Yay!! I got more reviews that makes me REALLY happy!!

To laydeekira: I have been that trashed. It is not fun. And the shower thing was in regards to me and my friend. She thought I might have a concussion because I kept hitting my head, and I also puked on her floor and then when I tried to stand I fell and ended up lying down in it. It was so gross and I was so pissed because it was a new shirt too…

And yeah, parties like that suck because they get so crazy that when you're drunk or stoned it just trips you out and makes you realli confused. And like what happened to Jade kind of happened to me, but in a different way. I'm like picturing the party and being like 'ugh'.

I don't know why but I have the biggest headache right now..i didn't even do any drugs today…who knows? I was sorta drunk though..

Omg

Disclaimer: I do not own Death Note or any of the lyrics. Still.

Chapter Thirteen

She woke up with a splitting headache. She groaned and decided not to open her eyes. She tried to remember the night before…the stupid party…that guy, he…oh shit. She opened her eyes, hoping to God she hadn't gone home with him.

Opening her eyes hurt, but at least the room lights were turned off. She was in a big bed with black covers. It wasn't hers but looked familiar. She tried to place it.

The door opened. Mello walked in and in her surprise she sat up, regretting it a moment later. Damn hangover.

"Hey," he said, sitting down on the bed with her. She looked at her surroundings, there was a bucket filled with vomit right beside her bed. The room was dark, and she noticed that she was wearing a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt that did not belong to her with nothing underneath.

She blushed. "Mello…did we…what happened last night? I remember some guy…attacked me and then…um, I saw you while I was looking for Laila." Laila, that was right. She would have looked for her and wondered where she'd gone. Well fuck her! She'd left her drunk and alone to fend for herself someplace where she didn't know anyone and had nearly ended up getting raped!

"I saw you as I was leaving, you puked on my shoes." He said.

"I'm so sorry!" she looked in horror around the room, looking for said shoes. He waved her off.

"Anyway, after that I took you outside and tried to call a taxi, but when I put you down for a minute you threw up on the ground, and then you tried to get up but just ended up lying in it. Hence the change of clothes." She looked down at her outfit, and wondered who's they were. She wondered if she was wearing a little piece from both of them, and almost smiled. "So I got you here," Mello said. "Where you threw up everywhere, including the inside of the shower when we were trying to sober you up, and finally we put you to sleep."

"Thanks," she said, embarressed. "I didn't permanently ruin anything did I?" she asked, blushing more. Mello usually wore leather, she didn't want to even think that she had puked on him. How embarressing. His shoes were bad enough…

Matt walked into the room, already smoking. She wondered what time it was. "Wondering when you'd wake up," he said, sitting down with Mello. "How are you feeling?"

"Shitty…" she said. "I am so sorry, Mello told me I threw up everywhere."

"Yeah, that was a pain in the ass to clean." He touched her lightly. "I was more worried about you though, how'd you get so drunk anyway?"

"Um…Laila pushed me into going to some stupid party with her at this underground club and I didn't realize how much I was drinking since I was sitting down and getting really pissed off because I hate those type of parties anyway," stop rambling, she thought in her head. Jade knew she rambled a lot when she was nervous, and also when she couldn't remember things properly. "When I got up, drunk, we went to dance and…then she ditched me and I kind of remember drinking more…"

"Drinking what?" he asked.

"Tequila I think, both times." She frowned. "That was so stupid of me, I never even drink, I can't believe I let myself…and oh god I puked on Mello's shoes…" she flushed even deeper. Damn.

Matt laughed. "Yeah, he was kinda pissed. But he was worried about you too. You didn't look too good y'know. He stayed here the whole night watching you to make sure you didn't accidentally kill yourself."

Mello looked embarressed. He played it off with attitude. "Yeah. You owe me now. You threw up on me twice."

"Ouch. Sorry. I really owe you guys…" she was embarressed—well, completely humiliated was a bit more accurate—but a part of her was thrilled that Mello had cared enough to put up with her drunkness and stay with her all night. Especially after she had thrown up on him.

"You want to call your foster parents to let them know you're ok?" Matt asked. "Or did you tell them you were sleeping over at Laila's?"

"I told them I was sleeping over. They wouldn't care though, anyway. They would just assume that I lost track of time or something. They wouldn't worry…" her tone got softer, more bitter. "I could probably vanish for days and they wouldn't notice."

"Well, you should get changed," Matt said. "Your clothes are wet, so feel free to wear whatever you want. Your bra and shit are in the bag by the closet."

"These clothes are fine," she said, not wanting to try on Mello's tight leather wardrobe. The two of them shrugged and left the room to give her some privacy.

Matt was pissed off. Not with her, but with her so-called friend, Laila, and with her foster parents. Laila had forced her to go to a party she hadn't wanted to, gotten her drunk, and abondoned her. Anything could've happened to her, especially if Mello hadn't found her. He didn't even care about why Mello was there, he was just grateful that he was. And the 2 'parents'. Why didn't they take any interest in her, see what she was doing? Jade sounded so sure that they wouldn't worry about her, and he'd already seen how much they noticed her. They didn't even notice the fact that she'd bought 2 cats, that was how little they spoke to her.

Strangely enough though, he couldn't bring himself to say anything against them. Because they had been better than any other adults Jade had known, she'd told him so. They had given her a place to come back to. Matt just really wanted them to be better. A place to come back to was so easy to give, and he knew how it had mattered to Jade. The same way that Matt had looked for his mom to give him affection and protection, Jade had looked for with her own mother. Who had tried and failed. And so, the scant 'home' offered to her by Lydia and Rich were seen as favourable to her.

Matt thought deeply. Mello was also caught up in his thoughts. He'd gone to the kitchen and pulled a chocolate bar out from the fridge. He thought back to what she'd said: "some guy…attacked me".

What did that mean? The obvious was that someone had tried to rape her, but he wanted to know what had happened. He got angry knowing that someone had tried to hurt her.

On her part, Jade was trying to piece together whatever had happened. She dimly remembered the shower…sort of. She remembered being wet. She put her underwear back on and slipped back into the sweat pants. She was going to look a bit ridiculous walking down the street in sweat pants and huge-ass combat boots but didn't really care too much.

She was a bit more moved that they'd taken care of her. Scratch that; the fact that Mello had taken her out of that horrible party shocked her. No one had taken care of her like that before. And even less made sure she was ok after, he could have just as well called a taxi and ordered it to take her home.

Instead…he had brought her here. And she dimly remembered him carrying her. Probably because she threw up and had nearly passed out when he'd put her down before.

Mello, she thought with wonder, you carried me all the way over here…even though you were probably tired and I was covered in vomit and I think I puked on you again…

She started to cry. She brought her hand up to her eyes to push the tears away. How was she supposed to react to this? She thought what might have happened if he'd been disgusted by her instead, and had left her alone. Or if he and Matt had been so angry at her that they'd tell her to leave them alone.

She would have died if they'd done that. Killed herself. Because they had become something absolutely nessessary for her to live. She hadn't realized how much one person could love another, but now she knew. And she knew that even if she had stayed alive, she wouldn't have wanted to. Without them, she didn't want life.

She finished dressing and took a minute to look in the mirror to brush her hair. She smirked a little at the mirror. Mello had a huge vanity set, black of course, with the mirrors able to rotate. Probably so he can see himself through all angles she thought with an inner smile.

Deciding that she looked horrendous but not entirely like she looked like The Thing From Another Dimension she walked out of the room.

Matt was sitting on the couch, an large old-school Gameboy in hands, little annoying Mario music playing. Mello was eating chocolate, looking dejectedly at the food in the fridge and trying to remember the last time they'd bought groceries. Or anything other than take-out.

"Matt, do we have any cold pizza left?" he asked.

"I think there's some in the oven…" Matt said, not taking his eyes of the screen.

"Breakfast of champions," Mello joked, pulling out a few slices.

Jade wrinkled her nose. Ew. She coughed a little, and hoped she hadn't gotten a cold. They both looked up.

"You feel like cooking?" Mello asked instantly, shooting her a flirty grin.

"Mello…" Matt said, shaking his head. "You ok now?" Matt asked her.

"Uh-huh," she said. Damn it. Why was Mello shirtless? Tight black leather pants hugged his perfect body, his abds defined and very sexy. She could barely control herself from staring. Think, Jade, think, she thought. Make some intelligent conversation. "I don't mind cooking."

Mello grinned, and before she had time to react had taken her by the shoulders and steered her towards the kitchen. She winced a bit, her head still hurting and he passed her an Advil and and some water.

She smiled gratefully and took it. Then she turned to the fridge. It was really quite sad. They had some leftover eggs and bacon from the time she had gone shopping, as well as an assortment of rotting vegetables, and half a stick of butter. She noticed some bread tucked away in the corner and sighed. Mostly they just had drinks, chocolate took up half the fridge.

She looked through the cupboards. A bag of flour that looked like it had never been touched, and a few odd things here and there. There were at 4 large cases of chocolate. She wondered how Mello kept such a great body with his addiction to the sweet substance.

"I can probably make some pancakes with eggs and bacon. Not a lot of each but altogether it should be ok."

"That's fine," Mello said, leaving her to her own devices. She looked up.

"Mello, why does your ceiling look like a Jackson Polluck painting?"

Matt laughed. "He tried cooking once. Macaroni and cheese with some German thing on the side. It resluted in several small fires, and burned off half the ceiling. Looks kind of artistic doesn't it?"

She raised her eyebrows. She turned to clear off the stove and started. She felt good, preparing them food. She loved cooking, usually she was a little self-concious about sharing it because she worried a lot over the taste, but these 2 were hardly connoisseurs of quality food.

Also, she loved the fact that she could do something back for them. Small as it was, it was satisfying to be able to do something helpful.

When it was done she had hardly begun to nibble on a piece of dry toast before the 2 had completely finished it. She giggled. They looked so cute when they ate, eating so fast as if worried that it might vanish otherwise.

"I'm glad you like it," she said.

Matt brought up what he had been discussing with Mello. "Jade, you want to move in with us?"

"Because I cook so good?" she teased.

"I'm being serious," he said. "Mello doesn't mind, we already talked it over." She looked at the blond, who was busy chewing and just nodded. He got out of the chair, finished, and grabbed a beer from the fridge.

"Why?" she asked, a little stunned.

"Because," Matt said. "You shouldn't have to live with people that don't care about you. You're 17, so you don't have to be in foster system anymore, you could live on your own. We're saying you could live with us…besides, I like having you around where I can make sure you don't get into trouble," he added with a grin.

She blushed again.

"Don't worry," Matt said. "You're not the only one to act stupid when you're drunk. This one time, Mello got really drunk and went to pick up a hooker, and it turned out—ow!"

Mello hit him on the back of the head as he walked out of the kitchen. "Tell that story and you will envy the dead."

She smiled, watching them. At school, they'd always seemed so unapproached. Matt, almost stoic and quiet, always absorbed in a game. And Mello, usually looking angry about something, or at least annoyed, and usually people were too intimidated to go up to him. Jade felt speacil, seeing them act like this. So comfortable with each other and her, she felt included and knew that they were purposefully including her into their inner circle.

She giggled. They both looked over at her. "I would love to move in," she said shyly.

It took some trouble, but Pollard managed to get the papers done quickly. He seemed pleased that she was going off on her own. Lydia and Rich seemed pleased that she was leaving, and she knew that within a week they wouldn't even notice her absence or remember her name.

Laila had tried to call her several times, but Jade ignored them. She was still angry with her.

She unpacked her things in the room they'd given her. The first thing she wanted to do was clean. The floor was shiny. There were so many chocolate wrappers and empty bottles around the apartment that she felt confident she could look down and see her reflection. Also, it was a mess of stamped out cigarette butts, papers, clothing, empty food cartons, and just stuff

She wasn't a neat freak, but it was kind of disturbing to know that people could actually live like this. Her cats however seemed to mind the mess not at all, already beginning a game of toss the ripped foil.

Jade went to the closet and started hanging up clothes. She hoped everything would work out alright between the 3 of them. People said living together would change their relationship, hopefully for the better.

She hoped to God that neither of them had a habit of walking around naked.

Ashes and cigarettes

Smell of your stale bouquet

Eating words and regrets

Looking at the road, looking at the road

Does this chapter seem short? It does for me

I'm SO SORRY ABOUT THE LONG WAIT!!!!!! Really, my life has been very busy and filled with…disaster. And I can't get any privacy to write and that really bugs me, because I need privacy when I'm writing

For those who don't know, Jackson Polluck paints abstract. That should give you an idea of what the ceiling looks like.