(written by Michelle) "Oh no, what have I done?" Jess asked Brian, holding her head in her hands. Jess began to cry, something she had done too much that day. Brian didn't want to be rude, but he thought he should speak."I don't want to be rude, but shouldn't you go after her?" He put a comforting hand on Jess' back and began to make small circles with it. He didn't know how effective it would be, but his mom always used to do that when he was sad. "I can't. When she gets angry she doesn't talk to anyone, it wouldn't be worth going after her. If she did anything, she'd just yell at me." This only made Jess sob harder, and Brian wasn't helping any. If he had touched her on another day, she would have felt her heart skip a beat and her hands turn icy, but right now she could care less.
This trip was turning ugly, and all Jess wanted to do was to go back to her little hole of a bedroom and forget about all of this. But she couldn't turn back time, she had to face her present no matter how scary it was. Brian didn't know what to say, he barely knew this sobbing girl in front of him, so he didn't know how to appease her. He had always been able to find the right words to say, whether it be to Nick for advice or to his fans in a song, he always knew what to say, but now he didn't and it hurt him. He knew one thing that would make anyone feel better, and that was to know that someone was there for them. So, Brian carefully rose to his knees on the rickety balcony and placed his arms around Jess, bringing her sobbing body closer to his. As she buried her head into his chest, he could feel all the pain she was releasing onto his chest. He felt the years of pent up rage and closed up feelings come flooding out and he also felt a tear fall from hisown eyes. Jess felt his arms encircle her body and she smiled at his touch, it was as gentle as she had expected it to be, even more so.
Through her sobs she could smell his cologne, she could feel his shirt on her skin, and his bare arms on hers as they moved up and down, trying to create heat. This was everything she had dreamed about, he was the guy of her dreams, but here in reality. "I'm getting your shirt all wet with my snot," Jess said, staring at the wet spot she had created. She could feel him try to hold in the laughter she created."That's ok, it's Nick's shirt anyways." She started to laugh, until she met his eyes with her own. They were wet with freshly expelled tears he had released over her troubles. Jess's heart began to ache knowing that she had made him cry.
"Please don't cry," she whispered to him."I won't if you don't," he told her, his face just inches from hers. She could feel his breath come slow and steady as he began to lean a little closer to her. She closed her eyes and felt his wet lips on hers as they shared a bittersweet kiss. When she opened her eyes, she saw his retreating figure run through her bedroom. She felt the tears start again as she saw him run across her backyard.
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Nick reacted like a cat when he saw Jade take off running, but she was too fast for him. He had just reached the end of the driveway when he saw her blonde hair turn around the end of the block. He decided that it would be better if she was on her own to sort things out. He hadn't known Jade a long time, but he could tell she was a strong person. Nick jogged around Jade's house to the backyard, where he had intended on giving Jess a piece of his mind, that is, until he saw Brian. He had Jess wrapped in his arms and he was looking down at Nick. There were tears in his eyes as he held the sobbing Jess; from what Nick could tell, Jess didn't mean anything she said. Raising his hands into the air, Nick crossed the yard to his own house, where he would accept a troubled sleep.
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Jade didn't know where she was running to, as long as it was away from her so-called best friend and all of her problems. Thoughts of betrayal ran through her head as her feet kept moving at the same pace. The sound of screeching brakes stopped Jade in mid stride. She didn't know where she was, but she had narrowly missed being involved in an accident. Jade was standing in the middle of a darkened road, the man behind the wheel of the car moving toward her. It was the same shadow that accompanied the door being slammed into her body earlier and the same shadow she had seen on the hammock the first day she was in town. The only difference now was that it was calling her name. "Jade, Christ what are you doing here?" "Kevin?" Jade didn't care if she didn't know him, she ran right into his arms and planned on staying there.
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