A Story After a Story: A Fault In Our Stars Fanfic

Chapter 17

Jess's POV:

I wake up in the morning to a soft buzzing on the other side of my bed. I can feel Gus's arms snaked around my waist, his chin rested on my shoulder, and our legs are tangled together. I slowly remove my arms from his tight grip and lightly shake him awake. He groans in reply at first and then mumbles a few words that I can't understand.

"Gus, get up, my father will be in to check on me soon and you can't be here baby." I say to him brushing a piece of hair from his face.

"Five more minutes." he grumbles pulling me closer to him. I give up and lay back down for a bit.

I slowly start to drift off to sleep when I hear footsteps on the stairs. Immediately I bolt upright and shake Gus awake.

"Gus, Gus, get up! My father's coming." I whisper-yell at him. He also jumps up from the bed and nearly trips trying to get out the window.

"I'll see you later." he says with wide eyes and he kisses me quickly before starting his journey down the tree. Just as he hits the bottom, I hear a knock at the door.

"Jess?" I slam the window shut and jump back in bed before replying with a 'come in.'

He cracks the door open and peeks his head in.

"Good morning sweetheart, the office called in, and even though it's Sunday, I have to go in. They need me to work on some project. Your mom is going out to lunch and shopping with a few friends, so you will be alone. No boys, no wild parties, I'll be back later." he finishes with a smirk before waving and closing my door.

I breathe out a sigh of relief and rub my forehead before picking up my phone and sending a text to Gus.

'We're good, he didn't say anything. By the way, your face was priceless when I told you my father was coming up the steps ;)' 

He replies with a 'Good, why don't we do something today? And thanks, I was in a panic.'

'Sure, whatcha got in mind?'

'A new bookstore just opened down town, I figured I would take you there since I know how much you love books.'

'Yes yes yes! Lets go around noon, my mom will be gone for her lunch with friends by then.'

'Ok, I'll pick you up around noon.' he says finally.

I'm pretty excited, books are my thing. This should be fun!

---

Gus is a little late picking me up to leave, which I tease him about before getting an eye roll from him, but we make it to the book store. The book store is nothing like I imagined. The place is enormous! Two whole stories filled with amazing books.

"Well, what do you think?" Augsustus asks me as soon as we step into the place.

"It's amazing, thank you for taking me." I say giving him a kiss on the cheek. A rosey color spreads over his face.

"Gus, are you blushing?" I question him with a giggle.

He just looks down at his feet and I grab his hand and drag him toward some book shelves.

"Oh look at this Gus! It's Before I Fall and Wonder and oooh! The Mortal Instruments!" I practically squeal.

He just stares at me with a smile on his face.

"What are you staring at?" I ask him.

"You. You truly are beautiful with the way your eyes light up when you talk about something you love."

"Thank you." I smile back at him and peck his lips. "Now come on I have so much more to show you!" I laugh pulling him toward more books. I really love this place.

We probably spent two hours in the book store before we decided to leave. We even grabbed coffees in one of the small cafes inside the store.

"Ready?" I ask him.

"Yep." he responds and we climb into his car.

"This has been fun, we should go back again!" I say looking over at him. He looks cute withe the way his brown hair flops in his face and the smile that tugs at the corner of his mouth.

"We definately should." he replies to me quietly. He turns up the radio and I hear All the Small Things by Blink-182 playing, so naturally I start to sing. It's pretty quiet until we both hear a screeching coming from across the intersection.

It all happens so fast, one minute all the cars are driving in an orderly fashion and the next miute, two cars are colliding head on in the middle of the street. All traffic suddenly stops and I see someone get out of their car to call 911 I'm assuming. Both Gus and I have wide eyes and a surprised expression. I look back at the cars and I can feel the blood drain from my face and I gulp.

"Jess, are you alright?" asks Gus sounding concerned.

I have to force the words out to reply to his question.

"That car belongs to my mom." I squeak out before throwing the door open and rushing toward the crashed cars with Gus right behind me.