DAKOTA LAHOTE - e.c

9. disappearance

dakota woke up the next morning with a sense of pride. she felt grown up. she felt like a new person.

she felt like embry was ignoring her.

around lunchtime, she called embry. he didn't pick up. she decided to go get coffee about ten minutes away from her house. she got back home, checked the phone for any missed calls, and sighed while pasta for lunch.

she didn't start overthinking until dinnertime. she was all alone with nothing but her thoughts. her dad was still in las vegas on the business trip, paul hadn't been home all day, and amara was going shopping.

she sat on her couch thinking to herself, what if he's suddenly bored? what if he doesn't want anything to do with me? did i do something wrong?

she hated that he had this much power over her. a boy causing this much stress over her? she loathed it. she gained a sense of reality and convinced herself that he wasn't ignoring her on purpose. if anything, he had something going on last minute that he wasn't able to avoid or tell dakota about.

yes, that's right.

so, she grabbed a book on the shelf in the living room and read away.

she was about three chapters and forty pages in the book when the front door bursts open, interrupting her focus.

jared walks in, holding a brown takeout bag, a drink carrier, and the house keys. he steps inside and takes ten seconds to close the door, dakota staring at him the entire time. he walks to the kitchen island carefully, taking baby steps in the process. he sets everything down slowly, being gentle as if not to drop anything.

"uh, hi?"

"ah!" he shrieks, jumping in place.

she got up, placing her book on the couch. "what are you doing here jared?"

he opened the takeout bag and sat down, putting all the food out. "paul wanted to make sure you ate tonight."

"so, where is paul?" she asks, taking a seat.

"he's helping sam with something." jared murmured. "egg rolls or crab rangoon?"

"egg rolls." she stated and he handed her a box of three pork egg rolls.

"what kind of chicken do you like?" he asks nonchalantly.

"sesame." he hands her a small box of sesame chicken with vegetables in it.

he's in the middle of taking a mouthful of lo mein noodles when she decides to say something.

"um, jared?"

he looks up at her and stops chewing, making a weird face.

"i thought paul was supposed to stay away from you guys?" she began. "doesn't look like that to me."

he shrugs. "uh, yeah, that was the plan. don't tell your dad, please. look, sam and i are just trying to help paul. without us, he'd be in a bad spot. you realize that don't you?"

"i won't tell anyone, don't worry. but i'm not really sure what you guys mean by 'helping out'."

"look, he has anger issues, we have solutions." he smiles, revealing noodles in his teeth. "it's like group therapy."

"sure it is." she rolls her eyes.

"now, eat up your food. i didn't spend 19 dollars on it for nothing."

despite the awkwardness between the two from the night dakota went berserk, jared treated it like nothing ever happened, which she appreciated. it was nice to have company to eat with.

after they gobbled up the food like there was no tomorrow, jared made a point that he had to get away to help sam and paul.

they walked to the door and dakota opened it for him. "thanks for dinner, jared. you're actually not bad company."

he gives her a confused look. "thanks?"

"oh, uh, when is paul coming back?"

he scratches his head. "i don't know, probably not until tomorrow morning? i couldn't say."

she hides her disappointment. "oh, okay."

he starts walking out the door, rubbing his belly like he just had the best food ever. "see ya on monday, dakota!"

"bye jared." she says, closing the door and locking it as soon as he got away from the house.

***

dakota got no response from embry on sunday. she fully convinced herself he was too busy to say anything, so she wasn't upset, just delusional. after all, boys aren't everything.

paul came back for an hour, making ramen for him and dakota. he didn't say anything about what he was doing, and avoided the question when dakota asked. when he finished lunch, he packed up and rushed out the door. dakota wondered how long it's been since he's taken a shower.