Ten Twenty-Six

8.

Oliver sighed in defeat, throwing his head back dramatically. "What do you want from me, Jack?" He groaned, "You want me to tell you that I'm glad she left? Th-that my relationship with Caroline is better since?"

Jackson pressed his lips into a thin line, stepping backwards in preparation of the rant he knew Oliver was about to go on.

"Because it isn't," He grumbled. "Believe it or not, when your mother calls you a disgrace and drives away your future, you don't really care about what she thinks anymore.

"Is this what you want?" He continued, "You want to stand here and watch me fall apart over her? Just as things were, right?"

Jackson frowned when he began to crumble, masking his trembling lip with an angry and malicious tone.

"I tried so fucking hard and you still have her eating out of the palm of your hand," Oliver cried out, trashing his arms around in frustration, "You hurt her in so many imaginable ways, but still, you know her better than I ever will."

Jackson sighed patiently, walking backwards to sit on the bed once again. "You're right," He said dryly, "I do have her eating out of my hand, don't I?" He pressed, egging on Oliver's urge to spill his feelings.

"I threw away my junior year— I was ready to throw away my family for her, Jack!" Oliver raised his voice, "I gave her everything in return for what? For her to leave me? Do you know how humiliating that is?"

"Are you done?" Jackson asked, casually leaning back on his palms.

Oliver's chest rose and fell faster than he could comprehend. His shallowed his breathing in an attempt to calm the rapid beating, leaving him woozy and light headed.

Jackson jumped up from the bed when he stumbled around, grabbing onto his elbow. "Woah, man," He chuckled nervously, "Let's sit down."

Oliver nearly collapsed into the chair behind him, gasping out for air as his chest tightened. "Wh-Why?" He panted, "Wh-Why doesn't she want me? What d-do you have th-that I don't?"

"Oliver, look at me," Jackson said sternly, pushing his shoulders back to open his chest.

He lifted his head lazily, gasping for air as he stared back at Jackson with a seemingly terrified reaction on his face.

"Elisa sees right through you— She looks past all these stupid walls you put up, and she sees how badly it hurts you that Caroline doesn't treat you the same as she does her other kids," Jackson told him, reaching up to cup his face in his hands, "She wants you to have the happiness you deserve."

"I-I need her, Jack," Oliver said miserably, slowing his intense breathing patterns, "She's the happiness that I want."

Jackson shook his head, frowning softly as their eyes met. "No," He mumbled, exhaling softly, "You can't be two halves of a whole in a relationship."

Oliver frowned, leaning into him slightly.

"You need to be two wholes together," Jackson suggested, and paused to swallow down the nerves that went to form an ache in the pit of his stomach, "That's why my last relationship ended— We weren't ready to be whole."

Oliver knitted his eyebrows together, instinctively moving his trembling hands up to cover Jacksons. "Elisa?"

Jackson sat up right when he realized, hesitantly shaking his head. "No," He said quietly, taking his hands back, "Someone else, that I was seeing over summer."

Oliver nodded his head, fortunately for Jackson, leaving the subject behind.

"Why are you doing this?" He asked genuinely, leaning back into his seat, "Why do you care so much what happens to us?"