Breathe

I hadn't heard from Jacob for almost a week, and it was really starting to make me paranoid. I hadn't managed to get a hold of any of his friends, either.

"Are you listening, Sarah?"

I sighed, and looked at Ophelia, a friend I had met through Liz. We were sitting in the park just down the street from my house, and I hadn't caught a single word that she said. "No, Ophie. I'm not listening."

"You're so rude sometimes. I was trying to tell you something important, but I guess you don't care."

Glowering at her, I scrunched my nose in a 'you suck' way. "I'm listening now. Tell me."

"No." She flipped her jet black hair over her shoulder and nibbled on a potato chip.

"Fine, then." I stood up to stretch, but became suddenly distracted when I saw Anthony and Julia walking towards my way. At first, I thought I was seeing things. But as they grew closer, I felt my heart stop. It was them.

"Sarah!" Julia yelled, waving.

I bolted towards them, crashing into Anthony with the biggest hug I had ever given. My eyes had already started to tear up, but I tried as hard as I could not to cry. Anthony held me tightly.

"What the hell are you guys doing here?" I asked, moving onto Julia, giving her a big hug. "I thought -"

"Best friends forever, Sarah. I thought you knew that," Anthony said, a big smile on his face. "You look great."

"I - thanks." I rubbed my hands on my jeans. They'd gotten clammy with excitement and nervousness. "Come over here and meet my friend Ophelia." I led them back to the blanket where Ophelia sat, writing something down in the notebook that she carried with her everywhere.

"I just hope you haven't been smoking too much pot since you've been gone," Julia said, nudging me.

"Oh, only every day," I joked. "This is Ophelia. Ophie, this is Anthony and Julia, my two best friends from Portland."

The dark haired girl looked up at them, and smiled. "She talks about you a lot. It's nice to meet you."

"I hope none of what she says is bad," Anthony said, looking straight at me. I knew exactly what he was talking about.

"No, no." Ophelia said calmly. She stood up and dusted off her jeans. "I have to go, Sarah. Mom called after you bolted."

After a hug, Ophelia left and I was left with my two best friends. "How long are you here for?"

Julia smiled. "Two weeks."

*

"Who's that?" Anthony reached over and grabbed a picture off of the end table. Showing it to me, he raised his eyebrow. It was a picture that someone had taken of Jacob and I at the bonfire, while Harry Clearwater had been retelling the legends. Jacob's expression could easily be read. Anyone could tell that he was happy. I on the other hand, had a pretty weird expression. It was almost like I wasn't sure what the hell I was doing there. Because that's exactly what I was thinking.

"That's Jacob." I pulled my hoodie sleeves over my hands. It always got really cold in the living room at night.

"Oo," Julia mocked. "Is he your boyfriend?"

I blushed. Neither one of them were looking at me, though. "Sort of."

Anthony turned towards me. "Sort of?"

"Sarah, he's gorgeous. He can't 'sort of' be your boyfriend."

I sighed. "I don't know. He hasn't said anything about it yet."

"Why don't you?" Anthony asked, stopping to look at another photo from the bonfire.

"Because I'm scared."

"Maybe he is, too," Julia piped. She had control of the television remote and was flipping through the channels.

"Jacob is hardly scared of anything." I sighed, and pulled out my phone, hoping to see he had responded to one of my hundreds of texts I had sent him. To my disappointment, there weren't even any from Ophelia.

"Have you kissed yet?" Anthony asked, looking at me. I smiled at him, and raised my eyebrows.

"Yes. Just one time, though."

"Oh, I love this show!" Julia exlaimed. I looked at the television, and saw that she had stopped on 'One Tree Hill.'

"Ew," Anthony responded, scrunching his nose. "That show is terrible."

"Because you would know, Anthony." Julia huffed.

"My sister watches it."

Anthony had the cutest little sister. Her name was Mary, and despite that she was only eight, she was probably smarter than the three of us combined.

"Kids, it's probably time you wrapped it up for tonight," Brenda said from the foot of the stairs. Their bedroom was in the basement, and so I had no doubt that they could hear us. "Julia, you said your grandma lives nearby?"

"Yeah. She lives over by the harbor."

"Oh, alright. Well, drive safe, kids."

"We will." The two of them stood up, and I walked them over to the door. "We'll be back in the morning," Julia said, giving me a quick hug. "I want to check out your mall."

Anthony rolled his eyes, and as Julia went through the door, he leaned against the door frame. "I just wanted to say I'm so-"

"Don't you dare, Anthony Thomas," I said. "It doesn't matter anyway. You're here, Jake's here, and he's not. I'm happy."

His eyes were sad, but he gave me a meek smile. "Alright. I'm glad. You look fantastic." Giving me a hug, and a kiss on the cheek, Anthony went to catch up with Julia, who was yelling at him from the car.