come to see me? You know Asher lives next door, right?”

I reach out and shake his arm.

“Kaylee,” he finally says, and my ears perk up at the mention of my best friend.

“What about Kaylee?” I ask.

“She’s gone and I can’t find her.”

My eyes widen for a second before I burst out laughing. “She ran off?” I shake my head at his confused face.

“Why are you laughing? Isn’t she your best friend? I’m telling you she’s gone, and you’re laughing!” he snaps at me, and my eyes widen.

“Whoa, when did you get so protective over my best friend? Does Blakey have a crush on my girl?” I smirk and he pushes me away.

“I don’t! I just want to know if she’s okay. She didn’t seem too happy when she left my house earlier and…”

I raise an eyebrow at him when he mentions that she left his house.

Kay has some explaining to do. She’s been spending a lot of time with Blake. That’s weird, considering she says she hates him.

I don’t let him finish as I open the front door, poking my head in.

“Mom, I’m heading out with Blake. I’ll be back in thirty minutes! Just outside the house!” I hope she lets me go. After all, Mom said I was grounded for two days for skipping school.

“Okay, baby!” she yells from the kitchen and I grin.

Who knew that cute boys could get me out of being grounded?

I run in and kiss Mom on the cheek before grabbing my jacket on the way back out, closing the door behind me.

“Where are we going?” Blake asks, following me as I head down to the road, looking for his truck.

“Out. We’re tracking down Kay. Where’s your truck?” I look up at him, only to see him give me a sheepish grin.

“What?” I ask.

“Uh, my truck broke down about ten minutes from here.” He scratches the back of his head and I gape at him.

“So you walked all the way over here from your truck?”

“Obviously. I ran out of gas,” he mutters, and I just shake my head at him.

“How is that even…why would you drive around with an empty tank?”

“I didn’t think it would run out, dummy. It was half full when I started looking for Kay.”

I laugh out loud and he shoots me an annoyed look. I immediately shut up.

“I’ll get more fuel. I think we have some in the garage.”

Blake nods at me and I quickly get the stuff that we need before following him toward his truck.

He breaks the silence. “Do you know where she is?”

“Not really, but I have a few ideas. Where have you looked?”

He takes the gas can from me, seeing that I’m struggling to carry it. I give him a thankful look.

“Around the area,” he says, and I roll my eyes. ~So much information.~

We get to Blake’s truck again, he fills his tank up while I jump into the passenger seat.

“Thanks for the fuel!” He gives me a small grin, and I smile at him.

“Why didn’t you go to Asher? I mean, he’s your best friend, right? We barely talk.”

I buckle my seatbelt, looking at him sideways.

“Nah, Asher would ask too many questions. How am I even supposed to explain to him that I’m looking for a girl, even panicking about how she’s gone at nine o’clock? He’d laugh his ass off.

“Besides, you’re more likely to know where Kay is.” Blake smiles in my direction before starting up the rusty truck.

“I knew it!” I yell out triumphantly.

“You knew what?” he asks, swinging to our right.

“You like Kaylee!” I shriek, smiling smugly while wiggling my brows at him.

He groans loudly, which makes me smirk even more.

“Blakey and Kaylee sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g, first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes babies in the baby carriage…” I sing-song.

I’m opening my mouth again to continue when he smacks his free hand over my mouth, driving with the other.

“I swear, Addy, another word and I’ll duct tape your loud mouth!” he hisses, and I clap my hands like an excited child.

“YES! You didn’t deny it this time. You likeyyy likeyy Kayleee!” I shriek in happiness.

“Woman, how old are you?”

“Eighteen soon!” I reply smugly, making him chuckle.

“You and Kaylee are so different,” he says after a while, more to himself than me.

“Yes, but we’ve been there for each other for a long time,” I smile, thinking about Kaylee. No one could ever replace my best friend.

We drive in silence after that, my mind drifting off.

“Addy?” Someone is shaking my shoulder and I groan, resisting the need to pry my eyes open.

“Addy!” the voice says again and I peek open to see Blake looking at me with a worried face.

“Are you okay?” he asks and I sit up properly, nodding.

“What? Where are we?” I ask.

“Close to the school. I’ve been driving all over. You dozed off and I didn’t want to disturb you. It’s already ten-fifteen.”

My jaw drops at his words.

“What? I fell asleep? You’ve got to be kidding!” I groan.

“Nope. You could’ve mentioned you were tired. I could’ve taken over the search,” he says gently, and I shake my head at him.

“No, I’d do anything for Kaylee. I didn’t realize I was so exhausted. Did you check the park?” He nods right away and I groan.

~Where on earth is she?~

I rack my brain for where she might have run off to when another thought hits me.

“Hold on, did you say it’s past ten?”

Blake nods, and I bolt upright in my seat. I swear under my breath before scrambling for my phone.

Mom gave me permission to go out, but I only mentioned I’d be outside the house chatting with Blake, not going anywhere. She’s probably panicking by now. It’s already dark out.

I dig out my phone, relieved when I don’t see any missed calls from Mom. She’s probably asleep already. Early shift tomorrow.

I tug at my hair, giving Blake a reassuring look that everything’s okay when my phone suddenly blares. I quickly answer the call.

“Kaylee!” I shout, only to hear her sobbing.

Blake immediately perks up, reaching for my phone, but I shake my head at him.

“Kay, where are you?” I ask softly, and she sobs a bit more before telling me exactly where she is. I end the call only to be bombarded with questions from Blake.

“Relax. I didn’t hand you the phone because she probably wouldn’t have told me where she was if she heard your voice.”

Blake slumps back in his seat before asking me where she is.

“Let’s go,” I say as I open the door and hop out of his truck.

“Where are you going?” he asks, confused, but gets out anyway.

“She’s behind the school building, dummy!” I tease him before heading to our spot. Our secret spot. I’m not really surprised he couldn’t find her. He hasn’t been here long.

“But I looked here!” he groans, trailing after me.

“Not well enough!” I laugh before sprinting off, ready to scale the tall gate. I climb over with Blake following before heading toward her.

I walk in silence with Blake until we get there but stop short when I hear two hushed voices.

“What the hell?” Blake pushes me behind him when two figures approach us. I try to peek over his shoulder in the dark when I suddenly recognize the two figures.

Blake seems to have figured it out as well. He slowly steps out from our hiding spot and I join him, only to come face-to-face with Xander and Kaylee.

Kaylee’s eyes are red and swollen and I immediately move toward her, pulling her into my arms. Xander’s arm that was supporting Kaylee drops to his side.

I comfort Kaylee before pulling away, brushing her hair out of her face.

“You could’ve come to me, you know?” I scold her, and she nods tiredly.

“I know, I’m sorry!” she says before planting a kiss on my cheek.

“You’re telling me everything tomorrow?”

She rolls her eyes at me before they drift off to Blake.

“You guys have things to sort out. Since Xander is here, he can drop me off at home. Blake, you take Kaylee.”

Blake shoots me a grateful look, and I just nod at him before taking Xander’s hand and leading him away.

Kaylee shrieks at me, trying to follow us while shooting me a threatening look, but Blake pulls her with him in the other direction.

“Did Kay call you?” Xander asks on our way, and I nod.

“We were actually already looking for her. Blake really cares for her.”

“I can see, or I wouldn’t have let him take her with him.”

I smile at Xander.

“So what are you doing here?”

We get into Xander’s car.

“Kaylee texted me to come and pick her up, but I didn’t get to reply. She probably thought I wasn’t coming and texted you.”

I furrow my brows at him. “Why didn’t she just—”

“—text you to begin with?” he finishes my question. I nod at him.

“Something about you being grounded?”

I sink into my seat.

“Didn’t know good girls like you got grounded!”

I shoot him a playful look.

“Who told you that I’m a good girl?” I smirk at him.

He laughs heartily at that. We joke the rest of the way home.

“I’ll walk you to your door,” Xander says, and I just nod.

“Mom is going to kill me if she’s awake, so I better hurry in now.” I smile at him.

“Hahaha, yes, of course! See you on Saturday, princess. Sleep tight!” His gray eyes twinkle.

“You too, Xander!” I smile at him before heading in, hoping that my mom won’t be too mad at me.

Little do I know of the angry figure glaring at me from the window across from my room.