No Turning Back

I Need You

Okay, so maybe I was wrong about Jayden possibly continuing telling me whatever he was about to say that night. Hell, after that night, he never called me again. He stopped speaking to me in school – even when our project was concerned, he didn't even look at me when I went to his uncle's restaurant with Melanie or my sister. He didn't even acknowledge my presence half the time. I was completely confused as to what I'd done to him. I mean, I knew that I had been a dick to him back at the hospital but he had seemed to forgive me about that. In fact, he seemed to understand exactly what I was going through. He had been talking to me after the incident so why not now? What did I do that made him not want anything to do with me? Why did he suddenly hate me again?

The months began to drag on once more without Jayden's presence around. My anger had diminished so now I was back in my emotional state where I missed him and wanted nothing more than to just have him back with me again. I tried countless times to talk to him and take him up on his offer to be friends but he brushed me off every single time. His eyes had grown harder as well as the bruises and cuts become more visible in numbers through the months. I was beginning to worry about him. He had mentioned before that things were beginning to get bad at his house. I should have asked how bad. I should have looked through my stupid anger stage and just tried to compromise with him. I should be helping him through whatever struggles he was going through.

Tonight was Prom Night yet I wasn't very excited about it. I was going stag since no girl dared to ask me to go – even as friends – and none of the guys in school who may have been gay as well stepped up to the plate. So that left me alone. I was going to ride with Melanie and Damien in the limo we rented so I guess I wasn't completely by myself. However, I knew they were going to disappear once we actually got to the place. Melanie had told me that she was planning on sleeping with him later on that night so I knew she wanted to have her alone time beforehand. I was fine with it though. She deserved to have her special night.

"Whoa, you clean up nice big brother," Ashley said as she walked into the room. I was staring in the mirror, dressed in my tux with my hair pushed back. I will admit that I did look nice but a part of me felt a bit disappointed that the one person I truly cared about wouldn't see me like this.

"Thanks," I replied as I straightened my sleeves. Ashley tilted her head at me as she flopped down onto my bed. I turned around to face her and forced a smile.

"Daniel, don't give me that fake smile. What's wrong? You were supposed to feel better once your little anger spaz wore off – not worse."

I sighed as I walked up to sit down beside her. "What do you think is wrong?"

"Jayden? I thought you guys were working things out."

I shook my head. "We were but then he just stopped talking to me out of nowhere. I don't know what I did. I mean, I know I was an ass to him but he seemed to understand that I didn't mean it intentionally. Has he said anything to you about why he's cut me off?"

"No...he doesn't really talk at all actually. I don't think it's something you did. I think something's just going on in his world that's making him cut himself off from people."

"He hinted that things were getting bad at his house but I didn't go deeper into it. I should have. I know that I should have but I didn't..."

Ashley put her hand on my shoulder, giving it a soft squeeze. "You really care about him, don't you," she asked softly.

"I love him," I murmured. "But we're just...we're too complicated now that we're broken up. One minute he wants to be friends with me but I don't want to deal with it and the next it's the other way around. It's getting hard to figure out how to make things right since we keep flip-flopping."