Beautiful Storms

chapter twenty-seven | jude

"I'm always here to hold your hand, ok?

I will hold you through the storm, I won't even stop when the power comes back on, I love you, ok?"

☆

beautiful storms | chapter twenty seven

"It's summer, bitches."

Erin cups his hands together as he screams into them and Cara laughs as she moves closer to Jude. Jude holds his graduation cap in his hands and he stares down at it before throwing it his hands and catching it between his fingers.

Graduation was way too long for his extremely short attention span. He dozed off a few times considering he was one the first few students that was called.

He sees Sadie sitting on the hood of their grandmother's car and he grabs Cara's hand. He pulls her to the car and she quickly says bye to Erin.

"I forgot you aren't so fond of Erin."

"He's too loud, I don't like loud people."

Jude gets in the back seat and Cara sits down next to him and they both put on their seatbelts as his grandmother starts the car.

"You're an idiot, Jude Amberg." Cara says as she helps him pack up his neatly folded clothes into their designated boxes.

"Have you seen your dorm yet or your roommate?"

"No, I haven't but I'll meet her soon."

"I think mine is named Casey, you?"

"Nova."

Jude taps the box closed and he glances over to Cara who had her back turned to him. He smiles as he walks over to her and he hugs her from behind. He wraps his arms around her waist, pulling her into him.

"Hey." She says as she leans into his chest as she stares up at him.

"Hey." Jude leans his chin on her head and he feels her grip his arms and she reaches his hands and she holds on to them.

"You know you never answered my question about dating me?" She says and Jude laughs.

"I thought I did well, you want to know my answer?"

"I would love to date you but I want to make sure everything up here is all good before I give you all of this." He points to her head then he drags his finger down to her chest, pointing at her heart.

Her breathing stops and she holds on to his hand.

"I'm pretty fine with that."

She plays with his fingers and he glances at the window in front of them, seeing Albert. I'm gonna miss you bird.

"Could I still kiss you whenever I want?" She asks and he laughs and he leans in, kissing her cheek.

"Of course you can."

"Can I help you make dinner?"

Sadie asks her grandmother as she walks into the kitchen and she wipes her hand on her apron.

"Of course." She taps Sadie's cheek.

"I was planning on making my lasagna but I don't think that's a good idea. So what do you think?" She pulls out her recipe book that was laying on the counter.

She hands it to Sadie who flips through the pages until she lands on a simple shepherd's pie.

"What about this one?"

Her grandmother glances over to the book and she runs her fingers over the page.

"Your mother loved this, good choice."

Sadie smiles.

"Congratulations on graduating high school." Their grandmother says to Jude and Cara as they sit down at the table.

"Thank you." Both of them say and Sadie was already eating before everyone else.

"Do you like it?" Jude says to Sadie and she flips him off and he laughs digging into his food.

"I hope you choke on it." She says and he flips her off.

"How about we not tell each other to choke, please?" Their grandmother says as she sits her fork on her plate and both of the siblings nod, listening to their grandmother.

Jude glances at Cara who quietly eats her food. He leans into her, whispering,

"Are you okay?"

She looks away from her food, nodding and he looks down at her hand. It was shaking.

"It doesn't look like it." He says.

He sits his hand on top of hers, calming her restless hand.

"I'm okay, Jude."

He didn't believe her but he let it be.

"Are you tired?" Jude says to Cara as they walk back into his room.

"I should probably get home." She ignores him and Jude turns to look at her. She avoids his gaze.

He grabs her hand. "Talk to me." She stares into his eyes and she runs her thumb over his hand.

She gulps. "He hit Jess."

She lets go of his hand and she sits down on his bed. Jude sits down next to her but he stays a distance away to make sure she stays comfortable. She sighs, exhausted.

"I couldn't do anything about it."

"He found out about her liking girls and he slapped her."

Jude listens as she speaks and her voice trembles as she tries to hold back her tears.

"I felt so hopeless."

"You aren't helpless, you did the best you could."

"I tried to stop him before he did more damage but he didn't stop yelling about her being an abomination and how she was going to hell to burn."

Jude gulps.

"Jess hasn't spoken in days and she refuses to go to school."

"She won't talk to me."

"She will, just give her time and she will."

Cara nods and she leans into Jude and he scoots closer to her as she leans her head on his shoulder.

"I should probably still get home to make sure she's okay."

Jude waves at Cara as she drives away and he returns back inside. He sees Sadie sitting on the couch with her book. He jumps on the couch and he leans his head on her shoulder.

"Go away, I'm reading."

"But annoying you is fun."

"Piss off, Tobias."

"Why my middle name, Ashley?"

Sadie glares at him and he glares back at her. Both siblings hated their middle names with a passion but they hated even more when they were used against them, mostly by each other.

"Tobias, go away."

No, Ash Ash."

She pushes his head off her shoulder and he glances down at the book in her hands. Scarlet letter.

"Haven't you read that already?"

"I've read it a lot, yes. Why does it matter?"

"As long as it helps you guess, it doesn't."

"It's Mom's copy, she has notes written all over it."

"Grandma also said she argued to get this book taken off the curriculum and it promoted anti-feminism and misogyny."