Not What it Seems

~Cash~

It was Sunday morning when I woke up thinking about Jane.

Well, that was every morning, really.

As I groaned, crawling out of bed, my Mother came into the room.

"Hey honey," she said, smiling and holding up her spatula. "I made French toast."

"Thanks," I murmured.

"So, how's it going with Jane?" she asked, sitting down on my bed beside me. I rubbed a hand over my face. I didn't know how it was going with Jane, to be truthful. I knew I loved her, and she loved me back, but there was a line between us that hadn't yet been crossed. And crossing that line meant bringing us closer than ever before. I didn't mean sex, though. I meant that there was something distancing us despite our love for each other.

"It's going alright," I said and Mom frowned.

"Alright doesn't sound great," Mom pointed out and I shrugged.

"We're..." I sighed, thinking of what Jane's mother had said. "We're from two separate worlds."

Mom laughed, smiling down at me gently. "Cash," she sighed. "We're all from the same world. We all live on this great big planet, and it doesn't matter our age or social standing or what we look like, we're all equal."

And yet, I wasn't sure how much of that I believed.

~Jane~

I heard shouting downstairs, and I knew that was my cue to intervene. I hated that I had to mediate between my parents and their shouting matches, but otherwise our house would end up in ruins.

I trooped down the stairs to where Mom and Dad were yelling across the living room.

"Richard, you just got here! Why the hell are you ripping our family apart again?" Mom yelled and Dad winced.

"You're being unreasonable! It's not as if you were even trying hard to fix this family, you need to -"

"What's going on here?" I asked, stepping into the living room.

Dad tensed and Mom smirked.

"Your father is leaving again," she told me and I stared at her. After everything that had gone down these last few weeks, after all the promises Dad had made to try and fix everything, he was just wimping out again. He was running away when that option suited him best.

"You promised," I said quietly to him and Mom laughed bitterly.

"Didn't I tell you, Jane? They take what they want and then they leave." Mom heaved a dry sob and watched as Dad hitched his backpack over his shoulder.

"Jane, I don't have any other options, I have to go -"

"Like hell you don't!" I yelled and he stepped back. "You keep doing this! Building my hopes up and letting them down! I-I-I don't understand why you even bothered coming back, Dad."

The hurt in his eyes was apparent, and something within me tugged at my heart, but I ignored it. I was overwhelmed with anger, my head spinning with disappointment.

Then, for the second time in my life, Dad picked up and walked out of my life. I watched him pull open the door and walk through, watched him trudge to the car, throw his stuff inside, and pull out the driveway.

*

Monday morning at school, I walked through the hallway mindless and numb. The previous evening, Mom had had another panic attack, screaming about Dad leaving and breaking a glass cup when she threw herself at the counter in a frenzy to understand why he left us again.

I approached my locker, and when I saw that Cash wasn't there, I wasn't sure whether to be relived or disappointed. I needed Cash to comfort me, in some sense, but I wasn't sure he would be able to understand what I was going through. His life was a walk in the park compared to mine.

I saw him later though, walking through the hallway, smiling as he talked to his friends - Chris and Ryan? His smile faded, slightly, though, when he saw me, and a concerned look flashed through his eyes. He pulled out his phone and quickly typed something out.

Not even thirty seconds later, my own phone chirped, and I looked at it.

Ten minutes, tech. hallway.

I sighed, feeling an overwhelming sense of relief. I needed to talk to Cash, even if it meant letting him see me in such a vulnerable state.

~Cash~

I walked with Chris and Ryan all the way to our classroom, and then, just as they were entering, I snapped my fingers.

"Shit, I forgot my homework in my locker," I lied, and Chris rolled his eyes.

"Who cares?" he said and I shrugged.

"I gotta keep a B this quarter," I said and then turned, heading away from them. Once I was sure they weren't watching, I broke a left into the science hallway. After a moment, I found myself in the technology hallway. The bell rung above my head and I sat down by the empty photography room, waiting for Jane.

She walked down the hallway, not a minute later.

I stood up, pulling her into my arms the second she reached me. I kissed her softly.

"Tell me," I whispered, and she squeezed her eyes shut. I pulled open the room and moved the both of us inside. I sat her down on a desk and stood between her legs, my arms on either side of her. "What's the matter?"

"My Dad left again," she blurted, and I knew it wouldn't have been easy for her to tell me that. "And my Mom had another panic attack, Cash. Why the hell does this fucking crap keep happening to me?" I felt her tears wetting my neck, and I gently rubbed her back.

"Sweetheart, we live in a place where the worst things happen to the best people." She shook her head.

"What do I do?" she asked, and I shrugged.

"You stick it out like you always have. Except this time I'll be here with you." She gave me a small smile, and I leaned down to kiss her. She sighed into my mouth, her fingers immediately sliding up my shirt, searching for warmth. I let her fingers roam around my stomach, but gently grasped her hand when it pressed the boundaries of my jeans.

"Not here," I rasped, "I don't want your first time to be on a desk in the middle of our school." She sighed, kissing my neck, but removing her hands nonetheless.

"I love you," she sighed, and I kissed her throat, my hands doing exploring of their own.

"I love you t-"

I don't know why, but Jane and I had been cursed with people interrupting our intimate moments.

~Jane~

The photography room door swung open and Cash and I jerked apart, panting and clearly guilty of something. In the doorway stood Chris and a couple of Cash's teammates from the soccer team.

"I-I-I-" Cash stuttered and Chris glowered at him.

"Cash," Chris said slowly, and I knew just what was happening. "What's going on here?"

Chris and everybody else knew perfectly well what was going on here, but they were offering Cash an out, served up on a platter. Whether or not he would take it was the real question.

It was a horrible moment of silence before Cash spoke again.

"Nothing. She - I - She came on to me and, I couldn't stop her." I stared at Cash.

"You're sure?" Chris asked, arms crossed across his chest. One last chance, Cash. His eyes met mine, and I pleaded with him in my head. Please don't do this. Yet somehow, I'd expected from the start that his need to please all, and his desire to maintain a high reputation would tear us apart.

"Yeah. She's just some girl," he said finally, and Chris indicated that he should follow him out into the hall.

And as my heart broke, he did just that.