He began spending more time with the others every day. Drew didn't seem to like it.
It was Friday. Every day that week he'd been sitting with the other eleven. He still didn't like some of them, but most were okay.
He tried to spend time with Drew, too, but that made him feel worse. Drew was so kind and understanding, but he just couldn't love her. He never would. He didn't want to hurt her by breaking up with her, but he couldn't stay with her forever, could he?
Even worse, he started suspecting Nico di Angelo knew he didn't truly like her. It could've been his imagination, but that was wishful thinking. Did di Angelo know the whole truth?
Nah, he couldn't.
They had a free study period. Jason was sitting beside Drew in the classroom, not studying.
"Are you going over to your friends?" Drew asked.
"Unless you want me to, no," Jason said.
Drew smiled softly. "No, I don't want you to."
She put her hand on top of Jason's. He looked over to her.
She was seriously beautiful. One of the prettiest girls Jason had ever seen. She always wore pink eyeliner, along with a good amount of other make-up, but she was just as beautiful without it. Her hair was always perfectly in place, tucked behind one of her ears where she always wore a bunch of earrings, along with plenty of other jewellery. Some mornings she'd spend over an hour curling it. Her nails were long, but not too long. She'd paint them a different colour every day. She smelt like nutmeg and pine, almost like Christmas. She was tall and had warm brown eyes. She was gentle and somewhat understanding.
There were so many things to love about her. She deserved much better than Jason.
"Do you want to come over this evening? Or I could go over to yours?" Drew asked. Jason hoped his panic wasn't too obvious.
"I can come to your place," he said quickly.
"Great," Drew kissed his cheek.
• • •
At the end of the day, he met Drew outside. She had a car, unlike Jason, but he felt bad making her drive.
"I can drive if you want," he offered. She got into the driver's seat.
"I don't need a man to drive me places." she joked.
"No, you don't." Jason agreed.
Jason had been at Drew's house twice before, only meeting her parents once. They were lovely. Ten years ago, when Drew was seven, they moved from Japan.
The three of them were practically the perfect family. They were so nice to Jason, too. If only they knew how horrible he was.
They decided to stop to get food. Jason checked his wallet quickly when Drew wasn't looking, hoping he had enough money. He seriously had to get a job.
The worst part? Drew chose the same cafe that Leo and Jason sat together at, which made him feel a whole lot guiltier.
They ate and talked for a while, before getting up to go for a walk. Thankfully, Jason had enough money to pay for the food.
Jason walked in the opposite direction to the way to his house. It was pretty close to the cafe. Not that Drew would know it was his, he still didn't want her to see. They strolled, hand in hand for a long time. Simply talking.
"We better get heading back," Drew said. "I can take you home."
Jason shook his head. "I can walk, don't worry about it."
Jason took Drew back to her car. He got his things and kissed her goodbye when she smiled.
"I love you."
But he couldn't say it back. He noticed Drew's smile dropping, though she was trying to hide it. He kissed her and walked away without saying another word.
• • •
He got back to his house, his heart still racing. Why didn't he just say it back? Why couldn't he tell her the truth? Why?
Thank god for the distraction. The 'Will's Fans' group chat had a bunch of messages. He still didn't understand why that was the group chat name, though.
Will's Fans
Queenmclean: amusements are coming on Sunday. Who's coming with me?
Supersizedmcshizzle: not me you smell
Groversno1fan: YEAH. Although it's my first day of work on Sunday-
Jason had absolutely no clue who 'Grover's number one fan' was.
Levesque~Hazel: wait who tf are you I'm pretty sure none of us have a job
Groversno1fan: me? Oh I'm Grover's #1 fan
Gmanunderwood: Aww stopppp
Groversno1fan: I'm kidding. It's me, Percy. I changed my username for some reason, but I think I should be able to change it back???
Gmanunderwood: how dare you.
Queenmclean: alright?? But fr who's coming to the fair.
Jason wasn't going to answer until Reyna did.
Willsol: you know I am.
Levesque~Hazel: i'd love to!! Just please don't make me go on any quick rides:)
Nicodia: yeah she gets motion sickness in a car. But I'll come.
Levesque~Hazel: :/
Seaweedbrain: y'all finally changed my username. Yay!
Seaweedbrain: plus i'll be there, I get off work at 5. We won't be going till late, right?
Queenmclean: right!:)
Gmanunderwood: old one was better but whatever.
Achase127: hahahahahaha
Achase127: and count me in, Pipes
Redare: you already knowww I'll be there
Reynaavila: thanks, Piper. Can't wait.
Jgrace1: 👍
Supersizedmcshizzle: 40y/o Facebook dad vibes but okay.
--
Talking in the group chat still didn't distract him from Drew. What had he done? He had to break up with her, as much as he might've been dreading it. Should he ask Reyna for advice? But then Reyna would want to know why and he couldn't tell her. Not yet.
It wasn't that Reyna wouldn't support him. She absolutely would, but the thought still made him sick. Like if one person knew, everyone would know. They'd have to find out eventually, though, or Jason would have to live in misery forever.
[DREW TANAKA]
When she got home, she went for a shower. She took off all her makeup and ripped off the uncomfortable fake nails. She got dressed in fluffy pyjamas and sat in front of her mirror.
Drew didn't want to look in the mirror for too long. It made her more and more insecure every passing second.
Without makeup, Drew didn't see any beauty in herself. She always wore makeup, even when she said she wasn't. Jason told her she looked beautiful without makeup, but she'd been wearing natural makeup that day. As her hair air-dried, it went frizzy, how it naturally was. Everyone thought it was straight, but it wasn't at all. She spent ages either straightening or curling her hair, pretending it was all natural.
She'd bite her nails, so they were short and rough, but she'd always get acrylics or wear fake nails. All just so she could love herself.
When she had makeup on, Drew was confident. She knew that and she wasn't ashamed. Without it, she felt completely embarrassed.
She lay her head down on the desk. She told Jason she loved him. He said nothing back, but she didn't blame him. They'd only been dating for a very short time, she didn't expect him to already love her.
The real question was whether she actually loved him. She did to an extent. She loved him, but wasn't in love with him. She wanted to be.
Even as a child her old friends would ask who she had a crush on. She'd choose the first boy she could think of and pretend to like him. Now, after all these years, she still never had a real crush on anyone. The only difference now was that she had no friends, either.
It was her fault. She was mean to anyone who tried to befriend her for her entertainment. She didn't have a reason to be mean to them. She was horrible and she knew that. Part of her wanted to change, but the other part simply couldn't. All she ever knew how to do was step on people until she got to the top.
Now she had a total of zero friends and a confusing boyfriend. She couldn't truly love him and Drew was pretty certain he didn't love her. She was happier around him, but platonically. She knew if they broke up they wouldn't 'remain friends'. She'd go back to spending all her time alone, bullying anyone she could. The usual.
Jason would move on quickly, find someone he really belonged with and live a normal life. He'd go to prom with his new girlfriend, dance with her and be in love. He could get married. Have a family, if he wanted. Drew couldn't. She could never walk down the aisle, dance with someone she really loved, have a family of her own. Partly she didn't want that. She didn't want any sort of relationship, but it still broke her heart to know she couldn't love.
———
Word Count: 1493
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A/N: heyyyy practically a chapter about Drew. This will probably be the only time she gets her own POV, I just wanted y'all to know a bit more about her. Some other side characters will probably get povs at some point, too!!
And a disclaimer, I am aroace. At least I think I am, I've been pretty confused with my sexual orientation. Drew, in this fic, is one of the aromantic and asexual characters. I know that in the last chapter I made it sound like being aroace is a bad thing which it isn't!! We can still love platonically, but from Drew's POV, this is how she feels, and at one point was how I felt too.
I know in some places this chapter is confusing, but basically Jason doesn't love Drew cause he's gay, Drew doesn't love Jason cause she's aroace but they both want a friend. They both like each other, but platonically. They're both using each other as a cover up.
PEACE OUT
- Rachael