Loving the Fighter

117

Jax's POV

Carter was just being petty at this point. It had only been a day but I still haven't heard from him. He only fronts for long enough to eat with our boyfriends and he fronted last night they decided to watch a movie and I didn't want to.

And in all of those times he hadn't talked to me. When he was ready to switch out he would just leave the body, making it fall onto whichever boyfriend was closest, forcing me to take over before we hit the ground.

It was honestly getting annoying at this point.

'I'm mad at you,' I state plainly to Carter while I sat in math class with Ryder. All I got from Carter was an eye roll. 'Quit acting like this. It's annoying.'

He still doesn't answer.

'I take it back. You can handle all the bad from now on,' I say after a few more minutes. I was lying of course but I was hoping Carter hadn't realizing that.

You can't lie to someone who lives in you head. He says after a few more minutes.

'Okay so I'm not sorry but either way you need to stop being such a bitch. We can't keep doing the silent treatment every time one of us is mad.'

Then you start. Why are you mad?

'I don't like how you act like you are better than me.'

I have never acted like that, he said, sounding offended.

'Yes you do. Every time you take a nightmare or switch when I could have handled something you act like you are better. Just because you can force yourself ahead doesn't mean you get to control everything. I can handle some things.'

I don't doubt that you can but if I can ever help it, you won't have to.

'That's not fair.'

I honestly don't care. I let you front up until you've gotten yourself in trouble, after that I have to step in before you hurt yourself.

'If I get myself into it, I should be able to deal with what happens after.'

Then you have no reason to be mad about yesterday. You had nothing to do with it so you shouldn't have had to go through it.

'It was related to the fighting which you told me not to go to so yes I did get myself into it.' Carter's sigh echoes in my mind but he doesn't say anything else.

'So you are ignoring me again?'

No, I just don't know what else to say. We both clearly feel too differently about this, and we are only going to keep fighting about it and if neither of us wants to fight then we should just drop it.

'But if we don't keep talking then we will never get anywhere with this.'

I don't know what you want me to do here, he says with another sigh.

'I want you to let me take care of some things. Not everything just let me deal with something. You are helping either of us by keeping it all for yourself. I can feel the amount of anxiety you've been feeling since it happened.'

It doesn't matter how I feel, he says after a few more minutes.

'If you don't stop thinking like that then I'm telling Andrew tomorrow,' I threaten but I think we both know I was bluffing. '

You wouldn't dare.

'You matter just as much as I do.' I say after a while. 'And if you don't start accepting it I will tell Liam and Callum and I promise they won't stand for it.

Fine. I'll try to start letting you handle things. I couldn't tell if he was bluffing or not. He had always been the better liar. I don't think he was kidding though; he wouldn't risk me telling Callum. I think he would have died of embarrassment with the things Callum would have done to fix his self worth.

''Class has been over for like 5 minutes," Ryder said as he touched my arm. My eyes snapped up to him before I scan the mostly empty classroom. Only one other person was here, and it seemed she was only here to talk to the teacher about something.

"And you just let me sit here," I joked as I stood up and followed him out the door.

"I figured you had a reason," he said with a small shrug. I only give him a smile as I wrapped an arm around his shoulder while I pulled him into a side hug as we kept walking.

The next few periods went by a little better now that Carter was actually talking to me again.

Lunch went about like normal. Liam and I rushed down before any of my friends; Carter ate over half the trey before Kyle showed up, causing him to push me up again.

"I get the strange feeling that Carter doesn't like us," Kyle said after everyone else had sat down. I could feel Carter tense up.

"Why do you say that," I asked as I pushed the trey away, trying to act as normal as possible.

"He never sits with any of us. If you guys think we can't see when you two switch out when ever he sees us you're insane."

Cater frowns at that. I know he always tries to be careful around them.

"I think he just doesn't like big crowds," I say, which isn't really a lie. Kyle still frowns.

"It's not too crowded yet," Boyd said softly. "He could always come out before it gets too big."

I could feel Carter sinking back farther for a split second before putting on a mask, clearly getting ready to front even if he didn't want to.

'I'm not letting you do it,' I say boredly as I hold onto Liam's hand under the table. Andrew had said that it was easier to stay up front if you were grounded and so far Liam seemed to be a good anchor for me.

But they want me to.

'They'll be fine.'

"He's not up for it today. We had a rough few days." Boyd only nodded as he leaned into Dylan. Kyle frowned but luckily didn't say anything else.

I don't like any of them.

'It's not that you don't like them. It's that they are too much for you. You don't want them to be mad at you about what happened.'

Carter frowned as he began to pout.

Since when did you become Liam?