Don't Say Goodbye

“Band practice, right,” John laughed nervously. He looked over at Marisa, whom had her hands in fists and her shoulders visibly shaking. Jess also seemed to notice her reaction, quickly rushing towards her side.

“I think we should go guys. Bye,” Jess blandly said whilst dragging a Marisa with her. She made sure to bump shoulders into Kennedy before wrapping her arms around Marisa and guiding her up the staircase.

“B-bye!” Kennedy called. Jessica turned her head sharply, her raven black hair flying and tangling together with Marisa’s hair at their connected shoulders. She glared at him, but still carefully stepping up the stairs. Jess turned back around and walked with Marisa at a faster pace. Marisa didn’t seem to mind, she was just following with whatever. Her body was calm and much like a doll, but her insides were much different.

On the inside, her ribs were shaking violently while her heart would collide with them. Her bones felt hollow to her, and her stomach was ready to reject anything within it. But her mind, it was going a full speed. Questions filled her head; assumptions clouded her logic, emotions sinking in. Everything Jessica was saying was only being barricaded out, not even slipping in her ear and out the other.

Jessica opened the car door and helped a now hysterical-minded Marisa. Jess slipped into the driver’s seat, immediately starting the car. She didn’t want her best friend to be anywhere near the Gomez’s residence. Jess knew she made a mistake.

As they were driving, Jessica continued rant on about everything Faith-related, but none of it seemed to process into Marisa’s brain. She was now trying to get something understandable and coherent out. After a few moments of silent breathing and voiceless moving of the mouth, she formed a sentence - a question actually.

“Who is she?” she croaked. Jessica stopped mid-sentence and looked over at her friend.

“I was just telling you who she-,”

“I wasn’t listening.”

Jessica stopped at a red light. She gave the steering wheel a tight squeeze as if she were trying to comfort it rather than Marisa. Sighing, she turned left and into an abandoned parking lot of a burned down bank. Turning off the engine, she fully twisted to face Marisa.

“She’s his…girlfriend, I guess you could say,” Jessica sighed. Marisa nodded, swallowing air instead of saliva since her mouth had gone bone dry.

“They haven’t made it official, although they act like it,” Jess captured her bottom lip in between her teeth. She rolled her eyes though, remembering the times during band practice when he’d bring Faith and she’d be all over him during songs.

“I swear, if I knew she was going to be there, I wouldn’t have brought you,” Jessica quickly rushed in a pleading tone. Her eyes were turned downwards, worried Marisa might hate her.

“Well, since they’re practically a couple, why’d you bring me there? I know it’s related to him,” Marisa said, her tone hard. Jessica looked at her then back down towards the console between them.

“He likes you too, y’know?” Jess mumbled.

Marisa stopped playing with the loose string on her tank top. Her head dropped so that her bangs would cover her face. She held back a grin that was pinching at her cheeks and a burst of energy that would turn her face into a strawberry.

Is that even possible? she wondered.

“How do you even know?” Marisa asked, her voice raising an octave higher. She cleared her throat before looking up again, this time at a smiling Jessica.

“It’s obvious,” she shrugged. Marisa rolled her eyes.

“So he’s never verbally said it to you?” Marisa scoffed.

I knew it.

“No, not to me, but he has talked to me about you before,” Jessica grinned. Marisa grew nervous about what he had said about her. She twiddled her thumbs.

“Wait, what do you mean by ‘not to me’?” Marisa questioned, her head perking up. Jessica chuckled softly and slyly.

“He’s told Stephen and John before,” Jessica smiled. Marisa stared at her friend, looking at Jess as if she was talking with her head lying in the back seat.

“W-what?”

Jessica laughed this time, even shaking her head at how slow her friend was.

“He likes you. okay? Get that through your pretty little head,” Jessica giggled, knocking on Marisa’s frozen head. She was unaware of how Marisa was feeling at the moment.

Her stomach was jammed with butterflies; her head was in cloud nine; her heart was about to pop out of her chest, and an involuntary blush had coated her cheeks.

“And that, m’friend, is how I can tell you like this boy more than friends,” Jessica smirked as she turned back towards the windshield and started the car.

That’s when Marisa realized she had never actually told Jessica that she liked Kennedy.

[ < 3 ]

Marisa lied on her bed, the covers twisted with her legs. Her headphones were plugged into her ears and music could still be heard from anyone at the doorway. Memories That Fade Like Photographs was halfway through the song before she felt a rumbling. Unplugging one of headphones, she clutched her cell from beside her.

“Hello?” she asked.

“Hey,” Jess chirped, slightly muted by the music. Marisa pulled out the other headphone before replying.

“What’s up?” Marisa asked. No one replied, she could only hear breathing.

“Uh, hello?” Marisa asked cautiously. She didn’t know whether to be worried, or extremely freaked out.

“Jess, are you there?” she questioned again as she sat up from her position. Her eyebrows pulled together as she started to worry about her friend. Suddenly, loud clicking shot through the phone.

“Oh, hey. There’s some who wants to talk you here,” Jess sighed. She could hear faint whispering in the background, and then a thud that was followed by a yelp.

“Okay…” Marisa replied, dragging out the ‘a’.

The sound of the phone being passed was heard in Marisa’s ears once again. A large smack echoed through the phone before she could hear breathing again.

“H-hey Marisa.”

Marisa blinked, finding the voice too familiar. It could be easily recognized as a male’s, sounding husky and scratchy. You could tell it wasn’t a grown man, since his voice had a little bounce and sounded young.

Anyone would’ve thought all these things when they first heard the voice, but no, Marisa had heard the voice many times before. She could easily recognize it as Kennedy Brock’s voice.

“Hello?” he whispered through the piece of plastic, trying to catch the girl’s attention.

“Hey,” she meekly replied.