𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 {𝐝𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐞}

The Woods

I opened the door of the Gilbert residence, walked in and went up the stairs. Stopping at Jeremy's room, I took a deep breath then exhaled, preparing myself for the mood Jere might have today. I raised my right hand and knocked on his door.

I heard some shuffling before a mumbled "come in" came from the other side of the door. I placed my hand on the cold doorknob and turned it, pushing it open.

He was sitting on his bed. I figured he would be staring blankly at the wall or at the ceiling while laying down, but no. He was tying his shoes and I noticed that he looked like he was trying to get somewhere.

"Hey...," I pause, tilting my head in confusion when I see him get up and grab his jacket from his table. Before he has time to slide it on I stop him. "Jere.." He keeps going. I grab his arm making him look down at me "Jeremy, what's going on?"

He sighs, running a hand over his face, "I'm going to meet up with Vicky." I give him a hard look. "You're kidding, right?"

He shoves his arm away from me, "See, this is why I didn't tell you. I knew you were going to act like this." I shake my head and look down. "She's not bad people. Sure, she's not the resident good girl, but she makes me feel better. When I'm with her...I feel different."

I grab his hand, "I know, Jere, but she-" He stops me and looks me in the eye. "No, you don't. You really don't. You think you know everything, but you don't! When I'm with her, I don't feel like the kid who lost both his parents in a car crash, I don't feel pity. I just feel free and happy. So if you can't be happy for me or even accept how she makes me feel, then maybe you aren't such a good friend after all." He snatches his hand away from my grasp and storms out of his room.

I stand there for a couple of minutes in complete shock. Jeremy has never acted like that, never. He's never once yelled at me or gotten mad at me like that.

I let out a little sigh. Good job, Y/N, you screwed everything up, again. Congratulations!

I hear some shuffling and voices from the hallway. I adjust my messenger bag and walk out of his room, closing the door behind me. Once I hear the click, I lean back on it and close my eyes.

"Are you okay?" I jump a little, looking around in a slight panic when a dainty hand touched my shoulder.

I look up and see Elena with her friends, Bonnie and Caroline, behind her. I rub the back of my neck in embarrassment. "Y-yeah, I'm fine."

Elena looks back at her friends then back to me. She looks like she wants to say something, but doesn't. So instead, I talk, "If you're looking for Jeremy, he's not here. He um..just left."

"Yeah, I know. He was leaving as I was about to come in." She sends a small smile, "Is everything okay? He seemed on edge."

"Yeah, yeah he's fine. We just had a slight disagreement, but nothing new, right?" I let out a bitter laugh, trying to cover up the pain in my voice when I said that.

They all look at me with worried looks on their faces and I hate it. Pity. That's all I could see. Starting to feel unwanted, I come up with an excuse to leave the conversation. "Anyways, I should get going."

I start walking, well more like running, down the stairs as I hear them all say their farewells. I'm almost out of the house, about to turn the knob on the brown door when Elena comes to stop me. I tense up a bit when she holds something in her hand out to me. "Here, you dropped your pen."

I hesitantly grab it from her. "Thanks, I've got to get going though." I flash her a quick and small smile as I turn the doorknob and walk outside, letting out a sigh as the bright afternoon sun glares at me.