The Boy With Green Eyes

Chapter 34: Brave

Chappie 34 :) bit short, but I've written this in the middle of all my uni mid year assessments haha proud :P

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I stumbled out as soon as the door was unlocked. Eyes red and puffy, I sniffed, grimacing when I saw Oliver with a janitor. They took their sweet time. Upon seeing the state I was in, Oliver rushed to me, embracing me tightly, whispering an apology over and over. I just clung to him, unsure what to do. I didn't know what I was feeling right now. Confused? Hurt? Angry? I wasn't sure. I just let Oliver be sorry and held him. His warmth was comforting and he smelled like wonderful. The best kind of smell there was. Even after the hug ended, he maintained contact, holding my hand in his. It was almost as if he was reassuring himself I was still here. It's not like I disappeared.

The air was fresher and clearer, my bleach induced dizziness fading. The janitor, in his scruffy yellow coveralls, muttered an apology before scurrying off to clean some toilets. Good riddance. Can't even manage to keep his closets adequately locked or not. Jude, Ames and Tom rounded the corner at the end of the hall, letting out a yelp at finding me. Ames barrelled into me, almost knocking me over with the force of her hug. Examining my eyes, she frowned and eyed me questioningly. Tom just gave a tiny nod whilst Jude glared at me. GLARED. LIKE IT WAS MY FAULT. The tension in the air was palpable and I shifted uncomfortably under the heat of Jude's scrutiny. Sensing the turmoil, Ames announced they should find Del and Lara and let them know they found me, dragging both Tom and Oliver, much to his displeasure, after her.

Blinking a couple times at Jude, who was watching them walk out of sight, I bit my lip, waiting for him to speak first. He surprised me by scooping me into his arms, burying his face in my hair. Returning the gesture, I sighed, melting in his embrace. Even now, he still held that small part of my heart that I couldn't seem to let go.

"Thank fuck we found you."

Yep. Thank fuck. "Yeah."

He stepped back, placing his hands on my shoulders and scanning my face. "You're not okay, are you." It was a statement more than a question. I shrugged vaguely, not really wanting to expand on what went down in that closet. At my response, Jude swore and kissed my forehead before cuddling me again. I mean, it's not like I was really complaining at all this affection. Jude was a hot guy and he was showing me affection, who was I to say no, right?

Grinning stupidly, I stood comfortably in his embrace, forgetting what had literally just happened. It was pretty easy to do. Burying my face in his chest, I inhaled, taking a good sniff of him. He smelled so delicious as always. Feelings were getting in the way. Jude or Oliver? The selfish part of me didn't want to let Jude go, and I knew the selfish part of him didn't want me to let go. But then something bad would happen and history would repeat itself. The random phone caller's message came spinning back into my head. How would history repeat itself? All the victims of the crash were dead and returning as ghosts.

All except one.

I paled at the realisation, bringing my hands up to run them nervously through my ratty hair. Pulling away from Jude, I stepped back, my eyes darting across the ground as I tried to make sense of what I'd just figured out. If the caller was right, did that mean that Oliver was going to get injured? Or worse, killed this time around? Biting my lip and glancing around the lino covered hallway, I began to get frantic, worrying about the short amount of time left and how many ghosts I still had to get to move on. Thankfully, there weren't fifteen or so as Brody had originally said. Assuming that no more ghosts were going to appear. Knowing my luck though…