"Alright, groveling time is over! Get up." I yell as Jesse's sisters and I storm into his room.
"No." He replies dryly.
"Jesus! What died?" Julie says before she and her sister plug their noses.
"My future," Jesse mutters.
"Baby, please get up! I wanna spend time with my boyfriend but it's a little hard when he's been locked in his room for the past week and a half!" I yell annoyed.
"We can do something tomorrow."
"You said that yesterday...and the day before...and the day before that-"
"Alright alright, I get it. Can't we just do something here?"
"Absolutely not."
"Ughhhhh!" He groans before pulling a pillow over his face.
"Alright girls, you're gonna clean his room and I have the hard job of getting him into the shower."
They both nod before heading downstairs to get some cleaning supplies and trash bags.
"Okay Jess, I'm gonna need you to work with me," I say while grabbing his arm to start dragging him out of his bed.
"Mmm no." He groans before pulling me onto the bed with him.
This is gonna be fucking difficult.
"Jesse! Please!"
"Later."
"Jess I swear to god-"
"Jesus okay!" He groans before finally getting up and slowly shuffling towards his bathroom.
Fucking finally.
"I actually think something died in here," Jade says as she starts throwing away some empty soda cans and pizza boxes.
"I wouldn't be surprised." I groan.
We all let out a sigh of relief when we hear the shower run.
The girls managed to clean up all the trash within 20 minutes while I put all of his blankets and sheets in the wash.
"There he is!" I gasp in delight when Jesse walks out of his bathroom wearing a clean pair of clothes and drying his wet hair with a towel.
"Happy now?"
"Very." I smile before walking over to him and giving him a kiss which he quickly reciprocates.
"My eyes!" We quickly pull away when we see Xander and Alyssa standing by the door.
"What- what are you guys doing here?" Jess asks.
"Lyss wanted to see your sisters and we wanted to see you."
"We?"
Once Xander and Alyssa move over, we watch as all our friends except Asher and Arya make their way into his room.
Yep, I called them.
There's no way I could get Jess to leave the house on my own.
"Well, I'm fine as you can see. I'm showered and I'm eating." He shrugs before making his way to his desk chair.
"We're going out!" Lina says.
"No thanks," Jess says.
"Come on man!" Xander groans.
"Let's go ice skating at Rockefeller center!" Madison suggests.
"Ooh yes!" Ryan cheers.
Everyone else agrees except for Jess.
"That's okay Jess, Lili can just skate with Cam," Lina smirks.
That causes Jess to clench his jaw and get up.
"Fine." He sighs before putting on a pair of converse.
"Yay!" I cheer.
Xander and I go to Jade's room to ask the girls if they want to come with us.
Everyone agreed and we took two cars and made our way into the city.
"Holy shit it's busy." Axton groans.
"Obviously, it's the end of January." His brother replies.
We all wait in line to get our skates and make our way onto the ice.
The three girls immediately begin racing each other around the ice while the rest of us try not to slip and fall.
"I forgot how much I hate ice-skating," Madison complains while holding onto the wall for dear life.
"You literally were the one to suggest it."
"Well...you guys shouldn't have listened to me."
While we're skating, I look behind me and notice Jesse is nowhere to be found.
"You have got to be kidding me!" I groan.
"Watch out Lili!" Someone yells.
But it's too late, by the time I turn back around, I crash into someone which causes us both to fall onto the ice.
"Jesus Lils, I think you just gave me a concussion." Cameron laughs while sitting up and rubbing his forehead.
"Sorry," I mumble but to my surprise, he just laughs it off and helps me up.
Cameron...being a gentleman...I'm shocked.
Maybe I'm the one with the concussion?
I quickly try to feel my head for any bumps but nope...nothing.
"Where's Jess?" He asks.
"No clue. He was behind me a minute ago."
I look all around the ice to see if I could spot him but he's gone.
"Come on Lili, you gotta let go of the wall eventually." Cameron laughs.
"I will...soon."
"Your definition of soon could mean anything."
"Shut up."
He doesn't say anything, instead, he skates back over to me, grabs my hands, and starts helping me skate around.
Let's get one thing straight, I know how to skate, I just haven't gone in a while so I've kinda forgotten.
"Remember that one time we tried to do the jump from 'Dirty Dancing' and I ended up breaking my arm." He asks.
"How could I forget, I thought I killed you." I laughed.
It was one of the most traumatic things I had ever had to witness.
Cameron and I used to skate all the time while we were dating because he used to be a figure skater.
Yes, you read that correctly, Cameron Fields used to be a pro-skater.
He was incredibly talented until he had a really bad accident.
Instead, he started focusing more on baseball which he learned to love more than skating.
But deep down, I know that if he were ever given the chance to skate again, he would.
"Who's idea was that anyway?"
"Who do you think?" I ask sarcastically.
"It was not me."
"Uh yeah it was, you thought that just because I had gone to one tumbling class, I would be able to gracefully leap into your arms while we were skating."
"Alright so maybe it was my idea."
"Yep." I laugh.
It's times like these where I sometimes begin to think about all the good memories Cameron and I had.
He was never a shitty boyfriend, only when he cheated on me.
We have some great memories together.
"Can- can I ask you something?" I ask.
"Sure."
"I just want the truth."
"Lils, you're scaring me..."
"Why did you cheat on me?"
"Lili-"
"No, I don't get it. I was a great girlfriend to you, we were happy together. Did I do something wrong?"
"No! No, of course not. It was all me, it was all my fault."
Yeah, no shit. Your face was in another girl's vag-
Ew Ew Ew!
No.
I need holy water.
"Why did you do it, Cam? I want to know so I can forgive you and we can move on."
"You would forgive me?"
"Of course, you know I'm not the type to hold a grudge. Plus, we've both moved on. I'm with Jess and you're with uh...well I don't know who you're with but you get what I mean."
"I guess I just felt insecure."
Cameron...insecure?
Yeah, no.
"Why were you insecure?"
"It's just- every time you and I would go somewhere, I would hear people mumbling things like 'she could do so much better' or 'damn she has low standards if she's dating a guy like that'. That shit made me so mad and instead of talking to you like I know I should have, I was an idiot and got drunk and fucked the first girl I saw. I know I never apologized so, I'm really sorry Lils." He says, sounding defeated.
Holy shit, I didn't even know this man could express sadness.
And I know what he's telling me isn't a lie.
I heard it too, sometimes people would question why I was with him but I never listened. I was so in love with Cameron that I didn't bother listening to the comments people made about our relationship but I guess he did.
"I'm sorry I didn't see how much you were hurting," I say.
Cameron always seems like he has his shit together, he's on track to take over his family's business, he has all the money in the world, good grades, is popular, can get any girl he wants, I guess you really can't judge a book by its cover.
"It's not your fault. Also, I didn't expect you to see my hurt since I mostly drowned out my feelings by drinking."
That was his one big flaw, his problems with substance abuse.
Just like many rich kids, Cameron spends a lot of his time partying, and while at those parties, he drinks, smokes, snorts, and all that other shit.
It got really bad after I dumped him
"I forgive you, Cam. Can we maybe start over...as friends?" I ask.
Even before we started dating, Cameron and I were great friends and we have a lot in common.
Sometimes I miss our friendship.
Would I ever date him again though?
No.
I'm really happy with Jess and I can't wait for him to get out of his slump.
I watch as Cameron's face lights up a bit and a big smile takes up his face.
"Of course." He says.
We both continue skating around and watch all our friends messing around.
The three youngest girls are having the time of their lives racing around.
Axton and Ryan are hand-in-hand talking with each other while skating around peacefully.
Madison and Lina are currently trying to help Xander up since he keeps falling on his ass.
And Jess is still gone.
"Ugh, my feet are killing me!" Ryan moans as she skates over to Cam and me.
"Mine too." I groan.
"Want a piggyback?" Cam asks.
"And have a repeat of our failed 'Dirty Dancing' lift? Hell no." I laugh.
"How about you malady?" Axton asks his girlfriend in a crappy British accent.
"You're gonna drop me."
"No, I'm not."
"Yes-" She was cut off when Axton suddenly bent down and threw her over his shoulder.
"AXTON!" She shrieks.
"Jesus Ry, you're gonna crack the ice if you keep screaming like that." Cameron laughs.
Ryan doesn't respond, instead, she just flips him off while Axon skates over to the exit with her still flung over his shoulder.
"Wanna take a break?" Cameron asks.
"Yes!"
We begin skating back and on the way we notice all the girls, including the three younger ones, holding Xander up as he finally begins getting the hang of skating.
And I jinxed it because he fell again.
"Oooo let's get hot cocoa!" I tell Cam, Ryan, and Axton as we return our skates and make our way to a small stand handing out free hot chocolate.
"Lili, where the hell is your boyfriend?" Axton asks.
"I have no fucking clue. I should probably call him." I mumble.
I grab my drink before whipping out my phone from my pocket and call him.
He picks up after a few rings.
"Hello?" He sounds like he's been asleep.
"Hey! Where are you?"
"Home."
"HOME? What do you mean 'home'?"
"I mean in my bedroom."
"Why the fuck did you go home?"
"Because I didn't feel like skating."
I can feel his fucking shrug through the phone.
Alright, no more mister nice guy, I'm sick of this shit.
"What the hell is wrong with you Jess?"
"What are you-" I cut him off.
He doesn't deserve to speak.
"We all came here for YOU! Even your fucking sisters came here to cheer you up and what do you do? YOU LEAVE. That's so fucking rude Jess."
"Lili...I'm just tired and you know how stressed I've been about the card-"
HERE WE GO AGAIN WITH THE DAMN CARD!
"Enough! Enough about the stupid card! If I even hear the word 'card' come out of your mouth, I will slap you. Stop using the card as a fucking excuse and get your shit together. You fucking lost it...get over it. What you should be doing is making up with Anthony and Mikey, working on more music, and booking more gigs so you can get more offers from other labels. Instead, you're just laying on your ass and slowly rotting. Talk to me when you get your life back on track." I yell.
"Lili-"
I hung up.
I'm so fucking pissed.
No, I'm fuming.
"Uh, Lili?" Ryan says.
"What?"
"You're killing your hot cocoa."
"What?" I gasp and look down when I feel warm liquid run down my arms.
"Fuck." I gasp and walk over to the bathrooms to wash my hands.
I may have been harsh on Jess, but it's what he needed to hear.
I don't regret anything.
In fact, I feel like a weight has been lifted off of my shoulders.
I make my way out of the bathroom and meet the others who are finally done skating.
We make our way back to the cars and decide to go out for dinner.
I try to enjoy my time the best that I can but all I can think about is Jesse.
I really hope he gets his shit together.
----------Author's Note----------
Uh oh, looks like some relationships are rekindling while other's are getting rocky...
Y'all the book is over halfway done! How crazy is that?
I don't want it to end 😭
Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter!
-Pradabagg
Word Count: 2058