▲ Bʟɪɴᴋ ᴀɴᴅ Yᴏᴜ'ʟʟ Mɪss Mᴇ {Pʀɪᴠᴀᴛᴇ}

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    Ahh okay! Well I hope it all goes well for you! I just finished setting up my new laptop, so this is the first thing I'm doing on it XD))


    And so Victoire was left not knowing if Dark would make it back to Tsunami and help him with Alexsandre, or if Jamie was okay. She hoped that Jamie would give up on looking for her quickly, since she couldn't call him and didn't exactly know how to get to wherever he lived now to tell him. She rested her head on her knees and closed her eyes, only meaning to do so for a moment. But the events of the night had exhausted her more than she had thought, and within moments she had fallen asleep.


    She woke up the following moment, and although she wanted to leave immediately to find Jamie, she knew that wasn't smart. She couldn't drive and she didn't even know where he was. So instead she forced herself to get up and head into the bathroom, showering before she got ready for the day. Her shower took the longest, so once she was out it didn't take her long to be heading off to the school, her hair still wet although she didn't notice. Her concern for Jamie was greater than her care about her own appearance.

    It had been a long night. Jamie's vision had come back, though it had taken almost an hour. Dark had sat with his friend the whole time and then made sure he got home. Once Jamie regained consciousness, he'd thrown up again and then complained about his vision. Thankfully, the blindness hadn't been permanent, but his vision would be hyper-sensitive for another day at least. It had been a long time before he'd been good to move and once he was able to prepare for the jump, he handled it much better. They jumped to the front of his apartment to make sure his dad wasn't home before jumping into James's bedroom.


    Once Dodge got his friend into bed, he jumped back to his own home. He'd charged up on shadows while they'd been in the warehouse, but he was still incredibly exhausted. When he appeared in his sister's room, he was awake for a couple seconds before his eyes rolled back and he collapsed. His little sister, Tyra jumped out of bed and rushed to his side, grabbing tight to his hand and focusing hard until he stabilized again. Dodge would not be going to school the next day and possibly the day after that. As his sister sat on the floor with his head in her lap, running her hands through his hair, she wondered how many days it would be this time before Dodge even woke up.


    --


    The next morning, James forced himself to get up. As he sat up, he groaned loudly, reaching for his head. It had been a long time since he'd lost it all at a party, but this felt like a bad hangover times ten. While all he wanted was to lie back down and go to sleep, James knew he had to go to school. He had to go and see Victoire and assure her that everything was okay, that he was okay and that she was okay. She'd been through a terribly traumatic event and he needed to be there.


    Upon getting up and looking in the mirror, James could only cringe. He had some pretty good bruising on his torso and his arm and shoulder were scraped from tip to elbow. His gun shot wound, as suspected, had not reopened, but there had been some severe scraping around there as well. What concerned James the most, however, was the light burns around his eyes. That would be too hard to hide, though he could probably blame it on the fall after he'd been hit. With a heavy sigh, James took a shower before getting dressed and slipping on a pair of sunglasses. If he was lucky, he could blame migraines. Passing the door where his father was passed out on his own bed, James grabbed his bag and slipped out to get into his truck.

    When she reached the school she went to stand by her locker, waiting quietly for him to arrive. Although she was quiet while she was waiting, she was very anxious and she kept fidgeting, reaching into her pocket for her phone a few times before being sharply reminded that she no longer had a phone after hers disappeared the night before. So instead of messing around on her phone, she began to run her fingers through her hair, realising it was far more wet than she had believed it to be. But it was too late to fix it, and she wouldn't want to. She'd have to leave and Jamie might come in that time and she could miss him.


    If anyone else here had been close to her, she would've been in trouble. It was obvious now in how anxious and worried she was that she was in love with whoever she was waiting for. And she didn't want anyone to know that she was in love with Jamie. Although for once that wasn't what she was worried over.


    Today she had worse things to worry over, like whether or not Jamie would be in school. She didn't really know how hurt he had been, she hadn't gotten to see him after the lights went out and she was kidnapped. And she hadn't gotten to speak to him either. Both of which worried her, but were lucky for Jamie. While she could be oblivious, if she had seen him the night before she might have pieced two and two together.

    James drove very slow on his way to school, afraid to go to fast and get blindsighted by something his obscured vision didn't catch in time. When he finally got to school, he sat in the driver's seat for a few extra minutes, holding his head back and just giving himself a few moments to breathe and relax. Since he hadn't heard from Dodge, he had a feeling his dark friend wouldn't be coming in today. Considering how much Dark had done for him the night before, Jamie really owed him. As far as Jamie was concerned, his partner had earned some time off.


    Once he'd rested enough, James forced himself to get on his feet. Adjusting his sunglasses, Jamie made his way inside and made a beeline to her locker. When he saw her, a wave of relief washed over him. Victoire was standing next to her locker, looking anxious as she glanced around the hall. Despite his exhaustion, he moved forward quickly through the hall. As he got close he dropped his bag next to the line of lockers before pulling Victoire into a full body hug, right up against his chest. "Thank God you're okay." The words came out as a shaky breath as he hold her careful and close.

    Victoire had begun to push her hair behind her ear, still waiting anxiously when she felt someone pulling her into a hug. She briefly tensed up, not having seen him approach and therefore having no idea who was hugging her. But as soon as she heard him speak she relaxed and hugged him back. "Jamie! You're okay!" Much of her anxiety left her from realising he really was okay. The rest left her as she took comfort in his hug, and she found that she didn't care anyone could see them hugging, this was what would happen after what had happened to them yesterday.


    "I was so worried about you... they told me you were okay and worried about me, but I couldn't ask you at all..." Her voice came out slightly muffled from how they were hugging, but she didn't really mind. At least until she wanted to step back to make sure he really was okay. Her eyes scanned him worriedly, she had no way to even know that the only injury Jamie had recieved from Aleksandre was being knocked out. It had been dark and the fear and worried made her own memory a bit fuzzy.

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    James let her go as she pulled back, keeping his hands gently on her shoulder as he looked at her. "I was so worried about you... That creep hit me over the head and knocked me out. I guess I scraped up the area around my eyes when I fell." He gestured to the sunglasses, not making a move to take them off. Even with the dimmed light, everything still appeared much too bright. "I'm so sorry I wasn't able to protect you..." he said quietly, lowering his head a bit. "I had a feeling that something was off, I should've known something was going to happen." Honestly, he'd been beating himself up over that fact since he'd woken up in that parking lot. If Dodge hadn't been there with him, he wasn't sure he would have even been able to even to take care of Aleksandre and get Victoire home safe.


    "We're okay... You and I are good..." He leaned down and pressed his forehead against hers, sighing again, thankful she was there with him and safe. He couldn't describe the relief he felt when Dodge told him she was okay. Anything could have happened to him and he would have been fine as long as he knew she was okay. Now, all he could hope was that the police had enough resources to properly detain Aleksandre so he would never bother Victoire again. "I don't know what I would have done if something had happened to you, Vic... I'm so sorry this happened."

    Victoire felt a stab of guilt when he lowered his head. If he had been beating himself up because of her... “Hey... Jamie, none of that was your fault. We couldn’t have known he had powers or that he was going to come after me.” She paused briefly, looking at the sunglasses. “I’m just sorry you got hurt because of me.” Her voice had gotten even quieter as she apologised, truly feeling awful about it. She was in love with him, she was supposed to make sure that she never hurt him. Yet, because he had been with her when Aleksandre kidnapped her, he had been attacked and injured.


    She was a bit surprised when he pressed his forehead to hers, but she made no move to pull away. She closed her eyes briefly, allowing herself to feel relieved that he was okay, and she let herself feel this strange warm feeling in her chest. He was safe and here with her. “I told you Jamie... this wasn’t your fault at all. It’s much more my fault than it is yours. And I’m sorry you got hurt because of me...” Her voice faltered slightly. “I’m just glad you weren’t hurt more... I don’t know what I’d do...” She then fully realised that they were in the open and their foreheads were pressed together. But she found that she didn't really care at the moment. He wasn't too badly hurt, and now all of her worry from the night before was fading.

    The post was edited 1 time, last by Gajeel ().

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    Finally got my new computer! It's good to be back ~


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    Jamie smiled as she tried to make him feel better, but honestly, he definitely should've known better. He'd been fighting bad guys for years now, his instincts were better than the average person and yet, here he was, getting jumped by a super villain so green he couldn't even control his own impulses. Truth was, Aleksandre could've killed him multiple times that night, but he had been too busy screaming and blinding himself. If he had actually known what he was doing, he could've been a pretty tough adversary. In this case, James had gotten lucky... and this wasn't the first time.


    Moving back to give her a bit of space. "You don't have anything to apologize for, V... You didn't do anything wrong." He took her hand and gave it a gentle but reassuring squeeze before letting go. "So, unfortunately, I think it is time we head to class," he said, chuckling a little as he dropped his head again. As if on cue, the bell rang, signalling the beginning of the six minutes students had to get to class. Looking down the hall, Jamie gave a small sigh before turning his attention to her once again. "Come on, I'll walk you to class."

    Victoire was a bit disappointed when he stepped back, not having wanted to end their hug. But she reminded herself that no matter how worried she had been for him last night, or how they had nearly gone on what could be considered a date, they were still just friends. And friends didn't hug as long as they had. And that was the same reason he let go of her hand so quickly. "Oh, right... class." She adjusted how she was carrying her bag before shaking her head slightly. "It's okay, I don't want you to be late to class." She gave a small smile. "I've already gotten you hurt, I don't need to get you in trouble too."


    Geez, she needed to get over him. If she just wasn't in love with him, their friendship would be so much easier on her. She wouldn't worry about making a fool of herself, him finding out she loved him, and she wouldn't be so anxious. But unfortunately, that wasn't something she could control.


    ((I'm glad you got it!)

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    Honestly, me too! It's a little different than my old one and will take some getting used to, but it's pretty nice :)


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    James laughed as she tried to convince him to go to class on his own. He wasn't worried about being late to most of his classes and as long as Miss Beneaux didn't catch him, he'd be fine. "Don't worry so much, V," Jamie said with a smile on his face, resting his arm over her shoulders and hugging her against his good side. He was careful not to hurt her bad arm, while also being careful not to stress his sensitive wounds either. James hated having to wear the sunglasses still, but everything was still painfully bright even with them on. He didn't want to find out what the world looked like without them.


    "Besides, if I remember correctly, our classes aren't too far away from each other." He didn't feel it necessary to point out that most of the teachers here loved him anyway. Somehow, even after being shot, he'd still managed to play some decent football, bringing home two more wins for the school. While his team was more responsible for picking up the pace, James got a lot of credit just by being the quarterback. The teachers at the school, minus Miss Beneaux, were often willing to give him a free pass on being tardy as long as it wasn't so much that he missed large parts of the lessons. In other words, he had plenty of time.

    That's good!))


    Victoire could feel a soft blush rise to her cheeks when he told her not to worry so much, but she couldn't help but smile when he put his arm around her. She briefly leaned into him, looking a bit sheepish. "Sorry... I'm trying not to worry as much..." She trailed off, deciding that with as worried for her as he had been there was no need to tell him that last night had only made her more jumpy and nervous.


    She didn't want him to worry over her, she had always done enough worrying for the both of them. And now... well let's just say Aleksandre had made her realise that it was possible for her to get others she cared about hurt even without using her powers. If she were to imagine what might happen if she used them, even if she was trying to do good... She pulled away from Jamie quickly, suddenly worried she might burn him.


    A strand of hair found its way between her fingers as she tried to fight down her fear. "I uh... I'll see you after class." She suddenly spoke, not meeting his gaze as she hurried towards the bathroom. What was she thinking being so close to him? If she accidentally slipped at all she could seriously injure him... So much for moving back here permanently boosting her confidence. That had only lasted her first meeting with Tsunami, before she realised she really could only hurt people.

    Jamie laughed good-naturedly. "No need to apologize. You're doing fine." He winked at her and gave her shoulders a gentle squeeze as they continued walking. It wasn't a minute later before she abruptly pulled away from him, though, excusing herself to the bathroom. James watched as she disappeared, wondering if he'd said something to upset her or if she really didn't feel the same way about him and he'd made her uncomfortable. "Nice going, Jamie..." he mumbled to himself before forcing his attention back to getting to class. He hated to leave Victoire on such an awkward note, but it was obvious she needed space.


    Class was, of course, the most boring thing Jamie could have possibly done with his day. Midterms were coming up and that was apparently all the teachers wanted to talk about. James wasn't a super genius or anything, but he had always passed his tests with no problem. He barely even needed to study, as long as he paid even a little attention in class. In other words, when Midterms came around, he used the time to rest his brain, not focusing too hard on the material being pushed on the students by overbearing teachers. He understood it was their job and appreciated that he wasn't forced to join in.


    When the bell finally rang, James felt like someone had hit him repeatedly with a geometry text book. While he was definitely still relieved Victoire was okay, the initial energy burst that'd numbed his pain had long since worn off. It was all he could do to keep awake in class. His body felt heavy and he really wanted to close his eyes against the light that was still aggressively assaulting them. If he ever saw Aleksandre again, he'd be sure to punch him in the face for this. Stifling a yawn, he made his way to his locker, stashing the things he didn't need there before heading to his next class.


    ((We can timeskip to the end of the day if you'd like))

    Okay!)


    To say Victoire felt guilty would be a severe understatement. She had somehow gone the whole day without speaking to Jamie, purely out of the guilt she was feeling for having run off earlier. She didn't know how he felt, but she would understand if he were upset with her over the whole thing. But she had run away because she was scared, and when she got scared or anxious her powers acted up and she couldn't live with herself if she hurt him. Unfortunately, now she had no real way to apologise to him because she couldn't explain why she was so worried about hurting him.


    So instead she had retreated within herself, hiding behind her hair even now as she grabbed her things from her locker to head home. She was walking home today, and hopefully her grandmother had gone out to get her a new phone while she was at school in case anything were to happen while she was walking home on another day. Because Victoire would be more than surprised if Jamie offered to give her a ride home again. She couldn't just push him away like she did and still expect them to be fine.

    Naturally, James's day had gone from bad to worse. He'd fallen asleep in one of his classes and was forced to deep clean Miss Beneaux's filthy, overused whiteboard as a punishment. "You're lucky I'm not the one that caught you..." She'd whispered to him as he worked. Her voice, as usual and sent a chill up his spine, but he'd kept working, nonetheless. After all that, coach decided to let him sleep through football practice and lunch, because he obviously needed it. By the end of the day, Jamie was feeling a little better, but he honestly just couldn't wait to be home. What really sucked, though, was that he was going to have to patrol that night. With Dodge probably still sleeping off the night before, it was destined to be a bad night.


    As James exited the school at the end of the day, he inhaled deeply and sighed. Luckily, the sunglasses had served their purpose today and no one had made him take them off. That had been another reason Coach had let him sit out. He didn't want to risk hurting his start player when he was already hurting from a pretty severe migraine. Adjusting his bag on his shoulder James started walking towards his truck. He hadn't made it far when he caught sight of Victoire. He remembered her rejection from this morning as he approached her to offer a ride home. "Hey, V," he called after her, his tone easy as he smiled kindly. "Want a ride?"

    It was clear to see Victoire was startled to hear anyone talking to her, especially Jamie. She looked to him uncertainly, her voice betraying her worry. “Are you sure? I...” She paused briefly. “I’m sorry about this morning.” She apologized, trying not to go further into detail about it. She didn’t really know how he’d react if he found out about her powers but she didn’t think it would be good. How could it?


    But he was offering her a ride home... so maybe her pushing him away this morning could be fixed. As long as he didn’t try to figure out why she had left him alone. And there she was again, letting her fear and worry get the best of her. She took a small but deep breath, forcing herself to calm down over everything.

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    As she fumbled over her words, Jamie simply smiled and raised his hands in conciliation. "Hey, no need to apologize. I came on a little too strong this morning and I'm sorry about that. I didn't mean to surprise you or make you uncomfortable or anything. That's on me." Shrugging, he looked out over the parking lot. "Besides, we're still friends, right? I'm not going to ditch you and make you walk home alone just because you ran off this morning. What kind of friend do you think I am?" he teased her. Shouldering his bag, he started walking towards the truck, nudging her playfully as he walked past, but not touching her or messing with her the rest of the walk out. Once they were there, he opened the door for her again, same as he had before, though with less of the flirting mixed in. Honestly, it wasn't just that he didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable, but he was actually feeling pretty under the weather at the moment, as well. The fight the night before had taken so much out of him and he was starting to seriously consider taking the night off and leave the bad guys to the cops for a change.


    Once Victoire was safely in the car, James made his way around to the driver's side. He tossed his backpack into the backseat before climbing into the seat carefully and turning the key in the ignition. A minute later, they were on the road, driving casually towards her apartment. He was quiet for a few minutes, unsure of exactly what to say. Today had already been rough and he'd already screwed up with her once today, so James couldn't help but be a bit nervous about striking up a conversation. "So... how was your day?" he asked casually as they pulled up to a red light. He remembered driving her home this way about a week earlier when they'd been attacked. Jamie glanced up at the sky casually, checking for anything or anyone that might be watching. There was no sign of malicious activity and after another moment, the light turned green and they were on their way again.

    Victoire gave a small, relieved smile as she walked with him, noticing that he wasn’t touching her at all, which was odd to her. And so as soon as he asked her how her day was, the words fell from her lips. “Jamie? Why I ran off earlier... it really wasn’t about you.” She ran her good hand through her hair sheepishly. “I really... I haven’t heard anything about Alexsandre yet, and I don’t want you getting hurt because of me again.” While this wasn’t the whole truth she was hoping it would have enough truth in it to reassure him that it had nothing to do with him.


    She didn’t want things to be weird between them, especially over something that she had really enjoyed. She loved how they could just easily lean against each other and she would feel awful making him second guess their relationship. He was most of why she had wanted to move back here and she didn’t want to lose his friendship.

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    He'd frozen a bit when she said his name. He'd stopped walking and turned to face her curiously, trying not to show how hard he was trying not to touch her or hold her in his arms or kiss her until they both needed air. James listened as she spoke, giving her reasoning for freaking out before. As she spoke, he dropped his head and simply smiled. When he looked back up, the smile was still there and if she could've seen his eyes, she would've seen them shining. It meant a lot to him that she was so concerned about his safety, even if she didn't need to be. In that moment, there was a strong urge to tell her the truth about who he was and just how much she didn't need to worry about him, but he knew better than that.


    As she finished speaking, he took her hand in his again and gave it a couple gentle, reassuring squeezes before letting go so as not to make her uncomfortable in any way. He still wasn't sure where they stood as far as their feelings for each other went, but he didn't want to risk anything. "I told you, V. You don't have to apologize to me for anything. And you don't have to worry, either. Aleksandre got the jump on me last night, but I won't let that happen again. It wasn't your fault I got hurt, okay? Please tell me you get that. There was nothing you could've done and no way you could have known what he was planning. Go easy on yourself, okay. We're both okay." He kept smiling as they drove. Finally, he looked at her again. "There's nothing you could ever do to hurt me, Victoire." And he meant it. The only thing she could do to truly hurt him was block him out of her life. He was sure he'd never recover from something like that. As long as they were friends... as long as they could count on each other, he could endure anything.

    When he had dropped his head while she was speaking she had felt a wave of worry crash over her. She couldn’t see his smile right away to know that he wasn’t upset with him. And yet when he did, a breath of relief left her and she squeezed his hand back gently. He forgave her, of course he did. He was the most forgiving and sweet person she had ever met. And the way he looked to her with that smile, it made her chest feel all funny and she knew exactly why.


    “I... I know it’s not my fault.” She agreed slowly. “But... I can’t help but worry I’ll hurt you.” She paused, shaking her head as she looked to her lap. “I don’t know what I’d do if I hurt you or lost you.” Jamie was really the only thing in her life that had stayed the same. He had always been there for her and she never wanted to hurt him. She did however want to kiss him, or at the very least hug him. But she decided it would be better to hug him after he stopped driving, that whole “not wanting to hurt him” thing and all. She figured it was also safe to hug him, after all they had been hugging earlier and until she had tried to push him away it hadn't seemed to change anything between them.


    And yet she almost wanted something to change between them. And the part of her that wanted that would be the part that desperately wanted to think that it was possible for him to love her in return. But the rest of her mind continued to overpower her hopes by reminding her of her fears.

    The post was edited 1 time, last by Gajeel ().

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    "Hey," Jamie said, his voice gentle but firm as he turned his gaze on her for a moment. "Don't worry so much. You won't hurt me and you sure as heck aren't going to lose me. I'm not going anywhere, V. I'm right here and I'm staying put." He squeezed her hand again, trying to convey how serious he was. He didn't want her to worry. He wanted her to know how serious he was in that she didn't have to worry about hurting him. "No matter what happens, Victoire. No matter what, we can overcome it. Okay? But you've got to trust me and you've got to trust yourself. We can do anything." His gaze moved back and forth from her face to the road as he drove, but focused on her as the final statement left his lips.


    As they pulled into the parking lot of the apartment complex she lived in with her grandmother, James slipped the car into park and turned his body to face her. Closing his eyes for a moment, he removed the sunglasses before slowly opening his stunning blue eyes to look at her. The burn marks around his eyes stood out like red paint on a white canvas but he needed to see her and for her to see him without anything between them. Everything was still painfully bright, but he managed to look into her eyes without squinting or wincing. "You're one of the most important people in my life, Victoire. I don't know what I'd do without you either. So, like I said. Let's not worry about it. Let's stick together and nothing can come between us, okay? You and me against the world. Just like old times."