The Promise (32 page)

“I don’t know if I want to talk to him yet,” I say and
see him beginning to laugh.

“You know what you want, Soph
. You’re just scared,” he tells me. “You knew even before we left that bar today. Nothing’s changed so just call him. I’ll go take a shower and give you some privacy.” He leans down to kiss me on the temple before he gets up off of the bed. He brings me another drink before telling me he’s cutting me off for a while and then walks through to the bathroom.

I dial Chase’s number and he picks up on the first ring.

“Sophie?” he asks and my eyes instantly tear up.

“Hey,” I
answer him quietly, hearing as he lets out a breath of relief down the phone

“God, Baby! I was so worried about you,” he sa
ys, his word making me smile. “Thank you for calling me.”

“I’m okay
, but … Chase? I don’t want to talk to you about any of this over the phone,” I answer him.

“Okay
…” he hesitates, but after a brief pause, he continues. “Baby, I’m so sorry. I never should have …“

“Y
ou didn’t know,” I offer.

“Still, I should’ve trusted you. I
mean, I
do
trust you,” he says.

“I really don’t want to do this on the phone, Chase,” I whisper.

“I know and we won’t, Baby. I just need you to know how sorry I am,” he says quietly. “I won’t say anything else about it, okay?”

“Okay, thank you.” We s
it silently for a few seconds before he speaks again.

“Where are you?” he asks. “Ana said you left but
she wouldn’t tell me where you are.”

“I’m in Camden,” I
answer, “I left early.”

“Okay
… Well are you still coming back on Thursday?” he asks, sounding hopeful.

“Probably,” I sa
y, thinking that it’s highly likely I’ll be back then.

“Can we talk when you get back
please?”

“Yes,” I agree and he thank
s me. “I think I’m gonna take a shower and head to bed, but I’ll talk to you soon okay?”

“Okay.
Sweet dreams, Baby,” he whispers just before I end the call.

Matt’s still in the shower and I’m
feeling emotionally exhausted.

Screw cutting me off
… I’m getting myself another drink and once I’m done, I’ll head out for some fresh air.

***

“Shit, Sophie! You scared the ever loving shit out of me! What the hell are you doing out here?” Matt scolds me as he climbs out of his car before making his way over to Jack’s grave.

I can only sob louder
, gripping onto the bottle in my hand firmly as I lay across the grass. “Fuck, Babe. Come here,” he says, sitting down on the ground beside me and pulling me over to him. He glances down to the now almost empty bottle that I’m clutching tightly in my hand and rests himself against the tree before pulling me closer. “God I bet you’re absolutely hammered aren’t you? Did you drink all of this, Soph?” He asks and I nod a yes, wailing even louder.

“I had to Matty
…” I slur my words and feel him holding me tighter. “I had to make it st-stop. It hurts too b-bad.” I cry. My body is heaving uncontrollably. I have no idea how long I’ve been out here but I’m sure that I must look like a train wreck. I’m just too drunk to care anymore. “I don’t know why I’m so sad over J-Jack anyway. He’s a liar. He promised he’d come back and he lied to m-me!” I yell. “I obviously didn’t mean shit to him!” I sob as Matt grips my arms tightly, while forcing my face to his.

“Look at me! I know you’re drunk and I know you’re hurting but that’s bullshit and you know it
, Sophie!” he snaps, which only causes for my chest to clench tighter.

“Please don’t yell at me, Matty,” I whimper.

“Well then don’t say stupid shit you don’t mean!” his tone is softer this time but I know he’s still upset. He never once moves me away from his chest. He lets me settle back in place, hugging me tighter. “Don’t you dare ever think for a second that you weren’t everything to Jack. He loved you more than anything in the world and it was torture on him not being with you, Sophie. You know that. Don’t you dare shit on his memory by denying the love he had for you for even a second.”

“I’m sorry. You know I d
on’t mean it. I just love him s-so much and it hurts so bad Matty,” I cry into his chest. “This is so unfair!”

“I know
, Honey. I know,” he comforts me, kissing my hair. He holds me like this for a while, although I’m not entirely sure for how long. I drain the rest of the rum from the bottle and notice Matt shaking his head, but he doesn’t stop me. For what seems like a couple of hours, his whisper finally breaks the silence. “Come on, Babe. Let’s get you to bed.”

I shake my head and sit up, “No, you go ahead. I’m gonna stay here for a little while
longer.”

“Not gonna happen, Sophie. I’m not leaving you drunk and out in the middle of a graveyard in the middle of the night. Come on,” he
insists while crouching down in front of me.

“No, Matt. I’m not leaving right now. I want to be alone with him
for a little while,” I say firmly. He looks down at me and nods his understanding.

“Fine, you stay out here if you want
, but I’m not leaving you. I’ll give you some privacy but I’m going to go and sit in the car until you’re ready to bring your ass back to the room, then I’ll drive you back there. Deal?”

“Okay,” I answer him before watching him standing back up.

“I love you,” he says with a sigh. “I’m here if you need me.”

“Than
ks Matty. I love you too,” I whisper back and hear as he begins to walk back towards his car.

I lean
against the tree and speak to Jack.

I’ve never felt as though his spirit is really here in this graveyard. I know that this would be the last place he’d choose to hang out, but talking to him here always feels so right. I tell him everything.

I tell him about how Ana and I had made the move and both gotten new jobs. I tell him about Ana and Drake. I explain to him about meeting Chase and how I’d fallen in love. I even tell him that I’m not sure how to deal with this because I still love him. I tell him about the fight at the bar, about Matt almost kissing me. I tell Jack everything just like I always had when he was still here with me.

I cry and cry until the sobs make me feel as though I’m going to be sick. Finally, I lay down on the ground and over his grave while singing softly to him I sing our song and cry some more, the whole time allowing my tears to collect into a puddle over his remains, until I fall asleep with him in the graveyard.

***

Chase

It has been about an hour since I talked to Sophie. Hearing my phone dinging, I look down to see a call from Drake coming in.

“Hello?” I answer.

“Hey, man. Have you heard from Sophie at all tonight?” he asks.

“Yeah I talked to her about an hour ago. Why? What’s up?” I ask. He relays the message to Ana before telling me to hold on while Ana gets to the phone.

“What did she say to you?” Ana asks.

“Not a lot. She said that she headed to Camden early and that she’d probably still be back on Thursday. Why? What’s wrong?” I ask nervously.

“She called me about an hour ago but I think it was by accident … She was mumbling some crazy shit about going to find Jack. Now I can’t get her to answer her phone,” she tells me, with worry evident within her voice. My heart drops to the ground. I can’t even try and imagine what she meant by that but it doesn’t sound good. “I called Matt and he said that when he had gotten out of the shower, she had already gone. She didn’t leave him a note or anything. He’s out looking for her now.”

I’m already dressed and grabbing my keys
before she has time to finish talking.

“I’m on my way. Keep trying her phone okay?” I
ask into the phone as I climb into my waiting truck.

“Wait
… Where are you going?” she asks, sounding surprised.

“I’m going to
go and get my girlfriend, Ana. I’ll reach Camden in a couple of hours. Let me know if you hear from her,” I say as I pull out of my driveway.

“Chase, it’s a five hour drive” she starts but I
don’t have the time for this.

“I don’t care if it takes me five days, Ana
! If she needs me there, I’m going. Besides, I can be there in three hours or less. Call me if you hear from her,” I say before shutting my phone.

Looks like I’m going to Camden after all.

***

Two and a half hours later, I pull onto the main road for Camden.

I’m surprised I haven’t gotten myself arrested because of how fast I’ve been driving. I still haven’t heard from Ana, but then my phone has been in and out of service for the majority of the drive, so it doesn’t necessarily mean that she hasn’t tried to call. I just have to keep telling myself that Sophie is fine and that I’ll find her.

I call Drake again
but he tells me that they still haven’t heard anything from either Sophie or Matt. I’m becoming increasingly concerned about her but Ana has told me of a couple of places I can look for them. I set out for those places as soon as I hang up the phone. It’s about three o’clock in the morning and the knot in my stomach really hasn’t gotten much better.

After driving to three other places first, I slowly make my way through the winding entrance of the cemetery.
As soon as I see Matt’s black and silver Chevelle, I figure I’ve found them.

Pulling
up beside his car, I cut the engine before walking over to his door. He’s asleep. His head is propped against the window and has a shirt tucked under his head. When I glance to the passenger seat beside him, I see that it’s empty.

Tapping on the glass, Matt
jumps awake immediately, looking straight at me for a second with confusion, before recognition appears to set in. He moves the shirt before rolling his window down.

“What do you want?” I can see the swelling in his jaw
as he asks

“Where’s Sophie?” I ask him. He
narrows his eyes on me, throwing me a look that tells me he’s still pissed, but I can’t say that I blame him. “Look, man, I’m sorry about earlier, I really am, but that’s not important right now. Nobody’s heard from Sophie in hours and Ana called me to see if I’d heard anything when you couldn’t find her. I drove down here to check on her and make sure she’s okay. If she doesn’t want to see me then that’s fine, but I need to know if she’s okay at least.” Just as I speak those words, my phone sounds and when I look down, I see that it’s another text from Ana. “See?” I say, holding my cell up to show him.

Did you find her yet? ~Ana~              

I watch as he reads the text before closing his eyes, finally inhaling a deep breath and after a few moments, he re-opens them. “She’s fine. She’s right over there,” he points somewhere behind me and when I turn and see her, I begin to head straight over to her but he stops me.

“Wait!” I
pause and turn back around when I hear him call me. “Listen man, she’s really upset and wants to be alone with him right now. If you wanna wait here with me then fine but please leave her alone for now.” I look back towards her and can see the outline of her body heaving with sobs. I want nothing more than to go to her and take it all away. “I know it’s hard to see her like this, I get it,” he says.

T
his is when I realize that he loves her, too.

“But that girl
has been through hell. If you really love her as much as you say you do, then you really need to leave her to it, man.” Letting out a deep sigh of resignation, I hear his door opening and so move out of the way. “I really am sorry I hit you. I just—“

“Don’t worry about it, man. It’s not the first punch I’ve taken for her and
it’s most likely not going to be the last one either. I’ll endure it if I have to,” he laughs, reaching into his car for a moment before passing me a beer. “Nice right hook, though,” he adds, grabbing his chin before raising his beer in front of us to toast with mine.

“So that wasn’t the first time someone hit you over Sophie, huh?” I ask.

“Nah,” he shakes his head. “A couple months after she and Jack got together, we all got drunk out by the lake one night. They had a big fight over some stupid high school bullshit and so she got pissed off, shouted at him in front of everyone and made him look like an idiot. Man, she was so mad!” he laughs at the memory he holds.

“She’s got a temper on her,” I laugh, surpr
ised by the smirk that’s spreading over my face as I think of a seventeen year old Sophie losing her temper over a boy.

“
Shit! You’re telling me! So anyway, she told him she never wanted to see his face again. They were through and all that shit before she stormed away. I knew he’d be alright, but she’d never been a big drinker so I went to check on her. I find her sitting on the other side of the lake, crying her eyes out. I talked to her for a few minutes, made her feel better. We were about to head back to the party to find Jack when she grabbed my hand to thank me and kissed me on the cheek. Just at that moment, Jack walked up behind us. He thought I’d been putting the moves on her and he just laid my ass out!”