Promise

Chapter 22

A week had passed since that day. I didn't see Jay at school. Naomi didn't even show up. None of Jay's friends knew where he was. Jay hadn't made any surprise visits to my house and I stayed inside all this time that I never ran into him or anyone in his family. Despite this, my dad had made me file a restraining order against Jay. I refused to press any charges on him. I don't know if it was because of fear or the fact that a part of me still loved and cared for him.
I read each line carefully and thoroughly. I bit my lip and took the cap off the black pen the police officer gave me.
"Will he know I filed this?" I asked.
"Yes, and he knows if he violates it he will be arrested," the officer told me. Her desk phone rang and she answered it, forgetting all about me.
I glanced at my dad who was waiting patiently for me to sign the papers. Just as the pen reached the signature line, the chief's office door swung open and out walked Jay's dad followed by the chief of police Chief Parker. He had a wide grin on his face as he discussed last weeks NBA game. Were they friends?
My dad also looked confused at the sighting and his lips pursed into a straight line. My hand shook as I finally signed my name on the necessary documents. I slid it back to the officer who was still on the phone and didn't care about what I was going through.
"All done?" Dad asked me. I nodded in response and my dad hugged me tightly from the side.
We walked out of the police station and made our way to his car. Mr. Washington and chief Parker glanced in my direction, but I was more focused on Jay who was standing outside of the car looking off into the distance. His eyes immediately darted to me and a familiar feeling of fear creeped into my stomach.
"Hi, Amore," Jay said.
His voice sounded so unfamiliar and sweet. He looked tired like he hadn't slept. Jay's dad and the chief's conversation cut abruptly and they both gave Jay a pleading look.
"You got your cast off," Jay said, eyeing my cast free arm that he'd broken only a month ago. He stepped forward and my dad immediately pushed me behind him.
Chief Parker pressed a hand to Jay's chest, stopping him from coming any closer.
"He's violating the restraining order," Dad said. "What are you going to do about it?"
"Let's not get hostile," chief Parker said in an authoritive tone.
My dad looked at him in disbelief.
"Dad, let's just go," I said softly.
The situation was making me uncomfortable and I couldn't stand it any longer. My dad looked at my face which probably showed every emotion I was feeling at that moment. His expression softened and he nodded. I followed him back to the car and got in. I couldn't help it and stole a look at Jay. His eyes were of course on me.
***
My birthday was tomorrow but my dad gave me one of my gifts early. I planned on having a small get together with a few friends which is why we were celebrating a day early. It was just me, my dad, Chris, Lauren and Adam sitting in the living room. We'd just finished eating a delicious dinner made by Lauren and were now opening birthday gifts.
I opened the gift bag and pulled out a box to a brand new iPhone. I had survived two weeks without a phone and was happy to finally return back to my social life.
"Thank you, Dad," I said. I grinned and gave him a hug.
"You're welcome, honey," Dad said, hugging me back.
"Open my present," Adam said with a wide smile. He'd lost one of his teeth since the last time I saw him.
I smiled as I took the poorly wrapped present from him. I tore the wrapping paper off. It was a picture frame with a drawing of me inside it. The drawing was clearly done by a kid but the potential was there, and it honestly resembled me a lot.
"Wow, you drew this?" I asked in disbelief.
Adam nodded proudly and I gave him a hug, squeezing him for emphasis.
"Okay, you're hurting me," Adam said.
Everyone laughed and I pulled back.
"I love it, thank you," I said. I turned to Chris. "Can you compete with that?"
"I can't that's why I didn't get you anything," Chris said.
I rolled my eyes.
"Oh please, you never get me anything," I said with a sigh.
"Maybe next year."
I rolled my eyes again but smiled.
"Thank you guys so much," I said. I held my tears back. "This has been the highlight of my year. Spending time with all of you."
Lauren smiled at that and she was the first to give me a hug then it turned into a big group hug.
"Well, I think it's time I get started on cleaning all this up," Lauren said.
My brother turned the tv on to a college game and started socializing with Adam. My dad had closed his eyes and I knew a nap would soon follow. I grabbed the torn wrapping paper and went into the kitchen where Lauren had started the dishes.
"Do you need help?" I asked.
"It's your birthday, go sit down," Lauren said.
I nodded.
"Thank you again for doing this for me," I said. "I know I haven't been the most welcoming."
Lauren placed a plate into the dish rack before turning to me.
"You don't need to thank me," she said. "You're a good girl you deserve it. And with all you've been through-" Lauren stopped herself.
"You don't have to walk on eggshells with me," I said. "Everyone knows it's been a tough year. I'm just glad it's all over now. Things can go back to normal."
Lauren nodded in agreement. I couldn't tell if she wanted to carry the conversation even further. I decided for us and chose to head back to my room to set up my phone. I walked out of the kitchen and to my room, stopping only to give my sleeping dad a kiss on his forehead. He had frown lines. I hoped I wasn't the cause of them.
I laid in my bed and turned my new phone on. After signing in to my old cloud I was able to set up the rest of my phone with ease. When I logged onto my social media I had several follower requests from an unknown account. Multiple accounts actually. They all had zero followers and no following. The username consisted of a random word followed by equally random numbers. I was smart enough to realize it was Jay who was behind this. I did block him on all of my accounts. He was desperate to still be a part of my life even if it was just virtual. I quickly blocked all of the fake pages. My curiosity got the best of me and I searched Jay's page. His real one. My thumb hovered over the unblock button. I hit it and saw his page was private like always. Out of habit I tapped the follow button and quickly unfollowed.
"Ugh," I groaned.
I was moreso scared than embarrassed. I hoped Jay didn't receive any type of notification of that. After unfollowing I blocked his account once again. I contemplated deleting my social media all together to avoid that from happening again but just blew it out of my mind instead.
I stared at my ceiling and felt my phone vibrate next to me. I unlocked it and saw it was a text from an unknown number.
Hey babe.
I swallowed and my fingers shook as I composed my reply.
You can't talk to me. It's part of the restraining order.
I got a response in a matter of seconds.
I know you didn't want to file that. Your dad made you.
No. I wanted to.
I know you're lying. You love me.
I sighed in frustration. I was just about to block Jay's anonymous number when he decided to call me. Maybe if I just talked to him one last time he would leave me alone. I answered it on the second ring.
"You answered," Jay said. I could tell by his voice he was smiling. "I miss you, Amore."
"Jay, please," I said.
"Please what? You don't love me anymore? I just want to be together how come you don't?"
I moved my phone from my ear and gave it a look as if Jay could see my facial expression through the phone. I shook my head and put the phone back to my ear.
"Did you forget you used to beat me? Unprovoked," I added.
The other end was silent.
"I didn't mean to," he finally said.
I scoffed.
"You didn't mean to," I repeated.
"Let me see you. Your birthday is tomorrow, I got you something."
A knock on my door startled me. Chris opened the door and poked his head in.
"You ready to go?" He asked. "The movie starts in an hour."
"Uh yeah just give me a minute," I said.
Chris looked at me before stepping fully into my room.
"Who are you on the phone with?" he asked.
"No one," I said. I looked down at my phone and saw I was still on the line. I hung up.
"Amore..." Chris sighed knowing exactly who I was talking to.
My phone rang again and this time Chris snatched it out of my hand. He looked at the screen briefly before answering it.
"Leave my sister alone," he said angrily. He hung up then I watched him block the number.
"Chris-"
"Don't explain yourself it's not your fault," Chris said.
My shoulders relaxed happy he wasn't upset at me.
"That dude is obsessed with you," Chris continued. He furrowed his eyebrows with worry. "I'm scared for you. No one is taking this seriously. Not the cops, anyone at school."
I agreed with him. Everyone at school knew Jay and I had broken up but they didn't know why nor did they care. I wondered how I could return to school after winter break. How could I even get through break knowing Jay wasn't over me and waiting for an opportunity to see me. My dad had brought up transferring schools but I didn't know if I could deal with another new beginning. This was what Destiny had gone through. I thought about contacting her to see how long it took for Jay to get over her.
"You two ready to go?" Dad asked from the hallway.
"I think I'm gonna stay here," I said.
"You sure?"
I nodded. Chris and my dad left and eventually I heard everyone leave the house. I went onto Destiny's Instagram and decided to send her a message. I didn't get a response right away so all I could do was wait.
***
Once I got out of my shower I instantly felt something was off. I wrapped my towel around my body and slowly opened the bathroom door. I looked to my left and right. I was glad I had turned on the hallway light before showering otherwise it would've been completely dark in the house. I turned the bathroom light off and quickly ran to my room, shutting the door. I turned the lock and pressed my forehead to the door taking a deep breath. I was just being paranoid. It was always like this for me when I was home alone especially at night. But under the circumstances I had every right to be on guard.
I walked to my closet and put my robe on. I hoped Chris and my dad would be back from the movies soon. An hour had already passed. Maybe watching TV could make time go by for me. I grabbed my phone and stepped out of my room, this time less cautiously. I made my way to the kitchen and grabbed a tub of ice cream from the freezer. When I turned around I nearly peed myself when I saw Jay standing by the kitchen island. How did he have the ability to sneak up on me without making a sound.
"Don't scream," he said calmly.
"Jay, what are you doing h-here?" I managed to ask. "How did you get in?"
"The back door."
I thought about how Adam and Chris had been in the backyard earlier playing football. They must have not locked the door when they came back inside.
"You need to go," I said firmly. "You are literally committing a crime."
"You gonna call the police?" Jay asked.
"No," I said with a sigh.
Jay looked me up and down before taking a step closer to me. His movements were slow but I could sense urgency in his face. I set the ice cream down noticing how cold it was making my hands. I crossed my arms and tucked my hands in.
"Amore, I miss you," Jay said. "You don't understand what I've been going through the past few weeks."
"And what about what I've been going through?" I asked. "This entire relationship. Abuse, insults, and now you're not letting me go. This is tiresome for me too."
"I know so why don't you just drop the restraining order and we can work out our problems." Jay was now standing directly in front of me, too close for an ex to be standing.
"Everyday I've been waiting for an opportunity to see you and talk to you, hold you," he said. "But you're never alone. When I saw everyone leaving the house but you I knew it must be fate."
I controlled the urge to roll my eyes. This wasn't romantic or deep just plain stalkerish.
"Please leave my family is coming back any minute now," I said.
"I'll be quick," Jay said. "I got you a present."
"Give it to me then leave."
"I left it in the car."
I sighed deeply and shook my head. No way I was getting in his car again and making the same mistake I did at the grocery store that one day.
"Please I won't do anything," Jay said.
I looked up at him. His eyes bore into mine with sincerity but he was so good at switching up his emotions it was hard to tell if it was genuine at this point.
"I'm not going to your car with you," I said. "I'll take whatever it is you have for me but just leave it on the doorstep and get out of here."
I expected Jay to get mad but he just reached into his back pocket and pulled out an envelope.
"What's this?" I asked as he held it out to me.
"Your gift," he said.
"I thought it was in your car."
"I lied. I'm sorry."
This wasn't a good start to whatever Jay was up to. Nonetheless, I took the envelope and took out the birthday card that was inside. When I opened it I first saw the picture glued on the left side of the card. It was a picture of me and Jay that we had taken on our first date. The right side contained the original corny birthday message all cards have, along with a long handwritten message from Jay. It reflected on key moments in our relationship: the good and funny memories we shared. When I was done reading I looked at Jay who had a hopeful look on his face.
"Thank you," I said.
"I can get you something else too I just wanted you to see the sentimental side of me," Jay said.
I smiled a little but I I quickly hid it. Where was this version of Jay all this time? He waited until I left him to be nice. Had he changed or was this just a ploy to get me to get back with him? I had so much doubt and confusion, but I didn't want that to be taken as a sign that I wanted to get back together. However, I didn't want to risk Jay getting angry.
"You look so cute when you're thinking," Jay said.
I snapped out of my thoughts and looked back at him.
"What are you doing for your birthday tomorrow?" Jay asked. "I was thinking I could take you out."
"I have plans," I said. "And besides you can't be near me so why would I go out with you?"
"What plans?"
I hesitated. I wasn't sure if I should let him know what I would be doing.
"Just a small thing with Kendra, Chantel, Yasmine," I said. I ripped a loose thread from my robe trying to distract myself.
"Oh, okay."
I avoided eye contact as Jay stared at me for a long moment.
"I guess I'll leave you then," he finally said.
I was shocked he would be leaving without me having to tell him again.
"Can I have a hug?" Jay asked.
I looked up and he was smiling, but I could tell he looked hurt. I slowly wrapped my arms around him and held onto him. Jay did the same and he held me for a long period of time. After finally releasing me I walked him to the door and he walked outside. I watched him walk all the way down the street to where I'm guessing he had parked his car to avoid being noticed. I finally closed the door when he was no longer in my sight.
Jay had just left without causing any problems but I didn't have a good feeling regardless. He was up to something but was hiding it. I knew from now on I couldn't be left alone again.

What is crazy Jay up to. 🌚