I sat still curled into ball on the sofa, my heart was broken. I had never felt more alone in my life. Mel had broken the news yet I knew better than to shoot the messenger. Part of me wanted to see Jc to yell at him, ask him what happened to forever. Another part of me wanted to run, to keep running until I was in a new place where no one would know my name. I closed my eyes for a moment trying to comprehend what to do with myself. The entire time I was in hiding I planned for nothing more than to become free. Yet I had given free a different meaning than most people. Behind the word free was Jc, coming home to my forever. That was clearly not an option now, I was left with no plans.
"Umm, can we talk?" I looked up, "I know you don't know me but I know you." The girl before me was a perfect picture of a California girl, tan skin, long blonde hair, a sparkling smile. She was beautiful, a knot grew in my stomach.
"Umm, sure." I said uncurling myself and sitting up right on the couch.
"This may or may not be extremely awkward, I haven't really thought all of this through." she said sitting down next to me, "My name is Lia, umm I never met you but I know an awful lot about you."
"Lia Marie Johnson?" I questioned, the knot in my stomach twisting.
"Yeah," she paused confused, yet continued. "I met Jc by chance, I never sought out to find him or make anything happen, everything sort of fell into place. Jc was heartbroken when I met him, he wouldn't dare say a word about it but everyone knew. It was sort of unspoken that you couldn't mention it. Jc and I hung out a few times and things moved toward a relationship, I don't know how it really happened, it just did. We didn't know where things were headed but we were living in the moment."
"Jc has that sort of effect on people, he makes you feel alive. Like every moment is exciting and new." I smiled thinking back to the day he took me to the top of LA, everything with him was perfect.
"Right," she smiled. "Now I pushed him one day to make me a promise that if it came down to it, he would pick me."
"Came down to it?" I asked.
"Came down to me or you, if you were to ever return." She shook her head, "I didn't ever think this would happen to be honest with you. I didn't push him to promise that because I thought this would happen, I just did it because I was insecure. Insecure because I know everything that you had with him was real." I cringed at how she said had with him, past tense, signifying that we didn't have anything anymore. "Skylar, everyone knows that he loves you, it's always been you for him. I may have stepped in but deep down I know that it's you."
"It's easy to say that but Lia, if it truly was me then he wouldn't have fell for you." I paused, "If you fall in love with two people you're always supposed to pick the second, if you truly loved the first you wouldn't have fallen for the second."
"But here's the thing, I'm not sure he ever truly fell for me." Lia paused for a moment, a few stray tears strolled down her face. "I wanted so badly for me and him to work, for us to be like you guys were if not better. But it just never happened, there was always this sort of tension in the room with us. This sort of heartbreak, that always lingered with him. His longing for you."
"You're beautiful, I'm sure you're smart and funny. You're clearly kind and caring. I'm sure Jc does like you." I paused, as much as I hated to admit it I knew that if Jc spent enough time with her he probably did have feelings for her.
"No stop, regardless of what I am, I know what I'm not. I'm not you, Skylar! Jc loves you and there's nothing I can do about that. As much as I want to be good enough from him, I will never be. I will never be you and that's exactly what he needs."
"Sometimes things change, I can't help but feel that things won't be the same. Besides although I always thought Jc and I were forever, I can't just come back and stomp all over what you and him have." I felt my heart skip a beat, I had never imagined that I would be speaking to a girl who felt almost the exact same way about Jc as I do. Part of me wanted to tell her to hit the road that he was mine. Yet I knew that I couldn't just expect everything to be the same after I was gone for so long.
"Well no matter what happens I know that some of your stuff is still in Jc's room, that he lays on the front lawn looking up at the stars staring like they say he used to do with you, when he tells me a stupid joke he laughs and then looks at the ground disappointed that you didn't hear it. When we go to the beach he always mentions the first time he took you there. He loves you. Regardless of what him and I do there is always a picture of you in his mind."
"I don't know what to say," I was speechless, perhaps I was in shock with the news that was hope that he did still have feelings for me.
"You're one of the strongest people I have ever met, I don't know how you do it. If I had been through the same things as you I can't imagine not being sad all the time, I don't think I would know how to live anymore."
"To be honest, for a long time I was sad for a long time. The worst kind of sad where you know there is nothing you can do even though you wish you could. But after a while I realized that being sad would get me no where. My family would want me to use my second chance at life to do great things. They would want me to be happy. Now that I'm free, my only option is to find happiness, whatever or whoever that might be."
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Free: A Jc Caylen Sequel
Fanfiction"I would have found you. Even if I never knew your name, one way or another I would have found you. You and I were made to find each other." The much awaited sequel to Confidential: Skylar Carson was given a second chance at life. After witnessing h...
