Impermanent Perfection - jatp/luke

1.18

the next morning when she woke up, jade knew exactly what she needed to do. she had to go see her mom. it was all she could think about.

they wouldn't be able to put their crossing-over plan in place until friday, when the next show at the orpheum was set to play. so this meant three agonizing days of waiting.

as jade got ready, the photos on her nightstand caught her eye and she smiled slightly. she quickly grabbed the one of luke and slid it into her pocket. she felt like it would give her comfort.

she made her way down stairs to turn on the coffee pot, all the while considering how she might actually go about her plans today. she wasn't entirely sure she wanted julie or flynn to know until she after she'd done it, so she threw her key in her bag and walked with them to school.

she was trying to seem normal around them, and not like she was about to do something that could entirely change her life. when they got to the school, she walked through the front doors with them and through the halls until the spot where the girls usually parted ways. they all said goodbye and instead of heading to her locker, jade spun and went back out the front doors.

the walk took longer than it used to, mostly because she was walking extremely slow in an attempt to build up the nerve for what she was about to do. her head was spinning and she could barely even see straight with how nervous she was.

luke suddenly appeared beside her, causing her to stop walking to turn to him.

"what are you doing here?" she asks quickly and he shrugged.

"i just wanted to see you." he states and she grinned slightly, ducking her head to hide the blush growing on her face. "shouldn't you be at school?" he questions and jade nods before continuing to walk. she reached into her bag to grab her earbuds and put them in, so it looked like she was talking on the phone.

"yeah, but i'm kind of doing a thing." she mumbles, luke walking beside her.

"won't julie's dad get you in trouble for missing school again?" he asks, looking at her curiously.

"he knows about the thing." she says quietly.

as nervous as she had been a few minutes ago, luke showing up actually helped her calm down a bit. he just had that affect on her.

"can i know about the thing?" he asks jokingly, turning his head to look at her.

she was still looking straight forward, and he suddenly noticed the nervous look in her eyes, and the way she was spinning the dahlia ring on her finger repeatedly.

"um, i'm going," she starts awkwardly. "i'm going to see my mom." she says quietly and lukes eyes widened as he stopped dead in his tracks just as they were about to cross the street. jade paused walking too, turning to look at him.

"you are?" he questions, his voicing coming out in a airy whisper. she nodded awkwardly and luke continued to stare at her.

"yeah." she says, glancing up at the street signs they were under. they were only a few blocks from her house now, and she felt her heart beat speed up again.

"what about your dad?" luke asks, desperately wishing her could grab her hand or hug her or do something to make her feel less stressed. he could tell how nervous she was by the way her eyes were darting all over the place, and her inability to stand still at the moment.

"he's at work." she explains, beginning to walk again. he bounced slightly to catch up with her, watching her carefully as she crossed the busy road.

"are you sure you're ready for this?" he asks softly. jade took a deep breath and shook her head 'no', though she continued in the direction of her house anyways.