Hollow Weekend

Chapter2

POV: Melanie Hart (Jaden’s girlfriend)

The hum of the plane was oddly calming. Thirty thousand feet above the air, yet I felt grounded, my head leaned gently against the window as I wrapped my fingers around a lukewarm cup of airplane coffee – it was pretty much tasteless but I sipped anyway.

I didn’t sleep much during the weekend business trip to Lisbon, but the excitement of going home, back to the love of my life, Jaden, overrode the feeling of fatigue and stress.

A smile tugged at the corners of my lips as I thought of him, I could already imagine him in our luxury penthouse, his arms wrapping around me the moment he spots me, the smell of his cologne engulfing me like a familiar dream. Maybe he’d cook tonight, or we’d order Thai food like we always did when we missed each other too much to wait for anything homemade. My heart fluttered at the thought.

Next thing I heard was the airport announcement for all passengers to come off board, my mind was lost in the castle of love, I didn’t realise we had arrived in Miami. Even this realisation came with more excitement – I was much closer to home which meant few steps more to seeing him after a weekend that felt awfully long.

I switched on my device that had my local phone number as I made my way out the airport, my feet tapping gently against the reflective glass the floor was made of. Then my phone vibrated gently, the screen lighting up with a name that brought a different kind of warmth, Brad – Jaden’s best friend who’s almost like his shadow.

Maybe Jaden had begged him to come pick me up, I thought to myself as I paused at the waiting room, placing my portable travel knapsack by one of the demarcation poles, my arms resting on the pole as I answered the call.

“Hey, Brad, what’s up?” I spoke, pulling the phone to my ear.

There was a heavy pause on the other end, then his voice came through, tight and uncertain “Mel… have you seen the news?”

“No, I just boarded few minutes ago, what’s wrong?” I asked, the smile fading from my lips, my voice trembling slightly.

“It’s… It’s about Jaden, there’s a situation”

A lump began to form in my throat, the kind that presses down like a stone, refusing to be swallowed but I did anyway.

“Brad, talk to me. What happened?” I demanded, heart racing, mind running through a million possibilities of what the situation could be.

He paused again…

“Brad, talk to me” I asked again, uneasy and uncomfortable with the suspense, despite only for a few seconds.

“He was accused… of r**e… he has been arrested”

The words cracked through the air like thunder. I froze for a moment, everything around me seemed to disappear, and all I could hear was my pounding heart.

“No… no, that’s… not possible” I said between breaths with a low voice. I had thought of a million things after he spoke first and now, this wasn’t one of them.

“Well, it’s all over the news, some girl, she claims it happened over the weekend at a bar downtown”

“Were you with him that night?” I asked, my voice shaking

“This one time, I wasn’t” Brad responded sharply.

For a moment, time stood still. I closed my eyes and it felt like the world tilted, all the excitement had dissipated at an alarming rate.

“There must be a mistake, Jaden wouldn’t. He just wouldn’t!” I said, trying to convince myself it wasn’t true.

“Come on now, let’s not act as if we’re strangers to Jaden… he had the tendencies” Brad raised.

“Now is not the time, I need to go see him” I muttered

“Mel… you might want to be patient, there’s more. She had evidences. Video and audio clips, nothing conclusive yet but the media are milking the story” Brad added.

I froze, instantly regretting having gone for the business trip in the first place, “Maybe if I had been around, this wouldn’t have happened” I lamented in utter shock and disbelief.

“I need to get home first, we’d have this conversation later.

I got off the call and spent a few minutes trying to wrap my head around the news I had just heard. I spent a few extra to catch my breath, then I grabbed my little luggage and made my way slowly out of the airport without making a fuss as I walked past the checkpoints.

There was no one to come pick me up, I had to board a taxi home.

The key turned slowly in the lock at the main entrance to our penthouse, the lights were out – that meant Jaden surely wasn’t in. I stepped inside and was greeted with silence that now swallowed our ever vibrant apartment, no music humming from the Apple Home-pod, no scent of his cologne lingering in the hallway, just quiet and cold.

I dropped my bag on the couch, eyes scanning the room. The blanket he always stole mid-movie was still rumpled on the armrest. His favourite brown checker mug sat on the counter, he must have made himself coffee before leaving for work this morning, but little did he know he wouldn’t return at night.

God, how I miss him. It was past 7pm on the clock, he’d be in the kitchen by now, arms wrapping around my waist, lips brushing the back of my neck, a flush of warmth swept through my chest.

He always knew how to touch me, how to read my silence, my moods. How to make me laugh, melt and forget the world.

I shut my eyes, pressing my palms to my face, the memory of his hands on my hips, of our long, whispered nights – soft, slow and deeply familiar. It all felt like a cruel reminder now that he wasn’t here, he was in a police cell, and what’s worse he was going to spend the night there, neither would I get to see him, it was already too late and I have to wait till morning.