Chapter 16

"So I punched him and walked away." Cutter finished as Jenny sat her bag down in the kitchen and sat across from him.

Jenny looked at him in astonishment; she couldn't believe he'd hit his best friend. Cutter noticed her look of shock and looked down, embarrassed.

"I'm not proud of it." He said shamefully, "I just got so mad I couldn't control myself." Cutter looked at her with sorrowful eyes, "What should I do?"

Jenny looked back into his eyes and noticed once again how deep and stunning his they were. She mentally chided herself; he needed a friend right now, not more complications.

"What you need to do is get yourself cleaned up." She advised, taking a hold of his hands. "Your knuckles are covered with blood, they need to be cleaned and bandaged."

With that Jenny pulled Cutter out of his seat and led him to the bathroom. She continued to hold onto his hands, telling herself that there wasn't anything to it, but she knew she was lying to herself. Cutter didn't seem to mind her holding his hands, but he was probably more than a little preoccupied at the moment. Jenny walked into the bathroom, pulling Cutter behind her. She motioned for him to sit on the edge of the tub and busied herself at the medicine cabinet, getting rubbing alcohol and bandages. When she got her supplies, she pulled up one of the stools her mother kept in the bathroom and sat across from Cutter. As she took his hands again, she spoke.

"I think you need to talk to Stephen directly." Jenny said as she dabbed rubbing alcohol on Cutter's knuckles. "Make sure Helen isn't around to mess with his head and explain to him why you think he shouldn't be with Helen. Just don't hit him again." Jenny looked at Cutter's hands more thoroughly, "And how did hitting him even do this to your hands anyways?"

Cutter looked down at his lap again. "I did that to myself." he mumbled, still looking down.

"What?" Jenny asked, alarmed, "How did you do this? What were you doing?"

"I punched a wall." Cutter admitted, "Repeatedly. When I get angry, I just lash out and hit anything I can. This time, it was a brick wall."

Jenny looked at Cutter in shock for the second time that day. She'd never even seen him angry before and now she discovered he had a violent temper. Jenny mentally shook her head, it didn't matter, he was still Cutter and he needed her support.

"Well," she said with a cheery smile, "Then you need to talk to Stephen in an open field, just in case things don't go as well as you hope."

Cutter laughed and shook his head. "Don't worry, I don't plan on doing this again."

Jenny just smiled back at him, "Even if you do get yourself hurt again, I'll be here to patch you back up." As soon as she said it, Jenny froze. She stopped and realized how much Cutter could read into her statement, and how much she wanted him to read into it.

Cutter seemed to be thinking along the same lines. He coughed awkwardly and pulled his bandaged hands back. They stared at each other, each one silently willing the other to break the silence first. Cutter coughed again.

"There was one more weird thing." He said, trying to move past the silence, "I think I had a dream about Stephen after our fight, I think he died." Jenny noticed the confusion on his face. "I couldn't remember before, but I'm pretty sure he died." Cutter continued.

Jenny frowned at him, "You had a dream where your best friend died?" she asked incredulously. She shook her head, "It was probably just nerves and adrenaline left over from punching the fight and punching a brick wall."

Cutter nodded, "You're probably right." he admitted, "It was nothing."

Jenny stood up and smiled at him, "Good," she said lightly, "what are you going to do now that you're all cleaned up?"

Cutter stood up, and for the first time Jenny noticed how small her bathroom really was when she noticed how close she and Cutter were standing to each other. Cutter seemed to come to the same realization and he looked down at her. Jenny needed to know why he was here, of all places, looking for comfort and advice. She knew he had other friends, but here he was, in her bathroom, standing incredibly close to her. And most of all, Jenny wanted, no needed, to know how much she should read into his actions. She took a deep breath.

"Why are you here, Nick?" She asked plainly, "Why did you come here, what do you really want from me?" Jenny winced internally at how accusing she sounded, but she held her ground and stared firmly at Cutter.

Cutter looked surprised, "I don't want anything, just a friendly ear." he said, clearly hurt at her attack.

Jenny felt herself getting angrier, why did she have to be his friendly ear, is that the role she'd been delegated to, to ignore her feelings just to be a friend.

"That's all I am?" She asked, glaring at Cutter, "Is that all I'm good for to you? Just someone you can talk to about how you feel. Someone who gets to listen about how you still love your ex, while I have to ignore my feelings for you?" Jenny froze and realized what she'd just said. She hadn't been truly honest with herself until that moment when she realized exactly how she felt about Nick Cutter. Cutter seemed to be struggling with what she'd just said as well.

"Your- your feelings for me?" He asked, still looking confused and lost.

Jenny sighed internally, exasperated both at herself and Cutter. She couldn't believe that she felt anything for Cutter, and at the same time, she couldn't believe it had taken her this long to realize it.

"Yes, Nick, my feelings for you." she stated plainly, looking into his eyes. "I love you, Nick Cutter. I love you so much and it hurts me more than anything when I realize you're still in love with a girl who will continue to hurt you." Jenny stopped and looked down at her feet, still breathing heavily with from the rush of everything she'd said. Cutter remained speechless; Jenny wished he'd just leave and get out of her life.

Surprisingly, he put his hand under her chin and tilted her eyes up to meet his. Jenny looked at him and without warning, Cutter leaned in and kissed her. Jenny was stunned for a second before she eagerly returned the gesture, wrapping her arms around Cutter's neck as his hands went to her back and drew her closer to him.

Jenny lost track of time after a while, she was so absorbed in Cutter's embrace and prolonging the experience for as long as she could. Eventually, Cutter pulled away to look at her. Jenny smiled at him.

"I guess that answers how you feel about me." She told him with a small grin. Cutter smiled back at her, looking happier than she'd seen him for a long time.

"I've felt this way about you for a while now," Cutter told her, still smiling, "I just didn't know how you felt, and I didn't want to say anything, especially after Claudia." Cutter looked away after he said Claudia's name, but Jenny directed his gaze back to her.

"She would have wanted us to both be happy." she said gently, "And we're both happy together." She gave him another smile. Cutter just smiled back and leaned in to kiss her again.

XXXXX

Emily sat on Connor's front porch with her head resting on Matt's shoulder, lost in thought about how different her life was now as compared to the previous year. She'd never been overly popular in school; most people didn't try to get to know her because she never spoke to anyone. She'd learned to cope with the loneliness through her writing, and that kept her happy.

But then, she met Matt, and everything changed. She hadn't realized how much she'd missed the company of other people until she started spending time with them again. And after only a few days of hanging out with Matt's friends, Emily had realized how empty and shallow they were. Luckily, Matt had started to realize the same thing, and he'd slowly stopped spending as much time with them. She was also working on trying to get him to act less antisocial and meet different people. And somehow, getting in a fight led him to meet people he seemed to like a lot more than his other friends. So now here they were, part of a large group of couples, just spending time together. Emily definitely preferred this to being alone. Also, the entertainment was better.

"C'mon soldier boy," Danny taunted, crouched low and looking at Becker with his usual cheeky grin, "let's settle this."

Becker rushed at Danny and the two fell to the ground in an intense wrestling match. Emily looked at Sarah, who was laughing at Danny's playful taunts.

"You said they do this every week?" She asked with mild concern, watching the two boys continue to grapple on Connor's front lawn.

"Yep," Sarah replied with a smile, "Danny's been trying to prove he can take Becker in a fight for years, Becker's never been beaten yet."

As she finished her sentence, Becker locked his legs around Danny's midsection and began cutting off the oxygen flow. Danny quickly tapped out. Jess cheered while Connor groaned and slapped a five-pound note in Abby's hand. Matt laughed.

"Connor, you knew Danny's never won," Matt told him jovially, "Why would you bet against him?"

Connor shook his head, "I'm a sucker for the underdog." he admitted, "I can't help it." Abby just laughed and pocketed her winnings before giving Connor a kiss on the cheek.

Emily smiled as she watched the pair, they really were perfect for each other and she was just glad they'd finally gotten together. She had to admit she'd been unbearably embarrassed when she'd mistaken them for a couple, she was just glad Matt was there to think up an excuse for them to leave. It was obvious Connor and Abby didn't know Matt that well if they thought anyone could persuade him to watch The Notebook.

Emily looked up at Matt and noticed he was watching Connor with a strange look in his eyes. She sighed quietly, but loud enough to get his attention. He looked down at her and she gave him an exasperated look.

"I know what you're thinking," She told him in an undertone, "don't challenge Connor to a wrestling match. You know there's no contest."

Matt looked at her in shock. "How'd you know I was thinking about that?" He asked with astonishment.

"I always know what you're thinking." She responded, "it's not that difficult, you're pretty easy to read."

Matt frowned at her, "I've been told I don't have a very expressive face," he told her, "I'm very stoic. You may as well admit it, you can read minds."

Emily laughed in surprise. She was more surprised that he would say something nerdy like that in front of other people; he was getting more comfortable with himself by the day. She could see the realization that he was making nerdy jokes around other people forming on his face, so Emily decided to let him display his masculinity.

"Did you hear that, Connor?" She called over to Connor. He looked up with surprise. "Matt says he can take you in a wrestling match, he thinks you'd be too chicken to fight him."

Connor grinned and looked at Abby like a child asking for permission and she nodded with a sigh of exasperation. Danny and Becker sat back with their respective girlfriends to watch.

Matt leaned in close to Emily before he stood up.

"Ten quid says he taps out in under three minutes," he muttered to her with a wink.

"You're on." She replied, pushing him up and towards Connor. Matt walked backwards to Connor, looking at Emily with a smile.

"This will be over before you can say-" But whatever Matt had been about to say was cut off as Connor launched his attack while Matt was still turned away.

Thirty minutes later, Matt took Emily's hand as the group dispersed, and they set off towards her house. They walked in silence for a few minutes, Emily enjoying Matt's presence and the colors the sunset was making across the trees.

"I'm not paying you." Matt said suddenly, his face completely serious.

"What?" Emily replied, giving him a fake pout. "Connor won that fight fair and square."

Matt looked at her sharply, "Fair and square? You were cheating like crazy. You threw dirt at my face every time I got a grip on him."

Emily smiled at the memory. "That's not cheating," She stated, "I was preparing you for a real world situation. What if you were in a real fight and someone threw dirt in your face. Now you know how to overcome it."

Matt looked at her with a shocked expression that soon turned into a grimace. "I'm still not paying." He repeated.

Emily gave a dramatic sigh, "Fine," she conceded, "But you're renting the next movie, and it has to be a romantic comedy."

Matt looked at her again, "Only because I love you." he said, "you know I hate rom coms."

Emily smiled sweetly at him, "I know," she told her boyfriend brightly, "That's why you should have won." Matt just looked at her with amazement and shook his head slightly.

AN: Not gonna lie, this chapter was a bitch to write. I don't know why, but writing the Cutter/Jenny scenes took forever, I just couldn't make it happen. So I hope it was worth it, please review, and yes, I plan on Stephen and Nick reconciling next chapter.