What We'll Survive Together (UD One-Shots)

Matt and Jess- Beautiful

     Just as Jess thought, things didn't work out with Mike. She found out that he had been cheating on her, so she found it easy to break things off with him. She did, of course, give him the slap across the face he deserved, but other than that she wasn't really angry. If fact, she was thankful for the excuse to end things. She had already been considering it after the incident, but didn't want to do it without a real reason.
     Actually, she did have a reason. After getting rescued, Jess began to see Matt in a different light. He was a lot more caring and considerate than she realized, and couldn't help but think that Emily was a bit foolish for treating him so horribly. He definitely didn't deserve it.
     After spending a lot of time in intensive care, Jessica was eventually released from the hospital. She was confined to a wheelchair for awhile, and had nasty scars all over her body. She almost saw it as karma in a way. She had done so much worse to the Washingtons. That didn't mean she was fine with it, though. She was still heartbroken every time she looked in the mirror. She had dreamed of being a model in the near future. She was certain that it would never happen now.
     When she was finally able to walk on her own, she still struggled. Getting out of bed every morning was quite the challenge. Every time she saw her own reflection, she almost didn't recognize herself. She used to see herself as beautiful, nearly flawless. Now she had gashes all over her face, arms, legs, back, and stomach. She would forever be reminded of that awful night whenever she saw herself.
Almost right away, Matt picked up on this. Jess, who used to wear somewhat revealing and skin-tight clothing, now only wore baggy clothes that hid her curvy figure. He assumed it was because he was ashamed of her scars, and he was right. In his eyes, however, nothing had changed. She still looked beautiful, and he wanted to help her see it.
     Matt would try and check up on Jessica whenever he got the chance. Since she started taking medication for both her physical pain and mental state, she slept quite often. He didn't mind, since she always responded to texts when she woke up. Since breaking up with Emily, Matt had been trying to think of a good way to tell Jess about his feelings for her. The only problem was that he was afraid of overwhelming her, since she had so much going on already.
As Matt got ready to leave school one day, he checked his phone once again. He had sent Jess a text in the morning, then another one at lunch, and finally a third one on the way to his last class. Seeing that she never responded, he was starting to get worried. Did something happen? Was she alright? Did she lose her phone again?

As he walked with Ashley out of the building, he sent her another text. He didn't get a response until he started driving home, when she actually called him. "Jess? Are you alright?" Matt asked as he stopped at a red light.
Jessica didn't answer. Instead, all he could hear was muffled crying from the other end of the line. Instead of driving home, Matt went to Jess's mom's house, since that's where she'd been staying for that week. She wasn't home, so Matt didn't hesitate letting himself in. He was starting to fear the worst.
     Luckily, once he reached the bathroom of the huge house, he found her. She was alive, thank goodness, but she was still crying.
"...Jess...?" He asked as he slowly stepped into the huge bathroom. She was sitting in the corner near the bathtub, her head in her hands. She was wearing nothing but a set of underwear and a baggy t-shirt. The bathtub was starting to overflow, so he quickly shut it off and unplugged the drain.
She looked up for a moment, then looked away again. "W-what are you doing here?" She asked weakly.
"Well, you never answered my texts, then you called me crying." Matt explained.
"I-I never..." she trailed off as she looked over to her phone on the polished tile floor next to the sink. She must have called him on accident when she dropped it. "I didn't mean to."
"It's okay, looks like you could use some company." He reassured her. She said nothing, so Matt sat down next to her. "So... what happened?" He asked.
"I-I got up late and I was gonna take a bath, b-but..." she trailed off again. She looked him in the eyes, then looked up at the mirror behind the sink, then looked back down at her hands.
Matt took a moment, but he soon put the pieces together. "Jess-"
"I-I can't do this anymore..." she interrupted. "Th-this happens every time I see myself..."
"Why's that?" Matt asked.
"W-why do you think?!" Jess snapped. "Th-these scars are... I-I'm-"
"Beautiful." Matt cut her off.
"S-stop it." She protested, looking away again.
"I mean it." He argued. "You were beautiful before the scars, and you still are."
"H-how can you say that?" Jess asked.
"Because that's what I see." Matt answered simply. "You can think I'm just trying to flatter you all you want. I'm just calling it how I see it."
     "You're r-right. I do think i-it's just flattery. O-or maybe you being nice."
     "Ah, well, there's a difference between being nice and being there when someone needs it."
Jess smiled faintly and rubbed the scars on her upper arm. She noticed that during their entire conversation, his eyes never left hers. She turned to face him, smiling faintly.
He beamed. "Am I helping at all?" He asked. She slowly nodded.
"Are you starting to see things a little differently?"
"Y-Yeah... but not just myself..." she mumbled as she leaned closer, slowly closing the gap between them.
Matt was surprised at first, but was more than happy to accept. He gently placed his hands on her waist as she pulled away, leaning some of her weight on him. They sat in comfortable silence for quite some time, neither of them wanting to spoil the moment.