Words are Words (Dan Smith - Bastille Fanfiction)

Chapter 4

During the walk back home, I couldn't help but acknowledge the fact that it had certainly got colder this time of the day. The bitter breeze got caught in every nook and cranny in the creases of my clothes, making me shiver a little. I squinted my eyes up towards the sky; it was a pitch, sunless black. It was only five thirty, but seeing as it was winter, the days were shorter than the nights; it goes dark in the blink of an eye this time of year.

Before I knew it, I was unlocking the front door, and I let out a sigh of relief when I was finally inside the warmth of my cosy apartment. It was strange that it was this toasty, as I normally leave the central heating off when I'm not at home, but then I suddenly realised. Jake was here.

I unwrapped the tightness of my scarf from around my neck, hanging it on the coat hook as I stated down the hallway, wondering where my boyfriend was. I attentively tiptoed my way into the living room to catch the sight of him, sprawled out across the leather sofa, remote in hand as he gave the television an intense stare. Maybe he wasn't mad after all, I thought to myself.

"You're back then." He said firmly, not even looking up at me.

I sighed internally. Why was he even here in the first place? We didn't live together. Yes, he did have his own key but I gave it him for emergencies only.

"Yes, hello to you to Jake." I laughed lightly, trying to make light of this situation before I reluctantly made my way over to him.

He switched his point of interest from watching the TV to messing with the remote in his hand, running his thumb over the rubber buttons and twisting the implement around in his large hand. I leant down to give him a quick peck on the lips but all at once, without recognition, he switched the television off and strode out the room before I could say, or do anything else. What was that?

I threw my bag down on the table and followed him out. It was conspicuous that he was annoyed with me after all.

"So where were you today?" I heard from the kitchen.

His words were confusing me, had he not checked his phone all day?

"I left you a message, I was at wor-

"You were at work? When you knew we were meeting up?" His tone of voice rose higher at the end.

I was bewildered to what his problem was. I know going into work this morning was last minute, but he was overreacting. What was seriously more important? It's not as if I left him hanging.

I watched closely as he leant forwards towards the dishwasher, leaning down to grab a clean glass out and beginning to fill it up in the sink.

"I know..I-"

"You what?" He shouted, rapidly turning round, droplets of water falling from his glass. I flinched.

He was trying to make an argurment out of nothing. A simple mistake, in fact not even a mistake. A job, my job, that I had to go to. It's not as if it was plain sailing getting well paid these days. I didn't have time for this tonight. I shook my head, making sure he saw, and began to turn around when I heard a loud shattering behind me, making me jump out of my skin. The sound was a lot louder than I had incorparated it would be. I turned my body back around, seeing pieces of glass scattered all over the counter and the floor right before my eyes.

"What are you doing? Are you out of your mind?"

Before I knew it, my legs were taking me over towards Jake. I was walking faster than I thought was humanly possible for myself, yet the rationale behind this situation was driving me on. My body dived straight past him, as I swung open the doors of a kitchen cupboard behind, gripping the dustpan and brush out all the while avoiding any eye contact between the both of us. I heard him let out a long exhale of breath as I shamefully bent down, beginning to sweep up the sharp glass pieces.

"I shouldn't have to be doing this." I sighed as I stood up to put the fragments in the dustbin. As I walked past, I looked at him briefly and rolled my eyes at him in disgust before he turned his head away.

I embarked on carefully scraping the glass in the bin when I suddenly felt a sweaty hand appear over mine. At first, I thought Jake was going to apologize, but I was wrong. Instead the dustpan was snatched out my grip and thrown on to the floor, along with the remaining pieces of glass.

"Jake? What are you doin-"

"We need to talk?"

"What?"

"That's what you said to me! The message you left me said, 'we need to talk'." He air-quoted the last part.

I could see it in his raging eyes that he was infuriated with me, but honestly I didn't know what the big deal was. I thought the fact was that he didn't know where I was today, although he listened to my message? I just didn't understand his ways.

"Do you have a point? Where is this going?" I yelled. I needed to know what his problem was.

"My point is that you're always at work! I hardly ever get to see you!"

What? I took a step back, metaphorically. He acts like he totally and utterly despises me one minute, and then wants to spend time with me the next? I know myself that I go to work a lot of the time but I have to.

"Why do you think I work so much Jake? Huh? I need the money, I have to pay for this freaking apartment if you didn't already know! And as for seeing me, you don't exactly make the effort so why should I?"

I took a pause for breath, inhaling desperately as I stared at him straight in the eyes. The words tumbled out of my mouth before I could stop them, but it was the truth, and yet again, I was the one who had to arrange our plans today, not him.

"What are you saying?" Jake questioned, stepping closer.

"I...I just don't know anymore Jake." I replied timidly, bowing my head. He made me feel so insignificant, like a small little ant. I didn't want to cry in front of him, but I could feel the tears forming at the corners of my eyes.

Fortunately, out of nowhere the phone began to faintly ring from the living room, cutting the unbearable silence held in the kitchen. We both looked up at each other before Jake broke the tension between us.

"I'll get it." He said quietly, with no hesitation as he walked out of the room.

***

It had been a good few minutes waiting to hear who Jake was talking to on the other side of the line, until I gave up and began to clean up the wide array of glass fragments on the floor once again, before hearing a few mumbling noises, and the front door get slammed shut. Jake had obviously left, but where had he gone?

***

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