Attachment Issues // Jess Mariano

CHAPTER 10:

"If the moon smiled, she would resemble you. You leave the same impression of something beautiful, but annihilating." - Sylvia Plath 'The Rival'

"My uncle is insane." Jess complains, laying on his bed and speaking into the phone. Delilah had spent the last couple of days in Hartford with her uncle, much to the boy's disappointment. "Last night he just... he grabbed a sledgehammer while I was reading and took it to the wall, then he said 'that's your room' and left."

"Well you have been pissing him off lately, Mariano. You're lucky he didn't take it to your head."

"Oh, hush. I've gotta go soon, when are you coming back?"

"Tomorrow, I promise I'll be in the diner at noon, sharp."

"I'm holding you too that, Miss Gilmore."

"Is that so, Mr. Mariano?"

"Of course. When have you ever known me to not tell the truth?"

"You told me you were born on the beach once."

"Okay, so that was a lie. But nothing else!"

"Alright. Goodning, Mr. Mariano."

"Goodnight, Miss Gilmore, sleep tight."

---

Delilah walks into the diner the next afternoon, sitting down at one of the tables with a smile. It's different than it was a couple of days ago, now covered in construction stuff. Jess walks in wearing a hard hat, raising an umbrella and handing it to her.

"Oh, you are really funny!" Luke says sarcastically as the boy grabs a cup of coffee and a chocolate rainbow-sprinkle donut for the girl. "You and Tom should put an act together." Jess doesn't say anything, placing the plate and mug in front of Delilah and pressing a kiss to her forehead just as some drywall falls from the ceiling, bouncing off of the umbrella and away from her food. "Yeah, you should probably keep it up, Lilah."

---

"So... how was your trip?" Jess asks, wrapping an arm around her shoulders as they walk back from school. Much to Jess's surprise, Delilah drags him down the path to her house where Ty sits on the porch, sipping his cup of tea.

"It was good. We'll be in my room, 'kay?"

"Alright." Ty agrees, never looking up from his book.

"He just let you take me to your room like that?" Jess questions, going ignored as the girl drags him through the house and up the stairs.

"Yes, of course." She says, tugging him into her bedroom and grabbing the wrapped present off of her bed stand along with something he can't see from a drawer, which she puts in her pocket.

She rips into the brown paper-bag wrapping paper Jess had used, opening up the box to find a small, moleskin journal. Jess blushes slightly, seeing her pause. There's a small silver emblem on the front of the notebook, a compas imprinted in the leather.

"It's beautiful, Jess. I love it."

"I just- I noticed how much you like to write and I know you want to be an author, so I figured you could plan your books in it, you know?"

"I love it. Thank you." She says, jumping into his arms, slightly catching him off guard.

"Always, Angel." He replies, holding her tightly. "I'm glad you like it."

"It's you and me against the world, isn't it? I mean, when we leave this place, we'll stay together right?"

"I'll always be with you, Angel. You jump, I jump."