Sunflowers (Jerry Baynard x Reader/OC)

7 - Friends

Jerry's POV.

God I hated her so much, but still I couldn't get her out of my mind. Everywhere I looked it, all I could see was her. She had possessed my mind in a way that was unexplainable.

Even just hearing her breathe made me so agitated I thought I was going mad. Well, that was the only explanation. I must've really been going crazy. Who would want to have someone like her living in their mind rent free? She's annoying, dramatic, rude, stubborn, selfish, beautiful, magnificent, wonderful, and disgustingly gorgeous.

What is wrong with me?

She broke me.

"Why so quiet?" Diana asked me as we all sat for dinner around the Cuthbert's dining table. Marilla, Matthew, Anne, Diana, Mrs. Barry, me and Vivian.

Mrs. Barry and Marilla had engaged in their own conversation leaving the rest of us to talk about the mundane things like the weather, work and such things.

"No reason." I responded, my eyes stuck on my plate.

"Well, Vivian, how come you work here?" She asked Vivian, trying to change the silence.

Vivian looked up, surprised someone was talking to her. I could tell by her body language that she didn't want to say much. "For the same reason that anyone works. The money." A simple and straightforward answer. For some reason it brought a small smile to my face.

"Well, of course, I know that." Diana laughed. "What I mean to ask is why?"

Vivian appeared to get more agitated. "I don't want to bore you to death with my life story." She gave a fake smile. There was something she was hiding. Something she didn't want to say. For all I cared, she could've kept the secret to herself, but I knew Diana would not let that happen.

"Not at all. I'm all ears." Diana smiled.

"I'd rather not."

"Vivian, it's alright. We don't judge-"

"My youngest sister..." She began with a stiff expression. "She's dying." She let out before Diana had the chance to finish her sentence. "We need money... to pay for a good doctor."

The silence almost burned the whole room. Marilla's and Mrs. Barry's voices had quieted down at the sudden bomb Vivian had dropped. And as I could see through her face, she hated that she said it aloud.

Diana's eyes widened at the realisation that she'd gone a little too far. My stare found Vivian's and I saw her looking down at her plate with a stiff expression before suddenly dragging back her chair and getting up. She refused to look at anyone or anything else as she spoke.

"I'll be heading home now. Thank you for the food." She hurriedly took steps towards the door as everyone stayed silent until we heard the door shutting.

No one spoke, only awkward stares exchanged between each other. But before I had the chance to even register it myself, I felt my legs stand up from my seat by the table.

"Jerry?" Diana's voice questioned.

"Excuse me." I answered with a sorry look as I went after the girl. For what reason? I don't know. She probably just needed time alone. And I was crazy enough to go after her. I was crazy enough to WANT to go after her.

As I left the house, I saw her frame urgently walking away from the house as of she'd seen a ghost in it. Something in my mind was telling me to stay away, and I wanted to listen to that part of me. But I still didn't stop until I'd reached her. My hand taking her shoulder, making her stop in her tracks.

She turned, an annoyed look on her face as she waited for me to say something. I didn't even know what to say.

"What, Jerry?" Her annoyed tone made me flinch a little. Merely because she was not used to being mad or annoyed. We usually insulted each other almost every day. That never budged her. I guess Diana hit a nerve. "Just go back and enjoy your time with your girlfriend."

She turned back around to walk away but I stopped her again, taking her wrist. Even more annoyed now, she turned to me and a frantic exhale left her throat. "Do you have something to say to me?" She asked, holding herself back from speaking too loudly.

A funny thing about Vivian is that she wasn't even that angry. But since she was always so calm, being this annoyed was like next level rage in her book.

"Well?" She gave me a last chance to speak.

I hesitated before I said, "I'm sorry."

She crossed her arms. "For what? Last time I checked you weren't the one to pressure me into sharing private information."

"I know, but... I don't know. I feel guilty, I feel responsible for what happened in there."

"Well, don't." She turned away again.

"Will you just stop running away from me!" I took her wrist again. "We work together everyday. I know you hate the idea, but we have to start learning to share thoughts with each other. To talk and communicate. Otherwise we won't survive this job."

Despite the rage, her eyes lowered as she realised that maybe I was right. "What are you getting at?"

I sighed. "Remember when I told you that we would always just be workers. That anything else was out of the question."

She nodded.

"Well, maybe we can be... friends?"

For a second she stared at me with a blank face. Her eyes narrowed at me. But then a laugh escaped her mouth. "You and me? Friends? Give me a break!"

"Does it sound so ridiculous?" I asked.

Yes. It sounds very ridiculous.

"Are you even listening to yourself?" She asked me. "We're not friends. We can't be friends. You don't even know anything about me-"

"You're favourite food is apple pie, made with green apples to be precise. You like to bake but you're not good at it. You're the care giver in your house. You have 9 siblings. Your favourite colour is green. But sometimes it changes to purple. You collect pretty rocks and stack them in your drawer. You like long walks and collecting wild flowers. You prefer pants over dresses and absolutely despise shoes with too much of a heel. You're claustrophobic and hate the thought of being in water that is too deep. You talk to yourself all the time and you pinch yourself to distract you from your thoughts when they wander too much."

Her eyes looked back at me with a surprised expression.

"How-" Before she started speaking, I interrupted her sentence.

"Believe it or not, even though you think I don't care. I listen to everything you say. Everything you tell me, I keep it in here." I tapped my temple twice. Maybe this would change her mind about me.