Secret obsession

CHAPTER4

It is morning already, and I don’t want to wake up, my parents aren’t home, and I can hear my sister talking on the phone with the TV on. I open my eyes trying not to be blind by the sun. I moan a little bit grumpy and then sit on my bed. I grab my cellphone that was on silent to turn on the volume and I see two messages already.

‘Today is the big day! – Kim’

‘Good morning princess, did you dream about me? – The Most Handsome’

I completely ignore Kim’s message and smile happily at the one that Henry sent me, answering right away with what I think is a casual response to hide the fact that I like him ‘Good morning, I had a good sleep thanks, hope you did too’. It is a good way to start the day. I jump out of bed singing on my way to the bathroom to get a shower.

Down in the kitchen I am looking at my phone, hopping to get another text from Henry, but nothing. I finish my breakfast and go to the living room with my sister when my parents enter carrying all the groceries that Lisa and I are supposed to put in their place.

The morning passed by very slowly as well as the afternoon. My phone was quiet the whole day until I got a message which brought my heart to life. I take it out of my pocket, and I’m disappointed just to see who it is.

‘I am ready to go girl, how do I look? – Kim’ with a picture of herself posing to the camera with her outfit for today.

‘You look great my friend, have fun’ I answered indifferently. I had high hopes that it was Henry.

I say good night to my parents early, and I go to my bedroom. I thought that after having a good night yesterday Henry would be thinking about me and text me the whole day. I started to put on my Pjs. It is a little bit warm, so I put a short pajama with a fresh top with little stars. I am ready to go to bed when my phone beeps. I roll my eyes thinking that it might be Kim again sending me pictures of where they are and what they are doing. I turn on my phone and instantly get a big smile with little hearts in my eyes.

‘Hey baby, are you busy? – The Most Handsome’

I feel so happy that he texted me that I jumped a little bit in my bed. I will wait a few minutes before I answer, so it doesn’t look like I was waiting for him to text me, but my phone beeps again announcing another text.

‘Actually, I already know you are not busy and, by the way ‘Sexy,’ you should close your curtains or turn off the light when you decide to change – The Most Handsome.’

That last message stops me from jumping, and I turn to the window with what I’m sure is my scared-embarrassed expression, to see that the curtains were shut off. I guess he is just playing with me, there is no chance he could’ve seen me from the yard. I stand up more relaxed to open the curtains and go out the balcony, but I immediately stop when I see that Henry was already up behind the balcony’s door waiting for me to open.

“Are you insane? What are you doing up here? Did someone see you?” I ask all those questions almost at the same time, looking everywhere to see if some of my neighbors were outside.

“I saw your parents watching TV in the living room, so I thought it was better for me to climb up when I had the chance, so you cannot get in trouble,” he says, shrugging innocently.

“Don’t make too much noise, my parents will go to sleep soon” I say inviting him to my bedroom.

He enters quietly looking at everything, smiling with so much enthusiasm as if he was in the best place in the world. Then he stops looking at the pictures I have on my dresser. Most of the pictures are of my family, but in one of them Jake is next to my dad. Another picture is of Kim, Jake, and I eating pizza at ‘Peppes’ (Jake’s favorite restaurant), and the last picture he sees and takes to look at it closer is of Jake hugging me at a birthday party.

He doesn’t make any sound and his expression is hard to read. “So you and Jake are very good friends, right?” he looks at me, putting the picture back.

“Yes, we’ve been best friends since we were in 7th grade” I say, trying to understand why he is so serious now.

He keeps looking at everything in my room like studying every detail. I just follow him with my eyes when my mom knocks on the door.

“Erin sweety! Are you awake?” she asks while I make a sign to Henry with my index finger, so he keeps quiet.

“Yes mom!” I answer so she doesn’t try to open the door.

“Your dad and I are going to sleep now, don’t stay up too late OK?” she doesn’t wait for my answer, and we heard them both going to their bedroom.

After a few minutes of silence, Henry is the one breaking it. “So, do you still want to listen to some music?” he says, laying on my bed and looking at his cellphone for more rock music.

“OK, but you need to be really quiet because I don’t want to make my parents come because I have the music too loud” I answer while laying next to him.

We are both laying on the bed listening to music. I know it is rock, but this song specifically is kind of romantic. “what song is that?” I ask.

“Is ‘Vermillion’ by ‘Slypknot” he answers, thinking for a moment “this is my favorite song”, he adds, looking at the ceiling with what I notice is a sad look. He closes his eyes like if he is in pain and sighs, turning towards me laying his hand on my stomach and looking at me very close. For some reason, I know he is sad now, I can feel it, there is something about this song painful to him. I get the feeling that we are close enough to feel comfortable asking him about it, but my phone starts to ring, making him return to his previous position to free me from his almost ‘hug.’ I look on the screen at Jake’s name, so I answer.

“Hi Jackie! How was the anniversary celebration?” I answer, sitting on the bed.

“Hi evil goddess my cruel friend… did I wake you up?” he asks without answering my question. Henry is quiet.

“Nope, I was just listening to some music… So, how are you? Did you guys have fun?”

“Great! I am close to your house. I will be there in a moment”. He hung up, avoiding my questions. That was odd, he says he is coming to my house now. He had never done that before except when he wanted to ask Kim to go on a date with him, but that was a long time ago. I am sitting next to Henry (who keeps quiet) thinking about my friends’ relationship. Maybe Jake wants to break up with Kim.

The agony of my thought ends when Henry stands up next to my bed, extending his hand to me to help me stand up too. “Are you leaving?” I ask confused.

“I guess it is too late to be out” he gives me a disappointed half smile now that I’m standing in front of him. “Besides, you will have company soon. I would not like to bother you and your boyfriend”, he grumbles while grabbing his phone and going out the balcony.

“Jake is not my boyfriend” I reply getting close to look at him going down.

“It’s OK beautiful, we can talk later”. Henry jumps the last distance to the yard and starts walking to the street. He is almost ready to cross when he stops to turn and look at me. I look at him smiling and shake my hand goodbye. He does the same thing. He turns to finally cross the street when a black car stops him parking close to him. Henry stands there waiting for the person to get out. I recognize the car, is Jake’s.

Jake gets out of his car and starts walking around it to get to Henry while Henry is looking at him. They are both standing in front of each other trying to intimidate each other. I cannot hear what they are saying, but I can see Jake’s hands moving, pointing at my house and, while he is still pointing, he looks at my balcony and looks at me. Henry says goodbye to me one more time and finally crosses the street to walk to his house. Jake is still looking at me. I can’t see his expression, but his body figure looks smaller. He walks towards my balcony and once he is down looking at me closer, I can see now that he looks sad, then he sighs.

He takes his phone out of his jacket and starts to call. While calling, he turns away to the small trees and looks for the big log that he sometimes uses to sit and chat with me. My phone starts to ring, so I answer.

“Are you OK?” I ask, worried, judging by his expression.

“I think we need to talk” he answers, sitting on the log still looking at me.