Page 136 of Eleanor & Grey

I hung up the receiver and dashed out of the house, and drove straight to Greyson’s. I rang the doorbell repeatedly until he answered.

He raised an eyebrow. “Eleanor? What is it?”

“It’s Karla. She’s at a party, and we have to go get her.”

“What? No. She went to her room a while back,” he explained, rubbing the back of his neck.

“No, she just called me. She snuck out a while ago.”

“What?!” he snapped, his eyes widening from shock. “I’m going to kill her,” he hissed, hurrying over to get his shoes on.

“First let’s just make sure she’s okay. She sounded really upset on the phone. I’ll grab Lorelai.”

“Okay, I’ll meet you out front.”

When I grabbed Lorelai, she was yawning, asking what was going on, but I just told her we were going for a quick ride. We headed outside, and Greyson already had the car running. I placed Lorelai into her car seat and buckled her in, then I hopped into the passenger seat and closed my door.

“Where are we going?” Greyson asked with his hands gripped tightly around the steering wheel. “Where are we going?” he repeated, his voice stern.

I gave him the address and he took off, not speaking a word. I glimpsed the anger in his tense jaw and the way he gripped the steering wheel. The stress that was flying through his mind.

“That is the last time I give her a bit of responsibility,” he hissed beneath his breath. “She just proved—”

“Greyson,” I said lowly, placing my hand on his forearm. “There’s plenty of time for you to be upset. But right now, I think she’s just going to need you to be there for her. She sounded so distressed.”

He let out a quick huff and went silent, not speaking another word.

When we arrived at the location Karla had given me, we found her sitting on the curb. She was balled up, with her arms wrapped around her legs and her head down, rocking back and forth.

Lorelai was fully awake now, glaring out of the window at her sister. “What’s wrong with Karla?” she asked, confused.

“Stay here, Lorelai,” Greyson ordered as he and I got out of the car.

We walked over to Karla, and looked at her, and a strong stench hit our noses as we grew closer and closer. There were some liquids all over her and what looked to be pieces of trash, stuck to her clothes.

“Karla?” I whispered, and she jumped, alarmed, as if someone was going to attack her.

“Leave me alone!” she hollered, wide-eyed as she looked around. When she realized it was me, she took a deep breath. “Eleanor.” She stood to her feet and then saw Greyson and her eyes filled with fear. “You told him? I told you not to tell him!”

“I had to, Karla, he’s your father.”

She looked at Greyson and began shaking, as if she knew exactly how much trouble she was in. “Dad, look, I’m sorry, okay?” Tears started streaming down her face as her small frame shook. “I know you’re upset and you won’t trust me ever again, but look, you don’t get it. Nobody gets it.”

“Gets what, Karla?’ I asked, because Greyson was standing there speechless, and I wasn’t even sure what emotions were running through him. I couldn’t tell from his stance. I couldn’t tell from his facial expressions. He just seemed frozen in place.

“I’m lonely!” she cried out, tossing her hands in the air. “I have no friends, and everyone hates me and makes fun of me every day. Every day is hard, and you guys don’t understand. Nobody understands! I just thought when my old friends called me to hang out that maybe I was being let back into our friendship group, I just thought, I thought, I th…” Her words were so jumbled and shaky that they grew harder to understand as she sobbed nonstop. “I’m sorry, Dad, okay? I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I’m—”

Before she could continue, before she could push one more apology out of her mouth, Greyson stepped in and wrapped his arms around her. He pulled her in so tightly that she wouldn’t have been able to let him go if she wanted to. She kept saying the words I’m sorry to Greyson, and he held her so close to him.

“It’s all right, Karla. You’re all right, I got you.” He held her as she sobbed into his arms.

“You’re never going to forgive me,” she cried. “I keep messing up.”

“Hey, hey, look at me.” Greyson pulled away from her and bent down to look her in her eyes. “You are my daughter. I am always going to be here for you.”

That just made her cry harder and wrap her arms around him, burrowing herself against him.

My heart was breaking for Karla. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what she’d been going through.

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