A Stormy Night

Chapter 34: Hitting Walls

A/N: For chloeyamille and 24JLO59! Happy birthday to me hehe :>

-

"Fuck off, Herring. Deal with Jermaine on your own."

J.D. was quick to pull away from my grasp. Lines creased across his forehead as he fixed me with one last death glare, and with that, he walked off without another word.

"What the fuck? You wanted him!" I screamed, but I was almost sure he was out of earshot by then. I took a deep breath to try to calm myself, then hesitantly, I stole a glance of Jermaine.

What now?

I sighed again. It's not like I can call anyone. Well, anyone else. No one can save me from this mess I made myself. I have to be my own prince (princess?) in shining armor.

—

Begrudgingly, I lifted my hand to knock on the door before me. There, my hand hovered for a few minutes because I really didn't want to go back in and face them all. Oh, the explanations I owe...

Finally, my fist lightly tapped on the wooden surface, emitting the softest sound, as my wet hair dripped onto the hardwood floor. Alysa opened the door.

"Back so soon?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. Her face clearly read of irritation.

The need for a reply became irrelevant when she saw that I was lugging a body with me.

Her eyes grew huge, and her jaw dropped all the way to earth's core.

"Don't say anything," I quickly said, dragging an unconscious Jermaine and myself into Josh's apartment.

Kait and Josh were seated on the living room couch, playing cards in hand. They were laughing with each other, wide grins plastered across their faces, but the happy sounds stopped short when their attention turned to me, and suddenly, they wore the same expression Alysa wore.

Josh pointed a shaky finger at Jermaine. "Is that what you went out to do?" he asked, voice laced with extreme worry.

Kait shook her head. "When we couldn't find you, we just figured you went out to get food or something."

"Oh, calm down. He's not dead, guys," I responded nonchalantly, though inside, I was still as freaked out. "I just knocked him out, is all. He'll be back."

"That doesn't help!" Alysa snapped as she slammed the door behind her. She stormed over to the couch and took a seat next to Kait. Crossing her arms over her chest, she snarled. "What, do you want us to dispose his body? That's not what friends do, you know. There are certain lines we don't cross."

"Dispose me? Ew, what the fuck. I'm not dead," Jermaine suddenly spoke up, his head lifting from the ground.

Startled, we all stared at him as he slowly sat up on the floor. The four of us decided to remain silent; the atmosphere changed from weird to weirder with Jermaine now conscious, and it felt as if there was a stranger in our midst, as if we couldn't talk anymore because he shouldn't be here.

Jermaine rubbed the back of his head tiredly and groaned. "What the fuck happened—" His eyes abruptly widened as he pointed at me. "Phoebe! You... You drugged me!"

I shrugged as if I was okay with it all. "I didn't have any other choice."

"You were going to hand me over to the enemy!" he argued, his eyebrows knitted together in frustration.

"Well, if it helps, you were my enemy!" I retorted. "I was just... getting my revenge?" The confidence in my voice faded as my last statement came off as a question.

"Wait a moment. Phoebe, you have to fill us in," Josh interjected, hands on his hips like a mother would when scolding a child. "What went down when you were out?"

"I... met up with Jermaine, drugged him, and was about to give him to J.D.," I replied, making it as brief as possible. It came out rushed, and good thing, too, because it gives them less time to analyze how wrong it is.

"Was about to?" repeated Alysa as she titled her head to the side.

Even though I didn't want them to react or pry, it still surprised me how no one questioned the drugging part. We all must be so messed up if we think that's the norm now.

Nervously, I trapped my bottom lip between my teeth. "J.D. didn't really... accepted... him," I averted my gaze from them, feeling the shame seep through me, "because apparently we didn't work together to get him..."

Josh ruffled his hair exasperatingly. "Boy, that J.D...." he grumbled. "I'm gonna kill him."

"Woah, so you actually saw J.D.?" gasped Kait, her eyes going comically big. "What did... he? What did he look like?"

As I recalled our meet, I answered, "Well, his face was covered up, so I couldn't really see who it was... but he was in this... blue coat... and fedora! I thought it was strange because seriously, it stood out like a sore thumb."

"What unique fashion sense," Alysa remarked, seeming to be deep in thought.

"Um, hello." Jermaine stood up from the ground and rolled his eyes. "What about me? Is this... J.D. guy... still after me?"

"I don't know," I muttered, and it was the truth.

"So what... We wait until further notice?" Kait inquired, a small frown pulling at the corner of her lips, as she slumped down on the couch.

Alysa ran her hand through her black locks and sighed. "This is insane."

"No kidding," I responded, at a loss for words.

Kait rolled her eyes. "Guys, we've literally hit a wall." She sighed, "Again."

"Why do I feel like we keep hitting dead ends?" reacted Josh.

Alysa cleared her throat, earning her the attention of the room. "Look, maybe... maybe we should just take a break. It's late; let's get some sleep."

"The sun's going to be up soon. Why bother with sleep?" Jermaine whined.

All of a sudden, the door opened and shut, and we all stared at a soaking wet Francis standing at the foyer. He didn't make eye contact with me—and frankly, anybody else (not even one look at Jermaine, even)—nor did he say a thing.

The entire room went silent until he muttered under his breath, "I'm going to bed." Immediately after he said that, he walked into the guest room and slammed the door shut behind him.

Silence fell immediately afterwards, no one daring to say anything after Francis' scene. We didn't talk anymore for the rest of the night—rather, early morning. We all just sat there, quiet but aware.

It didn't take long before we all fell asleep.