The helicopter ride was nerve-wracking. Veronica wasn't sure if it's because they were a thousand feet above ground or because Cedric's special agent friend, Daniel, and his team already found something that could lead them to her parents. Either of the two is the reason why her stomach has been somersaulting since the start of the drive.
It was a good thing that she didn't eat anything. She knew that she won't be able to keep anything down if she ate so she settled to just drinking water from the meal Cedric prepared.
"Thanks for letting me tag along," Lucas spoke on the headset albeit quite loudly so he'd be audible even with the noise coming from the whirring blades and loud engine of the flying vehicle. He's been so friendly and warm since they met at Cedric's office that Veronica is feeling guilty that she hasn't been properly talking nor replying to anything he says so she settled on smiling at him first.
"I-"
"You don't have to answer him." Cedric joined in the conversation before Veronica was even able to respond.
She hasn't known these two for very long but it seems like whenever they're in the same room, Lucas and Cedric would just start bickering like children so before they even go for another round of throwing shade at each other, Veronica decided to mediate their exchange to a topic where they both won't have any room to argue.
"It's fine." She first told Cedric, patting his hand reassuringly before moving her attention to Lucas, "No problem, Mr. Hill. I'm glad you could come along to help."
Lucas smiled at her response before teasingly grinning at Cedric who just chose to ignore him once again. "And drop the Mr. Hill, you can just call me Lucas like everyone else," he informed her in a carefree tone.
Veronica nodded her head, "I'll keep that in mind, Lucas."
"Great!" He chuckled on the headset microphone. They both looked at each other with smiles on their faces while thinking of what to say next.
"I can call you Veronica, right?" he asked still all smiles.
"Yeah. I don't mind."
"Cool."
"How about nicknames? You can call me Luc instead of Lucas if it's too long for you."
"I'll try," she replied unsure if she should already treat him familiarly as he says.
"Awesome. What should I call you then?"
"That's enough, Lucas." Cedric began telling him off but Veronica chimed in trying to stop a fight from ensuing.
"It's okay. The talking is helping me calm my nerves." She explained before turning back to Lucas again, "-my parents and best friend would call me Roni."
"Roni, huh?" he said the name as if testing if it would roll off his tongue well. "I like it! I'll call you that from now on."
"Lucas," Cedric warned again sounding quite serious this time as he watches him from his side since he sat in between the two; Lucas on his left and Veronica on his right.
This time Veronica didn't want to intervene. Cedric looked too intimidating right now to be interrupted. She didn't have enough guts to do that so she kept silent and just watched them but Lucas ignored him and tilted his head to look past Cedric to see Veronica.
"Let's talk more, Roni." he began paying no heed to the man on his side. "-don't mind this guy. He's just jelly that we're on a nickname basis already and he's still Mr. Ford to you." He laughed.
Veronica realized that moment that she never called Cedric by his name all those times that they talked with each other. She only ever referred to him as Cedric in her head but she never really called him by his name out loud. In fact, she never called him anything at all. Not even Mr. Ford. Or did she?
Feeling their gazes bore a hole into her head as they wait for her to talk, Veronica gave the two a short smile. "Of course. We'll talk later, Luc, okay?"
Lucas gave Cedric a sideways glance before sighing. "Very well," he said before comfortably laying back on his seat finally.
Veronica too went back on looking out the windows as she tries to shake off the feeling of a certain someone still staring at her.
***
The drizzle began to turn into a heavy shower as the helicopter lands on the side of the mountain with an even surface. Lucas got out first readily holding out an umbrella for the two as they follow suit.
Daniel Creed was walking towards them as Cedric helps Veronica down the vehicle.
"We'll go up on road from here. It's not too far, don't worry. The helicopter won't be able to land up there since the roads are very steep." He began before leading them to a jeep gladiator parked a few feet away from where the chopper landed.
They were all settled in after a minute and then the vehicle started moving towards the familiar mountain roads. Veronica was only able to drive up here with her parents once when she was a kid. She clearly remembers the roads as if it was just yesterday but the downpour was giving her a hard time identifying which is which so she can't blame the rescue team sent for her parents if they were progressing slowly with the search.
"The changing weather has been giving us a hard time to do a full-on search," Daniel explained from the passenger seat. "We can't use our equipment either. The dampened soil's preventing my men from going down the sides to inspect." he then turned to look at Veronica in the back seat. "This is a dangerous mission for my team but we'll do our best."
"Thank you, Mr. Creed," Veronica responded trying to hide the worry in her tone.
They reached the location where Daniel's men, the rescue team, medics, and local authorities are on standby. However, there seemed to be a commotion as they were all running around. Daniel Creed hurriedly went out of the truck as soon as it stops moving to see what was happening.
Lucas, Cedric, and Veronica all got out as well and they were faced with a medium-sized landslide that covered the whole road that leads up the mountain.
_to be continued_