This Is Not the End

Jacky’s POV

I gripped the steering wheel so tightly my knuckles were turning white. I had my jaw clenched tightly. All I wanted to do was see Elise. I wanted to make sure that she was okay. Max really let her have it, and she did nothing wrong, I did. I took her out of the house, however she did turn her phone off, and that had nothing to do with me. I turned my car around and headed back toward Elise’s apartment. Once in the parking lot, I shut off the car and stormed up to her apartment. I checked the doorknob and saw that it was unlocked. I threw the door open and walked inside.

I was greeted by the familiar sound of mine and Derek’s guitar playing as I closed the door behind me. The room smelled like smoke and the ashtray on the table was full of cigarette butts. I went towards the back to the source of the music. As I got closer, I could make out the words to “The Drug in Me is You”, and I could hear Elise singing along. An amusing image crossed my mind. I pictured Elise dancing around her room, bouncing off her bed with a hairbrush clenched in her fist, using it as a microphone. I laughed to myself and knocked on the door. The music volume lowered.

“I SAID FUCK OFF MAX!” I heard her shout.

“Um, try again, love.” I said. I heard a loud thud, and then the door opened. Elise hurtled herself into me. I was knocked back a bit, but I returned the hug gleefully. Elise pulled back with a huge grin on her face.

“What are you doing here?” she asked, keeping her arms around my waist.

“I wanted to see you. Max left the door unlocked. You know, I’m risking my life being here.” I said with a smile on my face as the beginning riffs to “Don’t Mess with Ouija Boards” sounded dully through her speakers. Elise’s face became riddled with confusion.

“What do you mean?” She asked.

“Max confronted me outside. He told me I have to stay away from you.” I told her.

Elise pulled away from me completely and slammed her hand into the wall. “He told me that shit too! He has no right to tell me who I can be friends with.” She said.

“Well, he’s not going to keep me away from you.” I said, taking her in my arms again. I saw the color rise in her cheeks. “So, what do you want to do? I don’t think it would be wise to leave the house again, you know.” I smiled. I didn’t understand why I felt this comfortable around her. Most people told me that I was shy around new people, and I believed them too. It was usually hard for me to connect with people. But with Elise, I could connect, converse, and generally be myself around her.

“We could just hang around, watch TV. I need to walk up to the store to get a pack of smokes, though.” She said.

“I’ll walk with you.” I said. Elise pulled away and went back into her room. She came back out sporting a pair of sunglasses and a pair of black flats. She smiled as she walked past me towards the living area. We walked out the door. As we walked to the store, I told Elise what Max told me.

“I can’t believe he laid his hands on you.” She said shaking her head.

“Me either. I could have laid him out right there on the pavement, but I didn’t want to get arrested. That probably would have gotten me sent back to London.” I said.

“And if that happened, I would be sad.” She said with a mock pout, and then she giggled and stuck her tongue out at me. I laughed as we walked into the store. Elise bought her cigarettes and we left. On our way back, Elise pointed out a small coffee house and suggested that we go in for a coffee.

“Sure,” I said. I took her hand in mine and lead the way to the café. As I opened the door, a bell tinkled. The place was small and smell of fresh brewed coffee and pastries. They had places like this all over London. I missed that about home. I liked the taste of real, freshly brewed made to order coffee. Elise beamed at me as we got up to the counter.

“One coffee, two creams and three sugars, please.” I said. “What are you having, Ellie?” I asked her.

“A vanilla chamomile tea with three sugars,” She said. The clerk smiled at us and gave us a number. Elise and I took a small table in the corner of the café. It was located in front of the window. I liked the setting of it.

“Don’t you think Max will be mad if he finds you gone again?” I asked.

Elise shook her head. “No. After today’s ‘mishap’, Max is giving me more freedom. He gave me the money to buy my smokes and to get food. He just told me that I couldn’t go around you.” She said.

“Oh… I see. Well that was nice, yet douchy of him. I’ll have to thank him.” I said sarcastically. Elise giggled. Our drinks were brought to us along with a couple of free cakes. Then the waitress smiled at me and silently slipped me a small sheet of paper and a pen. I gave her an autograph with a smile. Then the girl wanted a photo. Elise took the picture and handed her phone back. The waitress smiled again and went to serve another customer.

“She was quiet.” Elise mused, taking a sip of her tea.

“I’m thankful for it, too. I don’t like being made a leper in public. On tour it’s okay, but when I’m out with friends, it gets a little crazy.” I said sipping my coffee.

“I see you guys aren’t listening to Max.” We heard a voice from next to use say. We both turned our heads to see Craig standing beside our table holding the hand of a small blonde girl holding a cupcake.

“Why should we?” I said carefully, skipping over my favorite words.

“I’m not going to tell on you guys. Personally, I think Max is overreacting.” He said.

“What are you doing here, Craig?” Elise asked, taking a bite of her cake.

“Leila wanted a cupcake and this was literally the only place near where we were. I wasn’t following you.” Craig replied. I waved to the little girl, who hid behind her father’s legs. I laughed a bit to myself.

“What’s Max doing? Do you know?” Elise asked.

“Uh, I think he was going back to his place for a while. He said it was awkward being in your house while you were mad. He said you started playing hate songs at high volumes, and he got the hint.” He replied.

“Good. He got in Jacky’s face. I hope he stays there.” She said taking another sip of her tea.

“He did say he was going to do that… I don’t know what his deal is. But anyway, have fun you two. I’ve got to get Leila home to get cleaned up. She fell down at the park and she needs a bath.” Craig said. “Say bye Leila.” Leila waved bye and followed close behind her dad as he walked away from us.

“He’s not a bad guy, that Craig.” I said.

We finished our drinks and left. We stopped at a movie kiosk and rented a few comedies before going back to the Elise’s place. Max had texted Elise telling her that he was going to be staying at his place for the next few days, to her delight.

“Do you want to stay the night?” Elise asked me after setting the phone down from ordering a few pizzas.

“Sure, that’d be cool.” I said. I called Ronnie and told him that I wasn’t coming home that night. Elise and I spent the evening watching the movies we had rented and laughing and poking fun at the campier of the selections. We ate our pizza and cracked jokes at each other. We talked about some of our favorite things as well as our least favorite.

“I really want to get a dog.” Elise said, taking a sip of her soda.

“Aw! I love dogs. What kind do you want?” I said after swallowing a bite of cold pizza. We were lying on the couch facing each other. I was on one end, and Elise was on the other.

“The rental agreement on the apartment says I can only have a small dog, so I guess a mutt of some sort. I want to get one from the pound.” Elise said.

“I have an idea. We could do that tomorrow! We’ll go to the pound and get you a dog. We can make a day out of it.” I suggested. Elise sat up abruptly.

“You’d do that?! Really?!” she exclaimed. I nodded and she flew forward on top of me and kissed my cheek. I felt my cheeks heat up as she drew back. Elise yawned. I looked at the clock and saw that it was half past two in the morning.

“I think we should turn in.” Elise said, climbing off the couch. She started toward her room. She paused at the entry way to the hall and looked at me. “You coming?” she asked.

It took me a moment to realize what she meant. She wanted me to sleep in her room with her. I raised an eyebrow at her.

“Well it’ll be more comfortable than the couch, and the guest room isn’t ready yet.” She said impatiently. I stood up and walked up behind her. Once we got into her room, she went to her dresser and pulled out some PJs and retreated into the bathroom. “Make yourself comfortable!” she called. I slid off my shoes and took off my shirt, leaving me in my white tank top. I looked around the room. The walls were the color crimson and her bedspread matched the floor. The furniture was made out of dark brown wood. There were two lamps on either side of the queen sized bed. Both lamps were on and had black bandanas over the top of them, making the light coming out of them dimmer than it should. I sat on the bed just as Elise came out of the bathroom. She was wearing a tight black tank top and a pair of Hello Kitty shorts. She had a bandage over her left upper arm.

“What happened?” I asked.

“Oh, I tripped on the last step the other day on my way out of the apartment and scraped my arm on the brick wall.” She said dismissively. I shrugged and told her that ought to be more careful. She laughed as she climbed into bed and turned off her lamp.

“Could you turn off that lamp, Jacky?” she asked. I nodded and turned the lamp off as I laid down. Elise rolled over with her back turned on me and covered herself with the bedspread. Something compelled me to move over closer to her and put my arm around her. Elise didn’t seem to mind, on the contrary, she actually moved back further into me, pressing her small frame into mine.

“Good night, Jacky.” She said.

“Good night, Ellie.” I said, hoping that Max really wasn’t coming back the next morning. I didn’t want anything to ruin this moment, or the moments to come. I was happy, and hopefully so was she. I closed my eyes and fell asleep to the sound of Elise’s soft breathing.