***
At dinner I barely eat a thing. It’s been hours and there is still no sign of Will or Charlie, not even Martha. Since we’ve been here we’ve had every dinner with her. This is the first one she has missed. Why? What is going on? Even Rose is getting worried. We both pick at our food and try to call for Stan, but to no avail. Rose offers to pick one of the locks so we can go out and investigate, but our fear of having more security added, which will only make our chances of getting out of here harder, make us drop that idea.
So we sit on the couch and wait anxiously for their return. We don’t bother putting the television on and, even with the lights on, the room feels darker.
I notice Rose drop her head an hour or so later and her soft, constant breathing tells me she’s fallen asleep. I feel my own eyes drooping, too, but I’m determined to keep them open. I let my mind drive me crazy with thoughts of Dana, Drew, Joel and finally what might be happening to Will and Charlie.
I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I know, someone is leaning down in front of me softly saying my name. My eyes quickly adjust to the lights in the lounge and I see Charlie is the person in front of me.
“You’re okay.” I sigh, relieved, and quickly stand up to give Charlie a hug. I know he’s surprised by it, however his body quickly relaxes and he rests his hands behind me, pulling me close while I let my head lean against his chest. I feel like bursting into tears. I’ve been so worried something bad has happened because I can’t lose someone else in my life.
Will and Rose quietly move down the hallway, leaving us alone.
“You okay?” Charlie asks me carefully when I reluctantly move away from him and wipe at my eyes.
“Me? Are you okay? Where have you been?”
He rolls his eyes. “Martha wanted Will and me to ‘talk it out.’ After an hour or two of that, Stan thought we must have too much energy if we’re fighting, so he made us run that stupid circuit for ages and then fight in front of him. He wouldn’t let us leave until he was sure we wouldn’t try anything again.”
“What did you say your fight was about?”
He looks away from me and I worry what his answer is.
“Well, I had to think on the spot and you know how great I am at that. Since Will and I were on the same team during basketball I couldn’t say it was about the game. I just said I thought Will was trying to hit on you and I got jealous,” he whispers so no one else listening hears.
“What?”
“I said about how you guys went outside together and how Will carried you in here and, yeah.” Charlie shrugs.
“They can’t honestly believe that, can they?” I gape at how ludicrous that is.
“Of course they can. I know because they did believe me. Come on, let’s get to bed.” Charlie takes my hand and we walk into his room.
“You want to tell me why you looked so upset before?” Charlie asks, walking over to his wardrobe and pulling out some clean clothes.
“I was just relieved you were okay.” I feel uncomfortable. I don’t even want to admit to myself how much I’ve grown to care about Charlie, let alone admit it to him. He’ll think I’m some creepy clinger.
“They aren’t going to kill us, Zoe. They need us, remember?”
“I know, I just… I was just worried they might have hurt you. Or that we might all get separated.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” Charlie stops what he’s doing to look me in the eyes. Lowering his voice, he says, “Well, unless Rose can tell me otherwise. Did she have any luck?”
“I think so; she wouldn’t say.”
“I sure hope she did. My legs and arm sting like crazy.” He refers to his grazed arm and leg from when he hit the ground. Now the blood has been cleaned off it doesn’t look as bad as earlier.
“What did Harold say?”
“Just to let the air get to it and it’ll heal on its own. Wish I had Will’s quick healing.”
He takes his clothes and goes into the bathroom, closing the door. I hear the water running soon after, telling me he’s having a shower.
I look around the room, trying to focus on something else. However, no matter where I look, I’m acutely aware that Charlie is naked and in very close proximity to me.
Feeling warm, even given the cool temperate, I pull the covers back on the bed and lie down. I turn the side light off, covering the room in darkness, and try to calm my breathing. Today I think I have displayed every emotion possible. I’ve been happy and laughing to sad and crying. So many thoughts and worries have entered my mind. The thought of having to leave this room and face it all again tomorrow really feels like too much.
I close my eyes, trying to think of something happy. Following Charlie’s advice, I think about Dana.
I think back and remember the first time Dana and I went to Franklin Park Zoo and we were separated from our moms. I started to worry and freak out, but Dana took my hand and said we would find them if we just kept looking at the animals. So each animal we saw, Dana would make up a whole lot of ridiculous facts, like bats that are able to see through walls and hear your thoughts so to make them happy, you have to think of only caves. When we were there, the Bongo Congo had just opened and we got to see ostriches and zebras. That was where our moms found us and by that time, I had forgotten I was even scared we were alone.
Dana had a way of making me feel safe even if we were surrounded by wild animals and complete strangers. Our moms had yelled at us for making them worry, lecturing us on how dangerous it was to walk off on our own. However, they were wrong. I was always safe when I was with Dana. If only she had always been safe when she was with me.
I drift off to sleep, feeling the bed move when Charlie climbs in and the warmth when he pulls the blanket up to rest over us both.
Taken By Surprise Page 63