Sequel: Fragile
Status: Finished! Thanks for the support everyone!

Handle With Care

Roads Untraveled

(Jade's POV)

The following morning was like any other day really aside from the fact that I now had a boyfriend. Melody and I woke up to do our housework then worked out with her mom and had breakfast all before 10 when she had to leave for work at the hospital. Melody had mentioned it that Chester and KayT wanted to take us out to go Christmas shopping and she agreed it sounded fun but to be home not too late in time for dinner unless he planned to take us out somewhere. Of course we agreed we would let her know if anything changed and that was really the end of it. To be quite honest, I was getting sort of restless having to do the same things every other day. But it was worth it to some extent because I got to go and do as I wanted whenever I wanted. I guess it's the small sacrifices we make help us get what we want, huh? Too bad I didn't know about that earlier in life, maybe I would have done better or tried harder at my schooling and whatever else I pretty much ruined. Ah well, can't change it now.

I was in the middle of brushing my teeth when my phone had started to ring violently beside me, instantly catching my attention. It was Chester, just the person I was thinking of. "Hey..." I said slowly with a mouth full of toothpaste, trying not to swallow any. "Uh, hey? Obviously I interrupted something?" He chuckled, probably shaking his head. "Just brushing my teeth. Hang on a minute Ches I gotta rinse." I swished around for a few good seconds before spitting it out, satisfied with my clean teeth. "Good morning, sorry about that." I laughed as I exited the bathroom and made my way down to the kitchen. Melody was sitting at the table, phone in hand and cereal in front of her. I sat in the chair across from her, seeing if she noticed. "Good morning hun. Are you guys able to hangout still?" I glanced over at Mel who was still completely engulfed in her phone. "I know I am but I'm not too sure about Melody, I think she said she doesn't wanna hangout with us anymore." I purposely dragged it on, knowing full well that she would attack me at any moment. "What?! I did not! She's lying Chester!" She suddenly shot up from her seat and yelled towards the phone, smacking my arm once she reached over.

I rubbed at the now sore spot, sticking my tongue at her before returning my attention to the phone. "Sorry again. Yeah we're able to hangout, KayT can too she's been ready since like eight this morning." I snickered, remembering the text she had sent me once I had woken up saying that she was more than ready for the day ahead and was already dressed and everything. "Well good then I'll be on my way. See you soon, Jay." I smiled to myself at the way he said my name, a feeling of butterflies erupt in my stomach. "See you in a few." I hurried back into my room to apply the final touches to my makeup, texting KayT that he was on his way for us. Did I happen to mention that she only lived about ten houses down from ours? Well in a matter of minutes, she was persistently ringing the doorbell and knocking loudly on the front window, yelling to be let inside. When we gathered around in the living room waiting for Chester to show up, the pressure was finally put on me. Was I supposed to call him by his name or a pet name? Was I supposed to kiss him as soon as I saw him? Or already say that I missed him? I felt like a lost puppy who had no idea what the hell she was doing. I was extremely thankful for these two though, because they helped me out tremendously. "How about you call him whatever you're comfortable with whether it be his name or just something cute. He'll understand Jay, he knows this is your first real relationship." KayT was doing her best to reassure me but as the clock ticked on, the more nervous I was becoming.

About ten minutes later he had finally texted me, saying he was outside. I must have taken about twenty deep breaths and shook out my whole body maybe five times before the girls had to practically drag me outside. I climbed into the passenger seat slowly, smiling once I saw his face. He looked at me for a brief second before leaning over and placing a kiss on my lips. Needless to say I was definitely starting to enjoy this. "Ready?" He asked once he pulled away. I just nodded, praying that he didn't see the blush that was starting to form on my cheeks. "So what exactly is the plan for today guys?" KayT asked from the backseat, looking between the three of us. I shrugged, looking to Chester for an answer seeing as it was his idea after all to hangout. "We can go to the mall and stuff then I figured we could get some food? Don't worry, my treat." I bit down on the inside of my cheek, feeling slightly bad that he had to pay for all of us. "Is that okay with you, Jay?" He asked, putting a hand on top of my knee. I just shook my head with a smile. "Sure, sounds good." I didn't want to admit that I sort of wished it was just us hanging out and getting the whole couple experience that I didn't have but I was just also glad that he liked my friends enough to want to hangout with them.

When we arrived at the mall Chester raced around from his side to open my door for me, grinning the entire time. "Why thank you." I said as I got out slowly, stretching out my arms some. He continued to grin, wrapping an arm around my shoulder as we started to walk up to the entrance. Melody and KayT insisted they didn't want to cramp our 'couple time' as they liked to call it and said they would meet up with us in a couple of hours at the food court. I breathed a small sigh of relief when they had left, giving me the perfect opportunity to finally talk to Chester alone. "So um, I'm going to be flat out honest here, I have no idea what I'm doing. Like do you want me to call you a name or just by your name? Or would you prefer if I just called you anything?" I was starting to ramble nervously as we walked around a bit, stopping to look inside a small music store. He immediately stopped in front of me, turning around so he was face to face with mine. "Jay, relax. You can call me whatever you want to. If you wanna call me a name, go for it. You wanna call me Chester, that works too. I told you, I'm letting you make the decisions." I pressed my lips together before making an exhausted noise. This wasn't going to be as easy as I thought it was. "Sorry." I muttered quietly enough for only myself to hear, but he obviously still did. "Don't be sorry hun, I understand." Before I could get out another sentence, we were immediately bombarded by a swarm of girls who must have recognized Chester from the poster that hung in the corner of the store. Fucking perfect.

They each asked him for a picture and if they could get an autograph, most of them shoving me aside in the process. Controlling the urge to not punch each of them in the face and say a few choice words that were brewing in my mind, I bit down hard on my tongue. What happened next really was the tip of the iceberg, if you will. These girls must have texted a few dozen more people and they must have called more and so on because pretty soon the entire store was crowding and filling with tons of fans anxious to meet him, even the store owners. As much as I wanted to leave, I know this was something that I was going to have to get used to if I wanted to keep dating him. He was becoming extremely popular, that was a good thing, he totally deserved the recognition. But I just hoped that this wouldn't keep all his attention away from me while we were here. Unable to take much more after the first half hour, I squeezed my way out of there and bolted for the exit. I sat down at a small bench, texting KayT what had just happened. They both came to me in minutes, sitting beside me with bags of clothes already in hand. "Jesus it's like a fucking zoo in there." Melody pointed out, noticing that more and more people kept coming.

I groaned loudly now, feeling incredibly left out and on the edge of a meltdown. "I can't let him see me acting like this then he'll really think that I'm immature. But fuck guys, what do I do?" I put my head in my hands, trying to think of a way of getting him back to me without seeming clingy or overreacting. "Just man up and go the fuck back in there Jay! You're his girlfriend, assert yourself!" Melody stated, pulling me up from my spot now. I sucked in a deep breath before shoving my phone back in my pocket and navigating my way back inside the crowded store. I must have shoved through a good few dozen people, earning glares and curses in the process before I reached him. "Hey, do you think we could get going soon?" I asked with a hint of hopefulness in my voice. He pulled me into a tight hug, kissing the top of my head. I could definitely hear a range of gasps and whispers in the end result. "Of course, sorry babe. Alright guys I have to get going, I'm sorry I couldn't reach more of you but I promise whenever you come out to a show I will give you a picture or whatever you want." He announced to the crowd as we made our way through them, some making remarks obviously about me, but I ignored it fully, wanting to show them that I wasn't phased.

I had smiled to myself in victory when we had finally left, also a little surprised by the fact that he had called me babe. It seemed kind of different but it also felt nice to finally hear those words come from someone who actually cared about me and liked me for who I was.

We made a few more rounds at different clothing stores, Chester insisting each time to get whatever I liked or wanted, because he wanted to treat me but I still felt bad about it. Although I did end up with a couple new Morrissey and Slayer shirts, I didn't want to grab anything too expensive because that wasn't how I was. We had made one more stop at a jewelry store only this time Chester had asked me to stay outside with the girls while he ran in quickly to 'check on something'. KayT and Melody made googly eyes and swore he was probably buying me something but I shrugged it off, seriously hoping that he wasn't. " All set." He appeared in no less then thirty seconds, making me laugh as he held onto my hand tight the entire way to the food court. We settled on your average junk food if you will. Melody and KayT got pretzels while Chester and I opted out for pizza. It wasn't as awkward as I thought it was going to be though, it actually felt like normal as we shared each others food and told stories about our adventures today. He must have apologized ten times about all the people today, especially the ones that had pushed it with me but I waved it off, saying it wasn't a big deal and that I knew it was all apart of the job. He was truly grateful that I understood.

"So what's the plan for now then? I don't have to be home anytime soon." KayT said as she glanced between us. I looked down at my phone, seeing it was already about five and the sun was going to be setting soon. "Well I don't have any plans, do you guys wanna go look at Christmas lights? There's this big display happening in Hollywood." Chester had suggested, looking at me first for an answer. As much as I was having fun, I was starting to get a little bored. But not wanting to be a poor sport and rain on anyone's parade, I just put on my best happy face and agreed. "It's up to you guys, I'm up for anything." Melody had texted her mom saying we were going to go look at lights and that we would be home by nine, which she was totally fine with as always. I kept my eyes focused on the direction in front of me as we eventually finished up and made our way back to Chester's car. He clearly knew something was wrong, like always, when I stayed quiet for more than a few minutes. "You okay?" He asked, pulling me aside as the others continued to walk. I tried to hide my true feelings and lie saying that I was fine but it was useless, he could read me like a goddamn book. "I mean I'm happy you want to include my friends but I kinda just want to get a chance to hang with you without them. You know, try to really do this whole couple thing right?" I was extremely terrified that he was going to think that I was being petty but to my surprise, he was more than understanding about my feelings.

"I get it totally, I know you're new at this and you just want to get the hang of things, so I promise you, tomorrow I'll take you out to somewhere, just the two of us. Deal?" He had this look in his eyes that started to make me weak in the knees as seriously corny as it sounded, so I just agreed to anything he said, letting him kiss me to seal the deal. "And I was going to surprise you with this one but I'll just tell you now. We're filming another video, for In The End and I want you to be there, just you." I hugged him tightly, telling him that I would very much enjoy that. When we finally caught up to the girls who had been waiting outside the car, I saw KayT flash me a "Is everything alright?" stare and I decided to text her, saying that he just wanted to really apologize about earlier. She texted me back saying how seriously perfect the two of us looked together and that she was insanely jealous that I managed to get someone so sweet and caring as he was. I tried my hardest not to smile but she was right, I was pretty damn lucky.

We drove around for a good hour until we managed to make it into the Hollywood Hills. The streets were narrow and littered with fancy cars and nice houses that looked just like stupid Clay's and instantly reminded me of my old house. I made a disgusted face as I looked past each person I saw. I hated the wealthy, I hated that they thought they were so much better than us. But I will say this, they did do a fucking awesome job at decorating for Christmas. We parked a few good blocks down before we got out to do a walking tour of all the houses. The air was a lot colder up here than it was down in the valley and regardless of it being winter, I still didn't bring a damn jacket when I really did need one. "Are you cold, babe?" There goes that damn feeling of butterflies again. "A little." I lied, trying my hardest not to shiver. He must have noticed too because he immediately took off his hoodie and handed it to me. It was incredibly warm and smelled just like him which oddly enough made me feel a sense of calm. Thankfully he wore a long sleeve underneath so he wasn't that worried about the weather. We held hands as we walked through the busy streets of tons of houses, seeing so many different bright and beautiful glittering lights. Melody and KayT took dozens of pictures, every so often sneaking a few of us in when we weren't noticing, which made me sort of glad in the end so I could have something to look at once we went home.

"I hope I can have a house like that someday." Chester said as we came to a large two story house with a black rod iron gate, completely decorated like the Nightmare Before Christmas, my absolute favorite movie. I gawked at it in awe, getting completely distracted by all the lights and sounds. "I think someone else likes it too." Melody teased as they all stared at me. Chester gave my hand a light squeeze, smiling at me once I snapped out of it. "You know, if everything goes good and I become really successful, I wouldn't mind getting you a house like this." He said with a wink, making my stomach start to do back flips and my heart beat uncontrollably fast. So it was apparent to me that he planned on being with me for a good while, okay, fine with me. Now I just hoped that I could live up to his standards and not fuck this up like I have my life and my family for so many years. "I wouldn't mind that." I breathed simply, trying to keep my mind focused on what he had said. He wanted to be in a serious relationship with me. He actually wanted to take this seriously. I felt my head start to grow fuzzy as I tried to keep it together, but it was impossible. I was seriously about to freak out as I kept picturing us being in a house and living together. It all seemed weird and too much to take in.

"Jay, calm down. He was just making ideas, no one is saying that you two are going to be living together or doing anything so soon. You're really making this a huge deal." KayT stated with a long sigh as I paced back and forth in my room once we had returned home. I had given Chester a kiss and told him that I was excited for tomorrow, thanking him once again for the amazing day today but my mind was still being overcrowded by the words he had said. "But what if he wants to get serious with me, Kay? What do I do then?" I was starting to panic, feeling lightheaded. "For one thing, sit the hell down and for two things, HE.IS.YOUR.BOY.FRIEND. He's going to make statements like that, you should be happy he can see a future with you!" I did as she instructed and finally sat down, letting it all sink in. I guess she had a point, I should be extremely grateful that I he felt confident enough in our relationship already to predict a future with me. But I was just scared, as fucking usual. Fear always seemed to control me, especially in situations like this.

"Think of it this way, Jay. These roads you'll be traveling on will be new and completely untraveled. Don't let fear stop you from experiencing something new and once in a lifetime. You'll never truly live until you start just going with it."
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as always thank you all for the support and everything, thank you kdennis9 for being my biggest supporter for this story! This is the longest chapter so far, I keep this going solely for you and because I am truly proud of this story,so hopefully you're enjoying! Thank you! xo