***

Jesse forced his eyes shut in contempt, then looked me dead in the eye. "Please," he begged me.

I turned on the ignition without making a sound and looked straight ahead, dismissing Jesse's intense gaze, which was hovering on my profile.

What the hell was this all about? Did it have anything to do with what happened back at the recital? Was this the reason why he'd been acting so shady up until now?

But most importantly, does this relate to why he lied straight to my face that very night?

I tried not to let the urge and hecticness of my thoughts distract me as Jesse gave me directions to get to his house and kept my eyes glued to the road. Everything was becoming a little to confusing for me right then and there.

The car ride was silent, if you ignored Jesse's anxious taps on his lap or on the window frame. We were there within five to ten minutes, he lived in Lower South Providence - a rough neighbourhood by Providence River. I examined the streets of that place as I drove, perfectly aware of Jesse's self-conscious glances to my right.

The houses were close to each other, every one of them was this light blue colour - almost white. They had a single story and a traditional, grey-coloured roof.

"Stop the car," he demanded, frantically unfastening his seatbelt.

I barely had any time to pull over before he had jumped out of the car and headed towards one of those little homes, practically at full speed.

Should I stay in the car, or - ?

I mean, it would be kind of rude to intrude but this looked like a serious matter, so perhaps the right thing to do was provide moral support.

Or you're just worried about Jesse and want to go check on him...

"Shut up," I whispered to myself.

This was not the time for internal dilemmas.

Apparently, today my body had woken up with the sole mission to act purely out of impulses and without my brain's consent and, before I could even try to make sense of what I was doing, I was locking the car up and following Jesse into his house.

"Damn it," I cursed on my way there.

I didn't like the way I was losing control over my thoughts and actions, I knew I needed to start rebuilding my walls up before I ended up doing something I would regret.

When I finally found the strength to go inside, Jesse had just succeeded calming his mother down and she inevitably noticed my presence, her eyes meeting mine.

"H-hi," she said.

Jess turned around, he was a little startled by me being there instead of in the car. "Mom, this is my friend Jade."

I waved at her awkwardly.

I definitely didn't think this through, at all.

"We know each other from Uni," he explained.

Jesse's mom nodded.

I could tell she was curious, though. Maybe it was the first time he'd ever brought a girl home, probably she would've react it differently, had the situation been a little less tense.

"I'll be outside if you need me," I told them and quickly went up to the door after giving them both a sympathetic look.

A few minutes later Jesse came out, reluctant to look straight at me. "She's resting it out," he informed me.

What the hell was going on? Was his mother sick?

He came up to me and sat by my side, upon the steps of that small wooden porch.

Jesse sighed silently. "I owe you an explanation."

Now, more than ever, I needed to stick to my emotionless visage. I knew from experience that the last thing anyone in these type of situation needs is people giving them the pity look. That look was the equivalent to a hard punch to the stomach, and I wasn't about to let anyone experience that too.

"You don't owe me anything, Jesse," I said. "Everyone is entitled to their own privacy."

"I know but no one is entitled to lie." He looked down at his wandering hands. "Like I did to you at the concert."

There it is.

I already knew that, deep down. I had been witnessing that look for more time than anyone should ever have to, so it really came as no surprise to me.

"Especially after you confided in me with something so personal," he added. "That was wrong and I'm sorry."

Why did every word he spoke feel like a constant weight building up on my shoulders?

"It's okay, really."

Jesse glanced at me uneasily. "I still want you to know, though."

I looked away from the intensity of his gaze and swallowed hard, trying to wash down my feelings. This Jesse was making me nervous. I had gotten used to his stuttering, awkward side and this was taking me by surprise.

Is it wrong that I have this voice dancing around in the back of my mind, warning me that he might still be lying? That all this might be an act? I guess I one can't fully trust anyone when they don't entirely trust themselves.

But can you blame me for that? I wouldn't trust me if I were in his shoes.

"My dad- " Jesse sighed as he searched for the right words to say.

"My dad never walked out on us," he finally said.

That caught my attention, my eyes instantly landed on his, filled with curiosity.

Words came out of my mouth almost as a whisper. "That's horrible."

"Not really," he argued. "It was for the best, Mom and I are better off without him."

A frown entrenched itself in my face, when it suddenly hit me.

"He was abusive." It wasn't a question, but more of a statement.

Jesse just nodded in response.

It made total sense. Jesse had always laid low, avoiding any and every possible form of conflict or confrontation. He was self aware and most of the time kept to himself. That's also why he had been having trouble trusting me - he had trouble trusting people in general.

He never craved for attention, he had had too much of it paid to him when he was younger - and not precisely the good type. No one in his shoes could've ever turned out to be an attention seeker, that was for sure.

What intrigued me, though, is how he had grown up to be so expressive. With an abusive father figure, you'd think he would've learnt to conceal his feelings.

How was he so... normal?

"At first he was just really possessive but never did he lay a hand on me or my mom." Jesse's stare became distant as his eyes wandered around with no set destination.

"Then he started getting into alcohol and later other stronger stuff followed close behind. We started picking up on how he slowly became more and more violent, more aggressive. A few out of proportion tugs and shoves here and there, but nothing to crazy. We just blamed it on the problems he'd been having at work."

Jesse let out a dry laugh at his own sentence.

My features softened while I studied his expression. I had never seen him like this. He looked lost.

Broken.

"Suddenly, it felt like he'd transformed into this totally different person overnight and one day I looked in his eyes and no longer saw my father. He'd become a stranger to his own family." Jesse's lips formed a flat line as if that were a completely normal thing to say, as if it'd been unavoidable.

Maybe I shou-

"So one night, after almost a whole year of enduring all sorts of shit, he came home drunk - he'd spent the whole day out drinking with a few friends. Mom had gone out to visit one of her friends and got a little held up, so my father let jealousy blind him and when she came back -"

Jesse shut his eyes to regain his composure after trailing off.

Utterly uncharacteristically of me, I scooted over to him and pulled him into a hug.

"He just lost it and wouldn't stop hitting her and I- I -" Jesse huffed in despair. "I just watched it happen."

His voice died towards the end of those last words.

I placed my hand on the back of his head. "Jess, you were just a kid."

He drifted his stare up to me and I watched as the emotion slowly left his dark eyes. "He could've killed her, she could've - "

"But he didn't," I interrupted him before he started spiralling and slid my hand down to his shoulder, giving it a small, reassuring squeeze. "You're both okay now, right?"

"We were," he replied. "Until I got a call from our lawyer, telling me his sentence was being reassessed due to - " Jesse clenched his jaw harshly and took a deep breath, "- good behaviour," he spat in disgust.

My heart felt for him, and almost dropped to the floor.

It was weird for me to experience actual feelings again, even if it were only for a split second, and I didn't like it one bit.

Nonetheless, I had lived through countless years of continuous vacuousness and emptiness, so it was easy for me to stop myself from letting those feelings linger on for too long. I would never let them become a liability.

"I'm sure they won't actually go through with that and if they do, there's no way he'll be let anywhere close to you or your mom," I said.

"Let's hope you're right about that."

Jesse swiftly took hold of my hand, again.

When I got myself into this, I wasn't expecting to have to bring my guard up so many times around him and yet, here I was.

"Thank you, Jade." Jesse locked eyes with me, bringing this whole other side with him that, for the first time, was making me doubt myself a little too much.

"And before you ask why- " Jesse smiled. "- for being your unapologetic self and just being there, really."

I literally had no clue what to do or say to that.

"I mean, I would've probably freaked out if I had been in your shoes, so yeah." He chuckled lowly. "Thank you."

I could only bring myself to stare at his newly-found forwardness in awe, while I was left to question everything I had gone through and all the choices I had made up to this date.

"I- I don't know what to say."

The light of his porch beamed on his face, slightly reflecting on the dimple on his cheek. "You can say anything, as long as you don't follow it up by calling me Jessica."

A quiet giggle escaped my mouth. "Don't give me any ideas."

***

"Sorry I kept you away for this long." Jesse scratched his head apologetically. "I'm sure you'd rather be doing anything else on a Friday evening."

"It's fine," I told him as I unbuckled my seatbelt. "I mean it is true and all, but it's fine."

His sardonic glare caused my chest to vibrate as I hummed in amusement. Opening the passenger door, I stepped foot onto the dark, hard concrete, which appeared pitch black under the stars.

"If you need anyone to talk to -" I smothered a sly smirk and crouched down a little so I had a clear view of Jesse's face, "- please don't call me."

His loud scoff was followed by a genuine laugh of his own. "Screw you, Jade."

I bit my lower lip to quell a giggle.

"See you later, Jessica," I said and shut the door close.

My eyes could barely make out the expression he held as I watched him drive away into the darkness of the night.

"Well, today was eventful," I mumbled as I unlocked the door to Liz's house.

I went up the stairs and stopped by her door, debating whether or not I should tell her about everything that had just gone down. Although, maybe Jesse wouldn't appreciate me telling anyone about it, even Liz.

Either way, I remembered that I had made a mental note to ask Liz about why she'd been acting so weird, so I went into her room regardless.

"Hey Liz, we have to tal - what the fuck?!"

***

A/N

Ayeeeee back to back cliffhangers whagwan BIATCHES, LOL. I know y'all love these deep down, even though your first instinct is to want to murder me in my sleep.

MAYDAY MAYDAY, WHY DOES IT FEEL LIKE THIS BITCH'S WALLS ARE TUMBLING?

DAMN IT!

Anyways, moving on... I mean we all saw this coming - Liz was acting shady so it was only a matter of time until we found out why.

The question is... what the fuck is she up to? LOL.

*Jade scoffs* "I mean, I didn't see it coming and I'm - well, me."

*The author flinches and switches her attention to the hazel eyed predator* "Oh my god, you scared me."

*Jade smirks mischievously*

*The author narrows her eyes, then smiles at the reader* "Well, that only means I'm doing a good job hinting stuff, heheh."

*Jade violently shoves the author out of frame* "Anyway guys, catch you in the next one."

*The author ungracefully blows a strand of hair away from her face* "Really? You waited nine chapters to say what we rehearsed?"

*Jade shrugs* "I guess I did, yeah."

Alright guys well, what she said.

CYA!!

***