Sunflowers

-•- Three -•-

The voice makes her lift her head from his chest. "Jax?"

"What are you doing here, Faith?"

"It's a party," she replies. "What do you think I'm doing?"

He tilts his head towards Corbin. "You two look awfully close."

She furrows her eyebrows, and Corbin thinks it's cute- not that he would ever tell her that, especially not with her boyfriend standing there. "We weren't doing anything, Jax. He's my best friend."

Then she notices the girl on his arm. "Who is that?"

"I'm his girlfriend," the girl replies snottily.

"What?" She gasps, looking at Jax.

He shrugs. "I didn't invite you to this party, Faith. You shouldn't have come."

Corbin looks at Faith and sees the tears gathering in her eyes. He gently tugs on her arm, trying to get her attention away from her cheating boyfriend, but she won't look away. "Hey, come on," he whispers in her ear, pulling a little harder.

"How could you?" She asks Jax. "I loved you." Her voice cracks on the last sentence, and his heart breaks a little for her.

"That wasn't enough," he says. "You wouldn't give me what I wanted, and she did."

Faith's face pales. She opens and closes her mouth, but no words come out. Corbin leans closer and wraps his arms around her waist. "Faith, let's go," he says, a little more forcefully than last time. "Come on, you can do better."

Jax hears his words. "Like you?" He snarls, then scoffs. "I'm the best thing that could've happened to her. She's finally facing reality instead of being stuck in la-la-land."

"She can do better," he says again, staring coldly at Jax. Then he leans over, picks up his shirt and Faith's t-shirt and shorts, and leads her away.  When they're far enough away so no one at the party can see them, she takes off running. She hears Corbin behind her, but that only makes her run faster. She doesn't want to be around anyone right now.

She runs towards the truck, then veers off to the right. Her airways constrict and her lungs burn, making her entire chest hurt, but she forces herself further.

The field she runs into is sunflowers, all of them shoulder-height for her. They're easy to push out of the way until she finds a small clear area. She sits down in an ungraceful heap, her chest heaving.

She knows she shouldn't have run that hard, not with her asthma, but she couldn't help it. Her heart hurt worse than her lungs ever could, although they're tied right at the moment. She lays back and puts her arms over her head, struggling to catch her breath.

Corbin runs through the field after her. He lost sight of her when he stopped at the truck to put their clothes inside and grab her inhaler. He knew with that much running that she would need it, but it does her no good if he can't find her.

He stumbles across her in the clearing, nearly tripping over her feet. She's laying back, breathing harsh and uneven. He sits down beside her and pulls her into a sitting position, then hands her the inhaler. She gives him a grateful look as she uses it, and after a few minutes her breathing is back to normal.

He wraps his arm around her shoulders and hugs her tightly. "I'm so sorry, Faithy. You don't deserve for him to say those things or cheat on you."

She sniffles and a teardrop lands on his arm. "I don't know what to do," she murmurs. "I knew he wanted to go further than kissing, but I wasn't ready. He said he would wait for me. He told me he loved me. He lied to me." She cries harder and his arms tighten.

"You can do so much better," he tells her. "Any guy in the world would be lucky to have you. Jax is an idiot to think he can do that to you. It's his loss, not yours."

She smiles weakly at him. "Thanks," she whispers. "I'm so happy that you're my best friend."

Her words are bittersweet to him. He wishes he were so much more than her best friend. He would treat her so much better than any other guy possibly could and he would love her unconditionally. He already loves her and there's nothing he wouldn't do for her, but he's also happy with being her best friend. She trusts him and he's the closest person to her. He might want more, but that doesn't mean he isn't already grateful.