Page 60 of Four Letter Feelings

He vomited again and as he reached to take the outstretched Kleenex from Chelsea to wipe around his mouth, he took a slow and steadying breath, shaking his head.

“Here you are!” Jessica burst out of the bar and strode towards him.

Jeremy glanced at Chelsea, willing her to stay with his eyes.

“Oh, eh, I’ll… uh… leave you guys to it, then,” she stuttered.

“No, Chels… wait,” Jeremy started as she hurried inside before he could stop her.

“Are you ok, Jer? You look like shit.”

“I’m not feeling so good. I’m going home, though, so if you see Age can you tell him I went home please?”

He didn’t wait for an answer, he needed to get away from her, from the bar, from the pool of spicy chicken nugget vomit he was trying to blame for making his stomach roll when he knew it was because of something else entirely. His stomach was churning over something deep down he knew, but wasn’t ready to face.

As he walked, he tried dialing both of his parents’ cell phones again, and again, but when neither of them answered his walk broke into a jog and before long, he was sprinting towards the house. He erupted through the door of the house and found AJ pacing in the hall, wringing his hands and muttering to himself.

“Have you heard anything?” he demanded as soon as he spotted Jeremy. “I just heard, I tried calling you, but figured you’d come straight here so it was best to just… wait.”

“No, I… I… they won’t answer their phones,” he answered, quietly. He couldn’t meet AJ’s gaze. He couldn’t look at his face at all. He didn’t want to see the pity that was undoubtedly painted across it. He didn’t want to face the reality that was crashing down on him, a reality that he couldn’t accept. He couldn’t even say the words inside his own mind, in fact, he was struggling to manage any words at all. His whole body felt tense, racked with panic and fear, his jaw ached from clenching and an overwhelming tiredness clutched at him.

He tried to take a deep breath, but it caught around the growing knot in his chest. He felt tears prickling behind his eyes, and as he blinked furiously to somehow make them stop, he felt AJ’s arms wrap around him.

“Don’t, man,” he choked, pushing against AJ’s chest with his palms, flat.

AJ didn’t move other than to tighten his grip around Jeremy, and he quickly gave up trying to push him away. Instead, he leaned against his friend for strength and comfort. His body trembled, his tears flowed and his friend didn’t move, didn’t speak, he just stood, holding Jeremy and letting him process what they both already somehow knew, but neither wanted to believe.

“My phone!” exclaimed Jeremy, startling AJ and jolting out of his grip. “I had a missed call earlier, and I didn’t recognize the number,” he explained, wiping away his tears with the heel of his hand and pulling his phone back out of his pocket. Despite his suspicions, he had secretly hoped to find missed calls and messages from his parents telling him that they were fine, when the screen had no messages to display, his stomach sank.

“Three-one-three… it’s got to be a Detroit number.”

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