In Between

Chapter: Twenty-seven: Creating Ties

Jasmine walked straight into the store, tossed Kieran the keys to the back shed, and muttered a curt goodbye. Her voice sounded weak, and she wouldn't look him in the eyes at first. Even someone as naive as Kieran could easily notice that Jasmine had been upset when she'd seen him kissing Apryl. He couldn't help but feel guilty to have hurt her (regardless of the fact that they had never formed any sort of agreement that obligated him to refrain from kissing other girls) and it had hurt him when she'd tossed him the keys as if she were tossing a knife.

"Jasmine..."

"Don't you 'Jasmine' me," she snapped. "Good luck with whatever you're planning."

"Wait—"

"I'm not waiting anymore, Kieran," she interrupted which pretty much said it all.

"Remember when you told me that we were like family?" he asked, desperate to keep her from storming into the office and locking herself inside like his mother had the last time he'd been here.

"I remember saying it...but we aren't family," Jasmine said harshly before adding, "We could have been," in a slightly softer tone.

Her sad smile tore at his heart. Before he knew what he was saying, Kieran blurted, "We still could be. I'm here to take the carriage so that we can sneak the Outsiders into the Dimension Hall. Tomorrow is Soren and Cain's coming of age tradition. It was your idea, remember?"

"It was a crazy idea, and you're going to get yourself killed!" Jasmine snapped. She dropped her head into her hands as if she were about to start crying and then quickly began collecting herself in order to properly explain. "I'm sorry. You must think that I'm angry at you because of Apryl, but you haven't done anything wrong. I'm only upset because you're excluding me from everything that's going on. You practically rose from the dead after I was sure that you would never make it out of that horrible forest, and then you showed up later with two strangers from another dimension and Warriors on your trail! After you left my house, you didn't even go home except to burst in for five minutes and worry the hell out of me by insisting that you speak to your mother right away. I was terrified every night when I imagined what you've been doing this past week, and then you casually show up again to borrow a carriage for some insane mission?! Do you have any idea how I feel about this situation?"

"We'll be careful. I know that a lot of things are happening that I haven't told you about, but that doesn't mean that I'm never going to. I just need some time to take care of my own mess. The girls will go back to their own world, and I'll get out of there safety," he told her.

This was stupid thing to say considering how unlikely it was that their slipshod plan would happen so smoothly. Kieran had been planning on going through the portal with the girls if there was no chance of escape, but now he was second guessing all of his rash choices. Just one week ago, he had nearly turned down his chance to go through a portal, because he'd thought that he was in love with Jasmine. All of the danger that he and his friends were in wouldn't have happened if he had followed his heart back then.

No, he thought. That's wrong. I would have regretted not going for the rest of my life, and my friends would never be as close as they are now—Draven would still be the outsider. Kieran was still glad that he had brought Apryl and Bri to the Inbetween, because they had brought everyone together. However, talking to Jasmine had made him feel as if he were being pulled apart. Choosing to go to Earth meant that he could be with Apryl—Kieran knew that he already cared about her, so he couldn't help but wonder what his future might be like in her home dimension.

On the other hand, he would have to take the risk of getting arrested if he chose to stay, but he could be with his family as long as he managed to stay out of jail—his mother, siblings, and his father if they ever released him. He could also be with Jasmine, which was something he had wanted for years, and Kieran would have a family of his own someday in the Inbetween.