Don't give up on me ✓

[28] X

'Home is a place you grow up wanting to leave, and grow old wanting to get back to' - John Pearce

Chapter 28: X

*Recap* 

I ran into his arms, buried my face in his warm chest and sobbed.  

His arm wrapped around my back and his hand stroked my hair, "Hey G, you just say the words and I'll stay."

I couldn't.

I didn't.

"I'll miss you," I said.

Jesper cupped my face in his hands and kissed me on the forehead. Then he stepped back.

"Take care of yourself, G."

I gulped. A giant knot had formed in my throat.

He waved at the others and opened the car door. His car that had brought us here. The two of us had started on a road trip that ended here. At this moment. When our road trip turned into two separate ones.

I don't know if my road would ever lead me home.  

*End of recap*

I watched every second of him. I wanted to commit it to memory. I didn't know the next time I would see him again. 

He put his backpack on the passenger seat and turned on the ignition.

I grew up with a crush on him. How could I not? He was my soulmate and my secret crush, because he always saw me as a sister.

I hadn't realized I was so visibly shaken.

Emily came up beside me and rubbed my back, "You'll see him again."

Jesper turned around and looked at me one more time. He smiled at me comfortingly. A smile he'd given me a hundred times before. A smile that I knew meant my friend was with me. 

His hand grasped onto the car door to pull it open and leave.

"Stay."

No one moved. The car door stayed open. Jesper wasn't sure he'd heard properly. None of us were.

"Please stay."

It wasn't me who said it. I hadn't said it. Right?

I looked at Emily who looked just as shocked as me. 

I looked at the boys, but they were looking up at the front of the house. 

I turned around and standing at the head of the steps, on the porch, was Mrs Maythorne.

Jesper hesitated.  He lowered his hand from the car door.

"Please stay, Jesper," Mrs Maythorne said, "I've grown rather fond of you. You have a brave heart for a human. I know I was quick to turn you away when you first came but you have made this house a home."

None of us said anything. Jesper looked up at her. "Thank you for your hospitality but I never wanted to stay."

"I know that. We forced you to stay by forcing Georgia. I won't force you now. You are welcome to leave but you are welcome to stay," she said.

Emily added, "You bring kindness to this place. You bring a humanity."

Mrs Maythorne agreed and added one more thing, "Think of what your future could hold. Have you ever had as great a chance to make a successful life for yourself? If you go back, would you be attending such a good school?"

She looked directly at me, "It's not selfish of you to ask him to stay, Georgia. If he has a better life here, then it is right to want that."

My emotions were playing into this.  It was Jesper's decision, not mine.  It's true that we lived a more luxurious life here, had private tutoring if we needed it and financial support.  But life is about so much more than that.