Beautiful Storms

chapter eight | jude

"You were so unexpected."

-Happiness

☆

beautiful storms | chapter eight

Cara's laughter is contagious and Jude finds himself joining her. He calms down as he watches the sun go down, his muscles relax and he turns to glance at Cara. "Do you take your other friends here?" She looks at him but doesn't reply, her jaw clenches and unclenches.

"No." she whispers softly, he could barely hear here.

"My friends don't know about the lake, I don't talk about it." She tells him.

Jude pulls at the grass under his fingers and dirt gets under his fingernails. He takes his hand away and places it on his chest, returning his eyes to the sky. He pinches the fabric of his shirt between his fingers.

"You can talk about the lake with me."

"Ok." She says softly. She glances over to him with a smile.

He picks at his fingertips, cleaning them out. Soft sounds of Crickets and croaks of the Frogs fill the air. The moon slowly makes its way into the sky.

Sadie shuts her room door and locks it behind her. She was home alone with Hayes again. Her mind fills with unwanted emotions. She sits down on her bed and reminisces of the time when everything was okay. She smiles weakly and she lets out a shaky breath.

"Breathe."

Her chest falls and rises a few times before she lays back on her bed. She lets her feet hang from the edge of the bed and she stares up at the ceiling with a face full of emotions. She rubs her nose with the back of her palm.

"Marshall is kind of cute," Sadie says with a smile. She looks across her room at Briggs who stares blankly at the wall before turning to her.

"Yeah, he is." She says but her voice cracks and she stares down at her hands.

Sadie sits up and crosses her legs over the other. "Are you okay?"

"Would you date him?"

"No, I don't want to date Marshall. Yeah, he's cute but it doesn't mean I want to date him, Briggs."

"Would you date me?"

Sadie sighs. Would you date me?

Of course, I would.

Sadie never liked Marshall, she just didn't want to think about her best friend. She didn't want to like her best friend. She was a girl but she loved her but she was a girl. "Love has no gender." Her mother would say so kindly. Sadie wasn't comfortable with herself to let alone her sexuality so she keeps it to herself. No one would like the freak anyway. The girl who lost her best friend to suicide. Her mother knew before Sadie knew she was in love with Briggs, she would always playfully joke about it just to annoy Sadie. But Sadie knew she was right, she always was right about everything.

She scoots more on to her bed and brings her legs to her chest. She couldn't even imagine telling Jude even if he had the personality of a dog, he would love someone no matter what regardless of who you were.

Just like their mom. It was like they were the same person. She wanted to keep it a secret, it was the only thing she could protect. Her phone vibrates and she glances down at it, seeing a text from Hayes. I made dinner. As soon as she looks at the text, there's a knock on the door and it opens and Hayes walks in. His face is cold and vacant, his brown eyes cause a shiver to run down her body. "I made dinner and I want you to come eat with me." His voice is harsh and she flinches. Her hand grips at her sheets. She wasn't moving, she didn't want to. "I'll eat later." He takes a step into her room. His tongue runs along the bottom of his lip and he nods slowly.

"I wasn't asking, Sadie."

"I'm not hungry right now."

Her voice trembles, her body trembles under his stare. She tried her best not to meet his eyes. Everything will be okay. She repeats it over and over in her head but it doesn't seem to help. She feels his palm on her cheek and he runs his thumb on her cheek.

"Not right now, please but Jude-." She mumbles but she cuts herself. Her mind goes rigid and she retreats to the depths of her mind. At the sound of Jude's name, Hayes's face distorts and he glares at her with so much rage.

"Did you tell him?"

"N-no."

Her eye visibly twitches and she tries to hide all emotion from her face but she fails miserably. He forcibly makes her look up at him and his touch burns her skin. Don't, not again. I can't do it again.

"Come eat dinner." He says each word with a slight pause and he pats her cheek a bit too harshly before he walks out of her room. Her eyes start to tear up and her vision goes blurry. Do I deserve this?

She slowly removes herself from her bed and her head starts to pound, causing her to feel dizzy. His hands move down her body and he kisses her cheek. Her movements are slow as she walks out of her room into the hallway. She hears him moving around in the kitchen. She makes her way to the dining table and she sits down.

"Jude won't be able to make it for dinner, I just called him." He sits on a plate of Lasagna and the smell fills her nostrils. Her stomach grumbles and she closes her eyes when she feels his hot breath on her neck.

"It's your grandma's recipe."

He moves around the table and sits in front of her. She shakily lifts up her fork. She stabs it with her fork and some of its contents fall out. She glances up at Hayes who was already eating and she moves her eyes back down to her plate. She begins to eat.

"When is she coming to visit?" She asks softly.

Hayes swallows his food before speaking quite vaguely, "Soon."

Sadie rolls her eyes. Maybe she'll take us away from you.

"We haven't seen her in months, Uncle Hayes." She mumbles.

"Sadie." He warns.

"You can't keep us away from her, she's our family too. Mom would want us to see or maybe even live with her." Sadie falls back into her chair and crosses her arms. Hayes glares at her across the table. His hand grips the fork and he slams it down on the table.

"Sadie, she's not coming until I say she can come. Now, eat the Lasagna before I make you eat it." He sneers.

Sadie scraps her fork against her plate and it makes scratching noises and she winches from the sound.

"I could call her." She stares him in the eyes and his eye twitches.