Burned By The Pages

Chapter six: He was pretty messed up

Cindy was standing in the coffee shop counter to accommodate bunch of customers continuously going in.

'We'll have it for you in a minute!' She forcibly beamed at a guy as she noticed the thin scar on the right side of his face. She followed him with her eyes, when the guy made his way to the tables, and looked away when he glanced at her.

As soon as Tristan walked into the room, she collected herself before waving at him, which Tristan had not noticed. He was too preoccupied and wore the same serious look as he went straight to one of the tables and sat across the thin-scarred guy.

Cindy thought it was not the usual way Tristan would act even if he was too preoccupied. There was something serious going on. Before another customer could walk in to the store, she volunteered to bring the order to Tristan's table.

She stayed silent as she approached them. The two guys still kept their conversation going even when Cindy reached their table.

'Would you like something else?' Cindy said, cutting off Jake as he spoke to Tristan with his annoying smirk.

'No, thanks.' Jake said, not looking at her. His voice was firm; it was not the same tone Cindy had heard when this scarred-guy talked to her at the counter.

'Cindy? I didn't know you work here.' Tristan said when he recognized Cindy's natural blonde hair.

'Well, not everyone knows Tristan.' She said then turned to walk away when she realized he was not even listening to her. Then, she overheard them talk about someone.

'I can't believe you're doing this for her. Are you crazy or you're just dumb?' Jake said. Tristan looked away towards the cars stuck in the traffic, which was visible through the glass wall of the shop, then turned his head when someone called Cindy. He totally forgot she was still there. Cindy made an eye contact with him but did not say anything and ran back to the counter.

He snapped back at Jake.

'Why the hell did you do that?'

'Did what?' Jake laughed sarcastically. He had not changed; he was still the same Jake Tristan used to know.

'Stop this nonsense Jake! She's still traumatised because of the mess you made...' Tristan's voice was getting louder. Everyone in the room kept glancing at them but he did not mind. He wanted to stop whatever Jake was planning to do to Danielle.

'All the more reason to believe that she's guilty. I did nothing, and like I said, it's her fucking fault, Tristan. She even pretends to not remember anything, that isn't coincidence...' Jake cut off.

'Oh come on, Jake. We've all been stuck up in this fucking issue which happened a year ago already, aren't you sick of it? Everybody is still sticking their noses to make a joke out of the org and you know we're all gonna have to accept any damn consequences...'

'We? Or you mean 'us'. You weren't even part of the organization last year. Why are you even so fucking bothered? You know what, you've really changed. I didn't even know you wanted to join this damn nonsense. This isn't the kind of field you usually dive yourself in. This isn't you. '

Jake huffed.

'Why? Is it because of Danielle?' He continued.

Tristan did not answer. Jake stared at Tristan for seconds and opened his mouth to speak but closed it and laughed. He traced his right forefinger, which had shown a silver ring on it, on the thin scar on his face.

'Do you know who did this to me?'

Tristan was silent. He knew everything was even worse than before and once, a part of him was regretful for witnessing the truth but not anymore, people could lie to themselves but not to him.

'You did that to yourself. You're a damn psycho.'

The cynical grin expression painted on Jake's face suddenly turned into a glare as soon as he heard those words.

'You don't know what you're saying. Danielle has really got your mind twisted, huh. If you keep denying the truth, you'll stay stupid like a fool...' Jake said, anger began rising inside him.

'What the hell do you want her to do, Jake? You can't bring the dead back to life even if you kill Danielle right now.'

'That's it, I don't wanna kill her. I want her to kill herself.' Jake ended furiously. He got up and walked towards the exit. He still wore his cap as if trying to hide the scar on his face.

*******

Jake reached his apartment at 11:45 P.M. that night after he talked with Tristan. He was staring at a photo that was still saved in his phone. It was a photo of him and Tracy. He could still remember the last time they had been happy together, that cold afternoon of April 24th when they were walking outside the Literature Hall.

They held hands and were just silently appreciating the cold breeze inside the campus, probably the most pleasant time they had in the university premises. Tracy gripped his hands tighter and turned to him, then said something he cannot forget.

'Jake, the thing is, I never see you talk to Elle the way you do to the others? Is something wrong? You know, it's her birthday tomorrow and I don't want to force you to come if you really don't want to.'

Tracy's eyes were full of concern. Jake thought she was going to throw a tantrum because she might have felt jealous of his unusual treatment towards Danielle but he was wrong.

'No, everything's fine, don't worry, okay?' He said.

Tracy smiled sweetly and wrapped her arm around his then they continued making their way to the parking lot. That smile made him feel the kind of joy a person overly in love would have truly felt, he was thankful for having Tracy in his life.

That was after their meeting that afternoon about the plan for the end-of-semester dinner that was supposed to be hosted by their organization, Creative writing club. He and Tracy were both part of the club. It was a cliché to fall in love with someone in the same page as him, but he was already in love with her even before he became a member of that organization.

Tracy was actually the only reason why he joined. But not until he met Danielle.

Jake felt a pang of guilt.

He did not know his own feelings. He loved Tracy but every time he would see Danielle, his usually emotionless face would turn into a smile, unconsciously.

As Danielle came into thoughts, he scrolled for his phone log to check if Danielle's dorm room telephone number was still in it. It was still there. He felt stupid for calling her at Three A.M. that day but he was desperate.

He wanted to hear Danielle's voice for the first time after a year. He missed her but he wanted to hurt her. Jake was pretty messed up.

*******

Author's note:

It's been what? like ten days already? I'm so lame. I apologize AGAIN for taking so long to update.

Anyways, that's the sixth chapter!!! It's all about Jake 'cuz he's making me lose my mind every time I think of him. Truth is, he's really messed up. 

Really hope you like it! And! Don't forget to vote and comment!

XOXO