Undying Devotion Chapter 4
"But I didn't mean to say anything that would hurt her!" JC confided to Justin, who was listening sympathetically to his best friend's problems.
"Dude, she didn't mean it. You know she does NOT hate you. She's crazy about you, but she's going through alot right now. She lost BOTH of her parents, and she doesn't have any brothers or sisters. She's alone now." he reassured.
JC was fighting back tears.
"That's the problem! She's NOT alone. She always has me, but she won't let me help her! I love her so much, but I don't know what to do."
"Just keep trying, she needs you, and no matter what she does or says, she knows it." Justin advised, "Whatever you do, you can't give up on her."
Pulling on her dress, Erika looked at herself in the mirror in disgust. She was a pretty girl, but her eyes were so red and tired looking from all the crying she'd done. Turning away, Erika sat down on her bed, and her thoughts drifted off, to JC, of course. She couldn't believe she'd told him she hated him. She loved him more than anything, but it was so painful for her to hear someone tell her how to feel, especially about something like this. She just hadn't known how to react. At the same time, though, it
killed her to remember the look on his face, when she
said those hurtful words to him The funeral was in an hour, and she was afraid to go. She hated to cry in front of people, and especially to see the looks of pity on their faces.
She'd been trying so hard to hide her feelings from everyone, even the love of her life.
Sitting in the front pew of the church, JC looked around anxiously for Erika. When she arrived, she looked at him fearfully, and finally got up the nerve to walk over to him, and sit down.
"Hey." she said hopefully, smiling, but not looking him in the eyes.
At her friendly greeting, JC let out a sigh of relief, then said "Hi." and smiled sweetly.
She felt happiness rush through her body, at the sight of that grin she'd fallen in love with.
Standing in front of everyone, Erika wasn't nervous, but felt such grief, and a sense of loss, that she could scarcely keep from losing control. She had been worried she wouldn't know what to say, but when she stood up, she could hardly STOP talking about her beloved parents. She talked about what a great mother and father she'd been blessed with, and all of her favorite memories. She'd have gone on forever, had she not broken down in tears half-way through. Finally she apologized, and started back to her seat, but JC met her halfway, and led her back with an arm around her.
As they sat down, he asked, "Are you gonna be okay?" Erika shook off his hugs, and gruffly
answered,
"Yes, I'm FINE." JC tried to ignore her anger, remembering what Justin told him.
As the coffins lowered into the ground, the realization that JC would never see Bill and Cindy
again, finally sank in. They had always treated him like one of their own, and he felt like they were his 2nd mother and father. The tears started to flow. JC reached over, taking Erika's hand in his. She loved the feeling of her hand in his, but for some reason, unknown even to her, she kept pushing him away. So after a few short moments, she pulled away, and walked off, crying, not wanting to hear the words about to be said. But she couldn't escape them, and echoing in her ears that whole night, she heard "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust..."
[chapter 5]�[Undying Devotion]
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