*knock*knock*knock*
I was now outside of Jaxons mansion, and the urge to poop my pants on the front steps still has not passed. After the ten minute pep talk on the driveway I was finally able to knock.
I mean what are you supposed to say to a guy that you just told you never want to see again.
'Surprise mother-fucker I lied!'
Oh no! I can't do this. I turned around to walk down the stairs when I heard the door peek open.
"Jasmine?"
It was Vicky.
"Hi um. Can I talk to Jaxon? I mean- is he here? If he's not here I can totally leave. I just- um- well you see-
"Come in." She groaned, opening the door wider for me to come in.
I quickly shut my mouth before entering their home. I glanced at the shiny floors and the new, new couches that are now in the living room. My heart clenched at the memory of his mom yelling at him in the kitchen.
"He's in his room, I'm sure you remember where that is." She smirked, before walking away.
Normally I would have been upset in that interaction, but it felt good to be treated the same way after everything that has happened. Leave it to the wretched step sister to be the only one who doesn't look at me with pity, or change the way she talks to me.
I make my way up the staircase, slowly making my way down the hallway. I stop at Jaxons door. Today he isn't the boy I fell in love, he isn't the ex that broke my heart, he is a friend whom I love and care about.
*knock*knock*
"Who is it?"
"It's-it's Jasmine." I struggled to get my words out.
"H-hold on." I heard him mumble before hearing shifting and a series of drawers closing.
"Come in."
I opened the door to reveal Jaxon sitting in his wheel chair. He quickly ran a hand through his hair, smiling up at me.
"Hey."
"Hey."
"How's it going?" I stupidly muttered. Of course it's not going good for him.
He quirked an eyebrow at me confused before using his hands to roll him toward the nightstand.
"You seriously came all of this way to ask me how I'm doing?" He asked.
"No." I released a shaky laugh. "I-
"Listen, I shouldn't have talked to you that way at the hospital. You already had a lot going on and-
"Jasmine-
"No please let me get this out, because I feel terrible and I didn't mean it." His eyes held a stern look, but he stayed silent.
"I didn't mean it when I said I never wanted to see you again. There's no way I could never see you again, or not think about you. You were everything to me, you still are everything to me." He stayed silent, his eyes unwavering from mine.
I took that as my cue to continue, or in my case ramble.
"I was so overwhelmed with what had happened, and losing Mikey-
I stopped at the threat of tears bubbling in my throat.
"I just didn't want to lose you. And after a not so pleasant talk with Riley and a plan to crash your wedding with Ryder they kind of broke through to me. They made me realize that even though we're not together I don't have to lose you if I don't want to. And trust me I am perfectly fine with being your friend, because I love you!" I exclaimed. I sighed, finally able to take a breath.
He ran a hand through his hair before speaking. "Crashing the wedding?" He grinned at me.
"That's all you heard?" I chuckled, picking up a pillow from his bed and throwing it at him.
He chuckled, bending over to pick up the pillow. I couldn't help, but notice the painful expression on his face.
"Does it hurt?" I asked. He sighed, throwing the pillow on his bed.
"A little, yeah."
"What hurts?"
"Do you want me to be honest?" He asked, looking into my eyes.
"Of course," I shrugged, plopping on his bed.
"Everything."
My eyes searched his. He could hide it through the smiling and teasing, but I could see him for what he really was. A mess.
He had just lost his friend too. His life was at a halt. Everything would be different for him now.
"I can be cheesy and say everything will get better soon or I can be honest." I sighed.
"Honesty is the best policy." He teased.
I sucked in a breath before standing up from the bed. I walked to him, before kneeling in front of him.
"Everything is not going to get better." His eyes shot at me like that was the last thing he thought I would say.
"It's going to hurt a lot, you're going to see people living their lives like nothing happened. People who you thought were your friends are going to turn their backs on you, and you might feel like you're going at it alone, but you're not." I say, reaching for his hand.
"You've got me. And if in some alternate universe where you were completely alone. If you're family were to one day pack up and leave you, if Ryder fled the country, and if you had nobody to carry your heart. I would be right there next to you."
"I knew I made a good choice with you." He grinned, squeezing my hand tighter.
I smiled, not being able to hold my grin back either.
*knock*knock*
I stood up from in front of Jaxon to see his mother standing in the doorway.
Jaxons smile instantly vanished at the sight of her.
I stood to the side awkwardly at their staring competition.
"I should go." I mumbled.
"No, please. Stay for dinner." She offered.
"I should get ho-
"Please Jasmine. I insist." She said with a small smile.
I glanced between her and Jaxon before accepting her offer.
"Ok, yeah I'll stay." I smiled awkwardly. I guess their relationship still hadn't been mended.
"Great. Dinner's downstairs." She smiled, before walking away.
I turned back to Jaxon who's eyes were still trained on the door.
"Well that was strange." I mumbled, turning to sit next to him.
"Yeah." He grumbled before turning the wheels to his chair and leaving the room.
Well this just went to strange to very very strange.
I followed him out of the room to see him at the top of the stairs. His wheelchair was at the edge as he gazed down. For a second I wondered if he was going to grip the wheels and go full force down, but he just sat their staring.
His hair was unkept and plopped over his forehead while he slouched, and his eyes were mostly taken over by the blue even though were a dominant green. He was trying to make me think he was A-okay. Though he is far from it.
I cleared my throat, causing him to snap his head in my direction.
"Hey." He mumbled.
"I'm just waiting for the lift to come and get me." He smiled.
I mimicked his smile, making my way toward him.
"Can I take it with you?" I asked.
"You wanna take the lift with me?" At his question I saw a chair slide up the side of the railing. I wanted to slap myself. Why would he have an elevator in his house?
"Yes." I mumbled.
"Uh.. Okay?" He seemed confused, but I was just going to go with it.
Sure it wasn't too late to take the stairs, but I had already signed myself up for it.
He grabbed the arm of the chair, pulling himself up and on the lift. He took a second to move his legs into place before patting his lap for me to get on.
I couldn't hide the smile on my face as I sat on his lap.
"Are you ready for this?"
"Start it!" I giggled.
Suddenly the chair started to move down the side of the railing. We were moving at turtle pace, but it was still fun nonetheless.
It took about one whole minute to get to the bottom of the staircase, and at the end I could see his mother staring at the two of us from the kitchen door.
I cleared my throat, beginning to stand up, I screamed when I realized my pant leg was caught on the bottom of the chair.
My eyes widened at the realization that I was going to fall so I reached out for something, anything, only to realize the thing I had grabbed was Jaxons sleeve and he was coming down with me.
I fell first, smacking the cold ground with my cheek. I whaled at the feeling of something else smushing my cheek farther into the tile. He fell on top of me!
"Oh my goodness, Jaxon!" I didn't have to look to know it was his mother.
"What did she do to you?"
I heard a noise from on top of me, only to hear it turn into laughter.
I moved Jaxons legs from my face, turning to stare at him. He was laughing hysterically. I faced him, giggling before full on belly laughing.
He has always had one of the most beautiful laughs.
I looked up to see his mother staring concerned at him, before a small smile broke out on her face. She was amused too.
All thanks to my clumsiness.
"Well when you two are done with this parade the rest of us will be in the dining room." She said, before walking into the kitchen.
"God, I needed that." He smiled. Man does he have beautiful teeth.
Let me help you up. I smiled, grabbing his hands.
I pulled him up into his wheelchair, holding in a groan from his weight.
"Are you ready for this?" He asked, and I nodded.
I followed him to the kitchen, immediately haunted at the sight.
There was more than just the family around the table.
"Who are all of these people?" I leaned down to whisper in his ear.
"Applicants. My mom's trying to hire a personal aid for me." He rolled his eyes.
Oh.
The voices stopped as everyones heads turned to stare at us.
"Aw." His step-dad said, holding a hand out in our direction. "Please allow me to introduce you all to my son and his friend." He smiled at us.
I smiled awkwardly before taking a seat at the table. All of the other seats were taken so I was smushed in between a helping aid, and Vicky.
"So Jasmine, how have you been?" His mother asked.
"Um, you know." I smiled, picking up the fork next to me. I shoved a mouthful of mashed potatoes down my throat.
I mean obviously I'm not okay. Mikey is gone and I don't know if i'll ever be able to fully heal from that. That seems to be all I can think about when someone asks how I'm doing.
Mikey..
I looked up from my plate to see Jaxon fingering his food like it's poisoned or something.
I stared at him amused before his gaze shifted to me. He picked up a thing of green beans before fake gagging.
I giggled, shaking my head at him.
"So Jaxon, are you excited about the engagement?" His dad asked from across the table.
My body stiffened at the reminder. I took a breath. We are just friends. Just friends.
"Do you really have to bring that up now?" He asked, before glancing in my direction.
"No please, don't stop on my account." I raised my hands in surrender.
"I would love to hear about how happy my ex boyfriend is about his engagement." I smiled awkwardly before viscously stabbing a green bean on my plate and shoving it in my mouth.
"I'm sorry Jasmine, I know it must be hard for you." Just friends. Just friends. JUST FRIENDS!
"No, not at all really." I smiled.
"Jaxon and I have come to a- I paused- mutual agreement. We both just want to be friends." I said.
His step dad frowned, nodding his head at me.
"That's good."
"I mean-
I couldn't help myself. Words were going to come out. What words? I didn't know. But something was going to spill.
"In what country are woman arranged to be married? Is it India? China? Israel? I'm just wondering." I asked.
"I think all of them." One of the personal aids spoke up.
"Is that where you guys are from?" I waved my fork between his step-dad and mother. Even the tone deaf people could tell I was being sarcastic, but I didn't care.
Why go to all of the trouble to make a plate for me at dinner, just to embarrass me?'
I heard a choke coming from Jaxon, but kept my eyes trained on his parents, who looked anything but amused.
I turned training my eyes back to my food.
"I'm sorry." I sighed.
"It's fin- his mother began to speak.
"I'm sorry I'm not completely over your 16th century bill of rights." I mumbled.
"That is enough!" His father yelled.
I took the chance to glance at Jaxon who was already staring at me. I picked the napkin up from beside me before wiping my mouth and standing up.
"Thank you Mr. and Mrs.Scott for dinner, but I think I should get going now."
"Goodnight Jaxon." I mumbled, before making my way toward the kitchen door.
"Jasmine, wait."
"Jasmine!"
I pushed through the kitchen door, making my way to the front door when a hand reached out to grip my arm.
"Will you wait?"
I spun around to stare at Jaxons mom. "It's obvious I've over stayed my welcome so I'll leave."
"I need to talk to you about something." She whispered.
I turned back around at the pique of my curiosity. What could she have to ask me? And why is she whispering?
"What?"
"If it wasn't completely obvious already Jaxon needs an aid. His father and I are busy with our jobs and we can't be here all of the time. He's declined and or chased away all of the other ones we have attempted to hire."
"Where is all of this going?" I asked.
"I- His father and I wanted to ask if you if you'd like to take the position."
What? An aid? I can hardly even aid myself let alone another human!
"I can't." I said, trying to make a break for the door.
She grabbed my wrist again causing me to spin around.
"I have never done any type of aiding before, and I wouldn't even know where to start. He deserves someone who knows what they're doing." I said.
"It's easy, all he needs is his food cooked and sent to his room. His morning, afternoon, and night medicine and someone to help him move around a bit. There's a nurse that comes by once a week for muscle exercises, and it will only be until he can walk again." She begged.
"Why can't Ryder or Ari do it?"
"Ryder has a lot at stake. We couldn't ask him or Ari to leave school for five months."
"Leave school?" I practically screamed at her. My mother would kill me if I dropped out.
"Not leave school, but you could potentially go online with Jaxon." Her voice and her eyes were pleading with me, but this just isn't something I could do.
"Did you see the way he was with you today? He was smiling, and he was laughing.." She paused putting a hand over her quivering lips.
"You don't understand." Her eyes were intently focused on mine, gripping my hand tightly in hers.
"I haven't heard a laugh like that in forever." I watched as tears started swelling in her eyes. Well maybe if you were around him more..
"He loves you, and I know it. He would never decline you as his aid." She tugged at my hand still rested in hers as she pulled me to the kitchen.
"Look at him." As she opened the door my eyes immediately fell on Jaxon. His head was hung low as he stared at the food on his plate.
"That's-
"That's because he lost football, his friends, his dreams... but he hasn't lost you. You made him genuinely happy today." She stepped back from the door, letting it close as she looked at me.
I didn't know what to say. This was all being thrown at me! Of course I want to help, but I just don't think that is the best idea.
"We could get you started on school online, and the pay would be one- fifty per day, I already spoke to my husband."
I sighed remembering every fake smile he had forced today. Maybe I could help him..
"When would I start?"