TW: attempt to suicide
The next morning brought us a surprise. We caught Sam and Josh making out just outside their room.
I gasped when I saw them and Josh instantly pulled away from him. Sam was unaffected as he slid a hand around his waist, the other going to the back of his head and pulled him back into a deep kiss.
Josh was mortified when he finally let him go and hid face under his hoodie as he gave us a stammering greeting.
"You guys look like you banged the whole night," Sam said, which was accurate. We had not slept a wink after we made up.
I stomped over to him, grabbed the front of his shirt and slammed him into the nearest wall. "If you're playing with Josh, I'm going to fucking kill you."
Josh gasped behind me and Sam grunted when his head took a hard hit. He held up his hands. "We're dating. We're going to try long distance and we both agreed it isn't going to start off serious."
I looked to Josh for confirmation and he nodded.
"In that case," I said, tightening my hold on the neckline, "–if you ever hurt him—"
"Got it," he said before I could even get the words out.
Tyler, Darren and Claire came out of their room and there were surprised reactions when they got to know about Josh and Sam, and then relieved about Brian and I.
After breakfast, Claire had a busy day ahead for us. She took us to various places, we clicked a lot of photos and had fun.
This went on for three days before we realized it was time we get back to our lives. It started when Darren received a call from the restaurant he worked at about busy days and shortage of staff. Then Josh, Tyler and Sam had their own commitments. My PA was going ballistic with all the work suddenly upon her and there was just so much she could handle on her own. She definitely deserved a vacation after this.
Brian's own PA reported a bunch of problems that had cropped up in his absence and we all knew it was time to go back. Claire was saddened but she did her best to appear happy for us.
She didn't seem to be in a hurry but she did tell us she'd be moving somewhere else, a better place but far away from all of us. She didn't specify where exactly as she had not decided that bit yet.
During our trip I had apologized to her for having stopped checking on her and she said she understood.
She dropped us off at the restaurant we had met up at and was the first one to leave after hugging us tightly and promising we'd take another trip like this some time in the future. I was now on my way home, now with Brian. We couldn't stop talking. After so long, we had so much to tell each other.
"Ah...my phone is dead," he said. "I need to call someone."
"Use my phone. It still has some battery left."
He picked up the phone and was about to dial in a number when he stopped. "Someone called you over thirty times."
"Is it an unknown number? Must be my assistant but why is she calling from some other number?"
"You should call back. It must be urgent. I can wait."
I pulled up at the side of the road. "Fine."
I called the number and instantly someone picked it up. I was prepared to hear my assistant's voice but a female, old but somewhat familiar picked up. "Brooke?" She asked in a panicked voice.
"Who is this?"
"I'm Claire's mom," she said.
"Oh, auntie!" I said in disbelief. "It's been so long. Did you change your number? Wow, it's so good to hear from you again. I'm sorry, I had my phone on silent so I didn't see you'd called before. I was on a roadtrip with my friends from school. It was such a surprise when Claire herself asked us. She just left us and now we're going home."
At the other end, I heard her start sobbing. My smile fell. "What's wrong?"
"Brooke, please find Claire. She left her job, she took all her money and left me a note. She said goodbye and that she'll meet me again when it's my time." She sounded as if she was struggling to breathe.
My own heart thundered in my chest. "What?" I said, clutching the phone tight.
"Find her. Right now. Please. This trip...it was her saying goodbye to you all. Stop her."
"I will," I managed and didn't realize where I threw my phone. My hands were shaking when I took a sharp U-turn. Brian braced himself against the handle.
"Brooke, what's wrong?"
"It's Claire. She-she's going to...I can't be late." I pressed down on the accelerator, narrowly avoiding crashing into another car. The driver shouted curses at me but I zoomed past many cars.
"Brooke, calm down. Remember if we crash we can't save her. Calm yourself. It's going to be all right. We'll reach her in time. We'll save her."
It didn't help. I couldn't stop shaking. My vision clouded with tears and I strained them. Brian gripped the steering wheel and swerved right before I could crash into a bike.
"Pull over," he shouted.
"No, we can't waste time."
"Pull over," he said firmly. "I'll drive faster. I promise."
When I didn't listen, he made us drive into the grass on the side of the road. I pressed down the brake before we could slam into a place identification sign.
Brian got out and whipped open my door. He scooped me up and deposited me at the back before getting in the driver's seat and then we were off again, faster than before much to my relief.
Ten minutes later I was considerably calmed down and soon a car turning over a dirt road caught our eyes and I saw Claire.
We followed her as she drove deeper into the woods and came out on a cliff with a deadly fall. She got out just as our car pulled up next to hers. She staggered back when she saw us and shook her head.
"Go home, Brooke!" She shouted and hurtled for the edge.
I threw open the door before the car could completely stop and ran after her. "Claire! No, don't!"
I saw her wipe away her tears. "Just let me go."
"No!" I screamed, pushing myself and leapt over her just as it seemed like we were going to the bottom of the cliff together.