Chapter 91 91

Chapter 91 91
Quinn's POV

Harmony and I left Sasha's apartment the way we found it, and headed for a nearby diner. It was mostly empty, save for a tired-looking waitress wiping down the counter with a rag. It was the perfect place to sit and deliberate on what to do next.

The waitress walked over shortly after we settled down and handed us two stained menus. "What can I get you girls?"

"Just two black coffees, please," I replied.

She nodded, scribbled it down on her small notepad, and walked back toward the kitchen without saying another word.

I looked across the table at Harmony. Her fingers were twitching against the paper napkin on the table, tearing the edges into tiny shreds.

"I think we need to call the cops," Harmony muttered. "Something terrible has happened to her."

"Go to the cops and tell them what, Harmony?" I asked, keeping my voice low as the waitress returned and pushed two thick ceramic mugs of steaming coffee between us. I waited until the woman walked away before I spoke again. "Think about it for a second. What exactly are we going to tell the desk sergeant?"

"The truth, duh." Harmony insisted, grabbing her mug with both hands but not drinking from it. "We tell them that Sasha has been missing for days."

"Considering the fact that we broke into that apartment, the police aren't going to care about a brown banana and a spoiled carton of milk. They're going to see two college students who committed a crime, just because a classmate hasn't answered her phone in a week. We have no real proof of a crime, just an empty apartment."

"An empty room that proves she's gone!"

"People abandon their leases all the time. If we go to the police right now, they're going to dismiss us. Or worse, they're going to call the university, and then Dr. Bennett is somehow going to find out exactly who has been digging into his business. Trust me, I know it will happen."

Harmony stared down into her black coffee, the steam rising up and dampening her eyelashes. She looked so small in the oversized booth—it was odd to see her in this state. Harmony was usually bossy, taking control of conversations. It was evident that she really cared for Sasha, and was worried that something must have happened to the girl.

So I reached out, patting her arm reassuringly. "Don't worry, Harmony, I'm sure Sasha is alright. We just need to give it some time."

Harmony said nothing, but let out a long, slow breath. She took a sip of her coffee, her eyes tracking the dark liquid as she swirled it around the rim of the mug.

Then all of a sudden, she blinked, her face clearing as if a different thought had just forced its way into her head. She set her mug down and looked up at me, a forced lightness in her eyes.

"Oh, wow. I forgot with everything going on tonight, I meant to ask you earlier. Did you finally decide on what you're wearing for the Thanksgiving dinner with Miles' mom next month?"

I froze in surprise. "What?"

"Miles' mom," she repeated. "You know you still need to RSVP, right? You can't keep avoiding this. It's a huge deal that Miles invited you."

"Sure, a huge deal if I actually cared about going. Harmony, I'm not going to that dinner," I said, my voice turning flat and cold. "I already told Miles three times that I have too much coursework to finish over the holiday break."

"Oh, come on," she teased, reaching across the table to nudge my hand with her fingers. "It's just one dinner. You're telling me you want to stay in the apartment all by yourself on Thanksgiving? Besides, I'm going with Roman myself, so it's going to be a group kind of thing."

The casual, lighthearted tone of her voice suddenly rubbed against my nerves like coarse sandpaper. My mind was still on Sasha, staring at the unmade sheets in her room and the moldy food in her kitchen, wondering if a girl our age was currently lying in a ditch somewhere while we sat in a warm diner talking about holiday plans.

"Stop it, please!" I snapped, cutting her off mid-monologue.

Her smile collapsed. "Quinn, I was just—"

"Sasha is missing!" I said, louder than I intended. The waitress at the counter looked up in curiosity, and I immediately dropped my voice back into a fierce whisper. "Sasha is gone. We don't even know if she is alive right now. We have much bigger things to worry about than whether I'm going to some stupid Thanksgiving dinner with Miles' family. How can you even think about that right now?"

Harmony went rigid. The color that had started to return to her cheeks instantly drained away, leaving her looking hollow once again. It suddenly, terribly occurred to me that she had only been trying to lift my mood with talk of the Thanksgiving dinner, which left a horrible taste of guilt in my mouth.

"I'm sorry..." I muttered. "Didn't mean to yell like that."

Her mouth opened slightly as if she wanted to defend herself, say something more, but she closed it just as quickly. She looked down at her hands, her lower lip trembling for a fraction of a second before she forced her face into a neutral mask.

"I'm sorry," she finally whispered. "You're right. I'm sorry."

And she pulled her coffee mug closer to her chest and stared directly into the black liquid, saying nothing more.

I knew she had been trying to find some normal, everyday topic to cling to because she was just as terrified as I was. She was dealing with the stress the only way she knew how, and I had just thrown her anxiety right back in her face.

I opened my mouth to say something else, to take the words back or tell her I was just tired and frazzled by the break-in, but the words caught in my throat. Eventually, I wrapped my fingers around my own warm mug, staring out the dark window at the empty street outside, and remained silent as well.