Be My Juliet [on hold]

Chapter 25

*Dan’s POV*

“Goodbye, sweetheart.  I love you.”  Did I really say that?  Or did I just think it?  Wait… did I really think it?  Do I love Penelope?  True and proper love?  It just slipped out of my mouth, as if I’ve said it millions of times.  I think I have, in my mind at least.  Every time I see her, my brain screams it out.  Whenever we spend time together- same thing.  Even when her name pops up while texting nothing but excitement and… well… love flows through my body.  All those hours we’ve spent laying on the couch, my fingers running delicately through her long, soft hair as we talk about anything, when we walked around London together, the nights she’s slept over and I got to see her natural morning-beauty: I could have said those three little words at any moment.  Maybe I’ve loved her for longer than I realize.  What are the symptoms of being in love?  That makes it sound like a disease.  It’s not a disease.  It’s that feeling in the pit of my stomach whenever I hear her name: twisting, churning, millions of butterflies violently trying to escape from inside me.  It’s that way my mouth naturally flicks into a smile whenever she’s around.  It’s how she constantly runs through my mind.  I am in love with Penelope.  I’ve decided. 

“Have you talked with Penelope yet?” I hear Phil ask, zapping me back into the present and out of the long tangential path I was starting to head down.

“Yeah… I just hung up with her.” I reply, feeling an immense smile spread across my cheeks as my mind starts replaying her name.

“Well where is she?  Is she okay?  What happened?  Is she coming over?  Please tell me she’s coming over.”

“Calm down, Phil.  I don’t have all the answers.” I chuckle.  “She’s with that guy; she’s alright; she’s not coming over.”

“What happened?  Should I try to get more information out of Jess?”

“That’s a great idea actually.” I nod.  “She didn’t tell me much.  They just had another fight, but I’m guessing this one was way worse.”

“Alright, I’ll go call.”  Phil goes into another room as he raises his phone to his ear, so I pull out my laptop and start surfing the web to pass the time.  I start trying to come up with things that could have happened, but I can’t think of much.  What could possibly be so bad that it forces Pen to leave and call Jess a bitch?  How could Jess have told us to fuck off and slam the door in our faces?  Out of everyone I know, she would be one of the last people I’d expect to do that.  Was she drunk?  Is that what the fight was about?  Hopefully Phil can get more. 

Right on cue, Phil erupts into the lounge fuming.  He never gets like this.  I’ve barely seen him angry.  He looks like he’s about to rip someone’s head off.  He throws the phone onto the couch, clenching his hands into tight fists.  “What happened?”

“I found out.  I can’t even believe Jess would do that I mean she needs to be there not fucking scream and then expect me to think she was right because she most definitely wasn’t and I don’t want to even imagine how Pen is feeling.  Can you please get her here right now so I can hug her and make sure she realizes that Jess was being a total bitch?”  Holy shit he’s mad.  He rarely talks like that.

“Phil.  Slow down.  Explain.”

“I’ll give you a quick run down.  Pen cut herself.”  Immediately my stomach twists into a knot of unpleasant emotions ranging from sorrow to frustration.  She promised she’d try to stop.  I was expecting her to relapse at least once; I know how difficult it is.  But she said she’d call.  Wait… I did have 2 missed calls from her.  She did try to call.  She did keep her promise.  I just fucked up and wasn’t there like I said I’d be.  “I know.” Phil says, obviously reading right through me.  “But Jess yelled at her.  I think Jess is drunk now, probably because she is sorry that she said what she did and doesn’t want to admit it.”