One Black Rose (13 page)

That was a surprise. “What?” I couldn’t imagine what the two of them had to fight about in relation to Samuel and Holt.

“I was complimenting them, you know, saying how lucky you were to have two gorgeous older guys fighting over you,” she said, not looking at me. “He got really mad.”

“They are not fighting over me,” I muttered. I moved food around on my plate.

But Carley was too caught up in her own problems to care what I said. She just kept staring at the wall.

“Okay…so he’s mad at you?” I asked.

“Well, yeah, but then…I mean, what would he be mad about? I’m allowed to talk about other guys to him. That’s what friends
do
with each other. Plus, I knew you were seeing both of them, so it was on my mind. But he got so pissed!” She had talked progressively faster until she was basically stringing one word after another without taking a breath.

“You don’t think he had a right to get mad?” I asked, needing to clarify exactly what Carley was saying.

“Well, no. Why should he? I guess I was just wrong about him being a good friend,” said Carley, finally sitting straighter in her chair and looking at me. “A good friend would let me vent.”

I wasn’t so sure about that, but clearly Carley was missing what was right in front of her face. If the guy I had been in love with for years was always going on about how other girls were hot or gorgeous or how my friends were lucky to have them, I’d probably snap too. And it definitely seemed like Nick had liked Carley for years, maybe even more than he was conscious of himself. But Carley definitely didn’t know. If she’d known how he felt she might not have said anything, but I still didn’t feel like it was my place to tell her. It had to come from Nick.

“Why were you saying all that stuff about Holt and Samuel?” I asked. At the moment it was hard to hear Holt’s name, let alone say it. I still didn’t know what I’d done wrong. I just wanted to talk to him. I felt sure that if we just talked he’d see reason and hang out with me again. It was hard not to let those thoughts overwhelm me, even though I knew Carley needed me right now.

“Because they both buzz around you like they are magnetized to you,” Carley said in despair. “Or at least they did until a week ago. Don’t act like you didn’t notice it. Nick probably likes you too, that’s why he’s always around. He told me outright he thought you were really nice. And seriously, if I’d known you’d be getting this much attention from guys I wouldn’t have invited you here this summer.”

“Very funny. Nick is crazy about YOU, not me. You’re the one he always hangs out with.”

“Not any more,” said Carley despondently, slouching lower. “I just can’t believe he’d be so unreasonable.”

Her phone buzzed and she glanced at it. “It’s Nick’s house” she exclaimed, but instantly deflated like a popped balloon. “I can’t answer that.”

“You have to talk to him sometime,” I said as it continued to buzz.

“It doesn’t have to be now,” she said, folding her arms and glaring at the phone until it stopped buzzing.

After a breath Carley’s house phone started ringing. She went and looked at the caller ID.

“That’s weird,” she said, squinting. “It’s Nick’s house number again. He never calls me on that.”

“Maybe you should just answer,” I said. “If you don’t want to talk to him you can always hang up.”

Carley rolled her eyes and picked up the phone.

“Oh hi, Mrs. Farnsworth,” she said, her face draining of color. She had expected it to be Nick, but it wasn’t, it was Nick’s mother. “Oh, no, I haven’t seen him. Sorry.” After a pause she said, “No, I haven’t talked to him today. He went out late last night…and you haven’t seen him since?”

Another pause while she listened, then she said, “No, he’s not with me, but if I hear from him I’ll let you know. Yeah, I’ll go look for him too.”

She slammed the receiver down and bounded out of the room, yelling to me over her shoulder, “Nick hasn’t been home since last night. His mom’s in a panic!”

“Carley,” I called after her, forking one last piece of food into my mouth as I got up, “you don’t know where he is and you don’t have a car. What do you think you’re going to do?”

“I’m going to look for him on foot. His parents are driving around,” she called back. She was already in the living room. Since she’d be cold in just shorts and a tank top, she was throwing on a fleece (Maine mornings were cold) and trying to get her feet into boots at the same time. “Will you look for him too?” she asked, her eyes pleading.

“Of course, you want me to come with you?” I asked. A walk might clear my head.

“Actually, I was thinking you could take a car,” she said as she checked her cell phone. “He hasn’t called! He’s probably dead in a ditch somewhere.”

“I don’t have a car,” I said. “You know that, don’t you? You aren’t so out of it that you suddenly think a car magically appeared for me to drive and I have a license to drive it?”

“Look, Autumn, Nick is missing and we need to find him. This is no time for jokes. Now, put aside your differences with Holt and call him and ask him to look with you. He has a car. Honestly, you’d think that you didn’t care about Nick AT ALL.” And with that she flung the door open and headed out.

I followed her, hurrying to keep up before she disappeared. “Carley, I can’t just ask Holt to drive me around. Some stuff happened at the restaurant and I’m not sure I can call him,” I said.

Carley gave me a sharp look. “Did you hook up?” she asked.

I shook my head no.

“Then it isn’t important enough not to call him. Do it now,” she said, and headed off the porch.

“Carley,” I yelled after her, exasperated.

Part way down the driveway she turned, and as she walked backwards she yelled, “Let me know if you find him. I’ll text you if I do. Hurry, Autumn. Something bad could have happened.” And she was gone.

“Something bad did happen,” I muttered under my breath as I turned and headed back into the house. “He had a fight with the girl he loves and now he’s sulking. Typical guy.”

Last night I’d almost tumbled off of a cliff. Now Nick was missing. This week was turning out wonderfully.

I went back into the house. I didn’t want to text Holt -- he was the one who didn’t want to have anything to do with me -- but I knew Carley would be furious with me if I didn’t. Taking a deep breath I sent a text: Nick’s missing. Can you drive me around to look for him?

I held my breath and waited, staring down at the screen on my phone. As the minutes ticked by I realized it was useless. He didn’t want to have anything to do with me. He’d made that clear after the restaurant.

I’ll just have to look for him on my own,
I thought.
I was still in my PJs, but it didn’t matter since no one was going to see me. I grabbed a jacket to ward off the morning chill and headed out the door.

I was halfway down the steps into the gray morning when a familiar silver car turned into the driveway. I stood and waited, my mouth hanging open. Holt came screeching to a halt in front of me not five minutes after I’d texted him.

He got out of the car but left his door open as he looked at me. “Get in,” he said a little breathlessly.

 I wanted to ask him why he’d agreed to come, but he continued, “What happened?”

“I’ll tell you on the way,” I said, and climbed into the car. He sat back down in the driver’s seat and leaned over to click off the classic rock that was playing. Then he looked at me and waited expectantly, frowning. His face was very close to me and I suddenly realized it was hard to breathe.

“What did you mean when you said he was ‘missing?’” he asked.

“He and Carley had a fight last night and he hasn’t been seen since,” I said. “His mom called Carley this morning to ask if she’d seen him, but she hasn’t.” I took a deep breath. “His family hasn’t seen him since yesterday.”

“And Carley doesn’t know where he is? What was the fight about?” Holt asked. If our proximity was affecting him he gave no sign. Frustrated, I sat back in my chair, trying to get a little breathing room.

“I…don’t know what they fought about,” I lied. How could I tell him that it was about him and Samuel?

Luckily he didn’t push me. Instead he started the ignition. “Where are we looking?”

“I don’t know. Anywhere, I suppose,” I said. “Carley went to look on foot. I think his parents are looking in a car. If we haven’t found him by tonight they’re going to call the cops.”

I took a deep breath and tried to force myself to relax. I was tired and it had already been a whirlwind morning and now I was sitting in Holt’s car again.

At the end of Carley’s driveway Holt eased the car to a stop, staring straight ahead. He looked lost in thought.

“This way,” he said. Instead of turning the car left towards town, he swung it right, leading us further into the fields and trees of the countryside.

“How do you know?” I asked. “You sound sure.”

Holt shrugged. “Just an idea.” We kept driving, turning again and again and each time going down less well paved roads, until finally we got to a dirt road. It reminded me of where I’d gotten lost, but I wasn’t sure if I was in the same place or not. I wanted to say something about the night at the restaurant, but I didn’t know what.

“Why would he come down here?” I asked. “Are you wasting time?”

“He likes to fish,” said Holt. “He had fishing stuff in the back of his car last time I was at the house, and there’s a lake down this way.”

I did remember seeing the fishing stuff, but all I had thought was,
why would anyone in their right mind waste time fishing?

The dirt road was uneven in a lot of places, so we bumped and jolted along. Trees hung close to the road and a couple of branches scraped over the top of the car.

Up ahead through a part in the trees I could see a flash of blue: the lake.

As we rolled into the clearing I could see Nick’s familiar car down by the water. I gasped and sat forward in my seat, scanning the clearing for Nick. I didn’t see him anywhere.

Holt barely had time to stop before I flung the door open and dashed towards Nick’s car. I had forgotten the dirt -- which was actually mud -- and my shoes sank into it. Every time I pulled my foot up it came away with a slurping noise. I think I might have heard Holt laughing behind me.

At first the car looked empty, but I did see a pile of blankets in the back seat. I banged in the window. “Nick!!” I yelled. “Nick.” Slowly the pile of blankets started to move and heave.

A white and bleary face pressed itself against the glass, looking around without really seeing. It was Nick. I breathed a sigh of relief.

“Who’s there?” Nick demanded.

“What do you mean? It’s Autumn. I’m standing right here,” I replied.

“He doesn’t have his glasses on,” said Holt. He’d parked his car and come up behind me so quietly I jumped a little.

“Who’s that?” Nick yelled.

“Geez Nick, find your glasses. It’s Holt,” I called to him, “And get out of the car.”

Nick wrapped the blankets tighter around him. “I’m not decent. I need to protect my modesty,” he said.

I rolled my eyes. “Sure, Nick. Whatever you say. I’m going to walk away from the car. You just let me know when you’re ready,” I said.

I stomped away back to Holt’s car. I had to call Carley. Unfortunately, my cell phone told me I had no service.
What a surprise.
I’d have to wait until we got back to paved roads.

Finally Nick got out of the car, looking totally rumpled. His red hair was flying away in all directions, his shirt had so many creases I could barely read the writing on the front of it, and his shorts looked like they had gotten wet and then been left crumpled up somewhere to dry and put back on.

“I need an ironing board,” said Nick, looking down at himself.

“Yeah, you’ll also need armor once Carley and your parents get a hold of you,” I said.

“Carley doesn’t care,” Nick muttered looking tired and dejected.

“Of course she does,” said Holt. “People don’t send search parties for people they don’t care about.”

Nick mumbled something I couldn’t hear. “Let’s get out of here,” he said. “I need to shower before I see anyone.”

“You want to come over?” Holt asked. “You can shower there.”

Nick stared at him as if he’d grown a second head. “To your house?”

“Sure,” said Holt, laughing. “My family’s home. I have some clothes you’d probably fit into. It’d be fun. Autumn, you can come too.”

Nick looked like Christmas had come early that year. “Sure, that’d be great.”

We got back into Holt’s car and he carefully turned the car around. Nick didn’t have as much luck getting unstuck from the mud. We got a little ways back down the road, then realized Nick wasn’t behind us.

I looked back. “Uh oh,” I said. His car was stuck. Holt looked in the rearview mirror. “We’ll have to help.”

He stopped the car and got out and the two of us got out and walked back to Nick. After about half an hour, Nick’s car came free of the mud. “No wonder you slept here. You couldn’t get out,” I muttered.

Both Nick and Holt had been behind the car pushing. I was in the driver’s seat steering, so when we finally got the car free and I got out I expected both guys to be covered in mud, but somehow I wasn’t even surprised when only one of them was. Nick was now completely caked in a brown mess of dirt and lake slime. There was even mud in his hair. But Holt looked almost as pristine as when we’d left that morning.