Crescendo

Chapter 12

Soundtrack for this chapter:
I've Just Seen a Face—The Beatles
Everlong—The Foo Fighters*
All I Need—Radiohead*

12

Theo

You really start to get to know a person when you spend consecutive days and nights with them. Technically, mine and Jules' first date (not counting the time she came home with me), lasted for almost three days; though I'm not sure anyone would classify that time as a "date." That was why I asked her if I could take her on a real date, one with dinner and drinks and zero trips to the hospital. But of all the things I learned about her over the previous weekend (her piano playing, her frustrating indecisiveness, her constant desire to please others), I still felt like there was a wall around her; there was still one around me, too.

Yet when I watched her respond to a crisis, it was like seeing her in a completely new light; she stayed so calm, kept such a clear head, and all under the stress of the preceding few days.

It was hard to focus at work after our weekend together with her constantly on my mind; it was even harder to focus when I got a text from Marnie not even halfway through my shift that she'd run into Jules at the hospital.

"Just met your new girlfriend; she nearly collapsed outside a patient's room. You may want to check on her tonight."

Well that was interesting; Jules didn't tell me that happened. Did she not think to call to let me know?

I responded to Marnie with, "Not yet my girlfriend, but thanks for the info."

I was filled with a feeling I wasn't used to, one I couldn't clearly identify. It was this mixture of anger and concern, worry and annoyance building in my chest. How could Jules not so much as text me to let me know she wasn't feeling well, that she wasn't okay?

Every hour from that point on I tried to call or text Jules, and every time she didn't answer, that cocktail of worry and anger grew stronger. This was beyond the fear of arriving on a scene and finding one of my family members in need; how I could be so fucking concerned about someone I'd known for such little time scared the shit out of me.

I never wanted to get the call my parents got while I was deployed, yet all I could think about was Jules being in some sort of medical emergency, alone, and so far from home. The thought made me shudder.

By the time my shift ended, I'd sent five unanswered text messages and three unanswered calls to her, and to anyone else I probably seemed like a fucking stalker but I didn't care; something wasn't right. As I drove to Parnassus after work, I tried to remain calm, tried not to let myself get angry at the fact that she could be perfectly fine and just wasn't answering her phone; if that were the case, I'd be fucking livid.

Some guy happened to be walking up to her building as I approached it, and I was able to follow him in; it was my only option with Jules not responding to me.

I climbed the stairs to her second floor apartment and banged on her door, ready to slam my weight against it and break it open if she didn't answer; there was a bubbling of anxiety in my chest, and for a moment I thought that if this was what it was like to be in a committed relationship, to feel this nervous about the life of someone else, I wasn't sure I was ready for it.

I didn't hear anything on the other side of her door, but then the latch unlocked and the door was being pulled back to reveal her honey colored eyes; they looked a little red around the edges, and she rubbed them with the palms of her hands.

Her eyebrows scrunched together. "What're you doing here?"

"Are you okay?"

"Yes...are you?"