Bleed Until You Heal

29- White Flags

"Jo," Somebody sings in my ear. "Wake up, Jo."

"No." I mumble stubbornly to Jasper, who is the culprit waking me up on a Saturday morning. Not only is it a weekend but I'm also very grumpy because of my argument with Scott last night. I basically just don't want to get up at all today.

"Scott's here," He says, sitting down on the edge of my bed. "And he's up to something. Did something happen last night?"

"He thinks that I'm a slut," I tell Jasper with my face still in my pillows. "Tell him to go away."

"Yeah, I don't think that he's going to go away. And I highly doubt that he thinks that you're a slut."

"He does," I assure him, rolling over to face Jasper but I still don't sit up. "He thinks that I'm going to sleep with Noah or something. How ridiculous is that? I mean, yeah, I slept with him but that was forever ago and I wasn't in a relationship. But now, I have Scott but he thinks that I'd do that to him. Like, he really thinks that I'm such a horrible person that I'd sleep with Noah while dating him. I love him. Like, I can hear Shakespeare sonnets running in my head whenever I see him, it's that bad. I'd never do anything like that."

"You love him?" Jasper repeats. "Have you told me that before?"

"No," I sigh, now sitting up because I obviously don't have the option to go back to sleep. Especially if I'm going to have to deal with Scott. I hope that he's in a better mood this morning than he was last night. "But I've decided that I do. Just in time for him to change his mind about me, I guess."

"I didn't change my mind about you," I hear Scott call from the first floor and I turn to look at Jasper.

"Right, well like I said, he's downstairs. I'm going to go get food with Conner and give you guys some privacy. You'll figure it out, I'm sure," Jasper says, kissing my temple before he disappears from my room and then a few moments later, I hear the front door open and then close. Without saying anything to Scott, I don't even get dressed before I go downstairs, I stay in my red plaid boxer shorts and cropped Nike t-shirt but I do run a brush through my hair and then hurry down the stairs where Scott is sitting on the couch.

"Good morning," I say slowly, trying to gauge how this morning is going to go- either good or very bad. I'm praying that it's the former.

"Hey," He sighs, standing up from the couch to greet me. He opens his arms to hug me but I fold my arms against my chest and he steps back, taking the hint that I'm cautious about him right now. "Look, I'm so sorry about yesterday. I was being a total jerk."

"I remember," I nod.

"Well, before I got here, I was going to stop by the store to get flowers but then I wasn't sure if you'd want flowers or chocolate or peanut butter or what, so I got you flowers," He tells me, pulling out a bouquet of lilies from a box to his left. "And also chocolates," He adds, handing me a box of Godiva chocolate.

"Thanks," I say, appreciating the beauty of the flowers.

"Oh, I'm not done," He pipes, continuing to pull things out of the box. "I also got you a stuffed puppy with very apologetic eyes, and this bracelet, a jar of peanut butter, a jar of Nutella because I couldn't remember which one was your favorite so I got both, and this mix tape."

When he holds the CD out in front of me to take, I can't hold back a small giggle at how adorable this is, how he bought all of this stuff in a panic of not knowing what I'd prefer. I take the CD and look at the back where it lists all of the songs on the playlist.

1. I'm Sorry – Brenda Lee

2. Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word – Elton John