Breaking Dishes by Rihannastarts blaring through the room, and Jake stops wide-eyed.
I’m no stranger to this, so, holding on to my crowbar, I dive for an old TV, immediately breaking the visor. I hit one or five times and then stop, gasping for air and gesture for Jake to do something.
He shrugs, confused, and I go to the corner of the room, pick up a dish, and throw it at him, no warning. As a reflex, he swings the bat and breaks it right off. And from there, it’s like I unleasha monster. He keeps telling me to throw more until there aren’t any more dishes, so he just moves on to the old electronics surrounding the room. I leave him there and start smashing stuff myself, and that’s when I, too, become a rage-consumed girl. Every shitty thing that happened to me crosses my mind, and I break things until I physically can’t anymore.
Half an hour was spent in no time, and abruptly, the music stops.
Jake and I look at each other, chests rising up and down, and find the storm in each other’s eyes.
“That was…”
“Yeah.” I agree, even though he didn’t utter a word.
Freeing. Amazing. Weight lifting.
I look intently at him and see his eyes glossing over and then well up.
“Oh, sorry, I don’t know-” He looks at the ceiling, blinking rapidly to keep the tears from coming.
“I get it.” I shrug, and he nods, shaking his head, still trying to keep him from releasing all the built-up emotion in him.
I take a deep breath and, without overthinking it, I throw my arms around him.
“For fuck’s sake, West, just cry.” I hold onto him, and for a few seconds, it’s like he’s too stunned to do anything.
And then… His arms envelop me, and nothing has ever felt quite so right in the world. He rests his chin on top of my head, but doesn’t exactly budge. We stay like this for what seems like forever, and I only know he did indeed cry when we finally break apart, and I look up to see him rubbing his eyes, a trail of tears down his cheek.
“Guess I don’t seem so uplifting in your eyes now, do I?” He laughs it off, and I punch his arm.
“Yeah, you’re right,gross, don’t ever talk to me again.” I pretend disgust, and he laughs quietly. “No, but seriously, themoody, traumatized role is already taken, go find yourself a new one.”
“You don’t have to be that way, too, you know?” He gazes into me, andwow, this is intimidating.
“It’s just easier to be angry all the time, so when bad things happen, you’re already kind of expecting.” I shrug, not even feeling like it’s too personal. For me, it’s just the universal truth.
“But when does that leave you time to be at peace?” He crosses his arms, and I purse my lips.
“Itdoesn’t.”
We stand in silence for a few seconds until the intercom is heard.
“That was beautiful, man.” Dustin says, and Jake’s head snaps to where the sound came from. “I’m getting you out now.” And we hear the intercom shut off.
“He waslistening?”Jake says, indignant, and I try not to laugh.
“He literally said a million times that he would be watching us and checking in.”
“Are you telling me that manly man who probably does charity shirtless photoshoots with puppies on his social media saw mecry?”
Laughter bubbles out of me, and Jake stresses before my eyes.
“Stop laughing, it’s not funny!”
I laugh even more, and the door behind us opens.
“You would have known if you weren’t too busy glaring at him.” I throw, smiling, before I exit the room, Dustin holding the door open for us.
He then helps us get cleaned off, and no one utters a word. I try really hard not to break into laughter each time Jake deepens his voice around Dustin.
