SONG : POWER UP - RED VELVET

•••|||•••

Douglas? Why was he calling me? What should I do? What should I say? Should I even answer the phone?

A million thoughts crossed my mind as I stared down at my phone, pushing back the urge to pinch myself to see whether I was dreaming or not. But none of those thoughts could provide a good enough reason for Douglas to call me.

Yes, we were close given the fact that he was always hanging around and doing me favours for the small amount of tips I could give him about Georgia, but we hadn't talked since four years ago.

I contemplated ignoring my call and just continuing with my Google Search for answers to get rid of Jace. I contemplated switching my phone off. I contemplated taking out the SIM and flushing it down the toilet.

But then I realized that that last one was a tad too dramatic of a response and that I shouldn't be running away from a call from Douglas.

Even though I still felt guilt eating at me for what I had done, I was still myself, Phillipa Holden and I sure as hell wasn't someone that ran away from a confrontation.

Except of course when it involved Georgia Frost. She was another case entirely.

I ran my fingers through my hair, ruffling it as I tried to calm and compose myself.

You can do this, Phillipa. You can do this. It's only Douglas. You can handle Douglas. It's just Douglas.

I picked up my phone cautiously as if I was handling a rattlesnake that could strike at any moment.

I took a deep breath and answered the phone as I bit my lower lip to keep from saying anything at first.

Silence met me from the other end, but I could hear the faint sound of tapping and knew right away that Douglas was most probably tapping against something as he always did when he was nervous.

I tried to hold back a chuckle as I remembered him doing that constantly as we grew up; once when he was trying to ask out Rose Park in seventh grade and another time when he broke the chandelier when he threw a frisbee at it.

After a couple of long seconds that seemed endless, I heard an intake of breath from the other end followed by, "Phil? Is that you?"

A faint smile formed on my face when I heard his voice.

It had been so long since I heard it and only when I did, did I realize how much I missed him and everyone else. I felt my tears threatening to break through and tried to hold them back.

It wouldn't do anyone, especially me, any good if I cried right then.

Suddenly it felt like the last four years hadn't happened and that I could hear him just as I did that one time I got lost when we all went out horseback riding and everyone went out looking for me.

Memories flooded me and the regret seemed to burn into my very being. I couldn't believe that I had thrown our entire friendship away just because of what had happened between Jace and I.

"Phillipa, it's me...uhm, Douglas," I heard a nervous Douglas say from the other end and I could almost picture him standing somewhere, rubbing the back of his neck as he tried to work up the nerve to say whatever he wanted to say.

A pained smile appeared on my face at how awkward he was acting. He never acted so unsure of himslef or his words before.

I decided to finally say something to save him the trouble of trying to find words to break the awkwardness. I let out a light chuckle to help relieve the nerves I myself was feeling. "I know it's you Douglas. You still haven't changed your number."

I could almost hear the relief in his voice, "Neither did you."

"I know," I replied and instantly felt like facepalming myself.

I know? I know? That's the best you could come up with? I know?!!

There was a small bout of awkwardness that thankfully he broke.

"So, I know that we haven't really talked in a long time. And that it's partly my fault..." he paused and in that time I wondered what he meant by it was partly his fault.

It wasn't. It was entirely my fault. However, I didn't say this. I remained mummed as I waited for him to continue with what he was saying.

I heard Douglas clear his throat before he continued, "But I felt that I should call you and find out how you were doing with everything that's happened."

"Everything?"

"Yes. With that douche Jace being back in town and working for your dad."

I furrowed my brows together in confusion. "You knew?"

"Yeah. I kinda found out a couple months back."

That surprised me. If he knew a couple of months ago that Jace would be returning and working for my father, did that mean that my father had already been blackmailed before I found out now? Or did he just mean to hire Jace and the blackmail just happened to happen when Jace started to work for him?

"That Jace was coming back or that he was going to work for my father?" I found myself asking without thinking it through.

"Both, I guess. Look, Phil, I know that you won't be forgiving Jace anytime soon and I totally support you on that by the way. But..." Douglas paused and I could almost picture him thinking over something so intensely that his brows would furrow together and leaves creases on his otherwise handsome face.

After a while he continued, "I just want you to know that we're all here for you and that we hope that we can all go back to being friends."

My heart stopped momentarily at his words. Of all things, I hadn't expected him to be calling to fix things. In fact, I had pictured him calling to yell at me for leaving them or something else.

To be honest, I didn't know what to say or what to do. A part of me was jumping and wanted to yell out yes without hesitation. A part of me wanted to go back to how things were, with us having movie marathons and having ridiculous adventures together.

But another part of me, the more dominant one, was holding me back. That part of me was saying that I couldn't have it that easy, nor did I deserve to have it that easy. After what I did, that part of me thought that I should stay away and not drag the others into the dramatic, well-publicized life that I now led where everyone in America and the world knew how spoiled and outrageous I was.

My hesitation must've clued Douglas in on the indecision that I was facing.

"Let's take it slow," he said. "We don't have to rush anything, I guess. I'm just glad that I can finally talk to you again."

His pause made me feel like he was waiting for a response. "I'm glad too," I replied and I found myself believing it.

"Just promise me one thing."

"What?"

"That you won't shut us out again, especially when you're going through some hard times. We're here for you." I could hear the pain in his voice.

I felt my breathing shake when I realized what he meant.

After the incident that claimed my mother, all of them tried to contact me, all of them individually coming to the house to talk to me. But each time I shut them out.

I didn't answer any calls. I didn't see anyone. At that moment in time, I felt like I had no one that would understand me.

But I forgot.

At that time I forgot that Douglas understood. I forgot that Douglas knew what I was going through. Especially after he himself lost his mother.

"I'll try," I replied, knowing that at this time, I couldn't really promise something that I myself had no definite idea I would follow through on.

"I'll take that for now, I guess." I could hear him smiling as he said those words. "Now, I don't know if you've heard from anyone yet, but I've met the love of my life."

* * *

"I swear if you want me to, I will drag his ass down a dark alley and beat the shit out of him," Elliott said as he cast a dark glare at Jace who ignoring his stare and chatting with a guy I only remembered to be named Yuri from our last class.

It was Thurday and I had managed to survive a couple of days with Jace as my bodyguard.

Of course, by survive I mean ignoring his entire existence and not exchanging a word with him other than 'Don't talk to me' and 'Don't look at me'. That last one was harder for him to do, of course since his job was to look after me.

After a couple of days of nothing having happened to us in the public eye, the rumor mill about me leading both him and Elliott on slowly dissipated.

But that hadn't exactly lessened Elliott and Chloe's suspicions on Jace. It didn't help that he always managed to stay near us, again part of his job description.

But I had to give him props though for blending in and disappearing even when I knew he was somewhere nearby hiding.

Elliott's promise of violence came up when he saw Jace following after us after class ended. But when he met up with Yuri and some other guys, Chloe berated him and said that he was acting like a dog peeing to mark his territory.

"I told you, give it a rest!" Chloe was the one to snap at him again. I couldn't bring myself to comment on Jace because I knew Elliott was right in that Jace was really following us, but at the same time, I couldn't say that myself. "He's just here to grab some sashimi just like we are."

Chloe rolled her eyes at him as she tucked her raven black hair behind her ear before she started eating her fifth shasimi like a starved woman. With an appetite like hers, it was a good thing she used to take swimming competitively in high school.

"It's just weird, don't you think?" Elliott said, brushing away her words. "He's always there when I look up and when he isn't, give it ten minutes and he'll appear. It's like he's got a tracker on us or something."

I was slurping some ramen but at his words, I stopped instantly. I had been wondering how he managed to do it for the past couple of days, appearing even though I tried to give him the slip, but Elliott's words seemed to light a bulb in my head and I heard something just go Eureka!

Why hadn't I considered the possibility of a tracker before?

I picked up my bag from where it hung on my chair and started riffling through it absentmindedly.

"What's up?" Chloe asked. "Did you lose something?"

I shook my head. "I'm trying to find something." I looked everywhere but I couldn't find it. But then again, I wasn't really expecting to find anything.

From what Owens had told me, Jace didn't seem like the type to be sloppy with his work and just leave a tracker lying around there, easy to find.

I sighed in frustration after looking some more and coming up empty.

"Couldn't find it?"

I nodded my head as I started with my ramen again.

"Need help looking?" Elliott asked.

I shook my head again as I looked over at Jace where he was talking animatedly. I couldn't guess what he was talking so animatedly about but then again, I didn't care.

Before I could look away, he looked over and caught me staring. Then before I could react, he sent a wink my way.

My mouth gapped open involuntarily as anger bubbles up in the pit of my stomach.

I turned to Elliott and smiled deviously, "Actually I do need your help."

•••|||•••

What did you think of this chapter?

What do you think Phillipa's going to do next? 😉
(hint : run)

Please like and leave a comment if you liked it ❤🍒