Chapter Ten
Two Weeks Later
"Let's admit, you kinda got off lucky here," Hanna quipped looking through Emily's closet. She pulled out a red and white dressed and held it up. Emily shook her head, no. "Well what exactly do you want to wear?" Hanna questioned in frustration. Emily wasn't paying attention. "Why did you even call me over if you weren't going to take my advice?"
"Because I need your help," Emily finally looked up from her cell phone. "Just help me pick out something decent for dinner with her parents."
"What are Jru's parents like exactly? And when are you going to tell me how things with down with Paige? She didn't threaten to kill you or anything, did she?"
Emily turned and arched an eyebrow at Hanna. "Her feelings were hurt, Hanna. I was basically cheating on her, but no she didn't threaten to kill me."
"I wouldn't put it pass her," Hanna mumbled going back to the closet. "How about this orange dress?"
"Why did you never like Paige?" Emily asked curiously.
"Doesn't matter…you aren't with her anymore," Hanna shrugged. "I think you should wear this one." Hanna handed the orange dress to Emily.
"I'm going to be uncomfortable all night in this," Emily sighed.
"Well, wear whatever you want to wear. Jru is going to think you look gorgeous anyway."
"What is her mother going to think? Or better yet, what do you think her sister is going to think? Kelly hates me…"
"What did you do to her sister?" Hanna couldn't help but laugh.
Emily looked down and sent a quick text. "I just don't think she likes me. And it definitely doesn't help that Jru probably told her I had a girlfriend when we first met. She is very protective of Jru. Oh…and she is a Colby fan!"
"Well, I'm a fan of Colby too," Hanna admitted. "Have you met her yet?"
Emily took the dress and tried it on. It looked good on her but she still felt uncomfortable. "I'm just going to wear jeans," she decided. She changed into a pair of black jeans and purple long sleeve top. "How does this look?"
"Fine, I guess," Hanna smiled. "Who are you texting?"
"Jru of course…" Emily smiled slyly. "She's texting me directions…"
"Hmmm, what kind of directions exactly?"
"To the restaurant, Hanna. She has a doctor's appointment so I am meeting her and her family there." Emily texted her girlfriend again and smiled.
"So, have you talked to Spencer lately? I feel like I haven't seen her since before Christmas break."
"She's planning something special for Toby, so I doubt we'll see much of her until after that's over," Emily informed her. "It's their anniversary this week."
Hanna poked through Emily's jewelry box. "When did you get these?" Hanna pulled out a pair of small diamond studs.
"Put them back Hanna," Emily said slowly.
"Oh…don't want me to touch the things that Jru bought for you?" Hanna questioned.
"Jru didn't get those for me; Paige did," was all Emily had to say for Hanna to back away. Hanna wanted to comment that these were new earrings; Hanna knew ever pair of earrings that she, Emily, Aria or Spencer had bought in the last year, but she, for once, kept her comment to herself. Emily was never great at breaking up with people and this was especially true with Paige. They always seemed to find their way back to one another.
"Do I look nervous?" Emily asked twenty minutes later after she was fully dressed.
"Very nervous…" Hanna confirmed. "Very nervous."
"Hello…" Jru answered calmly as the nurse removed the first of a line of stitches on the side of her belly button. The long wound ran the length of her pelvis to right above her belly button and Jru had already anticipated that this process was going to take a while."What's up Spencer?" she asked through gritted teeth. She hadn't heard a lot from Spencer in the last few days but that wasn't particularly unusual.
"What are you doing right now?" Spencer asked in what seemed like a rush. Jru tried to sit up but the pressure from the nurse forced her back down.
"Getting stitches removed," Jru replied closing her eyes tightly to the pain. Her wound was still tender, but she couldn't admit that to anyone.
"What are you doing after that?"
"Dinner with my mother, father and Emily…why? Spencer what's going on?"
"I need help and you are the only person I can talk to…" Spencer admitted.
Jru was quiet. The nurse was quickly picking out stitches and Jru could feel some of the pressure release from her left side. "Meet me at my apartment in twenty minutes?"
"Thank you, Jru!"
Thirty minutes later, Spencer rang the doorbell of Jru's apartment. She had barely slept the entire night and she needed to talk to someone. She couldn't talk to Aria, Hanna or Emily; especially Emily, because they were too close to the problem. Jru was impartial, patient and rational. She would know exactly what to do.
Jru opened the door and waited for Spencer to enter. "What's going on?" Jru asked.
"I haven't been sleeping much lately. Can I ask you a question?"
"You had to drive all the way here to ask me a question?" Skepticism was written all over Jru's face. Spencer gave her a blank but serious look. "Okay, sorry, what's going on?"
"If someone was keeping a secret from you, would you want to know?" Spencer asked seriously.
"Is there something I need to know about Emily, because I just got my stitches out and I'm not sure my body or mind can take much more," Jru leaned against wall.
"It's not about Emily," Spencer murmured. "I can't tell you exactly but…I need to know, would you want to know, Jru?"
"Yeah, I would want to know everything." Spencer walked around the room, her demeanor somewhat timid followed by flashes of what seemed to be hysteria. "What do you need from me, Spencer?" Jru asked carefully.
"Do you know where this address is?" she handed Jru a piece of crumbled up paper.
Jru looked down at the paper and shook her head, "Yeah, I know the place. It's about forty minutes from here, somewhere out in the woods near a lake. My sister used to date a guy who lived up there. Nothing special though…a bunch of empty homes now I think. Some cabin like shacks for fishing on the lake in the summer."
"I need you to take me there… tonight…" Spencer stopped pacing.
"I have dinner with Emily and my mother in less than two hours. All I want to do is shower and get ready for this…"
"Please Jru. I can't do this alone and I can't do this with anyone else. I need you to do this for me."
Jru picked up her phone. The lie to her mother and father was easy. "Hey mom," Jru had begin. "I kinda feel horrible after getting my stitches out. Can we reschedule dinner?" Jru nodded and listened to her parent. "Yeah mom, I'm going to rest. Mom, I promise. I'll call you tomorrow morning, okay. I love you too, mom,"
The lie to Emily was a lot more difficult. "Yeah, I got my stitches out," Jru began. "It hurts a little bit," she admitted. "I was thinking that maybe we could reschedule dinner? My mom is going to be in town at least two more weeks. No Em, you shouldn't drive all the way up here; I'll be fine. I'm just going to lie down and rest. I'll call you tomorrow?" Spencer watched as Jru hung up.
"I hate lying to her," Jru frowned.
"Trust me, it's for a good cause," Spencer said seriously. "Let's go!"
"What's so special about going up here?" Jru asked as she and Spencer pulled onto the highway in her Jag.
"Something I need to know may be up there," Spencer answered simply.
"Really, I cancelled dinner with Emily and my parents and that's all you can give me?"
"It's definitely complicated Jru. But sometimes, past sins come back to bite you in the ass. But you won't have to worry about that, because you don't have past sins, right?"
"Not that I can think of. What past sins do you have, Spence?" Jru smoothly passed a car on the highway.
"How are you and Emily doing?" Spencer changed the subject. She wasn't really in the mood to examine her sins but she knew that this address could change a lot of them.
"I feel bad because she had to break up with Paige and I feel like I didn't have her back. I caused the problem, I should have at least been there to support her," Jru said sadly. "I know how badly Emily felt and I still can't get it out of my head how scary it must have been to be at that auditorium and me not showing up. She must have figured that I had stood her up."
"Well, you were in an accident. She should know by now that you wouldn't do anything to hurt her. That's more than anyone could say about Paige. She's practically a nightmare. I can't really understand why they were ever together but…" Spencer's words trailed off as Jru pulled onto a dirt road.
"Which address is it?" Jru asked as they began passing small cabins positioned along a lake.
"743," Jru said quickly.
"That's all the way up the mountain probably," Jru surmised slowing down to see the address on the first mailbox was 132. Spencer became quiet, her nerves suddenly on edge. Once they reached house 645, Spencer turned to Jru.
"Let's stop here and walk the rest of the way up," she suggested.
"That could be a mile up the road, Spencer."
"You can't walk a mile?" Spencer retorted. Jru pulled off to the side of the road and both girls exited the car. Jru popped her trunk and retrieved two high-powered flashlights. "You come prepared, don't you?" Spencer asked impressed.
"You never know what may happen," Jru nodded. "Plus, my dad is over protective as hell."
The house wasn't a full mile away, but it was a steep hike up the winding road of hill. Jru was nearly out of breath by the time they reached the dark 743 cabin. Spencer passed Jru and stepped onto the cabin's porch. She looked through the window but couldn't see anything.
"Do you have a key or something?" Jru asked coming up behind her.
Spencer jumped a little. "No…" she ran her fingers through her ponytail, "But I do have bobby-pins…"
"Really, you are going to pick a lock?" Jru asked in disbelief. Spencer was already working on the lock. After nearly five minutes of trying, Spencer heard the lock turn. She turned the knob and pushed the door but it wouldn't budge. She looked up at the top of the door for the first time. "Dammit! How did I miss that," she spat out seeing the outside padlock on the door.
"Can you pick that too?" Jru asked leaning against the banister. They both moved to the backdoor where they faced the same problem. "Who padlocks doors from the outside?" Jru shook her head. She ran the range of the light up to the windows above them. "That window is slightly opened though…" Jru stood on the banister and leaped onto the covering-roof over the porch. She pulled herself up easily and lay down across the roof. "Jump up," she instructed. Spencer did as she was told, and Jru pulled Spencer up with a bit more effort than it took to pull herself up.
"You aren't hurt are you?" Spencer watched as Jru grabbed her side.
"Nah, I'm fine," Jru shook her head.
"I don't think we should both go in," Spencer commented. "Someone should stay out here and watch out."
"You just think I'm hurt. I'm going in," Jru lifted the window completely and peeked inside. She backed into the house and landed on the hardwood floor below. "What's so important about this place?" Jru questioned when Spencer stood beside her.
Spencer didn't answer, just turned her flashlight on and began to explore the cabin. There was nothing impressive about the front two rooms, just a living room and a kitchen. Jru opened the refrigerator, nothing remarkable, and closed it. She really didn't understand what was so important about this cabin, but then she heard Spencer scream in frustration. She headed to the back room where Spencer was ripping down papers off of a wall.
"What is going on?" Jru asked in utter confusion. "What the hell is all of this stuff?" The walls were lined with pictures, newspaper clippings and miniature voodoo-like dolls.
"This is never going to stop," Spencer said driving her fist into the wall.
"Shhh!" Jru cut off her flashlight. "Come on! I think I hear the front door." Jru pulled Spencer out of the backroom and back into the bathroom. They heard the front door open and close and someone stop for a moment. It was eerily quiet before Jru and Spencer heard footsteps coming down the narrow hallway. A light clicked on in the hallway and Jru silently moved onto the bathtub edge so her feet didn't cast a shadow into the hallway. It would be a matter of seconds before whoever would find the mess Spencer had left, and she or he would be looking for whoever had made the mess. "Go!" Jru mouthed, but it was too late. They heard the room to the backdoor slam. Spencer bolted towards the window that they had let themselves into, followed quickly by Jru.
Spencer made it through the window first and by the time Jru made it back onto the roof, whoever realized that someone was still in the house. "We'd better speed up now!" Jru yelled, making her way onto the rooftop.
Spencer had a good head start on Jru and was halfway down the driveway by the time Jru began lowering herself off of the roof and onto the banister. Jru could hear someone walking around the side of the house and loss her footing. The fall wasn't far but the impact was painful. However, she popped up quickly with the impact still reverberating though the rest of her body. She rubbed her temple as a blurry figure emerged. She figured it would be best not to wait for the figure to catch up to her, so she turned and sprinted down the hill.
Spencer was already in the driver's seat of the car when Jru slid in the passenger's seat. "Drive," she commanded holding her head. The figure was close behind her and they didn't have time to waste. Spencer backed up quickly and made a u-turn in the middle of the road, speeding down the hill.
"What the hell was that about Spencer?" Jru asked angrily. Her shoulders hurt, not to mention the back of her head was throbbing too. She grabbed the back of her neck and grimaced. "What the hell did you do to that guy?"
"Guy?" Spencer mumbled. "Are you sure it was a guy, Jru?"
"Unless you know a girl who is about six-one with short hair…then yeah, I'm positive it was a boy," Jru confirmed holding her head. She raised her shirt a bit, "I think I'm bleeding."
Spencer looked over at Jru. "Inside or out?" she asked frantically.
"Out," Jru confirmed. The white gauze that was covering the place where her stitches once were, was now red.
"Hospital or home?" Spencer asked still frantically.
"Home…" she replied reclining her seat back. "If nothing else Spencer, you now have my full attention…"
"Trust me; you don't want to get mixed up in this, Jru…"
Jru patted her leather jacket pocket and then her jeans pocket. "I think it's too late for that," she scowled. "I lost my phone back there…"
"What!" Spencer swerved to the side of the road and pounded on the brakes. "They'll know who you are!"
"Who are they, Spencer! What are you talking about?" Jru was now beginning to panic too; which was only increasing her pain.
Spencer placed her head on the steering wheel and began to cry, "I just put you in horrible danger…"