Let Me Love You

•13•

Kelly is the only one sitting on one of the seats. She obviously attended the match,but I couldn't go.

Now,I don't know what the hell has happened to her.

"Jason,thank you..." She whispers and hugs me as I still wear a confused look.

"We just had an argument,I didn't expect him to react how he did," she stops to catch her breath.  "Derek left me here,angrily. I was shocked by his actions,and then two guys.. they came and threatened me" she says

"What did they say? Do you recognize their voices?" I ask

"One sounded like Carlos. I was so scared because I couldn't even see his face. It was so dark,and I was scared they were gonna do something" she says

I pull her in for a hug and she mutters another thank you.

As much as she irritates me,I would never ignore her when she's in trouble. Hell,I don't think I'll even do that to anyone I know.

She has a little bruise on her lower lip,and I raise a brow.

"What happened to your lip?" I ask

"Maybe it happened during the struggle" she shrugs

I don't wanna ask her about anything anymore. But,Carlos has gone way too far. That's if it's even him.

"We have a lot of things to talk about,you know?" I say and she briefly nods.

We get in my car,and unlike Kelly,she just remains quiet. She stares ahead of her as I drive to my house.

When we get in,no one is home.

So,I decide to text mom.

I offer her a glass of water,and she gulps it down. The way she looks at me,I know that she wants more.

So,I serve her some more until she's satisfied.

"Do you need anything? Like a shower? Or anything at all" I ask

"I'll have a shower," she sighs.  "No one is probably at my house right now"

I get up,and she follows suit.

She heads for the guestroom where she has stayed in multiple times some months turned years back.

She sits on the bed.

I go to my room,and I give her an extra pair of my neatly laundered t-shirt and sweatpants.

I place them neatly beside her and she smiles. Then,I give her a tote bag from one of the drawers here that she can put her soon to be taken off clothes.

"Thank you" she says and I leave the room.

My phone beeps in my pocket as I head downstairs.

Mom says she stopped over at her friend's house. She makes me a quick video of her,and I smile.

I decide to make us some toast with hot coffee because I see it's getting windy,it might rain.

****
It's been about twenty minutes,and Kelly isn't out yet.

Man,girls take a lot of time in the bathroom.

When she gets in the living room,she smiles and I laugh.

"You look like I threw you in my clothes. They're literally swallowing you" I say and she rolls her eyes.

"Come on. They're not that big" she says as she walks over to me,still upstanding.

"But I know I would definitely drown in Toby's clothes" she says and both of us laugh.

"Oh and yeah," she reaches into the pocket of the sweatpants. "Could you help me put this back on? It fell off while I was in the shower" she says struggling to bring something out of her pocket.

When she does,I roll my eyes

"Sure" I stand behind her. She hands me the thin strand of gold. The necklace is beautiful.

I hear the door,but I ignore it, trying to put her necklace on for her.

That's probably mom or Toby knocking. They'll let themselves in.

When the person continues,I yell
"It's open!"

And when I do,the necklace finally clips and I let out a breath.

"You obviously can't do this yourself because of your acrylics" I mutter and Kelly nods.

Ruby steps into the living room,and has a confused look on her face.

"Don't you ever knock?" I ask and immediately put my hands over my mouth when I realize how rude that sounded.

"I did. You said to come in"

None of us say anything,and I slowly move from behind Kelly. Kelly clears her throat and that serves as my cue to talk. At least, that's what I think.

"I was..." I start but Ruby speaks

"I just wanted to say thank you for the ride home," she stops which is unlike Ruby. "But it seems like you're busy" she says looking around,not being able to focus somewhere.

"No,I'm just-" I begin again but her voice interrupts.

"I'll leave you to continue" she says slowly and walks out.

"I'm sorry,Jason" Kelly says

"No, don't be" I say running my hands through my hair.

I need to call her. She didn't look okay. Maybe she wanted to talk.

Imagine if Kelly wasn't here, Ruby would have come in and we would have played on the Xbox,then moved to FIFA,then probably played some Fortnite as she munched on her pizza loudly. Then,I would ask her about her family and she would act like I didn't say anything.

"I think I should go" Kelly says

"No,you can stay a little while" I reply and she sighs.

"You're acting weird," she says and I can't help but chuckle. "But I can tell you like Ruby. You might not be aware,but it's very obvious"

"So you're partners with Ace and Dante now?" I ask and she laughs

"Nope. Just stating the fact," she says.

"I don't know why we can't just be like this," I say. "You just like... changed"

She doesn't say anything,but I guess she's thinking about it.

"Want some popcorn?" I ask and she nods

*,*,
We continue to eat the popcorn,and I decide to ask her about Derek.

"So,what are you gonna do about Derek?" I ask and she smiles for the thousandth time tonight.

"Don't worry about that, Jason.. we'll get the time to talk. And even though I find him guilty,I don't know but I'll find myself running back to him"

"Follow your heart,Kelly"

*'*'*
"I'm busy, Jason" Ruby says jotting things down in the empty library.

"I didn't ask if you were" I say sitting next to her.

"What're you reading?" I ask

"A book" she says as she looks engulfed in the book that I can't even decipher the name.

"Do you want to talk about yesterday?" I ask lowly and she doesn't reply for a while.

"No,I don't. I did,but now,I don't" she says

"Have you and Kelly... Made up?" I ask

"We never broke up" she shrugs

"Are you still angry with her?" I ask

"Whatever,Jason" she says

Thanks for rey,guys.

Love:Melanin3000💜💙