Chapter 45 | The Guy Who Searched
• • •
Stiles's POV
I wake up with the sound of Adeline whispering my name, while poking my shoulders and my cheeks like a liking child.

"Stiles. Are you dead. Stiles, I gotta tell you something. Stiles."

"Stiles isn't here right now, please leave a message." I say half conscience, while twisting to the other direction to avoid any contact with Adeline.

"Okay, but Stiles—"

"What?" I mumble as I lift my blanket over my face.

"I can't leave a message unless I hear the beep."

When I hear that, I automatically lift myself up and stare deeply at Adeline. She is sitting on my bed, smiling, then makes a remark about my bed head.

"Okay, Adeline. What's going on." I rub my eyes in the process.

"I'm leaving." Adeline stares right into my eyes. I stop everything and blankly stare at her in shock. "Stiles, did you hear me?"

After a while, my head finally wraps around her words, and I have a mental freak out. "Wait, why are you leaving? Like leaving here. Leaving this place? The mental institution. Are you okay? Are—"

"Stiles! Calm down. Yes, I'm leaving this place. I'm finally 18—"

"Wait, it's your birthday?!"

"Yeah, but that's besides the point. I'm 18, which means I can sign myself out. And I was wondering if you could come with me."

"Adeline, that's insane!" I whisper, but in a way where it seems like I'm screaming.

"I mean we are in a mental institution. Being insane is kind of accepted here." Adeline teasing me with the statement I just said.

"You really enjoy being sarcastic, don't you." I squint my eyes and tilt my head.

"Just answer the question. Do you want me leave or not?" Adeline shifts expressions and is stern again.

"I don't know."

Adeline has a moment of silence, and for a while, my room is surrounded by awkwardness. Finally, a sentence manages to come out.

"If you're not leaving, then I'm not leaving." Adeline crosses her arms and pouts.

"Wait, why?" I sit up, finally considering whether I'm ready to leave.

"Well, if I go back to the outside world, I wouldn't know anyone. I'll be alone. I wouldn't know what to do. I'll—"

"Adeline. I don't know if I'm ready. I haven't had a panic attack in a while, and I like it that way. And I can finally catch up on my sleep."

"Okay." Adeline, gets off my bed and leaves. "Okay, it's fine."

"Hey, come on Adeline. Don't be mad." I try to call her back, but she wouldn't look back at me. Suddenly, guilt washes over me, and I finally agree. She cheers and before I knew it, we were both signing out and finally left the institution.

Fear begins to creep my spine, and I begin to panic. "Adeline, where are we going? Where are we going to live?"

"Don't worry, I have an apartment near the college I'm attending. You can live with me."

"Me and you? In one apartment? Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I mean I have two rooms in the apartment. I thought about getting a roommate, but I guess I have you now." I glance at Adeline and I could see the confidence and joy in her eyes. She seemed really happy, and I was part of that reason.

     We take a long drive to her apartment, located near LA, and we bring our luggage out the car and enter the building. Unfortunately, the elevators were out of order— just my luck— and we had to go up three flights of steep and exhausting stairs. Adeline seems to be at ease when climbing up the stairs, and that reminds me of how out of shape I am. I really need to go to the gym. Finally, we reach our room, Room 1304. Inside is a small living room, a tv in the center with a long couch in front of it. To the left was a kitchen with an island counter to separate the kitchen from the living room. To the right, were three doors. I'm assuming that the door in the middle is the bathroom, and the two other doors on each side are our bedrooms.

     "Alright, this is where we live now." Adeline admires her apartment for a bit, then turns to look at me, "Thank you. Really, thank you." She says with a sincere smile.

     "What are friends for." I wink, then place my bags on the couch.

     "Hey, you're going to Friman Mount University in California, right?"

"Oh, yeah!" The thought of college completely passed over my head, and now I'm stressed. I forgot I had to go to college. "I have to rent a dorm there!" As I begin to dial the admission office, I remembered that I only had a certain amount of days to claim my dorm before it gets transferred to someone else.

"Stiles. Don't worry. Your college is like 3 miles or more away from here."

Confusion enters my brain as I try to connect the dots with what she said. "What?"

"We go to the same college! That's pretty ironic, in my perspective."

"And it's 3 miles away! Ahh, this relives my stress a little bit! Adeline, I could kiss you right now!"

"Eww, don't. If we kiss, you would never get enough of me." She teases and winks. "Alright, we're going somewhere."

"Where?"

"It's a club near here called Area 101. I'm in a party mode, and the place isn't that far from here." Adeline lifts up her hair and ties it into a messy bun.

"How about we eat first? Is there a restaurant here?"

"Oh! There's an Italian restaurant right across the club! It's called "Piccolo's".

• • •

After going down the three flights of stairs, walking in and out of the car, and rushing to get to Piccolo's before the place has no more tables left to occupy, the food better be worth the exercise. I don't think I did this much running since my last lacrosse practice.

When 15 minutes had pass, we were finally able to obtain a table which was located outside, with a short black gate surrounding the area and a big tent to cover us. Currently, it is 7:32pm, and since our table allowed us to see the outside world, we admire the neon lights illuminating from the club.

Adeline orders fettuccine chicken alfaro, and I order a medium-well steak with mashed potatoes on the side. We decided to order a champagne that's been said it's a gift from the heavens. They weren't lying, it did taste as if an angel were to make a sweet love potion. The scenery was just beautiful. And it really made me realize how lucky I am to have ever met Adeline.

As the night prolongs, Adeline and I began to make jokes, such as pretending to order spaghetti and saying how we could've reenacted the Lady and the Tramp scene. Soon, we started to talk about what we wanted to do with our lives. She wanted to be a film director or a top secret agent spy, and how I wanted to work for the FBI.

But as we were talking, then eating, and talking some more, I hear Lydia's voice from a distance. I could vaguely hear her laugh, even when I was surrounded by people in the restaurant, mixed with the other crowd waiting to go inside the club, I could still hear Lydia. My place my fork and knife down, and I scan the room for any signals of Lydia's presence. Then, I turn my head to look outside, searching each face being consumed by the crowd of people waiting outside. My eyes is moving rapid, just trying to find any signs of the strawberry blonde haired girl.

"Stiles, are you okay?" I turn automatically at the sound of Adeline's voice.

"I think Lydia is here."