Beautiful Storms

chapter twenty | jude

"When thinking about life, remember this: No amount of guilt can solve the past and no amount of anxiety can change the future."

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beautiful storms | chapter twenty

Jude stares across the kitchen table at Sadie who eats the pancakes his grandmother made for them for breakfast. He tries not to think about the past two days but his mind gets the best of him. He then moves his eyes to Cara wouldn't speak to him after she woke up after her nightmare and he didn't want to force her to talk about her father again so he decided he'll wait until she's ready to speak to him.

"Can you pass me the maple syrup, please?" Sadie asks Jude and he nods. He grabs the syrupy and he hands it to her before he looks down at his chocolate chip pancakes. He pokes it with his fork.

"You need to eat Jude, you barely ate anything yesterday."

His grandmother says and Jude nods, he starts to eat and he tries not to spit it out. His stomach grumbles as he swallows the food. He knew starving himself wasn't an option but he couldn't seem to get food to stay down. He threw up the day before, he didn't tell anyone he did. He didn't want to bother them. Cara glances up to meet Jude's eyes, she sends him a reassuring smile. He finishes the first pancake on his plate but he still had two more. He uses his fork to cut them both in half, making the portions look smaller so he could stomach them.

"Hey, Jude." Hailey sits down in her seat as class begins. She brushes her hair behind her ear and Jude nods towards before looking down at his notes.

It's his first day back to school since everything happened and it just happened to be the day when he had class with her. He groans slightly. He had noticed the small changes in his mood for the past few days and he didn't like it, he was becoming more irritated easily by the smallest things. He knew he was slowly falling into a depressive state and he couldn't stop if he tried.

He tabs on his notebook with his pencil as he moves his eyes away from his notebook and towards the board. "How was your weekend, Judie?" Jude cringes at the nickname and his stare hardens at the board as he copies the notes. His jaw clenches and he could already feel a toothache coming soon if he kept doing it but sometimes she got on his nerves. He dreamt of the day that school ends and he can leave for college away from St. Clair.

"It was fine." He lies. Nothing about the last few days was fine.

"I had a bad weekend because my dad decided to cheat on my mom with my aunt while I was in the other room for the millionth time." She laughs nervously and Jude turns to her with a confused expression.

"What the actual fuck?" He curses.

"Quiet down, Jude." His biology teacher scowls him and Jude nods at him before giving his attention back to Hailey.

"Sorry for oversharing, I just needed to get that off my chest." She rubs her face and she pulls out her notebook and starts to take her notes. Is she okay? He suddenly feels concerned for the girl and he frowns. Jude sighs, tapping the eraser of his pencil on his notebook.

"You wanna talk about it?" He asks, slowly and Hailey turns to him before nodding then she looks away.

"Cafe?"

The bells above the cafe's door ring as Jude walks in and he sits down, pulling out his phone and he texts Sadie.

Can we talk when I get home?

Jude knew he wasn't going to mention the fact that Hayes was his father but he did want to talk to her about what Hayes did to her. He sighs at the thought.

"Hey." Cara's jubilant voice rings in Jude's ears and he looks up seeing her smiling face. She sits in the empty seat across from him. He decides to let her distract him from his thoughts.

"Hey," Jude replies.

Cara reaches for Jude's hand and she pulls his hand to the middle of the circular table. She flips his hand around so his palm is facing up and she taps lightly before looking into his eyes.

"Have I ever told you how much I love your eyes?"

"They're so blue." She adds.

Jude grins and he stares down at their hands. "I'm glad you like them. You have the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen!" He says a little too loudly and a few customers turn their heads and Cara, slaps his hand and he laughs.

"Look at the happy couple." Jude looks up, seeing Hailey with a blank face and doesn't let go of Cara's hand.

"Hailey."

"Cara," Hailey says sharply and Cara flinches before letting go of Jude's hand.

"Are you two dating?" Hailey sits down at the table and Jude moves away slightly. Jude glances at Cara who stares down at her hands. He could see her body tense up under the heavy gaze of Hailey.

"Why is that any of your business?" Jude snaps at her and Hailey seems a bit taken back from his response and she rolls her eyes.

"Anyway, how was your day?" She stares at Cara. Cara didn't seem to be paying attention and was too lost in her thoughts. Her curls fall in her face and her hand clenches into a fist. Her breathing quickens and she starts to hyperventilate.

"J-Jude." She struggles to speak and Jude stands up almost immediately and goes to her. He grabs her arm and he wraps her arm around his neck and he picks her up.

"Come on." Her head falls on his chest and her features fall as her eyes close but her breathing doesn't settle as he takes her out of the Cafe so she can get some fresh air.

She reaches for her pocket and she takes out her keys, handing them to him. Jude walks to her car with her in her arms. He unlocks the car and puts her in the passenger seat then he buckles her in. Closing the door, he goes to the driver seat.

"Are you okay?"

He puts the keys in the ignition and the car comes to life. Cara doesn't say anything but she nods.

"Don't lie to me, Cara. What happened back there?"

Jude demands and he turns out of the parking lot and makes his way down the main street which was particularly busy so it would take him longer to get home but he didn't mind. It just meant she would have to say something to him eventually.

Ten minutes go by and Cara sighs before speaking,

"Hailey and I don't have the greatest friendship, well it's not really a friendship, to be honest. She has a thing for not keeping me away from guys I like."

"I was terrified she was gonna take you away from me because everytime, I like someone she tries her best to take them away."