Jellybeans and Jelly-knees

Update! I'm finally writing really well so I know it'll go far. Also, there is some mysteriousness going on! Why? Because there are something that you don't know what's going on! Except Jen. She has an idea of what's going on.

Here is your update!
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Chapter 3

After talking to my parents, which are always cool with me spending the night with Macy, I head with Jenny, Justin, James, and Macy to their house. As much as I hate to admit it, I don’t like being there. It’s not that I don’t like their house ー it’s the one Jenny lived in as a child ー but there are bad memories associated there. And, well, it’s also the reason why I don’t drive myself.

“So, you and I are going to stay up all night,” Macy tells me, sitting to my left. James is on my right, his fingers intertwined with mine, listening to the music his parents are playing. They have so many CDs of Marcy and Isaac’s old bands, all songs that are pretty good. I love them myself; they were pretty cool back in the day. “We are going to have some fun.”

“Yeah,” I mumble. “I suppose.” All I can hear is “You almost killed him. It’s your fault.” She can hear the sadness in my voice and wraps her arm around my shoulders. She says something to me but I can hear are the same words, over and over. “You did it. You were behind that wheel. You’re the reason why…” I bring my hands up to my ears, urging the voices the stop. I close my eyes, mumbling to myself. I’m about to have another mental breakdown, I can feel it.

“Heather,” I can hear in the clouds of angry words. “Heather, listen to me.” I rock back and forth in my seat, hearing the words of hatred around me. “Breathe. Count. Hang on.” Hang on? How am I going to hang onto reality? Someone brings something to my ear and I hear a new voice. Wait, where did my hands go?

“Heather? Heather, you jellybean girl, come on.” Wait. Is that…Ash?

“Ash,” I mumble, hearing his voice in the mist of anger. “Ash, it was my fault. I did it. It was me, right?” I hear someone bark towards me, and the phone disappears. “Ash? Come on, please, Ash, come back.” I feel myself slowly lose my grip on reality and I can hear that song. That bloody song that haunts my nightmares. That sweet song is now torture. I can’t handle it. I want to scream!

“Heather, I’m here,” I hear, someone bringing the phone back to my ear. “Listen, you are okay. It wasn’t your fault. Do you hear me! It was not your fault. Come back to your family.” Family? Right, Macy, James, Jenny, and Justin. They are here. I finally open my eyes, a fog of hatred lifting to show James gripping my hands and Macy next to him, holding the phone to my ear. Jenny and Justin must have parked the car and had James pull me out because we’re at their house, me sitting on the floor.

“I’m okay,” I whisper, swallowing and pulling my hands away from James. “Thanks, Ash. Really,” I smile into the phone and I hear relived sighs from everyone, even Ash. Macy pulls me into a hug, throwing the phone to my right. I hug her back, taking a deep breath. As you can tell, Ash and everyone knows what happened. But Ash was there with me when everything went down. And let me tell you, it wasn’t a good thing. I’m just glad he knows what actually happened because my mind is still kinda fuzzy about it.

“Hey, give me the phone,” I say, pulling back from Macy. Jenny hands me the phone and I bring it up to my ear. “Hey, Ash, you still there?”

“Yeah, why?” he asks, and I can practically hear his eyebrows furrow in curiosity.

“Meet me at our place tomorrow. We need to hang out.” I smile and hang up, handing the phone to Macy. She rolls her eyes ー six; yeah I’m still counting ー and helps me stand. I grab my bag from the couch that James probably got from the car and I follow Macy to the stairs. Before I do, James takes me by the shoulders and plants his lips on mine. I freeze in surprise but I kiss him back, knowing that he’s trying to comfort me.

“You okay?” he whispers to me, his forehead resting on mine after he pulls away. I smile at him and nod, pecking his lips before I leave to the stairs. Macy pretends to gag and I smack her arm. She leads me up the stairs and I graciously follow, my eyes looking across the white walls to see pictures of grandma, grandpa, Jenny’s father, and the rest of the family. I walk into Macy’s room, shutting the door behind me.

Macy’s room is the opposite of mine. She has bright, sky blue walls with clouds painted on the ceiling. Her floor is carpeted to look like grass and her sheets match her walls, blue, but darker. She really likes nature, so she seems to be like a sort of hippie, but she just likes nature. She’s weird. But a good weird.

“So, what do you want to do?” she asks me as she takes my bag and throws it on her bed. I blink at her, confused. Wasn’t she the one who asked me here? Didn’t she have something to show me?

“How about look at whatever it is you want to show me?” I ask, sitting down on the bed. She sighs and gives me this look. And I read it clearly. Like was used to when we were younger, we have to wait until everyone is asleep to see what I want to see. I sigh and nod. “How about I pop some popcorn and you pick out a few movies? Then we can see it?”

“Go on ahead, my dear best friend! I’ll grab some old movies, like Harry Potter?”

“HP Movie Marathon!” I squeal and bolt out of her room. I hurry down the stairs and head into the kitchen. I see James making himself an ice cream sundae and I skip to the cabinets. Sadly, Justin and Jenny like to rearrange the food a lot and I literally have to search through the whole kitchen. After opening at least six cabinets, I find the boxes of popcorn and grab a box, pulling out four bags. Macy and I forget food when we cry, which will start in the fourth movie, and we eat a lot as it is.

“What’s the rush, love?” James asks, opening the freezer door and stuffing the ice cream into it. He opens the fridge and empties his arms of ingredients. I watch him before I realize I’m staring and I haven’t answered.

“Oh, HP Movie Marathon,” I answer, opening the microwave. I rip open one package and push the bag of popcorn into the microwave, setting the time for two and a half minutes before shutting the door. I feel him wrap his arms around my waist, pulling me into him. He rests his head on mine, pressing the start button for me. He spins me around and looks down at me, a grin on his face.

“Well, why don’t we pick up where Jasper interrupted us? We have ten minutes, with at least thirty seconds to pull out and put in popcorn,” he suggests, his eyes full of two emotions: lust and love. He wants me, I can see it clearly. I reach my hand up and caress his cheek, watching his eyes flicker down to my hand, and then to my lips.

“I would love to, but you know what I’ve told you. I’m saving myself for marriage,” I reply, pulling myself out of his grip. I open the rest of the popcorn and set then next to the microwave, counting down with the timer. James doesn’t take no for an answer and he wraps his arms around my waist again, his lips meeting my neck. I slap him gently, watching the timer. One minute and thirty seconds to go.

“Heather,” he mumbles against my skin, his lips still on my neck. I swear he’s going to leave hickey. Bullocks.

“No,” I reply, my hands gong to his arms. I remove them without watching, my eyes trained on the count down. One minute.

“Come on, Heather! We have eight minutes thirty seconds,” he whines, biting my neck. I give a tiny yelp and I swat at him, signaling him to stop. But does the boy listen? Of course not! Yep, definitely a hickey. God, would he piss off?

“James,” I hiss, “I’m warning you now. If you continue, so help me, I will make sure you never have children.” He stops and cranes his neck to look at me. He can see the seriousness in my eyes and he backs away, holding his hands up in surrender. I grin triumphantly and listen to the microwave beep loudly as if it’s a bomb. Who thought of making this microwave so loud? I mean, couldn’t they have modernized it to where there is a bracelet or ring you could wear and then it could go get whatever it was from the microwave. Oh, that’s a good idea. I should write that down.

“You are such a downer, my dear. You are threatening me to not have children yourself?” He shakes his head and turns to his ice cream. He whines when he realizes that it has melted quickly and I swap the hot bag of popcorn with a new bag. I rest the time and I snicker at the sight of James. That boy loves his ice cream. Not as much as Marcy, but he loves it. Marcy was such a bad influence on the boy as a baby.

“Well, I could always ask Ryder to help me with my children,” I tease in my most serious voice and he sends me a death glare. I smirk at him and he throws his melted ice cream at me. I dodge I swiftly and I hear it hit the wall. I cackle as I turn to the wall, seeing fudge and the cherry stuck on the wall. “Oh, you are going to be in so much trouble!” I giggle. James sends me a playful glare and runs to find his mother, me all the while laugh hysterically at his mess. If you look at it the right way, the slowly sliding banana slices look like eyes, the cherry a nose, and the fudge a mouth, all the while sliding down to the floor. Oh, what James can do.

After hearing Jenny gripe about James’ mess, and three bags of steaming popcorn, I head back to Macy’s room, a smile wide on my face. Macy is sitting on her bed, her eyes staring at the Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone menu, watching the glimpses of scenes go by. I laugh and she pulls herself out of the trance, grabbing a bag of popcorn and pressing play. We engross ourselves into the movie giggling at some points and leaving our mouths hanging open, full of popcorn, as we watch. After the lovely ending, we continue to watch the second and the third one. By the end of the third, everyone is asleep.

“Okay, Macy,” I say, wiping the tears out of my eyes. Yeah, I get very emotional when it comes to Harry Potter. I mean, really, who doesn’t? “What do I need to see?”

“Follow me!” she squeaks happily. We walk out of her room, tiptoeing quietly, down the stairs. We pass through the kitchen, and it is everything to keep myself from laughing at the wall, seeing the faint traces of fudge and cherry on the wall. We continue to a closet and she opens it, wincing at the creek of unoiled hinges. She looks around and rummages in the closet, me standing guard. And she’s right to do so. I’m a bull in a china closet when it comes to finding things. Finally, she gives a small sound of victory and pulls something out of the closet. She hands it to me, a small box, and gestures for me to open it.

I open the box to find a single sheet of paper. And, boy, am I surprised at what I see.
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CLIFFHANGER! What did she see? Oh, and if you fall, Jen can assure you that there is a giant mattress to keep you from dying. We established that a small while back.

Anywho! Yeah, Ash knows something is up. And what is this something? JEN DON'T SPOIL MY PLANS! There needs to be mystery!

Also, what did Heather see? What was in that piece of paper? Who knows? Me, duh. But, still, don't guess this part on here. Guess in your minds!

Anyway, that's all this time. I want your feedback! Lemme know who you love! James is silly, huh? Smiley face sundae! Hahaha!

So, yeah. I love you all! And Jen, don't spill the beans!

~Shana Alana

 

Working on it DARLINGS! Hint hint: Ash an Heather scene! I need a couple name for them. And a James and Heather couple name! My creative readers, go forth and be creative!

I'll update tomorrow probably. But I just might later tonight. We'll see where it goes.

Love y'all lots!

~Shana Alana

 

Okay, first off: I love the names Jeather and Ashther, courtesy of Laiana. So, thank you, girly!

Second: This chapter is spicy! And it coves a few more details about why she has her mental breakdown. With a huge scene of Ashther!

Third: Let's get this update down!
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Chapter 4

“So, you wanted to show me what your mom was planning while your parents were dating?” I ask her, looking down at the paper in the box. On it, written is Jenny’s somewhat neat handwriting, is the name “Justiffer” and so many J and M names, my brain wants to burst. I reach in the box and pull out the paper, seeing “Jenny and Justin Gateley” written in different styles, in different ways, and it sometimes has little hearts around the names. Good grief, was this woman in love or what?

“What?” Macy asks me, obviously surprised. She snatches the paper out of my hands and reads it over, and I hear her make a gagging sound. “Don’t need to see that again. Check again. It has to be there.” I do as se says and I see another paper ー correction, a small stack of papers. I pull them out and skim through it, my mouth hitting floor as I read.

“They made a contract to make sure I get married to their son?” I whisper-scream. No way. No freaking way. That is not possible! I mean, there is a contract right in my hands and it says, and I quote, “The two who admit to their true feelings, that he and she have fallen in love with the other, first, must get married. This contract is null and void if neither pairs of children fall in love.” The hell is this! This is like forcing marriage upon us! This is stupid! Has James seen this?

“Or me and your brother. It states that it isn’t forced, but you have to admit you’re in love with James to make it official. Or Jasper has to break out of his damn shell and fall in love with me. They are basing it off the ‘love at first sight’ stuff, you know? That stuff that’s not entirely real.” I look up at her to find her with a slight frown on her face. It’s real. For her. After she became a teenager, she fell head over heels for my brother. It’s so cute, yet tragic. He has no idea because when she comes over, he always has his head in a book and doesn’t even look at her.

“That is so…so… I don’t even know the words to say! I don’t know if I’m in love with James, and you know why! Has James seen this thing?”

“No. Only us and our parents and every other adult.” As I fume quietly, I stuff the papers back in the box and Macy places the sickening paper on top, shutting the box and walking back into the closet. When she comes back and shuts the door, we sneak back into her room. I don’t even bother to watch the rest of the Harry Potter movies and I go to sleep.

But before I do, I ask the one question on my mind: “Who suggested the contract?”

“Your parents.”

*****

After a good night’s sleep, breakfast, and my daily routine, I head to the park, muttering to myself about not tell Ash what time to meet me. But I believe he’ll know. Either he’ll already be there, or he’ll be on his way. I can feel it in my gut.

Once I arrive to the park, I head to the large area of trees that conceal our place. I look around before entering, making sure I’m not being followed. No one but Ash and I know about this place. Why? Because we built it. When we were sixteen, around the time that the…bad happened, we decided to make a place to where we could hang out alone. And, well, we only come here nowadays when I have a mental breakdown.

I stop when I reach the tree, looking up at the tree house. It’s been standing for only a year, but there are already so many memories. I climb up the latter, looking into the tree house to find it the way we left it last time. I lay on the color, curling up into the same position as last time, running my left hand over the warm wood. Summer’s almost here and I’ll soon be eighteen. I only have a month left.

I lift my head up to look around the tree house, the wood slightly weathered. The books on the shelves are old classics that have the wondrous smell that I love. A tarp on one of the windows has torn open, leaving a gap to allow sunlight to enter the small place. The only beanbag chair rests alone, the deep purple bright.

“Hey, you okay?” I hear, causing me to sit up and nod, looking over to my best friend. He sends me a sad smile and walks over to me, which is actually one or two steps, and kneels next to me. “You sure?” I nod again, wrapping my arms around his neck, burying my face in his neck. He wraps his arms around me and we sit there for what seems like forever.

“Ash, what happened?” I mumble into him, my eyes closed as we rock back and forth.

“I’ve told you, Heather,” he tells me, pushing me back lightly, looking into my eyes sadly.

“No,” I mutter, shaking my head. “I mean what happened to me?”

“I don’t know. The accident, I guess. But that doesn’t make you a worse person, or even a bad one. It wasn’t your fault. You may have been behind that wheel, but you didn’t put him in a coma!” Ash sighs and takes my face in his hands. “You didn’t do anything. That damn driver was so drunk. I’m just glad you weren’t in that passenger seat like he wanted you to be. Because if you were, you’d be the one in the coma. And I know that I and James and Macy and Jasper would be lost without you. Your parents would be devastated.”

“They only need me as long as I’m with James,” I blurt out. “Jasper and Macy can always get married and have children, making our two families whole.” He gives me a confused look and I sigh. “I found a contract that my parents suggested. It stated that whoever fell in love would get married. They don’t need me.”

“Yes they do, Heather. I need you. Macy needs you. Jasper needs you to break him out of that shell. James needs you. And who would I be without my jellybean loving, fashion extraordinaire best friend? I’d be at the hospital every day, waiting for you to wake up. Why?” he asks, sending me a smile. “Because I love you. You are my best friend and you deserve to be loved by me, the boy that is practically your brother.” Oh, for a second there, I thought he was saying he’s in love with me. That would be one hell of a love triangle.

“I love you too, oh ‘brother’ of mine,” I grin. “But that still doesn’t change the fact that we both know. He is going to die, in that hospital. There’s only a month or two left before they pull out his life support. How am I supposed to deal with that? I will be the one who killed him.”

“No you won’t, Heather! Are you even listening to me?” he yells at me, causing me to flinch out of his hold. He sighs and runs a hand through his brown hair, my eyes following his hand. God, I love his hair. It’s so soft and it is such a rich color of brown, almost like chocolate. And he always has this “I just got out of bed and I don’t care about how my hair looks” hair. And what is sexier than that hair? Nothing. Wait, did I just call my best friend sexy? Creepy. Let’s push that thought away. Maybe that “I love you” thing pushed some wrong buttons?

“I’m sorry,” I whisper and walk over to a window. I pull away the tarp and I look outside, seeing the bird house we put up when I had my last breakdown. Why is it that I always have the breakdowns? Why doesn’t Ash have any? Maybe it’s because he keeps them secret. Or maybe he just doesn’t have any because he wasn’t behind that bloody wheel. He was in the back, in his seatbelt, sober. And I had a few drinks and so did Mr. Coma, but he did have a lot more than I did, and he was only fourteen. Why did James have to take him with us? I would have been just fine staying home.

“Don’t be, I shouldn’t have blown up.” I turn my head to him to see Ash turn to me with sad eyes. His blue eyes are beautiful. They look like oceans, but darker. Like there are storm clouds right above the oceans, the darkness being reflected off the water. They look amazing. I love his eyes.

“So?” I ask. “I deserve it sometimes.” I look back out the window, a mockingbird resting on the roof. I whistle a four part tune, watching the bird as I await its reply. It whistles back, the tune higher and longer. I grin and I feel warm arms wrap around my wait.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers in my ear, pushing his face into my hair. I push him back slightly, turning so I can hug him back. We stand like that, in each other’s arms, for a few minutes, but it feels like hours. Finally, he pulls back, staring into my eyes. Ugh, my dull brown eyes. I have my father to thank for that.

“Have I told you what your eyes look like?” he mumbles to me, a small smile creeping onto his face. My eyes? Has he read my mind? It would make since, we’re such good friends and have been for so long.

“What? Enlighten me,” I say softly. And suddenly, I realize our position. His arms are lightly wrapped around my waist and my arms around his neck, keeping us close. A little too close for best friends. I stop my cheeks from heating up as I focus on his words.

“Chocolate. Makes since why Jenny likes you best,” he smiles and I shake my head. My eyes, my eyes, look like chocolate? Please. Or, do they? I don’t pay attention to my eyes. I think they’re my worst feature. But, maybe not…

“Sure, that’s why,” I whisper and send him a grin. I swallow as he moves towards me, and soon our noses are touching. My heart races at his closeness and suddenly I feel electric currents run through my body. Why is this happening? I’ve never in my life felt like this towards my best friend. Ever. This isn’t supposed to happen.

Ash blinks and I close my eyes.

I think I want this kiss.
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HEORBSTSIRV~ This part I literally fangirled over. It was just...AHHHH! I love it! I'm not Jeather or Ashther, not yet. But I just love these sappy moments! They are just so...lovey!!!

So, there were some more details in that. Also, now you know it was a car accident. But who was in that car? DON'T SAY IT HERE! Think it. And, again Jen, don't let the cat out of the bag! It'll run it's course and you'll find out around chapter 10.

So, you know, feedback, Treaters!

I love you all, Treaties!

~Shana Alana

 

Ugh. So many typos. ._. Sorry for the many typos for I was so excited and I didn't do much editing.