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 seat, 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. 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 toward 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, 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 gap 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 toward 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 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.
I stared at him for so long he said, "What?" but I only turned on my heel and walked away.
"Let's get going," I said over my shoulder. "Carley's going to be worried sick." I slammed into Holt's car and sat there with my arms folded.
Holt got in and looked at me carefully. "What are you m
ad about?" He asked.
I raised my eyebrows at him.
"You and I have to talk," I said, folding my arms over my chest. I felt more prepared for battle that way. He had started the car and we were rolling back down the dirt road, Nick finally following behind.
"About what?" he asked, carefully avoiding my eyes.
"About all the weird things that happen around you," I exploded. I went through a list that included the flowers, people's strange reaction to him, the fight with Samuel, his sudden desire not to have anything to do with me, and now the mud just sliding off him as if it was never there. Wild hand gestures assisted me in making big points. "I deserve to know why you hate me."
He gaped at me. "What? I don't hate you! How could you think that?"
"Because you don't want to have anything to do with me!" I cried. "Because even before you told me you couldn't see me, you wouldn't touch me! What else am I supposed to think?"
"That's not it at all," said Holt quietly. "Far from it."
I didn't know what to say. If he didn't hate me then what reason would he have for pushing me away?
Finally he took a deep breath and said, "We can talk, but not right now. It's complicated. I'm sorry, Autumn. We'll get Nick home and reunited with Carley so she can beat him up or whatever she's planning on doing to him, then we'll go out to the garden and I'll explain everything I can. Plus, I'd like you to meet my family before . . ." He trailed off.
I wanted for him to finish the sentence, but he didn't. I tried to relax. This was a start, and if he wanted me to meet his family he couldn't completely hate me after all. No matter what, at least I'd know what was going on after we talked. Even though it might hurt like hell, I needed to know. I was exhausted from the last week. I hadn't slept. I'd worried about Holt hating me, but now he said he didn't. And now he'd explain.
Good. Finally.
I hoped it would be a simple explanation, like a "My family and the Cheshires fought over land and now we hate each other" kind of thing, but somehow I knew it wasn't going to be so easy. I had a hunch that after today, after Holt told me what was going on, the very last thing anything would be was easy.