Katy sat there for a minute tapping her fingers on the bar, making sure that the guys were really gone from the room. What she was about to say might surprise the others but then again it might not. It was after all Katy, the person that could say or do anything and any given time.
“I am leaving tonight.” Katy simply stated, there was a no remorse in her voice as if she had given this much consideration, which she had. No one knew it but Katy had been up most of the night, wrapped in Justin warm embrace but thinking about making her great escape. The tone of her voice lead to girls to believe that Justin wasn’t a part of her plans. Something about all of this just felt wrong. “I just can’t help but feel that this all seems too good to be true.” Katy continued. She had a feeling that this could all just be a clever trap that the guys cooked up, like Chris had tried to do with Brandi before. She wasn’t about to force the others to leave with her but her car was heading out of there tonight with or without them.
Her plan was simple, there was no plan. Because in her mind when you plan something, there is always something that going wrong, so she just kept it simple, she was leaving. The details she would sort out along the way.
“I’ll go with you.” Mandy sighed, after all Joey had someone else; there was no reason for her to stay, nothing worth risking jail time for any way. Joey was a great new friend but he wasn’t that great. She would just get in the way of him and his family. Mandy didn’t want that. She wanted him to be happy. She could say with confidence that she was in on the plan that Katy was half heartedly laying out for them.
Kim questioned in her mind once again why JC was even with her. The girls had a plan when they started this but somehow got off track, maybe it was time to get back to it for their own safety. If JC really loved her then he would understand her disappearance and know why she had to leave. He himself had just run off for no apparent reason but he came back so she could too. They could get back together later, when everything was safe, and they could do it right this time. Just the way JC had imagined love should be, with a few romantic dinners and walks on the beach, or something like that. Kim wasn’t even sure what real couples did, all her boyfriend in the past hadn’t been very romantic. Her breath caught in her throat. What if JC had already gone to the police and was just stalling for time? What if the FBI were in the woods right now watching them? She had to shake the thoughts from her head as panic started to build inside of her.
“It does feel a little too good to be true, doesn’t it?” Brandi questioned. She kept one eye out for the guys to return, they were all keeping their voices down trying not to be over heard. If the guys found out it wasn’t clear how they would react.
“It’s like a fairy tale that is for sure.” Kim sighed, finally pushing past her feeling of fear and trying to sort out the facts from fiction. JC had come back to her; he made love to her so that had to mean that he loved her, right?
“But why would the guys have stayed? I mean they could have all left last night and we wouldn’t have known.” Mandy pointed out. Two of them had even forced the girls to stay in the same room with them. What were the guys really up to? After all Mandy didn’t want all of the girls to throw away their chance at happiness just because she couldn’t have her man. She was shocked that Katy had even brought it up; she could have Justin if she wanted him.
“Maybe it’s the video. They seem pretty set on finishing it. They were always good at finishing what they started. Maybe they want us to finish it, and then they can sell the song or something.” Katy explained. She didn’t want to say what she had been thinking at that moment but like so many times before her brain and her mouth refused to work together. It was after all their song. The girls had no real rights to it. The song was pretty awesome and as a group they hadn’t released anything in years, it would be a huge seller for them not that they needed the money.
“If they finished what they started they would still be a group.” Mandy snapped. Katy just glared at her, who were they to judge the guys decision to take a break. It had upset all of them when they got the news, but Justin was a great solo artist. You couldn’t hate them for wanting to try new things. Katy could tell you for a fact that was exactly why they were there, to try something new. But it was clear as kidnapper’s the girls sucked, their victims weren’t even afraid of them anymore and they had let one of them escape; this wasn’t defiantly not their calling in life. Criminal master minds they are not.
There was silence as the girls listened for the guys. They knew if they were going to do this, the guys couldn’t know. It had to be just like they originally planned it. They would just leave, without warning. JC had already proven that the guys could find their own way back to civilization. Brandi and Kim hadn’t given an answer on where they stood on the issue, but they had time to think about it.
“If you are serious about going with me, you have to be ready at a moment’s notice. Only take the important stuff with you, you can put it in the car though out the day so nobody notices.” Katy explained looking at Mandy as she spoke. Mandy nodded and tried to quickly asses what she would need to pack. The house was in Katy’s name so it wasn’t like they could return later when it was safe and get the rest of the stuff. Unless of course it did become a crime scene, at which point everything, including the house, would be lost.
“What if we leave and the guys don’t go to the cops?” Brandi asked.
“Then I guess you could track them down again, I mean it’s not like the guys could keep a kidnapping out of the press, unless they don’t go to the police.” Mandy offered, trying to give the others an option.
Brandi thought about it, every logical part of her knew that leaving was the smart thing to do, but her heart was telling her that the love she felt for Chris was real and to stay. Brandi hung her head and pulled at her hair, why was this so tough? If she left would Chris ever forgive her? There were so many stupid questions running through her mind. Why did Chris have to be so freaking cute? Somehow this was all his fault, Brandi justified.
“Leave tonight with the option of coming back later or stay with the possibility of being taken away.” Katy stated. As dumb as that statement sounded, even to her, it pretty much summed it all up. She could tell the other two we fighting with the idea and their safety was important to her but she wouldn’t force them to leave. “You have some time to think about, I still have to film Justin and then finish editing the video. It will be dark before I leave.” She added and then walked away from the bar. “And I think it goes without saying, you can’t tell the guys that I am leaving.”
The others nodded; after all they couldn’t rat on Katy without setting off some alarms that they might be leaving too. Which was another thing that Brandi and Kim had to take into consideration, if they stayed they would have to answer to the guys as to what had happened to the other two, but the beauty of their plan was that they honestly wouldn’t know.
Katy went over and sat down at the computer, Justin should be ready any time now but she thought she might get a little more done on the video while she waited. The other girls peeled off one by one and fanned out. They had a lot to think about today and they couldn’t let it show. There was a smile on Katy’s face as she worked; her special smile. She couldn’t help but laugh as she thought about it. The others really shouldn’t ignore her as much as they do, if they had paid attention they would know what she was really up to.
