DARK PARADISE. Miguel O'Hara

07. Scariest and Greatest

SCARIEST AND GREATEST - Chapter Seven
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JADE — Buried her face in her hands, letting out a sigh. The sound of people talking echos around her, bouncing off the walls of the cafeteria. The constant voices made her head ache and she closed her eyes, rubbing her temples and taking in a deep breath.

"I know it's a lot to take in."

Jade looks up to Jess in the other side of the table. She earns a sympathetic look, which Jade returns with a smile, but the girl shakes her head. "A lot to take in?" She said. "And then some."

"Look, I know this puts a huge weight on your shoulders, but please don't bring this up to Miguel."

"I won't." Jade mumbles. "Peter already gave me that lecture." She brings her hands down from her face and rests her arms on the table. She leans forward and with tired eyes, meets the gaze of the woman across from her.

"He cares about you."

"That's the thing." Jade groans. "I don't know if he cares about me or the chic from the other universe." She sighs and deflates in her seat. "And I really hope it's not me."

Tears well in her eyes as Jess sends her a confused look. "What do you mean?"

"I like Miguel." Jade says, scanning the room for the man they spoke of, hoping her eyes wouldn't find him. "A lot. But I can't get close with him. I can't let him care for me because everyone I love, I lost."

"Jade..."

"Jess, you don't understand." Jade sticks a hand up, stopping the words from slipping past the woman's tongue. "I lost everyone. I can't risk losing him too. I know he doesn't want me to slips through his fingers, but I can't let him slip out of mine. I've met a lot of people here, like you and Peter, which I care about too, but with Miguel, it's different. He understands what I went through and I-." She stops and shakes her head, letting out a sigh. "I don't know..."

Jess gaze softens. Her eyes fill with sympathy and a soft smile forms on her lips.

"I know it can be scary." She says, rubbing her pregnant belly. "Starting a family."

"Jess, I can't start a family with him." Jade says, furrowing her eyebrows. She cared about Miguel, but not in that way. And definitely not enough to have that type of commitment after only five months of knowing him.

"That's not what I'm getting at." She responds. "Me and my husband have been trying for so long to have a baby, but we had no luck. We started to worry, and that continued on even after we became successful. 'What if it's a miscarriage?' 'What if something happens?' 'Blah blah blah." She looks down at her stomach. "But we looked past that. Because this might be one of the scariest realizations we've had, but it's also the greatest thing that ever happened to us."

Jade's eyes land on Jess's hand as she rubs her stomach, then lifts to her eyes. Tears blurred her vision slightly, but she blinked them back.

"My point is some of the scariest things end up being the greatest." She returns Jade's gaze, smiling lightly. The expression gave the girl reassurance, her gaze softening. "Just try not to push him away, because then you'll lose him anyway."

Then Jess stands, leaving the table they were at. She sends a quick smile to Jade then leaves her alone with her own thoughts. Jade watches as the girl passes the room and leaves, then lets out a sigh. She melts, resting her forehead on the table and groans.

Her white hair dangles on either side of her face as she thought to herself. Jess was right, she couldn't push Miguel away because she'd lose him that way too,

But at least he'd be alive.

"Jade?"

The voice was familiar and made Jade cringe. She scrunched her nose as the silky voice spit words toward her ear, then sat up, meeting the eyes of the man she'd just been thinking about.

As their gaze met, eyes locking on the other's, Jade sighed. She took in the shape of his face, heart aching at the thought she'd have to push him away. She wanted to keep him safe so she wouldn't lose him forever, but locking him out would only make him slip from her grasp just as easily.

"Jade?" He said again.

"Right. Yeah. What?" She says, a pink tint forming on her cheeks as she realized she'd been staring. Her eyes widen and she tucks a stray lock of hair behind her ear, waiting for Miguel to speak as he sits down.

"I was wondering if you be interested in upgrading your suit?" He said. He rests his arms on the table, leaning forward. The muscles beneath his suit bulge, mocking Jade as she sat across from him.

"What?" She asked, mind still a bit of a scattered mess. She found herself scanning his face with her eyes, her gaze gradually making its way down his chest and to his arms.

His wounds had healed rather nicely and by now his suit was fixed, all evidence of the incident dove months ago being nearly completely gone.

"Your suits fine the way it is, but if there's anything you wanted tweaked, Lyla can get it done."

As he said her name, the little hologram appeared by the man's shoulder on cue, flickering to life. "Sure can!" She says, winking. She points a finger gun as the girl before appearing beside Jade.

Suddenly the girl is being scanned, an image of herself appearing beside her. Jade watched in awe as it unfolds. An exact replica of herself is projected in the air, the 3D hologram turning slowly.

"Do you have anything in mind?" Miguel asked as Jade turned to him.

Jade furrowed her brows, looking back at the illusion of herself. Her spider suit looked exactly how she wanted it to. There wasn't exactly anything she could complain about, but she couldn't pass the opportunity to get an upgrade.

"You know the whole toxin thing I can do?" She asked.

Lyla and Miguel nod simultaneously.

"Any way you could make the material better with keeping out the heat? While the acid doesn't melt through my suit, if I'm melting metal it gets really hot and burns my hands. Anyway you could stop that?"

Miguel nods and Lyla beams. "Easily." Lyla says. She snaps her finger and the image disappears quickly, Lyla fading away to with it.

For a moment, it's just Jade and Miguel, sitting silently at the table. Jade's heart tells her to talk about what she'd learn and explain things wouldn't work out- that she couldn't let him get close to her, but she knew she couldn't say anything.

So instead she watched as he stood, shot her a smile, and walked away.

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A little filler chapter that I'm not a huge fan of.

-Kaitlyn