Through sickness and in health

27

Tuesday

"And he just walked out?" I shut my locker nodding my head as I take a sip of my coffee. I ended up crashing at Katie's last night, everything got awkward. I didn't want my parents to worry considering it was nearly 4 in the morning, although I did give Katie a heart attack when I showed up banging on her window at 4 in the morning.
"So are we mad at him or..." she asks clearly confused by the situation.
"We're not mad at him. I feel bad for him, which I obviously can't express that to him. We all know how Jason deals with crying and pity" I laugh
"He freezes" Katie finishes
"Yep" I laugh
"Hey remember that one time I showed up at your house crying when you two were in the middle of a make out session. Troy broke up with me and I started crying, when you went to get comfort foods I ended up crying at Jason's side and he just patted me on the head like I was a dog" she breaks out laughing.
"Yeah, he's a great hugger. He's all clingy and gooey it melts my heart but he does not know how to deal with someone crying. When I cry he just hugs me and tells me it's okay but with you-"
"He doesn't exactly seem like the type, to hug me and comfort me even as friends" she nods

"I don't think I've ever seen Jason hug one of his friends" I say thinking now. Jason had never been the affectionate type to his friends. To me it's a whole different story. But if I were to go over to one of the guys on the team I don't see every often and tell them Jason is clingy like a teddy bear, they'd probably laugh in my face.

"Do we know when he starts chemo therapy?" Abbie asks joining in on the conversation. She makes sure to whisper it since it's not something Jason wants everyone to know. There's plenty of rumours going around but obviously Jason hasn't had a concussion for a month and a half.
"Next week" I sigh
"How's he feeling about it? How are you feeling?" Katie asks
"I'm not sure he's really dealt with the fact he has cancer yet alone the treatment for it yet. I'm just worried, I guess I'm waiting for him to break down and cry, express how he's feeling but he's like a brick wall. Then he's still getting headaches and sometimes he throws up, whenever I see him messaging his temples or even squeeze his eyes shut I think of the worst" I never looked at Jason like he was weak, I don't now. He's one of the strongest people I know. But he has different ways of coping with these things and expressing them isn't one of them.

He doesn't express them by showing them or talking, he just bottles them up.

"I'll see you at lunch?" Abbie asks hugging me. I nod my head hugging her back as she smiles at me.
"Let's go to class" Katie smiles throwing an arm over my shoulder.

*~*

Katie's in my English class but she sits in the opposite side of the room to me. She's sitting over in the corner of the room next to Brandon.
"Where's will and Jason?" She mouths from across the room. I shrug my shoulders putting my hands up in question.
"What are you doing?"
"Fuck off lockwood, not in the mood" I mumble
"Your pretty when your mad" he says leaning his head in his hands.
"Thanks" I roll my eyes looking back to Katie, who's now in a different conversation with Brandon and Isobel. I sigh turning back to the front and focusing my attention on mr Anderson.

As soon as he starts writing on the board the door slams against the wall, Jason walks in with his beanie on but no hood up. Followed by Will who's laughing and stumbling.
"Are you drunk or stupid?" I ask turning around and looking at Will. His laugh and smile disappears as he glares at me.
"Dude chill you look like you've been slapped across the face" Jason chimes in.
"Do not" will argues
"Yeah, you do" Jason rolls his eyes
"Do not"
"Have to agree with parker here, you do" Henry says joining the conversation. I see Jason roll his eyes again in the corner of my eye.

"Your welcome to come and watch the game tonight" Henry says turning to me now.
"Wasn't aware I had to be invited" I sigh keeping my gaze locked on the front.
"It'd make my win a lot better. Looking up into the stands and seeing my trophy" Henry smiles,  I can feel the heat of his gaze from the side but still I ignore him. I can feel Jason's leg bounding next to me. Henry still isn't aware of the fact that me and Jason are dating. It's not a secret, everyone knows. He's clearly just stupid.

"You know you'd look really good as my-"
"So how's your dad doing Lockwood?" Jason asks turning to him. A small smirk forms on his face as he leans his head on his hand looking at him completely. Will snorts from behind me clearly amused, I just roll my eyes.
"Great, he's coming to the game tonight" henry says narrowing his eyes on Jason. I don't understand what the guys are getting at here so I choose to ignore them.

I turn to jason seeing him writing a few notes, I see how his hair is in his eyes and smile.
"You need a haircut" I mumble looking at jason again. He nods looking up at me.
"I'm waiting for it to grow a bit more" he says
"You should get Jessica to trim it, it will grow in faster" i smile
"I'm crashing at Kai's tonight" Jason says
"What?"
"I'm crashing at Kai's. I'm not going in the same house as...him" he says absently.
"Sleep at mine" I whisper
"You sure?" He asks
"Of course. My parents haven't stopped asking about you. They miss you"
"Yeah" he nods, when the bell rings he's quick to pick up his bag and throw it over his shoulder. He walks out with Will quickly following after him and calling his name.

"The fuck is going on with your boyfriend?" Katie asks walking over to me again.