Marissa above

The following day, I stood in front of Jax's door, gathering up the courage to knock on his door.

Last night was our first real fight and it didn't end well. If he wasn't going to try to fix things I was definitely going to.

Taking a deep breath, I bring my fist to the door only for it to swing open just before I was about to knock.

"Oh, Emma." Jax's mom stares at me with a startled expression. "You scared me, honey. How long have you been standing there? Did I not hear you knock?"

"No, no I just got here," I totally haven't been standing here for ten minutes debating on when to knock. "I'm here to see Jax." As if that wasn't obvious.

"He's in his room, go right in," She opens the door wide and moves aside. "Amanda, hurry up!"

"I'm coming, oh my God!" Amanda's loud foot steps are heard throughout the house.

"We're running a little late for a doctors appointment," she sighs. "I left food on the stove if you and Jax get hungry."

Amanda appears besides me, saying hello and giving me a hug before walking out of the house.

"Remind Jax about the picture frame, please. I left it in the living room. He knows where it goes. I gotta get going." She looks in her bag, throwing things around before getting her car keys out.

"Bye!" I wave them off as she runs to the car and drives off.

Locking the door, I make my way upstairs to Jax's room and knock on his door. There was a rustling noise and movement around before he appears at the door.

His hair was all up in different directions and he was only in his boxers. My eyes trailed down his body as he looked at me with a confused expression.

"What are you doing here?" He asks.

"Not even a hi or nothing, wow." I joke, chuckling nervously.

"Did my mom leave already?" He asks.

I nod. "Yeah, and she said something about a picture frame?"

"Some stupid shit she wants me to hang up. I'll do it later." He moves aside and allows me into his room.

"Uhm, so how was your day?" I ask. "I barely saw you today and Hunter said you left school early. What was that about?"

"Just wasn't feeling school." He shrugs. He grabs his game controller and sits on his bed, putting his game back on play.

"Is that how you're going to be when you start college? Not "feeling school."' I air quote.

He stays quiet, concentrating on his game and doesn't move a muscle to look at me.

"Okay." I sit next to him. "What game are you playing?"

"A game."

"I know it's a game, I'm asking what game."

"Just a game." He squints his eyes at the TV, biting on his lips as he aggressively presses down on the buttons.

I sigh, moving my hair out of my face. "If you aren't going to talk to me then I'm leaving. I'm not going to sit here looking like an idiot trying to work things out while you ignore me. We have no type of communication because of this." I point between us.

I stand up, making my way to the door and just as I was about to open it Jax stops me.

"I want to talk." He says. His game was paused now with the controller put down next to him.

"Oh, okay now you want to talk." I roll my eyes. I walk back and move the control to sit back down.

"Emma," he sighs, "It isn't easy."

"You think it is for me?" I raise an eyebrow. "You have it twisted if you think you going away doesn't hurt me too."

"I know it does!" He raises his voice. "We've been together almost three months now and I feel like every time we take a few steps forward we take a hundred steps back."

I stay quiet, not knowing the right thing to say. I knew he was right. This relationship was falling apart.

"Not every relationship is easy. We can't just break up every time we find it hard to be with each other. If we were to break up now it'll just mean all the hard work we put into it was for nothing." I tell him. "Is this how it's going to be when you leave for college?"

"No, no it's not and I get that, I do but I'm moving, Emma. I want to go to Hopkins and as much as it pains me to say that, because I want to be with you, I do, but I want to go."

He runs a hand through his hair, messing it up even more. He leans against his knees, head hanging down low.

"Then, go," He scoffs once the words leave my mouth. "If Baltimore is what you want then go. I'm not stopping you and I'm not going to. We'll spend the rest of the time we have, which is plenty, to be together and to be happy."

He shakes his head, standing up from the bed. "We can't just pretend everything is fine."

"I know, but we have to. For our sake." I stand up and bring my hand to his face. "I love you, you know that right?"

He nods, not looking up at me. "I know."

"Look at me," he shakes his head. "Can you look at me, please?"

He brings his eyes to meet mine only for them to be flooded with tears. Pain lurked around and within seconds my eyes imitated his.

"We're going to be fine trust me." I tell him. "We are going to be just fine."

- -

Jax and I sat in a booth, pizza in front of us, chatter all around us. We both needed a distraction seeing as these couple of weeks have been difficult for both of us.

"So," he chewed on his food. "My dad called."

My eyes go wide. "What? Why? What'd he say?"

"The usual," he shrugs. "He wants to see me and Amanda."

"What did you tell him?" I wondered.

"Not much, just that he couldn't see Amanda and I definitely don't want to see him. He tried bribing me into going over for dinner."

"Bribing you with what?" I ask.

"Money, what else?" He rolls his eyes. "I'm not taking it."

"I know it's kind of shitty to even ask this," I clear my throat, "but have you ever thought about how you're going to pay for college?"

He wiped his hands with the napkin and washed his food down with his soda. "Well, I'm hoping they'll give me the scholarship to Hopkins but if they don't I'll apply for student loans or financial aid, right that's a thing?"

"Yeah," I chuckle. "It's a thing but it's a process and it depends on certain things."

"Like?"

"I don't know. Your moms income, stuff like that." I fiddle around with my straw, biting on the tip of it. "H-Have you...have you ever thought of asking your dad?"

"What?" He furrows his eyebrows. "No, no fucking way. I rather not even go to college if it means him paying for it. I'll be paying him back my whole life. Forget about it."

"Okay, okay relax it was just a question. Forget I brought it up." My eyes drift to the door and I gasp to myself as a familiar face walks in.

"It's fine, I just don't want anything to do with that man." He tells me.

"Yeah, I get it." I say, focusing all my attention to the familiar ginger brown hair at the entrance of the pizza place with a woman by his side. 

Jax must have noticed how distracted I was, he looked over his shoulder and followed my glance. "What are you staring at?"

"Nothing, just someone who looks familiar." I peer my head over. I look at the woman he was with and admire her beautiful golden blonde hair, pale skin and wide hips.

Just as I was about to look away, his eyes lock into mine and he squints his eyes as he notices me. Waving, he walks over, hand in hand with the woman he was with.

"Emma," he speaks, his accent coming out strong. I stand up, reaching out to hug him. "How are you?"

"Charlie, I'm great. How are you? It's been so long." I smile, pulling away from him.

He looked the same, only happier and he looked like he lost some weight. His blue eyes stared into mine, smiling from ear to ear.

"I'm good, everything's good." He grins. "Sasha, this is Emma, Emma this is my fiancé, Sasha." Charlie introduces us.

Shocked, I shake her hand and smile, congratulating them on their engagement.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I look at Jax. "This is my boyfriend, Jax. Jax, this is Charlie we met at the par-"

"I know who he is." Jax nods.

I clear my throat, looking between them awkwardly as we stand around.

"Should we all sit together? We could catch up." Charlie offers.

"Yes, I'd lov-"

"We actually have to get going." Jax stands up. He places a bill on the table and grabs my hand.

"Uh, actually I-"

"I have a family thing." Jax cuts in.

"I'm sure," Charlie smirks, nodding his head. "Well then, maybe some other time, Emma."

"Actually, I'm sure the whole family thing can wait. I'd love to hear all about how you guys met." I look between Sasha and Charlie.

Jax clenched his jaw, giving me a stern look. I shrug it off and grab an extra chair from another table.

"Perfect." Charlie grins.

We sit back down, all gathered around and I immediately start conversation with Sasha.

"How'd you meet Charlie?" I smile, leaning against my palm as I listen to her speak.

"My brother actually introduced us. They work together and he thought it was a good idea to set us up." She tells me.

"From the moment we met we clicked. A month later I asked her to marry me and here we are. I would love it if you were at the wedding." Charlie speaks. "You are welcomed too Jax."

"Mhm, thanks." Jax gives him a soft smile.

"I'll definitely be there. What are you doing here anyways? You live so far from here." Moments of the night I was at his house popped into mind. The same night Jax picked me up and we had a memorable night in his car.

"Sasha lives in town, we actually came to meet her parents at this charity event but I needed some real food." Charlie explains.

"We made a run for it before anyone could even see." Sasha laughed.

  "Well, I'm really happy for you both." I smile.

"The wedding is in June," Charlie looks at Sasha. "We hope to see you guys there, I'll send you the invitations Emma."

"Thank you." I smile. I look at Jax tapping away at the table as he looks around the pizza place. He looked miserable. "Listen, we, uh, we have to get going." I say and Jax sighs, looking at me and Charlie.

"Oh, of course it was nice seeing you." Charlie says, his accent sounding strong as ever.

"It was nice meeting you, Sasha." I say.

"You too." She smiles widely.

After saying our goodbyes, Jax and I get into his car. He was quiet the whole way back to my house.

When we finally did get to my house he let out a breath and looked over at me.

"What was that?" Jax said to me.

"What was what?" I questioned.

"You know what, stop playing dumb. What the fuck was that man doing there?" He raises his voice.

"Did you not hear what they said? They were at some family event. Did you think I planned on seeing him there or something?" He stayed quiet, shaking his head. "You're unbelievable."

"Emma, wait." He calls out for me once I open the car door. "I'm sorry."

"Yeah, you should be."

"I got jealous, okay? I'm sorry, I reacted bad." He tells me.

I stay quiet, nodding my head and realizing he did the right thing by apologizing. I lean back in and give him a kiss.

"I'll see you tomorrow." I say.

He nods, pecking my lips once more and I get out, shutting the door.

When I finally got to my bed, I sighed in relief as I let the warmth of my blankets keep me cozy.

The sun was starting to set and as I remembered I had homework, I took my things from my bag and began doing it.

"Emma," dad calls from the doorway. "I have to go to the station, I don't know when I'll be back but I'll call you later." He was out of breath and frantic standing there.

"Okay, be safe." I tell him. "I'll see you tomorrow if anything."

"Bye, kiddo."