Behind the Clouds

Chapter 22 11/8/14

Jer and I were going through the same routine we had on Monday for the rest of the week. The last few days of school ended up the same and somehow I kept it together. I played along with his standoffish attitude and held the mask in place to prevent anyone from asking questions. But now it was Saturday. The day that I would finally ask why he was acting this way. I thought yesterday would be the day he would forget whatever was bothering him, but I was wrong. Now was the time I would confront him about it.

I woke up around eleven in the morning to the sound of rain hitting my window in large droplets falling from the dark clouds covering Santa Monica. I’ve always hated the rain because of its depressing effect on me, but the smell was nice. That’s the only thing I ever liked about it. Otherwise, it was a signal for a bad day.

The nightmare still haunted my dreams every night since he started acting this way, too. I wasn’t waking up in the middle of the night, though. Just waking up in the morning with a racing heart and the expression of annoyance on my face because of it reoccurrence. That was probably a sign that I had gotten so used to bad things happening to me. However, this time I got a phone call right after I woke up.

“Hello?”

“Today’s the day, Elle. You ready?” Eric asked.

“Yeah. I can do it. I’m gonna try to call or text him, and see if he’ll want to go someplace with me. If not I’ll just go to his place.”

“Ok. That works. Just stay confident. Try not to blow up right away and just remember to show him that you’re there for him. That’s the most important thing he needs to know ok?”

“Yeah.” I took a deep breath to calm my nerves. “Thanks, Eric.”

“Anytime, girl. Just call me afterwards ok?”

“Alright. I’ll let you know how it goes.” We hung up, and I just sat up on my bed hoping that everything turns out fine. If it didn’t I wouldn’t know what I would do. I looked down at my phone and touched his contact.

Me: U wanna go somewhere today? Escape for a little while?

            I sent the text and plopped back down on my pillow.

            Please text back. Please text back. Plleeease text back.

            I laid in bed for another ten minutes.

Maybe I can just walk away for a bit.

If I walked away for a little while, he’d text me when I came back. I went downstairs and prepared my breakfast. Yogurt, granola, honey, and my recording of The Vampire Diaries. It felt good just to relax downstairs to forget a little while...but then Stefan showed up and all I could think of was Jericho. Tall, dark, and brooding. Why Hazel? Why? The episode was too good to stop watching, however, so I still sat through it. When I finally finished the episode, it was already past eleven. I made that my cue to check if he replied or not. After the twelve agonizing steps going upstairs, I finally made it to my phone.

            Nothing.

            “Ughhh!” I grunted in annoyance. I’m pretty sure this is how the girl’s felt when their boyfriends never text back. I clicked his contact again and decided to just call him.

            One ring...two rings...three...four...

            “You’ve reached Jericho Claybrooks. Sorry, I can’t reach the phone now. If I get the chance I’ll call you back. Leave a message,” said the voicemail machine. I hung up before the beep.