"oh, fuck."
those were his first words to her.
"shit, sorry."
and those were her first words to him.
neither could have guessed what'd come of meeting on the rooftop of their building at midnight when they both needed a getaway from their own profou...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
• home // gabrielle aplin •
Kaede figured Jax would be at her door the next day, begging her to listen to whatever story he'd made up. Though she quickly found that he was respecting her wishes and kept his distance to let her cool off.
She also found herself missing the smug asshole after three days. She'd grown used to seeing his ridiculous face every day. She missed waking up to finding him planted on her couch—a movie marathon ready to begin, and the smell of chai in the air.
She missed him so much that she grabbed her flats and walked up the three flights to the roof because she couldn't be in an apartment where everything reminded her of him. But as she was walking up those stairs, she remembered what the roof meant to them, which only made her miss him more.
Kaede tried to forget it—telling herself that the fresh air would help her think clearly. That was proven wrong when she opened up the so-called 'restricted access' roof door and found Jax sitting on that disgusting couch.
His head turned to her immediately, his lips forming a small smile. "Oh, I didn't know you'd be up here," Kaede said quietly, about to close the door and leave.
"No, no, please," he said, quickly standing. "Don't go."
Kaede walked over to the ledge, looking out at the darkening sky. She took a deep breath of the cool, crisp air. She tried not to care when Jax moved closer to her, stopping a few feet from beside her.
She glanced over at him. "You're growing your beard out again?"
He chuckled, brushing his hand across the stubble on his face. "Yeah, I couldn't go walking around looking like a seventeen-year-old."
Kaede was silent, though wanted to talk to him because she missed him so much. They stayed like that for a while—staring off at the city, not saying a word.
Then she couldn't take it anymore. "Why couldn't you tell me the truth about your dad?"
Jax sighed, knowing her questions would have come eventually. "Because if I told you that, I would have had to tell you the rest."
"Which is?"
"Something I won't say out loud."
"Why not?" Kaede snapped, turning to look at him. "How bad is it to tell me that you just didn't want to live with your dad, so you left home without an explanation?"
"Because it's more than that!" Jax exclaimed, voice raising. He took a breath, taking a softer tone. "I haven't talked about home to anyone since I left. I didn't want you looking at me differently. I'd rather you be angry than giving me your pity," he mumbled the last sentence, but she'd heard him.
"Why would I pity you?" she asked quietly. He didn't say anything. He hung his head and shrugged his shoulders—to which she scoffed. "Right," she muttered.
She turned towards the exit, and Jax grabbed her wrist. "Kae, please."
"No. Just stop," she said harshly. "I can't be friends with you if you're not going to tell me the truth."
And with that, he let her go. Kaede left the roof—left him to sit in the deafening silence that came with being alone. And he hated it.
