It had been around 15 minutes since I called Julian, asking him to call Veronica. I was pacing around the house all alone, going absolutely crazy waiting for him to call me back.

I couldn't get Veronica out of my mind, no matter how hard I tried. That look of defeat on her face had instantly set panic in my chest, but it was the way she completely ignored me and stormed out of the parking lot, without so much as a glance in my direction, that left me gut-punched.

As soon as she left, I spotted Neil, Avi, and Ash walking out of the building, talking amongst themselves with a worried look on their face. I muttered a quick excuse to Courtney and left her despite her protests.

As soon as they saw me approaching, they fell silent.

"What happened? Why was V upset?" I asked cutting straight to the point.

"I fucked up, " Neil groaned. "I shouldn't have pushed her so far."

"Yes. And you shouldn't have lost your damn temper like that." Avi glared at him.

They had started bickering amongst themselves, while I was desperately trying to hold onto my patience.

"WHAT DID YOU GUYS DO? " I yelled trying to get them to shut up and answer me.

"Nothing! I mean..., " Ashley sighed. "We didn't mean to upset her, we just wanted her to talk to us, open up to us. But we completely blew it."

Avi then told me about how they had taken her into an empty classroom, to talk to her and things got out of hand. She blew up on them, and I honestly don't blame her. It was certainly not the right way or place to handle it.

But maybe she needed it. She had to somehow let out all the frustration and pain that she kept bottling up, just to put up a brave front.

I always knew she had downplayed the amount of damage Max had caused her that night. But still listening to just how much he had roughed her up, both mentally and physically, was tormenting.

She had some family issues of her own, that Avi didn't elaborate on and I did not pry any further than he was willing to tell me. It was something she had to tell me herself.

"I started this. It's my fault. Maybe she would have come to us in her own time, " Ashley said, her eyes welling up with tears.

"No, she would never do that, " Avi said as he threw an arm around her and gave her a comforting squeeze. "She will always be the one who says, 'I got this' even with tears in her eyes."

My little tiger, I thought with a wry smile. She was there for me that night at the beach house, she gave me the comfort I never knew I needed. It was time I did the same for her. Even if she pushes me away, I had to try.  I need to find her. I need to see her.

"She is not answering my calls, " Neil said with a frown.

"Maybe she will talk to you?" Ash looked at me hopefully.

Judging by the way she rushed away from me, I highly doubted it. But I knew someone she would definitely talk to. Julian.

"I'll do what I can,'' I had assured Ashley before turning on my heel and walking back to my car.

Suddenly my phone started buzzing in my pocket, pulling me out of my thoughts. I took it out and quickly answered it when I saw it was a call from Julian.

''What the hell Julian! I have been waiting for ages. Is she okay?''

"Not quite. She's off on her own, to that place she always goes to. That little patch of woods around the corner of her street? Do you know where it is?"

"Yeah...I do, " I said, as I remembered the last time I saw her there. "What the hell is she thinking going out there alone at this time?"

"Yeah, that's the thing. She is not thinking. She is sort of a little drunk. And I couldn't convince her to stay back."

Muttering a low curse I locked the house and rushed towards my jeep.

"I was wondering if you could get there soon, and make sure she is safe?"

"I'm on it, " I said and hung up on him.

I don't think I had ever driven so fast in my life. My mind was racing with hundreds of worst-case scenarios. I didn't even know what I was going to say when I saw her, but I didn't care about that at the moment.

As soon as I took a turn towards her street I saw her. She was practically skipping down the deserted street, this late at night, when it clearly looked like it might rain any moment now. Alone and drunk I might add.

This girl is going to be the death of me.

I speed up and come to a stop right beside her. She was covering her face when I killed the engine and looked at her. After a few seconds, when she finally looked up at me, she gasped and took a step back, confusion written all over her face. But it only lasted a moment before she groaned in frustration.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Keeping you company, on your little late-night adventure."

"I didn't ask you to join me." She glared. Cute.

"Well, it's a free country." I shrugged and she threw me a dirty look. "Get in."

She got in all huffing and puffing like a child, and I couldn't help but smile at her. We drove in silence for a few minutes, until we arrived at the spot. I pulled up at the side of the gravel road and got out. Just as I took out my cellphone to switch on the flashlight, she called out to me, "Hurry up!"

I rolled my eyes at her impatience and jogged up to her.

"You know, this is usually how all the horror stories begin," I said trying to make a conversation, while we were walking down the self-made path, in between the trees.

She let out a low chuckle but didn't say anything. For a long moment, the only sound I could hear was the sound of the gravel crunching beneath our feet and the winds rustling through the trees.

Now that my eyes were adjusting to the faint moonlight,  I was beginning to understand why she liked this seemingly random place. It was so quiet and secluded, that it felt like I had stepped into another world.

I let her lead the way, as she turned away from the path we were following and started walking deeper into the wooded area. A few minutes later we emerged from the woods to a lake, and I stopped walking.

The moonlight was brighter here, now that we were no longer hidden by the thick canopy of trees. And the place looked magical.

"Whoa! This is beautiful."

"I know, "she said and turned back to look at me with a proud smile.

She walked closer to the water and sat down on the grass, with a content sigh. I plopped down beside her and stretched my legs out in front of me.

"Why did you come looking for me?" she quietly asked after a few seconds.

Fuck me if I know.

All I knew was that I had this inexplicably dire need of seeing her and making sure she was alright.

And after seeing her turn away from me that afternoon, I had this sinking feeling of dread in my chest, of losing her. Of losing something I never even had with her.

I couldn't say all of this to her, so I settled for a simpler answer. "I heard what happened at school and I wanted to make sure you were alright."

"I am fine."

"Then, why were you drinking?"

"Well, since my refrigerator was practically empty. I had to resort to drinking my feelings, instead of eating them."

"How about we talk about your feelings, instead of eating or drinking them?"

"That doesn't sound like very much fun, " she pouted.

"Yeah, it doesn't. But they say it helps," I said. I have never been an open book either. I have my fair share of secrets and feelings I don't like to talk about.

"True." She sighed but didn't say anything further. And I didn't push her.

It was always easier to shove all the unpleasant thoughts and feelings into the back of your head than to have them out in the open and deal with them. I get it. But I would never stop trying with her, even if she takes a long ass time to trust me and let me in.

"Thank you for coming after me tonight, " she whispered.

"I had to. I needed to, " I said in a sudden moment of honesty.

She smiled, a genuine kind of smile that lit up her eyes. 

God, she was beautiful. And looking at her in that moment made me realize that this was the reason why I was here. To see her smile again.

When a sudden shiver ran down her body, I subconsciously scooted closer to her. I could hear her breath quickening as I placed my hand on her cheek, gently caressing it with my thumb.

My own heart was beating hard and fast in my chest. Her dark eyes looked into mine, drawing me in like they always did.

"Hey!" she suddenly said and looked up at the sky with the biggest smile on her face. "It's raining!"

It was, I hadn't noticed it, and now I realized that we were getting drenched.

"Shit, let's go, " I said as I quickly got up. But she made no move to get up.

"Star quarterback of AVM high, scared of a little rain?" she asked with a mischievous gleam in her eyes.