What Do You Want From Me?

He didn't deserve any of what she was about to tell him, and she wished so very much that it didn't have to be this way; that she could just face down her father like she told herself she'd do. But no matter how many times she promised herself she would, Jessica always knew it wouldn't happen; not when, in an instant, he could put her back in that hospital bed. She was afraid of him; Jeffrey, her own damn father; and it took her this long to finally realize. Even though she desperately wanted the hazel-eyed man in her life, Jessica knew for a fact it couldn't happen this way; not when her own very existence was at stake.

No, this is how it had to be...at least for right now.

"Jessica, what the hell is going on? Why haven't you returned any of my calls or texts?"

Matt Sanders stood before her, now. She could feel his eyes drilling into her skin, even though her own eyes were trained to the ground below. She felt like such a coward, not even able to look at him directly.

"Matt, I..." Jessica began.

"Look at me," He ordered, but in a rather gentle way. It made her stomach ache horribly.

Out of respect for the man he was, Jessica lifted her gaze slowly until her eyes met his. Almost immediately, his expression turned from one of confusion, to one of downright shock.

"Oh, my God. Jess, what the hell happened to you?!" He reached both of his hands up and grasped Jessica's face. He studied each and every bruise closely as her breath became a bit shaky and her lips pursed together to hold back sobs that wanted to break forth.

"Matt, please," The red-head pleaded. "We have to talk. You have to listen to me."

"Who did this to you?"

"No one. I- I fell down the stairs."

"You fell down the stairs? Jess, these marks were obviously caused by someone else. I can see the hand and knuckle prints."

Fuck, I thought I covered those all up pretty well. Guess not.

"Matt," Jessica voiced, this time louder than before. She took the other by his wrists and removed them from her body. "We need to talk, and not about this."

He just looked at her for a moment, before crossing his arms over his chest and raising his eyebrows expectantly. "I hope whatever you have to say is an excuse for why you've been ignoring me."

"I haven't been ignoring you. I've just been..."

"Busy? So busy that you skipped school for a week?"

"Look, I fell down the stairs last week and I've been in the hospital recovering. So, yeah, if you call that being busy than I guess I was."

Matt's features softened a bit. The thought of her lying there, unmoving, and in pain, gave him a dull ache of his own deep within the confines of his chest.

"I- I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking."

Jessica sighed. "Don't worry about it, okay? You didn't know and that's my fault. But this...what we have between us...it can't happen anymore."

Matt opened his mouth to say something, but quickly closed it, and repeated the process a handful of times before finally processing what Jessica had said fully. "Wh- what? Jess..."

"Matt, please. Don't make this any harder than it has to be. We had some fun together; you, me, Brian, and Zack. But that's all it was; fun. A fun couple of days. Now I have to go back to my real life, and that means I have to say good-bye to you."

Matt shook his head. He knew for a fact there was more to this. Jessica wasn't the same girl he befriended; she wasn't the same girl he took in and looked after and...fell for. No, something happened to her; something more than meets the eye.

"What's going on here? This isn't you, Jess. I know you. I know the girl beneath all the money and fake smiles."

"No, you don't. The person who you met was confused. I was confused. I didn't know what I really wanted but now I do."

"Oh, really? And what's that?"

"I- I want the money and the popularity. I want the lifestyle that I know can't happen if I stay friends with you. It's just...it's time to face reality, Matt. I'm sorry."

With that, she turned on her heel and began to walk away from him and back into the school. She could feel intense emotion begin to take over her body, and there was just no way she was going to let Matt see her cry. She was supposed to be strong, and if she cried... well, needless to say, that would pretty much push any and all doubt from his mind. No, she needed to be cold, uncaring.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa."

Jessica closed her eyes tight, as Matt seemed to have finally come to his senses and began after her. She didn't stop, though, until his hand wrapped itself around her forearm and pulled her back.

"Matt--"

"No, you don't get to just walk away from me."

"Matt, let me go."

"No."

"We're in the middle of the school. There's not much you can do so what do you think you're going to accomplish here?"

At that, Matt said nothing. He simply looked at her, studied her, and wondered just what in the hell happened. It was obvious something had, but she wasn't letting on what it was, and it seemed as though she wasn't going to; at least not now.

"All right. All right, Jess. You win."

Jessica tilted her head to the side a bit in confusion. "I win?"

"Yeah. You win. I'll leave you alone," Matt repeated. The other sighed; not in relief, but the hazel eyed man thought maybe it was defeat. "I'll leave you alone...on one condition."

"What?"

"You heard me."

"Why would I--"

"It's the least you can do, right? You're standing here, trying to write me off without even so much as a plausible explanation. If you expect me to let you go this easily, I'm sure you can give me something in return."

Jessica rolled her eyes a bit, as she finally managed to push Matt's hands away. She crossed her arms over her chest and nodded, as if telling him to go on in his request.

"I want you to meet me; today, after school," Matt said.

"I can't. I have to go straight home after school."

"So, make something up. It's relatively easy, considering you've been out for the past week. Tell your parents you have to stay after to do some extra work."

Lie? Did he really want her to lie? That's half the reason she was where she was right now. Of course, Matt didn't know that. He was under the impression she simply fell down the stairs. Even if he did have his doubts, Jessica was pretty certain he didn't have a clue as to what really happened. Besides, it wasn't that far fetched a story to tell her mother.

"Fine. You know what? Fine. I don't know what you think you're going to accomplish here, but if that's what you wanna do, I guess I could meet you later."

Matt smirked a bit. "Good." He turned and began back out to the lunch yard.

"Wait. Where do you want us to meet at?"

He turned to look at her once more. "I'm sure you can figure that out for yourself."

With that, he was gone, out of her sight, and Jessica was left alone once again. She looked down at her hands, seeing them shake just a bit as it was finally dawning on what she had just done.

Matt Sanders: the man she was supposed to cut out of her life completely, and never associate with again; was now the man she was to meet after school to talk.

So much for following the rules.