Inferno Part 3

~44~ You Made Your Bed

Ellie's POV

"You don't even want to read it?" Justin asks me in horror.

"I wouldn't have needed to read a damn letter if you and dad would have told us," I snap.

"You could still read it, Ellie. I was with him while he wrote the letters, and he cried the entire time."

I shake my head. "I don't want to be here anymore tonight. Can we go?"

"We have so much to do, Ellie. We have to have his stuff out of here in three days."

"Justin, it's 7pm and I just found out my dad died this morning, without knowing he was even sick. I want to go to bed."

Jake nods as he stands up and helps me up. "Let's go then," he says as he kisses me.

Justin sighs as he follows us out.

When we get to Justin's place, I say nothing as I walk to the bedroom that Nolan stayed in. I silently shut the door, climb in bed, and cry myself to sleep.

I wake up to someone opening the door and walking in. I open my eyes and see Jake sitting on the edge of my bed. "Sorry, didn't mean to wake you. Just wanted to make sure you were actually sleeping and not just crying."

"I did some crying," I sniff as I sit up.

He nods and lets out a breath. "I'm going to bed now. Do you need anything?"

"Taylor"

He smiles sadly and nods. "I talked to him earlier. They will be here in two days."

"K" I say as I lay back down. Jake kisses my head, pulls the covers over me, and leaves silently. I fall back to sleep, wishing my dad was still here.

The next morning I wake up and take a shower. Then I get ready and go into Justin's huge kitchen.

"Morning," Justin says as he hands me a cup of coffee.

I shake my head and go to his fridge, getting out a Pepsi. I can't believe that he has soda...He must have stocked the fridge for us.

"It's 7 am and you want a soda?" Justin asks.

Jake comes in, putting his shirt on as he goes. "If you knew her even a little, you would know that coffee makes her anxious and shaky. She only drinks soda for her caffeine fix," Jake says as he takes the mug of coffee and drinks it himself.

"I really know nothing about you guys anymore."

"Whose fault is that?" Jake snaps.

"What's first?" I ask, trying to diffuse Jake. He's a grump, at best, in the mornings, but the way he is right now, he's going to turn into "Old Jake" soon.

"We have to get dad's stuff out. We have to spend all day doing that."

I just nod as I take a drink of my soda.

"I bought toaster strudels. I remember you guys loving those."

"What are we, 10?" Jake spits.

Justin's face falls

"I still like them, thanks," I say as I get in the freezer and make us some. Jake still likes them too, he's just being an ass.

Once they're made, I hand Jake a couple. "Eat this, ya grouch."

Jake rolls his eyes, but eats them silently.

We get to dad's an hour later, and start sorting through his stuff. The boys both divided up dad's Rolex watches; I didn't want one.