3.

THREE. The warmth from my hot chocolate raced through my hands, warming up my entire body slowly. The heat in the truck was on, but I was still shivering from the run through the rain back to the truck. This coffee store didn’t have a drive through, so Ferris and I were forced to trudge our way through the heavy rain. My clothes were soaked, but, after ten minutes with the heat blasting, they finally dried enough to a light dampness. I still was shivering to the bone, despite that.

Ferris brought his legs against his chest and leaned them against the steering wheel, centering his coffee in his lap. I leaned forward to reach my phone off the dash and wiped the little water it had on it onto my somewhat dry pants. I had fifteen minutes until I needed to be in the school’s library, studying and taking the test I missed in English. All the determination and willingness I had to catch up completely vanished the longer I sat in his truck.  

“So, do the police have anything on the break in?” he asked, glancing over at me, and I sighed; I knew the endless curiosity was coming up, but I had hoped that he would have forgotten he wanted to know.

“Barely anything. Whoever it was left no finger prints, or any other traces of evidence. The blood was mine, but whoever broke in had fixed my wounds. The detective said that meant he intruder was in my house for quite some time,” I mumbled, stroking the side of my cup, and kept my eyes down.  The entire situation had me scared out of my mind�"then, the police gave me even more frightening information.

“There are no suspects or anything?”

“No, plus it’s not their priority at the moment, so they’ve decided to take their sweet time with it,” I brought the cup to my lips, letting the cocoa pour down my throat. I checked the time again and slid my phone into pocket.

“I hope they find who did it. That’s just…”

“Insane,” I finished for him, gazing over at his astounded face. He nodded and took a sip from his cup.

“So, you needed to get back, right?” Ferris asked as he straightened his legs out.

“Yeah, I do…”

He jammed his keys into the ignition, missing the first two times, and the truck roared to life. He pulled out from his parking spot and put the wind shield wipers on as he turned the corner, back onto the main road. I yanked my seat belt across my chest and pressed my thumbs on top of the lid to prevent it from lifting off, granted it didn’t fit exactly right.

The entire drive back to school was silent and the only noise that passed was the sound of the truck itself and the sips taken from our cups. I could tell something was on his mind, but I never knew him well enough to be able to decode his silences.  It was more and more unnerving the longer it lasted, but I wasn’t able to bring myself to break it. Thankfully, though, we were just pulling up to the parking lot and he accelerated, sliding into the same parking spot that I had found him in. Ferris stopped, but kept the engine running.

“I’ll see you later,” he said as I opened the door.

“Um, yeah. Later,” I replied, grabbing my backpack and creating a plan to make it through the rain without getting that drenched. I nodded and leaped out of the truck, slamming the door behind me. Dashing across the grass, I aimed my journey towards the library, deciding that I’d rather die than find it locked. I shoved my cup underneath my flannel to keep it dry and I raced up the little hill that led up to the doors. I stepped with relief underneath the canopy, turned back around to face the parking lot, and watched Ferris drive away.

Just as I was turning to open the door, my phone vibrated in my pocket. I switched hands that my cup was in and yanked my phone out, unlocking it at the same time. The text was from Lewis, saying that I needed to head to the office as soon as I returned. I looked up, my heart racing slightly, and followed the sidewalk down to the office, sheltered by the canopy that ran the entire sidewalk.

I wiped the runny make up from underneath my eyes, which was barely anything, and hauled the door open. I shuffled into the warm room that smelled vaguely of sage and glanced around before making my way up to the desk. The receptionist was just hanging up on a phone call as I set my cup on top of the counter.

“You’re Ms. Lovett, yes?” she asked in her soft voice. Her green eyes were piercing as she looked up at me, waiting for my response.

“Yes, yes I am,” I nodded, my voice shaking a little.

“Related to Cullen Lovett, then, right?”

My heart dropped to my feet as I nodded numbly back to her. What happened to Cullen? I could feel my legs shaking as I transferred the weight from one to the other.

“He’s at the hospital right now and wants you to meet him there,” she said monotonously. I had to use all my strength to keep my knees from bending and falling over. I grabbed my hot cocoa cup and racked my brain to find out what class Lewis was in right now; I needed his keys…

I nodded a goodbye to the lady and rushed out of the office. I sprinted across the campus, not even caring about the rain now, and hurried back into H building. He had English, right? I glanced at each plaque, declaring the teacher’s name, without really seeing and I almost missed the right room. It was Ms. Ellis and I crashed into the room, the door opening easier than I expected. The entire room turned around in their seats to stare, but I looked for the comforting face of Lewis and raced over to him, the seat in the front on the other side of the class.

Ms. Ellis tried to speak, but her words were muffled to me as Lewis stood up and tossed me the keys. He bounded over to me, his thin hands grabbing the sides of my face, and he kissed me, his lips tingling on mine. I weakly smiled at him after he stepped away before I raced out of the classroom, setting my cup on the desk that I passed on my way out.

I tried to clear my head as I ran into the parking lot. Maybe it was just a school fight that got too far? Or, maybe he just fell down the stairs? It couldn’t be�"could not be�"what I was most afraid of.

Despite the car being somewhat in the back of the lot, I unlocked it from where I was so there was less time and I tried to sprint even faster. I thanked God that I had invested my first two years of high school in track and that this run barely bothered me at all. Soon enough, I crashed into the driver’s door and I pulled I open. Tossing my bag into the passenger seat, I slid the keys into the ignition, yanking the door closed, and flipped the heat on before I reversed out.

I turned the radio on, in the hopes that it could distract some of the fear that was writhing in my stomach, and raised the volume up high. I flipped the classic station to the rock one and felt a little better as the music beat through my body, a different kind of pulsing blood. The rain pounded on the wind shield and putting the wipers on barely made a difference. Frustration boiled in my heart as I slowed down a great deal to not swerve off the curves. In the heat of the moment, my phone started ringing and I groped around to try to find it without taking my eyes off the road. I slipped it out of my pocket, after remembering it was there, and answered it.

“Yes?”

“Babe, be careful, alright?” Lewis asked, his voice frightened and pained.

“I am, I know…”

“Cullen’s being cared for right now and requested for you, so that means that he’s got to be in some sort of stable condition. Take it easy. The rain’s not going to ease, so the roads are rough. Just…please. Okay, Rosalie?”

I sighed, silent tears sliding down my face, “Alright, Lewis. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

I dropped the phone into my lap just as he hung up and I stopped at the sign, tapping my fingers on the steering wheel.  My mind grew more and more anxious as I turned the corner, easing down the slippery road. I could feel the car being slid across the asphalt as a strong wind dared to blow. Adrenaline coursed through my veins, so the fear of crashing didn’t sink into my heart. I twisted the volume knob down a few notches, letting myself focus more on the road, and freed myself from the small distraction I saw.

The intersection lights seemed to come a lot faster and looked a lot brighter as I pulled up to it. The ticking sound of my blinker being on filled my head and it made me stress out just a little bit more. Suspense was growing like a tree in my chest, spreading its roots into my rib cage. It seemed as though it was slowly killing me and the light seemed as though it was purposely taking an eternity to change shades. Once it finally did, I sped up through it and maneuvered a smooth turn onto the next road. I stared out onto the stretched out road and tried to lower myself into a bath of melancholy.   

Author's Note

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