Parachute [Book 4]

Chapter 15 - First Impressions

The next afternoon, Melissa and I were hanging out in the flat she lived in with Ryder’s parents and brother. Melissa had absolutely insisted on me going over to hers and hanging out in her room instead of mine, and I was perfectly fine with it.

So there we were, sitting on her purple bed sheets, playing Flappy Bird on her phone. We didn’t really speak much until one of the two of us died, and even then the only words we said were complaints to each other about how hard that stupid game was.

Melissa had gotten to 10 when she died, and she groaned loudly, throwing her phone into my lap. “Once you get 12, you can never get 12 again.” She grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest and gazing at the wall in front of us which had a giant Before You Exit poster on it. I saw a hint of a smile on her lips, and it made me sick to the stomach. (Yes, you guessed it, Jake and I had still not talked).

To try and distract myself, I began to play Flappy Bird again, and I couldn’t stop myself from getting side tracked by the thoughts of Jake. The bird fell to its death straight away.

I was getting really worked up over this whole “I’m missing Jake” situation. I had a good reason to, of course, but sometimes I just really wanted to curl up on the floor and cry because I missed my boyfriend.

I knew I didn’t need a guy in my life to make my life worth living. I just needed to believe in myself and all of that clichéd shit. But I just really loved Jake, and I needed him in my life. He made me smile, and I hadn’t been doing a lot of that lately.

“Ha! You died, bitch!” Melissa screamed, knocking me out of my daze and snatching her phone from my grip. “I’m so much better at this than you are.”

I let out a quiet laugh. “Sure you are.” I nodded, watching the little blue bird jump through the poles. As soon as Melissa was about to beat her record of 12, I reached my hand out and tapped the screen violently for her, causing the bird to crash right into the pole.

“You bitch!” Melissa reached her hand over and gave me a punch in the arm, almost pushing me off the end of her bed. I laughed at her and flung my hand back, trying to slap her back but missing.

I sat myself back up and leaned my head against the wall, staring at that Before You Exit poster on the wall as Melissa started up another game.

If only Jake was a part of a band and I could get a giant poster of him to stick on my wall. Maybe that would make me less lonely. Or maybe it would do the same thing that the photos of my phone were doing – making me feel worse about him being in Chicago.

Melissa died again – I heard the little whistle of the bird falling to ground – and then shelet out this giant, frustrated groan. I looked over at her, raising my eyebrows. “You’re not okay, I don’t think so anyway.”

“No, that game is freaking stupid.” Melissa threw her phone off of the bed, letting it bounce along the floor until it hit one of the toy penguins she had thrown on the floor when we had decided where to sit. “Why would that man even create a game so stupid? It’s stupid.”

I smiled. “Is stupid your new favourite word?”

“Yes.” Melissa nodded, angrily crossing her arms and huffing a loud breath of annoyance.  She continued to mutter words under her breath, cursing about how hard Flappy Bird was. I just continued to watch her with one eyebrow raised, completely question what she was doing.

Mel began to quieten down and she began to glare at her phone on the ground. After a minute or two of an awkward silence, Melissa turned to me and brushed her hands together. “I hate that game so much.”

“I think everyone does, Mel.” I reached my hand over to pat her knee. Melissa smiled at me and put her hand on top of mine.

She quickly changed the subject, snatching her hand away. “Have you talked to Jake since yesterday, Ange?”