Reasons Why (Jeremy Shada Fan Fiction)

Chapter 26: Let's Talk

The rain poured down my face. But I didn’t feel it. All I felt were his eyes.

“No.” Jeremy starts to shut the door.

“Jeremy!” I say.

“I said no.” I shove one of my crutches into the doorway to keep it from closing. I lurch forward when the door hits it.

“Amy contacted me.” The door opens enough so he can see me.

“She did?”

“Yeah, yesterday.” He looks me over.

“Get in here.” He opens the door. I hop up into his house. I pull off my shoe and peel off my sock. It drops to the ground with a loud plop. I reach into my back pocket. My phone is somewhat dry.

“Can you stick this in some rice?” I hold it out to him.

“Sure.” He takes it and comes back a moment later with it in a container of rice. “Here.” He hands it back to me. We stand there awkwardly for a few moments. Zack comes in from the living room. While he walks past us to the game room, he watches us with a raised eyebrow the entire time. I shift on my crutches and clear my throat.

“Let’s go up to my room.” Jeremy shifts uncomfortably next to me. I nod and hobble over to the stairs. “You need help with that?” He points at my crutches.

“No, I got it.” I put my crutches up a couple stairs then jump up to the step below it. I do it all the way up the stairs. Jeremy follows me up, looking surprised. I push my drenched hair out my face, “What?”

He shakes his head, “Nothing, it’s just. I don’t think you should be hopping around on that foot.”

“Jeremy, its fine.” I go down the hall to his room. I reach his bed and then turn around to look at the gaming chairs. He comes in and sits on the bed, “Do you really want me to sit on your bed in these clothes?” I glance down at my wet clothes. The shirt is the same color as the one I wore on the Day.

“Uh, do you think you could wear something of Lucy’s?”

“Her stuff would be too short. And I wouldn’t be comfortable borrowing anything of your mom’s.”

“Yeah, I might have something.” He looks at my clothes. His eyes stop when they land on my neck. That’s when I remember I had on his necklace. I put it on out of habit this morning. Now, I was regretting it. I did not want to look desperate in any way. “I’ll go search my closet.” Jeremy disappears into his closet and emerges with a pair of black sweatpants and a green t-shirt. “Would these work?”

“Yeah, um, I’ll change in the bathroom.” I take them and go in the bathroom. I wiggle out of my shirt and jeans. I pull on the green T. A Hollister logo went across the chest and was pretty loose on me. The sweatpants fit like any other guys’ sweatpants. Big and loose. I pull the strings tight to keep them from slipping off me. I stumble back out into his room.

He looks up from his phone, “What is it you want to talk about, exactly?”

I drop my clothes by his desk before going over to the bed and sitting down. “I’m not here to ask you to take me back. I’m here to talk to you about the rest of the story and a few other things.”

“Okay, what’s the rest of the story?”

“Jackson.” I pull my hair up into a bun and tie it, “Like Aaron said, he’s only my half-brother. You see, like most people, my mom was with someone else before she met my dad. They met in high school. She was a cheerleader, he was a defensive linemen. So, it was almost like a Hollywood movie going between them. Met during their junior year and so-on. They did not go to the same college, which started some tension. He went to the state college. She went to a local business school.