Cabin Fever | ✓

(14) You Dropped The Soap And Realized What You Were Missing

Marley is the worst girlfriend in the history of forever, but could she even call herself his girlfriend anymore? What is she to him now, after days of radio silence?

Her stomach twisted, so she spoke to distract herself, "Ian...um, is he there?"

"Has been in the waiting room with Dylan for the past hour. Arrived right after his flight and refused to go anywhere. But Aiden's still locked up, Dalton's dealing with a few things before they let him go. We'll be there before he gets out."

She exhaled in relief, glad that Ian made it in time. Aiden deserves the comfort of his brother right now, of someone who hasn't abandoned him. The hollowness flared again, which is what she called the aching she's felt with every second of being away from him.

"Marley, Aiden said you don't have to be here."

Her head snapped towards Jason, eyes widening, "What?"

He kept his eyes on the road, the car jerking again as he changed gears and they got off the freeway, entering a residential area. His expression was...torn.

"Leo told him you were planning on coming, and he apparently wanted me to make it clear to you that you shouldn't at all feel obligated to see him."

Marley's heart dropped to her stomach, "T-take me back. I won't see him if he-he doesn't want me to," her eyes burned at the cold truth, what she avoided all these days just to get through her classes.

"Aiden didn't say that, Marley. He said that he doesn't want you to feel pressured to see him. That's all. He misses you, just, just trust me on that, okay?"

She buried her nose between her knees, taking deep breaths through the emptiness. Nothing has ever felt more cold. Nothing has ever felt more lonely than these last five days. Marley has no one to blame for that but herself.

He misses you.

Her heart squeezed, "I don't know...Jason. How can he? I...what I did...I hate myself for leaving him alone."

It was quiet for a few minutes. Marley looked up to see Jason's lips were pursed with indecision, "There's something I want to warn you about, so you're not thrown off guard, okay?"

Her limbs turned to ice, her mind going blank at such sad words. Pitiful ones. As if he was reluctant to tell her what he wanted to right now, but understood it was unavoidable. Warn her?

"Jason-"

"He just," he cut her off quietly, his jaw tightening and his brown eyes flooding with emotion, "you've got to...you haven't seen him yet, since he's been in there. There's a reason why he's been adamant about visitors."

"Tell me," she choked out, nails digging into her calves, fear turning her entire being into a frenzied mess.

Jason turned his head to lock eyes with her for a couple seconds, the car slowing at a red light. When he braked, he drifted his hands to the top of the wheel and squeezed until his knuckles were white.

"You're just...you're not the only one who looks like they've been hollowed out, Marley. The guy is like a fucking empty shell of himself. He's hardly spoken, hardly eaten. Hardly slept."