You Are My Sunshine

Chapter 60 - A Few Wrinkles

"Sometimes, two people have to fall apart to realize how much they need to fall back together." - Unknown

The blood crusting around Amelia's cuticles matched her manicure almost perfectly. She cursed under her breath, pinching the bridge of her nose while holding back gags as blood trickled down her throat.

"I hate this shit," she switched hands when her fingers began to cramp. "Fucking dry ass Vegas."

There was silence before the knock at the door, highly unusual, causing Amelia to jump at the sound. Scurrying to the door she found Juice on the other side, a car she didn't recognize in the drive.

"Are you okay?" His reason for dropping by was dismissed the moment he saw Amelia bloody. "What happened?"

"Our central is broken," she explained matter-of-factly. "It's just so dry in here my nose is bleeding nonstop. I fucking hate it. My sinuses are raw."

He exhaled and nodded. "That sucks, I'm uhh I'm sorry to hear that."

"Yep, it's fine, happens a lot. What are you doing here?" She understood better after allowing some time to pass be she was still angry and hurt by his reaction and the breakup. At first she waited for him, since he ended things, but when he didn't reach out she was too proud and, things with Jax has blossomed behind her imagination.

"I was hoping we could talk, clear the air and all, I guess." He gestured behind her with a shy little shrug. "Please? Closure, I guess it would be at this point."

Amelia stepped aside and Juice went right for the living room. Her stomach churned as she followed but not from the blood, now it was because of the dreaded conversation.

"How have you been?" With her back to him she wiped her face with a baby wipe before sitting on the couch, legs turned up under her.

"Pretty shitty," he admitted with no reservations. "Guess you and Jax are back together?"

"No," Amelia said coolly. "We're hanging out, getting to know each other, as adults, and just kind of having fun."

His face turned down thinking the last bit of her sentence alluded to sex but Juice didn't ask. He was no where near that bold even with her. "But...but you're living here."

"I'm staying here now," she corrected him. "Some nights we sleep in the same house and others we don't."

"I just thought since I didn't hear from you," he trailed off.

"You dumped me," she reminded him. "I know things with Jax changed but your reaction was hurtful and," Amelia shook her head. "It's better this way. I don't know what I'm doing with Jax and that was hurting you. I just didn't call or anything because of how we left it, you know?"

"Third times a charm?" He asked sadly.

"I don't know what this is," Amelia admitted. "First round we were kids and the second was doomed from jump. I know him so well, and he knows me even better but after so much time apart you gotta move slow."

Juice nodded. "I don't really know your time line. You told me what happened but guess I didn't realize it was so fast." He admitted. "I heard about you then you were there. That's it."

"Exactly," she sniffled but laughed a bit.

"But it seemed like you both wanted that." She could see he was confused or maybe he hoped talking about it would change her mind.

Amelia rolled her eyes. "I left for years before we started sleeping together. I had no plans for him, ever again, I was done with Charming and SOA but then Alice was conceived in the damn bathroom at Cara Cara." She hung her head and blushed, embarrassed by the entire situation. "When I found out we jumped in, so intense and so fast it could never last. This life is suffocating as is but the way we did it was too much. Within months, after almost ten years apart, Juice, we were in the same house, his mom constantly around, engaged with a baby weeks away. It was too much too fast."