Can't Run From You

Chapter 49

Riding home was long and quiet. If I'm being honest I was uncomfortable. When I got up this morning my mom said that I should get all dressed up since it's my birthday. I'm in this tight grey mini skirt and a white cut off tank top. I look cute. I even curled my hair and did my make-up. I kept fidgeting because the car ride was so quiet. I looked out the window and played with my bracelet. After a while my parents started talking about what we should do later.

"We can go bowling later if you want to Thea."

"No, I'm okay. I just want to go home and get out of these clothes."

"Why you look so cute." My mom actually looked over the passenger's seat to look at me.

"I'm just not in a celebratory mood." My mom gave me a sad look and turned back around. I went back to looking out the window. I wondered what Eli was doing. I never told her today is my birthday but I know she remembered. I wish I could go out with her to dinner. I want us to get all dressed up and go on a really cute dinner date. That's my birthday wish. That's all I want. She's all I want.

As we started getting closer to the house my parents started getting jittery. They kept looking at each other. My dad kept tapping his fingers on the steering wheel and my mom kept adjusting her jewelry every 10 seconds. I guess they're just feeding off of my melancholy vibe. When we turned down my street there were a lot of cars at the neighbor's house.

"Looks like someone's having a party." I said to no one in particular.

"Looks like it doesn't it." My dad was still tapping the steering wheel. We pulled into the drive way and I started getting off the car. My parents were slow getting off the car.

"Thea wait for us." I was half way up the driveway already. I turned around and gave them a confused look.

"Why?"

"Because its common courtesy." My dad laughed. I rolled my eyes, crossed my arm and popped out my hip and then waited for them to get out of the car and walk up the driveway. I could feel my parents buzzing behind me. I ignored the feeling and walked up to the door. I grabbed the key from my dad put it in the lock and unlocked the door. When I pushed the front door open the living room was dark, but in a split second the lights were on and in front of me was a huge happy birthday sign and about 50 people inside yelling "Surprise". I nearly had a heart attack. It took all of my self-control not to yell holy shit.

"Happy birthday sweetie." My parents said from behind me as they both came in for a hug. There were so many people here and a lot of them I don't even talk to.

"Uhm yeah thanks." My dad gave me a kiss on the forehead and my mom hugged me some more. I slowly walked in and looked around the crowd to see Molly and Lucy and Will in front. Next to the girls were Matt and Jacob. Behind them were goodie goodies from the church and then the entire track team, even Lila. Hell, even coach Clark was here. I looked around and then looked to my parents.

"Where's Eli?"

"What?"

"Where is Eli?" My voice was sterner this time.

"Sweetie you know..." I cut off my mom and started wading through the crowd to get to Lucy and Molly. As I waded people kept saying happy birthday and I would just give them a fake smile and say thank you. When I finally made it to Molly and Lucy I pulled them away from the boys and they both gave me a hug at the same time.

"Happy fucking birthday." They yelled.

"Where is Eli?"

"Uh well she didn't get an invite." This came from Molly.

"Did she know this was going to happen?"

"Yeah I told her about it last Friday before Wills game."

"She knew and she didn't tell me?"

"She didn't want to ruin the surprise." The girls gave me a sad look. This isn't right. I waded through the crowd trying to find somewhere quiet. I was going to just pass Lila by but she pulled me aside and said

"Happy birthday. Thanks for the invitation." I just smiled and said

"You're welcome." I felt like I couldn't breathe. I was angry and frustrated and there were so many people here. There was music playing and people were everywhere. Fuck it. I ran up the stairs and into my room. I closed the door behind me and caught my breathe. How the hell could they do this? She knew and she didn't even tell me because she didn't want to ruin. I can't even imagine how she felt. I paced back and forth in my room and ran my fingers through my hair. After a few minutes I heard a knock on my door. I opened the door and saw my father standing in front of me.

"How could you do this?"

"We thought it would be fun. A surprise."

"You didn't invite Eli."

"Thea you know why we couldn't do that. There are church members here."

"I don't care. She's known about this for a week, and she didn't tell me because she didn't want to ruin your surprise. And I know she knew that if she told me I would never forgive you for not inviting her."

"Thea I'm sorry but you know why we couldn't."

"That's not good enough. I love her. I don't understand why you can't comprehend that. I don't care about what the church members think. I don't care what anyone thinks." I was screaming. My father looked at me with a straight face and took a breath.

"You should come back down stairs. Everyone's waiting for you." I watched as he turned around and walked down the stairs. I closed the door and sat on my desk chair. I don't want to be here. I don't want to deal with this or these people. I looked down at my white converse and I felt like I was going to burst into flames. I looked up and looked out the window. I grabbed my keys off of my nightstand and opened the window.

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Lucy's POV

"I hope she's okay." Molly said as she played with her hair. We looked totally cute today. We were in matching shorts. Not jean shorts but the ones that flow more and have a belt of fabric that you tie. Hers were camo green and mine were pastel pink. I was wearing a black V-neck tank top sort of shirt and she was in a tight white shirt. We looked adorable.

"I haven't seen her in a while though." I looked around the living room and realized that she was right. I was about to say something when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned around to see Mrs. Grant behind me.

"Hi Mrs. G. Great party." I smiled as I gave her a hug.

"Awe thank you Lucy. I was wondering if you girls could do me a favor."

"Sure, what do you need?" Molly asked.

"Could you girls go check on Thea. She's in her room and it's been a little while. I would go but I know she's mad at me." The look in her eyes made me sad.

"Yeah we can go right now."

"Thank you so much." I gave her another hug and followed Molly through the crowd and up to the stairs.

"Have you talked to Eli today?" Mol asked me.

"No, she was in a mood earlier so I figured it was better for me to leave her alone."

"That was probably for the best." We walked up to the door and knocked. There was no answer. Molly gave me a look saying to knock again. I shrugged my shoulders and knocked again.

"Thea it's us. Are you okay?" Molly said through the door. I waited a second before I said

"Fuck it." I twisted the door knob and opened the door. I looked around the room. She's not here.

"Oh shit." Molly said. I looked up to see what she was looking at. The windows open.

"Shit." We ran down the stairs and to the front door trying not to make a scene. When we got outside Thea's car wasn't there.

"What's going on?" I turned around and saw Thea's mom standing behind us.

"Thea's gone."