Attachment Issues // Jess Mariano

CHAPTER 21:

"How do you go back to being strangers with someone who has seen your soul?" - Nikita Gill

"I know what you're really here for, Jess." Luke says, taking a seat across from him at a table at the diner.

"Yeah? What's that?"

"I saw the papers, Jess, I know what you want to do." He insists, wiping at his face annoyedly. "You really think anyone is gonna want you here again?"

"No, I don't."

"Then why are you trying?"

"I'm not."

Luke is surprised at this. "Then why did you come? If you really hate your mother that much, why did you come?"

"I don't hate my mother."

"Is it me, then? Is that why you weren't going to come? You hate me that much?"

"I don't hate you. I came here because of you."

"Stop that." Luke says with a sigh.

"You said it was important to you, remember?"

"I remember, I didn't think you were listening."

"I was."

"Okay, so you don't hate your mother, you don't hate me, so why weren't you coming?" Jess only sighs, grabbing the small box from his pocket and placing it on the table.

"No... Delilah still? That's ancient history, I thought you were just looking for a place to move closer to home..."

"No, I'm looking for a place to marry her." Jess explains with a sigh. "I wasn't coming here because I knew as soon as I saw her, I would've been on my knees begging her for forgiveness. I have a plan, here."

"I can't believe you're asking her to marry you."

"I love her. You know, I call Ty every week, I try to keep up with her, even if I'm not here. And she's been writing me letters, since I left. He sends them to me."

"You love her, don't you? This isn't a passing phase, you really love her."

"Yeah. I really fucking love her, Luke. I love her more than anything."

"...So what's the next step?"

"I'm going to go see Ty and Colin. He goes to Yale with her, apparently."

"Colin, that's the guy who came by after the hospital thing, right?"

"Yeah, he is. And her best friend since the fifth grade, apparently."

"You're gonna ask for their blessings?"

"What can I say, I like traditions."

---

"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow at Luke's." Ty says over the phone.

---

"What am I doing here, Jess?" Ty questions, walking into the diner beside Colin, who's absorbed in a phone call.

"I need to ask you about something." He says simply, taking a seat at a table in the corner, trying to ignore the racket his mother's bridal party is causing. Ty pulls out a chair across from him whilst Colin hangs up the phone, telling someone named Finn not to be an asshole.

"What's going on?" Ty asks, eyes widening as Jess places a ring-box on the table in front of him.

"I want to ask her to marry me."

"What?" Colin asks, picking up the ring box and opening it up, trying to make sure it's not a trick. Inside is a small, silver ring with three gems embedded in its face. A small green sapphire and two diamonds. On the inside of the ring is a small etching.