“Sure. What if there are people out there?”
“If there’s a crowd, go stand in the back alley. I’ll drive around the back if I see other people waiting out there.”
“Clandestine. I love it.”
“Shut up, Dean. All of this is your fault. You’re going to have to figure out how to fix it.”
“Fix what?”
“I’ll tell you when I get there!”
“Alright, alright. I’ll be waiting. Out back or out front. I get it. See you soon.”
“Okay.” I blow out a long breath, willing myself to calm down. I’m starting to shake a little bit now. Great. “Sorry. It’s not really an emergency. It’s nothing bad. Not really. But I’m confused, and kind of sad, and a little bit mad. And I really need some advice. Not that your advice is good. I already know it’s not good. This whole mess was because of this stupid plan we cooked up together.”
“Did your parents find out?”
“No! Do they look like they found out? They’re probably still there having a good time.”
“Yeah. You’re right. Your dad is doing some pretty awesome breakdance moves out there right now.”
“Argh! Okay. I’ll be there in five, from now. Please, please, please just be outside. Promise me. I really need help right now.”
“Okay, yes, I promise. I’m going out right now. You need to calm down. Don’t crash your car or drive into the ditch while going four streets down to get me. That would be epically shitty and embarrassing.”
“Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind.” I hang up almost violently and set my phone down on the table. Thank god my car keys are on the peg by the door, where I always hang them out of force of habit. I hung them there, along with my parents’ keys, ever since I first learned to drive.
I’m not sure anything can get me out of this mess, but Dean is my best friend, and maybe what I need now, more than a solution to my problem, is just to vent, blow off steam, and let myself decompress.
I just hope Gabriel doesn’t wake up while I’m gone and find me missing.
Although, what? What if he does? He’s not the person I thought he was. This is all a lie. He’s lying to me, and I’m lying to everyone else. How could something possibly be built on a foundation of lies and bullshit? Oh right. Yeah. Usually, that doesn’t work out.
CHAPTER 19
Pearl
Since there is a huge crowd of people surrounding the front of the hall, I take a quick turn and hit the alley before I even drive by the front of the building. Dean is hiding out by a red dumpster, and when he jumps out as I crawl past in the car, he nearly scares the bejesus right out of me.
I slam the car in park and put a hand up to my pounding heart. “God, Dean, what the hell? I could have run you over!” I shout as Dean gets in the passenger side.
“Just drive,” he commands. “Before someone comes out. I had to sneak out of there. Drive before someone sees us and tries to flag us down. You’re the one who wanted to keep this all top secret and whatnot.”
“Yeah, I do! Because I’m not in the mood to talk to anyone right now, other than to the person who started this whole mess, and that’s you!”
“Christ,” Dean curses as he slips on his seatbelt. “Sorry for living. Sorry for trying to help you. Obviously shit went south with Gabs-what’s-his-name. You can’t blame me for all of it! You went along with it! It might have been my idea, but you took the plunge and committed to it. Everyone liked him. Everything seemed like it was fine, and then you disappeared a few hours ago.”
“Yeah, I disappeared!”
“Okay, you need to calm down and pull over and tell me what’s going on. If we end up in a ditch because you’re all distracted, it’s going to be seriously embarrassing, and no one wants to spend the rest of the night trying to push or pull your car out.”
“Argh!” I swerve to the right, pull over near a house that has a big fence and tons of shrugs and trees around their yard, and kill the lights and ignition, so it just looks like I’m parked, and no one can see into the car since it’s really dark out.
“What went wrong? I’m sorry, but everything seemed fine. What happened?” Dean is more sincere now that he doesn’t have to worry about me raging us straight off the road.
It was probably a good call on his part because my heart is beating fast, my hands are a wet, slippery mess, and my breathing is erratic at best. “Nothing went wrong! That’s the thing. It all went too well!”
“Oh.” Dean’s eyes sweep over me. He knows me too well, and his face lights up with the spark of understanding. “Right, I see. So you fell for him?”