Twelve
1912 Words
Jerome scrolled through his phone and pointedly ignored the fact that Elizabeth and Harry were sitting at the table adjacent to where his was. He dropped his phone and ran his long fingers through his blonde locks then looked up when a waiter approached them. She had brunette hair and smiled way brighter that it came off as wrong to him. He muttered under his breath how he missed SooHoo.
"Hello, I am Henrietta and welcome to The Kitchen Hatch," she stated in a robotic soft voice then hugged her small note pad.
Jerome nodded. "Just tea will do."
He noted the hesitant look on Henrietta's face before she walked away to get his order ready. The blonde man, relaxed on his chair and side glanced his friends and fought the urge to not call them over and explain his plan to them but since the idea of having an enemy that was so close, he decided against it.
Jerome's phone vibrated, getting his attention before he picked it up and saw it was a text from Nora. He sighed and read it.
Nora: Hey, Jer. How are you? Anyway, just wanted to find out what Fiona said to you while I was away.
He shook his head with a soft smile on his face.
"Always worrying, Nora," he said and began to type his reply.
Me: Sweetheart, I'm fine and Fiona didn't say much but paint everyone bad. She's looking for something. She's actually looking for means to weaken us so I advice you to indirectly warn the others about any lies or any thing from the past that suddenly rises that may make us break apart. Be careful, Nora. I don't want you hurt.
He locked his phone after hitting send then waited for his order.
•••
Nora read through the message sent by her best friend and understood what he meant. They had to be guarded because Fiona would in a way play the same card with someone else, maybe not Fiona but someone from their past.
She tucked her phone in her back pocket and pushed the shopping cart towards the cereal aisle. She stopped to look through the varities of cereals and when she was about to pick the one she liked, she saw Twinkle entering her aisle.
"Hey!" Nora hollered, making Twinkle pause in shock before she saw Nora. "Over here."
The red haired woman watched as Twinkle rolled her cart towards her and smiled when she stood in front of her.
"Hi, you're Jerome's friend aren't you?" Twinkle asked.
"Yeah, I see you're shopping and how are you?"
Twinkle nodded. "I need to stock my house, you know and I'm good."
"Tell me more about you, I mean. I would like to know more about you. Since you are Jerome's neighbor and also my friend's PA," Nora stated and leaned on her cart slightly while Twinkle beamed.
"Sure but I don't think this is the right place for such a conversation, huh?" The short haired woman suggested and Nora nodded.
"Why don't we finish shopping and I'll drive us to The Kitchen Hatch," Nora replied and picked up her cereal box while Twinkle did the same with two boxes.
•••
The two women walked into the Kitchen Hatch and Nora immediately saw Elizabeth and Harry then Jerome who was opposite them. She bit her bottom lip and turned to tell Twinkle that they should leave but paused when she saw the woman already sitting at a table by the door. Nora sighed and joined her.
"So, what would you like to know?" Twinkle asked.
"Mm, just surprise me," Nora replied and noticed that Twinkle was look over her shoulder in full concern. "What is it?"
Twinkle blinked. "Uh, sorry. It's nothing."
"Twinkle, what is it?" Nora asked in a hard tone. "You can tell me anything, trust me."
Twinkle sighed. "It's Jerome."
"What happened to Jerome?"
"I know you don't want to hear anything about him right now but I just feel so worried for him. I heard from the employees from work, how he's suffered enough and it makes me want to reach out to him and comfort him. I know it sounds wrong and all but that's what I feel," the woman replied that it got Nora to think.
Nora narrowed her brown-green eyes at the way the woman opposite her kept a look of worry on her face and what she detected to be care. The red haired woman raised a single brow and fought back the smile that was about to escape her face. She nodded.
Seems like Jerome has someone who actually likes him. I mean, it is a good idea if I have Twinkle be close friends with Jerome and Jerome has been without a woman who can actually be friends with him other than me, well, not in a platonic way.
Nora blinked. "Go talk to him then."
"Huh?"
"Let him know that you care for his well being and not in a straight forward way but through kind acts, giving him attention and maybe you two could actually start something beautiful, what'd you think?" Nora suggested.
"Why are you saying this? I thought you didn't want anything to do with him, it almost seems like you still care for him despite his uncalled behavior," Twinkle stated with a look in her eyes that Nora couldn't decipher.
"Yeah, I know. But that doesn't stop me from actually still been worried. Look, you are the only one that he can allow come close to him right now. So, relax," Nora said and relaxed on her chair. "Go now."
Twinkle nodded.
•••
Jerome took a sip from his cup of tea while his eyes were still trained on the screen of his phone until he felt a presence by his side. He frowned and looked up, only to roll his eyes at Twinkle.
"What do you want?" He asked in a rough tone.
"Can I sit?"
"No," he retorted and looked down at his phone when it vibrated. He saw it was a text from Nora.
Nora: Don't dare look around this restaurant but allow her. Let her keep you company and you two can be friends. Take it as a new direction in your plan, that way the enemy would think that you want new friends. Just be fine with her, she seems nice. Please, Jerome :(.
Jerome squeezed his phone hard but exhaled later and gave Twinkle a nod.
"Sure, you can sit," he said drily.
Twinkle beamed and sat opposite him and stared around awkwardly while Jerome got back to his phone. She bit her bottom lip and traced his face, from his rich blonde hair, sharp jawlines, arched brows and blue eyes to his lips. She cleared her throat.
Jerome locked his phone and dropped it then looked up at Twinkle who was playing with her fingers and looking around nervously. He smirked and shook his head.
How adorable, he thought and leaned forward on his elbows.
"So, Twinkle, right?" He asked and she nodded and made eye contact with him briefly. "What brought you to Birmingham?"
"Well, it's sort of complicated and all, but I can only say that I came here for a new beginning," she replied and blinked her eyes when she felt tears brimming her eyes.
Jerome frowned when he heard the change in her tone and felt like an i***t for asking such a question.
"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to hurt you by asking that."
"It's fine, I just constantly go back to my old life. It'll pass anyway," she replied and he licked his lips then looked over at Elizabeth and Harry's table, they were looking at him, he scoffed. "Do you want to get out of here?"
"Uh, where?"
Jerome pulled out his bill and placed it on the table, stood up and looked around then narrowed his eyes briefly when he saw Nora then looked back at Twinkle who was still sitting. He stretched his hand out to her and she hesitantly placed hers in his then stood up.
"Let's go somewhere more comfortable," Jerome replied and unconsciously squeezed her soft hand and immediately saw her cheeks redden. He chuckled. "Come on."
He pulled her with him and made his way out he restaurant and towards his car. He stopped, released her hand and looked around.
"Did you bring your car?"
"No, I don't have any right now," she replied.
"Oh, okay," he said, unlocked his car with the car key and opened the door for her until she got in. He closed the door and rounded his car and boarded it. "So, let's go hang out. You already know how vexed I am with the people I call my friends. Let's do something that'll clear my head."
"I understand how you feel, Jerome but no offense, you shouldn't push the people who love and care for you away like that. Years of friendship is better than the hate within you right now. It's sad seeing my boss gloomy and it's not helping us who work for him," she said and Jerome laughed softly.
"That's Mason for you but I need a lot of time to understand all of this," he stated and started the car.
"Okay."
•••
Jerome and Twinkle walked out of the cinema laughing and imitating what they had watched back in the building. Jerome had his tucked in the pockets of his pants while Twinkle giggled more.
He kept his gaze on her face, watching how locks of her short brown hair escaped the back of her ear and covered the side of her face, her furrowed arched brows, the scrunch of her nose as she laughed then the spark in her eyes too. Jerome frowned and wondered why he was paying attention to such details.
"Thanks for today, Jerome. It was fun, from the park, the cotton candy and also the movie. I've always wanted to watch the SpongeBob movie. Thank you," she said softly.
"You've been thanking me a lot, Twinkle," Jerome said in confusion and watched as her face turned sad. "Is everything okay?"
"Well, let's just say that no one has ever done this for me before, so I'm really glad that I've finally experienced it."
Jerome nodded absently and looked down at his feet then shrugged. He pulled out his phone and looked back at her.
"Let's exchange numbers?" He asked and she hesitantly nodded, took his phone and gave him hers. When they were done, then gave back their phones and smiled. "Let's go?"
She nodded.
•••
Jerome furrowed his brows when his phone rang in the middle of the night, interrupting his sleep. He picked up a pillow and placed it on his head but it didn't stop the ringing. He threw the pillow away, stood up from his bed and marched to where the device was ringing then saw it was from Twinkle. He picked up the phone, saw the time was 3am and hesitantly answered.
"Jerome?"
Jerome felt his heart drop when he heard the way her voice sounded like she had been crying.
"Twinkle?"
"I'm sorry for bothering you but please, you're the only one close by and the only person I've known," she sniffed. "I-I just had a nightmare and it always makes me suicidal, please come help me."
Jerome rushed into his walk-in closet and fished for a shirt. Once he found one, he wore it and raced out of his room and down the steps, all the while telling Twinkle not to do anything. He raced out of his house and got to hers.
"Open the door, Twinkle," he stated and heard movement from her side of the call and after a minute, the door was opened, revealing a weak and test stricken woman who's shirt was stained with blood. "Shit."
Jerome dropped his phone and pulled her into his arms. She cried.
- Writer
