By Next Thursday

Chapter Fourteen

Standing outside of Jay's house at three in the morning wasn't exactly ideal for my plan of winning him over. I looked down the darkened street and shivered, not out of cold, but the prospect that Jay might not forgive me that easily. I knew we pushed each other's buttons, but this time he truly seemed angry, not just his usual, irritated self.

I still wasn't sure why Jay got so mad at me for tracking my dad instead of Rory. I mean, we weren't totally certain that Rory was it, so I just didn't understand why he was so upset. It wasn't even his life at stake, what was his issue?

With a huff, I transported myself into Jay's room. As I expected, he was there.

What I didn't expect were the dark bruises along his jaw and the trickling blood from his left eyebrow. He was slumped back on his pillows, but I could tell by his labored breathing that he wasn't sleeping.

"Oh my god.." I breathed. His eyes snapped open.

"What do you want, Kelly." he said tightly, his tensing jaw causing him to visibly wince.

"Jay.. Oh my god, what happened!" I took a few tentative steps towards him, his injuries looking worse and worse the closer I got.

Jay just laid back down and stared at the ceiling. "Just a fight."

I sat at the end of his bed and ran my fingers through my hair. I couldn't take my eyes off of his face. I winced internally as he shifted his expression and his eye began bleeding again. "Yeah but I've never seen you like this," I motioned to his face. "I thought you never lost fights..."

"We're not all perfect," he snapped, his gaze still firmly on the ceiling. "Some of us have off days."

I flinched at his harsh tone. "Jay.." I trailed off., unsure of what to say next. I guess something in my voice caught his attention because he finally met my gaze, raising his eyebrows.

"What?"

"I'm sorry, okay?" I began in an almost whisper, "I know you said we should wait until after we find where I am to snoop around my dad's life. I should've listened. It's just-" I squeezed my eyes shut to avoid an onslaught of emotions and turned my head away. I definitely wasn't used to apologizing or talking about my feelings.

"Look at me, Kelly." I nervously looked up to meet his deep, brown eyes. "It's okay. I know it's hard, he's the only family you have left. I should've understood. Honestly, I feel bad. I was even distracted during my fight, as you can tell," he gave a wry chuckle and gestured towards his face.

My eyes instantly watered up, much to my surprise. "I'm so sorry!" I buried my face in my hands.

All of a sudden I heard Jay give a loud, surprised laugh. Then I got hit with a pillow. I looked up to see he had sat up next to me. "What?" I asked him in confusion.

He shifted again so we were almost touching, but not quite. It was nice to know that he was trying to comfort me but it sucked being reminded that I was a ghost and couldn't do human contact. "Well, if a week ago, you told me that I'd make you feel bad enough to cry just because you think it's your fault I got hurt, I'd laugh in your face. Then, if you told me I actually got distracted in a fight because I felt bad about yelling at you, I'd probably just tell you to fuck off." he gave me a lopsided smile, "I guess people aren't always what they seem, eh?"

I gave a watery laugh. "I guess not. Who knew Jay Carmichael and Meredith Dunne would turn out to be the best friends I've ever had."

"Yeah, I guess we'll just have -" his voice was cut off by a knock on the door and it creaked open. A small, pretty woman with wildly curly black hair peeked in.