Needless to say, my mum was mad. Maybe not mad but definitely on the verge of killing Jess. The whole ride back from the hospital she didn't say anything. She wanted to save it all for the big finale back at the house. I just stared at the new addition to my arm. The blue cast wrapped around my arm from around my thumb to my elbow.

When the car pulled up in the driveway we both got out and went into the house. I sat down on the couch as I waited for her to start talking. She paced the room, her coat still on and her bag in her hand.

When she stopped pacing she looked me dead in the eyes. She already knew what had happened from the phone call I had given her but she wanted more from me.

"Why?" She asked me with a disappointed look. "Why did you have to get in the car?" When her voice was level and there was no screaming that usually meant she was gonna snap.

I furrow my eyebrows at her. "It's not like I'm dead-"  I knew that was the wrong thing to say when she interrupted me.

"It's not like you're dead?" She exclaims in bewilderment. "Thank god you're not, but you could've been. He could've killed you!"

I shake my head at her. "Hold on a minute." I stare at with my mouth agape. "He could've killed me? He didn't do anything!"

She scoffs at me and rolls her eyes. "If crashing a car and fracturing your wrist isn't doing anything then John Wick didn't do anything!" She yells at me. "I told you, be careful."

"Yes, and-" She interrupts me again. The thing with my mum is that when she's mad she won't let you speak. She will just go on and on.

"I told you!" She yells and pulls at the ends of her brown hair. "And what did you say? You said 'Honestly what do you think is gonna happen'!" She continues on with a shake of her head. "This is what I was scared of!"

I stand up from my place on the couch. "It wasn't his fault." I defend Jess. "There was an animal and-"

"Yes! There was an animal and he should've been keeping an eye out for it!" She butts in, making me angrier every time she does it.

"If you were in his spot you would've swerved too!" I yell back at her. But then I thought about how my eyes weren't on the road. How if maybe I hadn't chosen to lean in when I did or if maybe I had seen the animal before him, I could've stopped all of this. "You weren't there!" I add.

My mum lets out a bitter laugh at my words. "You're damn right I wasn't there and you shouldn't have been either!" She puts her head in her hands as she drops her bag on the floor.

"I should've never left you with him! He's nothing but trouble and I knew that! But no, I decided to let you two have your fun! Let him sneak in your window at night!" At my shocked expression my mum continued on. "Oh yeah, I know all about that! I even know you two are the one who pulled that stupid prank in front of Doose's!"

Realising that there was no way out of this I began to apologise. "Mum, I'm sorry."

She pinched the bridge of her nose. "I know but I'm not even half as mad at you as I am at that idiot."

I wanted to defend Jess again but I knew it would just result in us screaming. When my mother still didn't look up at me I spoke. "I'm going to sleep." I made my way to the stairs. I knew that when I woke up in the morning this would all be over.

When we had fights in this house no matter how big or small they were one of us would have to go up first. When we'd come down the whole thing would blow over. There would be no more dirty looks or snarky comments. It'd all be over, but never forgotten.

My mother sighed before she walked over to where I stood at the foot of the stairs. She wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug, making sure to avoid my cast. "I hope you know that I love you." She says into my hair.

"I love you too," I mumble into her shirt.

She pulls away and sends me as a sad smile. "There's a bell on your bedside table, ring it if you need anything."

I nod and make my way up to my room. I close the door behind me softly. On my bedside table as my mum said there was a bell for me. There was also my usual water bottle and a few painkillers the doctor had given me.

I flopped onto my bed with my face up. I was so tired. The medicine I had taken at the hospital was making me feel dopey. I suddenly remembered that I was supposed to see Jess after, like he told me he would.

Calling him was out of the option since the phone was all the way downstairs and my mum would not like me calling him right now. So I decided to get up off my bed and open the window. Maybe he would come later, I was sure he was tired as well.

Going back to my bed, I remembered how completely wrecked Rory's car was. How was I gonna make it up to her? I had enough money saved up to maybe help pay to fix it. It was my college fund but I'm sure that I could bear to take a couple hundred dollars out.

I laid on my side as I watched the open window, waiting for Jess. My head was begging me to go to sleep but I wouldn't. Not until I could speak to him. My eyes kept dropping close but I forced them open.

The cold from the open window seeped into the room, making me shiver slightly. I crawled underneath the covers and pulled them up to my chin. I stayed in that position for what felt like hours, waiting for Jess. He never came. Maybe he was asleep. Yeah, he was asleep. I'll talk to him tomorrow.

~~~

"What do you mean we can't go to Luke's?" I asked in frustration.

My mum sat at her place at the kitchen table with a plate of pop-tarts in front of her. As I thought, the minute we both woke up the argument from last night was brushed under the rug. We went back to our old selves.

"I mean," she begins with a pop-tart in her hand. "After you called, I blowed up at Luke."

I shrug my shoulders and steal a pop-tart of her plate. "So what? Just make up like you usually do," I take a seat at the table.

"I don't think you understand," she begins. "This was not Nick and Nora, this was Sid and Nancy."

I groan and rest my chin on the edge of the table. "But what're we gonna do about my work?"

"You can go and I'll stay here." She says. "And when you're done you're gonna grab me a muffin and a coffee."

"But he'll know it's you."

"Doesn't matter as long as I get it."

~~~

I didn't really feel like working today, especially with the cast on my arm. But it gave me an excuse to go see Jess. Maybe I could even fix things with Luke and my mum.

When I got to Luke's I hung my coat up at the pegs and went behind the counter. Most people in the diner would send me pitiful looks. Probably because of the big bulky cast on my arm. The crash was probably the most interesting thing to happen here in a long time.

As I began to make some coffee and put some away for my mum in a cup, Luke walked down the stairs. When he saw me working he immediately did a double take.

"What're you doing here?" He asked before taking the pot of coffee from my good hand.

"I'm working," I tell him. I take the pot back from his hand. By now, most of he customers had begun to watch the exchange between Luke and I.

"No, you're hurt." He retorts, taking the pot back from me. "Go home."

"You need the help." I take the pot once again.

He rolls his eyes at my stubbornness. "Either you go home and get some rest or you choose work here but I'm not paying you."

I let out angry huff. "Fine," I hand the coffee pot back to him. He takes it with a thank you before asking if I would like some breakfast.
"I just need a two muffins to go, I've got the coffee here." I gesture to the take-away cup I had in my hand.

"One of them is for your mum isn't it?" He raised his eyebrow as he put two muffins in a bag.

I scoff at his behaviour. "You two should just make up. This is like the time she called you puke!" I try to get through to him. "It was all just a misunderstanding."

"I still haven't forgiven her for calling me that." He hands me the bag of food. "Now go home and rest."

Taking the bag from him, I remember why I was so eager to get here. "Hey, have you seen Jess?" I ask him.

Luke tenses up and stops his movements. "He's gone." He says as he watches my face.

"Oh okay, where'd he go?" I ask, not understanding why Luke was looking at me as if I were about to hit him.

"Back to New York."

My heart stops. I swear it really did stop. Instead of answering Luke I brushed past him and head up the stairs. I barge into the apartment hoping to see Jess sitting on one of the chairs with his stupid smirk.

But all I saw was that his side of the room was exactly like it was. Except that the bed was made as if no one slept in it the night before. Some clothes were missing from the open drawer along with the stack of books usually beside the bed.

This was not happening. After what I was about to do last night, it made his leaving ten times worse. Why, why would he leave? I thought we were friends and friends don't leave without saying goodbye. Most friends don't leave at all!

I ignore the tears building up behind my eyes. I will not cry. I head out the apartment and slam the door behind me. Luke tried to talk to me but I ignored him and grabbed my food and headed out the door.

Walking back home I thought of why he would leave. Probably cause of the accident. But he said he would see me after. He told me he would. Then why-

My thoughts were interrupted by me bumping into Rory. I didn't even notice I was taking the wrong road home. She went to apologise but when she realised it was me she went in for a hug.

"Cassie!" She exclaimed with her arms around me. I push Jess out of my mind for a while. I hug her back tightly, channeling some of my anger and sadness into the hug. "Oh I'm so glad you're okay!"

"Never mind me," I tell her softly when we both pull away. "I'm so sorry about your car."

She waved it away. "As long as you're okay."

"But Dean made it for you, I'm sure he'll be upset." I say with a frown.

"I'm sure he'll understand," she replied with a small smile. "How is Jess? Was he hurt?"

Of course. Of course he always managed to find his way back into my head. "He left." I say sadly with my eyes trained on her.

"What? Really?"

I nod my head, confirming her question. "Luke told me."

She pulls me in for another hug. "I'm sorry," tells me sympathetically. "I know how you felt about him."

"I just don't get it!" I exclaim. "He told me he'd see me when I got back. He must've know he would leave. Why would he do that?" I forced myself not to cry. I would not cry over some stupid boy.

"I don't know, Cassie." She told me solemnly. "I don't know."

Suddenly, I decided that instead of wallowing over him and feeling sad, I'm gonna hate him. I'm gonna hate him and never want to see his face again. "You know what?" I asked her. "To hell with him."

Rory seemed surprised at my sudden change in mood. "To hell with him?"

"To hell with him." I agreed. "If he left then so be it. His choice." I knew I couldn't hate him forever but it felt good to hate him for now.

"Okay," Rory started carefully. "If you need anything I'll be at home."

I nod my head at her. "Sure thing," I say before saying our goodbyes and heading our separate ways. For now, I didn't even want to think about Jess.