The Girl With The Tattoo

47. you need me

Lexi

I'm just grabbing some water when I notice Isabella standing beside me. I watch as she rummages through her bag, looking for something inside there. I try to divert my eyes away from her breasts but I always find myself looking.

I notice her looking at me and I know that I've been caught.

But instead of bringing attention to it, she says "You look pretty today."

"What?" I ask, taken aback by her compliment.

"I said that you look pretty." She says "I like your leo, it looks good on you."

I look down at the leotard that I have on my body, smiling at her compliment.

"Th- thanks." I thank her "I didn't think it looked good."

"Well, it does." She tells me, making me blush slightly.

I have a girlfriend so I know that it's wrong of me to be talking to her. So because I don't want to be disrespectful to Sophie, I decide that it's for the best if I make my way out of here. Plus, I have someone that I need to see and he won't wait around if I'm even a minute late.

"Where are you going?" Isabella asks me as I make my way out of the room.

I look back at her "I have someone to see. Thanks for the compliment though, I appreciate it."

"No problem."

I rush out of the building so that I get to the spot where I was instructed to go to. I end up knocking into so many people as I desperately try to get to him in time. And thankfully, I make it out of there so I go straight to where I need to be.

I notice him standing there so I shout over "I'm here! Don't worry, I didn't forget."

"Good, I was gonna get out of here." Troy tells me "I don't wait around for people like you."

"Not even when I'm paying you?" I ask him, now holding out the cash that I'd brought with me.

I used all of Carl's money to help pay for this. I wouldn't have done it if I didn't think that it was necessary. But if I want Carl back then I need to do whatever's possible for that to happen.

"Twenty dollars? Is that it?!" He asks me as he looks through the money that I'd handed over.

"It's all I had. You know that money doesn't come around easily." I remind him.

I continue "Look, you owe me one! I don't know if you've forgotten but my brother was the reason that you and your friends weren't locked up for the rest of your lives! He was the one that gave you that alibi, not someone else!"

He smirks, looking around at anything but me. I can tell that he knows that I'm right. He knows that if it wasn't for Carl then he would be rotting in a prison cell right now.

He then finally takes my money, saying "Okay, I'll tell you everything I know."

"Go on. I'm listening."

"He contacted me last night." He reveals, my heart skipping a beat as he says this to me "He told me that he was out of town and that he didn't have any plans on coming home."

"That's all he said?!" I ask him "Did he say where he was or who he was with?"

"Yeah, he said he was with some guy that he trusted. He didn't say anything more than that though." He tells me.

I bring my hands up to my head, shouting "Fuck!"

"Look, I can't tell you what I don't know. That's all he said to me, I promise." He can clearly tell that I'm disappointed by his lack of information.

It's just that I don't trust Carl when he's alone. He needs me! I'm the only person that can truly keep him safe. He's vulnerable and I know that people will take advantage of that. They'll see that he's easily breakable and they'll hurt him. I just need him to come home.

"You call him again!" I demand "Tonight, you call him again! You tell him to come home! You fucking tell him, okay?!"

He shakes his head whilst taking a few steps away from me "I can't."

"What do you mean you can't?!" I shout because of my frustration "You have a phone so call him!"

"Lexi, this isn't good for you. You can't keep doing this to yourself. If your brother is coming home then he will! You can't force him to come back if he doesn't want to." He tries to get me to understand what he's saying.

But because I'm not thinking straight, I don't bother to listen to him "No! You don't know Carl like I do, he needs to be home!"

"I'm sorry, Lexi." He says to me whilst beginning to walk away from me.

I decide to shout at him "No! You fucking call him tonight, Troy! You can't do this to me! I'll fucking kill you!"

I watch as he walks off into the distance and he leaves me alone. I cry as I realise that my last chance to talk to Carl is ruined. Troy was Carl's closest friend and if he was going to confide in anyone then it would be him. But Troy is a dickhead and he's not going to help me.

I then begin to try to make my way at home as I feel exhausted. But as I'm walking across the parking lot, I feel my body nudge into someone else's. And as I turn to look, I realise that it was Isabella's.

"What's wrong?" She asks me as she looks at my face.

I shake my head "N- nothing. I- it doesn't matter."

"No, you're crying. What's going on?" She asks.

But I begin to walk away, hearing her voice in the distance "Lexi, wait! What happened?!"

But I don't bother to turn back as I don't want to be here right now.

The truth is that no one actually cares about me or my brother. No one would ever care to search for him like I would. Because to everyone else, Carl is just a lost cause that will never change.

So I walk through the woods before stopping to let out my anger. I lean against a tree, sliding onto the ground as I begin to cry. I then repeatedly scratch at the skin on my legs as I take my anger out on my body.

I then decide to open up my phone to leave my brother a voicemail.

"C- Carl, if you're listening then I want you to know that I miss you. I don't know where you are but I just want you to be safe. So can you please just call me back and tell me you're okay? I'm your sister, Carl, I deserve to know where you are. P- please just call me back, I love you."