This chapter is from Santana's, Lily's, and Brittany's perspective. I hope you guys enjoy!
Twelve. Ready To Love Again
"I'm ready to feel now, no longer am I afraid to fall down.
It must be time to move on now, without the fear of how it might end."
- Ready To Love Again, Lady Antebellum
"Lily!" I'm taken by surprise as I find JJ crouched down in front of me holding on to my wrists, a look of concern on her face.
"Sorry, I didn't notice you came in." I give her a small smile.
"I've been here for almost two minutes, Lily." She replies, the concern still present on her face.
"Oh." I can feel the blush from my embarrassment being to creep up on my cheeks.
"It's okay," JJ gives me a small smile, "Just as long as you're okay. Did you take your medication?"
"I did. I tend to get small seizures when I get really nervous or stressed out." I chuckle nervously. "I'm okay though."
She smiles yet again as she takes a seat on the stool next to me, letting go of my hands. "I thought Mom was only joking when she told me I'd need this." JJ chuckles slightly, motioning to the first aid on the counter.
"I failed to mention the other night the fact that I'm quite accident prone." I can't help but wince as I unintentionally stretch my fingers out, consequently pulling my cut open wider.
"Well I know now." She gives a sympathetic smile. "This is going to hurt." She says as she places the alcohol swab I only now notice she's opened on my palm.
As pain shoots through my palm I bite my lip. "Don't worry, I know it hurts but I know what I'm doing."
"And I have no idea what I'm doing." I say without thinking; unfortunately I had inherited my Ma's quality of speaking without any input from my brain to attempt at stopping myself.
"What?" JJ gives me a confused look as she puts the swab back the package it came from.
I'm tempted to pass it off as nothing but a deal's a deal. I had to do this no matter how awkward and nerve wrecking it was.
"I've got to talk to you. And I really shouldn't be doing this while you're fixing up my hand but if I don't say it now I'm never going to get it out." My words come out rushed and in all likelihood don't make any sense to her.
JJ takes a deep breath as she looks at the first aid kit on the counter. She looks up at me as she takes out some bandages, gauze, and antiseptic ointment. "Okay, shoot." She gives me a reassuring smile that somehow makes the butterflies currently fluttering in my stomach go away.
"You asked me what my most embarrassing moment was and I shied away from it, not wanting to talk about it. There's a reason why I didn't want to tell you." I take a deep breath before continuing; thankfully the smile on JJ's face doesn't fade. "I'm sure you've noticed that I don't have many friends other than Drew and Penny."
"Yeah, I kind of picked up on that." She chuckles slightly.
"There's a reason for that. I used to have more friends, they were mainly my friends because they were friends with who I went out with but they were my friends none the less, if that makes any sense to you." I receive a small nod from JJ which prompts me to continue. "I went out with Casey for six months and she became my best friend, other than Drew of course," I can't help but stop and chuckle for a quick moment at the look on Drew's face when I started to rant somewhat this morning. "And I fell in love with her. I thought Casey and I were perfectly happy. Of course, I was wrong." I can feel the tears starting to form in my eyes.
"Sadly I don't think you'd be sitting here if you were right." JJ says as she surprisingly places her hand on my knee for support.
"I know, right?" I chuckle sadly with a sniff. "So anyway one day last May I decided to go to my physics class a few minutes early for some extra help because physics is the one science I wish would just disappear from the face of the earth." JJ chuckles causing me to pause for a moment. "So I knocked on the door and got no answer to I decided to go on in. As soon as I open the door I immediately regret it. Casey is there making out with my teacher, who also happens to be a man at least fifteen years older than her, and they're too into it to even notice that I'm standing there. Eventually the rest of the class begins to pile into the doorway and I'm standing there absolutely speechless." I can feel the tears begin to run down my face now as I look JJ straight in the eye.
"The look on her face made my stomach churn. I couldn't stand to be there any longer staring at them like an idiot so I ran out of the room to my locker. After opening it I threw my physics books in the bottom of my locker and tore down every photo of me and Casey, ripping them in half. It eventually leads to me crumpling to the floor in tears and pretty much having a breakdown in the middle of the hall. Drew had to bring me home and I didn't come to school for almost a week. I learnt later that it was going on before we were even together, Casey and I were great friends before we even started dating, so the fact that I didn't know made me feel even more like an idiot. Turns out my ex-girlfriend didn't love me. She loved vintage cars."
The cries I've been holding back are now undeniable and escape my lips no matter how hard I try to stop them.
Brittany had gotten up and went into the cabin a few minutes ago, saying she had to get something a few minutes leaving me outside on the patio alone to ponder my own thoughts after she had finished telling me about her week.
She returns carrying a small material bag I recognize well from my drawer in our bedroom's ensuite at home. I had leaned back against the patio couch's arm as she left earlier causing her take a seat, pulling her feet into my lap. Brittany gives me a grin as she places the bag in my lap.
"I know that you do it at home to relax, so I thought maybe I could do it for a change?" She asks somewhat sheepishly with slightly blush beginning to creep across her face.
"What did I ever do deserve such a thoughtful wife?" I smile as I learn forward to place a kiss on Brittany's cheek. "Of course you can. I'll even let you pick the color." I chuckle.
"Santana, how do you always make me seem like I'm a five year old?" Brittany laughs. "Seriously, you'll let me pick?" She emphasizes the word 'let', trying to prove her point.
"Well I could just not let you do it at all and go take a nap," I too emphasize the word 'let' just as she did, trying to get a rise out of her.
"Oh grow up Santana." She playfully slaps my leg before opening my bag to reveal my toe separators and numerous bottles of nail polish.
"Well just pick a color, Brittany." I chuckle as I lean back against the arm of the patio couch, closing my eyes. "Hey that tickles" I laugh as she places the separators between my toes.
"If you don't stop moving soon you're going to have nail polish on more than just your toes, San." Brittany says with false seriousness, I had picked up quickly when Brittany was fooling around and trying to fool me.
"Oh sure, Brittany. I thought a dancer as such as yourself would have better hand-eye coordination." I say countering her fake seriousness with my own.
"Well I thought that you of all people would know I'm good with my hands." Brittany says. I don't need to see her face to know that she's smirking suggestively like a teenage boy.
"Britt!" I open my eyes and lean forward as I can't resist the urge to slap her across the arm.
"What? Did I say something?" She looks at me as if she has no idea what I was going on with.
"Oh yes, little Miss Innocent." I roll my eyes as I lean back. "Just pick a color, Brittany, just pick a color."
"So that, that would have to be my most embarrassing moment." I manage to get out through my blubbering.
Within an instant I'm in shock. JJ gets up off her stool and wraps her arms around me pulling me into a hug. I don't say anything, I simply can't. I know I should but it is as if I've forgot to speak.
As she pulls away JJ gives me a reassuring smile. "I'm not generally a huggy person but after that you definitely deserved a hug."
My only reaction is to chuckle, it seemed like such an inappropriate thing to do but it was the only thing available to come out of my mouth.
"You honestly didn't have to tell me that. I would have let it go, you know?" She says as she sits back down on her stool, taking my hand and begins to rub some antiseptic ointment on it with a q-tip.
"I know you would have but I told you because you need to know that in order to understand me. You need to know that because I want you to know how I think. And right now I think that you have no idea what I'm going on with." I chuckle with a sniff as I close my eyes in frustration; thinking I'm not making any sense.
Again, I'm taken by surprise as I feel a soft, warm hand on my cheek wiping away the last ears running down my face. Opening my eyes I find JJ's ice blue eyes looking into mine.
"I have somewhat of an idea." She says continuing to smile at me.
"You do?" I can't help but ask because I currently feel like such an idiot.
"I do." JJ says as slowly takes her hand from my face.
"So I'm not crazy and this isn't all in my head?" JJ just nods in response, causing me to continue. "So now you see why I was acting like a moron and being extremely nervous so I blanked out with a seizure?"
"I definitely don't think you're a moron." She giggles causing a smile to cross my own face in return. "And I definitely think that you should continue with what you were saying because I have a feeling that that wasn't all of what you wanted to say."
"Okay, all done." My wife says cheerfully as she pulls the toe separator out from between my toes. "Be careful because they're not dry yet."
"Okay, who's treating who like a kindergartener now?" I smirk as I lean forward to see what color she has picked.
"Oh shush, you." Brittany sticks her tongue out at me as she closes the bag containing my pedicure set.
I can't help but chuckle as I notice what color she's picked. It's a bright red that is almost the same shade as the guitars on my scrub cap. It also brings me back ten years previous in my memory.
"Mami!" The voice of four year old Lina is the first thing I hear as I shut the door exiting the garage entering the porch as I come home from work.
A small body of who I assume is Lina collides with my shins, wrapping her arms tightly around my legs. "Hey baby! How was your day?" I ask cheerfully while I balance my bag on arm as I bend down to pick her up.
"I had a lot of fun with Maria and Tommy at daycare. When Momma picked us up we went to that place with all the v-ve," Lina stops, stumbling over a word. I immediately know what she's talking about so I decided to give her a hand so doesn't feel embarrassed. Lina was extremely intelligent for her age, she was able to name all fifty states but for some odd reason she always had trouble with the word vegetables.
"You mean vegetables, right sweetie?" I give her an encouraging smile.
"Yes, v-ve." Sadly she still is unable to pronounce it.
"Try and sound it out. Vege" I give her first syllable.
"Vege." She slightly smiles as she repeats what I've said.
"Ta"
"Ta." The smile grows a little bit more, beginning to show off her dimples.
"Bles."
"Bles."
"Now put them together, vegetables."
"V-vegetables." She stutters slightly but is able to get it out.
"See there you go. Give me five." I smile holding out my hand for her to give me a high five.
The smirk on her face doesn't dissipate as she slaps my hand. As she pulls her hand away I feel a slightly sticky substance on my fingers. I look at my hand to see nail polish on my fingers.
"Can Mami see your fingers, sweetie?" I ask curiously.
Lina holds her fingers out proudly. Her fingers up to the first joint are cover in fire engine red nail polish that is still wet. I don't get a chance to make any comments or inquire further about the nail polish as Brittany walks into the room.
"Welcome home." She gives me a quick kiss on the cheek as she takes my bag from my shoulder. "How was your day, San?"
"Yeah, Mami did you fix any boo-boos?" Lina asks excitedly.
"My day was great, thank you for asking." I return the favour kissing Brittany then Lina on the cheek before beginning to make our way further into the house. "And yes, sweetie, I did fix some boo-boos today. How about you go play with brothers and sister while Momma and I make dinner, okay?" I give Lina a smile as I put her down as we reach the kitchen.
I don't have to tell her twice. Lina scurries out of the room to the living room off the kitchen. As soon as she's out of earshot I look at Brittany with a confused look before speaking. "Would you care to explain why our four year old daughter has my nail polish on her fingers and not just her fingernails?"
I now make my way to the sink, turning it on to rid my hands of any nail polish that had managed to cling to my fingers. I don't receive an answer from Brittany until the water is shut off. I turn around to find her grinning from ear to ear chuckling like I had just said something highly amusing.
"Our kids are amazing you know that?" She says as she walks over to me, placing her hands on either side of me so I'm slightly pinned between her and the counter.
"I know that, silly but that doesn't explain why Lina has on the same amount of nail polish on one finger that I'd use for at least three fingers." I chuckle slightly, as the sight of the look of pride on my daughters face crosses my mind.
"When we got home from the market after I picked her and Tommy up from daycare I told her that after we picked up Nik and Lily from their play date and we got home we'd have time to do one thing fun before you got home and we had supper. So I asked her what she wanted to do and she had said that she wanted to paint her nails. I had never her seen her interested in anything to do with nail polish or makeup before so I decided to humour her and told her that we could to that when we got home. When we got home and I had put down a place mat on the kitchen table I asked her what color she wanted. I had expected her to pick either pink or neon green, but no, she had chosen the fire engine red. So I unscrewed the top and was about put the first coat on, as soon as I came close to her with the brush she pulled away. I looked at her curious and asked her why she pulled away."
Brittany pauses for a moment and chuckles to herself, if it's possible the smile on her face grows even wider.
"She had said that wanted to do it herself because she wanted to be pretty like you. I smiled at her and said that she was already pretty and didn't need nail polish to make her pretty. This is the best part; do you know what her reply was?"
I can feel slight tears beginning to prick at the corners of my eyes. I slowly nod my head in response because I have no idea what my daughter had said.
"She looked up at me with the most innocence in her voice you could imagine and said, 'I do need it, because it's not fair.' I of course was more than slightly confused but I let her continue on. She said 'It's not fair that everyone says we have the same eyes so I'm pretty like you. It's not fair to Mami so I want to put on my own nail polish so I can be pretty like Mami and you.'"
With Brittany's story of my daughter's words I begin turn to goo; the tears that had been pricking in my eyes are now rolling down my face surely creating mascara trails in their wake.
"Catalina really said that?" I say in almost disbelief at my daughter's wise words.
Brittany wipes away tears from my eyes. She looks me directly in the eye before speaking again.
"She did. But you know what? That kid's got your heart and that's all she'll ever need to be beautiful to me or anybody else in this world." Brittany's words are added euphony to my ears.
She places a tender kiss on my forehead and whispers. "I love you, Santana."
"I love you too, Britt-Britt." I wrap my arms around her waist, making the space between us smaller so that I can feel her warmth; not only from her skin, but also from her breathtaking heart.
"You're going to make me say it aren't you?" I can feel the blush rising to my cheeks.
"You got that right." JJ chuckles with a smirk as she begins to rap my hand with gauze.
"I'm the type of person who puts fifty foot walls around me to protect myself from getting hurt even more after something happens to me. But you, you come here with your adorable smile and amazing blue eyes and make me turn to goo." I immediately begin to smile involuntarily "I know that I've known you for less than a week but there's just something there. I feel it, and I can tell by the look on your face you do too."
The small smirk that was on JJ's face has grown so that she is almost smiling from ear to ear.
"All I know about you it what I've learnt from the past five days and I've liked what I've heard. And I want to know more, half the fun is getting to know the other person, right?" I chuckle, truly hoping I'm not sounding like a rambling idiot. "So, would you like to go on a date with me?"
As Santana and I walk into the house the first the first thing we notice is the sound of Lily's voice echoing through the house. "Tiene que me estar bromeando! Mi soy yo tal idiota?"
Santana gives me a look of concern as she shuts the door behind her. "Lily, honey?" Santana calls out to Lily. We only receive a loud bang from the kitchen.
I give Santana a look before putting down my bag and heading for the kitchen. Santana takes me hands and follows me to the kitchen. We find Lily standing in the middle of the kitchen wearing a pair of oven mitts holding onto a dish that I assume has just come out of the oven.
"Can you pick that up please?" Lily voice is slightly raised now as she nods down at the floor. I only now notice that there is a cooling rack on the floor. I pick it up and put it on the counter. "Thank you." Lily lets out a sigh of relief as she swiftly places the dish on the cooling rack.
"Lily, what are you doing?" Santana pipes in from behind me. I only now notice that my daughter is only wearing a bra and a pair of khaki cargo shorts, her hair gently curled into darn near perfect waves.
Lily swiftly pulls of her oven mitts, tossing them on the counter. "I thought you guys weren't supposed to be home until tomorrow?"
"We decided to come home early so that we could see your brother's game tomorrow afternoon." Santana replies before I get the chance to. "But that doesn't answer my question." Santana looks at her curiously.
"I'm running late, that's what I'm doing." She says as she looks down at her watch.
"Late for what? Why are you cooking if there's no one here?" I realize the probable answer as the words escape from my mouth but I decided to hear it from her to be sure.
"I didn't think you guys were coming back so I invited JJ over." I can't help but notice the slight blush that crosses her cheeks at her words.
"And you plan on wearing that?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.
"No, Mom" She scowls slightly. "I said earlier I'm running late. JJ is supposed to be here," she pauses for a moment as she glances back down at her watch, "right now."
"Is this a date thing or just a friend thing? If it's the former we'll get out of your hair right, Britt?" Santana says almost innocently as she walks up close to me, intertwining our arms as if to soften me up.
"Honey, she's making quiche, Lily never makes quiche. This is definitely a date." I give Lily a smirk. "Go put on a shirt and I'll finish up here."
"Thank you." Lily looks at me as if I've just told her I've bought her a life supply of paints.
"No problem, mija. Just have a good time okay?" I say before giving her a quick kiss on the forehead.
"Mom and I will be watching a movie in our room if you need us." Santana smiles, then glances at me.
Lily gives us a grin, showing off her dimples. "I probably don't say this often enough but you two. Best parents ever." She says quickly before practically running out of the kitchen.
Santana leans up and gives me a kiss on the cheek. "Our kids? Best kids ever." She smirks.
"So are you going to help me or you going to snacks for the movie we're apparently watching?" I ask curiously.
It honestly didn't surprise me that Santana hadn't opted for going out to dinner tonight considering Lily obviously had a very important date. Out of the two of us Santana was the one who was most protective over the kids; she was a complete momma bear. I remember actually having to restrain her from saying some, what I'm assuming weren't going to be anything close to pleasant, words to Casey when she saw her at the grocery store around a week after she and Lily broke up. So it wasn't a shock to see that she wanted to be here just in case something happened, even though I was quite sure myself that nothing of the sort would.
"I think I better let you hand that," Santana giggles. "You know that snacks are my forte."
"I do know that." I chuckle giving her a quick kiss on the top of her head. "Don't forget the seasoning on the popcorn." I smirk.
"After almost thirty five years of getting us snacks you think I could forget that?" She gives me a look that slightly resembles a glare.
"Well you did last week."
"Just give it a rest, Britt." She shakes her head as she lets go of my arm and begins to walk away.
"You know you love me." I half yell with a chuckle as she enters the pantry off the kitchen, a smile crossing my face.
"Whatever, Brittany, whatever." Despite her words I can tell by the tone of her voice that she's smiling just as wide as my own.
Looking into my almost perfectly organized closet I can't help but feel slight unease. I had invited her over for dinner and feels like I haven't done this in forever so I had no idea what to wear. Was she going to get slightly dressed up or was she going to take it as a casual thing?
As hear the door bell ring I settle for a red dress shirt, choosing to not tuck it into my shorts to keep things somewhat casual. Straightening out my shirt, I rush out of my room, truly hoping that I would get to answer the door before either of my parents got to it before me.
Opening the front door I'm fairly certain there is a look of relief that crosses my face for a moment, swiftly being replaced by nerves and jitters again. JJ is dressed in a pair of grey skinny jeans, a charcoal grey and black flannel plaid long sleeve shirt over a white camisole, set off with black matte flats.
"You look beautiful." She says with a small smile as my eyes finally meet hers, a slight blush creeping up on her pale cheeks. As she looks me in the eyes I feel as if my heart has skipped a beat.
I can't help but chuckle at her. "Well I could say the same thing about you." I give her the classic Lopez grin, making her giggle.
"Thank you. I didn't know if you wanted me to bring anything so I hope you like apples." JJ says.
I can't help but give her a slightly look of confusion before my internal questions are answered. She holds out a bottle resembling that of a wine bottle to me. As I look more carefully I notice the words "Sparkling Apple Juice".
"I don't drink so," JJ voice is now giving away her nervousness I hadn't notice until now.
"I don't either, and personally, I love this stuff." I give her a genuine wide smile as I take the bottle from her.
A small, innocent smile crosses JJ's face causing butterflies to flutter in my stomach as I begin to retreat from the door.
"Well that's good because my brother thinks I'm nuts for liking it. I'm glad someone else is in the same boat." She giggles slightly as she follows me into the house.
"I know, my Abuela is Catholic and always try to get me to drink wine at Christmas but I always pass and go straight for this," I motion to the bottle in my hand, "instead."
"I know the feeling" JJ laughs again.
The closer we get to the dinning room the more surprised I am to find that the nervousness I had been feeling has dissipated. I'm truly hoping that this isn't just a momentary lapse; I really do not need to be a rambling, nervous moron the rest of the night.
"I'm soon going to have to go out there and tell them to be quieter because I'm going to miss my favorite part." Santana pouts before taking a large bite out of her twizzler as she presses pause on the DVD player remote. She does so in response to an outburst of laughter erupting from outside our room in the dinning room just down the hall.
"San, its Speed, how many times have you seen this movie? A hundred or two, more than likely." I say, as I tighten my hold on her; careful not to knock over the bowl of popcorn between us.
"I know but this is the best part!" She is nothing less than persistent as she takes another angry bite out of her twizzler.
"I know, sweetie. But you really wouldn't rather watch Annie get handcuffed to a pole by Payne than let our daughter have what seems to be a good time on her first date would you?" I whisper in her ear, fully well knowing it was one of her weak spots when she needed to be calmed down.
"I guess not." She says before finishing off the poor twizzler that never had a chance. "I hope she really is having a good time. It's been way too long since I've seen her get all embarrassed and goofy over someone."
"See, that's what I'm talking about." I chuckle. "It's really great to see her like that again. I think JJ will be good for her don't you think?" I ask as I take a twizzler from the package in her hand.
"Hey!" Santana slaps by hand playfully. "Those are mine, you have you're icky old popcorn!" I can tell her tone she's only kidding.
"Hey, popcorn is good for you thank you very much."
"I'm sure, Britt-Britt, I'm sure." She says sarcastically. "But I would have to agree with you on the other thing. We don't know JJ very well but from what I've seen from her she seems to be really great."
"Let's just hope that stays that way." I smirk, "I really don't want to have to hold you back from attack another teenage girl ever again." I give her a quick kiss on the temple before taking a bite out of my twizzler.
"Me too honey, me too." She gives me a content smile that makes butterflies flutter around in my stomach like a teenage girl. "She hasn't been able to trust anybody other than people she's known her whole life since Casey. So I really hope she's going to be able to trust her."
"If she can't trust her than we're going to have to show her how trust people again. Deal?" I ask my wife.
"Deal." She says with a dimpled smile.
As I notice that the laughing from outside our bedroom has stopped I take the remote from Santana. "Shall we continue?" I say with a smirk.
"Yes, we shall. This is my favorite part." Santana's tone is almost childlike now; making a goofy grin automatically cross my face.
"I know, dear." I chuckle, pressing the play button before Santana gets riled up or the laughter from my daughter and her date starts again.
"Are you serious? You said you were your team's MVP but I didn't realize that meant you were THAT good." I say in slight shock before taking a sip of my sparkling apple juice.
"I am THAT good." JJ giggles. "We won the state championships the three years I went there for boy's baseball and I won two state championships with the girl's team. None of us played the second half of junior year. There was an accident that injured some of our players and killed our coach." JJ's tone has changed from playfully arrogant to being tainted with what appears to be sorrow.
"I'm sorry you all had to go through that." The words are out of my mouth before I even get a chance to think about what I was saying.
"That's not the worst part of it. You told me something important that made you the person you are now. So it's only fair that I return the favour correct?" JJ's voice is the most serious I've heard since that day at the hospital before we found out Cam was alive and well.
"Like I said the other day I want to know everything about you that you're willing to tell me." I give her a soft smile, laying my hand on top of hers on the table for a moment, in an attempt to comfort her.
"We were on our way to a tournament in Cincy for the weekend and both of my parents had to work. Our coach coached us all the way up from little league so they said it was okay for me to travel with the coach and the female chaperone who happened to be his wife with some other players in their minivan." Jess pauses and takes a deep breath as if to prepare herself for what she's about to say. "You know that cliché teenage movie where the star player dates the coach's daughter?"
"I would have to say I do." I say hesitantly, aware of where she could possibly be going with this.
"Well that was my life. Things weren't all hunky dory but that was life until that day." She pauses once again and looks me in the eye. I can now see the pain behind them but I can also see what one would describe as hope.
"Elise was our coach's daughter and one killer short stop. We had been dating for exactly a year and a half on the day of the accident. We dealt with the glares, awkward smiles, and looks of fear or disgust from parents or players on the opposing teams as we held hands in the stands while watching other teams play or when we were at bat and she would sit on my lap in the dugout waiting to be on deck then gave me a kiss on the cheek before leaving when she was up. She was the one who held me when I broke down because my grandpa was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. We had been through a lot together but everything changed that day. We were struck by a 22 year old guy who decided to pretty much have a solo drag race on a busy street in the middle of day. Elise had been sitting in the middle between me and her best friend in the middle section of the van. I was sitting on the passenger side. We were T-boned to the driver's side and flipped twice. It took them almost a half an hour to get us out. I was the only who was partially conscious. I'm thankful that they didn't have to consciously suffer through their pain and witness mine."
Looking at JJ I now notice that her eyes are filling with tears. In her eyes I can see sorrow and the pain that the accident has caused her.
"The accident resulted in my coach dying on impact, Elise's best friend losing the ability to walk, and the rest of us,"
She shakes her head, hanging it, never once looking at me. She pulls her hand out from underneath mine and stands up out of her chair. She slowly, almost hesitantly removes her long sleeve flannel shirt to reveal her arms "We received shrapnel wounds and lacerations. With some of us it was on more than just our bodies."
I can't help but be some what in shock. JJ has areas of scar tissue adorning her arms, covering approximately thirty percent of each of her arms. "There's loads more where they came from." She says pulling her hand up to show her neck. "The side of her neck also has a long, thin scar down its length. "They were amazed I was still conscious when they got me out. They were even more amazed that I hadn't bled out."
She sighs slightly as she goes to put her shirt back on, she has one arm almost in the sleeve before I stop her without thinking. "Don't." JJ finally looks up from the ground, looking me in the eye. The tears that were once forming in her ice blue eyes are now sliding slowly down her face. "You don't need it." I can feel the blush creeping across my face. I now know the reason why how when there was a rare sunny day over twenty degrees Celsius when I went to visit JJ's house she was wearing a long sleeve shirt.
"The pressure of Elise's body against me stopped me from bleeding out that day. She saved my life. Yet after that day she didn't trust me, she didn't trust her mother, she didn't trust anyone. Elise didn't trust the things she needed the most. She turned into someone I didn't even recognize. That's why I am the way I am with people I care about, that's why I don't give up. It's because I don't want what happened to Elise to happen to any of the people who mean something to me. That's why I'm glad you took the chance to tell me about Casey."
In this moment even with tears in her eyes and christening her cheeks with mascara tinted tear stains she is the most beautiful I've ever seen her. I can see her breathtaking character shine through the pain, making her strong like Atlas, who carried the world on his shoulders.
I hesitantly stand up from my own chair. I take a step towards her; her eyes and mine never parting glances. "You're beautiful, inside and out." I wrap my arms around her, pulling into a quick hug for a moment before pulling away with a soft smile. "Don't ever forget that."