𝐜𝐫𝐮𝐞𝐥 𝐬𝐮𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫 | 𝐭. 𝐳𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐬

chapter 27

"jack! we need to talk!" tori announced when she walked into jack's room. he was laying on his bed, scrolling aimlessly on his phone. alex was also in the room, but started to leave the moment tori got there.

"someone's in the dog house," alex snickered before shutting the door behind him. this left an upset tori with a very worried looking jack.

jack asked, "are you mad at me?"

tori crossed her arms and stated, "depends on what you said." tori knew jack would tell the truth, but she didn't know how far in depth he went and that part scared her. even though tori was closer with quinn, jack knew how to read her thoughts and emotions better than anyone else. jack and tori were really close when they were younger, but drifted apart after she rejected him.

"i promise you i told him the exact truth of everything that went down. i told him nothing happened between the two of us and that you rejected me," jack explained. tori knew that wasn't the whole truth. there's no way just that would led trevor to beating him with a pillow. there's more to the story than jack is letting on.

tori nonchalantly asked, "so why did he beat you with a pillow?" jack knew he was caught.

he sighed, "he may or may not have asked me if i was the reason why you're scared of hurting him. i did not deny such claims and then he started hitting me with a pillow because he was mad i made you feel that way."

tori started making her way towards a pillow. maybe hanging out with trevor was starting to rub off on her. jack noticed this and put his hands up in surrender, "tori, i can tell you're upset, but violence is not the answer. you and i both know this was a conversation that needed to happen eventually."

"you may be right about that, but you should have given me a heads up!" tori yelled before grabbing one of jack's pillows and smacking him with it. jack let out a high pitch scream, surprising both tori and jack. tori was only caught off guard for a second before continuing to hit him.

in between hits, jack shouted, "victoria, please stop! we need to talk about this and you know it!" tori could tell he was serious since he used her full name. she dropped the pillow and collapsed on jack's bed. once jack saw the girl calming down, he said, "you really need to let this go."

"i don't know what you're talking about," tori shrugged. that was a lie. tori knew exactly what jack was referring to, but refused to talk about it.

jack replied, "there's no reason to lie to me about this. you and i both know i can read you like a book. i know what happened in the past is still affecting you. you're not going to be able to date trevor until you let this go."

at this point, tears were starting to form in tori's eyes. she hated talking about this especially with jack. every emotion and feeling was coming back to her. tori croaked, "but i hurt you so bad."

jack wrapped his arms around tori, pulling her into a hug. his chin rested against the top of her head. "tori, that was so long ago and it was my fault it even happened in the first place. i should have listened to quinn and should have reacted better. it's not your fault you didn't feel the same. i know you never meant to intentionally hurt me, that's not in your nature. believe me when i say it's all in the past and i'm okay," jack told tori. every word he spoke was the truth. jack had recovered and he holds nothing against her.

"but i—" tori started to say.

jack cut her off, "no buts! you should not have to continue to feel guilty about this! look at me." tori lifted her head up to meet jack's eyes. he continued, "you are forgiven, there's nothing else to fix. you need to forgive yourself. i'm here, right now, as proof to show you that there's no reason to hold onto this guilt."

tori wiped her tears and asked, "you promise?"

jack laughed, "if i really had an issue with something that happened, what like seven years ago, i would honestly probably need some help nor would i be having this conversation with you right now."

"you're right," tori replied. it was time she let this go. she had been holding onto it for so long, mostly because she never fully believed jack. their friendship never fully returned to what it once was. but after crying into him, she saw glimpses of how things used to be. he had moved on and she was going to as well.

"i know, i am! now, please leave so you can go get your man! we are all patiently waiting for the two of you to date," jack chuckled while pushing her off the bed. yeah, they were back to how they used to be.

tori rolled her eyes, "i hate you sometimes! but, yes, i will leave so i can steal your man from you. the bromance is about to die!"

"you could never steal trevor away from me!" he gasped.

"watch me!" tori left jack's bedroom, feeling a lot better about everything. now, she had to find trevor and hope that his talk with quinn went well.