Emily Rose
5 years ago

Pain shocked my body.

Everything was pain, but at the same time, nothing was.

"Hello? Have you seen my son?"

"Please, tell me if you've seen him?"

"Please, he's around 6 feet tall and has dark brown hair. His eyes are brown, too. He's in his younger 20's, 21 to be exact. Please, just call me when you see him. His name? Parker. Parker Bowmen. You'll call me? Okay, thank you."

I rested my head in my hands. The sicking tears finally decided to stop as exhaustion hit my body.

This was the 20th time Parker's mom, Charlotte Bowman, had filed a missing person's report.

I'm pretty fucking sure if she files another one, they'll take her to jail.

"Honey," Parker's dad, Adam Bowmen, mutters as dark, cloudy bags hang from his eyes. "Maybe we should call it a day. Try tomorrow?"

Mrs. Bowman's tired eyes snapped towards him, "tomorrow? Tomorrow, our baby could be suffering in a ditch! We don't have tomorrow!"

Mr. Bowman sighed, "he's a grown man. Maybe, he's out exploring somewhere. Or maybe, he wanted some freedom."

"From what, Adam? From what? Is it so bad that he couldn't give us one call, not one single fucking note? NOTHING?!" Mrs. Bowman shouts, her voice cracking into a million pieces. "It's been 5 days, Adam. 5 days is too long." Collapsing onto the marble countertop, Mrs. Bowman weeped heavily into her arms.

I stared in sadness as Parker's father wrapped his hands around his wife before quickly excusing them both and dragging the crying woman upstairs. As they went upstairs, I could tell he was trying to hard not to cry but nothing could stop that one tear that slipped from his eyes.

I took a deep breath as I tried to level my emotions.

It's been 5 days since Parker's disappearance and everyone's on the look out. Posters, calls, everything's being done to find him but the fucker know how to hide.

Rumors have been going around; some say that he's been killed by a secret government cult, others say that he's in Bora Bora with some rich Italian babe. But the weirdest one is that he's been adducted by aliens.

I'm pretty sure the last one is total and complete bullshit.

I slump against the kitchen island.

For the past couple nights, I've been unable to sleep in my own fucking bed, so sometimes I sneak through Parker's open window and sleep in his bed.

It's fucking pathetic, I know but shit, I can't do anything else. Nothing makes sense and truthfully, I don't want it to. It'll just make everything hurt more and I'm tired of hurting.

So here I am, at Parker's house acting as if I didn't sneak in and scare the shit out of Mrs. Bowman earlier this morning.

She thought it was Parker and I can't blame her, I would think it was my missing son, too, if I hear noises coming from his room.

She was soon filled with disappointment when she found out that instead of her son, she found his dumbass best friend sleeping in his bed in her Hello Kitty pajamas.

I snuggled closer to the blanket around my shoulders.

Everyone's breaking in many words them one and un-fucking-luckily for me, I'm one of them.

*****

Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months and surprisingly I haven't left Parker's house.

I've put my whole life on hold just waiting for that special day when Parker walks into the door and finally claims what's his.

Me.

My phone rung again and I immediately knew who it was.

A name shined bright onto my phone screen.

God, can't he go away?

Since Parker left, Tomas has been calling me daily and apparently the dumb bitch can't catch a hint.
I don't want him nor do I want to be around him. Just hearing his name irritates me.

"He's still calling?" Cameron's voice appeared from behind me.

I nodded, daring not to look at her.

Cameron hesitates, her teeth digging into her bottom lip.

"You should call him." She says finally.

"What?" I turn towards her and she gives me an uneasy smile.

"Look Emily, if I know anyone best, I know you. And you're taking this really hard." She pauses for a second before taking a deep breath and continuing. "But you're also doing is keeping a secret from me."

My eyebrow furrows as I try to say something.

Cameron shakes her head, stopping me. "I know you. You get this look on your face when you keep something, it's almost as if you can't breath or think. Shit, you still haven't told us when's the last time you saw Parker."

I slam my eyes shut as a barrel full of memories hits me at once.

Our bodies were in a collision and collided. Our desperate, breathless souls emerged with each other until we were nothing else but broken pieces of glass in a mass heat of self need and lust. Our hearts and minds were truly tested as we pulled each other closer.

I slowly opened my eyes again.

"We went to the party then he dropped me off home, that's all." I left the lie slip out of my lips so effortlessly, it almost surprised me, myself.

Cameron stared at me, her eyes unreadable as if she knew something I didn't.

"Okay," she nods her head.

We sit in a quiet silence as Cameron begins to tap her nails against the counter top.

Click, click, click.

"Look Emmie, you shouldn't have to sit in this goddamn house or sleep in Parker's bed, in order to heal. You don't deserve it. It's been months, the police have found nothing, my parents are tired, you're tired, we're all tired. He's gone and there's nothing we can do about it. But that doesn't mean you should stop living and block everything out because of one person who was meaningful in your life for a period of time. People leave, Emmie, it's human nature, we don't have a choice of that happens or not but we do have a choice if we let it kill us or build us and that's all that matters."

I scoff, "Cameron, why do you always give amazing advice but are shit at following it?"

Cameron shrugs, "I don't know, hell. I just through random shit together and hope it sounds good."

We both laugh.

Cameron smiles at me before standing up, "look, all I'm saying is live, don't let some hardheaded bastard ruin your life. It's not fun for me or for you." She gestures at both of us before waving me goodbye.

"Peace, I gotta go to work."

I wave back at her, "bye."

As I hear the door slam behind me, I think about what Cameron said.

I can't keep letting Parker control my life, I have to live, whether or not he's here or not.

I bite my lip and my phone begins to ring again.

And instead of ignoring it like I usually do, I do the one thing I never pictured myself doing:

I pick the phone.

"Hey Tomas. Yeah, it's nice to hear from you, too. Hey, umm, not to get off as strong or anything, but do you want to meet somewhere, a dinner maybe?"

*****
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Song: I Have Questions by Camila Cabello

I hope you liked Chapter 15 of The Love That Is Parker Bowmen.

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