by Tamara White
“Ms. Jones?” The teacher calls my name at the same time I feel a nudge from Jaxson’s elbow.
The professor looks up at me expectantly while I just sit there with a blank look. I have no idea what he wants. “Uh, sorry? What was that?” Jax chuckles from beside me and I begin to blush.
The professor walks around his desk to the bottom of the steps and smiles up at me. “I asked you what you thought of parallel worlds. Do you believe they could exist?”
I consider his question, not quite sure how to answer, when I hear Jaxson whisper under his breath, “Just be honest. He respects honesty.”
I take a deep breath. “Well, I believe that parallel universes may exist, but we will probably never find them. Humans have lived on Earth for this long and yet, we’ve never had confirmation of their existence. I know scientists out there have talked about parallel realities, but my friend used to say that if there was such a thing, we would have concrete proof of it by now.”
That’s what Nat used to say. She used to talk about parallel universes all the time. She was absolutely fascinated with the idea of them. We used to explore the woods after school with Sally and Jessica because she was convinced we would be able to find some kind of doorway into another world. Sally and I humored her, but Jess was just as intrigued as Nat was.
“Interesting theory,” the professor muses thoughtfully. “I would love to meet this friend of yours.”
My strained expression must project the sorrow I feel. “She passed away,” I state quietly, getting a little choked up.
I close my eyes and take a deep breath, the onslaught of emotions gripping me.
“Professor Jacobs, I think I’m going to take Valerie home. I don’t think she’s feeling very well,” Jaxson explains. I open my eyes to see him and the professor exchanging a look.
Then Professor Jacobs turns his gaze to me with a small nod. “Okay, Valerie. I hope you feel better.”
I don’t get a chance to say anything, though, because Jax thanks him for me. Then he grabs my bag and reaches back to take my hand, before leading me out of the room.
I’m in too much of a sorrowful mood to say anything. Jax guides me down the hall where he stops, pulling the two of us into a little alcove out of sight. He reaches up and wipes away tears that have run down my cheek. I look down at the ground, not sure when I started crying.
Using my sleeve, I wipe the rest of them away and then look up to meet Jaxson’s amber eyes. The concern there has my heart beating faster. If he’s kind to me right now, I know I’m going to start sobbing my heart out.
“Just hold it together until we get to the car, okay?” he encourages and I nod, glad he didn’t ask me to tell him what’s wrong.
We leave the alcove and make our way down the empty halls, the silence between us tense. I know he wants to know why I shut down in class.
When we reach the registration office, he goes directly up to the secretary, who looks at me with soft eyes as I sit down. Jaxson mutters a few unheard words and she lets him go behind the desk, straight into the dean’s office.
Then the secretary walks around her desk and crouches down in front of me, holding out a box of tissues. “Are you alright, dear?” she asks, her voice filled with kindness.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just dealing with some stuff,” I respond as I take a tissue from the proffered box.
She nods and gets up, leaving the box in the empty chair beside me. As she sits back down at her desk, she speaks again. “It’s never as bad as it seems, Valerie. Bad things happen, so it’s better if we can learn to focus on the good. If we don’t, we’ll drown in the negative.”
I’m still pondering her words when Jaxson back comes out, followed by the dean. They both walk straight towards me. Jaxson is still holding onto my bag and looks down at the box of tissues with a small smile. “Come on, Val, let’s get out of here.”
I wait for the dean to say something, but he must see something in my eyes because his expression changes from wariness to one of sympathy. “Take a break, Valerie. We’ll see you back here tomorrow.”
I give a nod and then Jaxson leads me out of the office. We’re on our way out to the parking lot when a thought occurs. “Um, we can’t exactly take the car. How will the others get home?”
“Don’t worry, Val. We’ll be back to grab them when they’re done. The rest of the day is just about you. You can talk, cry, scream, beat the shit out of a tree for all I care, but you need to vent somehow.”
“I don’t need to vent. I just need a breather.”
He turns the car off before we’ve even moved and fixes with a glare. “Don’t lie to me. Your friend died, Valerie. You’re bottling up everything inside and if you keep doing it, it’s going to eventually kill you.”
I remain silent and he sighs heavily. “Look, I didn’t mean that to sound so harsh. I want to take you to a favorite place of mine. It's somewhere I go to deal with my crap. I’m hoping it will help you too.”
Fifteen
“There is no place for anger in your life, my sweet child. Anger will only drown you.”
I laugh harshly. “Live without anger? Are you kidding me? My best friend is gone. I recently found out my family isn’t really my family. What do you expect me to be? Skipping on moonbeams that my life turned to complete crap?
The tall woman looks down on me, her eyes filled with sorrow. “It will all make sense one day, my child.”
We end up near the mall, and Jaxson pulls up in front of an old, brick, warehouse-type building. He gets out of the car, then walks around to open the door for me.
“Do you have a drawing pad in your bag?” he asks, holding the car door open. I nod and reach in my bag, digging around for a moment before pulling out my sketchbook and pencils.
He takes them from me with a smile. While part of me wants to immediately snatch them back, I decide to take a leap of faith and trust he won’t look through them. My drawings are important to me.
Once I climb out of the car, Jaxson closes the door and locks it. Then he takes my hand, leading me through the door of the red warehouse.
The door closes behind me and I freeze, the scent of sweat assaulting my senses.
“A gym? This is your favorite place?” I ask in confusion, trying hard not to grimace. I glance around, seeing people are working out on various machines and two men boxing in a ring in the middle of the room.
Jaxson reaches back and grabs my hand. “Don’t you know the saying, ‘Never judge a book by its cover?’ Trust me, this place is more than meets the eye.”
“If you say so,” I respond skeptically as he guides me past sweat-covered men and women towards a door at the back of the gym.
Jaxson reaches for the door handle, but before he can grab it, the door swings open and a giant of a man steps out, almost running straight into Jax.
When he recognizes Jax, a grin overcomes his face. “Hey, Jax. Long time no see.”
They shake hands, pulling each other in for a manly hug. That’s when the newcomer notices me standing behind Jax.
“Why, hello there.” He pushes Jax aside with a grin and holds out his hand for me to shake. “I’m Derek, but you can call me ‘D.’” He winks, taking my hand and giving it a kiss instead.
Jax pulls him away from me, all the while shaking his head. “Don’t worry, Val. Derek is harmless; he just likes to flirt. His wife would kill him if she found him with anyone else.”
I look over at Derek with his handsome face and bright green eyes. He would definitely make a woman very happy.
He smiles, having noticed my appraisal. “Unfortunately he’s right. My wife would murder me if I went anywhere else. Though I do have a brother who is currently in the market for a girlfriend if you’re interested?” he asks, raising his eyebrows hopefully.
“Uh, yeah, I’m not looking for a relationship right now, but thank you.” I try not to laugh. He seems like a playful guy. Like a male version of Nat.
Jax intertwines our hands and p
ulls me away from Derek, and the move feels a little possessive. “While it was nice to see you, Derek, I’m taking Val to the garden.”
Derek nods, a light of understanding in his eyes. “Okay, gotcha. Just lock the door so no one interrupts you.”
Jaxson tugs me after him and the door slams shut behind me before I can even say goodbye. My heart rate picks up in the sudden darkness, but Jaxson keeps pulling me along with him. “Uh, Jax? Is there a light around here somewhere? I can’t see anything,” I complain, trying to use my free hand to feel around me.
“No light. Not yet at least. Just trust me, okay?”
I don’t respond, not quite sure how to. Trust is a big deal for me.
Jax continues to guide me through the dark until I see a small light in the distance, which begins to grow a we get closer. It’s a beautiful turquoise and has me feeling more intrigued than ever.
“This place is extremely special to me, so please don’t tell anyone about it.” As we get closer to the soft, glowing light, the area around us becomes colder and I start to wish I had brought a jacket.
Jax pauses, still keeping hold of my hand. Now I can see that the light is just a small slit underneath what I believe is a door.
“Derek and I found this place not long ago. We both bought the gym in order to protect it. I need you to promise you won’t tell anyone else. Only my brothers and Derek know about this place,” he explains, giving my hand a squeeze.
“Okay, I promise. What is it?”
“You’ll see,” he says cryptically before opening the door and revealing a whole other world.
The gasp that slips from my lips is full of wonder. The glowing turquoise light is coming from hundreds of plants that seem to be growing out of the wall itself. No matter which direction I turn, these plants are everywhere.
“What is this place?” I ask, completely awed.
Jaxson smiles at me, his eyes filled with warmth. “We call it the garden. It’s a little below street level. I don’t know if you noticed the way the floor seemed to tilt as we walked. Derek and I first came across it when we were seventeen. It’s always had a calming effect on us and I thought this would be the perfect place for you to get some peace and talk.”
I continue to look around, seeing furniture that they’ve obviously added. A small table and a sofa sit in the middle of the large room. I walk straight over to the sofa and sit down, pulling my legs up and crossing them.
Jaxson hands me my drawing materials then goes over to open a drawer in the table, pulling out a notebook and pen. I watch as he opens it and gets comfortable before starting to write.
“You write?” I ask, surprised. I know Carter mentioned he wanted to be a writer, but I thought he was just messing with me.
He nods, his eyes still on the page as he continues to write. “Yep. Writing is my escape. Just like I imagine drawing is for you.”
I look down at the sketch pad in my hands and turn to the first free page. I look around again and begin to draw this beautiful place. I find myself extremely fascinated with the soft glow of the plants and I want to get it down on paper.
Over the next few hours, I draw what my mind demands. Unfortunately, my drawing of the plants does not even begin to show their beauty. I would love to get back here with my pastels sometime and try again.
Then I flip to a new page and start to draw Natalie. My heart guides me as I sketch each image. By the time I get to the last, tears are running down my cheeks, the pain of the memory overwhelming.
Natalie and I both standing with an arm around each other the night of our prom. We went as each other’s dates, trying to make a statement. It ended up being one of the best nights we ever had.
As I start to sob, Jaxson stops writing and sets his notebook and pen down on the table. He reaches over, taking my sketch pad and pencils from me. Then he pulls me into his lap and I really start to cry.
I don’t know how long I sob, but Jaxson cradles me in his arms until the tears finally subside. When they do, I look up into his eyes and mutter a soft thank you.
He smiles at me, the expression filled with compassion. “Okay, stage one is complete. Now it’s time for stage two. Tell me about Natalie,” he coaxes, reaching up to push a loose strand of hair away from my face. It’s only then I realize I’m still in his lap and move back to my seat on the couch.
“Stage one?” I ask.
“Yes, stage one: let the pain out. Stage two is talking about the source of your pain.”
“Oh, okay.” I debate for a moment whether or not I want to talk about Natalie. I mean, what can I even say? There’s no possible way to describe how amazing she was.
As if sensing my dilemma, Jaxson starts off. “Natalie was more than your best friend, wasn’t she?”
“Yeah, she was more like a sister to me. The only one who was there for me when I really needed it.”
Jaxson listens as I tell him all about Natalie. The little things we did together. The pranks she used to play on me. The times when I’d try to retaliate, and how she would always catch on before I was able to do anything. I talked for hours and whenever the silence started to get awkward, Jax would ask more questions to get me started talking again. I even told him all about my desire to find out what actually happened to Natalie.
When I am finally talked out some time later, Jax gets to his feet, clapping his hands together eagerly. “Excellent. Now we’re on to stage three, which is my personal favorite.” He grins, holding out a hand to help me up.
“Uh… what exactly is stage three?” I ask, taken aback by how excited he is. The look in his eyes has me a little wary.
“Stage three, Val, is the best stage. Stage three is fighting back.”
I don’t ask more questions as he leads me back through the dark. This time as I walk, I notice just what he meant about the slanted floor. You can feel the difference in incline, that’s for sure.
We step back out into the gym and I can see it’s emptied quite a bit. Jax still has hold of my hand and only now do I notice we left my stuff back in the garden room. “Jax, we forgot my things.”
“No we didn’t. That’s your stuff for when you come here. I’ll buy you more supplies if you need them, but I wanted you to have something for when you visit. Derek will let you into the garden whenever you like. If Derek isn’t here, just tell them you know me and someone will let you in.”
“You make it sound like I’ll come back.”
He turns, his eyes meeting mine. “You’ll be back. The garden has that effect on people.”
I look away, unable to meet the intensity of his gaze. Then he leads me right into the middle of the gym where the boxing ring is. No one is using it now, but Derek appears at my side as if summoned.
Jaxson lets go of my hand and climbs into the ring, looking for something. Meanwhile, Derek tries to hand me a pair of boxing gloves and a soft helmet.
“Uh, no thanks. I don’t know how to box.”
“Jax is going to teach you.” He grins, pushing them into my arms. When I look over, planning to tell Jax there is no way I’m going to box, my jaw drops open. He has stripped off his shirt and is wearing a pair of flat, circular pads on his hands. It takes me a moment to remember not to stare, and when I glance at their faces, Jaxson and Derek both wear matching grins.
I try to fight the blush at being caught staring, but it’s no use. So instead, I try to distract them. “How is boxing stage three?” I ask curiously.
Jax’s grin grows into a wicked smirk. “Come into the ring and I’ll explain.”
I sigh, but I’ll admit, I’m intrigued. Natalie used to do martial arts to help calm her hyperactive nature. If it helped her, maybe it will benefit me too.
Derek helps me get into the ring and puts the helmet, or headgear as he calls it, and gloves on me before climbing back out. Then he goes to stand by the side of the ring with his arms crossed, an excited grin on his face.
Jax circles me, appraising my form. “Change your stance. Your
legs should balance you. The way you’re standing right now, you’d topple over with a single hit.” He comes closer and nudges my legs with his feet until he’s happy with my stance. Then he moves to stand in front of me. “Hold your hands up however you think you should.”
I raise my fists into a defensive position I’ve seen boxers use in movies. He chuckles and shakes his head, ripping the pads off his hands so he can reposition mine. Once he’s satisfied, he replaces the mits and takes a step back, holding up his own hands.
“I want you to hit my hands.” He says it with no inflection in his voice, so I just shrug and aim one of my gloved hands at his. At the last moment, though, he moves, causing me to stumble.
Derek chuckles from the side and I start to get annoyed. I swing again, trying for Jaxson’s other hand, but again he moves, making me miss. I have no idea what this exercise is supposed to accomplish and after a few times trying to hit him and missing, it’s just starting to piss me off.
“Why ask me to hit you if you’re just going to move?” I ask, the frustration seeping into my voice.
He smirks. “I asked you to hit my hands. I didn’t say it was going to be easy,” he mocks, moving closer again, his hands still raised.
I frown, but try again. This time, my hand grazes the pad and he smiles, the look one of pride. “Good. Now, I’m going to have Derek give you a few tips while I go put gloves and headgear on.”
When Derek climbs up into the ring, he immediately starts speaking, telling me where to aim, what to look for and that for every hit I land, it counts as a point. Three points and the round is over.
“Why is he doing this?” I ask him, watching as Jackson puts a pair of dark green gloves on.
Derek sighs, turning me so I’m looking into his green eyes and not at Jaxson. “He’s trying to help you. When you leave, he’ll explain everything, I promise. The only thing you can do for now is get three points. The sooner you do, the sooner this will be over.”