Still Nothing

"Aw, Chuck..." Susanne lets her eyes fall to his and sighs. "Why does it feel like I've known you for years, when it's only been two days?" She shakes her head. "And why do you have to offer a ride, of which you know I'll have a hard time resisting?" She smirks at him, scrunching her nose a little. "It's late and I really should get back, I..."

She rolls her eyes away from his alluring gaze. "My birds will wonder where I've been and... and I still have to go get my car and..." She sighs again. "Okay fine. But just half an hour."


Justin gives Beth one last smile and nod before finally exiting her apartment. Walking slowly to the truck, he pauses at the driver's door and looks at the little container in his hand that held the extra piece of pie. She really was sweet. Once the hard shell was peeled away and the cobwebs of fear and timidity were brushed aside, she did have a kind heart. Justin only hoped that it would continue to grow so that she could fly on her own one day - it would only be fair to her.

Sighing, he opens the door and lets the dogs in before sliding in behind the steering wheel. The engine sputters once then roars to life and he heads out of town. Once the lights had been left behind, he fishes his cell phone and dials, only afterward checking the time.

"Hey, you." He smiles. "I didn't wake you, did I? Okay, good. Listen, um, wondered if you wanted to meet me for a coffee or something? Yeah, I'll be up for a few hours yet. Sure, sounds great. See you in a few minutes."

Flipping the phone shut again, he sets it aside and settles back to continue driving. It would be nice to spend a little bit of time with Rebecca tonight since they hadn't done supper together like usual. Perhaps they hadn't been dating for long, but already, Justin was getting used to his free time being spent with her, so not having it felt odd. Not to mention, he really wanted to focus on her for a while too, after being with Beth the entire evening. He'd been fine until just before leaving when he'd realized how closely they'd been sitting together, not to mention, he now wondered if it had even been appropriate for him to have his arm around her. Why he'd even been comfortable enough to do that in the first place, he didn't know. But he'd certainly let his guard down, that was for sure. Maybe it was just because he'd been tired.

No matter the reason, Justin was sure it had been a bad move. He knew he needed to be Beth's friend, but he needed to remember where the lines were. He'd never had trouble with that before and it bothered him that apparently he'd let it slip tonight, but regardless, from now on, he'd be more careful.


Erik's eyes shift over to Karla and he nods, even if he didn't agree. He knew Kip wanted his space and wanted to be trusted, but the problem was that with his record, it was hard to believe that everything was fine and that he'd made the right choice. "Yeah, okay... we'll give him some more time. If he does call you, let one of us know."

And they did give Kip more time. Though the whole group was worried, no one made any moves, but no one heard from Kip either. By that night with still no word, Erik was worried enough that he barely slept. And by the next morning, he was unwilling to wait any longer...

"Karla? It's Erik." He spoke on his cell phone as he drove against the morning sun. "Still nothing from Kip. I'm driving to the cabin - Kyle's with me and the others are staying. We want to know if you want to come, too. We can be to the apartment in ten minutes." After that, it would be a six-hour drive. Erik and Kyle had opted to go to the cabin themselves before taking any drastic measures such as calling the police. No one knew that anything at all was wrong, but in this situation, they would rather waist hours on the road than find out later they should have gone. And it was agreed that Karla should be given the chance to go.

Half Hour

Sitting quietly over in her own corner of the couch Karla listens to the chatter around of her. Kip wasn't back yet, everyone was worried and though she was trying to keep her head on straight she was worried inside as well everyone else just adding to it.

"I'm worried too Eric, its not like Kip to not call me but we can't jump to conclusions right away either. Even if we don't want to believe it we have to give Kip his space and that we know he knows what he's doing. At least lets give him to tonight."

Karla tried to smile even if her eyes showed her worry. But Kip's words from a few days ago still played in her head. He didn't want to babysat and he wanted to do this and show everyone he was smart. They had to give him that no matter how worried they were.

Placing his fork down on the plate as his own meal was done Chuck leans back in the booth. The chatter had been light but it was good non the less and so was the food. It felt nice to just have a nice time out with Susanne and enjoy the meal.

"Stick a fork in me I am done. Man was that a good meal."

Glancing down at his watch and seeing what time it was Chuck was a little surprised himself how much time went by. But the night was still young to him and he only hoped he could spend a little more time with Susanne.

"I doubt you boss will kill you. He needs you to much but if you need to head out I understand. But I ask if we can at least take a half hour and go for a ride."

Looking back at Justin Beth's smile stayed on her face as she stood up too. Going into the kitchen Beth grabs one of her plastic container and puts some pie into it before bringing it to Justin.

"Here takes some pie with you. There is no way I could eat it all by myself and you like it so you might as well enjoy more of it as well."

Getting to the door with Justin Beth gives both dogs a pat on the head and a scratch behind the ears before looking to Justin again and giving a nod. She hoped they would see each other again soon.

"Have a great night Justin. Drive safe and sleep well. Hope to see you again soon, call anytime."

Lost

Justin grins and shakes his head. "If you do call, yell at the answering machine. I'm a heavy sleeper."

Yawning again, his body really didn't want to get up. The couch was warm and sitting here for two hours had made him a little bit drowsy. Beth's thanks makes him shrug. "No thanks needed. I had fun, and hey, I got your cooking out of it."

His eyes search hers for a moment in the dim lighting. And for a moment, he got lost.

Blinking, he looks away and retracts his arm, heat crawling up the back of his neck. "I gotta go get these girls home." He stands a little quickly and trudges around the living room to find his sneakers. Slipping them on and tying them, he finds the dogs leashes and calls them over, getting ready to go.

He pauses at the door though and looks back at Beth once more. "Thanks... I'll see you soon."


Susanne bites her lip to keep from laughing at Chuck's second answer. It wasn't that she was making fun of him - she just hadn't expected it. Her eyes danced with humor, showing that she was beginning to relax. "You must still be a child at heart," she muses. "Why does that not surprise me?"

As the waiter comes back to the table with their food and isn't sure where to put the plates, Susanne puts as hand on Chuck's arm to keep him there. She rather liked him right next to her.

After a prayer and beginning the meal, Susanne does her best to contribute to at least a little bit of small talk, though it's hard for her to come up with much that was interesting - in her opinion anyway. By the time the food was gone, the restaurant was even quieter as it became late. Leaning back against the wall, almost sideways in the booth, she cocks her head and just studies Chuck. "I should have gone to bed an hour ago," she comments wryly. "I'm so dead at work tomorrow and if I'm not, Reese will kill me anyway."


Monday. Erik was pacing the floor while the rest of the band hung out for lunch at Phil and Kyle's place.

"Dude, settle down," Theo chides. "He'll be here."

Erik doesn't stop pacing around the kitchen. "We should have heard something. He was supposed to be back last night."

"Look, he's fine." Theo takes another bite of his sandwich. "You gotta give him his own space sometimes."

"But-"

"I know you're like his big brother but you can't always protect him." Theo looks to Erik with seriousness. "I'm worried about him, too. But there are just some things we can't fix." He finishes his sandwich then sighs. He might chide Erik, but he was just as concerned. "Did you try calling him again?"

"Yeah. Same thing. Voicemail. I know he took his charger with him because he mentioned almost forgetting it. So either he shut it off, or it's broken."

"Or there's no service at the cabin." Twila intervenes from her place by the counter and looks at him knowingly. They couldn't jump to any conclusions, nor did she want to in front of Karla who was probably more worried than anyone.

"He said he'd be back last night," Erik states flatly.

Phil sips his coke and looks around at the group. He didn't know them all that well, other than Kyle and Alice and he didn't know Kip's background either. "Maybe they had a great time and they decided to stay an extra day," he suggests.

Russ smirks. "Wishful thinking. His dad's a-"

"So what do you want to do?" Theo asks Erik, cutting off Russ from saying something he shouldn't. His eyes glance over to Karla for a moment, then back to his other friend. "What can you do?"

"I don't know I just..."

"Got a bad feeling?"

"Yeah." Erik sighs. "Kip left Thursday morning to get to the cabin that night. He was gonna stay Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning, then come home."

"Let's say they wanted an extra day. Maybe he'll show up tonight."

"Why would they want an extra day?"

"Father/son bonding?"

Erik gives Theo a withering look. Neither believed that theory.

"So we wait," Kyle suggests. "Just relax and let the time roll by. It's all we can do."