Unlike You

Thirteen

Sharon called Lawrence as we were leaving the graveyard. She said to meet her at the station in a half hour. Lawrence said that he was going with me whether I wanted him to or not. In all honesty, I couldn't have better company. 

"Hey, Lawrence."

"Yes, princess?" he asks. My toes curl at the pet name. My cheeks flush as I look down at my shoes.

"Could we stop by Jared's place? I just want to make sure he's okay."

"Does he even want to talk to you?" he asks. I raise my eyebrow at his question.

"He's my best friend's brother, he has to talk to me," I say matter-of-factly.

"Fair enough," Lawrence laughs, and hops onto his bike, me following. I tell him the directions to Jared's house and we are on our way. We pull up to Jared's driveway a bit later.

"I'll be right back." Lawrence nods and pulls out his phone. I walk up to the door and knock lightly. The door swings open showing a very tired looking Jared. He looks like he hasn't slept for the past decade. The bags under his eyes make him appear older than he really is which is an odd yet terrifying thought.

"Hey," I say lightly.

"Hey," Jared answers, his voice hoarse. In an instant my arms are around his neck and holding his tall body against mine. He hugs me back, but with less enthusiasm. I can't blame him, he looks like a zombie.

"What's he doin' here?" Jared asks. I turn around to see Lawrence typing away on his phone. 

"He gave me a ride. We are going to the station in a half hour. I was wondering if you want to come with us? We are going to scan the weapon and see the fingerprints," I inform him. Jared's face falls.

"No, I'm good," he says. He starts to close the door, but I stop it with my hand. I raise my eyebrows, daring him to close the door on me.

"Come on, Jay. Don't you want some form of closure?" I ask. He thinks about it momentarily. He glances at his feet with a shake of his head. 

"Alright, if you change your mind at all, we'll be at the station," I say softly. He nods, closing the door. I turn to walk down the driveway when Jared's hand on my wrist stops me.

"Jared, what do you-" I start to ask, but his lips cut me off. I'm in a moment of shock before I snap back to my senses and push him away from me. I look at him like he's insane, but he just smiles and walks inside. I stand there, frozen. In the back of my mind, I know Lawrence saw that. He must be furious. I turn to face him and see that he's not angry. His face is covered in hurt. I jog over to him and cup his face with my hands. He doesn't look at me, which only breaks my heart more.

"Hey, Lawrence. Please look at me," I beg, trying to pull his face to look at me. "Please. I pushed him away. I promise."

"Just get on, we should get there early," he says in a gruff tone.

"Lawrence, please," I say softly.

"Just... get on," he says, ignoring my pleads. I nod, not pushing him any further. As I place the helmet on my head, and sit on his bike, I feel like I ruined mine and his life. I wrap my arms around his waist cautiously, scared that my touch would disgust him. Thankfully, he just reeves the engine and speeds of down the road. I close my eyes and lean my head against his back, allow my self to drift off into a forgotten memory.

"Come on, Ser. You can't just live in your room, reading books all your life. You need to get outside. Do something. Find someone," Amy tells me. We are sitting on my bed, surrounded by Amy's copious amounts of makeup. She convinced me to put some on, but it just doesn't feel right. The mascara is too much along with the bright red lipstick.