What If?

Chapter 21

My phone rings and I tried looking for it under a pile of pillows while still lying on the window pane, wrapped around my blanket. I had a difficult time lifting my eyelids open as wide as they can, so I snuck a glance on the screen to read the time and the name of the caller. It's 4 in the morning, and the light from my phone is too bright to look at and it's also too damn early for a call. I picked up the phone I answered the call despite my need for sleep.

"H-he-hello?" I stuttered.

"Sorry to wake you up this early Stella."

"H-hi J-Joshy. It's like... uhh, 4 in the morning." I yawned heavily.

"I'm so sorry again. You see, I had to make sure that Chase is sleeping so that I could call you." Josh said, sounding worried.

"So you're saying that you just got home?" I asked him what he just clearly said. I'm still damn sleepy that my brain is having a hard time registering immediately what he just said.

"About 5 minutes ago to be exact. You see, we got out 30 minutes after I called. That party was a disaster! I swear, Jessica was there and she and Rachel made a scene." My eyes flung open. Jessica was there too? But... why? Duh, are you forgetting that she and Rachel are both cheerleaders? Said the voice in my head. Now my brain is actively responding right now.

"What the hell happened?" I gasped and immediately sat up.

"Well... it all started after your call. I ran after Chase after he left the pool area. When I got back into the house, I immediately found him sitting on the couch despite the number of people in the living room. I saw Jessica approaching him so I immediately called out to him but he didn't hear me. I had a hard time passing through the sea of people and just as when I got there, Jessica was..."

"Was what?" I said as horror filled my system. I could feel myself shaking.

"Stella, I don't know..."

"It's okay Josh." I said calmly and Josh inhaled a deep breath.

"Well... Jessica was trying to get him to talk to her, maybe to have closure or something but that's not how I see it. They talked for a few minutes. I was already near them and I could see that they're talking seriously so I just let them be. But then after a few minutes, Rachel appeared in the scene."

"Talk about bitch wars." I interrupted. "Okay, so what happened next?"

"Haha! You can say that. Anyway, Rachel grabbed Chase's arm and pulled him away from Jessica, smirking. Then she said 'Chase, baby, I've been waiting for you since you left to get me a bottle of beer. What took you so long and where have you been?', then Chase was like 'Huh?'." Josh said, mimicking Rachel's voice.

"You're so gay right now, you know that?" I teased Josh and laughed as I tried to imagine the scene.

"Well, let's be more realistic shall we? It's fun that way. So, Rachel asked Jessica what she was doing to her boyfriend. She made a disgusted face at her so before anything else ever happened, I dragged Chase away from the two of them until we're out of the house and into his car. That's when Chase pushed me away and yelled at me like he was insane."

"Damn. It's like you guys are in a movie or something. Anyway, what did he say to you?"

"He shouted, 'I thought we're bros, man!', and I asked him what the fuck is wrong with him. Then he muttered something under his breath, covered his face and exhaled deeply then shouted at me one more time... 'You're being too close with Stella and I'm not liking it!' It took me by surprise that he did that to me because he never had, not ever, not even once... I asked him why and he just got even more frustrated with himself and with the situation that he ran to a nearby tree punched it several times and got his hand covered in bruises and blood. I had to stop him from hurting himself so I did what I think was best... I punched him hard in the gut so that he'd just pass out."