The Fuentes Family: Yasmin

35

Jace: Yasmin?

Jace: Please answer me. What happened? I'm sorry

My chest burns as I stare at the texts on my phone. The anxiety kept me up all night as I lay there thinking through all of the ways things could go wrong and I could end up hurt if I let him in, but also being terrified of a world without him in it.

I wish I could slap myself in the face and it would stop all of the rushing thoughts in my head. Inner conflict is the worst.

While I was up all night, I kept thinking about wanting to talk to Alex. For some reason I want to know what changed, I want to know why they always had secret conversations where Alex was probably telling Jace to stay away from me, and now he doesn't seem to care. I want to know why he even stayed friends with Jace after what happened two years ago. Why would the most protective brother in the world want to be friends with the guy who broke his sisters heart?

I jump up from my bed, getting head rush in the process and head to the bathroom. I brush my teeth and splash my face with water before deciding to walk through to Alex's room.

Alex is sat on his bed looking at his phone when I open the door.

"Did you take my charger?" He asks, accusingly.

"No."

"One of you assholes did."

"That's why I hide mine every time I leave the house." I walk to his wardrobe and pull a grey hoodie off of a hanger and put it on.

"You better bring that back."

I watch him as he stares at his screen, wondering if I should even ask. I don't even know what exactly to say. I don't know what it is I want to hear, but I know I want to hear something that'll convince my mind that things are okay.

His eyes look back at me, questioning me and wondering why i'm standing here staring at him. He puts his phone down on the bed and waits, knowing I have something to say.

"Can I ask you a question?"

He just looks at me, a glimpse of worry in his eyes. I take that as a yes.

"Why did you stay friends with Jace? Why did you let him have anything to do with us? I mean, you despise Wes, and what happened with him wasn't as bad as Jace. I don't get it."

He looks down and runs his hands through his hair, trying to decide something in his mind. "Jace doesn't exactly have the best mindset."

"What does that mean?"

"It's a dumb excuse, but he... did what he did... because he was scared. Because he – I don't wanna say love but – he loved you. He panicked and did what he did cause he thought it would make it go away. It doesn't make it okay, I know, but when you're a fifteen year old guy who just wants to have fun and smoke weed, catching feelings that strong for someone is the last thing you want."

"That's what he told you? And you believe him?"

"I do," he says, looking me in the eye. "He didn't want to hurt you, he wanted to get rid of how he felt."

"You just believed him... because that's what he said?" I'm confused, wondering how people can trust so easily and take someone's word.

"No, I didn't at first, but I know Jace. I know when he's suffering and when he's trying to hide it. He's not stopped suffering since all of that happened."