Chapter 166 - Before It Is Too Late

Lance.

"God, I didn't think it would be so hard to say goodbye to you,'' Jack runs his hands through his hair. His eyes are red but there are no tears in them. This is not goodbye but Jack is choosing to be dramatic right now.

I am not saying goodbye to him because this will be temporary. I will still see him again. Eventually, Ford will be free. He wouldn't have to conform to his father's rules. He will be his own person and then we will come back. We will be with our friends again.

"This is not goodbye,'' I assure him. This is not the end for us. He is my brother. I will never move on from him.

"Kind of feels like it is,'' he mutters sadly. I don't know what I could possibly say to make things better. I mean, I might not see him for a while.

"You can't say this is goodbye for now,'' I manage. It makes sense. At least while we are apart. This will be goodbye until we see each other again.

"Cheeky bastard,'' he slaps my shoulder playfully. I sneak a glance at Ford. He is very quiet. I don't know. Maybe everything is taking a toll on him. There is no pressure to say anything. I want him to just relax until I can get him to safety.

"You should hit the road, once John figures out that he is gone, he will look for him here first,'' he tells me.

It has just been about an hour since we left the hospital. Someone is bound to notice that he is missing. I guess we will find out soon. Jack will be my eyes and ears. He will let me know whatever happens.

He closes the car door "Take care of my baby,'' he slaps his jeep. He is doing me a solid by loaning me his car.

"I will bring her back to you,'' I promise him. At least, for now, he can look forward to seeing his car again. That will give me a reason to come back home.

I leave jack and a part of me feels the sadness. I don't want this, I wish I didn't have to leave my best friend. I look at Ford as I start the car, he manages a faint smile. It doesn't seem sincere. I don't know what I could do to make things better.

"Hi,'' I breathe out that one word.

He looks at me, the expression on his face is cold. I don't want to treat him like he is fragile, the way everyone has been treating him. I want things to go back to normal. I want us to go back to normal but I don't know how to do that. 

"Hi,'' he responds quietly. 

He is acting weird, maybe he is overthinking like I am. Maybe he doesn't want things to change. Nothing has changed. He is still the boy I fell in love with. He is still the only one I love. 

"I got a couple of your things from your house. Some fresh clothes, your phone, and other stuff." I tell him. 

"We should throw the phone away. So that he can't track us," he says a long sentence for the first time today. He sounds like himself in that second, even though we are talking about running away from home. In all my life, I never thought I would leave my mom. I don't want to have her worry but that is what is going to happen. 

"I need to communicate with my mom. If I get rid of my phone she will worry.''

"He will find us if she knows anything." 

He is suddenly so on board this escape. Now that I have him here, I am sure we will be fine. "Can we just wait until I call her? Let her know that we are okay."

He nods and I continue our drive. I want us to be as far away from home as possible. We get to the hotel I had booked for us in a town outside home. It takes us an hour and a half to get there. I park the car and he gets down from it before me. I have seen him like this before. This is not the first time he has been in a funk. I don't know how long this will last but I know he will come back around. I walk out of the car and open the boot, bringing out the bag I packed. He watches me, with a curious stare "I got some of your meds from your bathroom, I didn't know the ones you would need. So I took them all.''

I try to open the bag but he grabs my hand to stop me "Can we just go up to the room?'' he sounds very tired. I grab the handle of the bag and he reaches for it "I'll carry it up." He collects it from me with a smile. 

Thinking about it this way, I have no plan. No idea what we are going to do. Where we will go. Once they find out we are gone, they will look for us. My mom will worry, his dad will be upset. I thought it would be easier than it is. I don't know how long the money I have will last. 

We check into the room and he opens the door. It is a one bed suite. Not the best. The one that made the most sense to me. I didn't want to splurge because I didn't want us to run out of money. 

"Is the room okay?' I ask him as he places the bag on the floor in front of the bed. 

He looks at me, his expression is blank "It is hard to talk right now. Can we just call it a night?'' he asks hopefully. 

I nod because I don't know the right thing to say right now. He walks over to me and I am in his arms immediately "I promise, I will come back around. I just need to lie down,'' he explains further. I have studied a lot about bipolar disorder to know that this is normal. In the website, they said it could last for days, months. Sometimes a couple of hours. Right now, everything that has happened must be overwhelming to him. He must be terrified and he doesn't know how to handle it all. I don't even know how to handle this. I am scared too but I need to be strong for him. 

I nod. 

He presses his lips to mine softly. The kiss is innocent, not like I was expecting anything more than he gave. His hands are still holding unto mine tightly, the minute he lets go, I feel the empty void. I want to hold him in bed, I want to be by his side but I don't know if he wants that. I don't want to push him. I watch him as he walks over to the bed and pulls the covers out. He is still dressed in the hospital sweats. It doesn't seem like he plans on taking them off tonight. I walk out to the small balcony with my phone. The wind hits me immediately. I unlock my iPhone and there are a bunch of missed calls from mom. 

I knew she would call. 

She must be so upset. 

Ford thinks they would be able to track us with the phones and I don't doubt him. We might both be paranoid right now. His father might not be the bad guy we are making him out to be but he will still want to find his son. He is a wealthy man, I am sure if he plans on tracking us, it wouldn't be that hard. 

I dial her number and she answers on the first ring.

"Where the hell are you, Lance,'' she shouts so loud into the phone. 

I take a deep breath because I need to explain this to her in the calmest way possible. I need to make sure she understands that this is not about her. That I am doing this for the love I have for him. 

"I am sorry mom. I had to do this,'' I explain. 

"Get your butt back home this instant." Her voice is so loud that I have to move the phone away from my ear. I knew she wouldn't understand why I am doing this.

No one will.

"I can't. I called you to let you know that I am okay. Ford is okay,'' I assure her. 

"This is wrong Lance. I told you that I believed you. I told you that I was going to help you. why couldn't you just fucking wait for me.'' 

She is swearing. 

She is upset. 

"Mom, I couldn't sit back and watch him suffer. I had to do something. I had to get him out of there,'' I tell her honestly. 

She sighs loudly "Bring him back home Lance before it is too late,'' she warns me. 

I look at the glass revolving doors that lead back into the room. from where I am, I can see his figure on the bed. He is under the covers. He must be exhausted. 

"I am sorry mom,'' I end the call before she can say anything else and switch off the phone.