BLANK SPACE ; jess mariano

xɪ. ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴇᴀʟɪsᴀᴛɪᴏɴ

SAGE tried to forget about the dismayed and scared boy that was staring blankly in the store window.
"Oh my god!" Sage ran over to the two.
"And miss, who are you?" a police officer quizzed her.
"I'm her best friend. His aswell." Sage face Jess a reassuring look before the police officer let her go to her friends. Rory was sitting on the curb of the road, her sobs audible as she clutched her wrist in pain. Jess sat by her, stroking her back as she leaned her head into the crook of his neck.
"What happened?" Sage asked, studying the two.
"I-I, we went for a ride in her car and, I saw an animal or something on the road, and I swerved and we just hit the -" Sage couldn't pretend she didn't here Jess' voice break as he explained. She glanced around her at the many police cars.
"Jess, I need to talk to you. Miss-" Sage read the police officer's name tag, "-Chavell, please stay with Rory whilst I talk to Jess." Chavell nodded in approval and moved to Rory. Sage took Jess aside.
"What we're you thinking?" she shouted, shoving his shoulders so he stumbled backwards.
"Hey, I made sure she was okay!" Jess protested, looking hopelessly towards the hurt girl.
"I know you did. Rory's fine." Sage told, her tone softening, "It's you I'm pissed with." Brown eyes met green as the two stared at each other meaningfully.
"What?"
"Jess, you could've gotten yourself killed." Sage said, raising her finger to her temple with tiredness and stress.
"Sage, I don't understand.."
"You could've died."
"But Rory.."
"But you Jess." Sage added, "You could've.." Sage's voice cracked as she tried harder to hold back tears. Without warning, she flung herself around the boy and he hesitantly wrapped his arms around her.
"You could've.."
"I'm fine." he whispered into her hair, "I promise." Sage felt fireworks set off in her stomach, and Jess felt it too as the two embraced each other tightly.

SAGE strolled to the diner. She had stayed with Rory and Jess last night after the accident, and had gotten severely told off by her mother, who was annoyed she hadn't called or paged her to let her know of her late homecoming. She approached it, and discovered a large number of huddled together residents, all muttering loudly.
"What? That's crazy!" Rory exclaimed. Sage made her body slimmer as she tried to push past the crowd. On the door read:
'GONE FISHING'
Sage's jaw dropped as she finally understood what everyone was irate about.
"I'm telling you, he's gone." Sage overheard Babette cry, "Luke just put him on a bus last night and off he went."
A brick dropped in Sage's stomach. She made her way to Babette, who was now sharing her thoughts on this with Miss Patty.
"Hey, uh, Babette? Is Jess, uh, really gone?" Sage asked and looked deep in Babette's pools of grey, misty water.
"Yeah, doll, I'm sorry." Sage nodded in understanding and sped away from the diner as fast as she could. She didn't even notice she was crying until she felt the warm, stinging tears drip on her hands.
"Hey mom." Sage grumbled before strutting into her room and slamming the door. Leanne paused folding away the laundry. She'd never seen her girl act like this.
"Sage honey?" Leanne tried, leaning her face against the door. Leanne heard Sage's cries from the other side of the room and she sighed to herself, knowing, her daughter was in unknowingly in love.

LEANNE pretended to ignore her daughter as she finally walked out her room, face stained with tears. She strolled to the fridge wearily, rubbing her stinging eyes and grabbing a carton of orange juice. Leanne tried to look at her daughter through the top of her magazine. Sage hoisted her drink as she pointed the remote at the tv. She crossed her leg over her other and chewed on her nails whilst watching 'The Price Is Right'. Leanne had had enough. She slammed her magazine down on the leather couch and it slapped with her force.
"Okay. What's up?" Leanne questioned. Sage bit her cheek.
"Nothing." she murmured, her gaze still focused on Bob Barker.
"Sage.." Leanne pushed.
"Why do you need to know!" Sage shouted. Leanne stared into her daughter's green eyes that resembled hers, clearly taken aback.
"This isn't about that Jess is it?" Leanne asked, her tone in a mix of calm and question.
"No." Sage spat. Leanne sighed before standing up and snatching the remote from Sage, pressing the off button. Sage looked up at her mother.
"Honey, I know you don't want to hear it, but, maybe, just maybe, you are falling for Jess." Sage scoffed and swiftly turned her head from her mother's unescaping stare.
"No. I'm not. Anyway, who even cares? He's gone now." Sage bit down on her red lips to stop it from trembling.
"Okay." Leanne muttered, sauntering away from her daughter, however , Sage knew her mother was right.