Chapter 31

Jace:

"Hey, I'm Jace, what's your name?" He looks at me confused. I notice that there seems to be a touch of sadness in his eyes.

"My name is Camerone...what are you doing here?" He looks at me with a confused look on his face as if I said something strange. Now it is my turn to look around confused not realizing that we were in front of the middle school. Funny enough the middle school is on the way home, I surely didn't mean to stop here I just saw him and thought that I would be friendly.

"I actually live just down the street from here, so I was just on my way home. What are you doing here?" I see an emotion race across his eyes. I'm not sure what emotion but if I had to guess it looked like pain or hurt, I feel like it has something to do with the sadness written all over his face. 'I wonder why he would be sad and feeling hurt?'

"Oh ummm, sorry I seen you at school and I thought that maybe you had followed me, kids in high school are crazy I just don't know how to feel about this generation. I'm actually picking up my little sister. Both of our parents..." He pauses for a moment visibly struggling to swallow, I can see in that moment more sadness and pain all over his features. "My parents actually killed by a drunk driver last week and unfortunately we are all each other have, sorry to spring that on you I don't really talk to anyone, and I just felt and urge to tell you." Instantly my heart drops to my ass and I feel like a total asshole.

"I am so sorry dude that is so sad, would you maybe want to maybe come over to my house for dinner? My mom is making lasagna, your sister can come too." I give him a reassuring smile to show that I am only trying to be friendly, truth be told I don't have any friends and I feel like we could be the best of friends. Next thing I know a very beautiful young girl is approaching us. 'Holy shit! She is not too much younger than we are, she has to be in what 8th grade and I am only a sophomore, so we really are only a few years apart in age.' I look from Camerone to the pretty girl, and I can definitely see the resemblance. She is shorter with beautiful long black hair; she meets my gaze and all thoughts I had instantly scatters, 'Holy fuck! Her eyes are unbelievably irresistible, they have got to be the most beautiful things that I have ever seen. They are a magnificent shade of hazel with the most unique purple flakes. Her eyes are absolutely mesmerizing, I surely have never encountered someone so beautiful.'

"Jace this is my little sister Scarlet. Scar this is my new friend Jace. He has invited us over for dinner tonight." I can hear him speaking but I am so distracted by her absolute beauty that I can't seem to put my thoughts together let alone put together a full coherent sentence.

"Hi Scarlet, it is very nice to meet you. I hope that you like lasagna and I hope to see you at dinner tonight." I give her my most charming smile and try to force myself to take my eyes off of her. It really shouldn't be so difficult to look away from someone, but I am learning that I am indeed wrong and that I may have a lot to learn at this point.

"Nice to meet you also. I love lasagna my mother used to cook it for me once a week." She looks at me a smiles innocently with a tinge of pain and sadness. "Cam we should probably stop home; I would like to change before dinner. Jace thank you for inviting us for dinner Cam and I will be there to join you for dinner." Her breathtaking eyes are so full of pain that it looks as if the tears in her eyes will spill over at any second.

"See you soon. I can't wait to have you guys over." I try to smile at her warmly with understanding just as she is turning to walk away but not before I managed to see a single tear slip down her face. Seeing the pain in her eyes and seeing the pain slip down her beautiful, sweet face almost brings me to my knees.

'I think I am in some serious trouble here; I just made a friend and now I am smitten by his little sister.' I already feel this unbearable urge to protect her. It is shocking to me to feel such intense emotions for anyone let alone someone I just met. I have never in my life experienced anything like this before, you always read about this stuff in books or see it in movies, but I never thought that it was a real thing. I watch as she walks away and disappears from my sight. I turn back to Camerone suddenly remembering that he is still here standing next to me.

"Sorry about Scarlet ever since the accident she hasn't been her usual happy self, but I mean I understand this is how she is grieving, unfortunately it is the only way that she knows how to." He looks at me with an apologetic look on his face.

"Oh, dude don't even worry about it. I don't think that I could cope any better if I had just lost my parents." I shrug letting him know that I am not offended by the interaction. Camerone hands me his phone "Here if you give me your number, I can text you and you can send me your address." I quickly enter my phone number into his phone and pass it back to him.

I snap back to the present once again hearing the mechanical beep of her heartbeat and once again I feel the red-hot poker going straight through my heart. "Fuck Scar I miss you so much." I drag in a ragged breath feeling my chest tighten as tears begin to run down my face once again as is becoming normal in the last few days, "Please Babygirl come back to me. My love we need you. Open those hypnotic eyes for me. Fight to come back, I love you baby!" I squeeze her hand willing her to finally open her eyes but to no avail. I kiss her forehead quickly losing hope once again that she may never come back to me. I look at the clock on the wall of her room and I see that visiting hours are over in 5 minutes.

"Goodnight my love. We will be back again in the morning." I kiss her forehead again before leaving her room. I stop in the doorway and look at her one last time, except this time I don't see the woman she has become but the beautiful girl that I fell for the first time I ever met her. I peel my eyes off of her with a heavy heart and force my feet to drag me in the direction of my truck. Cam left much earlier in the day to rest a little bit since he went back to work today, I don't blame him work is the best distraction especially when you can't fix the immediate situation.

I climb into the driver's seat of my truck feeling completely numb and as if a part of me is dead. I can no longer smell her sweet scent lingering and my heart squeezes hard in my chest bringing tears to my eyes once again. I pull out my phone and type a quick message to Stella to give her an update.

Hey Ella, sorry it's been a while since my last check in. So far there is no change. The doctor said this is completely normal considering the accident that she was in. Her beautiful plump lips are still obstructed by the breathing and feeding tubes. She still hasn't opened her eyes. Cam is in a very rough place, not that I am in a better place. Cam went back to work, and I am just leaving the hospital to try and probably fail at trying to get some sleep.

I hit send and toss my phone on my seat as I feel the tears once again streaming down my face, feeling the hole inside my chest swallowing me whole. I wipe the tears from my face with my shirt and I put my truck into drive almost as if I am on autopilot and drive my way over to Cam's house where I will just lay in a ball on Scarlet's bed and let the darkness take over as it does every night since she has been in the hospital.