Because of You

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

“My mom is sick.”

For a few seconds there, I forget how to breathe.

Amy is sick. I let the news sink in while Dean looks out the window. I grab his hand and roll my thumb on it, hoping it would sooth him. He looks up with his moist eyes. I nod affirming him to continue.

“She has been sick for a while. She’s had AML for a long time, and for some reason she stopped responding to treatment. Even the doctors gave up. And after seeing that the chemo and radiations were only making her weaker, we learned to accept reality.” He wipes the corner on his eye and looks down. My grip around his hand tightens. “She wanted to spend her last few months in the town she grew up in. It was the least we could do.”

“I’m so sorry, Dean,” I say meaningfully and look into his chocolate eyes, “You guys deserve so much better.” The McAlister’s are the nicest people ever. How could the universe be so cruel?

He smiles and brings his free hand to my face and cups it. “You also deserve so much better Jenny.”

I look down and pull his hand away from my face, “Yeah. Well, it’s not the same thing.” I refuse to make eye contact and look at Bethany, who is busy giving Timmy a math lesson two counters ahead of us.

“How so?” he asks.

“She had a choice, Dean. She could have stayed, but she didn’t.” I say hoping my voice would break. I shrug to make it seem like it didn’t have an effect on me, like she didn’t have an effect on me. But she did, because my whole world came crashing down when she left. And here I am six months later, still trying to put pieces back together.

“Maybe…just maybe you should think about reaching out for her. I mean, you know what they say, ‘there’s two sides to every story’”.

“Reach out? For her?” I ask in an are-you-kidding tone and he nods in an unsurely way, “Dean, she’s the one that let us fall.”  

Why is he suddenly on her side?

He sighs and takes both my hands in his, “Has she tried?”

“She calls,” I admit. He’s the first person to know about this.

“How many time?” he asks.

“Three…four times,” I take a sip from my drink, “a day.”

“Jenny-”

“Dean,” I cut him off, “I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but, you don’t know the whole story.”

He frowns but doesn’t say anything. After a few seconds of awkward silence, I feel bad and sigh, “Look Dean, she made her choice and I’m making mine so-”

“Then tell me,” he says giving me an intense look.

Huh? “Tell you what?” I ask clearly confused.

“You’re saying I don’t know the whole story to give you advice. So tell me the whole story.”

I avert from his gaze, “Who says I want your advice?”

“I’m gonna give it to you whether you want it or not,” I glare and him and he sigh-groans, “Look Jenny, I don’t want to argue. And I’m not asking you to forgive her cause’ what she did to you guys was horrible. But maybe you should think about taking one call, see how she’s doin.”   

“She can rot in hell for all I care,” I glare at the innocent pudding cup on the table next to us, “This is not what they mean when they say ‘taking the high road’. If she really does give a damn then she would’ve done something about it.”

“Technically, she did,” I roll my eyes and before I could respond he starts talking again, “You love her and maybe not now or anytime soon, but you will reach out for her. I know you will,” he offers a small smile. Maybe he’s right, but for now, I decide to push all the thoughts and possibilities of ‘reaching out for her’ to the back and my head and ignore it.

I can feel the intensity of his eyes on me, “How can you be so sure?” I challenge.

His lips form a crooked smile and he untangles his hand from mine. I miss the warmth of his hands. He brushes a strand of my hair away from my face and tucks it behind my ear. He trails his thumb gently down my neck but drops it before he reaches the spot where I get tickled easily. The same spot he used to stoke with his little fingers to get his way when we were younger. I miss those days. “Because you’re you, Jenny, you’re kind, strong and forgiving. A little stupid at times but you can take any situation on your stride. Sure you’re a bit subdued now, but knowing you, you’ll get through it just fine, because you’re you. And no one can take that away, not even her. You just have to believe it.”

Oh, my God.

Is this really happening? Did he just say all those thing about me? And actually mean it?

I am extremely overwhelmed and my eyes become teary. I look down at my feet and back into his eyes, “Do you believe it?” I say in a hoarse voice.

“Without a doubt,” he answers almost immediately.

“And you t-think,” my voice breaks, “I-I can get through this?”

“I know you can.”

And that’s all it took for me to scoot over to his seat and bury my head in his chest before the tears became uncontrollable.  He wraps his hands around my waist and cuddles me closer. I whimper, “This is so hard,” I admit. He’s the only person who has successfully gotten that out of me, I couldn’t even admit that to my best friends or Mrs. Wheeler.

“I know,” he says strengthening his grip, “but we’ll be okay.”

I nod in his chest. I can’t help but smile at the fact that he said ‘we’ plural and not ‘you’. He’s right, we will get through this. I know we will.

Correction, I believe we will.

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Heyyo! :D

I know it's a shortie but I'm happy with the way the chapter ended and I hope you guys are too.

Your thoughts on Dean and Jennifer? :D 

I'll try and make the next chapter long. :)

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