Be My Juliet [on hold]

Chapter 36

"YOU CAN'T SAY THAT!!" I laugh, holding my options for a Cards Against Humanity match. "Did you put this in?" I accuse Dan, watching as his cheeks go red.

"No!" he tries to explain, but I already know it was him; Phil's too innocent to play the infamous 'jerking off into a pool of children's tears' card.

"Sure..." I say, putting it down. "No matter, 'women in yogurt commercials' wins!"

"YES!" Phil beams, grabbing the black card and adding it to his stack. He picks up a new card in order to start another round when I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket.

I unlock it and read, I hope this helps, Pen. I'm sorry. - Jess

"Who's that?" Phil asks, seeing the confusion that must be all over my face.

"Jess..." I say slowly, trying to think of a reply. What does she mean, I hope this helps? What is this? Immediately my mind goes to the worst possibilities, ranging from her drinking her problems away or her packing up and moving out. I type out the first thing that comes to mind, both perplexed and worried.

What are you doing? Call me. -Pen

"What does she want?" I hear Dan ask, making me look up from my phone again. Our eyes lock and he can tell that I'm concerned. His face softens as his mouth drops into a slight frown, mirroring my own. "What's wrong Pen?"

"I'm not sure," I tell them, standing up from my cross-legged position on the floor and walking over to the stairs. "I gotta go though."

"What's happening?" I hear Dan question as I run to his room to throw on some socks and my jean jacket to throw over the oversized Brand New band tee and leggings I was wearing while lounging around. I bolt back down the stairs, bumping into Dan as I go to the first floor. "Slow down babe; tell us what's happening. Please?"

"I'm worried about Jess and just need to check on her, okay? I'll be back in an hour, promise." I tell him, shaking off his grasp to continue my descent. I hear their sets of footsteps behind me, and as I put on my gym sneakers I look up and see them dressed and ready to follow me out. I smile at them as I grab my bag, already filled with every essential I may need, and open the front door. "After you."

"Thank you, m'lady," Phil jokes, walking out. As soon as Dan and I join him he locks the front door and start walking in the direction of my place.

We get there quicker than ever, seeing as I ran whenever I could. "You should've warned us this would be a workout." Dan laughs, trailing behind me as I sprint.

"I never said you guys should come!" I giggle, spinning around at the crosswalk and waiting for them to catch up. "You guys have longer legs than me; you should be faster!"

"Yes but when's the last time you saw us working out?" Dan asks.

"And when's the last time you saw me working out?" I counter. Before he has a chance to answer the lighted signal saying I can go to the other side of the street illuminates, acting as my cue to start running again. "You better hurry up!" I laugh, leaving them to rush after me. I get to my front door and unlock it, leaving it slightly ajar for the boys.

I walk around and see the stack of empty pizza boxes and beer bottles scattered around the kitchen. "Jess?" I call, hoping she is somewhere here. I head to her bedroom, looking into every room I pass to make sure she isn't in there. "You here?" Her room is a total mess; clothes thrown all over floor as if she got dressed in a hurry. I peek into the closet just to be sure she isn't just avoiding me, then go over to the bathroom. "Jess?" I say softly as I knock on the door, pushing it open slightly accidentally. I look in and do not find her, seeing only a Lush bath bomb wrapper and candles surrounding the tub and smelling the vanilla scent of her favorite Butterball bath bomb still hanging in the air. That means she was just here. "Jess?" I yell one more time, finally realizing that I had just missed her.

"I don't think she's here, Pen." Phil replies from somewhere in the flat, obviously looking for her too.

"Where do you think she went?" I ask them as soon as I meet up with them in the lounge.

"No clue; what did her text say?" I pull out my phone and show them, letting them read it for themselves.

"Do you think she's getting groceries? Or maybe with university friends?" I go through various ideas, none of them sounding quite right. I head back into the kitchen and rummage through the drawers until I find the pad of sticky notes we always have on hand. I grab my favorite green pen from my bag and write out a quick little note of: 'We need to talk. I'm sorry. -Pen'. I know I mean it; I do feel sorry for what happened, and miss her. I miss our movie nights and our three hour gossip sessions. I miss having her hound me about perpetually looking like I just rolled out of bed. In short, I miss my best friend, and though I am still a little upset with what she said, I am more upset with not myself for not working it out sooner.

I rip out the note and stick it the the fridge in a spot I know she'll notice, then put the paper and pen back where I got them. "Do you want to wait for her here?" Dan muses, trying to think of something that'll calm my nerves.

"Yeah." I reply, nodding as I do. "For now. If I hear about where she is, get ready for another workout."

"I'll start a set of jumping jacks now." Phil adds, doing a couple before giving up.

"Thanks for coming guys," I smile at them, plopping down on the couch and throwing my hair up into a messy bun.

"No problem; we're happy to help." Dan tells me, sitting down next to me. He starts tracing circles and designs into my thigh as Phil takes the spot next to me, grabbing the remote and turning on the television. I reposition myself so that my legs are on Dan's lap and my head is resting on Phil's shoulder as he flips through the channels, eventually finding Hell's Kitchen. Dan wraps his arm around my waist, pulling me up to face him momentarily. He kisses my cheek and whispers, "she'll be alright," into my ear, making me smile and my cheeks go a little rosy. He sets me back down on Phil and goes back to doodling on my legs as I continue thinking about how lucky I am to have them.

A/N: HI GUYS I AM SO SO SO SO SO SO SORRY I AM JUST NOW UPDATING! I hope it was worth the wait! Originally I was going to tag everyone that asked me to update and apologize, but that'd take up a lot of space! I hope you all know that I am actually sorry for taking so long, but I have a (semi)-excuse! As some of you know, I am currently in college and am premed. Being premed means I have a crazy-busy schedule with crazy-hard classes, and unfortunately that means that I don't have enough time to write as much as I'd like :( Whenever I get a chance, I PROMISE I will! Also, if you've sent me fan art and haven't gotten a chapter dedicated to you, it's possible I can't find it anymore. So, if you want that chapter (and want to make me smile from ear to ear) PLEASE message me a link of it! Also, if you ever make fan art, PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF PUPPIES send it to me; I want to see it!! Someone a while back asked if they could make a video a) as if this were turning into a movie and you made the trailer and b) if they could make the trailer for the Romeo and Juliet movie Pen and JNow that I've said that, I'd like to just mention: I HAVE 1,000 FOLLOWERS NOW??? WTF GUYS WHEN DID THAT HAPPEN I CAN'T EVEN BEGIN TO TELL YOU HOW HAPPY I AM!! AND OVER 800K READS???? WHAT THE HELL I REMEMBER WHEN I HAD 1K AND I WAS FREAKING OUT SO IMAGINE ME NOW! Literally whenever I see 800K I have a mini heart attack. This time in the comments, I want you guys to tell me what music you've been listening to recently! I have a lot of suggestions and I'd love love LOVE it if you checked them out! Remember to vote/comment/follow if you liked this chapter and want more (i'm thinking of updating once this gets 100 votes so that ya'll know when i plan on it and don't ask me when i'll update next and so that i actually update in a timely fashion but idk, let me know what you think about this idea?), stay amazing xx