Page 35

It was nearing the end of the show when Marissa glanced at her phone and excused herself from the event. Out of the corner of my eye I tried to watch where she was going but it wasn’t an easy feat as she was sucked into the crowd.

A few minutes later, she walked back in but I could see from the hunch of her shoulders and the barely concealed tears that she was on the verge of breaking down.

“Are you okay?” I asked and she nodded, “Do you want to go home?”

She was still for a second before she spoke, “I can’t go home until the show is over.”

“That wasn’t my question.”

A lone tear slipped from her face and I turned her to face me in an attempt to hide her from the cameras that could possibly capture her at this vulnerable moment.

“Do you want to go home Marissa?” she nodded and another tear slipped the cracks.

I turned to Miles who was seated behind me, “I need you to take her home now.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll catch a ride with Nathan,” I turned to him to see that he was already looking at me, “Will that be okay?” He nodded and I turned back to Marissa, “Go home, and text me when you get there. Take as much time off as you need.”

“Thank you,” her voice was barely over a whisper and I gave her a curt nod.

Without another word or glance, she stood to her feet and was out of the room. Miles followed behind at a slower pace and I watched him until I saw him disappear through the auditorium doors.

“Will she be okay?” Nathan asked bringing my attention back to the show.

I shrugged in response, “It’s Marissa; she always is.”

The contestants finished displaying their work at around midnight and it was time for the judges to compile their scores. The last thing I wanted was to be in the same vicinity as Mark again but I had to bear it for the sake of the competition.

We had to go backstage to discuss it and it was a shocker to no one that Mark was the only one who had scathing reviews. Each time we discussed a person, he had nothing nice to say at all .

“You do know that someone has to win, right?” Emilia asked after a while, “Because if we continue like this; we might as well cancel the entire thing.”

“Good to know I’m not the only one who feels that way.” I muttered under my breath.

Emilia chuckled slightly and I saw Mark frown which made me realize that I wasn’t as quiet as I thought I was but it was too late to regret it. Mark already hates me so why not set it in stone?

It took another thirty minutes before we were finally able to come to a conclusion and Emilia went to deliver the results to Francine. I made my way back to my seat and Nathan shot me an inquisitive look, silently asking if I was okay.

“You do not want to know,” I groaned, “I am just about ready for this to be over.”

We officially finished with the show at a few minutes after 2 and I was about ready to call it a day.

There was supposed to be an after party but I told Francine that I had an emergency and had to be home quickly.

She seemed slightly disappointed but thanked me for coming and promised to keep in touch.

I met Nathan at the door and I thought the paparazzi would have reduced considering the time but boy was I wrong. Nathan guided me to the car with a firm hand at my back and it wasn’t until we had settled into the car that I realized that his bodyguards and crew members were nowhere to be seen.

“Where is your crew?”

“I sent them home early; most of them have families and I had promised they would be home before morning. ”

“You were supposed to leave early as well,” it wasn’t a question so he didn’t respond but I knew I was right, “I’m sorry I made you wait for me.”

“You didn’t make me do anything.”

We started the ride in silence but after a while, he handed me the aux cord so I could put in music. I was shocked considering that most men I have been around never let me take charge of the music in their car.

I don’t know how long we drove with just the music between us before he spoke, “Did you like the book?”

“Which one?”

“Kiss the sky,”

“I did,” I admitted, “And I actually went back and got the other books in the series.”

“So what I’m hearing is a thank you,”

“You know, you don’t always have to ruin the moment,” I rolled my eyes, “You could have just left the conversation to flow normally but you just had to add that last part.”

“Thank you is just two syllables and it is definitely easier to say than the whole speech you just gave.”

I buried my head into my hands in annoyance, “This is exactly why I don’t like you; you are so annoying.”

“I wasn’t aware that being truthful classified as being annoying. If anything you-,” he trailed off as the car came to a slow stop in the middle of the road.

“What’s going on? ”

“I don’t know,” he tried to start the car but it wouldn’t come on, “Can you check if you have signal?”

I picked up my phone but it had zero bars. I checked his too but it was the same.

“Okay, if this is to make me say thank you, I will, but stop.”

“It’s not a prank, I don’t know what’s wrong.”

He got out of the car and popped the hood and I let my head fall backwards as I took steady breath to calm myself. It’s not like we are stuck in the middle of nowhere at the ungodly hours of the morning with no idea of where we are and no signal to reach civilization.

This is the start of a horror movie if I have ever seen one and of course I am in a dress that will not allow me move freely and crazily high heels.

Nathan walked over to my side of the car, “I don’t know what’s wrong; I’ll probably walk up a little to see if I can get a signal.”

“Are you crazy?” I all but yelled, “The first rule of any horror movie is not to split up.”

“We aren’t in a horror movie; this is real life.”

“Do you not see what is happening here?” I began but stopped when I saw bright lights approaching us.

A pickup truck pulled up beside us and the passenger window wound down to revealed a middle aged man wearing a pair of jean overalls and a white shirt.

“Is everything okay down there?” he had a twinge of an accent.

“Yeah it’s fine,” I said at the same time Nathan said, “We could use some help. ”

We turned to each other and I held up a finger to the truck driver to show that I needed a minute then I pulled Nathan down until he was eye level with me.

“He could be an axe murderer.” I whisper yelled

“He could be our only chance out of here,” he retorted, “I don’t know about you but I do not plan on sleeping in the car.”

“If we die, this is on you.”

He rolled his eyes at me before turning back to the driver, “We could use some help getting to the nearest motel or mechanic.”

The driver looked like he was having a hard time controlling his laughter, “the nearest mechanic is in a little town about thirty miles away, I doubt you’d get him tonight,” he explained, “But there’s a motel about ten miles down the street, I could drop you off if you want then pick you up tomorrow morning and take you into town. ”

“Why would you do that?” I know my question came out rude but I would take being rude over being dumped in a ditch.

“You must be from the city. We town folk look out for ourselves.” He smiled softly, “If you don’t want my help then that’s fine but at least I offered.”

“We would love your help, thank you.” Nathan shot me a dirty look, almost daring me to speak.

The truck driver got down and hooked our car up to his.

Nathan had to help me get into the truck because I wouldn’t part with my heels.

He muttered something about me being as stubborn as a mule but I was in no mood to respond to his taunts, I was busy writing down the driver’s description in my notes app should something happen to us .

Nathan got in beside me and when he looked over my shoulder and saw what I was doing, he let out a groan.

“You’re kidding me, right?”

“We could die and I’d be damned if I didn’t let someone find out who killed us.”

He opened his mouth to speak but the driver got into the car so he settled for whispering in my ear instead.

“Sometimes, people do nice things because they are nice people.”

“Sometimes,” I whispered back with equal harshness, “People do nice things because they are axe murderers in disguise.”

“The two of you argue probably more than Marla and I,” we both turned to the driver in confusion, “How long have y’all been married?”

“Oh no, no, no,” I said at the same time Nathan said, “We’re not married.”

“You could have fooled me,” he chuckled, “I’m Darius by the way.”

“It’s nice to meet you Darius,” Nathan spoke, “Thank you for helping us out.”

“It is my pleasure.”

We spent the rest of the twelve minute ride- yes I counted- in silence save for Darius’ whistling and my anxious foot tapping. At some point, I was very sure he was taking us deeper into the forest to kill us but I saw a lit up sign that read “Motel” and I let out a breath of relief.

He pulled up in front of a building that looked like it should have been left in the early eighties. It was built with red bricks, had wooden chairs and a table in front and it looked like it came straight out of a historical novel.

Darius went to unhook our car while Nathan helped me down from the truck. He offered to walk us in but I convinced him not to by reminding him that he probably needed to get home to Marla. He promised to be back around noon to pick us up and take us into town to get the car fixed.

I made my way inside and I felt so out of place. Everything was simple and down to earth and I was in the most extravagant lace dress with a face full of makeup and heels.

“Hi,” I didn’t notice the lady at the counter until she spoke, “We don’t get many visitors at this time; I’m Carly and how can I help you?”

“I would like two rooms for the night, or morning, depends on how you see it.”

“Unfortunately; we have just one room available,” Nathan chose that time to walk in holding his duffel bag and my box,

“You have got to be kidding me,” I mumbled, “Does it at least have a pull out couch or something?”