The Pal List

Chapter 16

Saturday, November 24th

It's safe to say that I've never, in my whole life, been happier than I am right now. Jude is home, and he's safe. Thanksgiving was fantastic. Ben, Kaisey, Jude and I all had dinner with our own families. It's good to just give Jude some space with his mom and Harper, although I want to be with him every second of every day.

Yesterday morning, I woke up and realized I was suffering the consequences of standing in the rain crying for who knows how long. My mother has since quarantined me in my room, and I had to call-in to the bakery this morning for the first time in over a year.

I haven't been this sick in quite some time, and it's no surprise that I am as soon as Jude comes home. I haven't stopped smiling in days, despite the fact that I sneeze every two minutes and have a coughing fit every ten. It's almost nine o'clock at night, and I'm on my sixth episode of Glee when my mom knocks on the door.

"Hey, Hal. How are you feeling?" she asks. She went into work late today so she must have just gotten home.

"I feel better," I say, lying.

"I just made a big pot of chicken noodle soup. Do you want me to bring you some?" she asks. I sit up and smile. My mom's chicken noodle soup is the best, just like everything else she makes. She usually only makes it when one of the three of us is sick, so I've been waiting for her to make it since yesterday morning.

"Yes, please!" I say.

"Okay, I'll bring some up. Do you want that window closed?" The window in the corner of my room is wide open, allowing the cool fall air to come in.

"No, I like it open. I'll close it before I go to bed though."

"Okay. I'll be back." she says.

Her and I have yet to talk about why Jude came back. I know that she must've known he was coming back because she knows everything about the case. She did explain to me that she couldn't discuss those things with me so, in a way, I understand. I just thought that Jude coming back would be worth breaking the rules a little bit. We did get a chance this morning to talk about how happy we are that he's back, and that's enough for me.

Once she shuts the door behind her, I turn back over in my bed and press play on my remote. This is the episode where the glee club competes at sectionals for the first time. It's one of my favorites. I like rewatching it because it's the beginning of the show and there's so much more to the characters than the audience knows. A whole five more seasons, to be exact.

The glee club is just starting their last song of their performance when my mom knocks on the door.

"Come in," I say. I can already smell the soup when I hear the door creak open.

"Haven't you seen this episode, like, a hundred times?" I whip my head around and standing in the doorway with a bowl of soup in his hands is not my mom, but Jude.

I'm suddenly very aware of the fact that I haven't brushed or fixed my hair since yesterday. I'm wearing one of his baseball t-shirts and a pair of shorts, so basically I look like a boy with a messy bun. I stare back at him, eyes wide open.

"I came to see you, and your mom sent me up with soup. Is this okay?" he asks.

"Of course," I say. "I just wasn't expecting you. That's all." I say. It's true that I wasn't expecting him. Not tonight, not ever, really.

I stand up and take the bowl of soup from him. I bring it to my desk so that I don't spill it by sitting in my bed. He stays in the doorway, leaning up against the side of it. His arms are crossed, and he's looking at the pictures above my desk.