Jerry walked back to his apartment, his mind buzzing with the night's events. Even if it was three in the morning, he didn't take a cab. It was a good neighborhood and he lived only a half an hour away. The exercise and fresh air would do him good. Especially since the rain had finally stopped and the air was crisp and cool.

His heart ached for Sam. Part of him couldn't believe what had happened, while the other part unexpectedly agreed with Jimmy. Christine was narcissistic and needy and she'd always made a point of showing Sam wasn't good enough for her. Yet, they's stayed together over the years, Sam steadily taking the lead, putting her in her place.

And Christine had changed. She'd become much closer to them, had turned Angie into her best friend, and appeared to be satisfied and happy. Maybe she was because she'd gotten someone else on the side. Someone to stroke her ego more than his brother ever could.

What Jerry found hard to believe was that she had never expressed her thoughts on the situation, that Sam hadn't brought up the professor's claims. Poor Sam had done his best to avoid embarrassing her, to respect a wish which obviously didn't exist.

And for Christine to throw that in his face, call him less of a man for it. Jerry knew how much that really hurt his baby brother even if Kyle, Jimmy and Tom seemed to brush it off as nonsense.

To Sam, it wasn't. To Sam, it was insecurity and an endless pool from which Christine could draw her weapons and continue to hurt him even after they broke up. If Sam was smart, he'd avoid her. Though he seemed to get the idea what with misplacing his phone, staying at Tom's, and having Kyle collect his stuff.

Kyle was the best choice after all. He could brush past Christine with ease, ignore all her nonsense, and maybe not wring her neck. Jerry wasn't sure how he would react, but he'd probably end up pitying her if she started begging or crying. Fortunately, problem solved.

All they had to do was make sure poor Sam was always distracted until the pain started to fade. That was how it had worked from him.

His second breakup from Tina hadn't been as smooth as their first. Even if he no longer believed Kyle was an issue between them, Jerry was aware it was only because Tina wanted to prove him wrong. Had he never called her out on it, she'd probably still be daydreaming about his brother.

Even so, it was more than obvious that she waited for a knight in shining armor to save her and take her into the sunset. It took Jerry exactly one month to realize that wasn't him. He was messed up enough on his own with his intimacy issues and inability to adapt to affection. With Tina by his side, they'd only be spiraling towards general unhappiness.

Tina hadn't understood. She'd raged that he was messing with her. Taking advantage of her love for him to use her, to sleep with her and then dump her.

And even if, just like in Sam's case, he knew it was bull, it still hurt, it still made him feel awful, doubt himself.

It took him six month to get over a girl he'd gotten over before. How long would it take Sam to get over something that lasted four years?

"Hi."

Jerry froze in his tracks. He'd reached the corner of his street just to find Sarah there, leaning against a streetlight, a bottle in one hand and two glasses in the other. She wore a light tan chiffon dress and no shoes.

"Sarah? It's three in the morning. What are you doing here?"

"You mentioned that you live around here and I wanted to surprise you." She waved her hand around, a small smile on her face.

It still didn't explain three A.M. "How long have you been out here?"

"You know how you texted me that you would be going home soon like an hour ago?" She looked at her wrist, but she had no watch. "I left home around that time, so... forty minutes?"

Jerry kept staring at her, from her dress to her bare feet and the bottle in her hand. Sarah followed his gaze and shook the bottle.

"Oh, yeah. I don't usually turn up at guys' approximate addresses to surprise them with wine at two in the morning, so I needed a little liquid courage." She shook the bottle some more. "I ended up drinking half of it. I also lost my shoes."

He didn't know if to laugh or be severely worried. "How did you lose your shoes?"

"I took them off because the heels were killing me, but I forgot where I left them and I can't walk far because the sidewalk isn't exactly barefoot friendly."

She was definitely drunk and all desire to laugh disappeared. His heart plummeted. He'd liked Sarah. After their coffee date, they'd kept in touch mostly by texting. She was fun and smart.

But she obviously had issues. And he had no idea if he wanted to open that can of worms or not because who did this after one innocent not-even-date?

His thoughts seemed to show on his face because she sighed and lowered the bottle.

"I swear I'm not a psycho. I just... I thought you'd find it fun."

"Kyle would find it fun," he said before he could help himself.

"Tell me about it," she mumbled. "It was his idea."

Typical. So poor Sarah was caught in the middle of Kyle trying to mess with him for some reason. A little heads up would've been nice since they'd just seen each other and his brother knew all mood for fun was gone.

"Sorry. I'm just in a pretty depressed place right now."

"Oh." She took a few brave steps forward, but winced and stopped. "Want to talk about it?"

He really did, but he wasn't sure it was safe. Then again, she looked tipsy enough not to remember the whole thing. As evil as it sounded, if he had her drinking the rest of the bottle, she'd probably forget everything.

"Okay. But let's go sit down somewhere." He walked to her and picked her up.

She immediately wrapped her arms around his neck and started waving her feet. A few years ago, this would've killed his back. Now, she was light and easy to carry, despite all the moving.

"You're so strong," she said, flapping her feet some more. "Unexpectedly, but I like it. Makes you sexy."

Made him want to drop her for some reason. But he sucked it up and put her down gently on the front steps of the entrance into his apartment building. She looked up, over her head.

"So this is where you live?"

"Yes." No more details though or he might wake up with her inside his house.

"I wasn't too far off."

No, especially since he spotted her shoes a little further away. He went to grab them and returned.

"There they are," she said with a grin.

Jerry sighed, realizing she wouldn't be putting them on herself, so he placed one of her feet in his lap and slipped a shoe on.

"I feel like Cinderella," she said in good humor.

He wondered how rude it would be to tell her to go away, because he really wasn't in the mood for jokes now. He still slipped on her other shoe as well, just to get that out of the way.

She let her feet down and looked at her shoes, biting her lip. "I'm so sorry. I know I'm acting like an idiot and you said stuff was depressing. I want to listen."

She was lucky he actually wanted to talk. It was moments like this he missed Tina most. He took the bottle and glasses from her and poured her another. "Then you'll need a drink."

She took it, but just stared at it. "I don't know if I should be drinking anymore right now. I might end up doing or saying something stupid."

"That's okay, you're with me."

"That's part of the problem. I don't want to make a fool of myself in front of you. Though it might be a little late for that."

He chuckled, but stopped quickly and they stayed in silence for a few minutes. Sarah finally took a sip out of her glass, her gaze lost across the street. "I don't usually do this," she whispered. "But it's much harder with you, because you're not like everyone else. You've been through so much, it takes a lot more to impress you. But now I'm going to shut up and listen and do my best to make you feel less depressed."

"Thanks." Though he didn't even know where to start.

"You said you had a family emergency," she said, as if reading his thoughts. "Is everyone okay?"

Jerry shook his head. "Sam's not. You have to promise this stays between us."

"Of course."

He took in a deep breath. "He and Christine broke up. Turns out she was cheating on him with his best friend."

Sarah winced. "Oh, that's awful. Poor Sam." She fell silent, chewing on her lower lip.

"Your trying to remember which one Christine is, aren't you?"

She shook her head. "No, I know exactly who Christine is. She's the one who is most often in the press. The only one of you who seems to love the attention. I'm just a little surprised."

"Surprised?"

"Yes. For once, I didn't think she'd risk her status by doing something like that. No one likes a cheater so her public image would be in taters. Then..." She let out a deep sigh. "I haven't been following your lives all that attentively, but even if you don't, there's still a first impression there. They were my least favorite couple out of all of you, but they still seemed solid. Like Christine seemed to love Sam, in her own narcissistic way."

"Maybe she does," Jerry pointed out. Was just crap at showing it.

"I don't think so. Maybe she has a crush, or is infatuated with him, but it's not love. You don't do something like that when you love. Love is about being with someone who brings out your best self while you bring the best in them. I don't think even Christine could mistake being with someone else with making Sam happy."

She made a very good point, so Jerry just nodded before he focused on her again. All the playfulness from before had vanished and she really seemed to be hurting for Sam, not just the general sympathy a stranger would show.

"How well do you know us?" Jerry found himself asking.

"Not well at all. I know some general things, but I've never judged you until I met you. And so far I've only met you and Kyle. Though I really wish I could meet everyone."

"What's the deal with you and Kyle?"

His tone had come out a little harsh and she looked at him questioningly. "Why are you asking?"

"What do you mean? He's my brother."

"I'm still talking to him, if that's what you mean."

He wasn't sure what he meant. He just knew he didn't want to share another girl with his brother, however innocently. Not after Tina. The thought seemed to be written over his face, because Sarah's eyes narrowed.

"I may be tipsy, Jerry, but I can still sense when you mean more than you say."

"I don't want to talk about it," he mumbled.

"Then don't ask loaded questions. You didn't strike me as a control freak."

"I'm not a control freak."

"Then it must be Tina. She had a crush on Kyle, or what?"

Was it that obvious to everyone but him? "Would you blame her?" Jerry said between his teeth.

"Of course I would. That kind of crush may be innocent when directed at people you'll never run in the same circle with, like actors or singers, but not when it's on someone you see every other day." She paused for a few moments. "And while I agree that Kyle is unfairly good looking, he's not everyone's type."

The logical part of Jerry knew that was true, and he wasn't jealous of his older brother. He just hated how stupid people tended to get around him. It wasn't Kyle's fault. Tina hadn't been his fault and neither was everyone else. He always minded his own business, focused on Kay, on setting Jerry up with girls he'd been stuck in elevators with. The usual.

"I don't think he's god's gift to women, in case you were wondering," she said. "Not even after we were stuck in an elevator together and he used his super powers to get me out before it started working again. He's a nice guy, and a great friend, since he sent you over with coffee, but that's it."

Jerry nodded, trying to accept that, wondering why he even cared. He didn't know Sarah that well. He had no idea what he even wanted from her, if anything. But he'd told her a big secret, trusted her not to tell, and here he was on the street with her at three thirty in the morning.

"You guys are so screwed up," she mumbled.

"What?" He turned to her, annoyance battling the logical part of his brain which prodded him to accept the truth in her words.

She just shook her head. "We all are, but I wasn't expecting you to be for some reason. Not like the rest of us. Though God knows I don't know even ten percent of you."

"That's very true. You don't."

"I never thought I'd want to either. But you're a little addictive." She tried for a smile, but it came out tired. "And I didn't mean it in a bad way. I'm screwed up, too. It's just a bit easier for me because my screwups don't matter that much. No one is out there judging me, waiting for a wrong move."

"Are you trying to depress me, too?"

"No." She stood on shaky feet. "I'm just trying to make your life a little bit easier. It just makes so much sense for you to doubt it, for you to look at me like I'm crazy..."

Okay, maybe he was and it was rude, so he lowered his eyes.

"Jerry..." She sighed and sat back next to him. "I really want to help you."

"Why?"

"Because I like you."

This was getting strange and just a little uncomfortable. "Why?" Because he gave her absolutely no reason to like him.

"Are you kidding?" She knocked her head back and gave a short laugh. "You're still here even if I made a right fool of myself. You put my shoes on for God's sake! You're nice and kind. Kindness is so rare on these streets."

"But I haven't done anything..."

"Exactly. You only look at me funny, but that's okay. You don't know me. But you don't leave, don't tell me I'm psychotic or weird or just block my number. Don't you see?"

She leaned closer to him, but he really didn't see. He hadn't done anything but be his awkward self. She was lively and interesting and maybe a little crazy. She was the one who turned up at his place because he was having a bad day even if it was three in the morning.

"You were there for me," he whispered, the realization warming his heart.

"So are you," she whispered back, leaning closer.

Her eyes had a very beautiful shade of blue that would have worked much better with her chestnut roots than her current hair color. But it wasn't that which fascinated him, but the fact that she was speaking her mind, making the first step instead of letting him do all the work.

The problem was, he couldn't really tell what she was doing, why she'd leaned so close to him that their noses almost touched, that their lips were inches apart. Did she want to kiss him? Did he? Truthfully, yes, just a little.

"What are you doing?"

"I missed one thing," she whispered. "You're incredibly attractive."

That shocked the sense out of him. "I am?" Because no one had ever called him that.

She giggled. "You're so adorable and so innocent. Of course you are. And I wish you could see the strength radiating off you. You think you're nothing special, but you are."

Was he? It was so hard to think when she was looking at him like that, leaning in so close. He could smell the wine on her, but it didn't turn his stomach. It only numbed his mind and one of his hands found its way on her hip. He wasn't sure if he'd put it there to stop her coming any closer or to pull her to him.

His heart was beating erratically, as it only did when facing danger. She was so tempting, so possible, so... He had no idea what he wanted from her.

Yet, here she was, leaning even closer to him, her eyelids dropping. She wasn't conventionally beautiful, but she was. Because she was surrounded by hope and strength. She'd praised him when there was so much to praise about her.

"What is this?" he muttered.

"Nothing," she whispered, so close her breath brushed his lips. "Or everything. Whatever you need it to be, Remy."

He had no idea, but he leaned in the missing inch all the same. Their lips brushed together, tentative at first. She didn't hurry and neither did he. He was content with just pressing his over hers, exploring the shape of them, the feel of her hair on his face. It smelled like honey.

She didn't push either, content with a kiss as innocent as one on the mouth could be. Her lips were so full and soft. He loved the feel of them. But what he loved most was the abandonment he felt in her, the lack of tension in her posture, the way she molded into him, her fingers running through his hair.

Even if neither of them made any move to make it deeper, take it further, they didn't pull back either. It was something new, something beautiful. And when they pulled away, it was both of them at once.

Sarah looked down, nibbling on her lower lip. He watched her, realizing he wanted to do the same.

"I..." She stood, her legs shaky. "I should go home."

She really should, but her affirmation hurt after what had just happened. The pain must've showed on his face because she shook her head vigorously.

"No, don't get me wrong. I loved it. So much that I'm sure if you asked me upstairs right now, I'd say yes. And if you chose to take it further, I'd only jump into it wholeheartedly. But I can't do that."

He stood too and wrapped his arms around her waist. She immediately leaned against him, molding her body against his, convincing him it was really the reason she was leaving.

"I loved it, too, but I think you're right," he said. "It's much too soon and too confusing to take it anywhere right now."

She nodded, looking up at him, her eyes twinkling in the streetlight. She was one head shorter than him, and he strangely liked it even if he'd never fixated on height before.

"I'll just call an Uber." She detached herself from him and fished her phone out of a pocket of her dress.

"Nonsense, I'll take you home."

She raised her hand as she typed with her other. "Oh, no. I'm not getting in a tight space with you and then be faced with having to get out at my own convenience. You're much too intoxicating at this hour."

He pursed his lips not to grin or smirk. "Stop saying things like that. I might start to believe you."

She frowned and put her hand on the back of his head, pulling him down an inch. "I can understand why you think you're not. With your family, you're just one of the guys. To the rest of the world however..." She pressed another kiss on his lips just as a silver Corsa pulled next to them. "Goodbye, Remy," she whispered and got into the car.

Jerry watched her leaving, a little stunned. He'd never felt attractive, but she made him feel like he could lift mountains. Maybe he could and just hadn't been aware. He still had no idea what that was and where it would go.

At the moment, all that he knew was he'd liked it. And he felt much better.

♠️♠️♠️

I had fun with this, but this totally wasn't where this chapter was supposed to go. This was supposed to be a short interlude into the next part. Tough, you're getting this.

I'm very curious how you feel about Sarah. She is a completely new character taking life, going well beyond what I intended her. 

I hope you also enjoyed getting tiny glimpses into the past. I love Jerry in this book, honestly. He's giving me so much to work with. Still geeky, but much stronger.

What do you think about him and Sarah? And was he right to trust her? What does she actually want?

Hit the star and give me some comments and I might update again soon. 😊