Diner Girl ~Jess Mariano~

Chapter 4

Third Person POV

Running. That's all Evan could do was run until he caught up to her. He always did. Running until she was tackled to the ground in her house.

"You are so ungrateful. Look at everything I've given you" SLAP

"This is all your fault" KICK

"By the time I'm done with you, nobody will love you. I'll make sure that no matter who looks at you, they'll be disgusted" STAB

Evan gasps awake. Taking a moment to realize where she is. She still can't breathe. She's hyperventilating. She's trying to slow down her breathing, as to not wake Luke. She didn't want him to know. Every time she had one of these attacks, she was thankful that he slept on the other side of the room. He never heard her. She forgot about one thing though. She wasn't alone on this side of the room anymore.

Jess had woken up from the sounds of Evan trying to calm down unsuccessfully. After registering what was happening, he rushed over to her. He knew what this was. He knew how to stop. However, to stop it, he first had to get her to focus on him. From the distant look in her eyes, he could tell it was going to take some work.

"Hey, sweetheart, look at me. I need you to look at me. Focus on me" he said in the gentlest tone he could, whispering as he did so. However, the task was easier said than done for Evangeline. Jess grabbed her face, carefully moving it so that she was looking at him. Tilting her chin with his fingers as he did so.

"Copy me. C'mon you can do this. Copy me." Jess whispered. He started breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth. Watching as she followed suit, her breathing becoming less heavy.

"Good girl. See I knew you could do it. That was so good" he couldn't help but praise her. Normally it'd take him a good 45 minutes to get his mom out of one of these states. She managed it in 10.

"How did you know how to do that?" Evan questions, closing her eyes, preparing to get out of bed to get ready for the day.

"Had a lot of practice. Helps when you come from a mentally unstable mother." he states, a look of worry still on his face as he looks up at the girl.

"Well thank you. You didn't have to do that. I was perfectly capable of handling it on my own." Evan says. She really was grateful. She just didn't want him to ask what it was about.

"Yea, no problem." Jess says as he watches the girl get out of bed and walk towards her dresser. "Woah what're you doing" he asks.

"Getting ready for work. And be quiet. Don't wake up Luke he needs the sleep" she responds groggily.

"Yea so do you. It's 3:30 in the morning. Go back to sleep." he says, motioning towards the bed.

"I can't" she says back simply.

"Yes, you can. Just forget about the damn shower an-" he gets cut off by the girl whisper-yelling at him. Normally, she wouldn't get this annoyed so fast, but it was early. She was exhausted. She needed to distract herself from the dream she just had and get dressed.

"Jess, you don't understand. I can't. Now leave it alone." she says, sternly, leaving no room for argument. Which, thankfully, he doesn't. All he can do is look at her a second, sigh, and say, "Okay, fine." while shrugging, walking over to her dresser with her.

"What're you doing" she asks. She had expected him to go back to sleep and leave her to finish getting ready. He hadn't.

"Well, since you're up. I might as well stay awake and keep you company." he shrugs, crossing his arms.