Forever Yours (More Than A Feeling|Sequel)

Twenty-Six: What Lurks In The Shadows

The next day, I was hanging out with Grace at her place while the guys were in the studio. Jimmy suggested that I go over to hang out with her, and at first I thought it was because of my encounter with Henry yesterday and he just didn't want to leave me by myself. But then he showed me the texts that Grace has been sending him constantly about how he's hogging me all the time, and even though he and I are getting married we're still best friends and he has to share me, and then the threats about what happens if he doesn't share me. All of it made me laugh, hearing Grace's voice in my head as I scrolled down through them all. Jimmy was amused by them himself, but he just wanted me to go hang out with her already so she'd stop bugging him. 

Grace was, obviously, very happy to see me when I showed up. She nearly cut off my air supply when she gave me a hug moments after stepping through the door. From there, we played Xbox and harassed people online for the majority of my time spent here. Now, we were in the kitchen, trying to catch cashews in our mouths and talking in between. 

"You know what we should do?" Grace started.

"What?" I asked just before she threw a cashew at me. I leaned forward and caught it.

"We should go to Walmart and just insult random people, in honor of Aubree." She grinned proudly at her idea, and I laughed.

"You're still hating on her? Even though she's long gone now?" 

"Yeah. I can't help it. I just despise the fact that she was ever here to begin with. ...'But nice tan, orange is my favorite color'." She quoted me, shaking her head and laughing. "Honestly, how do you come up with this stuff?"

"Please, I grew up with Matt as an older brother and Jimmy as my best friend. You put certain things you learn from the two of them together, use them sarcastically, and you get amazing insults." I smirked.

"I see your point." She said.

"I just think it's funny that you're still saying shit about Aubree. And, I'd love to go do that with you sometime, but it's going to have to be a while from now." I said, and then muttered, "Walmart's become kind of a hazard zone to me now." 

Grace looked confused. "Why?"

"Jimmy and I were there yesterday, and I ran into Henry. Something was very off about him. Something that still makes me uncomfortable to think about it. I have a feeling he's not any less crazier than a year ago, and I'm worried for his wife, Katelyn. He said she had the flu... but... I don't know how much of that I can believe now." I explained, the sick feeling inside of me coming back.

She frowned. "I wouldn't believe it. Katelyn might not even be 'real', so to speak. She could be part of some master plan of his to get back at you." 

"But he was always angry with Jimmy, not me. Why wouldn't he want to get back at Jimmy anymore?" 

"Maybe he was angry with Jimmy, but maybe now he's decided that's not enough. He was angry with you for using him when you were jealous of Jimmy's girlfriend, yes?" She asked, and I nodded. "So then maybe he's realized you're the one who really needs to get back at." 

The sickening feeling worsened. "Ok, don't say stuff like that. I'm still praying it was a coincidence that he was there yesterday... but he was just so closely behind me..." I shook my head rapidly, like I was trying to get a bug out of my hair. "No, he was probably just walking too fast and ended up that close. I did stop suddenly." 

Grace looked at me sadly as she listened to my rambling. "Sorry, I'm not trying to scare you. But it just seems more likely. Besides, if he were to hurt you or something, he'd still be getting back at Jimmy because he'd still be hurting Jimmy, just differently than he's hurting you."