My One Sided Love Story

Chapter Fourteen

I sit in the car watching the world speed by as Linda drives home with John in the passenger seat. Destiny and the rest of the group went home earlier and are waiting for me.

Jack is still worried about me, probably since I acted as though he didn't exist. I'm just not ready to talk to him.

Whenever I see Jack, he tries to tell me something that is "really important and cannot wait" but then I am ushered away for "rest" or "food", my adoptive parents are amazing.

When we get home I go straight up to the room Destiny and I share, ignoring Jack as he tries to follow me around the house.

I grab a pencil from off the floor and a scratch piece of paper from Destiny's desk. I sit down at my desk and start drawing what I remember from my hallucinations of my mom.

"He-what are you doing?" Destiny says as she walks in our room. I shake my head without looking up and continue drawing. She tries to look over but I stiffen and she moves away, frowning.

She starts playing some music and I finish up the drawing some 30 minutes later.

I go to my bulletin board that hangs above my desk and I tack the drawing up there, labeling it 'Mom'.

I grab my phone and earbuds, taking my purse with me. I open my desk and shove pepper spray and a pocket knife in my purse. I walk down the stairs and out the front door, ignoring the protests from Linda and John.

I walk down my street, unaware that Jack is following me. I turn into the familiar alley and continue walking down.

Eventually I make it to the treehouse and I climb up, pulling the ladder up behind me. I sit down in a beanbag chair and listen to music, playing over the last five days in my head.

I hear someone shout my name through the blasting music, but I ignore it. Eventually it gets so annoying that I throw down my phone, wrench open the window and scream, "WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT?!?"

I see Jack standing at the base of the tree, his hair disheveled and circles under his eyes. He has a hoodie on and torn up jeans. I stare at him and be holds my gaze, eventually tearing his eyes away from mine.

"You didn't answer my question!" I call down to him, still aggravated. "I'm here to talk to you, can you let me up? Please?" Jack begs, desperation in his eyes.

I groan and shut the window. The ladder thuds to the ground as I cast it down, letting Jack up. He smiles at me as he's climbing, the blithering idiot.

Once Jack's up and sitting down next to me, I ask, "What do you want to talk about?"

"Um, well, I wanted to talk about Gray." he says, rubbing the back of his next with his hand and staring at his shoes awkwardly.

I sigh and ruffle my hair away from my eyes. "What about him?" I ask, harsher than I meant it to sound.

"Um, how long did you know him?" He asks me, wincing when I look up at him. "I met him 2 days before the accident." I answer without emotion.

Jack scoffs and then swallows, glancing back down at his shoes.

"Did you......love him?" He asks me quietly, still looking down. "No, I'm not in love with him." I answer bleakly.

"Oh, okay. Who do you love?" He asks hopefully. I feel my stomach churn. You. I almost answer. But instead, I lie right to his beautiful and sad face.

"I don't love anyone but Taylor." I look down and fiddle with the sleeve of my shirt, messing with the circle hope I wore there.

"Did you, at one time, love me?" He asks, even more quite than before. I am taken aback by his question, but when I know he's looking at me, I nod, letting the tears fall.