Burn

The severe wind hissed and whistled through the cracks of the windows. Freezing rain pelted the clear glass, making the pinging sounds ring loudly throughout the bedroom. To anyone it would just be annoying but to Drew it was as if Mother Nature was yelling at her for the horrible mistake she had made. Evan laid snoring obnoxiously next to her. Drew rolled her eyes as she sat up in the bed. She clutched her arms around her knees lightly rocking to the rhythm of the rain. Ever since Evan proposed and Drew was foolish enough to say yes, everything was going wrong. Things in her apartment suddenly broke, she was losing things at work, and her relationship with Cori was severely damaged.

After Drew had said yes, Cori didn't speak to her the rest of the night. Cori then began spending a lot more time over at Skylar's place. Drew tried to talk to her at work but Cori used the 'too busy' excuse. Drew knew it was because she was mad at her for accepting Evan's proposal. She had every right to be mad. Hell, Drew was mad at herself. She knew she didn't want to marry Evan; in the moment she could have said no.

Drew stood up from the bed and walked to the window. For once the streets below her were deserted. Slowly, Drew opened the window letting the freezing rain pelt against her skin. The slight pain of the frozen water made her feel again. She opened the window wider and swung her legs over the edge. For the first time in her life, she didn't want to see the sun rise again. Everything was crashing down around her. She was engaged to a man she didn't love, the man she did love was married to a woman she hated, her best friend was pretty much gone, and work was failing miserably. Her tears mixed with the rain that fell on her, chilling her to the bone. She looked back to Evan, who still snored loudly, and couldn't help but to sob harder. Her life had come to this. Drew closed her eyes and began to lean forward.

"Have you lost your mind?!" Cori screamed as she wrapped her arms around Drew's waist and pulled her back into the safety of her room. Cori then quickly shut and locked the windows. Drew laid on the ground sobbing and wet from the rain. Cori grabbed a blanket and wrapped Drew tightly in it as she held her. "Drew, what the fuck? Why were you trying to kill yourself?" Drew shook and shivered so badly that she couldn't speak. Cori sighed, standing her up and leading her into the living room. She sat Drew down in front of the fireplace, lighting it to warm her. "Stay right here and don't try to throw yourself into the fire, got it?" Cori ordered. Drew brought the blanket around her tighter, nodding her head. Cori walked into the kitchen, leaving her alone for a moment. Drew put her head in her hands weeping uncontrollably. She couldn't believe that she was going to end her life over all that was happening. That wasn't something she ever thought to do before. Yes, Drew was a notorious runner from her problems; but suicide was the ultimate run. Cori walked back into the room with a cup of tea in her hands. As soon as she saw Drew sobbing, she put down the cup and held her tightly. Drew clung to Cori, afraid that if she left she wouldn't know what to do. "Drew, Don't worry. I won't leave you." Cori gently soothed.

"I'm so sorry." Drew cried. Cori hushed her; running her hand over her back. She knew that it was an overall apology, not just for the suicide thing. Cori and Drew held each other for about an hour while Drew calmed down. "Why did you come back?" Drew asked once she was warmed up and stopped crying.

"I came back to get some clothes to take back down to Skylar's. I couldn't find a pair of jeans that I wanted and I remembered that you had borrowed them. I walked in and found you. How could you be so stupid? I never thought you would ever think of doing something like that." Drew felt like crawling into a hole and staying there forever. She had never thought to do it either.

"Nothing is going the way it's supposed to." Drew sighed.

"What do you mean?" Cori asked, handing her the now luke warm cup of tea.

"Work is falling apart, you hate me, I'm marrying Evan. I just can't handle it all." Drew sighed sipping at the tea.

"First off, I don't hate you." Cori told her. "Work is suffering because you are suffering. You're suffering because all you can about is marrying that asshole."

"He is not an asshole." Drew said, instinctively defending him.

"Drew, You just tried to kill yourself and he's in there passed out! He's a fucking asshole!" Cori yelled, her frustration finally surfacing. "Seriously, You don't even love him. Why are you doing this?" Drew knew this would happen at some point.

"I couldn't say no. He loves me." She replied with an extremely lame excuse.

"What about you? You don't love him." She was right; Drew didn't love him. She had to move on though. Drew wasn't going to spend the rest of her life waiting around for Brian. He sure as hell didn't wait around for her, why should she do the same?

"In a way, I do." Drew sighed sipping more of the tea and avoiding eye contact with Cori at all cost.

"Not in the 'I want to spend the rest of my life with you' kind of way." Drew couldn't help but smile lightly at her. "Are you really that desperate to be married?"

"No." She quickly responded.

"Then why?" Cori pressed. Drew had never told her about the life she left behind. It hurt too much to talk about it and all Drew wanted was to forget it even happened. Easier said than done.

"He's a good man. Any woman would be lucky to marry him."

"Then let any of those women marry him! No one said that you had to do it." Cori groaned.

"Cori..." Drew sighed feeling a migraine begin to pound in her head. Cori shook her head and stood up, walking towards the door. "Wait, where are you going?" Drew desperately asked.

"I'm not going to stick around if you aren't going to tell what's really going on. I'm your best friend. Why won't you just tell me the truth?"

"Why can't you be like a normal best friend and be happy for me?" Cori scoffed looking towards the bedroom where still slept soundly.

"You're not even happy for you! That automatically gives me the right to not be happy for you." She argued. "Now quit beating around the god damned bush and tell me the truth!" It was too much. It was either lose her sanity or lose her best friend. At this point, her sanity meant nothing to her.

"The man I love wants nothing to do with me." Drew muttered sadly. Bringing up what had happened felt like opening a healed wound with her fingernails. Cori's face softened and she sat back down next to her. "He is...was my best friend. We went to MIT together. At first, I couldn't stand him. He was so cocky and conceited. Always asking me out thinking that just because he was gorgeous, I would fall under his spell." Remembering Brian and the way they were brought a smile to her face. Her heart warmed as she remembered the first time she ever saw him. It was the first time she had felt anything like that since she left. The wound was slowly re-opening and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Drew slowly told Cori everything from the night of her birthday up until the day Michelle wanted to change the whole wedding.

"Wow, What a bitch." Cori muttered. "I would have quit on the spot."

"I did." Drew replied. "I ran out of the house, furious. Brian then came out and begged me not to quit. I couldn't say no to him. I hate myself for it; but I agreed to do the changes."

"You really planned the wedding for the man you love to another woman? Why?" Cori asked. Drew sighed and she shook her head.

"I ask myself that every day." Drew often wondered what her life would have been like if she had refused to do the wedding and tell him how she felt. She knew exactly what would happen. She would tell him that she loved him and he would break her heart by not loving her back. Leaving was her best option. She could deal with the heartbreak of leaving; she would die from the heartbreak of him not loving her. "So, I planned the whole wedding. The day before when everyone was to fly down to Mexico, I couldn't go with them. I let them board the plane and I hopped one to New York."

"You didn't even tell them you were leaving?" Drew shook her head. "Oh my god," Drew stared into the now dying fireplace as she relived that day. The look in his eyes and Michelle pulled him away. The heartache she felt as she watched California fade away from her view. "Why have you never told me this?"

"Hurt too much. I just wanted to forget all about it." Drew explained.

"You can't just forget something like that." Cori told her, placing a comforting hand on her thigh. Drew sighed looking down at the ring on her finger.

"I can try..." She mumbled. Cori sighed and hugged her friend tightly.

"There you are." Evan smiled as he walked out of the bedroom. He looked to Cori, glaring. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"I live here, asshole." Cori spat, standing up.

"Oh really? That's funny cause I've been here with Drew all week and you've been nowhere in sight. It's been really peaceful." He smirked.

"Peaceful?!" Cori fumed. "If it's been so fucking peaceful then why did I have to stop Drew from..."

"Cori, Don't!" Drew yelled, standing up and placing her hand over her mouth. Drew pleaded through her eyes not to tell Evan about her suicide attempt. Cori growled beneath her hand but agreed.

"Stop Drew from what?" Evan asked suspiciously. Drew looked to him, a fake smile on her face.

"From accidentally setting the house on fire. I'm so clumsy with the fireplace." She lied. "Luckily, Cori came by and saved my life." She replied sending a thankful look to Cori. Cori sighed and nodded, squeezing her hand. Evan rolled his eyes.

"Whatever." He scoffed. Cori squeezed Drew's hand tighter, resisting the strong urge to kill him. "Babe, your phone was ringing and it woke me up." He said, tossing her the phone. Drew flipped it open to see an unfamiliar number had called her. Luckily they had left a voice mail.

"I'm going to check who it is." Drew muttered. Cori looked to her, not wanting her to leave her with Evan and not wanting her to be alone. "I'm just going to go in my office for a moment. I'll be back." Reluctantly, Cori let her leave the room. Drew walked into her office and dialed her voice mail. She was curious to see who it could have been. She just didn't expect who it was.

"Uh, Drew? It's Matt. Your office gave me your number." Matt's tired sounding voice replied. "I know you probably don't want to talk to me, but I had to call you. It's about Jimmy," His voice cracked as she said their best friends name. "He, uh, well he died Drew..." Drew gasped feeling like she had been shot right through the heart. Tears instantly blurred her vision, her head spun, she felt sick to her stomach, and her breath came to a halt. Drew didn't bother to listen to the rest of the voice mail. Drew dropped to her knees, grabbing her head with her hands pleading to wake up from this nightmare. Jimmy couldn't be dead; it wasn't possible. Jimmy was immortal, at least that's what he made people believe. The tears continued to stream down her face as she was finally able to scream. It was all she could do, all she could hear. She didn't hear a word Cori and Evan said to her when they rushed in. Drew continued to scream and cry as Cori held onto her tightly.

"Drew, Talk to me. What happened?" She demanded. Drew shook her head and shakily handed her the phone. Cori took it from her and listened to the voice mail. As she listened, Drew scrambled from the floor and ran towards her room pushing Evan away in the process.

California, That's the only thought that raced through her mind. She had to get back there, no doubt about it. Drew had to go to make sure it wasn't just some sick joke to get her to come back to them. Oh how she prayed and pleaded for it to be a sick joke.

"What the hell are you doing?" Evan frantically asked as he pulled Drew away from the bags she had been packing throwing together. Drew clawed at him like a child being pulled away from their favorite toy. "Drew, Stop this now." Evan demanded.

"California! I have to get there!" Drew cried struggling against his grip.

"No way! We have an event tonight. You can't just leave." Evan argued.

"Get your hands off her, now." Cori growled from the doorway. Evan looked over his shoulder to her.

"Go away. This has nothing to do with you." Cori smirked and raised a handgun to him. He gasped and let go of Drew, sending her scrambling back to her bags. "W-what the fuck are you doing?"

"Getting her to California." Cori replied, walking closer. Evan held his hands up defensively, backing away from the gun. "If you truly loved her, you would let her go. There's been a death in her family and she needs to get to California now."

"We h-have an e-event." He stuttered. Cori growled and pressed the gun to his temple. "No! Don't kill me!" Cori laughed lightly. Seeing him scared out of his wits was like a dream come true.

"I could kill you if I really wanted to. Trust me, I want too..." She hissed, pressing the barrel tighter against him. Evan closed his eyes, whimpering as tears slipped from his eyes. Cori rolled her eyes at his cowardice.

"Cori, Lets go." Drew muttered as she changed into some real clothes. Cori nodded and back away from Evan, making her way out with Drew. As soon as they had left the room, Evan collapsed to the ground in a crying mess. Cori lightly chuckled as she loaded their bags into the text that Drew had flagged down.

"What a baby. It's not even loaded. Hell, it's a fucking water pistol from my Halloween costume." She laughed scooting in next to her distraught friend. "It's going to be alright, honey."

"You didn't have to come with me." Drew mumbled quietly. Cori smiled and held onto her hand.

"Of course I do. I'm not letting you go out there alone. Especially when you're upset like this." Drew smiled and leaned her head on her best friends shoulder. She was so lucky to have a friend like Cori. They drove off to the airport, all the while Drew thought of everything Jimmy and she had done over the years. Guilt crashed over her when she thought of how he probably reacted to her leaving.

"I'm so sorry," She whispered to the heavens as she finally let her mind take over and sleep consume her; Jimmy's smiling face floating through her dreams.