Halloween (chapter 2)
Book: Open Heart
Chapter: 2/7
Characters: Jensen Valentine, Aliyah (OC)
Rating: Teen
Words: 865
Chapter Summary: Moving backwards in the timeline (as this story is in reverse chronological order), we're now at the chemical attack to see who was there for him when he needed it.
Not necessarily who should've been there.
A/N: casey, who is mentioned briefly, belongs to @jerzwriter
Lyrics:
It's an ode to the hole that I found myself stuck in
A song for the grave that I dug
There's a murder of crows in the low light off Boston
And I see your face in each one
Hands halfway in his unpacked bag, Jensen was watching out the window. It looked down to the courtyard as leafless trees swayed in the wind and sprinkling of snow. A crow ruffled its feathers, flapping the snowflakes off, then settled once again. Next to it was a smaller crow, hopping closer to it on the long branch until they were nearly touching. It hopped away, then the other hopped closer, and that went on until the larger of the two flew out of the tree and long gone into the city.
Jensen hadn’t been outside in a number of days now, impatiently watching the nights and days pass until he was healthy enough to leave. Both physically and mentally, that was.
While a surprise to others, he was ready to go. It was over, and, though there was still aftermath to address, he was ready to be done with it. He was surprised he ever made it this far, honestly. Throughout and even before undergrad, anything beyond was a fleeting feeling. Usually people like him didn’t make it out of the gutter, and when they did, it was short-lived.
He thought it was all over months ago when the ethics hearing happened and his reputation was tarnished with a false accusation. Making it past that was a miracle, and, though he probably shouldn’t mention it to his therapist, it made the attack feel inevitable. Like he had missed his deadline and it was coming back to get him worse than before.
He was nearly done packing his bag, grabbing his phone and Switch charger from the wall.
“Knock knock,” he heard from the door, a familiar but unexpected voice as its source.
He whipped around towards the door, Aliyah standing there with a sad sort of smile. Opening his mouth once, then twice, both times failing to get anything out, he took a breath. “What are you doing here?”
She invited herself into the room. “Oh, I don’t know. I mean, when your best friend almost dies, you’d think it’d be nice of him to give you a call. And maybe you should come see him, considering that nobody else would.”
He could hear the tension in her tone, but her being there was enough to prove it didn’t matter. They hadn’t talked in a number of months—not genuinely in years—so to see her there was a shock.
He couldn’t manage more than a guilty look, apology on his face. She crossed the room to meet him, wrapping her arms around him in a hug. He tensed for a beat but settled only a moment after, breathing out the shakiness and wrapping his arms over her shoulders.
“Thanks,” he said. He meant it, but it still felt forced. He knew he never had to force anything with her, but it felt right considering their time apart.
She pulled back only a second later, giving him a characteristic smile before motioning towards the door. “You good to go, I’m guessing?”
He nodded, shouldering his bag and following her out.
He avoided eye contact with others in the hall. Namely, Casey’s parents, who were hovering nervously around her room, and Raf’s Vovo, filtering in and out of his room since Jensen had been up and able to wander freely.
Maybe he should’ve called Liyah from the start. It felt wrong, considering that their recent conversations amounted to no more than an Instagram story reply or chatting about a new album from their favorite artists. But she cared. More than anyone else had—more than certain people should.
But he felt he didn’t deserve it. He had practically ghosted her through med school and didn’t even offer her a proper goodbye when he left. People had left him for less so what was he doing that was keeping her around?
He should’ve had somebody to call. He should’ve known someone would give a shit, but the lines had always been so blurred that he could never tell if it was sincere or if it was out of obligation. With Liyah it was sincerity. The same way when she picked him up when he was high and drunk, waiting on some street corner in the pouring fucking rain because his phone died and he decided to hook up with a stranger that didn’t give a fuck if he stayed or left. The same way when she told him to get the fuck out of the band because she knew if he pushed himself any harder he’d hit the end of the road. The same way when she showed up unannounced after not talking to him seriously for nearly five years to take care of him when nobody else would.
It was sincere, and maybe he had such a hard time telling it because he had never seen it before.
Outside, she packed him into her rental car. She slid into the seat behind the wheel and started the drive to their home for the next week: a mediocre hotel with enough space to breathe but not enough to feel too hollow. It was a practiced sort of art, and if anyone would know what he needed, it would’ve been her.
tagging: @jerzwriter @cariantha @kyra75 @gutsfics @inlocusmads @choicesficwriterscreations
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