Chapter Five: Run Away

                                    

                                          
Callie's POV
I woke up the next morning feeling delightfully refreshed. It was the most perfect thing, to wake up with Brandon right next to me. I stretched myself out and wiped the sleep from my eyes. Brandon jerked in his sleep and rolled over. His regularly tousled hair was in a rugged mess, which I smiled at in amusement.
                          
I sat up, hugging the sheet to my chest, and looked around the room, now that I was sober enough to take it in.  It was mostly empty and plain, except for the bed, a little table next to it, and a dresser parallel to the closet across the room.
                          
I took a glance at the digital clock on the bedside table, and did a double take when I found that it was 11:36am. I gasped, and my heartbeat hurtled out of control.
                          
I quickly dressed myself in at least a bra, underwear, and my navy blue tank before I began frantically shaking Brandon. He woke up with confusion plastered across his tired face, rubbing his eyes.
                          
"What?" He mumbled, clearly too tired to see my panic.
                          
"Brandon it's eleven-thirty, we overslept, get up!" I exclaimed in a breathlessly whiney tone.
                          
Slowly, Brandon sat up and let out a prolonged yawn. I suppose that what he needed was visual proof, because as soon as his eyes touched the clock and he acknowledged the time, he practically jumped through the roof.
                          
We dressed ourselves in a rush, and I began to wonder why we thought it was a good idea to go to sleep in the first place. Clearly, we wouldn't have woken up on time, wine or no wine.
                          
As we left the unknown house and put the key back under the mat, I put my denim jacket on and dazily thought about last night. Slowly, I realized what we'd done, me and Brandon, and I came to terms with it. We had sex. And there was nothing either of us could do to change it, even if we wanted to.
                          
The adrenaline left my veins through my fingertips as we walked down the street. I realized that we'd be fine. Brandon would tell Moms that he left early for Idyllwild, and I'd tell Rita that I left early to pick up my missing work from Anchor Beach. Or at least that's what I'd tell Brandon our story was.
                          
He'd tell Moms the Idyllwild part, but I wouldn't tell Rita anything, because I wasn't going back to Rita's. There was no way I could pretend last night didn't happen, no way I could go back to Rita's and wait around for the social worker to say I could go back home. And I couldn't look at Stef and Lena every day and pretend I didn't betray the family, again.
                          
I was right from the beginning; I didn't deserve to be adopted, and I never would.
                          
So maybe I'd go crash with Jesus, since we're both in hiding, or maybe I'd go to the Drop-In Center, assuming Moms wouldn't look for me there.
                          
Brandon and I walked down the street hand in hand, no longer in a hurry. His hair was still messy, as was mine I could bet, and we both looked like we came straight from a ditch on the other side of homelessness.
                          
As we walked, Brandon told me a little bit about Idyllwild and then some, and he talked about how much he missed classical music. And I listened to him, because he was confiding in me, and to let my thoughts wander somewhere else would be cruel. But I had other things subconsciously hanging around in the very back of my mind, where you could find the saddest of my thoughts.
                          
I was going to miss this; talking. Being close with Brandon and having my best friend back, and also kissing Brandon and holding his hand and having my boyfriend back.
                          
As we reached the corner of our street, we slowed to a stop. There were no police cars in front of our house, which was a good sign. Though it was a bad sign that Lena's car was parked out front, which meant she was worried enough to stay home. 
                          
"What am I gonna tell them?" Brandon asked.
                          
"Don't go home," I told him. "You charged your phone at that house right?"
                          
"Yeah?"
                          
"Okay, well they're gonna try to track it, so go to Idyllwild, and then turn it on. Tell them you left early this morning to get a head start on your next piece." I explained.
                          
"And what about you?" He asked.
                          
"My phone's been off all night. I'll go back to Rita's and say I went to school to get my missing work," I said. I studied Brandon's expression to see if he could tell I was lying. Nada. "Okay?"
                          
Brandon nodded anxiously. "Okay."
                          
I walked Brandon to his bus stop, clinging to each and every last second we had. This time, instead of intertwined fingers connected to sweaty palms, we walked with his arm around my shoulder and mine around his lower back. I was sure that from the outside looking in, we looked like an ideal couple, but beneath the surface, what we were going through was anything but ideal.
                          
"Do you regret it?" Brandon asked as we stepped onto Main Street. "What we did last night?"
                          
"Of coarse not," I said as I stopped walking. We unwrapped ourselves and looked at each other with desolation and happiness in our eyes. "I mean, yeah, we were drunk, but we both know that we probably would have done what we did anyway. And I don't regret it. I'm glad we did it, and I wouldn't change anything about it."
                          
A smile broke across Brandon's charming face, and his eyes glinted at me, locking me in the prison of his enchanting gaze. He put his hands on the small of my back and kissed me with strength and warmth, and I kissed him right back with all my might, comforted by the fact that this was the happiest we'd ever been.
                          
And then it all went away, just like that.
                          
I was so tangled up in Brandon, so lost in the illusion of us and the radiant identity of this kiss that I barely paid any attention to the sound of tires rolling up next to us. But then I heard a voice that snapped us both right out of it.
                          
"BRANDON AND CALLIE ADAMS-FOSTER, GET IN THIS CAR RIGHT NOW!" Shouted a very angry Stef from her patrol car.
                          
Brandon and I stood motionless, staring at her like two deer in headlights, and then my worst instincts kicked in.
                          
I had to run.