Glass Jaw

Chapter 14

Content Warning: Mild use of recreational drugs. 

After that party, I kept my distance from Jules and the boys for the better part of a week. And honestly? It sucked. Before I moved to Madison Falls, I could go days without actually speaking to another human. I would talk anyway because I had too many thoughts to keep them all in, but there wouldn't be anyone there to respond back.

God, it was nice to have people actually talk back.

Jules and I still texted, but I made up excuses for why I couldn't get together. I was just so confused by Landon and I didn't want to see him for a bit. Just when I thought we were making progress and could maybe coexist, he went right back to hating me.

He hadn't even shown up to our geomorphology class.

I just didn't understand why he was mad at me. Dallas was the one who'd been a jerk. Plus it's not like what Dallas had said held any kind of merit. No one picked up on his weird riddle and realized that he meant me. Not to mention, I definitely didn't have Landon under some kind of spell with my lady bits.

Which is what that awful term Dallas had used meant.

I'd googled it.

I was just so conflicted. Building real friendships and feeling accepted had been like a dream. Everything I had ever hoped for in life just happened so quickly and effortlessly. Like a snowball shooting down a hill. I'd barely blinked and puzzle pieces of my life clicked into place without me even trying. It was like I hadn't even been the one doing the puzzle.

But they were Landon's friends first and he obviously still had a problem with me. The anger that had rolled off of him as our eyes connected in the bar was just too much. I wasn't a super anxious person, but it made my hands shake.

It was Saturday and I'd spent the day laying on my bed, staring at my ceiling, trying to find images in the speckled bumpy texture. So far, I'd found a dog with a patch over his eye, a lamppost, and Benjamin Franklin.

But none of it distracted me from how much I already missed Jules.

I missed that house too. It was so opposite to any home I'd been in before, except maybe the one I'd shared with Mom and Dad. Homes back in Oakford were not very... homey. Every room was like a museum, with artifacts that were never touched. Well, they were when maids picked them up to clean, but then they were put right back in the same place. Now that I thought about it, the stagnant energy of those rooms had reflected the trapped feelings in my heart.

Jules and the boys' home was so different though. Every time I walked in there was something at least a little different. A candle that once sat on the coffee table would be moved to a shelf. Or books were left out, sprawled across the couch where someone must have been studying. Heck, even the furniture changed if the boys got fighting and moved them out of the way.

I knew that I was fanciful and dramatic, but that house already meant something to me. It represented everything that I'd missed while living with my aunt and uncle.

I found myself standing up against my will and going to my closet. Flicking through my clothes, I found a pair of leggings and a hoodie and threw them on. I'd let my hair air dry that day so it was extra fluffy, but I shook it out the best I could and accepted it as it was.

Walking out of my dorm, I still hadn't decided what my game plan was. I just missed Jules. Up until now, Landon had been at the forefront of my thoughts. I'd been bothered by how much I'd obviously disrupted his life. But now, I wanted to be selfish. I wanted to go see my friend.

When I reached their front door, I smiled at the scratches along the frame. Jules had told me they were from moving furniture in and out whenever the boys broke stuff—which was often.