***
It was seven p.m. and Mum was a no-show. Tyson had come home about half an hour earlier without any signs of fur in his mouth—cat one, Tyson zero.
When Mum still hadn’t shown up by seven thirty, Aiden and I decided to order Chinese and the latest Fast and Furious movie. That series was the ultimate guy/girl movie date. The boys got their fair share of cars and girls, and the girls got more than our share of eye candy. The whole car racing thing was kind of hot, too.
The Chinese food arrived at eight, and Mum still wasn’t home, so I sent her a text asking her if she was still coming home.
About a minute later, my phone beeped with a new message. Sorry, hun, I’m caught up at work. I won’t be able to come home till late tonight, sorry xxx.
So we started the movie and dug into the Chinese without her.
Mum still wasn’t home by the time the movie ended, so Aiden ordered another random movie that I had never heard of and, quite frankly, didn’t care to watch. But I was happy for the distraction. Anything that would stop me thinking about Chelsea was okay by me.
Just as I dozed off in Aiden’s arms, Mum opened the internal door to the garage, waking me up in the process.
“Oops. Sorry, sweetie, I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“Nah, you didn’t wake me. I was just resting my eyes.” The last thing I needed was for her to feel guilty about her lack of motherly involvement and take time off work, because then she might actually have time to notice there was something not quite right with me. The less attention I received from her, the better.
“How are you feeling?” she asked, sitting down beside me.
“I’m fine.”
She looked sceptical. “Has she really been okay?” Mum asked Aiden.
“You know, I’m not seven. I can answer for myself, and I told you, I’m fine,” I snapped. “Why won’t you believe me?”
“Because I know you. You’ll say anything to get me off your back.” She was obviously trying to lighten the mood.
“She’s been okay. She’s mostly just tired, that’s all,” Aiden assured her and, at the same time, giving me a way out of any further interrogation.
“Sorry I snapped. Aiden’s right, I am really tired. I think I just need a good night’s sleep.” I faked a yawn.
“That’s okay, honey. Why don’t you take yourselves up to bed, and I’ll see you both in the morning.”
Aiden and I got up from the sofa. I leant down and kissed Mum on her cheek. “Night, Mum.”
“Good night, honey. Take care of her for me, will you?” she said to Aiden.
“I always will,” Aiden assured not just Mum, but me as well.
We headed for the stairs. I loved that Mum didn’t have a problem with Aiden staying over, especially then. I was afraid to leave Aiden’s side, for fear that I might fall to pieces the moment I wasn’t in his presence. I couldn’t risk it. I needed to be at my best if I wanted to have any chance of saving Chelsea. Speaking of… “Oh, Mum, just a quick question.”
“Yeah, darl?” She turned around in her seat so she could see me.
“Have you heard anything about Chelsea’s disappearance?”
“Chelsea’s missing?” She took a second too long to answer.
She was hiding something, and I really didn’t feel up to trying to get it out of her. And besides, Aiden would be able to tell me what she was thinking anyway.
“Her mum thinks so. She wasn’t in her bedroom when her mum went to wake her up this morning, and she didn’t turn up at school today.” I was sure Mum already knew the story.
“Maybe she’ll turn up tomorrow.”
“Maybe.” I turned around and walked up the stairs with Aiden in tow. No matter how much I hoped that she would show up tomorrow, I seriously doubted it would be that easy.
“Tell me,” I said, closing the door behind me. “What was she hiding? I know she was hiding something.”
“She was definitely hiding something, that’s for sure. But exactly what she is hiding, I’m not really sure. You see…” Aiden paused while he lifted his shirt up and over his head, leaving me unable to concentrate on a word that came out of his mouth. Even after all this time, the sight of his god-like body left me as mesmerised as that first day at the beach.
“Should I put my shirt back on?” Aiden asked, snapping me back to reality.
I shook my head, blood rushing to my cheeks. I hated being caught out, especially when I should be concentrating on finding my best friend. “Continue. I promise I’ll keep focused.”
Aiden hopped into bed. “All I was going to say was that your mum started thinking about how she’d heard about Chelsea’s disappearance. Then her thoughts were all over the place. She didn’t stay with one thought for long enough for me to catch on.”
“Do you think she’s hiding something to protect me?” I crawled in beside him.
He shrugged. “Don’t know.”
I hated not knowing. And more so, I hated that she might have information that could help us find Chelsea but wouldn’t give it up, probably in some noble attempt to protect me. God, I already knew Chelsea was missing. What I needed was some honesty.
“We will try to figure this out tomorrow, but for now, we need some sleep. You won’t be any use if you can’t keep your eyes open tomorrow.”
Sometimes he sounded wise beyond his years, making me wonder if he was really seventeen. For all I knew, he could be fifty-something years old and just pretending to be a teenager. I mean, his parents could easily pass for being in their early twenties, which meant that Aiden would look younger than them, even if he was really old, too.
“My God, you over-analyse everything, don’t you?” Aiden asked, smiling.
“Well?” I hoped I was wrong.
“Well, I was just thinking that if you stay up all night worrying about what your mum is or isn’t hiding, then you’re going to be tired and grumpy as hell tomorrow.” I was too annoyed by him calling me a crabby little so-and-so to call him out on dodging my question.
“I’m not grumpy when I’m tired,” I snapped, proving him right. Okay, so I was buggered. And maybe I do get a little irritable when I’m tired, but did he really need to point it out?
“Well, yeah,” he said with a smirk. “Because I’m the one who has to put up with you all day.” He ducked out of my reach as I swung my arm in a playful punch, hitting the pillow instead.
Chapter 9