Glee: Race to the Finish (the fifth book in the Glee series)

Chapter 38: Unhinged

LIMA, OHIO

"Did you see Shana's Instagram?"

"I saw it."

"So you saw where Julie went?"

"I did."

"Did you call her?"

"I did not."

Ryder got up and walked towards the kitchen. Marley had been talking to him about Julie constantly, trying to understand what he was feeling, but all he wanted was to stop thinking about her. She had been gone for only twenty-four hours and already everything seemed to be falling apart. But he didn't want to think about her anymore.

"Stefan called," Marley said. "He wanted to let us know that he was going down to L.A. to visit Shea and that he'd be talking to Julie... As if that's going to make a difference. But he said he'd try anyway."

"I'm just going to see if I can help Jake out with finding Bree," Ryder said, standing up. "You're free to stay with Ben, right?"

Marley nodded, watching with worry as Ryder grabbed his coat and headed out. She still wasn't able to get him to talk about how he was feeling. 

***

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

By the time that Julie had found out through the others that Stefan was coming, he was already in the same building as her. They were playing another show in a large arena but it wasn't large enough for her to hide out from him and as soon as she had gotten to her temporary dressing room, he was there, too, with Shea hugging his waist lovingly.

"Look who dropped by!" Shea announced.

"Hey there!" Stefan exclaimed as Shea smiled happily.

Julie turned around to face them and forced a smile. "Yeah, I heard you were coming over, too. How are you doing?" He walked over to give him a hug.

"Uh... I'm ok..." he said, but Julie could tell immediately that he wasn't. He cared about Bree more than anyone she knew and of course he wasn't going to be very happy right now. But Shea didn't seem to catch on.

"I'm so excited that you're here," she said. "We're going to do so much. I missed you! Ok, so I have to do the show but you can watch from backstage, the view is great, and then we can go do something late at night if I'm not too tired. I have to get back to the rehearsal but I'll leave you here and I'll see you during my break, ok?" She jumped up to give him a kiss on the cheek and then ran off.

"That's, like," Julie said when she was gone, "the most I've ever seen her smile... or talk... or really interact with other human beings."

"Yeah, she's..." Stefan responded. "Something..."

Julie invited him to take a seat beside her, so he did as she asked, "How's everything back at Lima?"

"You'd know if you'd stuck around, wouldn't you?" Stefan asked her.

She made a face and noted, "You're here, too."

"I know," he said, rubbing the arc of his note in frustration. "I know, it's just... The more they look for her, the more hopeless it seems. If she's being held captive by those dudes that hate Jake, they would've called for ransom by now, right?" Julie nodded. "And if they just wanted to hurt her then... They probably did by now."

"Yep," Julie agreed. Stefan gave her a look. "Sorry," she added. "It's cold, I know. It's just that... I don't want to let myself fall into the delusional belief this would all end in a few days. Like I did with Sam... It's been more than a month since he... I'm sorry, I don't want to put you down with my pessimism."