I Love You, Jerk Face

Chapter 7

Voices woke me sometime later.

"How is she?" Jacque asked Grady, who tightened his grip on me.

"I don't know," he whispered against my forehead, he sounded heartbroken.

I opened my eyes to look up at him and was caught.

"Hey," he said softly.

"Hey," I replied with a weak smile.

"Jacque's here," he said, like I didn't already know. "Do you feel up to talking?"

Instead of answering I sat up, grabbing his hand as I looked at her. Jacque's face was red, she'd been crying, she'd been crying for me.

"I'm sorry," my voice broke as new tears poured down my face.

"No, I'm sorry," she cried and a moment later her arms were around me and I was clutching her to me.

"I didn't mean it,' I said between sobs.

"It's okay," she cried against my ear.

We held onto each other and repeated our sorries over and over again, Grady sitting silently next to us.

"Ugh," Jacque groaned, pulling back to smile at me, "I hate crying!"

"Me too," I hiccupped which made Grady and Jacque laugh.

"We are stopping now," she said as she wiped my tears away.

"Agreed,"I replied, wiping her tears.

"I love you Ros," she smiled.

"Love you too Jacque," I smiled back.

Suddenly her phone was ringing, "It's my mom," she said apologetically. "Gotta go, but I'll be back later," she squeezed my hand.

"Okay," I nodded.

"So how are you feeling?" Grady asked after the door closed.

"Hungry," I sighed, trying to forget everything that had happened, as I settled back into his chest.

"Do you want to go downstairs?" his lips moved against my temple.

"Yes," I whispered.

"Okay," he said before kissing my forehead and moving towards the end of the bed. He paused at the foot and held his hand back for mine. I grabbed it and started to pull myself towards him, my thighs screamed in protest as I stood.

"You okay?" he asked, holding me against his side.

"Just give me a minute," I answered, taking deep breaths to chase away the pain.

It took is 5 minutes to reach my door and another 10 to go down the steps, every few steps I had to stop and bite back tears; Grady held me up at every stop and never said a word.

"Hey pumpkin," my dad's voice called tentatively as we entered the kitchen.

"Hey daddy," I said forcing a smile. Grady tried to push me down into a chair, but I walked over to my dad. "I'm sorry daddy," I said, tears threatened to spill.

"You have nothing to be sorry about pumpkin," he said standing to pull me into his arms.

When he finally let me go I was pulled into a fierce hug by Ryder, who was shaking.

"It's okay Bubby," I whispered in his ear.

"I love you Lyn," his voice was strangled.

"Love you too Bubby."