Together in The Silence of The Night (Forever and Always Pt. 2)

I toss another small piece of popcorn in my mouth, smiling at my screen. My hair falls in my face and I push it back, scoffing at the message. I shake my head laughing, typing out a response.

Suddenly, I’m engulfed in darkness. I gasp lightly and walk over to my light switch, flipping it repeatedly. 

“Elaine?!”

“Right here, Sandy!”

“Ugh, the power went out. I’m going out to buy some flashlights, okay?”

“K, get some candles too.”

“Alright.” The door slams behind her. I frown. I hate it when the power gets out, it’s always so boring. Quite suddenly, I hear a ring of the doorbell. 

Is Sandy back already? I walk over to open the door. 

Standing there, grinning, is Jacob, holding a couple of plastic bags and blankets in his left arm.

“Jacob? What are you doing here?”

“Well, you know, your parents are outta town, mine have a work trip, and I know you hate power outages, and-” 

“Oh, just come inside already.” I grab his empty hand and pull him in, slamming the door with my foot behind me. We hold hands until we’re outside in my backyard, where the stars are brightly shining. I don’t let go even as he puts the bags down. He clears his throat.

“I can’t spread out the blankets with only one hand Elly,” I blink.

“Hm? Oh,” I blush, dropping his hand. He smirks, spreading one of the blankets out on the grass. I plop down on it. Jacob sits beside me. He looks up at the sky and drops his hand on top of where mine is, resting on the blanket. I turn my hand and he holds it. I squeeze back. 

“What’s in the bags?”

“Oh, it’s just some s’mores stuff, if you have a fire, I thought it would be fun to make em, and then we could, like, stargaze a bit, and I’d just stay until you fell asleep or something like that, to make sure you aren’t bored in the power outage.” I smile.  “What?”

“You’re just...adorable…” I say,  not breaking the smile from my face. I let go of his hand and walk over to the bags, picking them up.

“Let’s go! I don’t have a fire, but we can do em over the stove, okay?”

“Alright,” he replies, getting up.  We walk over to the kitchen, and I turn on the stove. We get out the sticks, stuffing the marshmallows at the tips.

We hold them over the little fire for about 2 minutes each,. When all the marshmallows are toasted, we go back outside. We eat a bit of the marshmallow along with graham crackers and Hershey’s.

I lay down on the blanket, staring at the night sky. I hear Jacob lay down beside me. 

“It’s pretty, isn’t it?” I marvel, turning my head to look at Jacob. 

“Yeah…” he replies, not taking his eyes from the stars. “Hey, where’s Sandy?”

“Hm? Oh, she went to get candles and flashlights and-Hey, she’s been gone a while…” I sit up. Jacob does too, running a hand through his hair. I get up quickly, speed walking inside. Ring Ring Ring Ring. I run for my phone, pressing the answer button shakily. I didn’t even check for the caller. 

“Hello? Is this Elaine, Sandy’s sister?” a voice says.

“Um, yeah. Is everything alright?”

“Oh, everything’s fine sweetheart, your sister just got into a small car accident, we’ve got her getting checked out over here in the hospital, but overall she’s okay.” I take a shaky breath, my eyes brimming with tears.

“Which hospital?”

“Beaumont. Would you like me to send you the address dear?”

“Um, no thanks I got it. Thank you.”

“Mmhm, no problem.” The call is ended with a small click. I set my phone down.

“Elly? Is everything-” 

“No, everything is not okay. Sandy got into a car accident and…” The tears finally fall down my face. 

“Hey, hey! It’s okay!” he comes over to me, wrapping his arms around me in a hug. I hug him back, numbly thinking about the fact that this is sorta the first time he’s hugged me since we got ‘together’. 

“We gotta get to the hospital.” I sniff, pulling away from the hug. He nods.

His hand somehow finds mine and we walk to the car with them entwined. He grabs the key from beside the door, gently letting go of my hand and getting into the driver’s seat. I get into the front seat, leaning my head back as he drives. 

“Is it….bad?” he asks, breaking the silence and momentarily looking away from the road. His green eyes meet mine.

“The lady said she’s okay, but….”

“...But you’re worried she’s not?” I nod.

“It’s gonna be alright Elly, don’t be so nervous, if the lady said she’s fine, she’s probably fine,” Jacob says, putting his right hand on top of my left, the one that’s busy playing with my bracelet. I sigh. 

“We’re here.” he gives my hand a small squeeze before letting go and getting out of the car. I get out too, shivering in the cold. A familiar large jacket is draped across my shoulders in seconds. Despite the situation, I smile. I look into his bright green eyes, shining in the moonlight. He holds out his hand. I grab it, using my other hand to make sure the jacket doesn’t fall off. 

We stand in front of the front desk.

“Um, I’m here to see Sandy? She’s in the emergency room I’m pretty sure.”

“Okay. That’s right, just turn right in that hallway, okay?” I nod. Jacob and I walk through the hallway, and towards the door labeled Emergency Room- Minor Injury. I hold my breath as Jacob opens the door with his free hand and we walk inside. In there is Sandy, sitting on the bed looking anything but hurt. She just looks bored. 

“Sandy!” She turns around smiling. As she turns, I notice a small set of stitches above her left eye. Could be worse, I suppose.

“Elaine!” I let go of Jacob’s hand and run over to her, giving her a big hug. 

“Is this- Is this his jacket?” she whispers. I giggle.

“Yeah, jealous?” I whisper back. She laughs as we break away from the hug. Jacob stands there sorta awkwardly to the side.

“If you’re so ‘okay’, why didn’t you call! Why did that lady?”

“Oh, ugh, they put me in directly for like an x-ray and everything, so I couldn’t really do anything till 5 minutes ago.”

“Well, what even happened!” I sit down beside her on the bed and pat the spot next to me, motioning for Jacob to come. He blinks, blushing slightly and coming over next to me. I let my hand quickly find his as Sandy starts explaining.

“Well, the whole town had a power outage, it was crazy, I couldn’t see a thing, and next thing I know, the air bag’s comin up in my face!” she says, throwing her hands up in the air. 

“But you’re okay?”

“I’m fine.” I elbow her. 

“You scared me!”

“Sorry!” she laughs. I get up, just realizing that I’m still holding Jacob’s hand. He gets up too.

“Ready to go?” I cock my head to the side at Sandy.

 She shakes her head. 

“ I’ve got a lot of paperwork to fill out. You two lovebirds can leave though. I’ll catch up” I roll my eyes, smiling as Jacob gives my hand a squeeze.

“Ready?” he asks. I nod, and we walk out, back to the car, back to stargazing, back to being together in the silence of the night...