**THE NEXT DAY**
Kevin slammed the phone down and let out a string of curses. He couldn’t count how many times he had called...Too many times not to get an answer. The first time he called, he didn’t think it was at all odd that he hadn’t gotten an answer, but that had been two and a half hours earlier. Now he was beginning to get very worried. Where could she be?
Picking up the phone he dialed another number. He was ready to hang up when he finally got an answer. “A.J., is Meredith close by?”
“Sure, hang on,” A.J. responded, sounding a little confused. “She’ll be right here.”
After a minute, Kevin heard noise as Meredith picked up the receiver. “Hello?”
“Meredith?”
“What do you want, Kevin?” she questioned, casting a glance in Jade’s direction. She was furiously shaking her head ‘no’ and waving her hands back and forth.
“Have you talked to Jade?” he asked desperately hoping he had found her.
“No, sorry,” her answer was short. As much as she disliked Kevin, when she heard his defeated sigh, she felt almost sorry for him. “I dunno where she is.”
“Damn,” Kevin yelled. “I’ve got to talk to her, Meredith. Her cell phone is off and she’s not answering her telephone or my pages. I’m really worried.”
“Well, Kevin, I really wish I could help you, but I can’t,” she replied coolly. “Sorry.”
When he heard the click of the phone, Kevin said everything that could’ve gotten his mouth washed out by his mother, even now. Letting his head fall onto his arms, Kevin began to cry. “What happened to make Jade avoid me like this? She had to know I was wrong...I have to tell her how much I love her!”
****************************************************
“I can’t...I...I don’t...” Jade stuttered.
Rubbing her back, Meredith told her, “Slow down. Take a breath and don’t get rushed.”
“I don’t understand. Was he gonna give this to me at lunch yesterday? I did leave and he had said we needed to talk...maybe he was gonna tell me to stay out of his life face-to-face.”
“But I thought he was apologizing yesterday,” A.J. looked confused.
“He was...”
Meredith sighed. None of this made any sense to her. The only thing she remotely understood was that Jade loved Kevin more than anything. I just don’t get why he was trying to apologize, but then sent her a letter telling her to get out of his life. Something’s very wrong and for once I don’t think this is Kevin’s fault as much as I don’t want to admit it. “Maybe there’s a misunderstanding between the two of you,” she offered.
“What kind of misunderstanding?” Jade asked, taking the letter back out. “Meredith, this says enough.”
Taking the letter from Jade, Meredith looked it over closely. “I just think there’s something really funny about this letter. I just don’t think it really is from Kevin,” she sighed, looking at the handwriting. Handing the letter to A.J., she asked, “What do you think?”
Looking it over as Meredith had, A.J. glanced at Jade. “Honestly, I dunno. It does look like his hand writing, but the letter doesn’t match up. To the situation, I mean. This kinda thing isn’t really Kevin’s style either. If he was gonna tell you to stay out of his life, he’d do it in person and he wouldn’t have let you leave without tell you. You know Kevin...am i not right?”
Nodding, Jade sighed. “Yeah, you are.”
“This confuses me too,” A.J. replied. “If you really wanna know what I think...I think you should talk to Kevin.”
“I can’t A.J. You don’t understand--”
“Yes, I do...we both do, but you can’t keep avoiding him. I think he deserves to be confronted and you deserve to know what’s goin’ on.”
“He’s right, J,” Meredith said, slipping her hand into A.J.’s. “I think if you talk to Kevin, things might get straightened out.”
****************************************************
The furious knocking on his front door startled Nick from the movie he was trying to get interested in. Making his way to the door, he decided that something was definitely wrong with the person on the other side. When he got the door open, he was thrown against the wall. “What the fuck!” he yelled surprised.
“Where is she?” Kevin yelled, taking hold of Nick’s collar.
“Who?” Nick asked.
“Jade, where is she? And don’t lie to me.”
“I dunno. I haven’t talked to her since yesterday,” he answered. “Let go of me, Kevin.”
“I told you not to lie to me, Nick. Why is it that nobody knows where she is? Meredith and A.J. haven’t seen her and neither have you. Somebody’s lying to me,” Kevin said, tightening his grip on Nick’s collar and shoving him harder against the wall.
When Kevin did that, something inside Nick snapped. All of a sudden, to Kevin’s surprise, Nick shoved and sent Kevin flying to the floor. “I told you already...I haven’t seen or talked to Jade. If you don’t believe me, that’s your problem. Now get out of my house.”
Instead of getting up, Kevin put his head in his hands and began to sob. “I--I’m sorry man, really. It’s just, I haven’t been able to get a hold of Jade and I’m really worried. I just thought maybe she’d asked you to cover for her since y’all are so tight.”
Sighing, Nick sat down on the floor beside Kevin. He’d never seen his friend this upset, so he really didn’t know what to do. “It’s okay, man. I know you’re upset.”
“I have to find her and talk to her. She had to know how much I love her,” Kevin’s eyes glazed over again.
Hearing Kevin’s confession sent a surge of jealousy through Nick. Just as he was about to comment, there was another knock at his front door. “Maybe that’s Jade,” he sighed and watched Kevin’s face light up. Nick hadn’t been prepared for Kevin’s visit and he definitely wasn’t prepared for his next visitor or anything that was about to happen.