First, Ellis blinked. He gave it some thought, give him credit. The rest of the credit however, is undeserved. His blank expression turned into a scowl, and the anger must have bested him when he swung a fist into Nick's jaw. The sound of Ellis' irrational anger colliding with an innocent face overwhelmed both he and Jamie as Nick staggered backwards. Ellis kicked him over, and got on his knees to continue fighting for his 'respect.' Eyes wide, and full of shock as opposed to fear, Jamie cried out.
"Ellis! It's not what you think, get off him!"
Jamie tried. Pull him off, throw your shoe, anything! Nothing worked. Since screaming to the rest of the group would alert a horde to their location in the motel, she darted for the door. She ran as fast as she could downstairs, banging on every door, unable to remember which of those were occupied.
"Hey, somebody open up!" she said, trying her hardest not to be loud in her current state of panic.
Alex and Keith emerged from two separate doors, and Jamie could practically hear her mind yell thank GOD into her eardrums.
"I need you to get Ellis off of Nick, he just came in and started hitting him," she huffed in a whir.
"Whatchu mean? Like, in a real fight?" Keith asked, walking toward Jamie.
"Yeah, we need to hurry!" They began walking faster, as if that would help.
"To hurry, means to get moving a little faster than that!"
The three of them took off running, Keith and Alex exchanging glances between the first and second floor staircase. They finally came to see Nick and Ellis on the floor in the doorway, and it seemed as though the tables had turned after Jamie left.
Keith pulled Ellis toward the bathroom, but Alex didn't have to put a finger on Nick. He stood up, steadying his jaw with his hand as he glanced at the other four in the room. Jamie looked at Ellis first with a scolding glare, then to Nick.
"I'm sorry Nick, I didn't know he would-"
"Why're you apologizin' ta' him," Ellis snarled, cutting her off.
"Because we weren't doing anything. You just came in and started swinging," she spat back.
Nick shook his head, and pushed past Alex. "You two are ridiculous."
"Hey, wait," Alex called softly, reaching out the doorway.
"...Never mind," he said awkwardly, while watching him leave, and letting his hand drop. Nick probably didn't want to stay here, so he didn't bother to run after him.
Loud bickering insulting all under the age of twenty nine could be heard from his presumable position between the staircases, and after that, silence.
Jamie had been biting down on her bottom lip since she watched him go, and after he left she sat on the bed. An awkward silence of heavy breathing and questionable stares filled the air of the room for a long, tension-building, five minutes.
"I think you guys should leave." Jamie finally said, dawdling with her fingers.
"Right," Alex and Keith said in unison before quickly exiting the room.
Ellis looked at Jamie, then to the floor. He slowly walked over to her, taking caution not to strike a nerve. He'd never seen any kind of anger from her, but he knew every woman had one thing that they absolutely would not tolerate...
"I'm...sorry. I shouldn't have done that," he said.
"Oh! You think so," she asked, reeking of sarcasm. He sat down on the bed next to her, and thought about holding her hand. Now probably wouldn't be the best time, as he learned would be for most things he wanted to do.
"Nothing happened, you know. He came in, I told him to get out, and he was going to leave." Jamie said, looking off to the side.
He felt so ashamed of himself. "I...I dunno what came over-"
She held her hand up, cutting him off. "You're getting very violent...and I don't like it. At all."
He looked up at her, trying to tell her a million times he was sorry with his eyes. "Can we jus' pretend this never happened?"
"I don't think Nick'll pretend he never got hit in the face for no reason."
"This ain't about how he feels," Ellis said, quite curtly.
She looked at him in utter disbelief. "What is it with you, Ellis? Why are you so..."
She mumbled the last word under her breath, but Ellis could read the word between her lips. He blinked a steamy tear away at Jamie, hurt and angry. "I ain't jealous!"
She didn't believe him. She made sure she gave him a look that said she was disappointed that he wouldn't tell the truth, and kept quiet.
"I'm not jealous, Jamie!"
She slowly nodded. "Yes, you are."
"Really now?"
"Yeah," she said, crossing her arms.
He blinked away what might've been the first time Jamie would ever see him cry. "What am I jealous of?" he retorted. "I'm jealous of, lemme guess, how close you guys are? Or is it that you guys're secretly in love or somethin'?"
Her heart was torn out of its spot in her ribcage, and dropped into the toxic acid of her stomach.
"That's a little farfetched, don't you think?" she quickly answered.
"No, 'cause I'd only be jealous if somethin' was goin' on between you and Nick. S'there somethin' you wanna tell me...?"
She was shocked at how quickly she was the one at fault. "N-n-n-o, I...I just meant that..."
He gave her a moment to explain herself, but she couldn't. Ellis blinked at her a few times, and she started to chew her bottom lip again. She was choking inside, trying to spit something out. Ellis started to get up from the bed, and she closed her eyes, hoping to find something to say to him. The words were burning in her throat, but she couldn't get them out. Seconds passed with her eyes closed and without a word, the door was slammed shut.
She got up and hurried to the door; no one was outside. She looked over the banister to see Keith, Alex and Ellis walking off. Ellis was talking, but she couldn't make out anything. She kept her eyes on them as they walked further away, but couldn't help but think about Nick. Ellis accused her of having these feelings for him that no one except Ellis, knew about...
She ran down the stairs on the side of the motel, realizing there was nothing she could say in short enough words to explain what was going on between her and Nick. She didn't even know what exactly was going on between her and Nick.
When Jamie reached the bottom of the staircase, Alex, Keith and Ellis were nowhere to be seen. Her brain shut down- this wasn't what she expected. She began to pace the walkway in front of Alex and Rochelle's room, contemplating what to do. Her thoughts were interrupted by what sounded like Rochelle's soft voice, and she was talking to someone. By the sound of it, she was offering advice or something of the sort. She walked out into the parking lot on the left side of the motel and was startled by the voice behind her; Rochelle was closer than she expected. Rochelle and Nick were leaning against the wall she sped past, talking.
"Speak of the devil." Nick said, making Jamie nervous of the outcome of this encounter already.
"It wasn't my fault," she said, turning to face them.
"You don't have to tell me. You should be telling that to your punk ass boyfriend."
"Guys," Rochelle interrupted, holding her hands to the both of them.
Jamie held her glare on Nick, and Rochelle tapped Jamie's shoulder to draw her attention. "What're you gonna do to fix this?"
Jamie felt a little hostility in her question. She felt she didn't need to fix anything; it wasn't her fault, and she'd stick with that.
"Nothing's wrong. Ellis is just-"
"Ellis is just nothing." Rochelle interrupted, mocking Jamie's tone. "I know Ellis was wrong for attacking Nick-"
"Both times." Nick and Jamie added.
"Yeah, both times. But why is it he always catches you two in awkward, unexplainable, situations?" Rochelle asked, raising her hands to her hips. "All those times weren't Ellis's fault, were they?"
"No, but..." Jamie felt the same problem she had earlier coming on again. "Well…" She couldn't think of anything to say.
Nick sighed. "If you like me kid, that's great. But you gotta do something about your boyfriend first," Nick said, as if he was giving fatherly advice.
"Don't just say it like that, asshole," Rochelle snarled. "It'd be wrong altogether to do anything with Nick, even if and after you broke up with Ellis. You'd have to get as far away as possible from Ellis, and then…" she paused. "Ugh. Even then it's still wrong."
Jamie was disappointed with herself. She was probably losing all of Rochelle's respect right now, and she couldn't think of any other way to regain it.
"I know I was indecisive, it was pretty childish of me. But I'm going to fix things with Ellis," she blurted out.
Rochelle revealed a slight smile. "How?"
"I'm going to break up with him."
Rochelle's smile faded away, and Jamie had already accepted that it would.
She shook her head, and spoke.
"Look. You're one of us, and I love you just like I love that knuckle head, this ass, and Coach. But until you get your shit together, we don't talk." Rochelle said. She hesitated at first to stay with them a little longer, then began walking back to her room when she realized Jamie had nothing more to say.
Jamie stared at the ground after Rochelle left them. How could you screw up with the only people on the face of the earth? Even after ten years you still can't get it right. You're ridiculous.
"Bummer," Nick chuckled.
Jamie slumped to the ground, covering her face to muffle the coming sobs.
"Oh, geez." Nick frowned, kneeling beside her.
He wrapped his arms around her, occasionally rubbing her back and gently pushing her head onto the flat of his chest. She cried in his arms for ten minutes, until both of their arms and chests were soaking wet from all the tears. She began to ease out of her sobbing, and Nick returned his focus from the old red Chevy in the parking lot, back to her.
"Are you done," he whispered mockingly.
"Yeah, asshole," Jamie said quietly, calming herself.
Nick loosened his grip to make space between them, and Jamie scooted back. "I know what just happened sucked, but what'd you have to cry for? Rochelle'll come around."
She wiped her face and eyes, pushing his arm away aggressively. "It's not that simple. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't care why, anyway."
He laughed in her face.
"I wouldn't, and I don't. But you can tell me anyway," he smirked.
She snarled at him, and put her legs down to sit on the concrete. "It's just that...I can never seem to stay on the right foot with people. Long story short," she sighed. "I used to be the girl everybody liked, and people mistook that kindness for weakness," she said. "After a while everyone just started to use me. Or walk over me."
He looked into Jamie's eyes for a brief moment. "And?"
She frowned, confused as to why he wasn't seeing her point. "This went on for seven years."
"…don't see where this becomes a problem," Nick said, raising an eyebrow. She kept quiet, disheartened that having no one for seven years didn't move him.
"It could've been a lot worse; you sound like you're using that as an excuse. Are you a orphan?"
She blinked at him.
"Were you living on the street for those seven years until your dad found you one lucky day?"
"No. Are you an orphan? And were you living on the streets for seven years?" Jamie asked, rubbing the flakes of dried tears from her cheek.
"I had a place of my own when I was sixteen," he chuckled proudly. "You'll get over yourself."
She managed to smile at him through her sadness, and her following gaze was then lifted to the two white towels in front of them.
Ellis and Rochelle had appeared from around the corner, and the air was suddenly filled with silent tension.
"Are you really gonna break up with me?" Ellis finally asked, clenching his fists together.
Jamie opened her mouth, but couldn't speak. Ellis shouldn't have had any idea about it yet. This was Rochelle's doing obviously, and she didn't want to break up with him in front of anyone…so suddenly.
"Yeah, she is," Rochelle answered for her.
Ellis swallowed, and got down next to her. He started to shake his head. "No, I wanna hear her say it…"
He grabbed her hand and held it in between their bodies, looking into her eyes. "Are you really goin' to do that ta' me?"
Jamie felt Nick and Rochelle staring her down. After she gave him her answer, whatever it may be, the air between those three would be stale. Hostile or untrustworthy might be better words for it, but either one would feel the same.
She decided to go with her intended plan. If it was worth it…if Ellis was worth it… they'd eventually be back together.
"…Yeah," she whispered, squeezing his hand gently.
He blinked and swallowed at the same time, flashing the twinkle in his hungering eyes for the last time. He got up, and Rochelle patted him on the back as they both walked away.
Nick and Jamie watched them go, and remained silent as they both pondered the future of the group. They were on two completely different boats, however.
"Oh my god," Jamie whispered to herself.
"What?" Nick asked.
"I shouldn't have done that!" she got up, and started to rush towards the parking lot. Nick threw his arm out to grab her ankle, and began to pull her back. "It's too late for that now, kid!"
She tugged her foot away, trying to get him off- but with each second came a realization, and her motivation to resist became weaker. She finally stopped struggling away from him, and let steamy tears fall into her hands for the second time today.
Nick let out a groan of disappointment, scrambling to his feet to comfort her once more.
She wanted to apologize for sobbing all over him again, but Jamiecouldn't help herself. She had Ellis by her side for a sweet second, and loved every moment of it. Now, all of that was gone because she'd tossed him aside as if they'd shared absolutely nothing this entire time. Her eyes screamed for more tears, wanting to get rid of all her self-pity at once. She was so ashamed, and upset with herself. Right after she'd pushed him away with a broken heart, she could already feel herself longing for Ellis to come back. Jamie wanted to tell him that she was very sorry, and apologize for how she'd put a wall between her and Ellis when it came to Nick. She'd realized only now, that she always defended Nick. She expected Ellis to understand feelings she harbored for someone else, and didn't even understand those feelings herself.
How could I do that to him…
Jamie buried her face into Nick's bare and comforting chest, wanting so desperately for him to offer her a solution. She wanted him to give her an easy way out, and she had a feeling he could do it if he tried to. It was wrong of her to think that all he did was cut corners, but she'd already confided in him once and it proved to be useful. Nick's 'advice' explained enough about simple solutions; when you're in a rut, do it how he does it. With so few words and in so little time, he gave her an answer. Although he did it indirectly, all that mattered was that Nick was trying to help. She wanted him to be there with an answer again.
She sniffled up the rest of her tears, and turned her head to the side to face the parking lot.
As her cheeks dried with the soft breeze flowing over the motel, she thought of how wonderful it would've been to be sleeping with Ellis right now. A half lidded smile slid across her face as she began to remember every moment she'd had with Ellis. There weren't many since the time they were together had been so short, but it seemed as though the list could go on forever…
She was barely attentive to his intentions while she was lost in the past two days, but as Nick lifted her face to his, her mind hadn't been able to process the words "Stop him."