With You

Rob's POV

I knocked on the door of Teal's apartment and waited. Teal opened the door and she looked worried, but her expression changed to almost disgust when she saw me.

“What do you want?” she asked.

“I need to talk to Jen on some things. She's not answering her phone,” I explained.

“Yeah, and that's starting to worry me.”

“Why?” I asked.
Teal bit her lip, something hidden behind her eyes. “Jen's not...right. With the divorce and the...miscarriage...”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Miscarriage?” I asked. Teal nodded. “She was pregnant?” Teal nodded again slowly. “Why the hell didn't she tell me?”

“I don't know what goes on in Jen's mind, but I think she's starting to lose it. She's been depressed these last few days and she won't answer her phone and...Rob, I'm really starting to freak out.”

“Okay, I'll go look for her. Let me know if she calls.”

I ran down the stairs and out to my car, racking my brain to think where she would have went. She wouldn't go anywhere that had many memories of us. Except...if she went anywhere when she was upset, it was the beach. I turned off and headed that direction, driving way over the speed limit. As I neared the beach, I called Chester and Mike and told them what was going on and to pass it on. They said they’d go search too.

Pulling up next to a car, I immediately recognized it as her silver Camaro.

“Jen?” I called, looking out to the dark beach, the waves splashing up against the sand.

I stepped out onto it and looked around, finding indentions in the sand that matched Jen's shoes. A little ways off I found the shoes. The further I followed the footprints, the more unsteady they got, and when they reached the ridge bottom I looked up and caught a glimpse of Jen.

I began up the rocky ridge, calling Mike as I went.

“We haven't found her,” was Mike's answer.

“She's on the ledge near the west side of the beach. Send whoever's closest.”

I slowed my pace when I got to the top. She was standing on the edge with a thirty foot or more drop to the dark water below her.

“Don't do it, Jen,” I said quietly.

She turned to me, nearly losing her balance in the process, and I noticed the large bottle in her hand.

“What do you want?” she slurred.

“I came to take you back. So why don't you step away from the ledge.”

“No! I'm not going back to lose you to that fucking slut! I'm tired of nothing going my way! Did you know I had your kid too? Yeah, well I lost it. I killed it because I stressed out too much over you!”

“You can blame me, that's fine,” I said, inching closer.

“I'm not blaming you! I'm blaming myself! I can't fucking let you go, Rob! I love you too much...”

“I love you too, so why don't you come this way,” I said, gesturing to me.

Jen shook her head. “I can't do it anymore. I'm so tired...”

“I know and so am I.”

“You know, you being with that slut kills me. So that's when I thought: What would kill Rob? And I thought, if I'm dead, that'll kill you.”

“It would, Jen, but that's not going to help. Think about everyone else,” I reasoned. “Teal, Chester, Mike, Brad, Phoenix, Joe, your dad, your mom. They'd be devastated.”

“They're sick of me. I'm just a loser whining about my fucking problems. I can't even keep my own husband. Was I not pretty enough, Rob?”

“You're gorgeous,” I said truthfully.

“Was I not skinny or tall enough?” Jen went on, ignoring me or not hearing, I didn't know which.

“You're perfect.”

“Shut the fuck up.” She took a last swig of her bottle. “You don't care, but I do. I can’t do this. I’ve lost everything. I love you, Rob.”

She turned. I ran. She jumped.

I wrapped my arms around her waist as she hovered over the edge and pulled her back.

“Rob, let me the fuck go!” she screamed as she struggled and kicked.

I quickly pulled her away from the ledge, hugging her close to me even against her fighting and screaming. She screamed into my chest and pounded against me, but I didn't let go as I dropped down to my knees with her.

“Calm down,” I said, stroking her hair.

“I hate you! I fucking hate you!” she screamed.

“I know,” I muttered, rocking her. “I’m so sorry, Jen.”

It was beyond any pain I’d ever felt to see her like this, to think what she’d tried to do. She cried and coughed, trying to catch her breath until she finally relaxed in my grasp. I looked down at her face and saw how empty she looked, her eyes open but seeing nothing. I picked her up and carried her to the car where Chester met me.

“She okay?” he asked, looking at her face and his own reflecting what I felt.

“No, she's not. She just tried to fucking kill herself,” I said, putting her in the passenger seat and noticed she was shaking.

“You're kidding.”

I turned and glared down at him. “Do I look like I'm kidding? She just tried to kill herself because of me.”

Chester backed away slightly. “Its not your fault.”

I continued to glare at him.

Without saying any more, he got into his car and I into mine. She just stared out her window and I realized then why Teal had been so worried. My hand found hers, wondering if it would do more harm then good. Relief flooding through me when I felt her squeeze it tightly.