Looking After You

(21) Ages: 19 & 16

Ages: 19 & 16

Jenny reached down and lifted the last box in his room. It all felt so wrong at that moment; the fact that they were loading his room into the back of his truck, the fact that after that day he would no longer be right next door and the fact that she was helping accelerate the catastrophe. Part of maturity and growing as a person is that moment when you finally decide to put someone else's desires above your own. Jenny knew, if she asked, James would have stayed. And because she knew this, Jenny knew it was time to show how much she cared about him. She wouldn't ask him to stay. She couldn't.

"All ready?!" His loud boom of excitement surprised Jenny as he barreled into the room.

She turned around and nodded with a bright smile for his benefit. "Yep! I've got the last box!" He stepped closer and began looking around his room.

"I'll probably have to come back for some of the posters. My walls are going to be pretty bare."

"Did you want to stick them in here? I think there's enough room." She started to set the box down, but James placed a hand on her arm and shook his head.

"No, it's okay." He shrugged with a smile. "Gives me one more reason to come back."

Jenny just stood there, smiling back at him for a moment. She took in everything about it; the basketball jersey he was wearing that showed how muscular he had gotten, the way his hand lingered on her arm and how his eyes never left hers, even when she had to look down after a few seconds.

You'll always be like a little sister to me.

She shook the memory from her head and plastered a smile to cover the heartache. "Yeah, your mom would probably kill you if you didn't come back every other week to see her." She eluded with a playful smirk and watched as his smile slowly turned into a frown. Whatever she said caused him to express disappointment and she wanted desperately to know what it was.

"Are you leaving or should we just put everything back?!" Richard called from downstairs, bringing James and Jenny back to reality. James grabbed the box from her hands and motioned for her to follow.

"Aw, my baby's leaving," Denise cooed and while she was joking, for the most part, it was obvious she had shed a few tears throughout the day.

"Mom," James whined as his dad took the box from his hands and his mother wrapped him in an airtight hug, shifting their bodies from side to side.

She pulled away and placed her hands on either side of his face, giving him a chubby illusion. "Promise me you'll go grocery shopping at least once every two weeks and turn off lights when you're not home, it saves electricity."

"Mom," he pleaded once more and pulled her hands from his face. "I'm going to be fine. I'm only moving twenty minutes down the road. I'll be here like every day."

"Every day?" His father questioned woefully and his mother's face contorted strangely as well.

"Yeah, hun, we don't really love you that much. I mean, when you're out, you're out."

"We were planning on turning your room into a studio." His father added casually before throwing an arm around his shoulder.

"Hardy har har," James responded, obviously unimpressed with his parents familiar sense of humor as everyone began to laugh. "Your humor is not amusing." He added as he walked to the front door and before stepping outside, he turned back around. "You coming, Jenny?"

Jenny's eyes widened in surprise. "You want me to come?"

He nodded as if there was no other option. "Uh, yeah. You haven't seen the apartment yet and Rex isn't going to do shit after he unloads my tv."