Sixty Seconds

Chapter fourteen

Jessica

Something crashed in the kitchen. I jolted up, heart beating fast, the events from the past night coming back to me, almost out of fear, I clutched my neck, scared to move from the fear of who could be out there. As I sat there I heard muffled swearing from the kitchen. My whole body relaxed as I realised Carter's concussion was still bugging him big time. I slid out of bed, yawning ferociously and put my dressing gown on. I reached under the bed for my slippers, feeling for them. I stuffed my feet into them and headed towards the kitchen.

“What time is it? ” I asked Carter yawning again.

“Three A.M” He said, not bothering to turn around from his coffee cup, which he was currently trying to pour boiling water into.

I grabbed the kettle out of his hand and carefully poured two cups. Carter watched me as I did, a curious look on his face. Suddenly what he had said the only a few hours ago came back to me and I nearly dropped the kettle.

Carter's hand reached out to steady me and I diverted my thoughts to an easier topic.

“Why aren't you asleep?” I asked. Looking at the black smudges under his eyes, he looked exhausted.

“I have concussion, remember? No sleep for me” He said, gulping down the boiling hot coffee.

“You should have told me, I would have stayed up with you!” I insisted.

“You crashed before I could ask” He pointed out, leaning against the counter. He put his coffee mug down and lifted my chin up to inspect the bruises that were now forming. I flinched and he took his hand away. “If you hadn't have survived that, I don't know what I'd have done.”

I looked at him, my mind again drifting towards what he had said earlier. “But I'm still here, being an absolute pain to live with” I grinned at him.

“Yeah, maybe I'd have gotten some peace.” I laughed slightly, looking down. He watched me, eyes looking slightly glassy from concussion, the stitches ran above his eyebrow, he smiled suddenly, not so much to me as to himself.

“How's your head?” I asked breaking the silence that made me feel awkward, although it seemed to have no effect on Carter.

“Screwed up” He said simply. He took another gulp of coffee. “That kid can hit hard, you have no idea how much that pisses me off”

“So I'm guessing you don't like him, even though he saved my life?” I asked him, eyebrows raised.

“No”

I raised my eyebrows a little bit further. “You sure you're not just jealous?”

His head whipped up quickly. “Why would I be?” He said coolly. Taking another drink of coffee. My coffee stayed untouched and I could see the steam beginning to stop rising. I just didn't get Carter, one minute he'd be really nice to me and the next he'd go back to being jerk faced boss, I sighed in frustration.

“You should probably go back to bed” He told me, smiling gently.

“No, I'm fine” I said reaching for my coffee mug. Carter's hand got there first and he took a big gulp of it. “Hey!”

“What?” He asked. “I need it more than you do. ”

I looked at him I exasperation then turned and went back to my room. I can't remember hitting the pillow.

***

I stared at myself in the mirror, mouth slightly open. I was eighteen. There was a party raging on downstairs to celebrate and I was a legal adult. The fact kept repeating itself to me, I was now legally allowed to live on my own, but for some reason, I found I didn't want to.

The girl in the mirror stared back at me, looking nothing like me. The dress I wore was black, cascading almost down to my knees. I had blatantly refused to wear the pink one Miss Harper had originally chosen. The dress was strapless and hugged my waist. It was simple but pretty. Miss Harper had done my hair, putting it into some sort of updo, or possibly a bun, with a few curled strands expertly escaping. She had also done my make up, and knowing I was always wearing black, had made me look almost unearthly, with black sparkling eyelids and long, luscious eyelashes. She had left the rest of my face bare, making me look pale and goddess like. My lips were a pale pink colour, the only pink she had been able to force upon me.

I wore a gold ring with wings and gold angel wing earrings, my neck was left bare. My nails were black. Miss Harper had turned me into something which look inhuman and beautiful, and it certainly wasn't me.

“You ready?” She asked, coming up behind me in her green dress ans silver jewellery.

“Yeah” I replied, turning away from the mirror. I walked with her towards the staircase, rocking slightly in the heels she had all but glued to my feet.

***

I stood by the bar, holding a cool diet coke in my hand, I had figured out pretty quickly that I hated alcohol. The party was going smoothly in front of me. People who I didn't know the names of wished me a happy birthday and walked on. I had a feeling the were all from HQ. Even with the huge amount of people around me I couldn't help feeling lonely.

“Nice Party”

I turned and came face to face with Alex. I grinned.

“Alex” I almost chirped.

“Who else?” He said grinning back. “Hope you don't mind me crashing your party but to be fair, you crashed into me and I still saved your life”

I laughed. “Fair enough, but how did you know it was my party?” I asked, looking at the lights dancing across the walls.

“I guessed. First I saved you last week, now there are complete strangers telling you happy birthday. Then I kinda figured it out”

I smiled. “Suppose”

“Anyway, Happy Birthday! You're what seventeen?”

“Eighteen” I corrected him.

“Nice, I'm Nineteen, I see your bruises are disappearing” He said flashing me another grin while staring at my neck. We talked for around ten more minutes before Alex looked up suddenly. “Crap, soldier boy's on patrol”

I followed his gaze to Carter. Who was slowly making his way through the crowd.

“Got to go” He said, jumping from his chair.

“Wait” I laughed, grabbing his wrist. I took a pen from the bar and wrote my number on his hand. “Maybe next time we'll mean to run into each other. ”

He grinned down at me “Sure” I watched him as he weaved through the crowd, and ducked out the door.

“He is really annoying” I heard carter say beside me.

I turned to him “He's nice” I insisted.

“Uh-huh” Carter said, disbelievingly. “I really want to arrest him fro trespassing”

“Don't you dare” I warned him He looked down at me. The strange look was back in his eyes from the night of the attack. The glaze had gone with the concussion and he'd taken the stitches out yesterday. He reached into his back pocket.

“I got something for you” He said, gruffly. Almost awkward. He handed me a small square box. I looked at him with one eyebrow raised.

“What is it?” I asked, looking back down at it.

“Just open it.” I did, and pulled out a golden chain with an old fashioned key on the end. It was beautiful.

“Do you like it?” Carter asked, looking at my reaction.

“It's beautiful.” I gasped. He took it from my hands and fastened it round my neck. I turned back round to him.

“It was my mothers” He explained. “It was going to waste in my cupboard.”

I smiled at him. He let out a slight smile in return.

“Because I bothered to get you a present and because you have to partner up for this dance, will you..” He trailed off but held out his hand.

I nodded and took it. We walked across to the dance floor together. I smiled to myself, It was a good night.