Chasing you | ✓

Chapter 31 - What's going on?

The wind rustled the trees outside the window. The lights inside Starbucks were still bright despite the late hour, so I didn't see much by glancing at the windows. I mostly just saw my own reflection staring back at me, slumped in an armchair with a laptop in my lap. 

But I did catch sight of the rustling trees that the increasing winds were picking up. Santa Ana Winds was what people called them. They had become quite the talk of the town in the last couple of days. They had brought a sudden heat back to Southern California, just when I had started to think that fall was going to catch up with us. 

Except for things fluttering in the wind, I could also spot occasional party-goers when they appeared below the streetlight on the sidewalk adjacent to the dorms. A couple of hours ago, the street had been crowded with people going back and forth between the dorms and various parties. Now it was getting late and for the most part I could only spot girls and guys dragging their asses back to the dorms with heavy bags of Chipotle. 

I stifled a yawn with the back of my hand. The dull mood in the coffee shop was starting to get to me. There were only a couple of other students there except for me, and the smooth inconspicuous jazz that played on repeat in the speakers didn't help. 

All I wanted was to be done with this essay so I could head to bed. Since my parents had been over all of last weekend, I had fallen behind on some assignments. A venti coffee and an all-nighter at Starbucks fixed that.

Two assignments down, one to go. I could do this. 

I put my laptop on the small round table in front of me, straightening up in my seat. 

When my phone lit up, I couldn't help but to glance at it. It was another Snapchat notification from daniELLEWOODS. I doubted Woods was her actual last name, but the username made me smile. 

I tapped the picture and braced myself for yet another party picture from the Alpha Phi mansion.

The picture was of Finley on the dance floor, arms raised high and mouth open wide to belt out the song that was playing. 

Finley found her groOve, the caption read.

I was about to tap the message box to send off a reply when something in the picture caught my eye. 

The background was heavily blurred, a dark room with flashes of light illuminating faces in the crowd. But unmistakably, right there in the background, were Jack and Paula. 

I pressed my face closer to the small screen, squinting at the photo. Paula's mouth was wide open, yelling something into Jack's ear. She looked pissed. Her arms were crossed over her chest and her eyebrows were pulled together so tightly they might have frozen in place. Jack was leaning down slightly, a frown set on his face. His jaw was tense, as if what Paula was saying was upsetting. 

A cold feeling spread through my body, turning my blood to ice.

What was she telling him?

Could she have seen our hug the other day? Could she be telling him about Cade to make him mad at me?

I put the phone down, staring at my laptop. No, there was no way I'd be able to get any more studying done now. I had to find out what they were talking about. I had to find Jack and tell him the truth. No more chickening out. 

I had to get to that party. 

~ ~ ~ 

The music was loud as soon as I walked through the door of the frat house. A muscular guy followed right behind me, used his body to force his way in and ended up pushing me further inside the house. 

I suddenly wished I had stayed at Starbucks. The place was packed again, as per usual for the Alpha parties. What was I even doing here? How would I find them through these crowds?

I elbowed my way through the packed dance floor, trying to spot any familiar faces above all the bopping heads and flailing arms. 

I hadn't even come up with a plan. What was I going to do when I found Jack—just pull him away from the party to tell him he had a dead brother? 

I had not thought this through.

The panic I'd felt from seeing him with Paula was starting to subside. I started to feel as if I should go home and call it a night. This was a spontaneous and bad idea to begin with and I was seeing Jack on Sunday anyway. 

The thought vanished from my mind when I got to the kitchen and spotted Paula. 

She had her back to me but I could tell she was mad. She was mixing herself a drink at the kitchen island, shoulders tense and body rigid. She slammed the bottle of tequila in her hand against the counter and threw her arm out to snatch the orange juice. 

I pounced up to her, the panic flaming up inside me again.

"Tell me you haven't told Jack about what you know."

Paula's head snapped toward me, eyes blazing. Her eyebrows were still pulled together as tightly as in that blurry photo. I clenched my jaw to keep from wavering under her relentless glare.

"No, but maybe I should have," she spat.

"Why? I haven't done anything."

"Oh yeah?"

"Of course not."

Paula slammed the OJ down on the counter, juice splashing up from the open top. It earned her a couple of curious glances from the two guys refilling their cups across the kitchen counter. 

"Then why did Jack just ditch me?"

"How the hell should I know? I literally just got here."

"Oh, whatever. As if you haven't lured him into your trap."

"What trap?" I huffed when Paula only pursed her lips. "What is your problem?"

"Hey." 

The soft voice made us both jump. The voice belonged to Jack, who had suddenly appeared by our side looking effortlessly hot in a white t-shirt and distressed jeans. His blonde hair stood up on one side and his face was flushed, but his eyes looked surprisingly clear. Maybe he'd learned his lesson from last weekend and was taking it easy tonight.

"Guys," he said slowly, eyeing between us as a smile played on his lips. "What's going on?"

"You tell me," Paula said, crossing her arms.

Jack narrowed his eyes, looking between the two of us. For some reason, he seemed to think the situation unfolding was funny. His eyes twinkled as he drummed his fingers against his red solo cup.

"I don't know what your problem is," I said to her, shifting my eyes away from Jack. "I've never done anything to you. I thought we were friends."

Paula shook her head, as if I was the unreasonable one here. She whipped her hair to the side.

"Whatever. You two deserve each other." 

She slowly turned her head and bore her eyes into Jack. 

"She only likes you because her dead boyfriend is your twin."

~ ~ ~

A/N

I just spent the last three hours listening to She's Like The Wind on repeat and now my brain is fried. How is your Tuesday night going?

Aaaaaand I'm gonna pretend like I didn't just end on a super mean cliffhanger. I promise I didn't plan on leaving this chapter here but I got short on time today and I don't want to rush anything with the next few chapters. Okay bye bye see you for the continuation on Friday don't hate me (((:

—xoxo, linnea