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C L A I R E
Thea Willows. Thea. Thea. Thea
The end of my pencil makes a clipping sound as I tap it on the desk agitatedly. The pop quiz in front of me is already filled up, with all the right answers marked among the multiple-choice questions. The quiz came as a necessary escape to me just at the right time because I haven't been able to stop thinking about the name on Vaughn's phone screen last night.
I have avoided talking to him since and pretended to be asleep when he came to our room from his study. It seems stupid to act this way. This Thea maybe anyone, yet, my heart doesn't want to believe that.
It's her. It's definitely her.
The piercing sound of our professor's timer causes the classroom to erupt in chaos as he collects the sheets. I hand it to him and rush out, a baseball cap shadowing my face to hide the marks on my face. I push past people until I collide with someone who holds my arm to steady my hurried steps.
"Hey, what's wrong?"
I look up to find Nina's concerned eyes staring down at me. She looks like she dressed in a hurry today. Her T-shirt isn't tucked properly, her hair is messy and her eyes are puffy. I haven't seen her since that woeful day at the warehouse and her voice reminds me of why I went there in the first place. I let her go off my arm as Jesse stalks towards us, dressed in a red boyfriend shirt and jeans.
"Nothing." I shrug, starting to walk towards the exit while they follow me.
"Claire, slow down," Jesse says as she struts beside me. "Vaughn told Nina to never let you out of sight after what happened the other day."
"You're my friends, Jesse. Not Vaughn's. You don't have to do anything he says." I look at the sky and the weather is burning hot outside. The sun shines too bright, making me squint my eyes. It was cloudy in the morning so I didn't bring my sunglasses. I regret my choice now. "I wanna grab a coffee. You coming?"
"I would like to differ. I'm craving an ice cream," Nina groans, fishing out a face mist from her bag and spraying it on her face.
Something in her voice irks me. She pretends to be so perfect all the time, all innocent and sweet but it was her voice the killer recorded somehow.
Why and how did he do it?
"Not everything's about you," I mutter under my breath as I climb a step down.
When I don't hear them following me I look back to see Nina with her jaw slackened as both of my friends look at me.
"What did you say?" Nina folds her arms over her chest, a stoic look getting on her face.
"Nothing..." I lie.
"No, what did you say?" she repeats, stepping down until we are face to face. "What's your problem with me, Claire?"
"I don't have any problem with you."
"You're lying. You have been breathing down my neck for days now. Just say it to my face. What the fuck do you want?"
"What the fuck do I want?" I snap. "What the fuck do you want? We both know that you don't like being with us very much so maybe it is you who should be doing the explaining here."
"Explaining? Mind elaborating a little?"
"Your phone," I say. "Did you get it back?"
She looks between me and Jesse and then rolls her eyes. "I did. It was at home only. I found it under the microwave."
"And when did you find it? Right after the day I was attacked?"
She throws me a dirty glare, scanning me from top to bottom. "Who are you, Claire? Do you mean to say I'm behind some stupid guy who wants you dead?"
"You aren't?" I mock her, flipping my hair as I climb down the rest of the stairs, her haughty steps striding behind me.
"Claire, don't you dare put this on me!" She grabs my hand, spinning me to face her, and points her index finger at my face. "You have known me for years. We have always been the best of friends!"
"Until your boyfriend came into the picture!" I exhale, a little louder and her lips instantly press to a thin line. "Ever since he came into your life, we haven't been able to get time to ourselves. You bring him everywhere. Every fucking time! You even invited him to Jesse's birthday last year even though she didn't invite him herself."
"Claire, calm down." Jesse touches my shoulder but I brush her hand off, my eyes focused on Nina whose nostrils are growing larger with every passing second.
"You suck, Claire Hill!" Nina spits out. "You try to pretend to be this picture-perfect heroine of some shitty novel while you make me the villain because you have no fucking idea who the real villain is. You're just like your brother — selfish, arrogant, and rude."
"Don't you dare talk about my brother!" I almost shout. Jesse grabs my arms to stop me from lunging at Nina. "You don't know him! You never did!"
"I didn't know him?" Nina runs a hand through her hair, her other hand coming to rest on her hip. Some students stop to look at us, watching curiously. "Did you know that he slept with me on your eighteenth birthday and then never fucking called? Did you know the words he whispered into my ear that night to get me to bed? Your brother was a fucking asshole! Sugar-coating his personality won't make him good in people's eyes. Everyone knew what he was. A fucking bipolar douchebag!"
I don't even realize when I have fisted my hands as my blood boils. No one talks like that about my brother. I already knew he slept with Nina because he told me that himself since he thought I deserved to know. He wasn't a bad person. He was just tired sometimes and made mistakes. Everyone does that. He doesn't deserve to get shit from her, especially when he is no longer here anymore.
I am about to push Jesse's arms away to jump at Nina when the ring of Jesse's phone distracts us from the conversation. She lets go of me and digs it out from her bag.
"Hey, Mom..." she answers quickly and all of a sudden, the color drains from her face. Tears form in the corners of her eyes as she puts a hand over her mouth.
Nina and I throw each other an awkward glance, seeing Jesse's body shake as she talks to the person at the other end, asking for an address.
"Hey, what happened?" I ask, touching her elbow when she cuts the call.
"It's my grandma. She's had a heart attack," Jesse sniffles. "I have to go to the hospital. The doctors say she might not live."
"Oh my God! I'm so sorry, honey," I say as Nina and I both hug her from each side, comforting her as she cries and forgetting our argument for a while. "We can accompany you if you don't mind."
"I would love that," Jesse whispers, her voice sounding strained with tears.
Instead of heading to the cafe, we grab a cab. I send a text to Doris, letting her know where I am heading as I am reluctant to call Vaughn. I am not ready to ask him about Thea yet. If I am wrong, I will make things awkward between us so it's better if I avoid him until I have sorted the issue inside my mind.
When we reach the hospital, we rush straight for the elevator. Jesse's grandma is in room 510 and so we have to go up five floors. The silence in the elevator is deafening since we three are the only ones inside. Jesse stands worried while Nina and I can't afford to speak like civilized people after my little freak-out.
The elevator dings to a stop and Jesse steps out, us following after her. We run towards the required room and I see Mrs. Doll, Jesse's Mom, standing near one room, dressed in a blue dress and pacing the floor in brisk steps.
"I think that's your Mom." I point to the woman and Jesse bursts into a cry before rushing towards her mother.
Ever since her Dad died, Jesse's Mom and Grandma have been her only family. She loves them like anything. Her grandma's sudden ill-health is a shock for all of us since the genial old woman was always in her best health, living a good life. Every time we went to Jesse's house for a sleepover, she would make us cookies and tell us stories of her youth. No matter what the doctors say, I will pray for her to get well.
We let Jesse have her private moment with her Mom while Nina and I take seats on the marble bench in a corner, patiently waiting for Jesse to give us more information.
"Hospitals never bring good news," Nina comments, not quite to me but I know it was intended for me to hear.
"What do you mean? Of course, they do," I say. "Remember where babies are born?"
"You think babies are good news?"
"You don't think so?" Her eyes turn downcast at my question, a sudden gloominess taking over her face and I study her as she looks at her hands, intertwining her fingers together. She looks sad. "Hey...what happened?"
"It's Noah," she replies, her voice low and shaky. "He doesn't want kids. He has been...distant."
"Oh." I look away from her, staring at the floor. My hands grab the edge of the bench tight, knuckles turning white. "That's...that's strange."
I don't know what else to say. Her and Noah's relationship isn't something for me to comment on but Noah not wanting a kid seems a little too far.
"I don't know what's his problem," she says, rubbing the tears forming in her eyes. "Every time I talk about having children, he dismisses me. It's like there's something he's hiding from me."
"Did you ask him about his past? Before he met you, I mean. Maybe he can't have them for medical reasons?"
"I...did. I even told him that I wanted to meet his parents but he said that he doesn't have parents. That they died years ago. I didn't mean to hurt him so I stopped asking," she confesses gloomily.
"What did your parents say? Do they like him?" I ask, genuinely interested to know. Her parents are good people but if they like someone like Noah Striker for their daughter then my opinions on them will have degraded quite a bit.
"They do," she exhales, chuckling a little. "My dad adores him and they sympathize with him a lot. He's great with them too. Every time I take him for a visit, he is wonderful with my family. I just never thought he wouldn't want one of his own."
I rub the roof of my mouth with my tongue, searching for words. I don't find any. How can I advise her to force Noah to reveal his secrets after he said that to her? Even now, when someone talks of my brother, just like Nina did today, I get annoyed. Death is a topic I hate dwelling on for long.
I put a hand on Nina's shoulder, squeezing lightly. She looks at me and I find tears rolling down her eyes.
"I'm sorry. I hope things get okay."
She puts her hand above mine and nods, leaning in and I let her hug me tight.
That's what our relationship is like. We may fight and even want to kill each other but we never let go of each other. The three of us have been together for years now and we never parted ways. Thankfully, our passions were the same and we ended up going to the same university as planned. We might discover a new part of ourselves every year, yet, we never give up on our promise to each other.
Never give up on our friendship.
As we stay locked in each other's arms, I notice a little movement far away behind Nina that grabs my attention. I pull away from her quickly, keeping my eyes on the person's head.
"Will you like a cup of coffee?" I ask Nina.
"Yeah, sure." She nods and I get up from the seat to start walking towards the person who has my attention, my eyes fixed on him and the woman whose back is turned to me.
A woman whose head of auburn hair keeps me on edge.
A nurse collides with me on her way and I murmur an apology to her. As I walk faster, my heart starts to beat in a frantic rhythm. When he moves a little, I hide behind a pillar. Nina and Jesse are far away from me now and so is he. He wouldn't be able to see me unless I came out from behind the pillar so I stand there, peeking from behind and watching him.
The red-head suddenly turns, her face coming into view and my heart nearly stops beating.
My hand slams over my mouth, covering my gasp as she hugs him while crying. His arms wrap around her slowly and he rests his chin on top of her head, holding her tight and rubbing her arms. His lips move softly, muttering something to her and she nods, still crying. I see a doctor coming out of the room in front of them and she heads in my direction. I hide further as I watch a nurse strutting to catch up with her.
"Dr. G." The nurse stops the doctor as she flips through some register. "Will you please sign the discharge sheet, here? The father wants to take the kid home."
"Yeah, sure," the doctor replies, taking the register from the nurse. "Tell Mr. Jackson he can take their son home but care needs to be taken for the next forty-eight hours. You got that?"
"Sure, Dr. G."
My world blacks out for seconds as I take a step back, colliding with the wall behind me. My head starts to spin as her words sink in. My sudden gasp makes the doctor follow my voice and she spots me.
Their son. Their son.
"Miss, you okay?" The doctor reaches for me and I nod at her, collecting myself. She walks away but not before she and the nurse both glance back at me once or twice, hesitantly.
As they disappear out of sight, I turn my head back to Vaughn and find him still holding her close. Bile churns in my stomach, rising through my throat. With a hand over my mouth, I turn around and run for the nearest washroom.
I was right. It was her.
Thea Willows
Vaughn's ex-girlfriend never left his life.