gah, I hate having to write on weekends. that's why I didn't update saturday. I kind of like and dislike this chapter. idk. I hope you guys like, I wrote all of this on my phone. <3

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Eliza dropped her phone on the counter, forgetting about Jason, only thinking about the last words he said to her.

'There is a man that's going to shoot both of you!'

Everything felt like slow motion to her. First there was a loud, ear-splitting gunshot, which sent chills throughout her whole body. Then there was a loud shriek of pain. Eliza ran as quickly as she could to the living room only to find Chase sprawled out on the floor in an increasing puddle of blood.

A small shriek of shock escaped Eliza's mouth as she desperately tried to erase the image in front of her. His eyes were shut, and frankly, it didn't look like he was breathing at all. She didn't know if he was unconscious or... dead.

"Chase!" Eliza shouted, running to his side. Tears flew down her face at a rapid pace, while her heart ached in worry and despair for him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and sobbed, hoping that everything would be fine when she had a huge feeling that it wasn't.

Pathetically wiping the tears away, Eliza placed to fingers on his neck and willed for movement on his pulse. She flinched when her fingers came in contact with cold skin. Swallowing down her nervousness, she tried to feel for a small pulse but it never came.

"He'd be good as dead by now," A voice told her from behind. Eliza's head whipped around in complete fear as she saw a man holding a handgun with a black mask covering his face.

"You bastard!" Eliza couldn't help but snap. She stood and started hitting and kicking him with all the strength she could muster, but it didn't seem to be doing any affect to him. All he did was laugh. "You killed him!"

"And your next," The guy chuckled, stepping closer to Eliza. He reached up with his free hand and twirled a lock of her hair, while staring intensely at her scared, worried eyes. Eliza pushed him away, and tried running. But before se could get away, she ended up tripping over Chase's motionless body, falling face front on the floor.

Eliza moaned on the ground, rubbing her nose which was surely bleeding. The guy simply laughed at her, cocking his gun and pointing it at her direction.

"I've wasted enough time," The guy murmured. "You die, now."

There was a loud blare of a gun shot, and then everything went black.

---

Eliza felt numb. Too numb, that she couldn't feel or move any parts of her body. It was like something was restricting her from moving, and it irritated her deeply, because she was confused and wanted answers.

She saw stars cloud in her vision as she tried to open her eyes. But they were too heavy, and they didn't seem to be responding. Then Eliza felt a bright light take over from the stars, which started to hurt her eyes.

"Ow," Eliza moaned, trying to reach up to her eyes and rub them to soothe the pain. She heard voices, and then hands caress her cheeks, and another squeezing her hand.

"Eliza," She heard a faint voice call out. "I need..."

"What?" Eliza barely whispered.

"I need..." The voice trailed off, sounding very faint and distant. "I need for you to wake up."

The words triggered something in her brain. Suddenly she felt an increasing pain on her left leg, as she finally got control over her senses. Eliza tried to open her eyes, which were protesting in pain from the bright light. She reached up, glad to have control, and rubbed her eyes, yawning.

When Eliza finally could see, she saw Jason looking at her with a worried yet relived expression, a small smile on his face.

"Eliza!" Jason breathed out, engulfing her into a hug. She sighed and enjoyed his comfort, wondering why she was in a hospital. "You awake... thank god!"

"What happened?" She croaked out, looking at her surroundings as if they had an answer. "Why am I in a hospital?"

"You don't remember?" Jason said, his eyes flooding with panic.

"All I remember is hanging out with Chase," Eliza trailed off, ignoring the jealous expression that took over Jason's face. "And then..."

Suddenly everything, everything came back to Eliza like a big smack in the face. Images of Chase on the floor in a puddle of blood overcrowded her vision, making her start to hyperventilate.

"Chase!" Eliza shrieked, breathing irregularally. "H-He got shot! He died!"

"Yes, he did get shot," Jason said calmly. "But he's okay. The doctors were close to losing him, but..."

"But what?" Eliza demanded, trying to control her breathing and her close panic attack.

"He's in a coma." Jason replied, ever so softly.

"Oh..." Eliza whispered, tears clouding her vision.

"I'm sorry, Eliza." Jason whispered, giving her a hug again. He scooted his chair closer to the hospital bed and started rubbing her back while she cried in his shoulder. "This is all my fault."

"How did you know?" Eliza demanded, sniffing and wiping the tears away, even though they kept on falling. "How did you know that someone was going to kill us?"

"It's a long story," Jason said gravely, sounding terribly guilty.

"I don't care," Eliza said. "I have a bunch of time."

"Okay, I'll tell you." Jason gave in, avoiding her stare. "But when I finish, don't look at me any differently."

Eliza nodded, suddenly scared of what Jason was going to tell her.

"I guess I should start right after you left." Jason began, running a hand through his hair. Eliza swallowed, waiting for him to continue. "As you know, my parents were getting divorced. They left a week after you did. And that's when all the problems started happening."

"I had to get a job. Two, if you count the online one. I earned around $50 a week, which was barely enough for me. Some nights I even starved, because I didn't have enough money for food, which is why I look like I lost a lot of weight."

Eliza nodded, feeling pity for him. "I struggled a lot that month. And it didn't help that I was by myself, without anyone there to help me. Yeah, I had my friends, but they didn't know that I struggled. No one did, not even my parents. I didn't want them to worry."

"And then it was August." Jason paused, almost afraid to continue. "I had a very little amount of money left and I was starving. My cell phone was disconnected because I didn't pay it on time, which was why we didn't speak for a while."

'That explains why we didn't talk that much during the first month of summer.' Eliza couldn't help but think.

"Then Alexander came..." Jason trailed off, visibly getting paler. Eliza nervously bit her lip, afraid of what was happening. But before he continued, a doctor came inside with a clipboard.

"Eliza, your awake!" The doctor said, smiling. She blinked and looked at the doctor while he turned his gaze towards Jason. "You should have told me."

"Sorry." Jason apologized, annoyed that the doctor interrupted them.

"Eliza my name is Dr. Cole." He introduced. "You are probably wondering why you are here, yes?"

"Yeah," Eliza responded. 'But I was going to get the answers from Jason, not you...'

"Well you and your friend got shot." Dr. Cole stated bluntly while Eliza flinched. She felt her handbeing squeezed by Jason. "You got shot in your stomach and your leg, and passed out from the shock of it."

"Oh my god.." Eliza trailed off, shaking. Jason starting rubbing soothing circles into the palm of her hand, visibly calming her down.

"Although both bullets were aimed to kill," Dr. Cole continued. "They luckily did not hit any important spots of your body."

Eliza breathed a sigh of relief. "Good."

"Right now you have morphine inside of your body which should be blockin out any traces of pain. It might feel uncomfortable, though." He said.

"Yeah," She said softly.

"You might feel a stinging feeling of pain in your stomach for about a week, two weeks the latest. For your leg, I put a small cast on it which should be there for about two weeks." Dr. Cold notified. "You will be checked out by Sunday."

Soon Dr. Cole left the room, leaving Eliza and Jason to themselves again. But before he could continue the story, Eliza's parents barged inside of the room, both of them having visible tears in their eyes.

"Oh my poor, poor baby!" Her mom cried out, tackling Eliza in a huge hug. "Are you alright?"

"Yes mom," Eliza replied, a faint blush on her cheeks. For some reason she felt embarrassed.

"What happened?" Her dad asked, his forehead having lines of distress. "The doctors wouldn't tell us anything."

"I got shot in the leg and my stomach," Eliza cringed, remembering the evil sadistic chuckle she last heard before everything went black to her.

"I knew that boy was trouble!" His dad growled, angry.

"Dad no!" Eliza snapped. "Chase has nothing to do with this."

"Then who did?" This time her mother asked. Eliza refrained herself from looking at Jason, who was looking down at the floor guiltily.

"I-I.." She trailed off, fiddling with her fingers. "I don't know. But Chase is not involved."

"When he wakes up I want you to stop associating yourself with him." Her dad demanded, clenching his fists.

"Dad no!" Eliza protested. "That's not fair!"

"You shot because of him!" He argued. "Twice!"

"It wasn't his fault!" Eliza shrieked, shaking her head angrily.

"I don't care," Dad snapped. He stormed past his mom who was standing there in shock, and left the room.

"I'm sorry Eliza." Her mom apologized, although she could see that her mom agreed with her dad. "I'll go talk to him."

Eliza bit her tongue from saying anything that she would regret, and stared at Jason, who was looking more guiltier than ever.

"I'm so sorry," He whispered almost inaudiblely. "This is all my fault."

"No it's not," Eliza disagreed. "Finish what you were telling me and then I'll decide."

"I know you are going to hate me in the end," Jason mumbled to himself, knowing that Eliza couldn't hear him. "One day, I was going to walk to the grocery store to get something to eat even though I had very little money left. I just couldn't take it anymore..."

"I'm sorry," Eliza couldn't help but interrupt. He smiled sadly at her and nodded.

"While I was walking there, some guy stopped me. He had a hoodie on, and looked like a homeless person. I didn't know who he was, but he told me if my name was Jason, and I said yes. He told me to follow him, and me, being stupid, I actually followed him when I had no idea what he was capable of doing. If I had the chance, I would have never followed him..."

Jason continued, getting nervous as he went deeper into the story. "He led me to a cafe, and told me to order something. I chose the cheapeast thing on the menu, which was the only thing I could afford. The man, Alexander, had ordered a huge meal and gave it to me. He told me that he has been watching me for a while, and noticed that I was struggling."

Jason swallowed, running a hand trough his hair to ease the nervousness. "He said that he wanted to help me, all for a simple price."

"What was it?" Eliza whispered, afraid of the answer.

"To go out with Amber." Jason said, staring into Eliza's eyes for any type of reaction. "He said that he would help me if I went out with Amber."

Eliza stayed silent, not sure how to react. "So I did. I didn't think, Eliza. I didn't know what to do, since I still have feelings for you."

She noticed how Jason said still have, instead of still had. "I thought you weren't coming back so I thought why not?"

Eliza swallowed the lump in her throat, waiting for him to continue. "The day that I broke up with Amber, was when Alexander started to get mad. Two days after that, Amber had told me to come over to her home. That's when I decided to take advantage of the situation and get information out of her, to get out of this stupid sick deal I had with Alexander."

"I got her drunk," Jason continued. "And I asked her what was her deal with you, because you were the reason why I broke up with her. I still like you, Eliza, and I think I might even be in lo-"

"Don't." Eliza interrupted. "Don't say it." She whispered.

"But I do Eliza!" Jason protested, getting closer to her. "I do have feelings for you, why do you keep on denying that?"

"I don't know," She said truthfully, tears falling down her face. "I don't know."

Jason sighed. "Anyways, Amber told me that she didn't like you and that she wanted you dead. I asked her when, and she said that there was a man that was going to kill you and Chase. That's when I called you..."

Eliza was silent, staring down at her hands. She didn't know what to do. "This is all my fault, Eliza. It's my fault that I got you- and chase- into this mess, all because Amber saw that I had feelings for you."

"It's not your fault," Eliza blurted out. "It's none of ours. It's that Amber girl and Alexander."

This time Jason stayed silent. "What are we going to do, Jason?" Eliza couldn't help but whisper.

"I don't know," Jason replied truthfully. "I have a plan, but I don't think it'll work."

"Tell me. I might be able to help you." Eliza insisted, wanting to help Jason get out of this mess.

"No." Jason immediately protested. "If you continue being next to me you might get hurt, and I don't want that to happen again."

"Who said I was going to be next to you?" Eliza said, smiling. "I have a little plan too."

---

"He fucking got you drunk?!" Alexander demanded, scrunching up his face in anger and disbelief. Amber nodded, rolling her eyes at his behavior. She was already used to Alexander's random spits of anger.

"He got drunk too!" Amber protested, although she really didn't know for sure.

"So he gets you drunk, and he ditches you?" Alexander scoffed, clenching his teeth in disgust. "I treated you better than this!"

"So?" Amber sucked her teeth in, playing with her finger nails. She frowned when she noticed dirt behind her ever so perfect nails. Suddenly Alexander pressed his body against her, while Amber gasped at how close they were and how soft and delicate his touch was.

"Amber..." Alexander whispered huskily in her ear, nibbling at her earlobe playfully. He went to the collar of her neck and applied soft, memorable kisses, sucking on her neck as gently and delicately as he could. "I miss you..."

"Alexander," Amber exhaled, extending her neck to allow more room for him I explore. Her hands clenched and unclenched excitedly as she realized that she missed this.

"I want you back..." Alexander whispered, kissing her jaw line. As he went closer and closer to her lips, she closed her eyes and enjoyed his powerful cologne and the heat that radiates off of him. He stopped when he reached her lips, biting her bottom lip and tugging at it playfully. Amber moaned, forgetting about Jason and their previous argument as she took everything in. She missed this.

Not taking the teasing anymore, Amber leaned in for a kiss, only to be met with air. Confused, Amber opened her eyes and saw Alexander at the door, smirking with his eyes filled with obvious lust.

"You wanted Jason, right?" Alexander mocked teasingly, smirking. "You can't have me until you cut things off with him."

Amber groaned in frustration and kicked the closest object near her, which was unfortunately the wall.

"Fuck you!"

---

"Jason go," Eliza smiled, urging for him to leave the hospital room.

"I don't want to go," Jason frowned. "I'd rather stay here... with you."

Eliza inhaled a sharp breath as Jason started leaning into her, for a kiss. She wanted to kiss him so badly, to run his hands through his hair and smell his addicting scent, but she knew she couldn't. She had Chase, wether she liked it or not. She didn't have a choice. Chase was in a coma and technically still thought they were dating. How would he feel if he woke up, and realized that the girlfriend he moved overseas for, cheated on him with someone else?

"Jason, no." Eliza protested, pushing him away. "We can't."

"Why not?" Jason demanded, this time getting pissed. "Eliza I fucking have feelings for you. Why the hell can't you accept that?"

Deja vu... "Because I'm dating someone else! I just can't be kissing you while my boyfriend is in a coma!"

Jason growled in frustration and stormed out of the room, while Eliza sighed in disappointment and longing. If only Chase wasn't in a coma. She would break if off with him even though he traveled just to be with her. What kind of a relationship is it if one person didn't have the same feelings as the other? That was exactly how Chase and Eliza's relationship was.

Eliza wished that she hadnt have met Chase, as rude and heartless as that sounded. She wished she would have never moved to Paris, and that Jason's parents didn't get a divorce. She wished that she could be Jason's girlfriend. She wished that everything would be back to normal, the way things were supposed to be at the beginning of summer.

Eliza wished so many things, yet only one of them was possible. To be Jason's girlfriend...

But of course, when she broke it off with Chase. Which would take forever...

Eliza sighed, pulling the covers over her sore body and snuggled into the uncomfortable hospital bed, shutting her eyes and willing for sleep to come and erase her thoughts and worries.

---

Jason punched at the elevator button, wishing that the slow mechanism would hurry up and get to his floor. He was pissed off.

He hated, so much, how Eliza was going out with Chase, and that they couldn't do anything about it because he was in a coma. He hated that they both had obvious feelings for each other, yet Eliza was denying it.

He hated how he still had to go out with that annoying bitch, Amber, or else Eliza got hurt. He hated every little thing in his life at the moment, and he just wanted to let everything out and to have a night of peace.

Jason took out his cell just as the elevator came. He pressed the first floor and started texting his friend, or acquaintance since they never hanged out anymore, Dominic.

'Any parties tonight?'

Tonight he was going to forget about everything that was happening to him. Only for today. He needed just for a while to think that everything in his life was free of any danger of worry, and full of happiness and tranquility.

Jason didn't like drinking. At the moment, while he got out of the elevator, he didn't care. Tonight he was going to get drunk so much, he wouldn't even remember his own name, or where he lived. Jason entered his car and felt his phone buzz while he pulled out of the hospital drive-way.

'Hell yeah! My house, in one hour!' Dominic texted.

Jason smirked and replied: 'I'll be there soon. Make sure that there's lots of alcohol.'

He sped down the highway and to his home, ignoring the tugging feeling in his chest that was telling him that this was a mistake, and that he should be with Eliza. He ignored whatever his mind was telling him an chose to be reckless.

For the first time, ever, calm and collected Jason was going to become loud, obnoxious, and terribly drunk.

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:o

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