#Chapter 28 : Too Close

Beth's POV

I wiggle my body on the plush cushions of the couch I sleep on. Stretching my arms a little, I let out a yawn as I open my eyes.

At that moment, I knew I am most certainly not on a couch

"Good morning"

I turn to the comfortingly familiar voice to see Jack leaning on the headboard, a book in his fingers and the rest of his body still under the blankets. I take a seated position, press my own back to the headboard, and examine his face.

He looks much healthier. A softer, pinkish color toning his skin than the corpse-like pale he had. The circles around his eyes are starting to clear up. His lips rosier, showing much progress has made. I lift my hand to his forehead, and know that his temperature has gotten normal. Jack isn't too settled with my sudden action and looks at me with widened eyes.

Speaking of which, his eye color has returned to the clear, misty blue that I miss so much.

Okay, since when I became like this? Snap out of it Beth!

I return my hand. "Umm, h-, how..? Did I-"

"Yeah, you did sleep on the couch, but you didn't look too comfortable so I got you here," Jack answers in hurry. There's this weirder out tone he's using that ends with an awkward silence. He clears his throat. "Did you sleep well? I, uh, sorry if you didn't. If you're worried, I didn't do anything to, uh, to you, okay? I mean, I di-didn't do...that..you know…" The guy keeps on stuttering till he gives up and decides to focus back to his book with cutely reddened cheeks

I try my best holding in my laughter at the sight, just letting out little snickers, until I can't help it any longer and burst out like balloons guffawing all over. I can't imagine how funny he is, looking like a five year old boy making a love confession to a girl in front of his class. Jack looks up at my uncontrollably laughing self with softened eyes.

I take a deep breath after I'm done. "It's okay Jack, I get what you're trying to say."

Jack curves a smile and returns reading

I climb out the bed and tidy it up along with the couch

When I first came and found Jack writhe and ill on his bed, he's all that I had on my mind. Now with the relief of his warmer, healthier state, I can finally pay attention to other things. Like how messy and largely spacious his room is, almost three times bigger than mine. The walls are painted white along with the door. A huge LED TV is placed nicely near the couch I slept in earlier. The light from the grand windows is filtered into blue glow from the navy blue blinds, a color which his bed, sheets, and covers also share. His clothes are folded and stacked neatly into a cabinet with most being in his personal walk-in wardrobe. There's a bookshelf near the windows with huge pillows around the corner to give that area a homey feel

His desk work sitting right in front of the windows is like the one my father has, only a little bigger. His trademark laptop rests on one end of the desk, and his computer at the middle. It's fully armed with CPU and and an HD LED screen that has me growling with jealousy inside. My father has it too, but the features are not nearly as luxurious as Jack's

"You're moving out of your old room?" I question out of the blue.

Jack raises a brow. "Well, my old room is too small for me to fit in all the stuff I have now so my parents offered me this room and I accepted. This was once a family movie room, but we're always busy with ourselves so it's never used properly. Now it's my room. So, yeah?"

"It's pretty awesome! I like it."

His lips stretch into an even more charming smile that might as well melt my heart away. We nearly lock gazes before he shies away again and back to his book, allowing the blue light over him to soak into the paleness of his hair, adding a majestic touch to his features. The way he dresses, the way he just sits there, the way he pushes up his glasses with much grace, it all has me in a trance. It has me paying attention to his every move. I don't think I'm even blinking

'Cut it out! Remember you're just here for business! Remember your future.'

I purse my lips. That's right, I must wake up from these silly, naive thoughts and face the music. It's at times like these where I'm glad that my conscience is mainly of my priorities and my future.

Lifting the empty bowl and glass, I grab my phone from the table, now fully charged and into my pocket. Wearing my glasses, I wave Jack a greeting before going down to the kitchen, humming my favorite tunes.

My phone vibrates and I look at the ID.

Prince William.

I smile widely. Eagerly pressing the call button, I inch my phone to my ear, hearing a welcome of his usual dorky greetings.

"Good morning, this is McDonald's. How can I help you?" his robotic voice makes it hard for me to not laugh. I had to choke it in to keep it out.

"Hello? Can I have an order of one fried Wilbur, one Wilbur Cheeseburger, and Wilbur nuggets on the side?" I reply with the deepest tone I could as I put the dishes in the sink

"Yikes, Wilbur nuggets? Bee, you wanna kill me or something? And I thought you're vegan!"

I burst in laughter, nearly getting spit onto my phone screen held between my cheek and shoulder. I put on yellow rubber gloves, soaking a sponge with dish soap.

"You're the one who's making me crave those nuggets and McDonald's always sell junk food anyway so that's all I get!'

And that's on today's episode of Wilbur's stupid phone calls. It's our usual thing. He does restaurant orders, boss appointments, you name it. He's pretty good in mimicking voices. He could even mimic a grandma who wants to buy stress-reliever pills

"Oh my god you're really out for me here. Anyway, where are you eh Bee? I was worried sick? No call, no text, no nothing. Hell, I came over to your place only to find your lil' bro gaming OSU in the guest room!"

I wipe a good scrub on a plate and rinse off the suds. "Wait, hold on, I'm in Mr. Overland's house right now. He's-"

"Wait! You mean that that white haired hottie many girls talk about? And you're in his house? Wow, damn Bee. I guess you're the kind who'll make the first move but this is really unexpected. I mean, don't tell me you've-"

I quickly butt in. "NO! It's not what you think! His mom asked me to take care of him since he's sick and she's out for a while. A lot of the staff are on their days off and I happen to be with Jack when I took him home a few days ago so I'm the one in charge of him. His state was pretty serious and I'm doing all I can. He's better now. And how did you know he's that hottie-whatever you say earlier? Are you going to be gay or something?"

He chuckles. "That one? Well, rumors go around like crazy in campus ya know. There's this one night I showed my cousin Renata this hottie-whateveryousay's face to her and the next day she moved universities from Oxford to Corona. And no, I'm still straight. Remember the girl I told you yesterday?"

"The one from Law Enforcement?"

"Yep! 100 points for Bee! I think I'm gonna ask her out later, but I need your help. I mean, I'm not good in treating girls in, well, like that."

My lips curve an amused smile as I imagine him making a face full of embarrassment and heavy blushes coloring his cheeks.

"Don't worry! I got your back."

I hear a sigh of relief. "Thanks Bee! You're the best!"

"I know. By the way, I gotta go, duty calling."

"I think more like 'Hottie calling."

I groaned. "It's not like that."

"Hmm so you're not denying he's hot?"

I mentally wanted to slap my face, and hearing him laugh like an over hydrated donkey from the other line made me want to slap his too.

"Seriously girl, just confess already! It's not like you're gonna marry him, are you?"

I stacked the clear plates into the plate rack, then head upstairs to clean more supper trays

"I'll tell you my reasons one day, kay?" See you in campus Prince William?"

"Sure. See ya, Honey Bee."

I hung up. Once I did, I looked at my notifications to see five messages from Tadashi, and one from Hiccup. The former asked me about my whereabouts and that he's worried, to which I replied that I'm fine. However, once I opened Hiccup's message, my inner alarms blared

"Beth, the sea witch made her move. She's targeting a smaller company in the USA now."

I hurrily texted back.

"Keep an eye on her Hicc. She might just be crawling around and finding a place good for headquarters. But hey, once a student, soon a teacher. She might not be dangerous now, but one day she will be."

I hit send

Tying up my hair, I pull out a broom from a storage closet, which of course looked ten times fancier than my own bedroom.

There's a room I need to deal with

Third person's POV

Meanwhile with Jack, who was although grateful he's healthier, he was also frustrated.

He really wanted to have a nice, normal conversation with Beth. At least for five minutes. He wanted to forget the stupid deal she made with Rapunzel. Heck, he wished he could talk to her as more than a friend one day, freely check how she's doing, call her pet names, use those crappiest, cheesiest jokes he's sure would make her laugh. Unfortunately for him, he fell for a despairingly oblivious girl who was blind to every clue and move he made on her.

He stared at the ceiling blankly as his head ran in circles faster than Usain Bolt in the Super Bowl. Today was also the first day he saw her hair down and oh God, she's gorgeous. He had never seen her hair like that before, even back in those years where they were still talking to each other because her hair was always in a braid. Her hair was long, lustrous, and would feel like heaven to run one's fingers on. The color it had could make anyone mistake her as having a mop of snowflakes falling from her head

'Wait, why am I thinking about her hair?'

Jack picked up a book and slammed his head against it, hoping it could clear his thoughts. Of course it didn't

"I gotta make my next move. Thing's can't stay this way forever. Not if I can't handle it."

With a bit more pep talk, he slides out of his bed and scan around his room that resembles the aftermath of a battlefield. Dirty clothes piled at a few corners, pieces of fabric sticking out of the wardrobe like unpicked warts. Paper balls littering his desk.

He feels beyond humiliated of himself for leaving his room like this and have it all exposed for a girl to see. The thought of Beth cringing in disgust looking at it has him groan in shame.

The man moves out of his bed, slowly and shakily, a little lightheaded from being in bed for so long. He bends down to hurrily pick up his clothes, books, and all sorts of junk from the floor. He even found his long lost suitcase picklock, two belts, and a couple of perfume bottles. A clearing of someone's throat catches his attention.

And there she is. Her hair is tied into a ponytail and the stick of a broom secured in her fist. She hasn't changed out of her sweatpants and baggy T-shirt, making her look slightly less terrifying. Her intense gaze tells Jack that she's clearly unimpressed with him being up and about.

"What do you think you're doing? You can't be out of bed yet!" Taking long strides from the door, she pulls his arm and holds his biceps in inspection. "See?! You're still weak! How…"

Jack isn't much at all listening to Beth's nagging and stares at her dumbly with a loving smile. 'So she does care for me?'

"-Hey! Are you even listening?!" Beth snaps.

Jack smile refuses to come off, and innocently rubs the back of his neck. "Well, I was..trying to help you. You know…since my room is a total mess." Beth is silent, not quite convinced. "And, well, as my thank you for all your help. Will you let me?"

The awkwardness returns, but in the end the girl agrees

"Just leave the hard labor to me alright? Allow me."

With that, the two begin their cleaning spree. Jack does the easy tasks as requested, collecting objects from the floor, making his bed, throwing dirty clothes into a basket. Beth does the sweeping, mopping, and bringing the laundry basket to the laundry room.

They work in silence. Jack's lips itch for a conversation, but as he opens and closes his mouth to talk, nothing comes out, as he's confused on what to say

"Done! Phew! You can go back to rest some more Jack. I'm gonna put these in the laundry and whip up lunch as fast as I can." Beth says, leaving the room with two large and fully loaded laundry baskets each in one arm

It amazes Jack that someone with a petite body like her can even manage to do that without at least a hint of struggle. He silently follows behind her, but stopped at the kitchen just as Beth turn to another hallway that leads downstairs, where the laundry room is supposed to be.

Beth is right about him still being weak. The blue-eyed male certainly feels much better, but the more movements made, there's a sleepy, heavy feel weighing him down. He decides to quench his thirst. Filling a cup, he sits in the dining room, and nearly chokes when Beth finds him.

"I thought I told you to rest Jack!"

She puts her hand on her hip and lean her shoulder to one wall, trying to look as intimidating as possible

Emptying the glass, Jack stands from his seat. "It's gonna take more than that to tell me what to do. I just wanna help. I get that you're worried but I'm telling you, I feel better okay?"

Beth raises a brow skeptically, but gives in since he's so insistent

"Alright Jack. Today, we're gonna make sandwiches and asparagus soup, if you don't mind. Can you wash the vegetables?"

Jack nods vigorously, glad he's entrusted to do something. Beth opens the fridge and brings out the said vegetables. Jack takes them in the sink to begin washing

Fixing her bangs back, Beth opens the fridge, finding all sorts of fresh ingredients ready to be used for a grand family dinner. "I'm surprised Jacob and Caleb got so much food here. I should thank them later."

The girl curves a true, genuine smile that had the world go in slow-motion, at least for Jack. All of his mind focused on the girl's pretty smile and struggled to keep scrubbing the tomatoes. Beth notices his stare from the corner of her eyes, and Jack notices she notices. He also notices how she's staring back, looking at his side profile as he refocuses on the vegetables under the running water. The smile is still etched in his thoughts, and he wonders if the girl would ever smile like that to him one day

After that's done, he takes a deep breath and grips the edge of the counter tightly. Beth has consumed his thoughts for so long. He's been enduring it all too, the sudden squeeze in his chest, headaches just thinking whether or not she's okay, losing breath each time he sees her. But now it's too much. Too much.

He has to find some way to end his misery.

Jack turns to Beth, his head down as he wasn't sure what reaction he'd receive from the question he's about to ask.

"Beth? I know you're not the best person to answer this kind of question but…" His voice trails off as he gathers the guts to lift his eyes to meet hers looking right back. The icy blue in her eyes pulsed in a way that mesmerized him so and the way her lips twist in question has him swallow really hard

'Now or never'

"…Can you help me?"

Beth's facial features soften and stops whatever she's doing. She reaches out her hand and Jack watches as their fingers mingled, giving him reassurance. Jack takes in the warmth that it brings. It lets him know that whatever he needs, she'll be there to help

"It's important, isn't it?" Beth asks. "Come on, let's sit down."

She gently tugs him to the dining room and take seats next to each other, face to face. The girl removes her hand from him, and he's a little stirred inside at the all too soon release of contact

"Well, actually, it's not that important but…" Jack curls his toes. "There's this girl around campus that I really like, who's obviously not Rapunzel by the way. She's someone smart, pretty introverted, and kinda awkward. But once you get to know her, she's the nicest thing. The best friend in the world. And a super caring gal. She's also loyal, totally funny, and very understanding. She's everything, she's beautiful! Not just in looks, but in intelligence and personality overall."

Jack explained passionately and full of enthusiasm, lovingly picturing the girl in his head as he describes. Beth wonders what girl could be able to make him feel this way even if they're not in the same room. She's curious.

"Do you know what she likes and what she doesn't like?" The question cracks a smile on Jack's lips. "She loves books, be it educational or novels. She's not much in the romance side in them though."

"She's good at singing and art too. I've never seen her artwork but I heard from people that she's got talent. She also likes songs best with deep meanings. It doesn't matter which era it's from, the singer, or even genre."

"Her taste in fashion is something that's comfortable, but has these certain details that makes it look stylish and professional."

Beth arches a brow. "Do you see her every day in college?"

His soft chuckle makes her heart beat faster, for some reason.

"Yeah! Or at least, well, we used to. 'Cause each time we pass each other, she won't even notice." The male's lips are thin when he says that.

"Wow, I guess it must've been hard for you, since you know her well and all. I don't know how much it'll help, but here's what I think. You really gotta know the places she likes to hang around in, so you know which place to go if you want to bump into her. It helps to know who she's close with and maybe you can get close to them too. Indirectly show her how you are when you're around people. Since your problem here is finding the moment to talk to her, that's the advice I give."

"Also, once you actually manage to catch her, since you know what she likes and not you get a major bonus. Talk about topics she might be interested in. You gotta make sure it's something she knows a lot about too. She'll be able to talk a lot with that. From there, you guys would be able to get to know each other smoothly and things will unfold on it's own."

Beth wonders if she's being too typical with her explanation, but this isn't something clear cut as a math problem or breaking binary codes. She wouldn't want any misunderstandings to happen between Jack and the girl either 'cause then she'd be responsible for giving bad advice

"She's a girl that keeps to herself though. Full of secrets and it looks like she likes it that way. And how am I supposed to get closer to her if she keeps avoiding me?"

Jack is a little bewildered at how Beth isn't getting any signals as he said all that.

"Keep on trying Jack. Do something thoughtful for her too in between, just tolerate her know you're not mad or anything. She's visibly avoiding you, but we really don't know why, right? It may actually be because she likes you back and is too shy to be around you," Beth answers once more.

Jack had to really hold in his snicker hearing her say that. The irony is so bad it's actually funny. "Guess I should talk to her more. Thanks for the advice Beth."

"No prob. Now come on, I need a hand to make that asparagus soup."

Standing up, Beth envelopes her hand over Jack's hand again and pulls him up, but the boy remains still

Beth nearly flinch when she felt her hand being gently tugged back. "Do you have someone you like?" Jack asks in a whisper, but the girl heard it loud and clear.

When Jack looks up to meet her face, he found a shaken expression, but Beth tries to hurriedly regain. "No, of course not," she says, in rather hesitant tones

Jack curves a smirk. "You do have one, don't ya?"

Beth didn't answer and releases her hold of his hand and walks to the kitchen.

Chuckling, Jack quickly trails behind her. "Who is he?"

"I told you, nobody."

"Lying~"

"I'm not."

"Is he in the university?"

"No."

"Do you guys meet up often?"

At that question, Beth lets out a smile. "Maybe so, maybe not."

Her so-so answers are starting to frustrate him. "Oh come on! Spill!"

Beth stirs the soup and Jack stacks ingredients together to make the sandwich. "Like, I said, nobody."

After meal preparations, they eat together in the dining room, cracking jokes in between and Jack still trying to pry answers out of Beth about the mystery crush, which she denies to brave each time.

Once they're done, Jack washes the dishes and dries them as Beth wipes any bits of soup that's spilled around the stove

Her phone then buzzes in her pocket as she's done. She looks at the ID

Mom

'Must be important.' She picks up the call

"What's up mom?"

"Beth sweetie, where..where are you..?"

The woman's voice sounded weak, strained, and as if on the brink of tears. In the background, there are other people whispering, sounds of wheels moving, doors opening and closing, panicked yelling. Beth couldn't move.

"I'm still in Jack's house. Mom, what's going on? It doesn't sound okay over there."

"I'm in the hospital dear. Something happened to your dad and…"

Something in Beth churns and twists. What's happening? Is her mom playing a joke? Beth narrows her eyes in frantic thinking as she hears her mom talk. Jack's done his side of the chores and stands behind Beth, listening into the conversation.

"Dad? What's wrong with dad? Mom, let's..let's calm down, alright? Is he okay? What the hell happened?" Beth keeps barrelling questions to her mother like there's no tomorrow. There's sobbing heard at the end of the line and the girl's own breathing begins to become heavy and shaky.

"He's…he's…oh my God-"

There is a sound of someone falling and the phone from the other line crash to the ground.

"Mom?! Oh-oh God. What's- Mom, mom, are you there?! MOM!" Beth's own chest feels like it's going to plummet down and break into pieces. Her shoulders are rising and climbing. Her eyes are beginning to prickle with oncoming tears. Jack was behind her drawing circles on her back trying to soothe her and coax her to calm down. None of his words are working.

"Beth! Are you there?!" the voice switches over to Tadashi.

"Tadashi! What's going on?! Is mom ok? What happened to dad?!"

There's a long silence that hurts Beth as much as it comforts her. She wants answers, but it doesn't seem like it would be something she'd like to hear at all. She wants the unspoken words between them to stay unspoken for a little longer, just so she wouldn't have to face what she's about to hear next.

"Dad's..gone Beth. He's dead."

She feels the world stop..

New updates! I recently have a lots of new ideas for this story but unfortunately my friend who always help me fixing the errors and grammar mistakes is difficult to be contacted and keep in touch. so far I haven't receive any of her responses although I've send about 4 next chapters to her. there's nothing I can do right now and all I can is hoping that she's alright and she can finish all the stuff that bothering her (because last time we talked, she said she have a serious problem with herself and the fact that school being unfair to her make her completely chaotic)

Like I said before, I can't promise you for updating chapters like every once a week, but I can promise you I'll update if I had times, so don't fall your hopes on me :)

I really grateful for you guys to write some comments for these story. even some of them are harsh and full of hatred, I accept them all gladly and use them as something that I really need to fix in this story. So for all the readers out there, I give you my thank you for your interest on this book. No, I'm not leaving yet but I just want to feel grateful for everything.

see ya!

-Elaine-