Secret obsession

CHAPTER 14

Kim appears behind a curtain with a soda and looks surprised and angry at the same time.

“Did you fight with Henry at Erin’s house?... I can’t believe you Jake! Why didn’t you tell me that? You told me the punch in your face was from basketball!” Kim approaches to Jake mad and sad, waiting for an explanation from him. Looks like Jake regrets the situation.

“I didn’t want you to worry babe,” he lies. “I went to Erin’s house to invite her to the party,” he lies again. “I found Henry there, and we argued and fought” more lies go out of Jakes' mouth, who looks at me hopping to cooperate with his story.

“I can’t take this anymore, Jake, two fights on the same day and both of them in other people’s houses?... you need to stop acting like that!” Kim believes him and I cannot help but feel a whole in my heart, I don’t know if I should tell Kim the truth, the truth could hurt her more.

“I will, I will, I promise…” Jake lies again to make Kim relax “although… why did you call an ambulance?... I was feeling dizzy, but the ambulance was too much, don’t you think?” he sounds like the regular Jake we know.

“I didn’t call the ambulance”, Kim nods with her answer surprised. “And now that you mention it, I don’t remember someone at the party saying they called the ambulance…” she tries to remember the party, me, I stay quiet, knowing that maybe Henry was the one that call the ambulance, I guess he was really scared and worried.

The three of us stayed at the hospital a little bit more, waiting for Jake’s parents to come back. After all, the nurse told Kim Jake was ready to go home. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson came back and took Jake to their car. I go to them to say goodbye.

“Are you sure you don’t want to come home with us for dinner?” Mrs. Thompson asks while she holds Jake’s door open.

“It’s OK Mrs. Thompson, I still need to finish some homework” I blush after the lie I just told.

“C’mon Luciferin, it will be just dinner”, Jake says, winking at me. I laugh awkwardly because I feel a weird vibe emanating from Jake.

“I will call you… or I will see you tomorrow at school… thanks for the invitation, Mrs. Thompson, maybe I’ll go to visit him later” I lie walking away from them to go to Kim.

“Sure sweety, you know you can come home whenever you want” she smiles and closes the door. I walk to Jake’s car Kim will drive it to take me home and to take it back to Jake’s.

In the car on our way back to my house, the silence was the biggest presence inside. We avoid adding more details to the situation, we just try to talk about superficial topics like the weather, the crazy people on the streets and, from time to time, homework. Once we arrived, I just gave a small smile to my friend with a warm hug, letting her know that everything would be better. She smiles weakly and does not wait for me to get inside my house to drive away. I got inside, and my parents were waiting for me in the kitchen, where they were chatting with Paul, who is now part of the family, I guess. When my parents see me, they start asking questions about Jake.

“He is fine!” I answered tired. “The doctor said there was nothing to be worried about.”

“The doctors said he was fine, but he didn’t look fine to me… there must be something bothering him. Your father and I talked about that earlier when he came to visit, right honey?” my mom says.

“It’s true, there was something different about him when he came”, my dad agrees. “You are gonna like Jake, he is a good friend of Erin’s, and we love him so much… he is part of the family, like a son to us”, he explains to Paul who is sitting next to him. Paul just smiles politely at my dad and also gives me a warm smile too. It seems like he is comfortable being here. In fact, all of us feel good about having him at home. In some way, Paul’s vibe is similar to Jake’s, before he told me he loves me, of course.

“So what does Jake look like?... is he better good-looking than me?” Paul asks my mom, making her laugh with my sister. While she answers, I start to think about him. I have never thought about my friend in a romantic way, but I know he is one of the handsome guys at school. He is tall, blond, athletic body, nice hair that he fixes like if he was a good boy, big blue eyes and, for what I know and what I hear, a beautiful smile… I know it is beautiful, because it was the second thing Kim told me when we met after asking me if I was his girlfriend. Even so, I never saw Jake in a romantic way. He was nice to me, but I never felt the sparkle that I feel with Henry.

“So Erin…” Paul’s attention goes to me. “Are you and that Jake in a relationship?” he asks honestly, trying to keep the conversation.

“He is not her type baby, she likes mysterious guys, right sister?” Lisa looks at me playing a dangerous game that I am not interested in playing.

“Are you sure you want to talk about mysteries sister?” I ask, looking at her calm while I give her a kick under the table. She makes a painful grin “I still have homework to do, and I’m tired… good night to everyone.” I stand up and go upstairs to my room.

Once in my room, I decide that I should call Henry and tell him not to worry about the situation and also because I want to know if he is mad at me. I call, but the call goes to voicemail after a few seconds; I try to call again, and the same thing happens, ‘maybe he is busy’, I think to myself, so I decide to text him.

Me: “Busy?” I try to ask the way he asks me sometimes. After a few minutes, there is no answer ‘maybe he is mad at me’ I sigh and decide to text him again before going to sleep.

Me: “I just wanted to know how you are doing, and maybe to try to make you stop being mad at me… I will give you some time while I sleep. It would be nice to see you before that… anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow at school XX”

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It is a new day, and I am at school now, waiting for this class to be over. From time to time, I check my cellphone to see if I have a text from Henry. The bell rings to announce the end of the class and I decide to text him first.

Me: “hi! Did you come to school today?... it will be nice to see you, don’t you think?”

I wait for his answer, but I don’t receive anything. At lunch break, I look for him in the cafeteria and I see him chatting with some guys from the basketball team and some cheerleaders. Suddenly, his eyes met mine and I smile waiving at him friendly, but he just turns away, ignoring me and get close to Julie, one of the cheerleaders that has a bad reputation at school. I sit alone only waiting for Kim, since Jake took the day to rest a little bit more after his ‘accident.’ When Kim arrives at the table, she spends all the time talking about Jake. I try to hide my boring face, but it looks like she catches me anyway because she stops talking.

“Are you OK?” she asks more politely than interested again.

“I don’t know… Henry has been ignoring my calls, my texts, and he even ignores me at school” I answered sad, waiting for my friend to give me some advice, but before she answers lunch break is over, and she stands up fast and touches my shoulder to say:

“I’m sorry Erin” and she walks away to her class. I wasn’t expecting that answer. I always fix her problems with Jake and this is the first time I have an issue where I need my friend to give me some advice and the only thing she said was ‘sorry’… I sigh, disappointed with the situation. I walk to my classroom thinking about everyone, Jake, Kim, but most of all, Henry, when I see him in the hallway walking to his classroom, he also sees me and I decide to approach him, decision that I regret once I see his tired expression, like if he is bored already with me.

“Hu… Hi Henry” I try to smile without sadness.

“Hi!” he looks at me annoyed.

“I hu… I texted you yesterday”, I say, playing with my hands suddenly feeling awkward.

“I know”, he gives me a cold-short answer. I don’t say anything more, I just look at him, trying to understand what is going on with his attitude. “I have to go to class” he adds, moving me away from him and walking to his classroom. The English teacher makes me come back from the shock I am by asking me if I want to go inside the classroom or stay outside. I slowly nod and walk inside the class, thinking and analyzing what had just happened.

When school is over, I say goodbye to Kim and let her waiting for Jake alone. I don’t have the energy to see Jake today. Before I cross the street to start walking home, I see Henry again talking to Julie. When he notices me, he smiles and gets close to her to move a lock of hair from her face. I feel a hard punch in my chest and decide to ignore it, but all the way home I cannot stop thinking about it.

At home, I don’t share too much with my parents or my sister. They have been talking too much about work, school, Paul, and some other things that I don’t pay attention to. My mom asks me if I am feeling good, but I just pushed her interest in me by saying I have too much homework to do. Once dinner is over, I get to go to my room to think about what is going on with Henry’s attitude. I think that if something is bothering him, he needs to tell me right away without avoiding me. He needs to be honest and talk to me straight… thinking that, I decide to call him and ask for answers. I take my phone and call him right away; I wait, and I wait, but the call is forwarded to the voicemail, so I decide to text him.

Me: “Hi, I guess you didn’t have a bad day today, but I also think that you should talk to me if you have any problem with me, don’t you think?”

After 20 minutes without response, I text him again with more anger this time.

Me: “You judged my friend Jake for being a coward, but to me right now YOU are the coward! So, grow a pair and talk to me straight!” I couldn’t stop me from typing the exclamation point and the capital letters. Maybe I’m childish, but I don’t care. I need to know what is wrong with him. Was I just part of his game? Was I just another toy? Maybe I didn’t give him what he wanted, and he got bored. I keep tormenting myself with my thoughts when my phone beeps announcing a text message. I look at the screen thinking it may be him, but get disappointed and curious when I see a number I don’t recognize.

“Hi Erin, it’s me Wendy, remember me?... I just want to talk to you about Henry. There are some things you need to know about him.”