Love is Hard

Miss Me?

"I told you! I knew they were going to win!" I yell, jumping up to high five Jackson. "Bengles are the best at what they do." I pause, "WINNING!" My arms frail through the air, and my voice is a high pitch sound.
"Man, I can't believe I lost to you again." Justin mutters. Caleb pats his back.
"Its alright buddy. She can't beat all of them." He encourages. I find that as a challenge.
"What was that? You want to go against me?" I mock, teasingly. A smile spreads on his smooth face.
"You heard me." He stands up, popping his knuckles. I cringe at the sound; I always have. He laughs, putting me in game mode. It was Sunday; game day. I always go big for these; beer, chips, popcorn. I usually invite Jackson, Katie, and of course Justin but today turned out differently. Katie brought a boyfriend, who was too busy sucking on my best friends face to even notice we were here. Justin, without me knowing, invited Caleb. They have gotten close, since the slammer incident. Katie's personal lip glue, Noah, swings his feet onto my table in front of the couch. I, not very hard but not very softly, push his feet onto the floor again. This made them stop, his face showing anger. I smile;
"I eat there." Everyone around me laughs, besides Katie. She gets off his lap, and comes into my face.
"Stop being jealous!" She yells, her face angered.
"Katie why would I-" she cuts me off, making me so confused.
"You're jealous of me, because I can get men and you can't!" She grabs Noah's hand as he smirks at me. She pulls him out of my apartment, slamming the door with them.

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"Well, that was a bum." I say. Justin and I are cleaning up everything. Justin chugs down the last of a beer bottle.
"I'm going to go to Julie's house tonight, if you don't mind..." He trailed off. Julie is his 'off and on' girlfriend.
"Of course I don't mind. Go now if you want! I can get this." I smile, pushing him to go. Honestly I wanted to be alone at home at the moment. Justin grabbed all the empty beer bottles with one hand and threw them away. He came back in and went to his dresser he left, pulling out clothes and shoving them into a bag.
"Thanks, sis." He says, me barely hearing him.
"No problem. I need to get rid of you sometimes anyways." I tease, rubbing his head. He flashes me a smile, before giving me a hug. I'm not much of a hugger, but Justin's are pretty amazing. It always feels like he will never see me again; all brotherly.
"Your girl is waiting!" I murmur from his chest. He let's go, heading for the door.
"I might not answer my phone, but you can call." He says, making me laugh. "Just in case, goodnight, Iz."
"Goodnight Justin." I say, as he turns and walks away. When he is out of view I close the door behind me, and start cleaning. I fold the blankets, wash dishes, clean the table, sweep the couch, and put up all the food. When I'm finished, I put on my pajamas; plaid light weight pants, and a Mickey Mouse shirt. My feet are bare as usual, keeping me cooler. I sit down for a relaxing movie; The Blind Side. One of my many favorites. Suddenly there is a knock at the door, making me jump out of my seat. I look around, relief hitting me. I get up, shaking off the blanket I just got out.
"Man. You just left! What did you-" I stop mid sentence, looking up at who stood there. Noah.
"Miss me?" He says, pushing his way in, "By the way, you look gorgeous!" He says, not hiding his sarcasm.
"What do you want?" I ask, not closing the door. I start feeling my hands shake; like always when I'm left alone with a guy.
"I thought we could chill." He pauses, looking at the t.v."Man, you really like football." He reaches for the movie case. I am stiff; not able to move. He slowly makes his way towards me, blabbing about something; I'm too busy looking out for myself. He reaches my side, and my body is shaking altogether. He slowly presses on the door, until hearing it click. I slowly walk away, until I hear the lock turn. I run toward my couch; standing behind my lampshade. The table it sat on held a glass vase that I made in the ninth grade. He slowly walks to me, his smirk never leaving his face. I start to panic; breathing heavy, and shaking. He reaches out for me when he gets close enough. Maybe as protection, I grab the vase and crash it against his head. His body falls to the floor, making a loud noise. I start to cry, making myself think too much, as always. I go straight to my phone, calling Justin. It rings for what seems like eternity; I call about ten more times. I start to panic, not knowing what to do! I think about Katie, but as I go to click on her name I remember, we're fighting, plus she wouldn't believe me over her boyfriend. Jackson is already ruled out; he'd faint or throw up, knowing him. Just a reaction he has to too much drama. My fingers go over my contact list, but it involuntarily clicks on a name, and I call it anyway. As it rings, I try to talk myself into hanging up.
"Hello?" I hear his perfect voice.
"Caleb..." My voice comes out as a whisper; cought in my throat.
"Isabelle?" I hear confusion, yet worry in his voice. "Is everything okay?" I sniffle, knowing he knew now I was crying. I heard him moving around, shuffling.
"No...I'm really scared." I struggle. My voice sounds so flimsey, ready to break any moment.
"I'm on my way! Stay on here, it will help calm you down." I nod, then I realize that he can't see me yet.
"Okay." I feel other tears fall. Caleb talked to me as he made his way over. About 5-6 minutes, Caleb came out of the elevator. I stood by the door, ending the phone call. He started to run to me, but slowed down halfway. He wraps me into an embrace; my tears leaking onto his hoodie.
"I don't like it when you cry." He says into my ear. I hold on tighter, taking in his scent. My breaths became normal, and my shaking limits. He lets go and grabs my hands; comforting me, yet getting down to business. "What happened?" He pulled a strand of hair behind my ear and I felt tears come again.
"Noah." I struggle, before breaking down. I point to my apartment; we are about seven steps away from the door. He let's go of one hand, but grips the other one tightly. He starts to slowly walk towards my door. I take in his look; bright yellow hoodie, with basketball shorts. He looked like he just came off from the court or from the gym. He has on the beanie from earlier, just positioned messier. I hold back tears and bite my lip. He finally gets to the doorway, peaking into my apartment. His eyes grew wide when he saw the young adult laying on the ground.
"What did you do to him?"
"I knocked him out, I think." I pause, "With a vase."
"Remind me to never get on your bad side." He joked, pulling me into a sideward hug. As I hung onto him, he called about 3 people. I looked at his hand to see blood stains. I gasp out loud and look at mine. My hands are stained with blood, and I start to feel numbness. "Make that two injured." I look up at him, and see his eyes glazed in pain. It took about another six minutes for the police and the ambulance to get here. We stood outside my apartment, holding one another while we waited. The police took my statement of what happened, and they took Noah to the hospital. Paramedics took care of my hand, stopping the bleeding and wrapping it up. I was calm during this whole process, mostly because Caleb never left my side. When all of the drama calmed down, I left Justin a voicemail telling him in was fine, and he had no need to worry. Caleb cleaned up the broken vase, while I protested that I should do it since I crushed it anyways.
"You should go get some sleep." Caleb said when he finished. He sits down next to me on the couch; I sit with my knees pulled in, close to my chest. He placed his hand slowly and gently on my knee, telling me I was going to be fine. I get up and go to my bedroom, while Caleb sat there and took a breather. I did my normal bedtime needs. The paramedics called my boss, telling him I needed until Wednesday off. My hand would heal my then and I could get back to my daily schedule. I pull back the covers, and turned out my lamp. My bedroom door is still open; a clear view of Caleb on the couch. I climb in bed, snuggling up to my blankets and sheets. I start to fall asleep, but it all replays in my head, over and over again.

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- Emuna_Jasmine