Promise Me. Chapter 3 - Starts With a Goodbye.

Jacob's POV.

My eyes kept on watering, after every minute I’d have to wipe my eyes with the back of my hand. How could she do this to me? The Seattle Airport was packed with people, I tried making my way through the crowd, till I bumped into someone and fell on top of her.
“Whoa! Hey I’m so—Ashleey?”
“Jacob?!” she squealed,
“Hey!” I replied,
“Wow! You’re here!” and she sat up a bit and gave me a warm hug.
I hugged her back, taking in her sweet smelling scent. Then we both stood up.
“Oh my god, how have you been? It’s been, a while,” she asked.
“I’ve been doing good,” I laughed, “you?”
“ah, typical days,” she smiled, “so, are you going to see Courtney?”
“uh, I’m kinda leaving now,”
“but you just got here,” she pointed.
“I saw her with Mike..” I said, squinting my eyes.
“oh, wow, Jake, I’m sorry, that really sucks, you and Courtney were like, the cutest couple in Seattle,” she said. She was trying to comfort me.
I gave out a stifled chuckle. I don’t know whether to laugh or burst out in tears.
“well, you can’t leave, I mean, you can’t go back to the army,”
“I’m not in the army anymore, I live in Boston,” I explained,
“I should’ve just stayed there,”
“aww, don’t say that.” She punched my arm playfully.
I laughed and looked at her, I never realized how beautiful she was. Maybe it’s just me.
“so what are you doing here? are you going somewhere?” I asked.
“no, no, my boyfriend, Trevor, works here, I just came over to visit,” I knew it, she wasn’t available.
“well, it’s nice seeing you Ash, but I think I’m gonna go now,” I said.
I grabbed my bags and was about to walk away, then she grabbed me by my wrist.
“Jacob. Why don’t you live with me? and Andy? He’d be thrilled to see you again.” She continued, “please Jake, you don’t have to leave again, a lot of us miss you,” she frowned.
I looked into her eyes, they were green and, so somber. I just smiled and I started to nod.
“alright, I’ll live with you guys,”
She squealed and jumped on me and hugged me tight. I held her too, dropping my bags back onto the ground. Her legs were wrapped around my waist. I closed my eyes, smiling, and continued to hold her.

Courtney’s POV.

I opened my eyes to feel an embrace around my body. I turned around and saw Mike, the moonlight made his face illuminate. It made him even more beautiful. I put my hand up to cheek and rubbed his lip with my thumb. He opened one of his eyelids and looked at me.
“what are you doing?” he smiled.
“looking at you.” I said.
He was half-asleep but still gave me a peck.
“now go back to sleep Courtney,” he said.
I rolled my eyes playfully and turned back around so he can continue holding me. He leaned on the side of my head and wrapped his arm back around me. We intertwined our fingers together. He played with my fingertips for awhile till both of us drifted to sleep.

Jacob’s POV.

I sat on the couch with a mug of coffee in my hands, thinking of Courtney. Today is our supposed-to-be 5th anniversary.
“Hello? Is there anyone alive in there?” came the voice of my best friend, Andy.
“No,” I replied, letting out a quick chuckle at my own joke and then resumed my reminiscing.
The world still seemed dead to me. When I finally pulled myself out of this trance, I realized that my coffee was stone cold. The phone rang; I went into the kitchen and picked it up.
“Hello?”
“Jacob, i-is that you?” A voice spoke on the other line.
“Mike?” I said quite harshly.
“Y-yeah, hey man, w-what’s up?” he stammered to say.
“Just stuff, so what do you want man?” I spat.
“I need to talk to Andy, it’s, bad news.” He sounded hurt, like he got stabbed in the throat,
“what is it?” I asked.
“it’s Ashleey, Jacob..” he said.
“what about Ashleey? I just saw her left the apartment a few hours ago, she needed to see her boyfriend. What’s wrong with her?”
Andy walked into the kitchen when he heard me speak Ashleey’s name. He looked at me as my face scrunched up, I kept shaking my head. The grip I had against my coffee mug loosened, I dropped it and the sound of the mug breaking was faint, like I couldn’t hear anything else other than Mike’s voice. I covered my mouth with my right hand. I fell to the ground, I can’t believe the words I’m hearing.
“dude, what’s up?” Andy ran to my side.
I looked up at him, I didn’t want to be the one to tell him. I didn’t want to be the one to hurt him.
“M-mike, tell Andy what happened,” I was still looking at Andy as I handed the phone to him.He grabbed the phone and put it next to his ear. He also dropped to the ground onto his knees.
“no Mike, this has to be a mistake, she was just here hours ago, she’s still here, she’s still living,” Andy cried, shaking his head.
“I’m sorry man..” I heard Mike’s voice through the phone.
Andy chucked the phone into the wall and started crying on the ground, banging his fists in the floor. He cried Ashleey’s name a couple of times. I was friends with this kid since forever, we were the best pals since pre k, and I have never seen him break down like this. I just sat there frozen, Ashleey was also a best friend since pre k, I fell for her once, but it didn’t work out, we still were close after the break up. Ashleey was really close to Courtney too. I can’t imagine how devastated Courtney would be now.
I looked at Andy again, I know how he felt. Ashleey was dead, the only family he had left. I started to think about my brother, when my dad told me, that Jason passed, that moment, all I could feel was pain, grief, sorrow, emptiness, anger, despair. Everything around me was just, black and cold. I understood what Andy was feeling.

Courtney’s POV.

They were standing in the graveyard. There were lots of people, friends, colleagues, fans. Of course, Andy was the closest one to the coffin. Next to him was Jacob, wait, Jacob?