Love After You

Chapter 3

The words were hard to find. Her anger towards him wasn't as fierce now, but the pain still lingered. After writing a dozen paragraphs and deleting them, she settled on this, hoping it would make how she felt perfectly clear.

I will never forgive you. Stop calling me.

It was harsh; she knew that. But she needed him to stop. She needed everything to stop.

***

It had been a couple of weeks since he had received that text message from Jess.

And it still plagued him.

I will never forgive you.

Those words haunted his days and his dreams.

It was that time of year again, and the infamous Halloween party at the Hughes household was still going ahead. Jake hoped and prayed that Jess would be there. If she saw him in person, if she just saw his face, he was sure she would forgive him.

He pulled on his trusted Batman costume, and then he made his way to Adam's family home.

His parents refused to cancel, saying Adam wouldn't want that. And they were right; it was his favourite time of year. For as long as Jake could remember, Adam would always get so excited for Halloween. They would go trick-or-treating as children, running from house to house, grabbing all the money and chocolates they could. One year, Adam came up with the idea of running home and changing costumes, then go back out and hit the same houses again. It worked, and they ended up with double the load of sweet treats.

That was Adam for you—the brains and the beauty... Jake always looked up to him.

But now he was gone.

"So lovely for you to make it, Jake," Grace, Adam's mother, said, pulling him into a warm hug that felt like coming home.

"Thanks for inviting me, as always."

She stepped back, cupping his cheek as she looked at him, a sorrowful expression on her face. "You were always such a good friend to him." She muttered softly, then gave him a soft smile, the tears evident in her eyes, before she walked away.

Fuck, he wasn't ready for that.

He grabbed a cup and poured a double, maybe even triple, of whisky before heading into the room where the music played.

There was a lower chance of being approached there.

The music pumped through the whole house. At first, there was an awkwardness in the air, as if this shouldn't be happening. However, the drinks began to flow, and the more they drank, the less they cared. Soon, people danced in remembrance of Adam, or that's what they told themselves.

But Jake only drank and drank as he eyed the front door all night. He was just waiting and praying that she would walk through it.

But she never did.

***

He got a taxi home; it was very late, and he should have gone home probably five drinks ago.

Grace offered for him to stay, but he knew that meant crashing in Adams' old room, and he couldn't face that.

When he got out of the taxi, he drunkenly made his way upstairs and fell into bed, sleep finding him easier with the alcohol's help.

Sometime through the night, his doorbell rang, waking him up.

He opened the door and found Emily there.

His heart instantly sank.

He had broken up with her not long after Adam had died, but she just wouldn't leave him be. She kept telling him that she understood he was hurting and that he didn't mean it. But he did mean it. He didn't see a future with her. He didn't see a future with anyone.