It's All Relative(108)
When Jessie got to Harmony and April’s room, she started pounding on the door. She was painfully aware that it was really early in the morning, and annoyed guests around her were going to call the front desk and complain about the noise, but Jessie had an abundance of nervous energy rushing through her and she couldn’t calm down enough to causally knock. She had to get to Kai—fast. She couldn’t let him leave town like this.
As she pounded on the door, she heard muffled cursing and what sounded like someone falling to the ground. Muttered oaths to kick someone’s ass filtered through the door, and Jessie suddenly remembered that her friends had been out late last night, flirting with boys. They might even have company in the room with them, and that might complicate things. But it didn’t matter. If the boys were there, they’d have to get up and get out. Jessie needed her friends.
Blinking in the much-brighter hallway light, Harmony appeared in the crack of the door. Her hair was wild and messy, making the redhead look like she’d been electrocuted recently. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, she gazed at Jessie like she was sure she was hallucinating. “Jessie? What the…?” Letting her voice trail of, she threw the door wide open; she looked completely awake now as she studied Jessie’s face. “What’s wrong? What happened?”
That was when Jessie realized that the tears she’d been holding in had started gushing down her cheeks. She brushed them away in irritation. She couldn’t lose it right now; time was ticking away from her faster and faster. Jessie took a deep breath to steady her voice. “I’m sorry, I know it’s early, but I need a huge favor.” Before she even finished speaking, Harmony was nodding and motioning her inside.
April grunted on her bed and sat up on her elbows. At seeing Jessie, she glanced at the clock on the nightstand, then back to Harmony closing the door. “Jesus, Jessie? What the hell? Is there a fire or something?” Sitting up, she flicked her eyes around the room, like she was searching for the flames. Under normal circumstances, that might have made Jessie laugh, but not today. Nothing about today was normal.
Jessie set down her stuff and sat on the edge of Harmony’s bed. Harmony sat beside her and rubbed her back. Noting that there weren’t any visiting boys in the room, Jessie exhaled a shaky breath. “It’s Kai…he left last night.” Her eyes shifted over to Harmony. “I’m sorry, I know you really wanted to spend all afternoon here, but I need to go home…” Her voice trailed off, guilt stealing it.
Biting her lip, Harmony looked over at their skis by the door. Jessie knew what she was blindly asking her friend to do was hard for her. This was Harmony’s favorite thing, and this weekend was supposed to be about the three of them enjoying it together. Now Jessie was asking her to forfeit their last few hours here to go chase after a boy. Even to Jessie, it sounded unfair.
At hearing Jessie’s pronouncement, April sat up and scooted to the edge of the bed, closer to Jessie. “Kai? He left? Is he okay?” While she and Kai might not have worked out in the romantic sense, she liked him, and the concern apparent on her tired face was genuine.
Jessie felt another tear slide down her cheek as she shrugged. She really didn’t know if he was okay or not. The last she’d seen of him, he’d been staring after her, looking to be on the verge of the same epic breakdown she’d had. Jessie had to imagine that wherever he was right now, he was anything but okay. “I’m not sure. He left while I was sleeping.”
Harmony’s eyes slid back to Jessie. “He didn’t say why he was taking off? He didn’t wake you up and say goodbye?” Her brows narrowed as she tried to reason out why he would do that. “Did you guys have a fight or something?”
Jessie opened and closed her mouth a couple of times. She had no idea how to answer her. She couldn’t tell them what had happened. They’d be horrified. She couldn’t mention the note. They’d want to read it, and it was too…intense…for cousins. Feeling her cheeks heat as she thought about what to say, she suddenly remembered what the woman downstairs had said. “The person at the front desk told me he’d mentioned an emergency…or something.” She looked between her friends. “I just, I don’t know what that means, and I need…” Swallowing a knot in her throat, she murmured, “I really need to see him.”
Harmony nodded as she patted Jessie on the back. “Of course. We’ll go home, make sure he’s okay.” She looked over at April as she got off her bed and came over to sit on Jessie’s other side. Returning her eyes to Jessie, Harmony asked, “Can we eat first? Maybe do a run or two?”
Feeling even worse, Jessie shook her head. “I know I’m spoiling the weekend, but I’d really like to leave as soon as possible. He’s only a half hour or so ahead of us, and he has to get a taxi to his place from wherever the shuttle drops off at. We could get there at the same time…if we left now.” Her voice shaky, she looked between her friends. “I just really want to make sure he’s okay.” And that he wasn’t making arrangements for a flight back home.
Harmony gave her an encouraging smile. “Hey, it’s okay. He would have woken you up if it had been anything really serious. Maybe it was just a work thing?” She shrugged after her attempt to lighten Jessie’s worry, and if Jessie hadn’t known the truth about Kai’s dilemma, she might have been relieved by Harmon’s suggestion. As it was, she could only nod as Harmony got to work shoving things into her bag.