AN: Welcome welcome to the last (real) chapter of Time Changes Everything. There will be an epilogue of course, so do stay tuned for that. A big thank you to decadenceofmysoul who was so kind to review last chapter and all the other reviewers, followers and people who have made this story one of their favourites. You are amazing!
Chapter 11.
'Is there really no way I can convince you to stay?'
I laughed softly at what must have been his umpteenth attempt. First it was with kisses, then the threatening to withhold said kisses, then the promise of mind blowing sex (spoiler alert: all sex with him was mind blowing) and at last he'd resorted to whining like a little kid. 'I will be back for the weekend, Jax; it's only five days.'
He did not look convinced. 'But..-'
'I got to do this, you know that. I want to feel like I accomplished at least something in my life. Besides, you know I can't let him bully me away.'
Silence fell and I imagined we both thought back to the text message I'd gotten on New Year's day. My darling Eliza, it had started out and I had not known whether to puke or tear my hair out. I am so terribly sorry for what happened, I never meant to hurt you. I would like it if we could get together for some coffee, talk things through.. I love you, Charlie.
My first impulse had been to throw the phone against the opposite wall, crawl back under the covers and pretend like I'd never received the message in the first place. With my renewed chance for happiness and my quest to make up for my past mistakes, however, I knew I could not run away from this. I had to see him, if only to make it clear once and for all that I had no interest in ever seeing him again.
'I don't like you meeting him,' his voice had turned serious again and I sighed. Another conversation that we'd already had before; he would say he would not like it, I would say I was going anyway and that was it. I knew where he was coming from however, knew how enraged he'd been after I'd let him in on the whole story, and so appreciated that he respected my decision. Even if that did not stop him from complaining.
'Me neither, Jax..' I made an attempt to smile 'But if you're so worried, why don't you come pick me up on Friday? That way, you can make sure nothing happens and I don't have to travel an hour and a half before I can finally see you again.'
'As long as whatever happens, you remember that it was you who invited me to come.'
I did not even want to know what that meant, having the sneaking suspicion that this could not possibly end well. What with Jax' infamous temper, Charlie's views on the club and my ability to somehow make everything worse, this could only.. I cut myself off from thinking about it and stood on my tip toes to give him a small kiss.
The kiss soon grew heated, though, and I had to break away before I lost all sense of sanity.
He groaned 'I want you in bed – now.'
'I know…'
It was sheer luck that the bus chose that moment to arrive for I knew that if it had taken a moment longer, I would have been unable to refuse Jax anymore. I kissed him one last time – just long enough to make the bus driver look irritably at me as I got in – and then we were off.
The first two days of college passed by much like they had done the last few months and I started to ask myself why I'd been so determined to go back in the first place. I had my evenings to myself, however, and studying instead of hanging out with Charlie did seem to pay off. I actually did the reading before class and for the first time in the entire academic year, I felt like I understood a word the teachers were saying. Needless to say, I felt pretty great.
It was after one of these lectures, in which I'd even responded to the teacher's question – and correctly, at that! – when I bumped into him. And my happy bubble burst. 'Eliza, it's so good to see you!'
I forced myself to stay calm. 'Hi Charlie.'
'I've been trying to catch you these two days. Maybe we can grab lunch together or something and talk a bit?'
'I thought we agreed to do it on Friday?'
He did not skip a beat at my thinly veiled annoyance. 'The weather's pretty nice now, we can take a stroll around the campus?'
'Eliza!'
I looked up, surprised at hearing my name called. I was even more surprised to find my roommate standing beside us, her icy blue eyes meeting Charlie's for only a second, before she looked at me, her eyes piercing. 'I thought we'd agreed to meet in the library for studying? Don't tell me you forgot!'
Honestly, I was still too surprised by the fact that she even knew my name, let alone would willingly help me out. I shook my head.
'Good!' She grabbed my arm, practically dragging me down the hallway. She let go only after we turned the corner, after which we continued in companionable silence.
After about five minutes, I realized I had to say something. 'Ehm, thanks, you know. For back there.' I waved vaguely behind us, but I think she got my meaning all right.
'It's no problem. We are roommates, aren't we?' She smiled softly and turned back to look ahead.
I took that moment to study her and realized that I really did not know anything about her, even though we had shared a dorm for months. I knew she washed her hair with lavender shampoo, that she liked to drink red wine, except for the nights when she'd drink herself to oblivion, then she preferred whiskey, and that on those nights she would sometimes cry in her sleep. Apart from that, only tidbits. I knew her name was Jenny, if only because our post arrived in the same mailbox. I knew she studied art, although I'd never actually seen her leave our room. And, I knew she was sad, but to my own shame had never gone through the trouble of finding out why.
And yet, here she was, saving my ass when she really didn't have to. In that moment, I made a decision. 'Hey, do you want to grab dinner together tonight? I'm not much for any of those fancy foods, but there's this pizzeria in town that has the best pizza I've ever had!'
She looked at me for a moment, her blue eyes almost questioning, then her lips curled up in a hesitant smile. 'I would love that.'
We'd returned to the dorm late that night, both giggling and both slightly tipsy.
Initially, the offer to go out for dinner had been more guilt than anything. I had wanted to somehow thank her for what she'd done, make up for all the months I had coexisted with her without actually seeing her. But as it turned out, Jenny was actually really good company.
We had ordered drinks first, her red wine and me a simple beer. She did not comment when I opted on a simple pizza (only to ask if there were mushrooms on it; there weren't) and decided on the same. We'd laughed at our similar choice in food, then discussed other things we had in common. Turned out, they were not many.
Neither of us enjoyed crowds very much. We both were suckers for nineties chickflicks – and then and there agreed to have weekly movie nights together. We enjoyed crappy food and ice cream. We were both still searching for what we wanted in life. And that's where our similarities ended. Jenny was tall and had a curly black bob. She came from an upperclass family. She was smart and fierce and for a split second I'd felt a little silly compared to her.
Jokingly, I had asked her if she had at least a similarly poor taste in men and she had chuckled. At seeing my questioning gaze, she'd explained to me she was gay and had flipped out her phone to show me a picture of a sweet looking blonde, whom she related was her girlfriend for two years now. In a sadder tone, she told me that her parents had kicked her out when she'd told them about her sexual identity and we fell silent for a moment.
In a poor attempt at lightening her mood, I'd showed her a picture of Jax, saying that he'd been my best friend for years, but my boyfriend only for about a week and a half.
Jenny had laughed at that and at that moment our food had arrived. Over the course of the night, we ordered many more glasses of alcohol, two rounds of desert and at last, when we both felt too full (either with food or alcohol) to stand, we asked for the bill and went home.
It had been an enjoyable evening and even now, as I sat with a massive headache in my first class of the day, I did not regret it. A friendship had been formed and, despite our differences, I felt like we understood each other pretty well.
Friday came rolling by at last and, to Jenny's annoyance, I was overcome with nerves. I had told her about the meeting last night, if only so she was prepared for the worst – the worst being me brought to jail for my involvement in the murder of Charlie Hall.
'Stop fidgeting,' she complained, throwing a clean pair of socks my way. She was lying on her bed, still in her pajamas, reading a book on Renaissance art. 'You're making me nervous!'
'I can't help it,' I sighed, putting my hair up in a ponytail for the day. 'Shouldn't you get ready for class?'
She gave me a pointed look, then returned her eyes back to the pages of her book 'I'm not going.'
By now, I knew arguing with her was pointless. Jenny was as stubborn as a mule – not to mention; the only person I ever knew who I was convinced would commit a murder just because someone annoyed her. 'Right… well, I'm heading out. I'll stop by the room to get my stuff before I leave for the weekend. See you!'
She did not look up from her book, but I caught her nod. That was as good as it got in the early morning, I suppose.
My classes for that day passed by excruciatingly slow and throughout all of them, I felt Charlie's eyes burning holes in my back. I tried to ignore him, comforting myself with the thought that I only needed to avoid him a few more hours.
At last, when I felt like I couldn't stand it anymore, my last class was over. And suddenly my irritation at his staring turned to nerves. Fuck me for being such a chicken.
I quickly shoved my notebook back in my bag, then made for the door. I was halfway out of the hallway, the outside door only a couple of feet away, when I felt his presence beside me.
'Never seen you walking that fast. Are you that desperate to get out for the weekend?' He joked. 'So, I was thinking about going to the little coffee shop on campus. You know, the one where we used to go, although I think we tasted more of each o..-'
'I know the one,' I interrupted him, suddenly feeling nauseous at the memory. 'But I'm not really feeling up for coffee today. Maybe we can just take a walk?'
I saw him staring at me and a second passed before he nodded 'Sure, whatever you want.'
We stepped out of the front doors, then continued to stroll around the campus in silence. All the time, I felt his eyes fixed on me and I looked at the ground awkwardly. At last, we came to a wooden bench and sat down.
'Eliza..' Charlie began and I fought the urge to look up at him. He sighed 'I'm really sorry about what happened. I never meant to hurt you, you know that right?' He reached out a hand to caress my cheek, but I retreated. 'Eliza, please don't be like this. Surely you know that it was an accident?'
'That's not what it's about, Charlie.'
'Then what is it? You mentioned you listened too much. Is that it? Do you want me to listen to you, because…-'
'It's this,' I finally broke out, waving my hands frantically. 'I've barely said a word and you're here making assumptions about who I am and what I want.'
'Then what do you want, Eliza?'
I faltered at his unexpected question and for a moment I looked up to meet his gaze. What I found there convinced me to say the next words. 'Not this.'
'Not this?' He repeated. 'That's all I get? After all these months you can't do any better than that?'
I sighed, the last time his temper rose only too fresh in my mind. 'I don't have time for this.'
I made to stand up, but his hand encircled my wrist and pulled me back down. 'So what is it then, huh? You don't want me making assumptions, but you don't want to talk. You..-'
'If I were you I would let go of her wrist real quick,' a deep, familiar voice growled from behind me. I did not have to turn around to know who it was and as the hand cutting off the blood flow in my lower arm let go, I leaned back into Jax.
Charlie seemed to grow even angrier at the interruption by this stranger, but then his eyes widened as he took in the cut on Jax's jacket, then the motorcycle that stood parked not far away. His cold eyes found mine again. 'So that's it, isn't it? You leave me just to go back to that biker family of yours. I should have known you were nothing but a biker wh..-'
A sickening crunch cut off whatever bullshit he was going to say and I retreated my hand, shaking off the pain as blood coated my knuckles. I looked down at him as he clutched his nose, glad that I'd righted one more mistake – and only a little proud of the second nose I'd broken.
Behind me, I heard something what sounded awfully like a stifled laugh and then a hand touched my lower back. 'Come on, El. Let's get your stuff and go home.'
