Tender Hearts Only Get Torn Apart

This is the third chapter today. I’m done for now. Maybe if I get some reviews I’ll put the next one up.
To all of my readers, let me know if you like it or not, if you’re interested or if it sucks. Please.

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[Alex’s POV]

The shelves were stocked with every product you could imagine, and the only thing you probably couldn’t find there was a nuclear bomb. The aisles were cramped, the shelves massive and towering and pushed so close together that there was barely any room left for the rickety, rusted shopping carts to navigate. There were health craze products, imported international foods, all-American food, everything. There was even a candy aisle, which Jillian pulled us down as if to torture me.

There were all sorts of sugary goods down here- from the lovely orange of the Reese’s buttercups, to the deep brown of Hershey’s chocolate, to the yellow of Starburst. It was like a veritable rainbow of tooth-rot, and a dream come true. I had every intention of hitting it up once Jillian was finished with us.

I glanced over at Jason briefly, not really hearing what Jillian was chattering about. Apparently, he was filling Jason in on a whole month’s worth of his family news, talking about his brothers in college and his grandmother in Boston. It all went right into my left ear, and dripped back out the right one without even being processed by my brain. Their voices eventually became like a constant buzzing to me, and I didn’t even register that much. My mind was in tumult as it was without having to hear about crooked old ladies and frat boys.

The cause of my swirling thoughts? Jason himself, of course. The charming teenager who’d helped me twice without question- well, not too many questions, at least. Though at first he had seemed slightly too nosy for his own damn good, the adorable punk.

And that was exactly my problem. Jason WAS an adorable punk, no matter how hard I tried to ignore it. The way he bit his lip and grabbed his arm when he was nervously asking me out for the second time was just too damned cute to resist. I’d almost said yes, in all actuality. Coffee with Jason sounded like an amazing idea when I was staring right into his big obsidian eyes- they seemed to suck me in whenever I looked into them. Of course, Jillian had come out just in time to save me from a fate that may have been worse than death itself.

My attention was turned back to the real world by Jillian loudly slamming open the door to the store’s back room. Large boxes lined metal frames, each with a different thing written on it in Sharpie. Jillian let my hand go, and I wiped the sweat off on my jeans with a tight-lipped frown before pulling out my hand sanitizer. This was the fourth time today I’d had to use it- I was trying to cut back since Matt didn’t think it was too healthy- it dried my hands out badly, and made my artist’s calluses worse. There was a younger brother sitting back at home, holding a bottle of smelly lotion and just waiting for me to walk in the door. I was absolutely dreading it.

“And this-” Jillian huffed, bent over, and lugged up a huge rickety box with a billion little colorful labels all over it, then turned and dropped it in front of Jason (who looked down at it with wide eyes)- “is for your dear mother. She’ll enjoy the instant macaroni the best, should make dealing with Sammy a looot easier.” Jillian smiled at Jason, and I noticed he had a dimple on one side but not on the other, and his smile was slightly crooked over his untrimmed goatee. It was irritating- I wished he would stop grinning like that so I wouldn’t have to see it.

Jason flicked Jillian off with a quick, asskisser smile practically designed to piss people off before leaning over to get the box. “I need milk too, ass wipe.”

I couldn’t help it- I placed a bitter-smelling hand over my mouth to cover my giggle. It was only slightly muffled, and the two younger men in the cramped room with me heard it right away. Jillian stopped glaring at Jason long enough to turn that one-sided smile to me, holding out a sweaty hand with a welcoming nod.

“And you must be one of Jacie’s friends. I’m Jillian Blunt. Pleased.” His uneven smile, imperfect as it was, made me blush as I let my hand fall from my mouth to rest in his. It completely wrapped around mine, and I was still grinning, staring down at it. It was pretty damn funny- I was probably a few years older than both of these boys, but they both had these enormous hands that just engulfed mine effortlessly. It amused me in a strange way.

Jillian finally let his hand fall, and I found that I didn’t mind the sweaty residue left over on my own quite as much. I turned briefly to Jason, and looked away again quickly when I noticed he was smiling softly at me, his eyes dark and overwhelming in the horrible lighting of this cramped storage room. Jillian looked between us quickly, before clearing his throat and walking out of the rickety swinging doors. The rusty hinges squealed as he left us in almost-silence. I immediately felt uncomfortable, and Jason scoffed.

“Jillian, you dickweed,” he murmured under his breath. I felt the cold breeze on my face as he strode past me, not even looking down at me- it was all just as well, since I was staring very hard at the ground. I turned at the sound of rusty hinges protesting violently at being moved- he was holding one of the doors open with his back, hefting the bulky box up to better fit into his arms. I couldn’t help meeting his eyes, and it was a huge mistake. The smile when he noticed me looking at him lit up the whole room- it suddenly wasn’t so dark any more. I forced my eyes away and sauntered out into the freezing store with a small ‘thanks’ to the charming boy holding the door for me.

I felt my heart pounding, and the butterflies in my stomach turned to roiling dragons. Their talons ripped into me painfully, and my heart clenched as I caught his scent when I passed. It was no use stopping myself, because as of that moment I already knew that I would eventually fail in my feeble protests against this man‘s attempts to woo me. My hands twisted frantically, and I pulled the sleeves of Matts hoodie down so that I wouldn’t rip my nails into my skin.

The lotion would really fucking sting me if I did.

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Jason was lugging the box still, the bottom sagging with the weight of the thing, but now also toting two bags of milk and Oreos, and strangely enough, a family-sized bottle of syrup. He was standing next to Jillian in the shitty light of the store, laughing loudly at something Jillian’d said. I also had two large bags, one full of brushes, paints and rather nice quality colored pencils, the other with two canvases, a sketchpad, a shitload of candy, and some animal crackers for Matt. I was tugging on the hoodie still, although I was much more at ease with Jason standing at least six feet away. He finally waved awkwardly from the wrist of one hand at Jillian and turned away, loping towards me on his lanky legs. Jillian shoved his hands into his baggy pants and shuffled back into his store, not looking back at us.

Jason walked right past me, struggling with his heavy load. I had to strut quickly to catch up with him, my plastic bags crinkling against my legs.

“Jason, wait!” My voice sounded loud in my ears, even though a passing car had nearly drowned it out. He stopped on the sidewalk next to a large crack, a few steps away from the empty intersection’s crosswalk, to wait for me. I rushed over, and stopped with a reasonable distance between us. I scuffed my foot, suddenly nervous- he was looking at me with a strange look, and who’s to blame the guy? I mean, I’d already turned him down twice now, and ignored him the rest of the time. This wasn’t about what I’d previously done, though- it was about me making it up to him and praying that he was still interested in an asshole like me.

“Hum, ahem. Uh, I was wondering if, uh, maybe you. Y-you know, needed some he-” I choked on air, my face turning red- “HELP with your bags.” Good god, that was horrifying. My face was so hot I thought it was about to melt off onto the sidewalk, and the look on Jason’s face wasn’t helping. It was absolute disbelief mixed with uncertainty.

The silence was long. It pressed against me, making me feel strangely claustrophobic in the open street. The streetlamp shadowed Jason beautifully, his long limbs stretched into a gracefully awkward pose. His fingers tapped against the box as he mulled over an answer, presumably.

I was about to give up and just bash my burning face into the brick wall next to me when I heard him sigh. He held out a bag, one of the milk cartons.

“Sure, Alex. Follow me.”

I took the plastic handle with shaking fingers, my free hand weighed down by it automatically. Maybe that had something to do with the way I tried to pull away without touching his fingers if I could help it. Jason gave me a look, and I smiled disarmingly at him.

“Pftt,” he smiled back at me and re-adjusted the box before turning. “You really are too cute, dude.”

I was really glad it was too dark to see anything as we crossed the empty intersection. Otherwise, Jason might have asked me about the sudden flush on my cheeks and the happy tears filling up my eyes.

Maybe my chance hadn’t passed quite yet.

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Jillian’s not just a filler character, you’ll definitely see more of him so get used to his manliness and sweatiness. Muaha.

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