You Were Never Mine

Lights Out - Chapter 11

Elle

Julia and I sat down at one of the tables in the coffee shop we just entered. It was the perfect Sunday, rainy morning, so we decided to work on schoolwork at the coffee shop rather than at home today. The two of us ordered our coffees and got to working on our papers. I was putting the finishing touches into an essay I was writing about climate change and global warming, while Julia was working on an essay about medical marijuana.

I sipped at my coffee and then set it aside, typing the last few paragraphs that were needed for the paper. Julia was humming along to the song that was playing throughout the shop and tapping her foot against the floor. I made a few more touches to the paper and then re-read the entire thing in case of any typos that I missed. Once I finished doing that, I decided to browse the web a bit.

"How are things with Parker?"

I raise my eyes from my screen and look over my laptop, meeting Julia's gaze. "Everything's good. We had phone sex the other night and it was actually really hot."

She lets out a laugh and shakes her head, covering her eyes. "I'm glad you had a good time with that. Have you talked to him any more about your feelings?"

"No, we don't really talk about those that much."

"Clearly," she replies, uncovering her eyes and looking at me with a smirk. "I'm sure he feels the same way Elle, you're a catch."

I smile back at her before letting out a deep breath, "thanks Jul. It's just not something I've been thinking about a lot here lately, plus he's been rather busy. He said something about work, but I didn't know he had a job or anything."

Julia shifted in her seat and something flashed in her eyes, but I couldn't catch what it was. "Work? Yeah, I didn't know he worked either. Maybe it's like a work from home job? Or maybe it's new."

"Yeah, I'm not really sure, but he's been super busy with it lately. We've been texting a lot and we video chat most nights, but I haven't seen him in person in a few days. I've been trying to keep myself busy so I don't think about him too much." I chew on my bottom lip, reaching for my cellphone and unlocking the screen. "He read my texts last night, but never replied. Last night was the first night we didn't video chat. I just hope he's okay and not doing anything stupid."

"Elle, he's a grown ass man. I'm sure he can handle and take care of himself, but if you're so worried, why don't you go check on him?"

I shrugged and plopped my phone back down on the table. "We aren't dating or anything, maybe I just need to drop it. You're right, I'm sure he's fine. If I don't hear from him by tonight, then I'll go over there. I don't want to overwhelm him with anything."

Julia takes a sip from her mug and sets it back down, looking at me with a soft smile. "Good choice, Ellie," she winks at me and then looks back to her laptop, typing away again.

I chew on my bottom lip and reach for my phone again, going into Instagram and scrolling for a bit. A few minutes in, I come across Parker's profile. It's rather bare for being a young guy in his 20s, but I'm not completely surprised. He seems like the type to hide things. Scrolling down just a bit, there's a post from a few years ago.

I click on it and take in the photo. Parker is sitting on a bench outside of the high school we went to, Demetri and Ben at his sides. The three of them were smiling wide, almost laughing. The photo didn't look like it was planned or set up, which made it feel more genuine. Parker's hair was a dirty blonde almost brown color at the time, opposite from the bright golden color now. His eyes were bright, the golden hues in them piercing through. I smiled at the photo and read the comments, seeing a few from a handful of girls. Clicking out of it, I hit the follow button and then exited the app entirely.