Chapter 32
Jill Valentine
Claire's gone... They moved, and Chris is pretty torn up by it. He's graduating today and he's not the least bit excited. He's got his gown and cap and everything and Piers, Helena, my parents and I are all going to watch but he's fucking depressed. "You're going to be late. We should leave now," I tell him. "Yeah, you're probably right." I walk with him to the car and he drives us to the graduation. It's a quiet ride, most of it spent staring at him as he stares at the road. We get to the school and everyone else is already there, including my parents and Piers. They have a whole stage set up on the football field, and Chris rushes to catch up with the rest of the class. I sit next to Piers and watch as Chris goes through with the ceremony. Seeing Chris standing up there with the rest of his classmates, I could see a military man in him. He looks so hot, in both ways. The begin handing out the diplomas and when Chris' name comes up our whole group stands and cheers. We were the only family to do that for their kid, even though none of us were actually related to him. I thought it was funny, and the look on Chris' face showed that he thought it was funny too.
After the big ceremony, everyone tosses their hat in the air and then Chris joins us. I run into him, holding him in a huge hug. "You're all grown up Chris," I say. He laughs. "And you're still a little kid." I laugh now. "Jill... I love you." He sounds hesitant. "I love you too." He smiles and I take his hand before we begin to walk toward the car. Everyone piles into our car and we head back to the house for a small party my parents decided they wanted to have. It would be just us, but mom made a cake and I wasn't going to lie, she made the best fucking cakes. So we all head inside and we all talk and eat cake and snacks and such. Chris seems glued to my side the entire time, I'm not complaining though.
After the party, Piers, Helena, Chris and I were hanging out in my room. Nothing different than usual. Chris had changed, now sporting a pair of shorts and tight t-shirt. He's so perfect... The way his shirt clings to his chest and the shorts outlining his chiseled ass. Jesus Christ... I'm going to miss him. They're all talking and I'm sitting in the circle we've formed but I'm silent, simply thinking that he's leaving. I can see it on Piers too, the realization that Chris, the group boyfriend as we called him behind closed doors, was leaving us and its a good bet we'd never see him again. And the thought is terrifying. "Jill," he pulls me close to him, "You've been pretty quiet tonight." I pull him into a deep kiss and he's clearly confused. I pull back and my eyes begin to tear. Not tear really, I became a human waterfall and Chris was so confused. I'm sure everyone was. "Jill, what's wrong?" "I don't want want you to go." He hugs me even tighter than before. I can see over his shoulder and Piers looks down. He's trying not to look at us but I can see he's upset. He was losing Chris too... we all were so close and now were splitting up. Wow. I can't believe it.
July 12th, the day before Chris leaves. He took me out for one last hurrah, and we slept together both of us knowing, but never saying, that this is the last time we'll ever get to spend time together again. I laid next to him, curled up under his arm as he whispered 'I love you' and 'I'm sorry I have to go'. Its not his fault, I don't blame him. This is his dream and I'm happy for him. I'm not sure he believes that.
"Jill," he hesitates, "I wanted to ask you something." He's extremely nervous. I smile back at him reassuringly. "I wanted to ask... W-will you marry me?" My eyes are wide with shock as he opens the black box with the beautiful diamond ring inside. "I thought, since I was leaving... when I got out of the academy we could make it official and plan everything. I-I love you Jill." I feel like throwing up. Did I actually want to marry him? I loved him with all my fucking heart but... do I want to jump straight into marriage? I hadn't had any experiences, and was I ready to tie myself down? "Chris I- I can't." "What?" His whole face drops, all the excitement and happiness is gone. He sits up in bed throwing off the blanket. "Chris!" I sounded desperate, because I was. I love him, I don't want to break up with him at all. I'm just not ready for marriage.
"Why?" "What," I ask. "I thought we were perfect. Why not?" "We are perfect. Chris, I love you but I'm not ready to be married!" "It would be a few years before we could get married! Just say yes and I'll have something to think ahead to. Something beautiful!" "I'm sorry." He puts on his clothes and leaves the room. I don't know where he's going. I break down in tears. This is it, the end of Chris and me. Its my fault too, but I just can't marry him. Not yet.
Piers Nivans
I sat in my house, Helena was out with Forest. They'd been hooking up for a while, nothing serious, just making out and occasional sex. I hear the doorbell ring, I let my dad get it because I wasn't expecting company. I hear heavy footsteps running up the stairs and in a few second Chris was standing in my doorway. "Chris?" "Piers." He walks in and sits on my bed, like it was completely normal. I mean, I guess it kind of was but this was different. Something was definitely off. "What's up man?" He looks to me, then back down at the floor. He completely breaks down, crying like crazy. I move over to the bed and wrap my arm around his back to try and calm him down but that didn't help. Did I ever mention that Chris' cry was gross? He can bearly breath and there's snot leaking from his nose and ugh. It's disgusting! But he's my best friend and I love him so I'm here for him. "Chris, just tell me what happened?" I finally ask after a minutes of trying to get him together enough to speak.
"I proposed... to Jill. And she said no." "Chris... I'm sorry." "I thought things were going so well too." He sniffles. "I thought she'd agree and once I graduated we'd get married but... She said no. Said she wasn't ready to be tied down. I guess I'm not enough." "Chris. Don't talk like that! She's just young. Hell, we all are. We can't get married yet." "It'll be a few years 'til I'm out of the Academy. She'll be twenty-two!" "Chris, we're still young. We haven't had any life experiences, she just doesn't want to be tied down yet. What if she goes to school in New York? She's suppose to wait for you and not go to an amazing school?" "N-No, but... I don't want to talk about it anymore." He lays down on the bed. I guess he's staying here. I lay down next to him. "Chris. You know she cares about you. She just isn't ready for that." "Yeah." "I care about you too. And I know that you'll be fine out there." He looks over to me and smiles. I wrap my arm around him and he does the same. "You're always here for me Piers... Why?" I laugh. "Are you serious?" "Nah. Thanks though." I wasn't going to steal Chris from Jill, I wasn't going to do that twice. I was just trying to comfort him. He was really upset. People might not believe that, but I was NOT trying to sleep with Chris. I was trying to be a friend, maybe I was being a little too close to him but whatever, leave me be!
Jill Valentine
He left, all the Redfield's have left Raccoon City. I can't believe it. He left while I was sleeping. I didn't even have a chance to say goodbye. I had enough time to have caught him at the bus, but I didn't think I could face him. I was probably right, but now... He's gone and the last thing I said to him was basically that I didn't love him! I do! I love him more than anything else, but he doesn't believe that now! Jesus Christ, why is my life so fucking drama filled!? The doorbell just rang? I go to answer it and it's Piers, probably to talk about all of this. We head upstairs after he says 'Hello' to my parents.
"So, he proposed?" I fall face first into the mattress, screaming into the material. "Don't you want that though?" I sit up now. "I don't know. I mean, I love him but... I just think that we're too young to be sure that we're perfect for eachother." "That's what I thought." "Huh?" "He stayed over my place last night and was asking why you said no. I told him pretty much that exactly." "I fucked up Piers, this is worse than the Carlos Incident!" "Well, at least he didn't fuck your best friend this time." I shoot him an angry glare, why would he remind me of that!? We're quiet for what feels like hours before I whisper, "I didn't even get to say goodbye." A tear falls down my face. "Oh Jill. He missed you when he left." "You went with him!" "I mean, he asked me to." "But he told you he was going to sneak out without saying goodbye to me?!" "I tried to tell him not to, but he wasn't going to listen to me. You hurt him Jill." "I didn't mean to, I just wasn't ready to commit my life to a high school relationship!" "I understand Jill, but he was really upset."
I shake my head, I can't believe this happened. Any of it. Piers was here to comfort me now. Holding me close as I cried it out. It's weird, I didn't actually feel like crying until he told me how upset Chris was. I should've been there to say goodbye. I should've met him before he got on the bus. Now I can't even tell him how I feel and he won't ever want to see me again. God damnit!