Wait and Hope

Note: This is the sixth chapter of a larger story. I strongly recommend checking out the others before reading this one.

Note 2: This is a slow burn, slice-of-life romance story first and foremost. There will be erotica, but not for a long, long time.

*****

Wait and Hope Ch. 06-A Promise

Jesse's POV

--dring, dring!--

Already? Just a few more minutes, please?

--dring, dring!--

It seemed my alarm wasn't in a pleasant mood that morning... With great difficulty, I rose from my slumber and sat on the couch where I had spent the night. At least it made it easier to wake up; I couldn't even turn over to get away from my alarm without falling off. The little things in life...

As I got dressed, it crossed my mind how trivial complaining about sleeping on a couch was. Sure, it was not a five-star hotel, but Chloe had been a phone call away from sleeping outside a couple of days ago. If she hadn't called me, what would have happened? I didn't even want to think about it...

--dring, dring!--

"Yeah, yeah, I'll get up," I mumbled, and grabbed my phone to turn off the traitorous alarm.

"Talking to your phone now, Jesse?" Mom asked, out of nowhere.

Surprised by her sudden arrival, I flinched. "Oh--hi. No, I was just complaining about my alarm."

She chuckled. "Why are you always so serious... you should relax a bit, Jesse!"

"Yeah, I get that a lot..."

Soon after we both sat down for breakfast, Dad joined us.

"Hi!" His eyes darted over the empty couch before settling on us. "Slept well?"

"Decent enough, I guess," I said, while holding back a yawn.

"You sure?" asked Mom from across the bar.

"You seem tired..." Dad mirrored his wife's concern, as he sat down with us.

"No, really! I mean, it's not a bed, but it's decent enough to tie me over."

"Well, if you say so," said Mom, visibly unconvinced.

As we ate our breakfast, Dad asked out of the blue, "What do you think she's going to do?"

"We spoke a bit yesterday evening. She started looking for a shelter, but so far, she has found nothing," I said, recalling yesterday's events. "And... I don't know. She seemed uncomfortable speaking about it... it was weird. I'm not sure why."

Chloe was acting weird the day before. Like... like she didn't want to tell me everything? Perhaps, she just didn't spend that much time looking? Sure, she deserved a calm day, so why was she so uncomfortable?

"Why? It's not like she has to find something right away?" Mom asked.

"If I had to guess... she can't find anything. Or at least, it's harder than she expected. Now, the obvious thing to do would be to stay here, right?"

Mom and Dad nodded.

"Well, that's the issue. She's not ready to ask. If she can stay longer, I mean."

"Then," Dad said, "please let her know she doesn't have to worry about that, okay? At all."

"Yes," Mom agreed. "She's welcome to stay here as long as she needs, or as long as she wants."

"Will do!"

Once Mom and Dad had eaten their breakfasts, they both went upstairs to get ready. I stayed back and finished mine quietly.

They stopped by the table to kiss me goodbye before heading out.

And it would probably be a good day! The week was almost over --The weekend could never come soon enough-- but that wasn't it. I hadn't been able to shake that weird feeling since Chloe had stepped into the house a couple of days ago. Like... like if everything could then only get better now.

Time slipped away, and before I knew it, I was almost late. Well, less thinking, more doing. I needed to get ready before I was truly late. Being late was Ruby's thing, not mine, and I would rather keep it that way. Thomas already had enough ammo to annoy me until our thirties; no sense in giving him any more.

Upstairs, I stopped in front of my bedroom door. I was still having trouble wrapping my head around the fact that behind that door was Chloe...

There hadn't been a week in nearly a decade when I hadn't thought about her at least once. Not a single one. And then, she was right here, sleeping in my room, resting after her life had fallen apart. Crazy week.

After standing there awkwardly for much longer than I could afford, I finally finished getting ready. The hour was ticking by, but I still took the time to tidy the couch as I had done the day before, and I also left her a note on the bar.

It read,Hope you slept well. Text me if you need anything. I'm done earlier today, so I should be back by 3.

Okay, I really needed to go.

It seemed like spring was coming early this year. Not even a couple of days ago, it had been a rainy and cold day -- depressing as hell. This morning, however, was gearing up to be a pretty good day! I couldn't see any clouds, and the birds were already singing as the sun rose over the horizon. Well, I wasn't gonna complain about it, that was for sure.

After a short drive, I pulled up in the parking lot. I quickly found Thomas and Ruby chatting in the school's hall. Usually, I would get there before them.I really had taken my time this morning,I thought.I'd have to be more careful next time.

"Heya!" I said, as I walked up behind them.

"Well, look who decided to show up!" said Ruby, before turning around to greet me.

Both of my friends looked surprised to see me here.

"We thought you wouldn't show up, mate!" said Thomas, as I got closer to them.

"Yeah, I was a bit late..."

"You good?" asked Ruby. "You look... tired?"

"From banging her all night! I'm sure that--!" exclaimed Thomas.

He wasn't able to finish his sentence before Ruby hit him in the shoulder, saying, "Thomas! Come on, you're not twelve anymore, are you?"

I couldn't help but smile each time they bickered like that. Ruby had always been the responsible one, and Thomas... Well, he was the slightly immature one. Just slightly. They balanced out quite nicely, all things considered.

My friend lowered his head. "Sorry... but you do look a bit tired, she's right..." He said, his eyes darting over to Ruby for an instant.

"You really think so?" I shrugged. "I don't feel that tired? Maybe sleeping on the couch is rougher than I thought...?"

Both of my friends looked at me with a hint of worry in their eyes. However, before they could say any­thing else, the bell rang, calling us to our class.

As we made our way to class, Ruby, once again, asked me about Chloe. I was genuinely baffled that she worried that much about someone who was basically a stranger to her. She never met her -- or even heard that much about her before this week, for that matter -- and yet, she was asking as if they'd known each other for years, just shy of offering her help herself. Even more than before, I could say that I truly was honored to be able to call Ruby my friend.

"Mhh..." Ruby said, after I told her the same things I said to Mom and Dad this morning. "I guess it's a weird time for her, maybe she needs a bit of time?"

"Maybe... I'm worried, I think... worried that she'll leave just because she thinks she has to."

"Does she?"

"No, of course not. And I told her that much."

"And yet she's still acting like she'll be gone by Monday or something?"

"Pretty much."

Before I could ask anything else, Ms. Lang intercepted me. "Jesse, you're back! Everything alright?" she asked, worried after I suddenly left her class on Tuesday.

"Yeah, everything's fine. Had to take the day to deal with it, but it's all fine now. Thanks for asking!"

"Glad to hear! Okay, so today..." the teacher said, starting her class...

At my side, Thomas was mumbling about something. "Took the day to deal with it... Say it, man! You dealt with her like a champ!"

I gave him the side-eyes, and I heard Ruby throw­ing a pen in his head.

"That guy," she said, "always thinking about sex as soon as a girl is mentioned..."

"I guess he's pretty horny."

"It's almost weird he can behave around me," my friend pondered out loud.

Suddenly, Thomas got really quiet. Ruby always managed to contain him.I wonder how she does it...

The rest of the class -- and the whole morning, really -- came and went without any trouble. I had to work a bit harder in class, having missed most of Tuesday, but nothing too bad.

Once we sat down with our lunch, I pulled out my phone as Ruby and Thomas were debating whether that exercise was graded too harshly -- it wasn't, I just wasn't there to help them with it.

I texted Chloe to check up on her. I already had wanted to do it the day before, but I had decided against it. Maybe she was resting, or she didn't want to be disturbed. I sent her...

Me:Heya! Hope you slept well... Everything's going how you want it to go?

Before I could even put my phone down, it buzzed with her answer.

Chloe:Hi! Yes, everything's fine. What about you? How was school?

Me:School, I guess. Nothing special about it, a bit boring maybe, but it's fine. Do you need anything? I'm done in like 2 and a half hours, I can swing by the store or something.

Chloe:From what I saw, there's enough to feed a whole army in here! I couldn't decide on what to eat just now.

Me:Maybe you want something we don't have

"Jesse?" Ruby said, pulling me out of my phone. "We said no phone at lunch!"

"Oh, right, sorry, I was checking up on Chloe."

"So that was why you were smiling like that," she said, teasingly.

Out of habit, I glanced at Thomas.

"Haven't said anything," he said, raising his arms in the air, his mouth stuffed with food.

"I'm not--"

"You are!" said Ruby. "You totally are!"

Thomas nodded quietly while ogling my leftovers.

"I'm not," I said firmly, ending that conversation.

"So, uh... My place tomorrow?" Thomas asked, his eyes still eyeing what I hadn't eaten.

Right, every Friday we spend some time together outside of school. We would usually go to someone's place each week, and tomorrow it was Thomas' turn.

"Yes, you can have it," I said, sliding my plate to Thomas's platter.

His face lit up like that of a child on Christmas.

"Yup, it was at my place the other day," said Ruby, rolling her eyes at our friend's gluttony. "Is Chloe coming along?"

"Uhh... do you guys want her to come along?"

"Of course! Can't wait to meet her!" said Ruby.

"Yeah, I'd quite like to meet her too," added Thomas, nodding in agreement.

"Well then, I'll ask her if she wants to come along! She did ask about you a bunch yesterday, so I think she'll probably say yes!"

We then finished our lunch, speaking about school, or whatever. In the meantime, I managed to sneak a few glances at my phone to answer Chloe's texts. We barely had any time left before class after we were done.

Being his usual self, Thomas complained, "Why do we have so little time to eat on Thursdays?"

"But it means we finish earlier," Ruby said, smirking. "And you don't seem to mind that."

Having nothing to argue against that, he zipped it and followed us to class.

After a short couple of hours of class, the bell finally rang, freeing us for the day.

"So what are you going to do this afternoon, Jesse?" Ruby asked, as we walked out of the school.

In the corner of my eye, I could see Thomas smirking... Ignoring him, I answered her question. "I don't know... Maybe Chloe's gonna need some help with something. I'll see!"

"And what about you?" she said, looking over at Thomas.

"Gaming, probably... Or reading, depending on what I feel like doing."

"Oh, really?" I said, teasingly. "And what about your homework?"

"My what?" he said, chuckling.

"That's what I figured!" I patted him on the back, jokingly, as Ruby sighed.

Our friendship dynamic had many times been... questioned by others. People would often ask us if Thomas wasn't just straight up annoying, and why we always seemed to bicker with each other. Well, especially Ruby and Thomas, but I also would get on it more often than not. The truth was, we just liked to tease each other, but we were pretty much best friends. Something about opposites attracts each other, perhaps?

Thomas was the 'I-don't-give-a-shit-about-class-and-I-would-sell-family-and-pets-for-a-good-joke' type of guy; while Ruby was the serious-and-composed girl, always focused on school despite a few difficulties. And I was somewhat of a middle ground-- doing enough at school not to be worried about it, but if I had the opportunity to slack off, I would.

I also never minded a good joke, although Thomas often stole them from me. In the end, Thomas knew he didn't have to hold back around us, like he had to around his parents, or other classmates he didn't know as well, and we knew we could get back at him whenever we wanted, especially when he got really annoying.

Even without our constant bickering, they were two amazing people I was insanely proud of calling my friends, and I was absolutely convinced that if it were to come to it, they would both help me if I needed it, just like I would help them as soon as they asked.

A few minutes later, we all went our separate ways-- home, in my case. After a short drive home, I pulled in the driveway, under the soft sun of early February.

Upon opening the front door, I found Chloe on her laptop at the kitchen bar, instead of on the couch, where I found her the day before.

"Afternoon, sleepyhead!" I said, jokingly.

"Hi! Already home?" she asked from across the big open room.

"Yeah, Thursdays are nice..."

I set down my stuff near my 'bed' and sat across from her.

"How are you doing?" I asked, as we both examined each other's faces.

"Good, actually! Better than yesterday. I don't know, it felt weird... But I guess I could get used to... this," she looked around the otherwise empty living room.

"Speaking of getting used to it... I chatted with my parents this morning and--"

She interrupted me, and said, looking awfully defeated, "They want to know when I'll leave. Right?"

"Oh! Oh no, quite the contrary, actually! They said... mhh, no, insisted even, that you don't have to worry about it. At all."

She looked at me, speechless.

I kept on going, trying to sound reassuring. "You can stay here as long as you want. You don't have to leave if you don't want to. You really don't."

"Jesse--" she said, tears pooling in her eyes. "Ye--Yesterday, when you asked me if--if I had found anything..."

"Yes?"

"I lied! I didn't find anything! I said I--I hadn't searched at all, but I--" my friend said, as her emotions overtook her once again.

It pained me just as much as it did the other day. "Hey, hey, it's okay. Slow down there."

"You don't understand! It's--It's... I lied! I looked all day, and there's nothing for me out there! Nothing!"

"Chloe, are you okay?" I said, while kneeling next to her chair. "What's the big deal here? I don't...?"

"I'm not! I just called you out of the blue! And then lied straight to your face!!" she said, while sobbing.

"Shhh..." I took her hands in mine, feeling their coldness, almost as cold as the air outside. "You had a stressful week, Chloe."

She stared into my eyes, searching for something beyond them. What I was going to say next, perhaps?

"I don't... I don't understand why you think you can't stay here..." My voice crackled a bit. "But--But Chloe, I want you to know... to really, really know that you can stay here as long as you want."

We both looked at each other for a bit, basking in the soft glow of the afternoon.

After what felt like an eternity, Chloe said something. "Do--Do you want me to stay?"

I looked at her beautiful green eyes, and the tears pooling within them, almost like beads of crystal floating on the green sea of her irises...

"Yeah... Yes," I nodded. "I would like you to stay. I would like that a lot."

The whole room got awfully quiet for a moment before I kept on going. "I don't think I can live knowing you're in a shelter or--or somewhere that's not where I'll know you'll be safe."

"Jesse--" she said, "I... I want to... Can I hug you?"

"Of course you can," I said, while trying not to cry myself.

And so she did. Before I knew it, she wrapped her arms around me and cradled her head in my neck. I stayed here for a bit before putting my hand on her head and my other arm around her. She finally surrendered to her emotions and cried on my shoulder.

Even though my friend was currently not having the best of times, I had to admit holding her against me like that felt... nice. Maybe even a bit too nice?

"Jesse..." Chloe said, sobbing. "Why... did they kick me out?"

"I don't know..." I said, pressing her against me tighter. "No one knows..."

I felt her body sobbing against my chest, her tears flowing down onto my shoulder.

While holding her against me, I wondered... wondered about how someone could do this to their child. About what the future might hold for Chloe. And for me. For us?

We stayed like that for...a while. Minutes? Tens of minutes? The only measure of time was Chloe's sobbing --slowly slowing down-- and the rhythm of her breath.

Finally, she pulled back a bit, while wiping her tears. She looked up at me and asked, "Why... why are you smiling?"

I hadn't even realized I went from almost crying my­self to smiling as I held her against me. "Oh... I think I--I finally understand why you seemed... I don't know, weird...? And I also understand why even speaking about what you were going to do next made you this uncomfortable," I said, looking once again at her green eyes.

She looked at me, a few tears were still slowly rolling down her face. "Why?" she asked, weakly.

"I guess... I guess I hadn't realized what had ha­ppened to you."

Her body tensed up a bit against mine.

"I mean, I knew what happened 'cause you told me, or at least part of it, but I hadn't really... given enough thought to it. Not nearly enough to realize what it meant for you, anyway."

But it made sense. It all did...

"I can see now. I can see why you spent so much time and effort looking for a way out of here," I said, pressing her a bit harder against me as her eyes teared up once more. "Deep down, you didn't think you could stay here, no matter how much we told you you could. And you... you seem to think you're a burden to everyone around you."

A last tear rolled down her cheek. "Yes... Yes...." she said simply.

"Look, I know that... you can't just forget all about it. But Chloe, no one wants you to leave. No one at all. Nor me, nor my parents, nor anyone."

Chloe cradled her head against my neck once more. I closed my eyes and leaned down a bit to rest my head on hers. Her breath was warm against my shoulder. A nice change from the cold wetness of her tears a few minutes earlier.

"And more importantly," I added, "we don't think you're a burden. I don't, my parents don't. I can't fathom what makes you think that, but I can assure you it's not the case. Not here, not right now, not ever."

She didn't say anything, but I felt her relax a bit against me. Without thinking about it, I began slowly stroking the back of her head.

"Can we make a deal?" I asked, quietly.

She pulled back slightly and looked up at me. "Yes?"

"When you start... you know, feeling like a burden, talk about it. To anyone! Me, my parents, the mirror, or anyone! It doesn't matter who; it just matters that you do. Just don't keep it to yourself. That doesn't work out too great..."

I had no idea if she'd spent her whole life feeling like that, or if it had started 'recently', but either way, it wasn't going to be that easy to get past it. But at least she won't be facing it alone...God, I hope she'll be fine.

"Okay, I--I promise you I will," she said, barely loud enough for me to hear, and then went back to her previous position, her head against my neck.