Chapter Eighteen

Marcus

Jane is standing outside alone. The huge lawn is empty of kids, as it's freezing and slightly damp out here, but she doesn't seem to care. The area's scattered with trees, and she's sheltered enough that if I weren't looking for her, I never would've noticed her. There are cars constantly cycling into and out of the driveway, but it's far enough away that I'm not paying them any mind. The mansion of a house behind me is still pumping out music, but it's barely audible, and the quiet is a stark contrast to the party atmosphere.

She's pacing angrily in the grass, her body language sending all sorts of signals. Her shoulders are tight and her hands clenched into a tight fist, as if she's aching to rid herself of this frustration. As she shakes her hair out of her eyes, she pauses for a moment, and looks down at the grass before picking up her pacing until she hears me. I watch as she crosses her arms over her chest before turning towards me to acknowledge my greeting.

"You okay?" I ask her, as soon as I get close enough. Her eyes are rimmed red, and she clearly has been crying but it looks like it's a result of anger and not sadness. I'm not sure which is the worse emotion from my perspective.

"Yeah, fine." She mutters, even though its bull, I let it go for now. Tonight wasn't exactly fun for anybody and I'd rather not make that worse.

"Can I ask you something?" Testing the waters seems like the best solution. This way I won't burn myself to jumping into to her scalding anger, or get frozen out by arctic temperatures. She doesn't answer, but she nods, so I figure I'm okay.

"What kind of Martial Arts do you take?" She looks at me as if I've grown a second head, so I'm inclined to explain myself. "Nobody who has that good of a joint lock is untrained." I laugh, at her startled expression. "Yeah I saw... and I saw what happened before that too." I see something in her eyes, and I know that was a very bad idea to bring that up.

"Yeah?" She says it like a question, and I know she's caught off guard and not sure where to go from here.

"What's the connection there, anyways?" I ask, it's probably a bad idea, a very bad idea, but I can't help trying to find out a little bit more. It's like Jane is some intricate mystery, and I can't stop think about how to solve it.

"You mean… he hasn't told you?" She seems hesitant, and a little surprised. She's not oblivious to the fact that we're friends. I know almost nothing about what happened though, just the bare skeleton frame without any of the muscle that makes it work.

"I know you guys we're friends and then got together, and I know he screwed up right before he moved." That pretty much sums up what he told me, and I'm sure Jane doesn't like to be reminded of exactly how he screwed up. "But I can tell there's more to it that just a break up." Don't tell me how, but the girl standing in front has always seemed strong from the moment I met her, a little damaged, but certainly not fragile enough for a break up, even a bad one, to hurt her this badly.

"Yeah, well there was just a lot going on all at the same time." She looks down for a moment, and I swear to god that her eyes are starting to water again.

"Family stuff?" I guess and her whole body stiffens, her shoulders tightening up again, and he lungs taking in a sharp breath.

"You have no idea." She shakes her head, looking away from me again. I bristle at the assumption. I might know little to nothing about her but she knows absolutely nothing about me.

"You'd be surprised." My tone is colder than I wanted it to be, and Jane seems to be ready to boil over.

"You know nothing about me, so don't try to tell me that your mother yelling at you to do the dishes is anything like my life." Her words are harsh, and I know she thinks she knows what she's talking about, but she really has no clue. I just shake my head, not willing to even acknowledge that with a response.

"I'm not going to pretend to know you, like you're doing right now… because I'd like to actually get to know you" The last part is stupid on my part, the last thing I need to give her is something else to attack.

"Why in the name of th…" She pauses for a split second before continuing. "Why do you care?" Her words change the atmosphere instantly, and I can feel the anger slipping out of me.

"Jane… I know you're hurting, and I know you need someone. I've never… I've never met anyone like you Jane, and I like that, I like that a lot." My words are laying myself down on alter and handing her a knife to sacrifice me at this point, but I can't say I regret them.

"You have no idea what you're saying." She shakes her head, her eyes watering more, and she takes a step back, away from me. I step forward, not willing to let her get away, not now, when I'm finally breaking ground here.

"Then let me in, Jane. Give me one good reason you can't do that." I challenge her, she has no good explanation for why she won't let me in, nothing but fear. I just wanted to be there for her, as a friend, a companion, whatever. She shakes her head, and I can tell she's struggling, and I'm so close.

"Trust me Jane, please, just trust me." I beg, as she turns away from me. She refuses to let me see her face, but the tightness in her shoulders and the slight tremble to slender frame is telling me all I need to know. Everything's crashing around her, and she needs someone. If only she could see, I'm a perfectly acceptable option. Suddenly, she whips around towards me, her green eyes alight with something dangerous.

"You don't get it!" She hisses, and I have to refrain from stepping back, as if she had taken a swing at me. The anger came out of nowhere, and I know it was just a last-ditch effort to push me away. The fury seems to have drained her energy, and she slumps forward, and she brings her hands up to cover her eyes. Despite not being able to see her face, I know she's wiping tears away. Her chopped hair flutters a little around her face, furthering shadowing her expression. I put a hand on her shoulder, and turn her to me, taking in her red eyes and silent tears without judgment. She turns, not truly fighting me, I know, and I have to wonder just how shaken up she is by this whole affair. I pull her into my arms gently, and wrap my arms around her. She trembles against me, erasing any doubts over if I should be doing this.

"Then tell me, let me understand, Jane, I want to understand." I practically beg, gently running my hands over her back and her cotton tank top. She doesn't respond, just wraps her arms around me, and buries her face into my shoulder.

Jane

This is wrong, really, really wrong, and I know I most definitely shouldn't be doing this. It's a bad idea to trust him, and it's even worse to allow myself to be comforted by him like this. He's holding me gently, and there's nothing romantic about the gesture. It just feels like a hug from a friend, which is something I haven't been on the receiving end of for what feels like years. Something about fighting with him, broke that last straw. It was all too much, way too much, and I couldn't take it. I know I'll regret this later, but for now, I'm just happy to take the comfort while I can get it.

A/N: I wasn't expecting to post this so soon but it kind of wrote itself and I might just keep writing for now. So, you might be getting another chapter or I might just write half now and the other half later.