Chapter 173
Ellie's POV
The reply came in less than thirty seconds:
Jackson: What? No—he said he was meeting Lily. I haven't seen him since he left yesterday. Why would he be missing?
My stomach sank. So Jackson genuinely didn't know either.
Me: Lily says he texted her saying YOU needed him for something. But you said he was going to see her. Someone's lying or there's a miscommunication. We need to figure out what actually happened.
Jackson: Shit. I'll check with Jake and the other roommates—maybe someone saw something. Give me ten minutes.
I looked up to find Lily watching me with desperate hope. "What'd he say?"
"Jackson's checking with your other roommates to see if anyone knows anything. But Lily…" I hesitated, choosing words carefully. "Ryan told you Jackson needed him, but Jackson says Ryan told him he was meeting you. That doesn't make sense unless…"
"Unless Ryan lied to both of us." Lily's face crumpled again. "But why? Why would he lie about where he was going?"
I didn't have a good answer. "Maybe he had something personal to deal with and didn't want to worry anyone? Or got called away for a family emergency and his phone died?"
Even as I said it, I knew how weak it sounded. Lily's expression said she knew it too.
"His Snapchat location," she said suddenly, fumbling with her phone. "I can check—"
She pulled up the map, and we both stared at Ryan's Bitmoji avatar, frozen at their dorm building's location. Last updated: Yesterday, 4:58 PM.
Right before he left. Right before everything went wrong.
"His phone's definitely off or dead," I confirmed, throat tight. "But that confirms he left the dorm around five like Jackson said."
Lily clutched her phone like a lifeline, staring at that static location marker. "What if something happened to him? What if he's hurt somewhere and can't call for help? What if—"
"Don't." I grabbed her hands again. "We don't know anything yet, so don't spiral into worst-case scenarios. For all we know, his phone broke and he's trying to figure out how to contact people. Or he got called away suddenly and couldn't find a working phone. There are lots of explanations that don't involve disaster."
"But you don't really believe that," Lily whispered, seeing right through me. "I can tell—you're worried too."
She was right. I was worried, because Ryan disappearing without a word wasn't like him at all.
"I'm worried because you're worried," I said, which was technically true. "But that doesn't mean something terrible happened. It means we need to be smart about finding him."
My phone buzzed:
Jackson: Jake says he saw Ryan getting into a dark SUV near the engineering building around 5:20. Didn't recognize the vehicle. Ryan seemed fine—waved at Jake before getting in. That's all anyone knows.
I showed Lily the text, watching her face cycle through confusion, fear, and desperate hope.
"He got into a car willingly," she said, latching onto the least scary part. "So he wasn't kidnapped or anything. Maybe someone gave him a ride somewhere?"
"Maybe," I agreed. "Someone he knew, probably, since he waved at Jake. Could be a friend from one of his classes, or family member visiting?"
"But why wouldn't he tell me?" Lily's voice cracked again. "Why lie about where he was going and then just… disappear?"
I didn't have an answer for that. "Okay. New plan. I'm going to go talk to Jackson face-to-face, see if we can figure out more details. You're going to stay here, eat something, and try to calm down enough to think clearly. Can you do that?"
Lily nodded, though her eyes welled up again. "You'll come right back? And tell me everything?"
"The second I know anything, you'll know." I squeezed her hand, then stood and grabbed the surviving matcha latte from the puddle on the floor. At least one hadn't spilled completely. "Here—drink this. It's your favorite."
She accepted it with shaking hands, took a small sip. The familiar taste seemed to ground her slightly.
"Ellie?" Her voice was small, scared. "What if we don't find him?"
I crouched down in front of her, meeting her eyes directly. "We will. I promise you, Lily—we will find Ryan."
Even as I said it, I hoped I could keep that promise.
I grabbed my jacket and keys, pausing at the door. "Lock this behind me. Don't open it for anyone except me or Megan until I get back, okay?"
Lily nodded, hugging herself. She looked so small and lost sitting there on her bed, surrounded by the remains of what was supposed to be a celebration.
The check and my carefully written note about the project payment were still scattered on the floor, forgotten. I'd meant to hand them over with gratitude and pride.
Instead, I was walking out to hunt for answers about a missing person.
I pulled out my phone as I walked, drafting a text to Jackson:
Me: On my way to you. We need to talk about Ryan NOW. Something's very wrong here.
The elevator took forever. By the time I reached the ground floor and burst out into the chilly evening air, Jackson had responded:
Jackson: I'm at the safe house. Come here—we can talk without interruptions.
I broke into a jog toward the house we shared, mind racing through possibilities. Ryan getting into an SUV willingly meant he knew whoever picked him up. But why the lies? Why the complete radio silence?
Behind me, Dorm 304's lit windows glowed warm against the darkening sky. Inside one of them, my best friend was falling apart with worry over her missing boyfriend.
And I was running to Jackson to try to piece together what the hell had happened.
Please let him be okay, I thought. Please, please let this just be a misunderstanding.
But the knot in my stomach said otherwise.
Something was very, very wrong.