Jake's pov:

I'd seen Evan at many different stages. I'd seen him angry, happy, upset, and relaxed. I'd seen all of that and still watching him now as he silently laid there falling apart I didn't know how to help him. He'd been getting better slowly, talking more and there were moments he'd seem to be coming back to himself. But with those moments also came the times were he'd go unresponsive and just lay there, the moments when he'd curl up in my arms and cry. There was the not eating and the waking up from nightmares he wouldn't talk to me about.

I was seeing progress but it was small and I didn't know what I could do to make him feel better. I wanted to help but I felt like nothing I did was making it better. He told me he didn't need anything other than for me to just be there but I still found myself trying to find a way to make him feel more like himself.

He'd still been asleep when I woke up this morning but when I came back from the bathroom he was awake. I knew it was not a great morning the second I saw his face. He laid there staring at the wall in front of him that dazed look in his eyes. His mind was somewhere else and I wanted nothing more than to pull him back to the present.

I did the one thing I thought might help, I crawled into the bed and wrapped my arms around him. I pulled him against my chest and just held him as he laid there.  I needed him to know I was here for him.

We laid there in silence for awhile. I didn't want to force him to speak and he didn't make the move to start a conversation. I was just thinking that maybe he fell back asleep when he finally broke the quiet.

"If I'd known that all I needed to do was get thrown around to be the little spoon I would have done it weeks ago." He tried to joke.

I didn't find the whole thing funny. I couldn't laugh, not when I'd found him bloody in his car, not when he had looked dead slumped in the front seat. There was nothing funny about the thought of losing him like that.

"Don't, please don't joke about that."

"I'm sorry. I know this hasn't been easy for you but I just don't know how I'm supposed to feel right now. I shouldn't be surprised by any of this. I'd given up on my father caring about me years ago but I never expected this. I never thought I'd be left without either of them. Growing up I was in hell with my dad but my mom was a constant throughout everything. How was I so blind my whole life? How did I not see that she was just as bad as he was?"

I could hear how broken he was. He'd lost what was left of his family. He had his whole childhood fall apart so fast. All those memories and ideas about his mother were destroyed and now all he had left was the lies he had been clinging onto.

"It's not on you. You wanted her to love you so that's what you saw. How were you supposed to know when she was the only example of love you had? Don't blame yourself, you weren't blind." I tried to reassure him.

"I came out to her. I sat down and told her about you and I thought she accepted me. I was such an idiot because she went and told my dad the second she could. She knew what he'd do and she just sent him up to my room like it was nothing. I just-," Evan's voice broke and I felt his body shudder against mine. "I just wanted her to love me for me."

And then he finally broke down. I tightened my hold around him as sobs racked through his body. I didn't know when or if Evan would ever be okay but I knew I'd be right here doing my best to hold him together when he needed it.

—

Evan had fallen back asleep. At some point his cries has quieted and his body slumped from exhaustion. I stayed and held him for as long ad I could before I detached with the need to go to the bathroom. Part of me was worried about waking him up but he was totally out of it and didn't even stir as I left the bed.

Instead of returning to bed after I went to the bathroom I headed downstairs to where I could hear my mom quietly moving around. It had been a rough morning and I found myself searching my mom out for a little bit of advice and comfort.

"Hey how are you doing?" She gave me a small smile when she saw me walk into the living room.

"I'm okay," I sighed.

"And how's Evan?"

It was sad that the circumstances made it so Evan didn't really get to meet my family. They met briefly when he got home from the hospital and he crossed paths with them occasionally on the rare occasion he left my room. But this hadn't been how I wanted them to meet and get to know each other. Even still my mom had taken him in with open arms and asked about how he was doing every morning.

"It's not been great, he has some good moments but there are a lot of bad. I want to help but I just don't know what to do."

"You know when you were younger you'd get in these moods where you'd get all worked up and upset over the littlest things. I used to take you out on these little outings or get you to play some type of game with me. I'd find something to get you to do that would just get your mind off whatever it was and focus on something else for a little bit. It might be helpful to find something to help him think about something else even if it's just for twenty minutes or so." My mom suggested.

I was willing to give anything a chance but what was I supposed to do with him? Evan didn't seem all that interested in doing anything at the moment. Part of me wanted to just throw on a Star Wars movie since I knew he loved them but with his concussion I was trying to limit the amount of time he spent staring at a screen.

—

"What is that?" Evan questioned as I dropped a box on the bed.

"We are going to do a puzzle." I announced not really giving him the option to say no.

With the options I had in the house this seemed to be the best idea. It was something we could do that would help Evan get his mind off everything for a little bit.

"Alright but we need a table to do it on." Evan pulled himself from under the covers.

I felt a little bit of relief sweep through me. Part of me still thought he might have said no and stayed buried in my bed for the rest of the day. I wanted him to say yes, to let me try to pull him back to himself.

"Do I look like an amateur puzzler? I know what we need." I teased.

"I'm deciding not to respond to that." Evan rolled his eyes at my antics and grabbed the box.

I took that as a good sign and unfolded the small card table I had tucked in the corner of my room. It was just big enough for this.

I pulled a chair up and when I finally sat down I saw that Evan had already opened the puzzle and had pieces spread out on the table.

"What are you doing?" I asked watching him try to fit pieces together.

"I'm doing the puzzle? Isn't that what you wanted me to do?" He just eyed me.

"Those are middle pieces. You have to sort through to get all the end pieces first and once you finished the outside then you can do the middle part." I explained.

It was like the idiot had never done a puzzle before. There were rules on what to do and he seemed to just be ignoring them all.

"Well I found a couple blue pieces and figured I'd try to put them together."

"Half of the puzzle is sky. There is more than a couple blue pieces." I sighed. "You don't even have all the pieces out, the chances of those being two blue pieces that actually go together are basically none."

Evan just raised his eyebrows at me as he connected the two pieces together. It was dumb luck that the pieces actually fit.

"Can we just do this the right way? I'll let you put together all the stupid blue pieces if you just sort through the puzzle so we can do the border first."

"No I'm the crippled here and I think we should do the puzzle my way." Evan said stubbornly.

"But your way is dumb." I argued.

"Says the guy with no pieces put together." Evan replied.

"I'm never doing another puzzle with you ever again." I complained.

Even as we argued back and forth I felt this warmth spread through me. This was how it was supposed to be. Evan and I bickering and driving each other crazy. No one could take that from us and as we fell back into it I knew no one ever would.

"Shut up and grab a handful of pieces, if you find any blue ones give them to me." Evan just smiled as he grabbed some more pieces from the box.

That one smile was enough to let me know that it was worth it. I'd do this stupid puzzle in the most stupid way just to see that smile a second time.

A/n:

I'm working on writing the final chapter of this book and it's bittersweet for me. I'm excited to have it done but I'm not ready to leave these two boys yet. I love Evan and Jake  so much. I've had such an amazing time writing their story and I don't want it to end.

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!
-Cora Leigh