JADEN
   "Have you found her yet?" Griffin asks frantically as I call him.
   "No. I just wanted to let you know I'm in the city," I tell him. I hear him sigh across the line.
   "Well, thanks for coming."
   "Uhm, yeah. So, do you have any idea where she might be at?" I start driving slower with my lights on as I look around the sidewalks.
   "No," he grumbles.
   "Well, what areas have you been looking in?" I ask.
   "I did our neighborhood, the school area. Went to the mall, but they were closed. Now I'm just driving around and hoping I find her," Griffin replies, sounding pretty much defeated at this point.
   "You should go home."
   "What? Why?"
   "Griff, she could come home tonight. You should be there waiting on her, and I can be out looking," I suggest as I turn onto another street.
   "You really think so?"
   "Yeah. Maybe she is already home. Just stay there and wait for her, alright?"
   "Yeah, alright. Call me as soon as you find anything, okay?" he asks. I quickly agree before hanging up and continuing to drive around.

ELLY
   After a while of walking around, I come to the old bridge that nobody uses anymore. Occasionally, I hear people swim in the river below, but not at a time like this. The bride itself, however, is still in good shape, so I sit down on it with my legs dangling through the bars and over the edge while waiting for...well, waiting for help, I guess.
   "Griffin," I mumble quietly in the middle of the empty night. "I'm sorry. I won't drink again."
   I know you won't, kid, I picture him responding, doing his signature "I'm smirking but I'm still disappointed in you" look. It's a special look because it's reserved for whenever I do something stupid.
   This would be one of those times.

JADEN
   Eventually, my car slowly crawls into a new neighborhood, and I see a large party going on at one of the larger houses. I see kids around mine and Elly's ages pouring out of the door, so I decide to pull over and get out.
   "Hey," I call to a group that is about to get into a car. They clearly aren't good to be driving right now, anyway, I think after a second of regret about stopping them. However, they all turn to look at me. "Is Elly here?" I ask.
   "Elly who?" one girl asks.
   "Johnson. Do you know her?"
   "Yeah. She goes to our school," another girl says, pushing the first one into the vehicle and getting in behind her.
   "What about her?" a guy asks.
   "Well, is she still here?" I ask, getting impatient.
   "Man, she already left. I wouldn't bother going after her. She won't give you anything," he says before getting into the driver's seat. I think better of pulling him out and run back to my car, not wanting to stop and think of what he meant.
   "Griffin?" I ask as soon as he picks up the call.
   "Is she there? Did you find her?" he asks quickly.
   "No, but I know where she was at earlier."
   "Where?"
   "A party. Bunch of drunks told me she was there."
   "Did they say where she went?" Griffin asks me frantically.
   "No, but they did say she left earlier. You stay there and wait for her, and I'll keep looking, alright?" I ask, speeding out of the neighborhood with my lights on bright.
   "Alright. Jaden, you find my sister, got it?"
   "Got it." I hang up the phone and keep driving.

ELLY
   "Five seconds," I whisper after I drop a rock into the river below. I grab another from the pile I've collected and toss it down, waiting for the splash.
   A car screeches somewhere in the distance and their brights shine into my face, making me lose concentration on my rock.
   "Elly?" someone yells as I toss another rock down.
   "Present," I mumble as if it were attendance, then laugh at myself.
   "Elly, what are you doing? Get away from the edge!" the person who screamed for me says as they approach me from behind, then grab under my arms and slides me back from the ledge.
   "You just made me lose focus," I mumble, nudging the pile or pebbles with my toe.
   "Elly, what are you doing here?" the person asks.
   I turn and see it's Jaden. Being drunk must really do weird stuff to your head. "What are you doing here?" I shoot back.
   "I came to look for you. Why haven't you replied to any of my messages? Or Griffin's messages?"
   "Phone is broken," I mumble, toeing the pile of rocks again.
   "Were you going to jump?" Jaden whispers from his crouching position beside me.
   "What?" I ask. "Why would I do that? It's freezing out!"
   "I was just checking," he mumbles, sliding down into a sitting position beside me. "Are you okay?"
   "Sure, why not?" I laugh and turn to him. He just looks at me and shakes his head, then slides his phone out of his pocket.
   "I've got to call Griffin," he mutters. I ignore what he is saying as he stands up and walks off, standing next to his car and pacing around as he talks on his phone. Eventually, he walks back over to me and passes me the phone. "He wants to talk to you."
   "Mhm," I grumble, taking the phone and holding it up to my ear. "Hello?"
   "Elly? Oh my gosh," Griffin starts. "I thought I had lost you! You scared me, Elly. He said you were at a party? Elly, what happened?"
   "I dunno. Things kind of just went out of control, so I left, and I got lost," I mumble quietly, looking up at Jaden as he leans against the side of the bridge. He smiles down at me before looking off in the distance.
   "Were you drinking? You were drinking, weren't you? Elly, why would you do that?" he practically shouts into my ear.
   "I just wanted to let loose a little. You never talked to me at home, so I got out for a while," I mumble.
   "Drinking, Elly? Really? You're only sixteen! There are other ways to let loose that aren't underage drinking!" he shouts. I start to cry. "Elly, something seriously bad could have happened to you tonight. Don't you understand that?"
   "Yes," I mumble as I cry harder. Jaden comes back over and sits down next to me, and I lean over into his chest. "I know."
   "No, I don't think you do! You had me worried sick, Elly. I couldn't find you. I didn't know what you were doing. If you were even alive! Elly, drinking? That was so irresponsible!" Griffin gasps, saying it all in one long go.
   "I know. I know." Jaden wraps his arms around me and holds me tight as I cry and Griffin goes on screaming at me. At one point, I think he gets louder, and Jaden must have heard it because he gently takes the phone out of my hands and holds it up to his own ear. By this time, I've already gotten into his lap and have my head pressed against his chest as I cry and hug him. He rubs my back as he finishes the call with Griffin.
   "Elly?" Jaden whispers, everything being quiet again now that the phone call is over.
   "I know! I know! I'm just an irresponsible, stupid sixteen-year-old," I scream sitting up and looking at him. I push my hair back from my face and see that he looks startled. I realized I screamed at him, and then start crying harder.
   "I wasn't going to say that." Jaden pulls me back against his chest as he rubs my back. "I was just going to ask if you were alright."
   "Oh."
   "Can I ask what happened?"
   "At the party?" I feel him nodding. "We were both just really drunk, and I didn't know what he wanted, so I followed him upstairs, and..."
   "Wait, who is he?" Jaden sits me back up and looks at me directly.
   "Just some kid from school," I sigh. "Anyway, so we were upstairs, and he didn't want me to leave, but I got out, and then I left the house. I didn't realize that I didn't have a ride until I was already lost in some neighborhood. Then, I found my way here."
   Jaden gives me a sad smile. "Are you alright?"
   "Uhm, yeah. I guess I'll be fine."
   "You two didn't..."
   "No. We didn't do anything more than kissing," I reply quickly. I look up at him again. "Why did you come all the way here? You don't live around here."
   "Because I was going to come and look for you."
   "Griffin called you?"
   "Yeah."
   "Oh." I give him a small smile. "Well, you found me. So, mission accomplished?" We both laugh.
   "Yeah. Mission accomplished," he says with a sigh. "I've missed you a lot."
   "Then why didn't you call me or something?"
   Jaden sighs. "I don't know. After you left your early, everything felt so crazy. I guess I just didn't know how to reach out to you properly."
   "Tour felt like forever ago. Everything does anymore. All the boys, the hospital..."
   "What happened in the alley?" Jaden whispers.
   I shrug. "I don't..."
   "Yeah. Sorry. You don't have to talk about it." He smiles at me. "Sorry."
   "It's fine," I reply, then laugh.
   "What?"
   "I don't know. You were cute when you smiled."
   "You think I'm cute?" Jaden teases. I laugh again, and he joins in.
   "Let's just take things one step at a time," I say with a big smile across my face.
   "One step at a time, then."