Three Shots || Jaden Hossler

38. Shade

Jaden's Point Of View

Airplane                                                     5:16

And we're on a plane back home... there was no way for Noelle, Oscar or me to convince her to stay at least one more night in Colorado. She threatened to leave on her own, giving me no other option but to leave with her too. She mentioned several times that not only she has to be there for Griffin but also for Bryce, he called telling her that he needed her there.

Who am I to stop her from being there for her friends? Those who have had her back before I was on the picture. When it comes to Bryce, I don't dare to open my mouth anymore, I've accepted that what they have is an unexplainable bond and she always choose him before anyone else.

"Are you going to eat that?" I ask her, pointing at the bag of chips she has on top of her lap. She looks down and then at me before handing them to me. "You have have them."

"No, no, I'm asking because we didn't eat anything before leaving and you haven't even tried opening the bag."

"I'm too nervous to eat." She mumbles. "I'm used to not eat when I'm nervous, because of dance, you know?"

"Yeah... but you don't need to starve yourself now. He's going to be fine."

"You don't know that. Stop trying to make this situation seem like it's nothing just because you're jealous of him. He's our friend, our friend is sick and we need to help him."

"And we are helping him, that's why we're on this last minute flight. And for your information Riann, I'm not jealous."

"We're here because I forced you, basically."

"Rye you sound like I don't care."

"Because you don't!" She snaps and then looked around embarrassed. "Sorry." She sighs.

"I do care." I tell her. "But I also don't want you to go insane because of this. You need to understand that I want you to be okay and everything I do is to keep you safe."

"You're my priority." I add.

"I know but that doesn't mean you get to minimize our sick friend." She never loses, doesn't she? "He's literally doing this to himself because he feels that nobody loves him anymore; you, me and Sierra. He feels hopeless and you know what my mother did when she felt like that?"

"Rye..."

"Exactly. I'm not losing someone to this again. Pretending that everything is fine and ignoring an issue killed my mother, this is not happening again to me. Do you know how hard it is for me to ask myself every single day; what if I called her that day and told her that I loved her? Would she have changed her mind?- but I didn't."

"I'm sorry Riann." I mumble. I can't imagine what it must feel like to live in agony and guilt every single day, that's what Rye has been dealing with ever since her mother took her own life. She's scared she'll need to ask that to herself about Griffin. She's traumatized and I feel like an absolute vile person for ever thinking that not telling her was a good idea. I should've known better. "I'll swallow my pride."

"You should. He's your best friend." Rye says. She doesn't need to remind me the all the time... "I know. I'll be there for him."

Rye's Point Of View

L.A California, USA                             7:47pm

We were picked up by Addison and Mads at the airport and went directly to the hospital where Griffin is.