German Boy

Chapter 38: A Day Or Two

I told Sofia everything about what happened a few days ago. The confession, his disorder, the kiss, and... everything. I expected her to be mostly concerned for Ven but instead,d she went crazy after I told her about the confession.

"So in general, he told you about his Capgras disorder thingy, you guys confessed your love for each other and kissed but you never told me a word even once until now?" She concluded. I rolled my eyes. I can't believe that's what she's worried about in the middle of a crisis like this.

"I had no idea what to say,"

"If you told me the same words the moment after all of those things that happened, I would have been the one to tell you to follow him." As I knew she would.

I continued packing her stuff, but this time, with her help. Should I take that as her approval? "Seriously?" I asked when I saw her putting a pair of heels in.

"What?" She frowned and I just nodded my head. We continued packing until we closed her briefcases. I only got one but she got two. "I hope you know this isn't a world tour," I said. She looked at me with eyes that were supposed to scare me but just made me laugh.

"You have no idea what could be out there, or what are the events we might encounter on our way." She put it down from her bed and tapped it, a sign for me, saying she was ready.

"Still, that's kind of... exaggerated?"

"No, it's just being prepared for anything,"

"Yeah... overpreparing, I guess."

"Do you want my help or not?" Her teasing made my eyes sarcastically widen as I took a step toward her and managed her back, manipulatively. "As I was saying...." I didn't have a point.

"You were right," was just all I was able to add to my unfinished statement.

"Hold up," she looked at me, lines drawn on her forehead. "How are we going to get there?" I tried my best to convince her of my idea. Which I know she wouldn't like.

"Which way do you like? The bus? The train? A taxi?"

"We don't have someone to drive us?" She panicked.

"I can't, and you can barely,"

"But you didn't at least just ask someone to,"

"You know I'm on a tight budget," I responded.

"Weren't you thinking? Hiring a driver is cheaper than taking the bus, a taxi, and a train! What's better is that you can take control of it. You can tell the driver which place you wanna go and they'll take you there, directly! Oh God, Jace!" She was rolling her eyes.

With all her excuses since earlier, her expressions, her words, and her reactions, I figured out she doesn't want to come with me. "If you don't want to come with me, then I'll go by myself," I said in a serious tone of voice.

That's just when her face became serious but I was already walking to climb down her window. Then I felt her palm on my arms. I looked at her as she said, "Sorry, I was just kind of... worried for us,"

"But I'm coming," she added and I gave her a calm smile saying, "If you don't want to, it's fine with me. I understand."

"No, I'm coming with you," She nodded.

"They're probably sleeping by now, so, we can take the door. We just have to carry these." And everything went as we planned them to.

My back hurt a lot after it. We carried her items of luggage down their house by the stairs, trying our best not to make a sound. "Wait for me," I said when we stopped in front of our house.

I grabbed my luggage in my room and made it downstairs. When I was about to open the door, I looked at the light coming from our kitchen and found my mom smiling at me. "Take care," she said, slightly waving her hand with a cup of coffee in the other one.

I smiled and ran to her, giving her a tight hug. "Take care," she repeated in my ears. "I will," When I made it out, I stood beside Sofia. "Ready," she nodded. When I was about to call the taxi heading to us, I felt someone holding my arm, again. Thinking it was Sofia, I looked at her, but she was just straightly looking at the taxi coming to us. "I'm coming too," I frowned.

Taylor was looking straight into my eyes. She was so serious. "He's my brother, come on! Just like you guys, I'm worried about him. Thus, none of you two can drive," she said.

Sofia grew stars in her eyes after Taylor offered to drive us. "Sure," she replied.

"I'll get the car," she smiled.

"That's a relief," Sofia said.

Taylor stopped the car in front of us and opened the windows saying, Get in!" I occupied the shotgun seat, and Sofia was at the back.

"How did you know we're going tonight?" I asked.

"I was throwing our garbage and I saw the two of you sneaking from Sofia's house, carrying items of luggage on your back. And with the looks of it, you guys are going to look for Ven. Why would you be out there this late by yourselves, right?"

She had a point. Even if I was the one who saw her with her suitcase this late, considering our condition, I would immediately suspect she was going on a hunt.

"Okay, so tell me, did you miss him?" I was getting kind of sleepy on the way to -I don't even know where- but when I heard her say those words, I felt like I was pouring a bucket of cold water.

"What?" I felt my cheeks turning red. Should this feel good?

"Stop acting! It's been obvious since you were six." I rolled my eyes. Was it that obvious that I liked him so much?

The question for me was, was she talking about how much I liked Ven or my relationship with Ven?

"Well, I'm just worried. Once I find out that he's somewhere safe, I'll be good." She nodded.

"Same. I was worried for Ven and you guys," she pointed at us. "why in the world would you two decide to leave in the middle of the night?" she sounded like how my mom used to scold me when I was younger. No, my grandmother.

"Ask Jaraiah," Sofia said in a sleepy voice tone.

"Just sleep, sis," I said, and the car was then filled with laughter.

A few moments of silence later, when Sofia was already asleep, Sofia looked at me and started another conversation. "Ven liked you a lot, you know." I smiled.

I was trying to sleep but maybe it was her words that kept me up. "How can you say that?"

"He might be a hard-to-read person but his journals said so,"

"He journals?"

"When he was younger. The first few pages said how annoyed he was with you. But summer after summer, those were replaced by pages stating how much he admired you." My heart fluttered the moment she told me that.

I yawned and looked at the sky through the window. It was purple with a touch of orange. I looked at the time on my phone saying 2:44, I tried to close my eyes again but still couldn't sleep.

"Where are we going?" I asked with my arms crossed, leaning at the back of the seat.

"I'm looking for a hotel right now. Let's rest first, and then let's begin tomorrow." I nodded. "I planned to look for him the moment he ran away. But Australia's not my place so I hesitated but when I saw you guys, it was a complete take it or lose it moment." She added.

"What about Gigi and Selena?"

"It was the three of us planning, but we didn't want to leave mom and dad after Ven left. That's just too much to handle for a parent," I chuckled. Even if there was nothing funny about what she said.

"I suggest we stay in Jax's. It's great. I've tried it once." Looking at the trees around me, I thought of Jax's hotel as the nearest one.

"Follow the Australian," she sarcastically expressed.

I gave her the directions and the same routes for us to get there. It's all that I've been up to for the rest of the drive. Australia's not that big of a country at all. So it may take us a day or two.