IMAGINES ▹ ROSS BUTLER

↳ the art of grieving

( THE ART OF GRIEVING )
by suitelifeofjughead

The day Jason Blossom went missing my phone didn't stop ringing for hours, my friends visited me to see if I was okay, they all knew how close I was with the Blossom boy. I didn't care too much about the people checking in to see if I was okay, I only cared about Reggie Mantle.

My door almost flew off its hinges with how hard Reggie was banging on it, I opened it and was greeted with the upsetting site of a puffy eyed Reggie. It was obvious he'd been crying; the only person who cared about Jason more than Cheryl was Reggie. Those two boys were practically inseparable, always spending time together, almost like brothers.

It was obvious that Reggie didn't care about most things our small town, but when he did care about something he cared with all the parts of his being and it was like he was being torn to shreds when he lost it. Jason Blossom meant the world to Reggie and then some, I wasn't even bothered that he loved Jason more than he loved me, his own girlfriend, because I understood what it was like to love something with such an intensity that I couldn't be upset that he didn't love me the same way he did Jason.

"He's missing, they can't find him, Y/N. What if he doesn't come home?" Reggie sniffs, he's sitting on my bed with his head in his hands, elbows resting on his knees. "What if-" He can't finish the thought.

I sit next to him and wrap my arm around his shoulder trying to console him, "Reg, they're gonna find him. His parents are going to do everything they can to find him, I promise Reggie, he's going to come home." I murmur, pulling him in close to me to hug him. He cries against me for some time before he falls asleep, he must be so stressed out and exhausted.

-

Everyone had heard the rumours, created theories, and speculated about where Jason Blossom might be, but the underlying problem was that without a body, nobody could be certain of the whereabouts of the Blossom boy. 

Cheryl wasn't much help, giving little information to the police about their small boat capsizing while they spent the morning on Sweet Water River. She could only say that he had gone under the water and that was the last she saw of him. It didn't help that she had completely shut both Reggie and I out, despite how close we all were and how much the pair of us cared for Jason.
Nothing made sense, people couldn't understand why his body hadn't turned up. The river would have certainly spat his body back onto the shore after a week; but still nobody could find him. 

Both Reggie and I were worried sick about where Jason could be, had he run off with Polly? Had his mother sent him away like she often threatened with Cheryl? With next to no information, we had conducted searches of our own, we only wanted our friend to come home. We wanted someone to find him, so we weren't so worried about where he might be, about what might have happened. These 'what if's' where driving us insane.

It was three in the morning, a week and a day after Jason Blossom disappeared. My caller ID informed me that it was Kevin Keller, a close friend of mine and the Sheriff's son.

"Hello?" I whisper, trying not to wake Reggie who was sleeping beside me. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I'm okay. I think, maybe a little mentally scarred and a little traumatised but I'm okay." He's talking fast, I can tell he's scared.

"Kevin, what's happened?" I sit up, Reggie shifts beside me. "Calm down, just tell me."

"Y/N, I need you to listen to me very carefully." He begins. "I went down to Sweet Water with Moose, we were along the riverbank and," he takes a deep breath, "Y/N, we found Jason's body."