Intertwined

Chapter 20

Dinah's POV

We've looked and looked. It's been two hours and we have search the area around and near the motel and gone through tons of traffic in case Lauren was waking across intersections. Clara got the idea a moment ago that maybe he's walking along a highway, as crazy as it seems she is definitely not going to give up and right now it's our best option because she clearly isn't where we were looking. We take a highway going east due to the fact that Camila said that if Lauren really were running away she wouldn't stay in California or even go to Florida but to some other state where people won't know who she is. She said that Lauren just wants to find peace so that would mean she is probably going to a small town where people wouldn't recognize her and she can be happy. I got to give it to Camila though. That's some great detective work and she used common sense when we couldn't. I mean, out of all of us, she took Lauren being in the hospital, as well as Lauren running away, really badly. She should be the one that can't even think, but instead its us. We're all shaken up but Camila really pushed that aside to find her best friend and the one she loves most.

But anyways, Camila is right. Lauren is not going to go to New York City where she will be photographed, mobbed, and OBVIOUSLY recognized. She'll go someplace nice and small, Lauren always liked that...

SHIT!

HOW THE HELL DID I FORGET ABOUT THIS?! Lauren sometimes brought up what she wished her life was like if she wasn't famous. She said she would move to some small town that was northern so that in the winter time she could experience the snow and make fires in a fireplace, sitting in her living room, reading with a good book on her lap. But really she just wanted a place with actual season changes because in Miami there is no snow and in the fall the leaves don't really change colors, it's the same all year. She said she would take that opportunity to finally begin ACTUALLY doing photography and after she'd get back from work at a music and/or a book store she would draw and paint while blasting music on her speakers. And that there would be woods nearby where she would explore and dance without anyone's eyes on her. Lauren always said that she didn't care if she was single all her life, she didn't need anyone to make her happy because she could do that herself without having to constantly depend on someone to put a smile on her face. 

"GUYS!" I yell. Everyone turns their attention to me, minus Clara who is driving but she looks at me for a moment through the mirror. "Remember how Lauren sometimes talked about how her life would be like if she wasn't famous?" Everyone nods. "She always talked about northern states. She said stuff about small towns and woods that were nearby where she could go and explore. She wanted a place where seasons changed. Now...what were the states that she really enjoyed during tour?"

Everyone looks like they just now realized that what Lauren tells us is never meaningless, it can actually help us find her. I could tell they felt stupid and that felt nice on my behalf because I feel like a smart Dinah. Shit. Not the time for this Dinah. I tell myself.

"She really liked the two Dakota states when we passed through there that one time." Camila said.

"She liked the snow in Minnesota." Normani chimed in.

"And I remember her liking Wyoming and Iowa" Ally said.

"Don't forget Montana and....uh....there was another one she liked that was northeastern."

"Maine. She liked Maine." Clara finished for Mike.

"Well, that's a lot. How about we narrow that down to what she said to each of you about that state that each of you said." I say. Camila starts off.

"She liked the people and landscape. But we never really saw much of the woods." Camila says looking off into the distance, as if trying to remember.