𝐒𝐄𝐋𝐅𝐈𝐒𝐇 | 𝐀. 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐃𝐄𝐑 [𝟐]

➛⠀𝟭𝟵 | 𝗖𝗔𝗥 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗦𝗘

When you were finished with the rest of your outfit, you put on your oversized red jacket. Alex had woken you up an hour earlier, and you had no recollection of snuggling close to him since he had carefully peeled himself away from you so as not to startle you. He was careful not to bring it up because he knew how much you would apologize and how flustered you would be.

You did, however, recall what happened when you and Alex were watching Full House earlier. You grinned at the memory as you stared at nothing. When you're with him, you'll forget about your worries and dreams. You seemed to be in a good mood.

Just as you wanted to flop in your bed to let your squeals out, you heard Molly shouting from outside. You quickly left your room and saw her walking down the stairs while Nico was walking up the stairs to meet Molly. "I've been looking for him the past 15 minutes!" Molly yelled in panic. "Topher's gone! His room's empty." Molly glared at Nico as they both met in the middle of the stairs. "And he left because of you."

You dashed down the stairwell and took stood next to Nico to confront Molly. "Molly, calm down, you're exaggerating."

Molly shook her head. "No! Nico made him feel like he didn't belong here." She darted her eyes to you. "And you went along with her!"

You huffed while Nico argued back. "He left because he thought you'd lead him to enough rocks to refill his vial." She stated. "And you didn't."

"That's bullshit!" Molly exclaimed.

Your eyes went wide along with Chase and Gert who was upstairs, listening to the argument. "Did Molly just curse?" Chase questioned Gert as he looked down at her. Gert nodded as she crossed her arms. "Yep." She replied. "PG-13, but definitely a curse word."

"He cares about me!" Molly argued with Nico.

"He cares about getting high," Nico remarked.

Alex walked into the main hall to stop the argument. "Okay, enough!" He exclaimed. "Let's not jump to any conclusions, all right? Maybe Topher's just out there raiding Cheesecake Factory dumpsters for breakfast."

You shook your head at Alex while Chase looked back at Gert with a sigh. "I'd even settle for Islands." When he noticed Gert's unamused expression, Chase dropped his smile. "For Molly's sake." He quickly added.

Gert sighed. "Guys, he could just be out getting things for people that they need, like toothpaste."

"Hey, guys." Karolina came out from the dining area and entered the main hall, standing next to Alex. "I don't think he's coming back here."

You and the others followed Karolina into the dining room, where you searched for the missing piece of Alex's conspiracy wall. Alex let out a frustrated groan. "Shit, he took the map to the dig site."

"And the card about the rocks my parents found," Molly added when she noticed there was a missing card near her parents' drawing portraits. "He asked me a lot of questions last night."

Gert turned her head to Molly. "Questions about the dig site?"

Molly looked back at Gert. "What? We were trying to figure out our connection."

Gert raised her hands in surrender. "Oh, no, I'm—I'm not mad, I'm just—"

"He's gone to find more rocks," Nico stated, interrupting Gert's sentence.

"We gotta do something," Chase replied.

Karolina glanced down at Nico in worry before looking back at the wall. "Do you think he would try to get in the hole? Because that's not safe." You and the others looked at Karolina, causing her to think of what to say next. "For him. I mean, because he might get hurt."