The Long Road

Back to Leslie's P.O.V . . .

The next day went smoothly and perfectly. That morning, Rowan drove over to pick me up. We had planned to go out for brunch and see a movie. I showed Rowan inside and introduced him to Billie and Adrienne. Rowan and Billie instantly hit it off, going on about the good old days at Gilman Street and such. I saw Joey giving him a funny look across the room, but I ignored it. After the introductions we left and drove down to San Francisco.

'So, what was wrong with your friend, Billie's son?' Rowan questioned as we parked outside a small cafe.

'Oh. I don't know.' I replied quietly. This morning, Joey had been quiet and looked really pale. I just assumed he had a bug of some sort, or perhaps it was some alcohol that hadn't got out of his system yet.

We sat down at the table and ordered. Rowan was constantly throwing me smiles and giving me proud looks. With every moment, I grew happier and happier. We sat there for what felt like forever and talked about our lives. Rowan told me he had been a bachelor ever since my mum left and played drums for formal occasions, mostly weddings and proms. After that we went and saw Inception and Rowan dropped me back to Billie's house again.

After saying goodbye and promising to see him tomorrow, I breezed in through the door and said hello to everyone. I felt so overjoyed for having Rowan in my life. Things couldn't get any better.

~Joey's P.O.V~

As expected, I felt like complete shit for the majority of the day. I tried not to talk so much, cause my tongue felt like a dead animal in my mouth. Leslie's dad came in in the morning, and he seemed like a pretty decent guy, though I thought he seemed a bit funny. He had Leslie's eyes, and her smile. I tried not to look at his face too much.

In the afternoon, Leslie came back in through the door with a big goofy grin on her face. I turned away from her before she could try and strike up a conversation with me, but then my mum yelled to me from the kitchen.

'Joey, can you go get your skateboard from the driveway? Rowan nearly ran over it when he came here.'

I stifled a tired groan and made my way out the front. I was about to slam the front door behind me, when I saw Rowan standing on the bottom steps, talking into his mobile. What was he still doing here? I thought he would have left already. I tried to ignore him and go down to get the skateboard, but I couldn't help but listen in on his conversation.

'Yeah I took her to the movies today. Yep. We also had some lunch. Yeah. I know right? She totally fell for the whole caring act. Yeah. When will I bring her back? Maybe Tuesday, after her show. She won't know what hit her. That'll show Juliet. Yeah her mother, from years ago. Listen I gotta go, I'm at Armstrong's house. I'll meet you same place tonight. Alright see you.'

Rowan stuffed his phone back into his pocket and raced over to his car. I backed against the door while Rowan's car backed out and sped away down the street. I leaned against the door and tried to understand what I heard.

What was Rowan doing with Leslie? He made it sound like he was trying to get revenge for something. So, he didn't really care for Leslie after all? Everything that had happened last night faded away. I had to find out what was going on, and fast, before Rowan did something horrible to her.