It Never Felt Right Calling This Just Friends

RIHANNA'S POV:

Ever since six o'clock my phone has been ringing off the hook, until finally around midnight it stops.
I have absolutely no idea where I am, last I'd checked it was Middle of Nowhere Ohio.
I'd only stopped a couple times, to fill up on gas, pee or buy food.
I manage to ward off the thoughts that keep trying to invade my mind, and they don't manage to creep in until I pull into a rest stop and curl up in the back seat.
Why did I have to go and screw everything up? Why didn't I just completely ignore Jack from the start? I gave an inch, and he took a mile
I sigh and squeeze my tired eyes shut.
This isn't about Jack. Or Jim. It's about me. I'm not running away, I'm starting over. There's a difference. Right ?

JACK'S POV:

I'm awoken from a deep, hungover slumber by my phone ringing.
I groan and blindly reach for it and hit what I think is the answer button before pressing the phone to my ear.
"Hello?" I grumble as I focus all of my strength on not falling back asleep.
"Where is my sister?!" a vaguely familiar voice demands in a loud, annoyed voice.
"Good morning to you too, Bonnie," I reply as I silently curse the large amounts of alcohol I'd consumed the night before.
"I'm serious, Jack! Where is she?! Please tell me she's with you or-"
"What are you talking about?" I ask with a frown.
"Jim called me, Rihanna left him a lame ass break up letter, and said she was 'traveling'." I have to focus really hard on Bonnie's words, but even after I decipher the rushed sentences, I'm still confused. "By traveling I guessed she meant she was with you."
"Uh, she's not," I say as I sit up and open my heavy eyelids. "She broke up with him?"
She ignores my question and raises her voice, and I can't help but notice how similar she sounds to her sister. "Well where the fuck could she be? She's not answering her phone, for all I know she could be dead or something and-"
"Bonnie, breathe," I instruct. "Now tell me, slowly, what happened."
I hear her take in a deep breath, then sigh. "Jim called me, freaking out because when he got home from work last night she was gone. All of her stuff was missing, and she left a note saying she needed something new." I hear her sigh again, and my brow furrows deeper, trying to comprehend what she's saying. "This is just like when she ran away in high school, dammit. No explanation, she's just... Gone."
I can hear the worry and pain in her voice, and I realize that Bonnie had only been fifteen when her big sister had left the first time. "I'll try calling her, okay? She can't be too far."
"Thanks, Jack," she says quietly, then her line goes silent.
I sigh and start calling Rihanna.
What the fuck is she doing ?
"Hey, it's Rihanna, leave a message!" her familiar, yet seemingly fake voice says, followed by a beep.
I hang up and call again, even though my chances of her picking up are probably even slimmer than Bonnie's.
The fifth time I call I'm preparing to just leave a message, but am surprised when I hear her annoyed voice ask, "If I answer will you stop calling?"
"Ri, I know you're mad at me, but ple-"
"Me? Mad?" she asks in sarcastic surprise. "Now why on earth would I be mad at you ?"
"Listen to me, Ri," I say with a sigh. "I know you're pissed at me, and you should be. I was being a dick. But that isn't a reason to fucking runaway without telling anyone where you are."
Her laugh travels through the phone. "I didn't runaway. I wanted a change of scenery and people."
"So you left your boyfriend a shitty break up letter with zero explanation?"
"You talked to Jim?" she asks, her voice a little off.
"No, Bonnie did." I let out another sigh. "Speaking of which, you need to call her. She's scared, Ri."
"Why?" her voice is annoyed again. "She doesn't even like me."
"You left her. When she was fifteen and needed her big sister the most, you just left, and now you're doing that again without telling her."
I hear her sigh and then the sound of a car door closing. "Whatever, I'm an adult who can do whatever the hell I want, and Bonnie's an adult who can survive."
"Ri-"
"I have to go," she interrupts. "Bye."
"At least call her-" the line goes dead and I groan and slam my phone onto the bed.

RIHANNA'S POV:

I don't know how long I've been driving, but eventually I find myself in Illinois.
After debating my options over in my mind a few times I park in front of a seedy looking motel.
I have to stop driving eventually, and a city bordering Chicago can't be too bad.
After getting a room that's clean, but old, I take a much needed shower and crawl into bed.
I turn on the TV and eat a package of peanut butter crackers I'd purchased at a gas station in Indiana.
My mind keeps wandering from the sitcom that's playing to Jack.
Why did I answer his call? Why didn't I just ignore him like I'd ignored Jim and Bonnie ?
Bonnie
What Jack had said wasn't true. She hadn't needed me when she was fifteen. She turned out perfectly fine. She had mom...
And a sister who walked out just like dad had when she was eight
"That's different," I mutter under my breath.
If Jack's goal was to make me feel guilty, he'd succeeded.
I swallow the last cracker that seems too dry, then reluctantly pick up my cell phone that had been silent the past few hours.
Jim had given up calling a couple hours after he'd started, and Jack had stopped after I'd picked up, but Bonnie still called occasionally.
I sigh and dial her number and, after hesitating, press call and slowly bring the phone to my ear.
After two and a half rings I hear Bonnie's familiar voice. "Rihanna?"
"Hey,"I reply, a small smile appearing on my face.
"Where are you?! I called you like, three hundred times and Jim is convinced you're here and I was convinced you were with Jack but he said you aren't and-"
"Bonnie, relax," I instruct. She obeys and stays silent. "I'm in Illinois."
"Why?!" she asks, her voice rising again.
"Change of scenery," I say, shrugging to myself.
"Ri, seriously," she says, calling my bluff. "What happened?"
"I just needed to get away from stuff," I say as I lay on my back. "And New York was getting boring."
"Did you and Jim get in a fight?" she questions.
"No."
"Did you lose your job?"
"No."
"What happened?!"
"Nothing."
I hear her sigh. "So you just left for no reason?"
"I guess," I say as I study a mysterious yellow stain on the ceiling above my head.
"You can't just do that," she informs me. "You're an adult, you have to settle down."
I roll my eyes. "Okay, mom." She sighs again, and before she can lecture me more I quickly say, "I gotta go Bon. I'll call you later."
"You should come back to Baltimore."
"I'll think about it," I lie.
We say our goodbyes and hang up and I continue staring at the yellow stain, and try to force the weird, empty feeling out of my chest.