In any other situation, her words would have sounded overly dramatic but I’d never seen a storm like the one that had started to whip itself into a frenzy outside, and I’d witnessed some big ones over the years. Because I’d been focusing so hard on keeping Kayla and me alive, I only just thought; Jude was still at work, unless he’d been sent home early.
I pulled away from Mrs Shaw’s hug and rummaged in my purse for my phone. “Need to call Jude,” I mumbled as the shivers took a hold of my body, making me shake. I must have been in shock from the speed everything had happened. It seemed like a second ago Kayla and I were laughing and modelling. Now we were back at her place, drenched, and my brain hadn’t caught up yet.
Mrs Shaw nodded. “I’ll go get some towels and find you something to wear so I can put your clothes in the dryer.”
She put her arm around Kayla’s shoulders and led her upstairs while I hit speed dial one. Glad to hear the phone lines hadn’t gone down yet, I waited for Jude to pick up. Hoped he would pick up.
“Hey, Bree. I’ve just got home. Where are you?”
A sigh of relief left my body. “I’m at Jesse’s. We just got back, too. It’s scary outside.”
“It sure is. The weather reports say it’s only going to get worse. Richard called off training about an hour ago and most of us left right away.”
My stomach lurched. My friends. What about my friends? Another gust of wind forced the rain to crash against the window, a huge boom of thunder followed, making my trembling violent enough that I had to grip the phone harder.
“Jude,” I said, my voice breathless. “Is everyone else okay?”
“Yeah, I think so. A bunch of us left for home but some of the guys decided to stay at the training ground to wait the storm out. There’s plenty of food there, and things to do to keep them entertained.”
“Who came home?” I asked, panicked. “Freya and Will? Radleigh? Miguel? Bryce? Do you know where Leah is?”
“Calm down, honey. Freya went home, andWill had the day off to go see his mom, remember?”
Ah, right. Will’s mom had had minor surgery, and he’d taken a couple days off to spend time with her, so he was probably safe at her place.
“Sure,” I said. “What about everyone else?”
“Radleigh went home to be with Leah because she hates storms, and Miguel and Bryce stayed at work. I want you to stay where you are, okay? I don’t want you driving home until everything has calmed down.”
I nodded as if he could see me. Staying at Jesse’s would be no problem. As long as his parents didn’t mind. Once I got out of my wet clothes, spending the rest of the day/evening with them would actually be kind of fun. It would sure give me time to get my speeding pulse under control.
“Bree?”
“Yes,” I said quickly. “I’ll stay here.”
“Good. I’ll try to call you later but I’m pretty sure the phone lines will go down sometime before this is over. Stay where you are until it’s calmer outside.”
“Okay. You’re staying in now, too, right?”
“Of course. I’m gonna go down to the gym and workout for a while to make up for the exercise I missed during training.”
“Okay. Well, I’ll talk to you later.”
“I love you.”
“You too.”
I hung up before giving myself a chance to feel guilty for not actually telling him I loved him. The storm didn’t take away how totally confused I was about everything, or how angry he’d made me over the past few weeks. Perhaps some real time away from him would help me put things in to perspective.
Before I relaxed, I had to call Leah and Freya to make sure they were safe, and that Radleigh had gotten home. Thankfully, Radleigh had arrived at the house a few minutes ago, and Freya said Will was on his way home from his mom’s, and searching for a place to stop and wait until the worst had passed.
A little over an hour later I’d showered, and my clothes had been washed, dried and returned to me. Is there anything better than clothes fresh out of the dryer? Especially when it’s dark and creepy outside. Actually, everything about Jesse’s home was warm and comforting. His parents were super cute together, all hand holding and private jokes. They reminded me of Freya and Will, and how they would probably be in twenty years’ time. I tried not to compare my relationship with Jude but I couldn’t help myself. We used to be that way. When I thought of him I still got butterflies but they were quickly followed by disappointment and hurt. Jude’s face faded out of my image of us in the kitchen, and Jesse replaced him. More butterflies. Huge butterflies. I forced myself to snap out of my trance because thinking of him that way while he sat across from me at the table was pretty awkward. I watched as he ate the chicken noodle soup he’d made – which was totally delicious, by the way – and tried to keep up with the conversations happening around me.
When we’d finished eating, Kayla said she wanted to go finish the book she was reading, so Jesse and I went up to his room, where I’d spent so much time over the last few weeks.
Perched on his bed, for the first time I felt sort of… uncomfortable. My stupid, confusing thoughts about him made me super aware of everything. Did my hair look okay? Probably not since I’d had to blow dry it and then scrunch it back with a hair tie because I didn’t have my straighteners with me. If I sat with my feet up on the bed, would I seem too over-familiar?
Sheesh. I always sat with my feet up on the bed. Sometimes I even sprawled myself out while we chatted because he made me so damn comfortable. Not now, though.