I woke up early the next morning, well early for me anyway. I never got up at 8am, not unless I had school. I noticed the sunlight shining through the window and across the floor. It reminded me of the texts last night. I glanced back at Lexi, she was still sound asleep. I hated to leave without saying bye, but I needed to go and if I woke her we'd spend at least an hour hugging and crying. Besides this wasn't goodbye for good, just for now. At least that's what I told myself to feel better, but I honestly had no idea if I'd ever come back here, if I'd ever see her again.
I pulled myself to my feet, grabbed my bag, phone, and charger, before heading down stairs. I stopped in the kitchen first I opened the freezer and pulled out a hot pocket, I popped it into the microwave. Then while I waited on it to cook I rummaged through her pantry looking for anything I could take with me. I lucked up on some ravioli and ramen noodles which I tucked into my bag.
     I grabbed my hot pocket and headed towards the door, my hand was on the handle when I heard her call my name from the direction of the stairs. I started to rush through the door but I couldn't do it, I had to say goodbye.
I stood there and waited the maybe, twenty seconds it took her to reach me. She slung her arms around me and pulled me tightly against her chest. I hugged her back, pretending not to notice the tear drop that slipped down her cheek.

     "I love you, Lily, if you get the chance you better call me," she mumbled into my hair before pulling away.
     "I love you too, I'll text you until I ditch my phone. After that I'll call you from a pay phone every time I get the chance," I turned towards the door to leave.
     "Wait!" I turned back to look at her, she held a decent sized wad of cash towards me.
     "What do you want me to do with that? I can't pay you back. No. I'm not taking it," I shook my head backing away.
     "Lily stop being stubborn, you're taking it, one way or another," she stated sternly with a convincing glint in her eye.
     "Fine," I said begrudgingly grabbing the money, "but you're probably just setting me up to get robbed."
     "No, you'll be fine. Now get out of here before I change my mind and stuff you in my closet," she giggled, but her eyes were sad.

     I turned away and practicly ran out the door before we both turned into a weeping mess piled on the floor. I walked towards the gas station where I'd left the truck, I wasn't gonna drive it though, I didn't wanna take the chance it'd already been reported stolen. So my plan was to call a cab for a ride to the bus station.
     I looked up as I started to walk across the road, I gasped and quickly turned away, noticing a little patch of trees, I dodged into them. There were two cop cars at the service station. Apparently, it hadn't taken them as long as I thought it would to locate the truck.  
     I was sixteen, only two months from seventeen, the legal age to move out. So as of now I was technically a run away, if they found me they'd drag me right back to my stepdad. Who knew what hell would be in store for me then?
     I reached into my pocket and grabbed my phone, I held down the power button until the screen lit up. I waited on it to turn on, it instantly started vibrating like crazy. I pulled up Lexi's number and pressed call, I glanced through the trees at the service station through as it started to ring.

     "Miss me that much already," Lexi answered with a chuckle.
     "Actually I haven't really left yet. You know what you said about hiding me, it might be necessary," I started relayeing all my concerns to her practically in a panic, then I froze.
     "Lily...Lily...Lily are you still there?" Finally her hollering through the phone broke me out of my daze.
     "Huh, oh um yeah, my mom and stepdad pulled up," I responded, I was slowly grabbing away from the gas station in fear. I shouldn't have been so afraid, it wasn't like he knew I was standing here, but he was so close.
     "I said I'm going to borrow Stacey's car and take you to the bus station." That revelation pulled my focus back to Lexi and escaping.
     "That'd be awesome, I'll head back to your house," I answered starting in that direction.

     Stacey was a friend of Lexi's that lived four houses down. She was a little older than us, but she occasionally allowed Lexi to borrow her car.
Lexi stopped at her driveway and I hopped into the back seat. She shot me a confused look but put the car in gear and headed down the road.

     "I don't want them to see anyone in the car with you," I explained. "And if there at your house when you get back you need to have a story to tell them, like you were at the grocery store or something. And you should probably act confused and upset."
     "Okay, got it. This sucks, but at least you'll finally be away from him," she said looking sad and distracted.

     We rode in silence the rest of the way. When we got there she parked and walked with me to the ticket window. I hadn't really thought about where I'd go until now, I decided it would need to be a city, some where I could easily blend in. After giving it some thought, I finally chose Atlanta because I'd been to a museum there once on a field trip.
     I had to wait thirty minutes for the next bus, Lexi decided up wait with me. We didn't really know what to say to each other, there wasn't much we could say that wouldn't leave us both extremely emotional. But it was nice to just enjoy each other's company. I was sitting there with my head resting on her shoulder when the call was made to board my bus. We hugged then started towards the bus, with one last sorrow filled glance I walked up the steps.