It's Complicated

Falling Again

JACE’S POV

It’s been two weeks since Jake left the hospital and I’m doing daily rounds visiting him, he seems joyful about that. He’s even writing some short stories and poems too, though they’re all about death, bulimia, anorexia and all the… Ok, I’m stopping there.

But despite his healthy recovery, I really can’t shake the feeling that he’s up to something grander and I’m pretty sure that it isn’t a fireworks spectacle in the plant box by Craig the Yellow Bell. So I, as a worried and over-concerned friend, eagle eyed him but it isn’t easy since I don’t want to give him signs that I don’t trust him, which isn't really happening. 

He may not be allowed to go do some enduring tasks but he’s fine for walks to the park or doing light gardening (technically, babysitting his Yellow Bells until it sprouts a beanstalk to the heavens) so one Saturday, we went to the park with the rest of the group, oh and did I mention that Hunter is now generally accepted as a friend now? Everyone’s cool with it especially Jake since he’s Jake’s supplier of his favorite soda and the fact that they (by they, I mean Sky and him...) aren’t together but just friends-with-benefits. We went to the top of Toastmouth hill and had a blast eating and goofing around (naturally) and we let him doze off.

As we let Jake doze, we talked with the topic changing about five times in a minute until… “Jace, are you really that dense to Jake?” Hunter said to me and is immediately backed-up with nods the rest of the group and I just stared at them with my eyebrows in that weird position where one is up and the other is down. “What are you talking about?” I asked them.

“You’re as dense as a rock you know. That very boy that’s drooling his mouth out onto your lap is head-over-heels in a state of love with you Jaycee Parker.” Sky answered.

“I have no idea on what you are talking about.” I replied.

“Jaycee Parker, the densest boy in the world, you have Jake Michaels heart in your hands, he will do anything to impress you. Don’t you notice that he acts a little odd every time you two are around?” John said.

“Not once. I thought he’s just like that to me, I thought that he’s one of the people who have a different personality to each person.” I said.

“Oh for the love of food. Throw out that Koko-book thing out of your life! It’s making you denser by the minute! Gods, Jace.” Sky said, clearly exasperated.

“Fiiiiiiine. But are you serious that he is in love with me? I don’t swing that way, remember?” I said.

“Positive. And about you not “swinging his way” thing, well you’re on your own there. Be careful with the choice of words you let out about him. Remember, his heart at your hands.” Hunter answered.

ROSE’S POV

 The news of Jake’s attempted suicide confirms my plans near success to get rid of him form Jace. But I have to be more craftier than what I did, I really didn’t take into account that his dad is a doctor, stupid me.

But I have a new plan in action now, and it is not gonna be some petty, idiot plan that guarantees his elimination from Jace’s life. It guarantees Jake Michaels elimination from everyone’s lives. Yeah, I’m evil, very evil. And since when did I talk this deep? Bah, stupid Baddie-accent side... Anyways, commencing evil laugh! Mwahahahahaha!

JACE’S POV

 Ok, I want to go Incredible Hulk now. Not because I just learned that Jake is gaga over me but my room looked like a tornado swept through it and took my special, sentimental, limited edition, Michel DbRonivnoc fountain pen and inkwell that my late Aunt Helena got me when we were in Gouda for summer are missing. Only a handful of people had seen it and I never brought it to school so theft is out of the equation but I never took it out of my shelf since 2007 so… I’m so messed up right now.

Clearing my head a bit with a nice, warm bath, I formulated a mental check-list on what to do first:

•Go to Sky, Anna, John, Jake and… ugh, Rose to check if they have it.

•If not, dial 911 and say that a burglary happened here.

•If not, go to the nearest military settlement (Astron Air Base), jack a fighter jet and destroy West Edmond until the thief, my pen and inkwell show up whole.

Yeah, the last one is kind of over-the-top but I’m really serious about number two (and number one, obviously). So I prepped and went to the Clyde’s house, hoping that my pen and inkwell be found there and as expected, they don’t have it. Ugh, it’s gonna be a long week ahead. I can’t sleep well without fussing over it! It's like a five-year-old's baby blue blankie or a baby's binkie.

And now it’s been two weeks since I have seen my pen set and I’m really freaked now, I really hope that Jake might have it or knows who took it. I reached his house and knocked, answered by him and took note of his sudden defensiveness and weirdness and with that, Hunter was right about him head-over heels on me.

We started searching the lower floor; he took the living room while I took the dining room and kitchen and nothing (except for some packs of condoms... *shiver) so we went on to the rooms, he took his parent’s and the guest room while I got his room and the bathroom. And as I’m going through his closet, I noticed an ink-splattered box so I checked it out, I opened it and I saw pictures with sticky notes on the back of each, I pried in and saw the time we went to the zoo, ate peanuts on the rooftop during the school intramurals, and the first time he went downtown with us. As I’m nearing the last picture, I saw a familiar thing at the bottom, my inkwell cap, so I dug deeper and saw my inkwell devoid of ink.

I’m hyperventilating now, adrenaline rushing through my veins. I quickly tuned the room upside down and found my pen in his computer desk, broken in half. And I saw blood at the razor-sharp edges of the broken pen. I’m seeing red now, I shouted to release some of the building frustration. No! Jake, he couldn’t… he wouldn’t! NO! I hear footsteps and then Jake’s voice asking if I’m fine, I can’t take it anymore. “OF COURSE NOT! I SEE MY MOST VALUABLE THING IN MY LIFE BROKEN AND YOU EXPECT ME TO BE ALRIGHT?” I finally blurted out, Hunter’s words buried in a ton of hate, hate to Jake.

He started to pale, shaken and to tear-up but I beat it to him, “DON’T GO ALL SORRY JACE WITH ME MICHAELS! WHAT YOU DID HERE IS UNFORGIVEABLE!” I continued, he fell to his knees and started sobbing, hard. “Jace, I didn’t know that I have your pen. And why would I keep it?” he asked me, even managed to say it straight. “So you can always have a part of me! I know that you have been fancying with me, Michaels but no thanks. I don’t date thieves, even if I don’t swing that way.” I walked past him then I said “Keep these, hope it makes you feel better. I have no use for it anymore.” And I left him there in that state with not even an ounce of remorse coursing through my mind.