Where There's Light | ✔

52. Your Own Fault

Nolan told me he'd back on Friday. That following Monday he still wasn't home and he hadn't answered a single one of my calls or texts. When he told me the cell service was bad I didn't think he meant it was completely off the grid.

For the first couple of days my mind created horrible scenarios as it tried to figure out why he wouldn't call. But as the weekend ended and the school week started I was more angry than afraid he was dead at the bottom of a lake.

How difficult was it to send a single text to let me know they extended their trip?

Nolan wasn't the only one who didn't come home over the weekend. Taylor was still with Dad. They were taking a trip to Disney World with his side of the family and he wanted Taylor for an extra two days. Mom didn't want to say yes. She also didn't want to let her personal feelings toward him get in the way of him forming a relationship with Taylor.

He extended the invitation to me, as a formality, I assumed. Even if I wanted to go I would've said no. Not after seeing how stressed out the whole thing made Mom. I couldn't leave her alone like that.

The house was eerily quiet that Tuesday night with just me and Mom. Neither of us could deal with it, so when Rachel invited us over for dinner we jumped at the opportunity.

After dinner Bee and I sat in the kitchen eating ice cream while our parents sat out on the deck drinking wine. Well, except Kevin who was up in his office working.

"He still hasn't called or anything?"

"Nope." I shoved another spoonful of chocolate ice cream into my mouth. "No call. No text. Nothing."

"When he gets back I can hold him down while you beat him up." Her attempt to make me smile failed.

When he got back? It started to feel more like if. I mean, that was his goal when we met. He wanted to leave Bellcreek so badly that he'd create a fake relationship with a complete stranger to do it. Maybe he couldn't wait for Europe. Maybe whatever cabin they were at was far enough away.

"He'll be back." My best friends words broke through my thoughts, saying just the right thing like she could read my mind. "That boy is in love with you. He's not going anywhere."

I hoped so.

* * *

In the days that followed that hope slowly evaporated. What was supposed to be one week without Nolan turned into two. And it seemed like everyone wanted to remind me that he wasn't there.

Opal kept bugging me about interviewing us as one of The Top Six. Random people kept coming up to me, asking where he was. But I didn't know. I hadn't spoken to my boyfriend in two weeks.

I wanted to scream that at the next person who brought him up, but it'd raise questions. About our relationship, about our spot on in the Top Six. We still had a little over a month until prom and I still needed the scholarship. Hell, even the trip to Europe was looking better by the day.

My feelings about Nolan being away flipped flopped repeatedly. One moment I was worried he was dead and the next I was pissed he hadn't called. Did something happen or was he just avoiding me?

I got my answer after overhearing two of his teachers discussing the homework assignments they were each sending him. They laughed as they made jokes about the quality of his work being better and how they wished they could work from a cabin.

Nolan was perfectly healthy and capable of communication. He just didn't want to speak to me.

I spent the last period of the day in the nurses office after complaining of a headache. It wasn't a complete lie. I always got a headache when I cried.