Chapter 16
Kennedy:Where are you? Did you leave!?!
I take a bite of my waffle while I stare at Kenney’s text on my phone. It’s just after seven in the morning and the hotel’s deluxe breakfast bar has just opened. I’m closer to De Sota than Ella is, so I figured I could stay just long enough to fill up on free breakfast foods before I hit the road.
Kennedy was still asleep when I woke up this morning. It was easy to get dressed, grab my backpack, and slip out the door. It had been even easier to step into the hallway when Ella called me at four in the morning earlier. Kennedy sleeps like the dead.
I was planning on texting her before I left just so she knows I’m gone. I set down my fork and type out a reply.
Me:I’m getting breakfast downstairs. I’ll leave after this.
Kennedy:Wait, you can’t leave yet. I have to come with you.
I roll my eyes. We already agreed that she’ll stay here until after the hurricane has passed and we all get to go back home. I ignore her text and go back to my food, but soon she’s blowing up my phone in typical Kennedy fashion.
Kennedy:Hello?
Kennedy:don’t leave me!!
Kennedy:come back up here asap!
Kennedy:Answer me?!?!?
I feel like ignoring her some more just for fun, but then she’d probably barge down here and scream at me. I reply, telling her I’ll be there in a minute, and then I take my sweet time finishing my breakfast.
Kennedy is dressed in jean shorts and a WCHS cheer T-shirt when I return to the hotel room. Her stuff seems to be packed up as well, judging by the overstuffed suitcase on her bed.
“There you are,” she says, throwing me a nasty look. “I thought you were going to abandon me.”
“We already agreed that you’re staying here,” I say.
She shakes her head. “Apparently my dad could only get me one night here. We have to check out by noon and they have no more rooms available.”
My chest constricts.Please, God, tell me this isn’t true. “Are you serious? What about other hotels around here?”
She shrugs. “All the hotels are booked. So you have to take me with you.”
Her eyes widen when she sees my hesitation. “Ethan! You have to take me! I don’t even have my car here. I’d be stranded.”
I take a deep breath. There wasn’t going to be room for Kennedy at my parent’s hotel anyway, and now that Ella is bringing her aunt, there’s really no room. But I’m not a horrible person who would leave her literally stranded here.
I exhale and feel a dread rising up in my bones. Ella is going to kill me.
“I guess we’ll figure something out,” I say, shifting my backpack on my shoulders. It doesn’t weigh much, but suddenly it feels like a thousand pounds pressing on me.
“Let’s go,” I say. Kennedy doesn’t object, and for once she doesn’t talk the entire time while we walk to the elevators and then head out to my truck. It’s a sunny day here, which is ironic because just a hundred miles south of us is being hit by one of the strongest hurricanes we’ve had in a century. My phone has all kinds of notifications, especially from Snapchat which I barely use on normal days. I ignore them all because none are from Ella, and I tell my parents we’re headed that way.
I set my GPS for my parent’s hotel, and then I get on the interstate. Both sides of the road are going north, and although there’s plenty of people on the road, the traffic is flowing at the speed limit. I’ll be there in half an hour.
It’s ironic how ever since Ella and I left our homes for the evacuation, I’d been desperately wanting to get to my parent’s hotel. But now that Kennedy is sitting next to me playing on her phone, I wish the trip would take a lot longer. As soon as I get there I’ll have to tell Ella what happened. I’ll have to explain why my bitch of an ex-girlfriend is here and will be staying in the same hotel with us. I wouldn’t be surprised if I have two ex-girlfriends by the end of this trip.
I shake the thought away. Ella won’t break up with me. Our love is real and our relationship is the kind that lasts. We never fight or even argue, and that’s saying something. My relationship with Kennedy was about ninety percent fighting. What Ella and I have is special and we can get through this. She’ll probably be annoyed, but she’ll understand.
Maybe my parents will break the no sleeping together rule and let us share a bed since the hotel is going to be pretty crowded.
I turn on the radio and listen to the news updates on the storm. Kennedy groans, dragging out the sound so that she’s more annoying than usual.
“Do we have to listen to this crap?” she says, looking up from her phone to give me a glare. “I’m so sick of the news.”
