It's Not A Question But A Lesson Learned In Time

It's Not A Question But A Lesson Learned In Time - Chapter Twenty-Three

My bedroom door suddenly opened and Joe burst in, he walked straight in front of me, accepted the call and then smirked at me.  

"The ringing was getting fucking annoying!" Was all he said before leaving again. 

I sat staring at the screen, slightly gobsmacked that Joe had done it but also terrified at having to talk to James, who was now on the screen in front of me waiting expectantly for an explanation. 

"Hey... How are you?" I asked slightly nervously. 

"I'm ok. You?" I nodded. "So what's up?"  

"So I've been thinking and I don't think I'll be coming home anytime soon like I'd originally planned." 

"You what? You can't be serious." 

"Well I like it here. And yeah, obviously I miss you and Joey but it's not like I can't come and visit you guys ever!" 

"That's not the point though Frankie! This is your home! Here. In Oakland, California. Not fucking London!"  

"I'm sorry..." I shrugged not looking at the computer screen. 

"Seriously? That's all you're going to say? You're fucking sorry?! I defended you to your dad when he constantly asked about you, I told him you were okay and just needed time to cool off. But this... If I'd known you were NEVER planning on coming home I probably would have told him where you are before now!" 

"You didn't have to tell him anything but instead I get a surprise visit from him two days ago! I can't believe you told him where I was. I thought I could trust you! And I know... I just- I like it here! More than I ever thought I would so what's the point in leaving here when I'm fairly sure I can stay living here and be perfectly happy? I'll come and visit and stuff but I don't want to go back anymore and not just because I have issues with my dad." 

"Well if you'd seen your dad on that day you probably would have caved as well. But I think you're being a fucking idiot." James shrugged before the call was ended. He had just hung up on me! 

I fell back on my bed in frustration and anger. James had never said anything like that to me and actually meant it and I'd never seen him so angry. Knowing I was the cause of that anger just made me feel worse.

I'd already spent a lot of the day just sleeping in between large bouts of thoughts and guilty feelings so by the time my call with James had ended I couldn't sleep anymore. Instead I ended up staring between the ceiling and walls on either side of me as I continuously turned back and forth.

I just about managed to kill the time until just before one in the morning a little while after the noise from downstairs had subsided, giving Hannah, Ben and Joe enough time to go to bed and hopefully fall asleep before I left my room to get something to eat. 

I eased the door open - fortunately all of the doors in this house seemed to be well oiled.

I made it into the kitchen without hitting any creaky floorboards or knocking anything over and started rooting through the fridge looking for something to eat, using just the light from inside the fridge to see to avoid switching any bigger lights on and attracting attention. 

"And the hermit, a solitary creature, cautiously emerges from her hideout to gather food in preparation for her hibernation." I leapt up, hitting my head on the top of the fridge as Joe flicked the kitchen light on. "I knew you'd be out for food at some point. Now what's going on? I mean apart from the massive blowout with your dad on Monday because you seemed to get over that pretty damn quickly." 

"It doesn't matter." I shrugged, going back to the fridge. The door of the fridge was suddenly slammed shut and I came face to face with Joe. 

"It clearly does. If it didn't matter you would not have been holed up in your room ALL day and you would not have refused to talk to everyone, especially Hannah. So come on, what happened with James?"