𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐃, jeremiah fisher

ten. something was born on the 4th of july

WHEN I GET home from work—my shift only lasted two hours—I want to sleep until I die.

I'm used to waking up early for cross country practice and meets, but my body just really didn't want to get up this morning. Probably because I knew Jeremiah wasn't working today and he's the only reason I got this job in the first place.

I start walking to the kitchen with the intention of making myself a quesadilla or something when soft sobs make me halt in my tracks.

Peeking into the kitchen, I find Rey's arms around Vanessa as she clutches his shirt and cries into his chest. There's a murderous look on his face, and it looks like he's torn between leaving to kill the person who hurt Van and staying here to comfort her.

Panic runs through my veins as I go over everything that could have happened to make Van cry like that. Similarly to Rey, I'm torn between anger and sympathy for my best friend.

Rey catches my eye and we share a look. He sends me a subtle nod and starts to lean away from Van.

As much as I don't want to interrupt their moment, right now I care more about making sure my best friend is okay.

As I'm walking into the room, Rey whispers something to Van and presses a kiss to her head before strolling to the exit. His jaw is tense as he sends me a look.

"I'm heading out."

My eyes widen, and I suddenly realize that this has to do with Noah and I absolutely do not trust my brother not to go do something stupid.

I place a hand on his arm. "Don't you think you should cool down a bit first?"

He lets out a tired sigh and rubs his face. "Rose, I'll be okay. Don't worry."

I'm more worried about Noah, but I don't say anything. Once Rey gets something into his head, it's impossible to convince him otherwise.

Once he leaves, I go to Vanessa and immediately pull her into my arms. She starts crying again, and I just hold her until she has let it all out.

"Van," I whisper, rubbing her back. "Let's go upstairs, okay?"

She shakes her head, leaning back from me. Her eyes are bloodshot red and her cheeks are wet with tears. There's a pain in my chest at seeing her like this. I fucking hate seeing her hurt and being unable to do anything about it.

"Rosie," she chokes out, another sob leaving her. "He cheated."

It's those two words that make my heart drop and my fists clench with fury.

What. The. Fuck.

Nevermind. No longer worried for Noah. I hope Rey beats the shit out of him.

Noah didn't seem the like the type to pull this shit, but I guess it's always the quiet ones who are fucking assholes.

I say nothing. All I do is pull Van back into my arms and hold onto her as if both of our lives depend on it. And we both cry.

꘏

THE FOLLOWING WEEK is comprised of crying, sad movies, a bunch of tissues, and a whole lot of screaming.

Vanessa has only been to two places this past week: either my house or hers. Which means that I've only been to two places too.

It's only on the Fourth of July that Vanessa decides to let go of all of the sadness and anger and embrace the single life. I hadn't really expected her to move past all this so quickly especially when she had been dating Noah for so long, but I have the sneaking suspicion that maybe she's only pretending for me and Rey's sakes.