Inferno Part 2

~36~ Beyond

Ellie's POV

"Ellie, I'm sure he passed" Lance says, putting his hand on my shoulder, trying to calm me down.

I was in my office when Lance came in. He knows all about the test today. He was coming in to check on me.

"Passing isn't the issue. He has to get an A" I say, on the verge of crying. It's fourth hour right now. Actually, it's just about over. I'm sure Luke knows what he got by now. I'm so nervous I feel like I'm going to throw up. Taylor has already texted me several times asking if I have heard anything.

I haven't.

We're chatting about stupid things. Lance is trying to get my mind off of it. Suddenly, Luke comes bursting in the office.

As soon as I see him, I know. He didn't get an A.

His face is a mixture of things, but as soon as he sees me, he starts sobbing.

"Oh buddy" I say as he folds into me, sobbing deep, heart-wrenching sobs.

Lance gives me a heartbroken look and quickly leaves, shutting the door.

He cries into my shoulder for a good five minutes. The fact that he's crying at school right now is beyond words. He's beyond words. I've never seen my kid like this before.

I say soothing words into his ear until he finally calms his breathing. He still hasn't let me go. He's still hiccuping and trying hard to breathe; My shirt is completely soaked.

He just holds me for several more minutes. I just silently wait for him to speak. I know he didn't get an A. I can get the specifics later.

"Will you go home with me?" He finally asks.

"Yeah. Let's go" I say, kissing his cheek and rubbing his back as I grab my purse. We go out, I lock the door, and we go to Lance's office.

I peek my head in and Lance sees me immediately. "Luke and I are taking the rest of the day off" I say with a sad smile.

"Of course" Lance nods, returning my sorrow.

Luke silently follows me to my car. He's too upset he doesn't even want to drive his car home. My poor baby.

We get in and I get on the highway. "Are you hungry? Want to stop somewhere?"

He sniffs and shakes his head, staring out the window.

I turn off the radio and let the silence overtake the car. Luke doesn't like noise when he's upset. I learned that really quickly when he was a baby. Emma did, however, so that made things rather challenging.

The silence is deafening for me, hearing his sniffs the whole way home, but I know he needed it. When we get home, Luke gets out of the car and starts to cry again.

I wrap him up in a hug, and he leans himself onto my car, sobbing into my hair.

I hear the screen door open, and then shut; I know Taylor is coming. Sure enough, a few seconds later, Taylor has engulfed us in his strong arms, and is holding both of us tightly. Taylor knows too. His body language is telling me that he's devastated.

Luke looks up at Taylor after a minute, and a whole fresh wave of tears start again. He folds into his dad, letting his dad hold him, swaying him back and forth.

Taylor says soothing words into Luke's ear the way I did, waiting for his sobs to stop. After what feels like a lifetime, Luke's sobs turn to hiccups.

"I tried so hard" he gets out, crying and shaking his head.

"Yes you did" Taylor says simply.

"I'm sorry I let you down" he cries, looking at the ground and starting to sob again.