The Promise (38 page)

As I hear
the first knock on the front door, I’d be lying if I was to say that I’m not feeling nervous. I’m here solely for Sophie and I’ll never apologize for that, but I figure it’s probably going to be a little weird meeting Jack’s friends.

Lucy makes her way over to the door and opens it
, allowing the first group of people to come inside. Before too long, the small living room is full and people are beginning to spill out onto the porch and into the front yard. I watch Sophie walk through the crowd, talking and hugging her way through both her and Jack’s friends.

Every once in a while she makes her way over and introduces me to someone or
to ask if I’m okay. From time to time, I walk over to check on her as well. I didn’t know how much I touched her before, it’s only now that I’m trying not to so much that I realize and it’s driving me nuts. Drake stays close to Ana on and off as well, but inevitably he and I meet back at the same spot with our drinks while we both try and take everything in.

About an hour after
the last guests arrive, Sophie makes her way back over to me, pulling me over to the corner of the room where Lucy, Matt, Ana, and Drake are all standing.

“We’re about to get started over here,” she says nervously
, while holding my hand in hers. “In a second, Matt’s going to ask everyone to make their way outside so we can do everything we’ve planned out on the porch. There are just so many people that there’s no way they’ll all be able to fit in here.”

“Are you still nervous?” I ask
her as I squeeze her hand tenderly.

“Yeah,” she
answers as I pull her closer towards me while stroking my hand across the small of her back. “I didn’t realize that Luce had invited so many people over. This was supposed to be a small thing, but, I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.”

“Don’t be nervous. You’re gonna be amazing and if you get too scared, just find me and pretend I’m the only one out there, okay?” I
ask, hearing as she lets out a deep breath.

“They’re going to say
a few words and then I’m going to do my thing. Once I’m done, I want us to go and get some air. It’s way too packed in here,” she says, wrapping her arms around my waist as she hugs me closer to her. “Thanks.”

Before I
have the chance to answer her, Matt lets out a loud bellow to gain everyone’s attention and so I hug Sophie again, allowing myself to give her a quick kiss on the top of her head before Drake and I back away.

Matt’s standing
over in the corner, asking everyone to make their way outside. We all do as he asks, leaving only Sophie, Ana, Matt, and Lucy inside.

I walk out to the porch and ma
ke my way down the steps with Drake behind me. We find a place nearby but so it’s out of the way. I want to make sure Sophie knows I’m here for her, but I know stifling her is the last thing she needs right now. There are some things you just have to do on your own and this is most definitely one of those times for Sophie. It’s killing me not being able to hold her right now, but I know this is what she needs.

The
four of them make their way outside and I see Matt stepping in front of the crowd, once again commanding their attention. There’s a microphone and a few small speakers set up on the porch. He steps in front of the mic as he begins to address the crowd.

“Hey everyone
. Thanks again for coming out today. I want to keep this short so that Ana and Soph can say what they wanna say and then we can get on with the party. Jack was my best friend, my brother, my partner in crime. I loved him and I know that he would be blown away by the amount of people who came out today to do this for him,” he says as he pulls out a piece of paper from his back pocket. “When Jack died, he left a few of us letters. I’m not gonna read the whole thing and I’m sure you can all understand why. I am gonna read a few lines so that you understand what this whole day is about.”

He looks down
to the paper and clears his throat again before he begins to read from Jack’s letter.

“If I don’t make it home, I need you to do something for me. I don’t want some sad ass funeral with everyone crying because I’m gone. Don’t let them mourn my death for too long, Matt. Make them celebrate the happiness I had in my life, especially Sophie and Ana. They’re going to fight you on it but show them this and maybe they’ll agree,” he laughs sadly a
s he glances over at their tear stained faces. “He knew y’all would be stubborn. Imagine that!”

We join them in
their light laughter before Matt puts his focus back to the letter.

“Get my beautiful girl to sing for me and make Ana promise she won’t,”
Matt reads off of the paper and chuckles lightly.

The words he reads out loud have us all
laughing again. “Drink some beer and talk about the good times we shared. Just don’t dwell on this shit for long because you know I wouldn’t want that. Tell everyone I love them and hold my girls when they cry. Don’t let go until they’re smiling again,” I watch as Matt wraps his arms around Sophie and Ana, keeping the letter in his hand as he finishes the reading. “Do me proud, Matt. Make it a party Camden never forgets because I’ll never forget them.”

The crowd let out a big round of applause as Matt returns the letter back to his pocket
before looking over everyone

“So without further ado, let’s raise our beers to Jack! The coolest motherfucker Camden ever knew! We love you, man!”
he says loudly, raising his glass towards the sky as he says the words.

“To Jack!” The crowd cheer
s as a whole before taking a long draw from their drinks.

Ana makes her way to the center of the makeshift stage and lo
oks out at everyone, before she begins to speak into the microphone.

“I don’t really have too much I want to say right now. I just really want to say thank you again for coming. Thank you for remembering my brother and for being here for me, Sophie, Matt, Lucy, and JT. I love y’all and I promise I won’t sing until later when we’re all too drunk to remember it!”

Everyone laughs before she continues with her speech.

“My brother was really special to all of us and in keeping with his wishes, Luce and I had the idea of putting out a box over there for you all to write down some of your favorite memories of him for us to check out later. A personal favorite of mine was when we were kids, Jack would get so excited about Santa coming at Christmas time that he’d get everyone to go to bed at like seven.” Ana chuckles to herself but I can see the sadness in her eyes. I can hear the pain in the way that her voice cracks.

She takes a moment to compose herself, gratefully taking the proffered tissue Sophie hands her with a weak smile before she continues her memory.

“Mom and Dad always told us if we didn’t go to sleep then he wouldn’t come … Jack would be so stressed out when he couldn’t sleep
! He’d sneak into my room every year and wake me up, asking me if I thought Santa had come yet. I’d say ‘No Jackie, he won’t come if you’re awake!’ He’d say ‘Well Ana I can’t sleep if I know he’s coming!’ He’d be quiet just long enough for me to doze off but then he’d wake me up again and we’d do the same thing over and over and for hours and hours before he’d finally wear himself out with worry,” she says with a smile as she reminisces.. “Thanks everyone for coming out today … Let’s all try to have some fun for Jack!” She adds, raising her drink and looking around as we all follow her lead.

Once she ha
s given both Ana and Matt a hug, Sophie makes her way over to the microphone.  “Hey everyone,” she says, sounding nervous as she looks down to the ground for a brief moment.

“Ana and Matty asked me to say a few words before I sang today … so, here goes … Really, I just want to say thanks for coming out here and joining us today
, so we can all celebrate what time we had with Jack together,” she starts. “He was a great guy and just knowing that he’s being remembered for the person he was and not the tragedy of his death would make him really happy. I know it means a lot to us,” she says as she glances back towards Matt and Ana, who are nodding in agreement. “As far as my memory goes, I had a really hard time picking a favorite because I have so many great ones to choose from …”

Taking another sip of my beer as Sophie speaks about her memories of Jack, I thought I would’ve been feeling a little weird to hear about their time together, but surprisingly, I don’t. I know she and Jack had a past together and I’m relieved she’s finally able to open herself up about it all.

“… One of my favorite memories took place shortly before our senior prom. I’d been watching Dirty Dancing a week or so before and mentioned that I used to have a huge crush on Patrick Swayze when I was a kid. I went on and on about what a great dancer he was in the movie and in typical Jack fashion, that statement turned into a challenge.” The crowd laugh at her as she continues. “His response was, ‘Whatever! I could dance circles around Patrick Swayze.’” Ana laughs at Sophie’s likely ridiculous impression of Jack’s voice. “I completely forgot about that conversation but about three days later, I walked into the living room where he’d asked Ana to give him dancing lessons so he could impress me at prom. He was trying so hard, but God bless him he was just
terrible
! I watched him silently for as long as I could until he finally caught me because I couldn’t control my laughter any longer. Serious as a heart attack, he looked right at me without missing a beat, shot me a cocky grin and told me, ‘I bet your precious Patrick Swayze didn’t have any sick moves like that, did he Baby?”

The crowd erupts in laughter and
I see the widening smile crossing over Sophie’s mouth at her memory of him.

“In his defense, he
had gotten better, but it didn’t matter in the end because we all got arrested for fighting and so ended up missing our prom!” She smacks Matt playfully before she finishes up her speech. “One of my favorite things to do with Jack was just …
be
. We spent hours listening to music and he taught me how to play the guitar. He helped to bring me out of my shell and those memories are among my most cherished. The last song I ever asked Jack to teach me to play, here in this very house, is the song I’ve decided to play for him today.”

The crowd clap
s and cheers while Sophie slowly closes her eyes and appears to be whispering a silent message. “Matty? Can you do back up?” she asks in a small voice, just near enough to the microphone for me to be able to hear her. I see him nodding and smiling as she picks up what I now know was Jack’s guitar. “This is the acoustic version of Katy Perry’s ‘The One That Got Away’.”

Her eyes find mine and
so I wink up at her with encouragement. She begins slowly, with her features beginning to display her nervousness. Her voice is low but it’s exceptionally heavenly and soft.

She keeps her eyes closed for the majority of the song
, but it doesn’t seem to be stopping the tears from flowing down her cheeks. As Matt joins in, she smiles weakly to him and appears to be loosening up a little. Both of their voices are filled with emotion but dance together in harmony throughout the melody.

I understand what she meant
back at the truck now, when she said she needed to warn me about her song choice. The lyrics about lost love are hard to hear but I have to admit, it’s the most perfect song for this very occasion.

Seeing Sophie hurt
ing like this is pure torture, but I know that nothing my heart is going through can compare to the turmoil she must be experiencing right now.

Watching
her, I can’t help the lump that begins to swell up in my throat. All I want to do is to rush over to the makeshift stage and take Sophie somewhere that will help her to escape this moment. This moment that’s cutting her so deeply and gutting me in the process, but I can’t.

As
though he senses my internal struggle, Drake raises his free arm, offering me a brotherly pat on my shoulder. I feel as though I should turn and acknowledge the gesture, but I can’t seem to tear my eyes away from Sophie. I hear her voice breaking with emotion during when she reaches the bridge of the song, when she softly sings the words that seem to cut through her heart the deepest.

Reaching
the final chorus, I watch Matt as he leans across to her, before wiping the tears away from her face, breaking her from the memory that’s been holding her captive for so long.

Knowing
that he’s in love with her while she sings so passionately for another man isn’t easy to watch, but I trust her with my heart. I know this is what she needs.

As the song
draws to an end, he whispers something to her and I see her smiling softly at him in return before she turns back to face the crowd. Through our tears, the whole crowd is cheering over her performance. As soon as she is able to compose herself, she steps closer towards the microphone again.

“I’m gonna do one more
…” she says ever so quietly, with her eyes searching around her audience “Most of you have heard it before so it’s nothing new but this next song was Jack’s favorite. He loved when we performed it together, so Matty is gonna help me out with this one too,” she says, taking a hold of the electric guitar he’s handing over to her once it has been plugged into the amp.