Just A Dream (completed)

Chapter 20: The Day James Showed His Broken Heart

The summer flies by rather quickly and today is Jenna and Lacey's first day of school. Jenna enjoyed her English and student orientation classes. Her professors were cool, the other students were nice, and the classes weren't all that boring. Now she's merrily skipping down the hallway of the dormitory building to her dorm. She can't wait to see her James. He came over this morning just as she was leaving for her classes (Yeah, what a time to show up) and she told him that he could stay there while she's in class.

She pushes the door open and smiles when she sees him fast asleep on the bed. Quietly, she tip toes over to the bed and lifts the covers up, crawling over her boyfriend and laying next to him. She giggles as he rolls onto his back, breathing softly. Aww, he's so cute when he sleeps. She couldn't possibly imagine life without this boy. He's the love of her life and she's gonna be with him forever. After all, he did give her a promise ring. She wears it every day, unless she's asleep or taking a bath. It's her favorite accessory.

"Hi, handsome." She whispers, stroking his cheek. He murmurs softly, but doesn't wake up. Jenna holds back a laugh and kisses his nose, smiling as his arm wraps around her. Her hand rests against his side while she affectionately kisses his cheek. She plays with the hair on the back of his neck, sighing as he takes a deep and relaxed breath. She kisses him softly, watching as his eyes slowly open.

"Hmm, you're back already?" He murmurs quietly.

"Uh huh." Jenna giggles, kissing him again.

"I've missed you." James says quietly, closing his eyes. Jenna frowns in confusion at his soft spoken behavior. Even when she wakes him up, he's usually a lot more enthusiastic than this. Where's that beautiful smile? The kisses? The hugs? He seems sad about something. She can see it in his eyes. She's fairly good at reading his emotions. When he's happy, he smiles and jokes around a lot. When he's anger, he clenches his fists and jaws, trying to keep himself from hitting something or someone. When he's sad, he's very quiet. She wants to know why he's so upset.

"Hey, what's wrong?" She whispers worriedly, touching his cheek. For a brief moment, it looks like he's gonna cry, but the heartbreaking expression quickly disappears. Jenna strokes his cheek and pulls him into a hug, kissing his forehead. She feels tears soaking her shirt, but she doesn't mind. He seems pretty upset about something, so he probably needs to cry.

"My dad called." He whispers.

"What did he say?" Jenna asks. It can't be anything good. When James gets on the phone with his father, he ends up getting angry. It happened about a month ago and Jenna was unfortunate enough to witness it. His voice started getting louder, he was shaking, and his face was flushed. When Jenna saw that it was becoming too much for him, she forced him to hang up. She sat him down, gave him a hug, and got him a pudding cup to make him feel better. She might have some of those in the fridge.

"He asked if he could come to visit and I said no. Then he started apologizing and that just pissed me off more. He isn't sorry for anything. He never wanted me before, so why now? He never spent much time with me when I was little and it was, like, ten months after he and my mom divorced that he married someone else. Does he really think that I'm just gonna forget about that? He hurt me and he hurt my mom. I hate him for that. When we were talking, he kept saying that he was sorry and that he just wants to see his son, but I told him that it's never gonna happen. Then I hung up."

He rolls back onto his side so Jenna can't see his face, but his shaking lets her know that he's crying. She affectionately rubs his arm, not saying a word. She has never met Mr. Diamond, but she can't stand that he hurt her James. She loves James more than that man ever will. She's never going to abandon him. She's going to help him put his heart back together.