FicWad

A BEAUTIFUL LIE

CHAPTER TWO

“Do you know where my phone went?” Jared asked.

“Did you look in your room?” Tomo asked him. They were in the studio passing a ball, trying to think up more ideas for songs.

“Yeah. It's not there.” Jared tossed the ball back to Tomo. “And you're sure you haven't seen it anywhere?”

Tomo looked down in thought before replying. “Positive. Hey, did you ask Emma if she knew where it was at?” he asked him as he tossed the ball back at him.

“Not yet. Let's go,” Jared told him. They left the studio and walked into the living room, trying to find Emma. She was sitting in the living room, and turned to look at them as they walked in.

“Hey. What's up?” she asked them.

“Jared can't find his BlackBerry. We've been looking for it everywhere.” Tomo set the ball down and walked to the door. He looked outside as he asked Jared, “Did you leave it outside?”

Jared was silent. He looked at Tomo as he replied, “I didn't check yet.”

Tomo followed him outside and watched as Jared looked around for his BlackBerry. He finally found it inside a plant by the door. He immediately checked his messages for a text from Skyla, but there were none.

“What could her and Shannon have planned that would require a camp-” Jared cut off. He stuffed his phone into his pocket and went up to his room to grab his wallet.

“Where are you going?” Tomo asked him.

“To find them.” Jared grabbed a set of keys off of his bedside table. He had acquired a shiny new BMW since he crashed his Cobra a few months before, and he felt that he could at least track them down and talk to them. He turned and looked at Tomo. “You coming?”

Tomo gave him a look of surprise. “You're kidding right?”

“Nope.”

Tomo sighed and followed him out to the car. “What if they aren't doing anything?”

“You really believe that?”

“Right now I believe you're crazy.”

“There's nothing wrong with crazy.” Jared climbed in behind the wheel and stood outside the car door and waited for Tomo to climb in.

Tomo glared at him before he climbed in. “Shut up and drive.”

Jared started the car up. The tension between him and Tomo was noticeable as he drove to the river park. It was nestled inside a small bit of woods that would have been perfect for them to go camping in. Jared climbed out and checked to see if he had received a message from Skyla. When he saw that he hadn't, he began to go into panic mode.

“Well, they aren't here,” Tomo said. “Any other place you can think of?”

Jared began tapping out a text message to Skyla: “Where are you at?” He waited for a reply for about ten minutes and didn't receive one. He suddenly realized his mouth was very dry and swallowed a few times before answering, “No. There isn't.”

“Okay then. Let's go back.” Tomo turned back and got in the car.

Before he climbed in himself, Jared looked around the entire area. Where are you, Skyla? he thought to himself. As he left, it began raining. He thought it was ironic that he was feeling shitty and it was raining at the same time. He took a shaky breath and sighed as he drove back to the house.

*

“Skyla! It's raining!” Shannon said as he finished packing everything into his Jeep. “We can't go anywhere and it raining!”

“So what are we going to do? Stay here?” she asked him.

“Why not? But let's hurry and grab everything out of the Jeep before it begins pouring down!” Shannon grabbed the stuff he just finished packing up and began carrying it back into the beach house. He dropped it by the couch and ran back outside to grab some more, and he almost ran into Skyla on his way out. “Sorry!”

“It's okay.” She gave him a grin as she carried in their clothes. “Be careful there's a slippery spot on the top of the steps!”

Shannon heeded her warning and brought in the last of what they had packed. As he set it down, the rain began pouring down and the lights began to flicker. Skyla ran upstairs and grabbed a few blankets while Shannon searched around for some flashlights and batteries. When they met back up in the living room, the lights went completely out.

“Do those flashlights work?” Skyla asked Shannon nervously.

“Yeah. Why?”

“Hand me one, please.”

Shannon handed her a small flashlight, big enough to fit in her purse. He turned on a battery-powered lamp and put another flashlight beside him. He looked at the blankets Skyla had brought down from upstairs and, after wrapping one around her shoulders, wrapped one around himself to keep himself warm. He sat down beside her and listened to the rain.

“Shannon?” Skyla began. She had to break the silence between them.

“Yes?”

“Why did you want me to come camping with you?” she asked him.

“I needed to talk to you,” Shannon admitted as he straightened up.

Skyla was shocked for a second, then she continued on: “About what?”

“I know you have something you need to tell me, so why don't you go ahead and tell me?” Shannon knew she had something to tell him. It's why he wanted her to come with him.

“I can't remember now. Why don't you go ahead and tell me what you wanted to tell me?” Skyla stared him down.

Shannon sighed. “I love you, Skyla. I have loved you and I won't stop loving you. Each time you go back to Jared kills me a little more. I've tried to give up on you with poor results. And you barely bat an eyelash in my direction. So I figured if I tell you, it'd make it easier for me to just live with you and Jared.”

Skyla could barely breathe. “I love you too, Shannon,” she whispered, almost inaudible.