Found Family (HoO, Mortal AU)

JASON GRACE

He began spending more time with the others every day. Drew didn't seem to like it.
It was Friday. Every day that week he'd been sitting with the other eleven. He still didn't like some of them, but most were okay.

He tried to spend time with Drew, too, but that made him feel worse. Drew was so kind and understanding, but he just couldn't love her. He never would. He didn't want to hurt her by breaking up with her, but he couldn't stay with her forever, could he?

Even worse, he started suspecting Nico di Angelo knew he didn't truly like her. It could've been his imagination, but that was wishful thinking. Did di Angelo know the whole truth?
Nah, he couldn't.

They had a free study period. Jason was sitting beside Drew in the classroom, not studying.
"Are you going over to your friends?" Drew asked.
"Unless you want me to, no," Jason said.
Drew smiled softly. "No, I don't want you to."
She put her hand on top of Jason's. He looked over to her.

She was seriously beautiful. One of the prettiest girls Jason had ever seen. She always wore pink eyeliner, along with a good amount of other make-up, but she was just as beautiful without it. Her hair was always perfectly in place, tucked behind one of her ears where she always wore a bunch of earrings, along with plenty of other jewellery. Some mornings she'd spend over an hour curling it. Her nails were long, but not too long. She'd paint them a different colour every day. She smelt like nutmeg and pine, almost like Christmas. She was tall and had warm brown eyes. She was gentle and somewhat understanding.

There were so many things to love about her. She deserved much better than Jason.
"Do you want to come over this evening? Or I could go over to yours?" Drew asked. Jason hoped his panic wasn't too obvious.
"I can come to your place," he said quickly.
"Great," Drew kissed his cheek.

• • •

At the end of the day, he met Drew outside. She had a car, unlike Jason, but he felt bad making her drive.
"I can drive if you want," he offered. She got into the driver's seat.
"I don't need a man to drive me places." she joked.
"No, you don't." Jason agreed.

Jason had been at Drew's house twice before, only meeting her parents once. They were lovely. Ten years ago, when Drew was seven, they moved from Japan.
The three of them were practically the perfect family.  They were so nice to Jason, too. If only they knew how horrible he was.

They decided to stop to get food. Jason checked his wallet quickly when Drew wasn't looking, hoping he had enough money. He seriously had to get a job.

The worst part? Drew chose the same cafe that Leo and Jason sat together at, which made him feel a whole lot guiltier.
They ate and talked for a while, before getting up to go for a walk. Thankfully, Jason had enough money to pay for the food.

Jason walked in the opposite direction to the way to his house. It was pretty close to the cafe. Not that Drew would know it was his, he still didn't want her to see. They strolled, hand in hand for a long time. Simply talking.
"We better get heading back," Drew said. "I can take you home."
Jason shook his head. "I can walk, don't worry about it."

Jason took Drew back to her car. He got his things and kissed her goodbye when she smiled.
"I love you."
But he couldn't say it back. He noticed Drew's smile dropping, though she was trying to hide it. He kissed her and walked away without saying another word.

• • •

He got back to his house, his heart still racing. Why didn't he just say it back? Why couldn't he tell her the truth? Why?

Thank god for the distraction. The 'Will's Fans' group chat had a bunch of messages. He still didn't understand why that was the group chat name, though.