The Party Scene Saga: Stories Yet To Unfold

Part 36

Jack

"Mom I'm home," I shouted, closing the front door behind me. "What's the hurry?"

"Sweetie, can you come up here?" She was trying to sound calm, but she'd failed. I slowly crept up the stairs and into the spare bedroom where we'd been keeping Lily's things after I brought them over from Zack's. "Did she tell you?"

"Tell me wha-" As I looked into the room, it was empty. She only had the two suitcases and a duffle bag in there, but it felt so empty. None of this made any sense. Where was she?! I ran to my bedroom; most of her things were gone from in there too from what I could see. Slowly I walked back to mom. "Where is she?" I hadn't realised I was crying until I spoke and my voice cracked.

"Oh sweetheart," she soothed, wiping my tears away as she cuddled me tightly. "Come on, let's go downstairs. Your favourite for dinner."

"But mom," I croaked, pulling away from her. "I'm scared."

"Have something to eat, then we'll start looking for her."

I nodded in agreement and went down to the kitchen. Dad was very quiet as we ate, and mom was repeatedly calling Lily. "Why is she not answering?!" She tutted, coming back to us.

No sooner had she sat down, Alex came crashing through the house, closely followed by Rian. "Jack come on, with us!" said a breathless Alex.

"Boys? What is this?" Mom asked, a concerned tone to her voice.

"We know where Lily is and if we don't leave now we won't catch her!" Rian said quickly. "Now are you coming?"

In what felt like seconds I went from the kitchen to Alex's car, with Rian filling me in on everything. I couldn't get it straight in my head. Why couldn't she tell me? Why run away?

"Jack go after her!" Alex screamed; I'd totally zoned out and we'd arrived. I just caught sight of Grieco disappearing through the entrance with her. I darted straight after them. Lily was already dropping her bags off, and then began to say her goodbyes to him. I didn't want to watch; they were both hysterical already.

Lily

"...please look after yourself," he sobbed, still squeezing my hands tightly. "And I'll come visit, I promise!"

"You're the best," I sniffled, finally smiling through my tears. "I promise. Once I'm s-settled, you'll be the f-first."

We stood and hugged each other; not saying anything, just enjoying each other's company. My tears rolled down my face and onto his chest, while his landed on my shoulder. I wanted him to come with me, but he's such a mama's boy he wouldn't cope away from home for too long. Grieco finally broke the hug.

"I'm gonna miss you." He croaked; finally he'd stopped crying. We decided mutually that he wouldn't walk me to security, purely so we could save our sanity for at least another few minutes. We parted ways when I heard another voice calling my name.

"Lily!" It called out. "Lil wait!"

I turned back to see Jack running towards me. Great. This was all I needed. "What are you doing here?" I sighed, dropping my duffle to the floor.

"Alex and Rian," he panted. "They told me everything. Babe why are you doing this? Why now?"

I unintentionally whimpered. "I can't do this anymore." I sobbed. "I can't be around you guys. I need to go and be myself."

Jack didn't speak for a moment. "Where will you go?" He croaked. "Who'll look after you?"

"I've made arrangements." I lied. "I'll be fine; you don't need to worry about me anymore."

In a split second, Jack's entire face changed. He stood to his full height as his forehead turned bright red; his eyes filled with hatred, and his lip began to quiver. "What so that's it?" He snapped. "Just because you want to leave because you're fucking selfish, I'm supposed to just turn my feelings off?" He paused. "Yeah that's really fucking easy." Jack laughed, but not for long. "I could see me spending the rest of my life with you. I fucking love you, Lily Maria, and I don't think I'll ever stop. We've gone through so much fucking shit together, and you're expecting me to just forget about all of that because you're selfish?! What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

"Jack stop," I pleaded, crying even more hysterically. "This is exactly why I couldn't tell you, because I knew this would be your reaction! We're almost adults now, I can't cope with everyone walking on egg shells around me all the time and treating me like a child! I need my own space now Jack. I need to grow, and be my own person!"

"You're asking a hell of a lot, you know that right?" he boomed, stepping away from me. "I don't know how many times I have to tell you I love you or how hard I have to try to make you stay, But I'm serious, once you go through security, that's it. We're done. If you're just gonna be selfish old Lily, then fuck off. I don't want you. The choice is yours."

I knew Jack could be angry, but this was a whole new level. I was beyond hysterically crying at this point, barely able to breathe through my sobs. I couldn't respond to him; what do I say to that?! If I go, I lose him forever, which I don't want. But if I stay, I won't be happy, which I don't want either. Somehow I managed to clear my throat. I stepped closer to Jack. "I'm sorry, Jack." I whimpered.

"Fine." He snapped. But I could see it in his eyes, he wasn't truly angry with me. His eyes screamed heartache.

I sniffled loudly. "Jack," I said seriously. "How did Zack find out? About us, I mean."

"What? How the fuck should I know?!" He snapped.

That told me all I needed to know; he didn't need to say it, but I wanted him to. "It's just, I mean the day he found out about us being back together, you were acting really strange. One minute you were all over me, then you got excited about Hopeless, then you leaped away from me as if I were fucking diseased! Tell me the truth!"

"I told you, I don't know!" Jack yelled, getting right in my face.

I squared up to him. Tears were spilling down my cheeks but I wasn't upset; I was so pissed that Jack was lying to me. "Stop. Lying." I said through gritted teeth. "You know. Do you think I'm that stupid?!"

Jack looked me up and down, disgust spread across his face. He took a step back as he tried to find the words. "Alright," he nodded, wiping his face. "You want the truth? I didn't sleep that night we spent together. I constantly feared your parents or Zack coming in to check on you. Your mom must've been up about 4 times to the bathroom, so when I was sure she'd gone back to sleep, I snuck out to the bathroom. I timed it too late; Zack was coming up from the kitchen with a drink. He just glared at me. I came out of the bathroom he went in. I watched him through a gap in the door." Jack paused, softening his glare. "He'd cut, and it was because of us. Are you proud? Your brother started fucking slicing himself open again because of us!"

I felt sick. "How dare you." I grumbled. "How dare you blame ME for this! I told you to be careful! I didn't force you to stay the night, you could've just suggested another night! If you hadn't agreed, we wouldn't be in this mess. If you'd not let yourself get caught, we wouldn't be in this mess." I looked him up and down. "We're done. Bye Jack."

I picked up my duffle bag and slung it over my shoulder, boarding pass and passport hanging out of my back pocket as I made my way through security. I was about to walk through the scanner when a female member of staff pulled me to one side. "Sweetheart, are you okay?" 

"I will be when I get on that flight." I chuckled; she gave me a confused look. "It's been a rough few years. I've decided now school's over, I'm getting out of boring old suburbia and doing my own thing."

"Good for you." she smiled, rubbing my arm. "But, just some advice; don't cut everyone you knew out of your life. There'll be a day where you'll come back here and you might need them."

I gave her a small smile. "I have all I need right here." I said quietly, patting my stomach. "Me and this little one are gonna do great things."

I passed through the rest of security and through to the gate. My flight was called and in what felt like minutes, we were up in the air. I sighed; this is just the first page in a whole new chapter in my life.