Falling for my Best Friend

I Got Her

Gael

My heart is beating really fast and I feel like there's definitely something Kilian is not telling me. I try to put that out of my mind for now because finding Wren is what's really important. I head towards the east end of town, deciding I will go as far as I can and then backtrack, that way I can make sure I don't miss her.

I don't know how long she's been walking so I drive for twenty minutes and it seems like it's far enough, there's no way she could have gotten this far. Slowly, I snake the streets looking for her, sometimes I pass the same way a few times just to make sure. No one has updated me, so all I can assume is that they haven't found her yet. I continue snaking streets and driving back towards her house until I eventually get to her neighborhood. I double-check my phone to make sure I haven't missed anything, but there's nothing. I guess it's up to me to update everyone so I text the group chat.

[Gael]: I drove east for 20 mins & I've been snaking streets all the way back to her house & I've not found anything, any updates?

[Kilian]: hard same, found nothing

Okay, the only thing left to do is to keep looking. There's not an option to give up. I decide that I'll keep going west this time. Maybe if I follow in Kilian's tracks, I'll get lucky. I pull into the shopping center near Wren's neighborhood and I can't believe my luck, there sitting under a sidewalk light, crumbled up on the bench in a little ball I find her. I park my truck and update the guys as fast as possible.

[Gael]: I got her

I don't wait to see the replies, I have to get to Wren and find out what's going on. I walk up slowly because I don't want to scare her, she's really not paying attention to her surroundings at all, and all I can think is I'm glad I'm the one who found her.

"Wrenny?" I say quietly.

She looks up at me and she has black mascara all over her face, you can tell she's been crying a lot. Her cheeks are flushed, and her eyes are red rimmed. She makes eye contact with me but she doesn't talk. I sit down next to her on the bench and put my arm around her shoulders and squeeze her tight. 

She lets out a loud sigh, and finally decides to speak, "Sorry if I scared everyone, I had to get out of there."

"Everyone is just worried about you, you don't need to be sorry," I say, trying to comfort her. 

"I hurt my foot," she points down and I can see that she skinned her foot up pretty good.

"Can I take you home now?" I ask.

"If you must," she says reluctantly.

"Let's go and you can sit in my truck for a while if you want," I suggest.

I coax her to walk towards the truck but she's favoring her foot.

"Need help?" I offer and swing her arm over my shoulders, "I got you."

"Thanks," she looks embarrassed and somehow smaller.

She gets in my truck and buckles in, but pulls her knees back to her chest again. I don't know what is going on but I feel like something awful happened. I just want to take care of her.

"I'm just going to send an update really quick, okay?" I say before pulling my phone out.

I have five missed texts.

[Kilian]: thank God

[Kilian]: Where?

[Kilian]: is she ok?

[Declan]: should we meet?

[Kilian]: home base

[Gael]: got her in my truck, she's physically ok but really shaken up, not herself 

[Kilian]: need help?

[Gael]: got it for now, will update soon

Of course Kilian wants to ride in here on his white horse and save Wren again but I got this, I can handle it. I drive slowly to Wren's house; she's silent beside the occasional sniffle. I park around the corner from her house to give her a little time. After about twenty minutes, I see Declan roll up on his skateboard, he doesn't seem to notice us.

"You don't have to tell me but you know I'm here for you," I say as I reach for her hand and she lets me hold it.

"I can't, not yet," she replies but she says it so quietly.

Kilian drives by in Wren's car and I'm happy that I remembered to turn my lights off because he didn't seem to see us either.

"Ready to face the music?" I ask.

"I don't know if I have a choice. Can you find out if my mom is there?" she says.

[Gael]: she wants to know if her mom is home

[Kilian]: no

I hold my phone out so she can see it. She lets out a sigh of relief and I don't know what that is about but I'm hoping I find out.

"Okay, let's go," she says.

I turn on my truck and pull into her driveway, then help her get to the door and open it for her. Her dad is standing on the other side and he immediately grabs her and pulls her into a bear hug, I swear I see tears in his eyes. I wish I knew what was going on.

Wren

"Are you hurt?" my dad says frantically but I'm frozen and can't answer, everyone is looking at me and I don't have the answers they want.

"Her foot," Gael says, gesturing to where I'm bleeding.

Dad scoops me up like I'm a five-year-old and carries me over to the kitchen counter. He sits me down and looks for the first aid kit. Everyone else hurries into the kitchen behind him. I know they were concerned about me but I feel embarrassed now so I avoid their eyes and roll up my pant legs then swing my legs into the sink to wash up. 

I wince because the water stings and Kilian must have noticed because he comes to my side and says, "Squeeze my hand."

It's an offer I can't refuse because now I see Dad coming towards me with the peroxide. He counts to three and pours it over my foot.

I squeeze Kilian probably a little harder than he expects because he laughs and says "Quite a grip Wren."

It's the perfect comic relief because everyone laughs lightheartedly and I start to feel better. They are all still staring at me, no doubt waiting for me to explain myself but I don't know where to start. I feel bad for leaving Gael and Declan out of this secret, they're probably really confused.

Dad finishes cleaning and bandaging up my foot. He looks me in the eyes and says, "Sorry, baby, I didn't know."

I shake my head to tell him it's okay.

"I'm going to get Quin to bed, you boys feel free to stay for a while if you want," Dad says.

Three pairs of eyes all look at me expectantly. "Let's go sit outside," I say.

We all head out to the deck and sit on the sofas outside, I'm going to have to tell them everything, I owe them that much.