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His lips were parted as he snored quietly in the bed beside you. It was late and you were too busy drowning in your own thoughts to sleep. Nights like these you looked at Jackson, torn between admiring him or realizing that this was about the only time you guys aren't arguing. You loved him. God, you loved him so much, but it felt like it hurt your heart more to love him nowadays.
As perfect as he looked and made himself look to others, he wasn't as perfect as he appeared but you knew that already. You'd think someone who was once an orphan would appreciate life so much more than someone like you. But money can change your life for the good or the bad. Money could buy him anything he ever wanted; a fancy car, his way through college, his own house if he wanted, but money wouldn't buy love. Not yours at least.
Jackson was complicated. He was everything you wanted, but he wasn't what you needed. His heart was in the right place, but his mind wasn't.
"Jackson, you don't need some stupid bite. Your life is perfect as it is." You rolled my eyes after he spent the whole car ride to school nagging about how determined he was to be like Scott and Derek.
"Not perfect enough." He snapped.
You almost laughed at his words, shaking your head. "What more do you want? Jackson, when will it be enough for you? You want to be hunted by Allison's dad too? Yeah, that sounds perfect."
He slammed his hand down against the steering wheel of the parked car, startling you and making you grow quiet."I'm gonna lose spot as captain on the team without that bite. Scott's living the fucking life ruining mine."
You stayed quietly, noticing his knuckles growing white from clenching the wheel so hard. "Scott has everything."
"And what do you have? Am I not enough? Is what you have not enough?" Your voice was quiet and cautious as you spoke.
Silence filled the car and for a moment you actually thought your words might have hit home until his laughed slightly, shaking his head and closing his eyes for a moment as he spoke. "Y/N, you're so selfish."
He stirred in his sleep, making you snap from your thoughts and watching as he rolled over on his side to face away from you. It didn't bother you as much as it once had. At one time, his arms never left from your waist, but now it was like you had almost forgotten what it felt like to be held by Jackson.
"Are you forgetting something?" You looked up for Jackson from the small mirror in your locker after fixing a few strands of your hair, thinking to yourself if there was something you forgot to do.
You couldn't think of a single thing you had forgotten. "I don't think so." You look up at him curiously as he raises an eyebrow, wondering if you were serious.
"Well, I can't read minds. What is it?" You raise an eyebrow in curiosity.
"You're not gonna put on makeup?" He glanced at your makeup bag in your locker, making your jaw nearly dropped.
You weren't all dolled up, as usual, just a simple skirt and sweater, but obviously, that wasn't enough. "Is there something wrong with how I look?" You glanced at the mirror, rubbing your tired eyes slightly.
Jackson shoved his hands in his pockets, running back and forth of his heels slightly. "Well, you could cover those up. I don't know maybe some lipstick."
You laughed harshly, shutting your locker slightly hard and making a few people look your way. "Hey, hey, hey, look I didn't mean it like that." He grabbed your arm softly to keep you from walking away. "Y/n.." You glance over your shoulder at him. "You know my image is important to me."
You instantly shook his hand off your arm, taking him by surprise at your actions. "Wouldn't want to ruin your image."
You sat on the edge of the bed by now, glancing up at your reflection staring back at you. Your leftover eyeliner was smeared and your hair was strayed. Why did the thing you loved the most have to hurt you the most? You picked yourself up from the bed, carefully not to wake him as you picked your clothes off of the floor and pulling them on one at a time, your breath shaky from crying. You felt weak. There had no fight left in you after months of fighting over being good enough and to this day, you felt like nothing even when he was everything to you.
You grabbed your bag from the end of his bed, pulling it over your body. What was the point in fighting anymore? You looked back at Jackson who was still sleeping quietly. A part of you wanted to get back in bed, your heart yearned for it but it also pleaded for a release. You quietly walked back over to the bedside, looking at him for a moment and forcing yourself to remind how shit you've ever felt because of him instead of melting at the site of him.
It took everything in you to keep it together. Your hand shook slightly as you set your key to his house that he had given you long ago down on the nightstand in front of an old picture framed of you and him, backing when money and competition were almost forgotten. This was it. With that, you left him alone with his money, his image, and himself.
