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[ J A X ' S P O V ]
To say that Mrs. Adams refused to have anything to do with Blaire's trial would be an understatement.
"Absolutely not!" She roars. "She is not my responsibility. She may be Eden's sister, but the fact still remains that she has deliberately broke the law for her own selfish gains and jeopardize any relationship she could ever have with her brother. I will not stand by her and testify because she as hell doesn't deserve it."
"How can you say that?" Eden's head whips around and his eyes meet his mother's cold ones. He looks utterly destroyed by the words that his adoptive mother has just uttered to me. "Blaire is not selfish! She's a good person!"
"No, Eden, she's not," Mrs. Adams says in a less harsher tone, and shakes her head, her hands clutching his shoulders tightly. "She's inconsiderate, rude, manipulative and a rebel. She continues to think that she's above the law and who knows what other dealings she's involved that might also put your life at risk? It's not my job to protect her, Eden. It's my job to protect you from her."
"Blaire is not like that," I hiss. "She would never deliberately put Eden's life in danger. Yes, she may have done some pretty bad things, but everything she has done within the last few months has been for Eden."
"Please." A humorless laugh escapes from her. "You really expect me to believe that?"
"It's true." Eden nods his head, his grip on the katana sword tightening. "Jackson can explain it to you. Please, just listen to him."
Mrs. Adams's gaze flickers from me to Eden then back to me again. She seems hesitant. I don't blame her though. She hardly even knows me and I know the reason why she hadn't completely dismiss me in the first place is because I have ties to Eden. But I don't know if she'll even her me out. Her perspective on Blaire is so tainted that I'm not surprised that she wouldn't believe anything I have to say.
But I'm fairly certain that beneath those cold looks, hard gazes and nasty scowls, lies a decent woman. Eden wouldn't love her like she was his own mother if she were otherwise. I have to believe that she's not the evil monster that Blaire perceived her to be and hope that she'll be willing to hear me out, even if its just for a little while.
She stares at me again, contemplating on whether to let me in. Doubt flickers in the cold embers of her eyes and I know that Eden has got to her. She might not listen to me but he can definitely convince her to. She loves him too much to push him aside and dismiss him.
Eden tugs on the hem of her blouse. "Please, mom. Just hear him out. It wouldn't hurt to just hear him out."
She closes her eyes briefly and releases her clenched jaw. "Eden, I don't know-"
"Please," he begs. "Please, for me. I promise you won't regret it."
The last of her restraint and hesitance fall apart and a martyr sigh escapes her lips. "Fine." she snaps, then opens the door widely and gestures for me to enter. "You've got five minutes, Mr. Deneris. Make it count."
******
When I enter the house, Mrs. Adams ushers me straight to the living room. It's much cosy and warmer than any of Baxton's places; there's a family element to it, something that he will never understand. Beige vintage wallpaper are slapped over the walls, spotlights from above casting a soft glow over the furniture.
Around me, dozens of family portraits and pictures are hung on the walls, all of faces boasting with relaxed, easy postures and carefree smiles. I notice Eden in most of them, along with Mrs. and Mr. Adams.
A perfect family.
It's a shame that Blaire never got to experience that. Perhaps she may have, but it was taken far too soon from her.
"Sit." She gestures to the sofa situated in the middle of the living room. I oblige her, resting my arms on the back of the sofa and crossing my legs.
Eden makes himself very comfortable beside me, his head leaning against the side of my chest while he admires the katana sword that Blaire had bought for him. His fingers run over the blade and I notice Mrs. Adams passing him a stern glare from the opposite of the room.
"Put that away, Eden," she barks.
He glances up and holds her gaze. Defiance sparks within his eyes. "No."
She opens her mouth to rebuttal but her gaze flickers to me unknowingly and she decides to shut her mouth instead.
"Where's your husband?" I ask, looking around the room for any sign of him.
"Business trip." She says, almost quickly, like it was an automatic response. I stare at her suspiciously. I highly doubt it's a business trip and I'm guessing she knows that too.
"Fine," I snap. "That's fine. I'm mostly here to talk to you anyway."
"I don't understand why you should," she says. "Look, Jax-"
"It's Jackson."
"Fine, Jackson," she corrects herself. "I get that you're trying to help Blaire. But she was the one who got herself into this mess in the first place. She needs to pay for what she's done-"
"Don't you think she knows that?" I cut her off irritably. "That's why she turned herself in in the first place."
She presses her lips into a thin line. "I heard about it in the news, but I didn't think it was true."
"You really do expect the worst from her, do you?" I say sharply.
"Do you really want me to answer that question?" She narrows her eyes at me. "Because you damn well already know the answer."
Eden sighs. "Mom."
"Look, honey, I'm sorry," she turns to Eden. "He can't do anything to change my mind about that girl-"
"I'm not here to convince you that she's a goddamned saint, Mrs. Adams," I lean forward, resting my elbows against my thighs. "We all know that she isn't. But all those crimes she committed, they were not in vain."
"You keep saying that. But how-"
"Did you know that all those possessions she stole, she was going to pawn them off for money? And did you know that she was going to use that money to hire herself a lawyer?"
Mrs. Adam's eyes widen in confusion. "Why would she need to hire herself a lawyer?"
"So she could fight for custody of Eden in court."
She blinks at me wordlessly, refusing to let the words sink into her. She shakes her head, her lips slightly parted out of shock, and her gaze immediately cuts to Eden, who's staring back at her too. "Did you know this, Eden?"
He shrugs. "He only told me just now."
"And you believe him?" She asks.
Slowly, Eden nods.
"This is unbelievable," Mrs. Adams thrusted her fingers into her hair, messaging her curly brown locks of hair. "Why on earth would she want to do that?"
"Do you really want me to answer that question?" I echo her words that she just spoke to me mere minutes ago. "Because you damn well already know the answer."
Her head falls and her eyes drop to the floor out of shame. She's refusing to make eye contact with me at all. And in response, a small smile forms on the edges of my lips.
She sucks in a deep breath. "I get that I may have been a little bit harsh on her in terms of visiting hours-"
"A little bit harsh?" I say, baffled.
Her eyes throw daggers at me. "Fine. I may have been harsh on her in terms of visiting hours. But can you blame me? Eden is my son."
"And Eden is her brother," I say. "She should be allowed to visit him whenever she likes."
"Look, if she was unhappy with what she got, she could have just come to me-"
"And have you completely dismiss her just like you have time and time again?" I lean back and fold my arms across my chest. "She felt completely alienated by you. You refused to even give her a chance to prove herself and you shot her down so many times that it's a wonder that she hadn't done what she did to secure Eden sooner."
She clenches her jaw. "She was a threat to my son."
"No, she's not. She was a threat to you," I decided to voice out her deepest thoughts. "Eden may love you a lot, but his love for his sister is a love much stronger than what he has for you. And you knew that. So you felt threatened by Blaire. You knew that Eden will never fully be yours unless you cut Blaire off from his life." I pause, then continue on. "Of course, you couldn't do it all at once so you decide to restrict her from seeing and talking to Eden little-by-little, day-by-day, hoping that Eden will be more closer to you than he is to Blaire. Then, when you feel like their relationship is weak enough, you'll cut off all ties with Eden and Blaire, making him solely dependent on you. Did I get everything right, Mrs. Adams?"
"Screw you." Tears swim in her eyes and leak down her face in a steady stream.
"I'm guessing I did." I lean back against the sofa, a smug smile dancing on my lips.
Eden looks at his adoptive mom like he doesn't even recognize her anymore. Hurt and disappointment clouds his eyes. "Is it true, mom? Is that why Blaire wanted to fight for custody of me?"
The shameful look that appeared on her face is enough to convince Eden that he's right. He looks away, anger rising up and filling his entire face.
"I can't believe you would do that," he spits at his mother. "I thought you love me."
"I do, sweetie, I do."
"If you did, you wouldn't have done that to me and Blaire!" He screams. "You're a horrible person."
"Eden, wait-"
Before Mrs. Adams could finish her sentence, Eden hops off the sofa and storms out of the living room.
"Eden!" She chases after him but before she could get any further, I clamp a hand on her wrist to steady her.
"Let him go," I say, watching as Eden hurries up the stairs and disappears into his room. Mrs.Adams looks like she's about to burst into tears.
She whips her head towards my direction and wrenches her hand away from me, then thrusting her index finger at my chest. "This is all your fault," she hisses.
Really, woman? Really?
"I only stated the truth." I shrug. "You did that-" I gesture towards the stairs, "-entirely on your own."
She opens her mouth, looking as if to counter me, but shuts her mouth instead as guilt and shame completely washes over her face. She slumps into one of the ottoman chairs and wipes the tears that are streaming down her face. She looks like an absolute wreck after Eden walked out on her. It's then that I realize that both her and Blaire have something in common: their love for Eden knows no bounds and they would do anything to make him happy.
"Now, Eden probably hates me." She sighs, raking her fingers through her hair.
"He does not."
He probably does, but I didn't want to say that out loud.
Silence engulfs us and I start to feel really uncomfortable. I don't know whether or not I should console her. I'm not her friend—in fact, quite the opposite—and I highly doubt she would want to seek comfort from me. So I keep quiet instead, falling unto the sofa with my hands clamped together, waiting for her to gather herself again.
"I don't hate her, you know," she says after a while.
"You were just jealous of her." I speak aloud her unspoken words. She nods.
"He loves her so much. I couldn't compete with that. I could never compete with that," she says quietly, brushing the tears away from her cheeks with her thumb. "I'm tired of competing with her for Eden's love."
"It was never a competition in the first place," I tell her. "She only wanted to be part of his life. And when you restricted her from doing so, she antagonized you. She hated you. She thought you were a horrible mother. And so she convinced herself that she was the only one capable enough to take care of Eden."
She rests her face on top of her hands and sag forward. "I feel awful."
"You can fix this, you know," I say. "I know all you ever wanted to do was to make sure Eden is happy. Right now, he's a fucking mess. He's miserable without Blaire and I highly doubt that he's going to get better anytime soon." I lean forward a little. "Help him. Help him by helping his sister. It's the least you can do after what you did to her."
She lifts her face so her eyes can meet mine. Her eyes are watery, but through those tears I do see a little bit of hope in them. I know she's going to make the right choice here. I know that like every single one of us, she can gain her redemption. She just has to take the initiative to want it.
"Okay," she whispers, then nods. "Okay, I'll help. Just tell me what to do."
The corners of my lips tug into a smile.
******
The week of Blaire and Ben's trial arrived and it was exactly my version of hell and more.
The press coverage on the damn thing was a nightmare. Because Blaire was the daughter of Richard Sullivan who was an award-winning A-list actor until the tragic car accident that took that away from him as well as his and his wife's life, and not to mention, she was my temporary bodyguard and my girlfriend too, the media went bat-shit crazy for her.
Reporters were ravenous for any scrap linked to the trial. They hardly got anything, though. Baxton made sure of that. He knew that the last thing Blaire needs right now is the media frenzy.
That and also, he was worried that the more information they had on Blaire, the more his career would be put on the line. He wanted to keep a very low profile. I didn't blame him. We were tied to Blaire in ways that went beyond employee and employers.
Baxton was the only father-like figure she ever had after her parents died. Granted, he wasn't around much but he did love her and did his best to take care of her.
And she wasn't just nothing to me either. She's so much more than that. She's the best thing that has ever crashed into my life.
She wasn't just my bodyguard; she was my friend, my foe, my confidant, my girlfriend and my lover. She taught me how to love when I had none to give. She taught me that real strength came from overcoming mistakes, not beating someone into a bloody pulp. And she taught me that an irredeemable soul like mine could be salvaged.
And I did. Salvage it. I plunged my bare hands into the fiery pits of hell and took back every fraction and every shattered part of myself and pieced it back together again. It wasn't easy—I faltered along the way—but eventually, I did it. I feel whole, cleansed, reborn, with the darkest of my sins no longer weighing me down.
She did that. She's the reason why Jax is just a mere memory and Jackson is as real as he can ever be.
She has given me so much it's hard not to feel like I owe her something for gaining the best version of me back.
Though I hope I made it up to her a little bit by getting her brother's adoptive mother to take the stand today.
Baxton, Eden and I were both present in the court room when Blaire's lawyer called Laura Adams up. He bombarded her with questions about her relations to Blaire, to which the judge almost dismissed them as irrelevant but with some convincing from the lawyer that she played a vital part in Blaire's motives, the judge let her proceed.
"Is it true that you were strict on visitations with Blaire?" The lawyer asked.
"Yes. I was. I didn't allow her to see Eden during the weekends," Laura answered with a hint of remorse and guilt.
"Why?"
She took a deep breath and her eyes met with Blaire's briefly. "Because I knew that if I allowed her to spend more time with Eden, he would choose her over me one day. And I couldn't risk it."
"Do you think that because you limited her time with her brother, she would eventually give up on him?"
"I hoped that would," she murmured. "I didn't know that she would opt to fight for custody of him instead."
"You also probably didn't know that is the sole reason why she robbed those houses in the first place."
The jury started to whisper amongst one another.
"I didn't know that Blaire would be so...resilient to keep her brother," Laura said. "I underestimated her. Her love for her brother is so strong... and it's something that many of us, including me, are envious of. And I suppose I'm the reason why she decided to become a criminal in the first place. If I hadn't pushed her away from Eden, she may not be here in court today. And for that, I'm sorry," her eyes pleaded with Blaire. "I'm so terribly sorry."
The lawyer nodded. "That's all. Thank you."
A smile creeped on my face when I noticed some of the jury's sympathetic expressions after Laura had given her statement. I wanted to see how Blaire reacted to Laura, but the back of her head is facing towards me and I'm too far back to catch a glimpse of her expression.
Laura's statement did help Blaire's case by putting her as more of a victim rather than a victim. Though the jury did think that Blaire was guilty, they did sympathize with her and since it was her first offense—well, under the law that is—her sentence was reduced from six years to seven months with a year probation.
Ben, on the other hand, got off luckier. Because Blaire took full responsibility for Ben's crimes, he ended up with a two year probation only. His family had been ecstatic; Belle was in tears when she hugged her brother after the court had been adjourned.
I congratulated him briefly, but I couldn't stand to be around him for long. It wasn't his fault, really. I just couldn't handle being around him knowing that he's out while Blaire's going to spend seven months behind bars. I know it's unrealistic of me to think that she would get the same sentencing as Ben, but the tiny ember of hope I had wouldn't fucking die. It's pathetic.
Eden had been devastated when he found out that he couldn't see his sister for seven months. I assured him that without his adoptive mother's help, she would have gotten a fair harsh sentencing. It's almost a miracle she got off with only seven months. I guess I should feel happy that I helped with that.
"Hey," Baxton says to me, cutting me off from my circulation of thoughts. I've been lying on my bed for hours now, staring at the ceiling, bored out of my mind. It's been a week since Blaire went to jail and all I can think about is whether she'll be okay there. I assume that she can handle herself really well there but knowing that she'll be alone for seven months in that hellhole makes me sick to my stomach. "You alright?"
"No."
"Really? No? Again?"
I lift my head up slightly and glare at my dad. "My answer won't fucking change, you know. Want a different answer? Ask me again in seven months."
"Don't be like that," Baxton sighs, closing the door to my room behind him and taking his place on the edge of the bed. "Aren't you going to visit her today?"
I flinch.
"I don't know."
I know that I should visit Blaire in jail, see how she's doing, but part of me is scared. Nervous. I haven't talked to her since our last night together and the last time I saw her was during her sentencing last week. She looked absolutely wrecked.
Knowing that she's suffering the consequences of her actions makes me feel like I'm suffering too because her pain is my pain and I don't know how to see her without wanting to crawl through the glass panel separating the both of us and taking her place for her.
"You should," Baxton nods, patting on the bed. "And take Eden with you. I'm sure Laura wouldn't mind."
"You really think I should go?" I ask. "Maybe I should put it off for another week..."
"Come on," Baxton throws the keys to his Mercedes to me. I catch it in my hands and stare at it. "What's the matter with you? I thought you would jump at the chance to see her again."
"It's just... it's hard for me. To see her there in that orange jumpsuit... knowing I can't do anything about the situation she's in," I mutter. "I love her, but I don't know if I can see her like this. It hurts too much."
Baxton shakes his head. "You can't avoid her forever, you know. I know it's painful for you to see her like this... but I think it would really make her day if you went to visit her. Think about what she's going through. She needs you now, more than ever."
I need her too. I need her like I need air to breathe. Without her, my lungs ache and my chest hurts and my body burns.
I avoid his gaze, my eyes still fixated on the car keys. I guess my dad's right. I should just suck it up and see her. As much as it hurts me to see her behind that glass panel, I need to do it. It's not going to be easy for the next seven months, I know that it's going to be far less difficult for me in the long run if I take the first step towards it.
"Fine," I grumble. "I will visit her."
"Good." He nods, placing his hands above his waist, looking seemingly pleased that I'm actually listening to his advice for once. "Now, take a shower and get changed." Baxton barks at me. "Because you smell like shit."
"Thanks, dad. That sure is the extra boost of confidence I need," I mumble sarcastically.
"See? That's the spirit!" Baxton slaps my back as I grab a towel and disappear into the bathroom.
******
When I'm done getting ready, I pick up Eden from his house. It didn't take a lot of persuading to get Mrs. Adams to get him to follow me down to the station. She was already on thin ice with him ever since two weeks ago and she probably thought that it wouldn't be such a good idea to push his buttons by restricting him from seeing his sister. So she allowed Eden to go with the condition that I bring him back before dinner. I agreed.
When we arrive at the station, I signed the both of us in an a police officer escorted us to the visiting area of the facility.
Anticipation and anxiousness creep into my veins and jolting my entire nervous system as I walked hand-in-hand with Eden. My footsteps grow heavy and my palms are sweating so much that it's a wonder how Eden hasn't mentioned anything about it. Maybe he doesn't notice. Or maybe he doesn't care. He's probably too excited to think about anything else except seeing his sister.
The excited gleam in his eyes expand when we reach the visiting area. The officer tells us to take our seats as he calls for the guards to bring Blaire in. It doesn't tamper with Eden's excitement though. He trots towards the empty booth where Blaire is probably going to be and waits eagerly, staring hard at the glass panel.
I slide unto one of the seats in the middle of the room and grab unto the handle tight, tapping my feet against the ground.
It could have been mere minutes until she showed up, but it felt like days. My heart slams against my ribcage at every moment the minute falls off my watch. Suddenly, I hear the faint sound of a door opening and my eyes snapped towards the source of it. My breath catches and my heart stills when I see two guards hauling Blaire towards the empty booth.
Her hair is a wild mess, somewhat like a black lioness. Orange fabric drapes her skin, though as much as its a distasteful color, she somehow manage to pull it off. Her eyes look tired, but hopeful as she directs her eyes to the empty booth where Eden is impatiently waiting for her.
Her entire face lights up and she mouths his name—Eden!—and she scrambles away from the guards and propels herself towards the glass panel. She places both her hands flat on the glass, her eyes wide-eyed and gleeful, and Eden smiles then aligns both of his hands on the other side of the glass directly in front of hers.
Tears gleam in Blaire's eyes and she wretches a small sob, her hand clasping above her mouth to suppress it. Eden points for her to use the phone to communicate and she does, sitting herself down and lifting the phone to meet her ear and her lips. Her eyes never stray away from him as he starts talking to her.
"Hey there, crocodile," I hear Eden murmur.
She laughs, tears leaving her eyes and falling down her cheeks. She makes no attempt to wipe them away. I see her mouth, "hey back, alligator."
I tune out after that, both my eyes straying away from the both of them, because I should respect their privacy and give them their alone time. I know Eden has a lot of things to tell Blaire and vice-versa. She's been through hell for him and her being locked up in this prison is her version of hell. And from the silence that comes from Eden, I know she's trying to explain everything that has happened during the past few months that has led her to being stuck here for seven months.
I fiddle with my phone for a couple of minutes, twirling clockwise between my thumb and my index finger, when I hear Eden say, "Jax was the one who brought me here."
My head lifts and I turn around to see the both of them staring at me. I feel Blaire's gaze burn through mine when she takes my presence in, her eyes drifting from my face all the way to my feet. I stand up and clear my throat, then smile, ever so subtly. Her eyes glimmer with unshed tears as she smiles back, one part of her lips lifting faster than the other. A small blush creeps on her cheeks.
Without tearing her gaze off of me, she mumbles something to Eden and he nods.
"Okay," he replies and hands me the phone. "She wants to talk to you."
I stare at the phone. Eden scrambles from his seat and pats me on the shoulder. "I'll be sitting over there." He points to the seat that I've been occupying for the past ten minutes. I nod and take my seat in front of Blaire.
It takes me a while to process her. Now that I can see her more clearly, I realize that she looks...fine. I don't know. I expected her to look different or miserable, but she's none of that. She looks at me with content. Happiness.
I lift the phone up and speak. "Hey."
She laughs and whispers back, "hey."
"How are you?" I ask. "Are they treating you alright? Did you get into any fights? How's your room? Is it fine? Are you fine? Are you-"
"Calm down, Jackson," she whistles. "We've got more than enough time for me to answer those questions."
"I know, I just-" I take a deep breath. "I'm worried about you."
"You don't have to." Blaire shakes her head. "I'm fine here. They're treating me alright. It's not like in the movies, you know. I get decent food and a decent room and I've already met some nice people. It's not as bad as I thought it would be."
"That's... that's great." My chest warms after hearing her response.
She smiles and clutches the phone tighter. "How are you?"
I suck in a deep breath and put on a small smile. "I'm fine."
"You're lying to me."
Fuck.
"I don't want to talk about it, Blaire." I shake my head no. "I can't."
"Why not?" She stares at me, her tone laced with confusion. "Jackson, tell me. What's going on?"
"What do you want me to say, huh?" I sigh. "That I'm fucking miserable without you? That I miss you so goddamned much—your face, your smile, your lips, your kisses, your warm hugs, your snappy comebacks, your touches and your words—you, all of you—and that I don't exactly know how to function without you in my life anymore?"
She inhales a sharp breath.
Emotions whirl inside of me and burst open, spreading across my chest and my entire body. "I can't—" Tears start to swim in my eyes and one falls down my cheek. "I can't do this. I hate this, Blaire. Fucking detest it. I hate that you're there and I'm here. I hate that I have live without you in my bed, my house, my head and my heart. And I hate to be obligated to have conversations with you through a fucking wall."
She looks down and closes her eyes, sorrow bleeding from them.
"You're mad at me," she whispers.
"I'm not—" I shake my head and sigh again. "I'm not mad at you, Blaire. I can't ever be mad at you. I just hate that the next seven months has to be like this."
"You don't think I hate it too?" She barks back. "It's been hell for me too, these couple of weeks. I missed you and Eden like crazy."
"Then why did you do it? Turn yourself in?"
"You know why." She sighs. "As much as I hate this arrangement, I need to be here, Jackson. I'm a criminal. And I need to pay for all of the crimes that I've done. Besides, what kind of example am I setting for Eden if I went on the run? I don't want to prove Mrs.Adams right. I want to be a good parent for him. A good role-model. Someone that he can admire and look up to. I want to be that person for him." She nods. "It's the best form of redemption yet."
"I hate redemption."
"Me too," she says. "But it's the only way we know how to live."
I pause to let the words sink into me. "You really want to be here, do you?"
She nods. "It's only going to be for seven months."
"Would have been six years if I hadn't stepped in and got Laura to testify."
She smiles. "Thank you for that."
I pretend to be shocked. I place my hand over my heart and open my mouth. "Wow. Did I hear that right? Did Blaire Sullivan actually say... thank you to me?"
She rolls her eyes. "No, she didn't."
"I believe she just did."
"No, she didn't."
"I think she's lying to me."
"No. She thinks you need a hearing aid because you're putting words into her fucking mouth."
I chuckle deeply. "God, I've missed you."
"I know. I'm a very missable person." She winks at me. "Look, we can always count the days down until we can see each other again. What date is it?" I slide out my phone and scroll through the calendar to show her. Her lips pout. "August 12th. So seven months from now is... March. That means we have two hundred and six days until I get released."
"That sounds like an awful lot of days, Blaire."
"Trust me. It'll pass by within no time." She waves me off like it's no big deal, like we're just taking a small holiday apart. "So while we wait for seven months to pass, please, for the love of god, don't sit around and just wait for me. While that may be really flattering, it's such a godawful waste of time. Fill up your time with more productive things."
"Like what?" I ask her. "I'm a social pariah too, you know. I can't step out of the house without being hounded by paparazzi. I can't go anywhere."
"That's not true," Blaire says. "You can always go back to Boston."
My eyebrows arch in confusion. I don't think I heard her right. "What?"
"Okay, now I seriously think you need a hearing aid," I hear her mutter. "Jackson, go back to Boston. Don't you miss it there?"
"I don't know..."
She smiles and I notice tears shimmering in her eyes again. "I just don't see how you're going to benefit by staying here in LA and waiting for me until the day I get released, not while you have far more better things to do in Boston."
"Like what?" Now, I'm genuinely confused. "What can possibly be more important than being here for you?"
"I think you and I both know what's waiting for you back in Boston," she murmurs. "Or to be more specific, who."
When she said that, everything clicks into place.
Oh.
"I think you still have to tie up some loose ends," Blaire says. "If you don't want to do it for me, that's fine, but do it for yourself. Trust me, you're going to feel a lot better once you've done it."
I take some time to think about it. Me? Going back to Boston? I never thought that would be an option for me. I mean, I knew I had to go back after the summer ended but with everything that happened with Blaire—me falling in love with her—I always imagined that I'll stay here with her. But then again, I hadn't expected her to leave me for seven months too.
"You really think I should go back?" I ask her, hoping to god that she'll change her mind and beg me to stay.
"Go, Jackson." She urges me. "LA was never the place for you."
"That's not true. You made it worth enduring."
She smiles and her eyes water with tears again. "God, don't make me cry again. I'm all out of tears for today."
"One day, I'll replace all those tears with kisses."
She lets out a breathy laugh. "I'm holding you unto that promise, Jackson."
God, I'll miss her. I'll miss her smiles and her laughs and her voice and her everything. Feeling the urgent need to want to be close to her again, I place my hand on the glass panel. She does the same on her end, fitting her hand across from mine.
"I'll come visit you," I promise. "Every week."
"That's an awful lot of plane tickets." Her eyes crinkle with humor.
"Nothing my father's paycheck can't afford."
"He's going to kill you."
"Well, that's what he gets for starring in a Pretty Stupid Vampire show."
"Come on!" Blaire whines. "I happen to like that show!"
I groan. "We're going a discussion about your horrible choice of TV shows after two hundred and six days."
"Can't say I'm looking forward to it." She beams. Just as she's about to open her mouth to say something else, one of the guards behind her taps on her shoulder and whispers something in her ear. Her smile vanishes and it is replaced with a frown.
"You have to go," I voice out his voices for her. She nods.
"I'm sorry," she breathes. "Come find me again next week. But promise me you'll go to Boston."
"I promise."
"Good. You're going to tell me all about it the next time you visit." She leans forward and press a kiss on the glass panel. "I love you, Jackson. Take care of Eden for me."
"I love you too, darling—"
One of the guards wrenches the phone away from Blaire and whisks her away, slowly disappearing, and at the same time, slowly carving out the already hollow hole in my heart.
******
A/N: The sadness is real.
It's going to be better. Maybe.
Omg, we only have two more chapters left and that's including the epilogue. My babies are growing up so fast, I tell ya.
I don't know how to let Jax and Blaire go. They've been such a blast to write and I don't think I'll be able to write such a dynamic couple like them again. Sobs.
Anyways, I PROMISED I'LL HAVE THE RESULTS FOR THE PERFECT SERIES ONE-SHOT CONTEST BY THIS MONTH SO HERE IT IS.
Before announcing the winners, I would like to say that I enjoyed myself immensely reading each and every single one of your one-shots. It was very interesting to see what people wrote about my characters and I love every minute reading them.
I don't think there was any bad one shots. But I did have to pick the best ones out of the good ones and I have decided on three winners.
WINNERS:
I have left a comment on your one-shots, telling you my opinions about them. Don't worry! The comments are very positive!
Winners of the Perfect series one-shot contest get a sticker (to put on the cover of their one shots) which will be sent to them via message
AND
you can either ask me seven questions regarding anything related to writing and Wattpad OR I can give you a critique on one of your first chapters of your works. Please tell me what you want through my inbox!
Thank you all for participating! Let me know what kind of other contests you want me to host because I love hosting them!
Meanwhile, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do check out their one-shot entries! They're phenomenal (:
See you guys the following Friday!
Love, Claudia.