tough love ; jack gilinsky

t w e n t y - s i x

"Yeah." He sighed again before actually going back to work.

m e r e d i t h

In high school there was this one spot I always went to when I was upset.

This big tree right outside of the school, I always climbed up there and sat there for hours. Even after school ended. So, that's where I went. I jumped up, grabbing a branch and pulling myself up. I sat on a branch and let my legs swing down. And I just sat there, for about an hour. Though there were students everywhere staring at me, I could care less.

"Meredith?" A voice said from below.

"Holly?" I said looking down at her. She nodded.

I met Holly in this exact spot back in March.

"Fucking bitches." I muttered to myself as I climbed the tree. Not caring that I was skipping all of my afternoon classes. I'm passing them, so who cares right?

I sat in the tree for about twenty minutes until some freshman girl sat under the tree. I kept quiet, not wanting her to notice me. She put in a pair of headphones and opened a book, clearly she's going to be here for a while. Great.

As the time past, I kept picking leaves and dropping them down at her. Hoping she'd notice and maybe leave.

"Okay, I know you're up there so you can stop dropping leaves on me." She said not looking up from the book she was reading.

"How did you know I was up here?" I said as I climbed down.

"Well, you're almost six feet tall and sitting in a tree. First giveaway. Second. I see you come out here sometimes, a lot more in these past few weeks." She said taking out her headphones.

"Oh, well in that case. I'm Meredith." I extended my arm out for a handshake.

"Holly." She smiled, shaking my hand.

And from that day on, everyday I would cut my first period class after lunch to hangout with her. Even though she was freshman and I was a senior it honestly didn't matter. All that mattered was I had a friend.

"Oh, Holly I haven't seen you since the end of last year. I've missed you." I said hugging her.

"I've missed you too Mer. So what brings you back here anyways?" She asked as we sat down.

"Well, my brother is in the hospital with amnesia and doesn't remember a thing, and I just got fired from a job I loved. So, my life is just pure and utter shit right now." I said running my hand through my hair.

"Oh wow, I don't even know what to say." She breathed out.

"I know, it's fine. I just thought, you know after high school my life would be good and I would be happy. Turns out I was wrong." I sighed.

"No. Don't say that, everyone deserves to be happy. Especially you. I know there must be something or someone who just makes you undeniably happy." She said raising an eyebrow.

"I do, I have this group of friends. Whenever I'm around them I just can't stop smiling, I mean the last time I was this happy around other people I was fifteen and I'm nineteen now. And to be honest it feels so good to be happy. Because I'm not a naturally happy person. But I read somewhere that everyone can make you smile, but not everyone can make you happy. And I've finally found four people who make me happy." I smiled.

"Aw Mer, I'm so happy that you're happy. I mean the first time we met, you were so angry at the world I didn't think anyone or anything could ever cheer you up. But just seeing the smile on your face as you're talking about said people makes my little heart sing." She said while putting a hand on her heart.

"Man, I've missed you a lot Holly. Oh my god." I laughed.

"I know Mer. I know." She smiled at me.

-

I spend most of my afternoon with Holly, she skipped all her classes just to stay with me. I told her she didn't have to, but she insisted.

It was already five, and Holly had to go home. So I just stayed under the tree.

"Meredith?" Jack's voice said from behind the tree. I turned around and he was walking towards me. I stood up and ran towards him. I just wrapped my arms around his torso, resting my head on his chest.

"How did you know to find me here?" I looked up at him.

"Sit down," He said as we walked back underneath the tree. "I know this is your 'spot' because I watched you come out here everyday during high school. We were in the same calculus class after lunch. So when you started skipping class, I decided to go find you."

"Why though? I thought everyone hated me." I scoffed.

"I didn't, in fact you intrigued me. So everyday, I would also skip class and follow you. But you came back to the exact same spot every single day. I wanted to talk to you every one of those days, but I just couldn't. Just because of the reputation you had, I heard so many things from so many people. I honestly didn't want to believe any of it. But most of my friends told me to stay away from you. After a while I just ignored them, I wanted to get to know you so badly, but I just couldn't do it in time. So when we graduated I was crushed because I didn't know if I'd ever see you again. But when you showed up to the country club for work I was beyond excited." He explained.

"Then why on earth did you act like you hated my guts?" I asked dumb founded.

"I did that on purpose because I wanted to watch you from a distance and you know watch all those small things people do. You have so many little quirks that make me love you even more. Like right now," He looked down at my hands. "You're cracking your knuckles, something you do as a nervous thing."

"So, what you're saying is that you had this massive crush on me in high school?" I joked, poking his sides.

"Sure. But why don't we get you home now, because my guess is that you've been sitting here since eleven this morning. Right?" He asked as we stood up.

"Yeah." I smiled sheepishly while grabbing his hand.

Isn't it kind of amazing how a person who was once a stranger, can suddenly mean the entire world to you?