𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻
𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘮𝘦
━━━━━━ † ━━━━━━
At half-past seven in the morning in New York, Jules would have had a quiet morning before leaving for school. She would've made herself a nice breakfast complimented with some fresh orange juice. But in the Walter house a quiet and nice breakfast wasn't an option.
After brushing her teeth, she returned to her room to find Benny climbing half on the chair and half on the desk. He was reaching for the plug of a hair dryer that was in the socket. As he yanked it from its place, he stumbled on the desk and his leg collided with the candle beside him.
"Benny, no!" Jules rushed forward but wasn't able to save the candle. The glass hit the floor and partially broke, a large piece falling out in a triangular shape.
Her heart fell into her stomach at the sight but she helped Benny down, away from the glass and crouched to his level, checking his hands and bare skin for any abrasians, "Come here, did you cut yourself?"
"Hey, you okay?" A voice joined the room, "I heard a crash?"
Jules glanced to Alex, a knot forming in her stomach as she did so. She turned back to Benny, "What were you doing in here?"
"Mom said you borrowed her hair dryer 'cause yours broke." Benny explained, clutching the device in his hand, "I needed it."
"Okay, but will you come find me next time before coming into my room?" Jules exhaled, "You could've hurt yourself."
"Sorry." Benny said before he left.
Jules remained in her crouched position, turning to the candle sitting in ruins on the floor. Her chest was heavy as she stared at the cracks in the glass and the shattered pieces.
"Be careful." Alex spoke, drawing her back into reality. She'd momentarily gone back to the day Lucy had handed her the candle, and now it was broken, "Let me go grab a dustpan."
He exited the room. Jules reached an arm forward, picking up the triangular shard of glass that had fallen off the candle. She wasn't sure how to feel or how to react.
Obviously Benny didn't mean to break it, and he hadn't known its sentimental value. She wasn't angry at him. Maybe she was upset but she couldn't tell because as she stared at the reckage, she just felt numb.
Jules barely noticed how long Alex had left for or that he'd even come back until he spoke, "You okay?"
"This is the last thing Lucy gave me." Jules' eyes were fixated on the piece of glass in her fingertips, "The only thing I have here of her. And now it's..."
As she moved her hand, a wince escaped passed her lips. Jules dropped the shard and glanced at her thumb, where a miniscule cut had appeared along with a blemish of blood.
Alex put down the dustpan and brush he was holding, dropping to his knees in front of her. He gently took hold of her hand, his fingertips warm against her cold skin. The heaviness in her stomach was joined by a flutter, her heart beat picking up pace.
The combination of emotions swarmed her head, making her dizzy. Jules pulled her hand away from Alex before she pushed herself up from the floor. She inhaled through her nose to try and clear her senses but it didn't help.
"Jules?" Alex stood up as she headed for the door, "Are you hurt?"
"Just throw it in the trash." Jules told him, walking out of the door, trying to hold herself together, "Please."
As she descended the stairs, Jackie was at the bottom, holding out Jules' school bag towards her. Jackie could see there was something wrong by the crease between her sisters eyebrows and the gloss over her eyes, "You okay?"
The grey clouding Jules' eyes cleared in an instant, along with the crease. She took the bag from Jackie with a polite grin, "Yeah. You?"
The girls headed out the front door onto the porch, "Katherine asked if I wanted to make a dish for Thanksgiving tomorrow."
"What did you say?" Jules asked, curious.
"That I didn't want to." Jackie responded, "I'm just not feeling Thanksgiving this year. Is that bad?"
Jules shook her head, wrapping an arm around her sister's shoulder to pull her into a side hug. She thought Jackie needed it, but Jules wasn't aware that she needed it more. "No. I feel the same."
━━━━━━ † ━━━━━━
"That being said, your assignment for the break is going to be reading and absorbing pages 274 to 316." Mr. Piper, the History teacher, told his class, "There will be a test after break."
Jules hadn't sat next to Alex today, she was sitting beside a boy called Jamie and all Alex could do was stare at the back of her head. He'd been resting his own head on his arms, barely listening to a word Mr. Piper had been saying all class.
He was worried about her, but also confused. Had they not shared a moment the other night before they got interrupted by his dad calling his name. And did they not have a moment that night she'd been drunk?
What had changed? Had he done something wrong? Was it the candle situation?
When the bell rang to dismiss their last class of the day Alex didn't hesitate to grab his bag and hurry over to Jules. She was packing her textbook into her bag when he arrived at her desk, "Sucks that we have to study over break."
"Hm, it's gonna be a busy four days." Jules told him, standing and swinging her bag over her shoulder.
"Is it?" Alex followed after her.
She nodded, "Homework, Art project, helping Jackie with the food drive--"
Alex blocked the doorway, making her come to a halt, almost bumping her nose against his chest. His eyes dropped down to meet hers, "Jules... what's going on?"
Jules tried to avoid his gaze, "Nothing, why?"
He swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing as he did, "'Cause I feel like you've been avoiding me since we..."
"I have a lot going on, Alex." She told him, ducking under his arm and hurrying out into the hallway, avoiding everything and everyone.
Four minutes later Alex had his back pressed against the closed lockers beside Kiley's open one. He groaned, pressing his eyes shut in annoyance, "She hates me."
Kiley sighed, taking items from her locker and placing them into her backpack, "She doesn't hate you."
"I should've done it when I had the chance." Alex mumbled, his head falling back to gently hit against the metal locker door behind him.
"Kissed her?" Kiley questioned, "Didn't you say she was drunk?"
"Which would've made me a total jerk." Alex said.
"Good thing you didn't then." Kiley responded, putting her coat on.
"But now she's avoiding me, and I can't stand it." He exasperated, his heart heavy in his chest just thinking about it, "What do I do?"
"Just stop obsessing for one thing, you're just driving yourself crazy, and me too." Kiley told him, shutting her locker, "Honestly, this is all I've been listening to for weeks."
Alex spun as Kiley began to walk away. He turned until his forehead was pressed against the locker, trying to ease the pain in his head and his heart, "Whoever said time heals all wounds has obviously never been wounded like this."
"You just need a do-over." Kiley told him, stopping.
"How?" Alex questioned, removing himself from the locker, "I'm not good at making picnics or buying flowers or whatever--"
"Good, because Jules does not seem like that type of girl. She isn't basic, Alex, you clearly know that considering how consumed you are by her. Find something meaningful to her."
This simple dose of wisdom lodged itself into his brain. Kiley was right, he needed to find something that meant a lot to her. He just needed to figure out what and hope it didn't make things worse between them, because Alex was starting to realise that not having Jules in his life was like not having oxygen. He needed her to keep his heart beating.
━━━━━━ † ━━━━━━
Jules found herself with Kiara in town. She was supposed to be on her way to help Jackie and Erin at the food drive in Lark Cafe, but she'd spotted a candle shop.
Half an hour walking around the shop, smelling almost every candle, she found nothing that could even come close to Lucy's candle. Not that she wanted to ever replace it but it would've been better than having absolutely nothing.
Jules and Kiara entered Lark Cafe to see it empty of customers. She headed towards her sister who was standing behind a table of bags with Erin, "Sorry we're late, I got... distracted. How's it going?"
"We have twenty unclaimed bags." Jackie told them.
"That's a shame." Kiara sighed, "All those people won't have a Thanksgiving meal now."
"Well, maybe they couldn't face the cold." Jules stated, an idea coming into her head, "We could hand deliver them tomorrow?"
With Jules not feeling in the mood to celebrate Thanksgiving, considering the loss of her family, and Jackie in the same boat, she thought it'd be nice to get out of the Walter house and make sure other people had food and company.
"Sure, we can take my car." Kiara offered.
"And mine." Erin interviened, also not wanting to spend time at home, "I mean, if we want to deliver them faster. Half and half?"
Jules glanced to her sister to see how she felt about that. Jackie nodded with a grin, "Sounds good."
When Thanksgiving morning came Jules wasn't hesitant about leaving the chaotic Walter house. She'd gotten dressed, grabbed her bag and was hurrying down the stairs, hoping to slip out without being noticed.
Katherine saw her through the crowded kitchen, "Are you going too?"
"Where?" Jules asked.
"Skylar's dad's doing a talk on the real history of Thanksgiving." Alex told her, sipping on the coffee in his hands.
"I can't I'm doing food drive deliveries." Jules said, her eyes only briefly meeting Alex's before going back to Katherine. She couldn't explain why she was avoiding him exactly, but she was.
"I thought Jackie was doing that?" Cole questioned, almost like he wanted to get her into trouble.
"We both are." Jules explained, scowling at him, "Kiara and I are doing half."
"Well, I'm gonna need you all home by two." Katherine told Jules and the few boys who were leaving the house.
Jules glanced over to Katherine again, "I don't know how long it'll take so don't wait, I'll just have leftovers when I get back."
And with that she left the house. She jogged down the porch steps as Alex glanced over his shoulder from where he was walking towards Kiley's car. Their eyes locked. Alex was still confused and concerned about her, and he was still trying to figure out how to operate a do-over.
Jules tore her gaze away, climbing into Kiara's vehicle. She watched as Kiley's car disappeared.
"What's the deal with you and Alex?" Kiara asked as soon as Jules shut her car door, having seen their moment of eye contact, "And don't bullshit me, Jules, there is something going on."
"I don't know." Jules kept her eyes downcast.
"You do."
The only thing she knew was that she was confused about her emotions. She'd never had these feelings before. She wished Alex was like all the other boys she'd known. Annoying, cruel, rude, it would've be an easier excuse as to why she was avoiding him, but he wasn't any of those.
Jules' eyebrows pulled together, a sort of irritation rising in her, "What do you want me to say, Kiara?"
"That you like him." Kiara stated. Jules almost bit back, in an unnessecery anger but she stopped herself, unsure what to even say. Kiara noticed the quiver in her jaw and the way her eyes clouded over. "But you're afraid, aren't you? You like him... and that scares you."
Jules tightened her jaw, dragging her eyes to the front window, "I lost three people that meant a lot to me eight months ago. I came here to make sure my sister has a good life and has people to take care of her. I didn't come here to potentially fall for someone."
"Jules..." Kiara exhaled a sympathetic sigh, "You can't just live your life purely for your sister. I know you're still grieving, but Alex isn't going to--"
"Hurt me?" Jules cut in, "You don't know that. I'm in enough pain as it is, I haven't even cried. Not once since they died, Kiara. That can't be normal. I don't want to drag Alex into my messy head and life. He deserves better."
"You can't decide that for him." Kiara told her, "Why don't you just let him in, like you let me in? Or at the very least, be friends with him. You might find that he's not like everyone else. That he might not break your heart."
She let out a huff, "Might being the operative word there."
"Life is gonna throw hard times at you, at us all, but we get through them, together." Kiara said, "And you've got me, Jules. I'm not going anywhere."
"Thank you. You oddly wise young owl." The corners of Jules' mouth turned slightly upwards. She wasn't sure how much of the advice Kiara was giving her she was going to take on board, but she was grateful anyway. "Now can we deliver the food before Thanksgiving becomes Christmas?"
𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿'𝘀 𝗡𝗼𝘁𝗲
𝗛𝗮𝗽𝗽𝘆 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿
🎉