Non omnis moriar.

That's what is written in cursive along Jesse's left rib cage. He got it for his birthday, a year after his mother's death; a present from his aunt. He never told her what it meant and she never asked. No one has never asked, not even India.

Not all of me shall die.

Since he got it in the back room of a dirty tattoo parlor it has been a constant reminder to not give up. The day his mother died a part of him died as well, but not all of him. It was important to Jesse for him to remember that. There was a part of him that still had a chance to make a life, to be happy.

And it was sitting right in front of him.

The apartment was silent of all noise, nobody dared to make a sound as Bud's cousin stared at the phone that had just finished playing a video of him singing.

India sat next to him, letting him clutch her hand with a death grip as he nervously waited for the verdict.

Bud's cousin was fresh out of college and was working for a music label. She wanted to find a fresh new artist that could change her internship into a lifelong career. She had hoped Jesse was the one and he wished the same.

The young woman uncrossed her legs and then crossed them again, letting her black rimmed blue eyes fall on Jesse. He felt India's grip tighten on him.

"Well," she began, as Jesse held his breath, "I don't think I can do much with this."

His heart sank into his shoes. He moved all the way to New York for this opportunity; for this one moment with this woman sitting in front of him, and it held all just blown away in the wind.

"What do you mean," India asked harshly. "He's amazing, I know you know that." India glared at the woman sitting across from her in the dirty apartment.

She knew the second she laid eyes on the young woman that she was a problem. Maybe it was the fact that she was downright gorgeous or that she was giving Jesse sultry stares since he walked through the door. India didn't want to be jealous but it was hard not too when such a seductive woman obviously wanted her boyfriend, and was obviously more his type.

She had a lip piercing, tattoos covering her left arm, and purple hair; not mention her outrageous curves that made India look like a Popsicle stick.

India noticed the way that Jesse's brother glared at her after she spoke, but Jesse didn't. He was too busy staring down at his shoes, heartbroken over his dream being crushed.

By now India knew that Justin didn't like her for whatever reason. Whenever she came into the room he would leave. Whenever Jesse invited her to hang out with both of them he bailed. India could feel that she was coming between the two brothers.

But right now she didn't care. She wanted to protect her boyfriend.

The model like woman laid her eyes on India. They narrowed in distaste but she tried hiding it with a smile. "Well aren't you a fierce thing? If you want your . . . boyfriend  . . . to succeed then you need to tone it down a bit."

"I'm trying-"

"India," snapped Justin.

She looked up at him astonished that he would speak to her that way. When she looked over at Jesse to see his reaction she found that he had none. He was too busy wallowing to even notice them.

"Jesse," she whispered sadly, resting a hand on his shoulder.

He shrugged her off, standing up to his feet. "I'm going for a walk."

"Oh don't do that!" The woman, whose name was Sierra called out, making Jesse stop in his tracks. "We need to plan a meeting."

"A meeting," he asked confused. "I thought you just said I wasn't good enough."

She giggled, grabbing her bag and standing up. "You jumped to conclusions. I meant that I couldn't use the video. It wouldn't impress my boss, he's an old fashioned man. The only way you can get into the business is if you show him what you can do yourself. What do you say?"

Jesse stared at her astonished. "You mean . . . you want me to play in front of him?"

She grinned widely, coming over to stand in front of him while India stayed back and glared at the seductress. "Yes, that is exactly what I mean. You're good Jesse. You might make the label millions even and you'll land me a job."

"I told you he was good," Bud said from the corner of the room, munching on a bag of chips.

"My boss comes back from vacation tomorrow and he'll be in a good mood. Let's plan on you coming over to the office in two days. You'll have three minutes to impress him. If you don't do that then you're out. Understand?"

"Yes," he nearly shouted in glee. "I'll do it. I can do it."

"Good," Sierra said, planting a hand on his chest, right above his heart. "I hope to see you more often Mr. Cress."

India glared fire balls at the woman as her cousin walked her out. She came back to earth once Jesse shouted in excitement and jumped in the air. His brother joined in on the celebration and hugged his brother, lifting him up.

"I'm so proud of you brother! By this time next year you'll be famous!"

"Thanks," Jesse sighed, looking his brother in the eye. "I couldn't do this without you."

Justin smiled and clapped a hand on his back. "You're my little brother. I'll do anything for you. Now what do you say we go to the bar? You can order soda," he said with a wink.

Jesse chuckled, already reaching for his coat. "Sounds great, but you're buying."

"Well I am the one with the job aren't I," Justin joked, opening the front door.

The two brothers continued to throw jabs at each other while India slipped on her shoes. The door slammed shut behind the two, leaving India alone to stare at the door in confusion. She was supposed to go with them, wasn't she?

She hurriedly grabbed her jacket and opened the door, only to find that her boyfriend and his brother were gone. Dejectedly she walked back into the apartment and threw her jacket on the couch. Peeking through the window she watched as Jesse and Justin slipped into a taxi. The door closed behind them and they were off.

For half an hour India waited on the couch for a phone call or a text, anything to tell her what just happened. Eventually she realized that she wasn't going to get one.

As upset with Jesse as she was for leaving her behind she didn't want to mope all night in an empty apartment. She didn't want to be alone with her thoughts when there was an entire city at her fingertips. Not thinking twice about it India grabbed her jacket and the set of keys off the table.

...

It was only when India was in line at Burger King that she realized she didn't have any money to buy food. Her stomach grumbled in protest as the cashier looked at her with a bored look. He clearly hated his job.

"I said it's going to be seven, eighty."

A man with a child behind her grumbled, "Come on lady. Hurry up."

India searched her pockets one last time, coming up short. She apologetically looked at the cashier. "I must have forgotten my money at home. Can you cancel the order please?"

The cashier glared at her before clicking a few buttons on the screen. She moved out of the way of the line, not daring to look at any of the impatient customers. She was hungry, starving really since Jesse told her that he would make them dinner at home. But clearly he forgot about that. And her.

She walked outside onto the busy streets of New York and fished her phone out of her pocket. The day was not going so great for her and the sun was going down. When her phone didn't show any notifications India felt her eyes sting with tears.

She leaned against the glass windows and pressed her hands against her eyes, trying to keep her tears at bay. It only made it worse and soon India was sliding down onto the sidewalk, her body shaking with sobs as her emotions got the best of her.

At the moment she wanted to hold Jesse but also hit him. How could you love somebody so much but at the same time be upset with them so often? She didn't know what she was going to say to him once she got home. She wondered if he would get home before her and notice she was gone. Would he finally call or even notice?

Of course he was caught up in the moment; he had a real chance at fulfilling his dream, but it was telltale signs to India that he cared more about this dream of his than her. She didn't want to be upset about that but she was. He was the only person she had now and she couldn't risk losing him.

Suddenly a hand rested on her shoulder and India jolted away. She looked over to see a beautiful blonde woman crouched beside her. She had her hair pulled up into a bun and was wearing a sweat shirt and shorts, plus oversized sunglasses even though it was getting dark out.

"Can I help you," India asked, wiping the tears away off her cheeks.

The woman smiled, show casing a set of perfectly white teeth. "I saw you in there," she nodded towards the fast food restaurant, "and I wanted to help you."

"What do you mean," India asked confused. The woman acted nice sure but she didn't know her at all.

"Mom," yelled a small voice. Both women looked over to see a short brunette running towards them, a man dressed in suit chasing after her. "Did you get ice cream?"

"You're not allowed to have ice cream," the woman said, taking her daughter into her arms. "You've had enough sugar today."

"But Mom," whined the little girl. "Uncle Marco said I could get one! A big one!"

"Oh did he now," asked the woman, glaring up at the man who was panting for breath.

"You weren't supposed to tell her that Princess," he hissed at his niece, with a wink. "You know Eddie," he heaved, "your daughter runs fast for having such short legs."

"I'm not short," yelled the little girl before she kicked the man in the shins. The man bit back his tongue from cussing while the woman laughed joyfully.

"Good job Alexandria. Daddy taught you well."

India began to stand, ready to walk away from the family who hadn't taken notice of her. She would rather cry in privacy. As she turned away the woman jolted to her feet, yelling, "Wait! I have something for you!"

India looked at her warily. The woman bent down and picked up a brown paper bag that was hidden behind her before. Handing it out to India she said, "Here you go. I hope I got the right order."

India looked at the bag and back at the woman. "You bought me food?"

"I heard that you didn't have any money with you and you looked really upset. I wanted to help." The woman placed the bag in India's arms, not giving her the chance to hand it back.

"You didn't have to do that."

"It's no problem," the woman waved it away.

"But-"

"Don't," the woman said, holding up her hand. "Please don't tell me that I shouldn't have done it because well, I did. And don't thank me either."

India was at a loss of words. Why would a complete stranger be so kind to her? "Um well . . ."

"Oh no," said the man, picking up the little girl. "She's about to thank you Aria. We better run." Quickly the man was off, running into Burger King with the girl hanging over his shoulder laughing.

"I hope tomorrow goes better for you," the woman said, taking off her sunglasses and slipping them into her purse. "Pretty girls like you should smile more often." The woman turned around and followed the pair through the doors.

India made the walk back to the apartment, digging into the bag to grab some fries. While on the subway she finished her burger, not caring that she was one of those people who ate on the train. She was in a better mood thanks to a kind stranger who had finally taken notice of her.

India hoped that by the time she got back to the apartment she wouldn't have missed Jesse. She wanted to celebrate with him and put her sour mood behind her.

Luckily, he still wasn't home when she got there. She sent him a text asking when he would be home. While she waited for his response she whipped up a batch of sugar cookies, his favorite and searched for a new movie they could watch on the TV. When he got the record deal India would celebrate with him more and go out on the town as he's been asking her to do for days. For tonight though she thought he would have been exhausted after going out with his brother.

The cookies finished baking and the movie had started, and still she had not received word from her boyfriend. She shot him another text and after thirty minutes of no response she called him. He didn't answer and she was growing worried. Justin and Bo wouldn't let anything happen to him, would they?

She called two more times before someone finally picked up.

"What," asked an irritated voice.

India bit her tongue before she could snap at Justin. "Where's Jesse," she asked instead. "I've been trying to get ahold of him."

"He's busy," he said, his voice barely audible over the sound of music in the back ground. It sounded like obnoxious techno music, the kind Jesse despises.

"Doing what," India asked even more worried now.

"What," yelled Justin, nearly making India go deaf.

She rolled her eyes and yelled into the phone, "What are you guys doing?"

"We're having fun!"

Then the line went dead.

Did anyone find the cameo;)
What are your feelings on this chapter?