Lindsay collapsed, knees giving out on her as she cried. She cried for her lost youth, her failed marriage, for the man she'd loved who had deserted her. She cried for the woman he had turned to because she wasn't enough for him, she never had. She was just a brief stop of his on his way to Rory.
Jess wanted to walk away, he really did. Every ounce of intelligence in his body told him to leave, to never look back at the small blonde sobbing on the sidewalk. It wasn't his problem. He hardly knew her. He had enough issues of his own without a whiney Michelle Branch listening girl on his plate. Walk away, he instructed.
He just couldn't.
Her entire body shook with her sobs. He'd never seen anyone cry that hard before, not even his mom when his grandmother had died. She looked like her whole life was crashing down, which was exactly why he shouldn't get involved.
Jess ignored the inner voices as he set down his duffle bag in the bushes and stepped out onto the lawn. She didn't look up, didn't even notice as rain started pouring down, soaking them both.
"Lindsay?" he said softly, approaching her slowly. He was afraid of spooking her, as if she were a deer rather than a girl. "Are you okay?"
Tearstained cheeks and red swollen eyes looked up at him as if he were crazy. Of course she wasn't okay. If she was okay she wouldn't be out in the pouring rain crying her eyes out. Okay people didn't do that. She turned back away, but not before Jess caught sight of a large purple bruise on her cheek.
"What the," he muttered, reaching out to touch her arm. She shrank away from him like he murderer, which for all she knew, he could be. No doubt she had heard nothing but wonderful things about him from Dean, Jess thought sarcastically.
Speaking of Dean, Jess shook his head. He wouldn't have.... who was Jess kidding? He'd never been impressed with the jerk. Not to mention, Dean had certainly tried to fight him more than once. He looked down at Lindsay. They might not even be together anymore. After all, Dean had been at Rory's down a little over a week earlier. Jess glimpsed a simple gold band on Lindsay's left ring finger.
Jess grabbed Lindsay's chin and forced her to look at him. "What happened?" he demanded.
"I-i- I knew where he was," she stammered, the tears flowing faster, although it was hard to tell with the rain beating down on them. Jess was soaked, and cold, but he needed to find out what was going on first.
"Where was he?"
Lindsay jerked her face away from Jess as she whispered. "He was with her."
Jess didn't even have to ask who "her" was. He just knew. The though cut through his body like he was being stabbed, but somehow, he knew it was true. He knew Dean, and apparently knew nothing about Rory, if what she had said to him just days before proved anything. He was actually afraid to ask Lindsay anything else. He just didn't want to know.
"Lindsay?" he asked softly as he knelt beside her on the damp pavement. Ignoring the cold that permeated straight through his jeans, he put his arm around her shoulders.
She didn't pull away this time, but she didn't exactly warm to his awkward embrace either. "How do you know my name?" she whispered, her voice hoarse from the tears.
"You were at that party with," Jess paused, not wanting to upset her any more by saying his name. "Rory introduced us." As he said it he realized saying her name wasn't much better, but the words had already left his lips, so there was nothing left for him to do.
She blinked slowly, looking him in the eye for the first time that night. "I didn't think you liked me very much."
"I didn't." Jess tugged on her sleeve. "Let's get out of the rain."
"I don't have anywhere to go." Lindsay bit her lip as she started to cry again.
Geez. Jess cringed, not being one to deal well with tears. He couldn't seem to make himself leave her alone, but at the same time, he didn't want to watch her cry anymore.
An idea popped into his head and he voiced it without thinking. "So, come with me."
Two hours later, Jess sat in an uncomfortable chair with an unopened beer in his hands. Lindsay had fallen asleep almost immediately after they checked in. Sprawled on the single queen-sized bed in the cheap motel room, her face had finally relaxed. Her arms were curled protectively around her pillow. She clutched it as a child would a favorite stuffed animal, but she was a woman.
It was almost hard to realize that, looking at this broken girl sleeping soundly across the room from him. Why had be brought her here? He wondered. The whole situation was ridiculous. Tears or no tears, he shouldn't have asked her to come.
The only person he wanted with him was with her married ex-boyfriend and the girl on the bed beside him was one of his least favorite people in the world.
Fate is cruel.
Jess gave up and shoved the can of beer back into the mini-bar. The only thing it would be useful for that night was bringing down the swelling on Lindsay's cheek,
Speaking of which, he walked around the bed to take a better look at the hand-shaped imprint on her cheek. He'd known Dean was a jerk, but somehow he'd never seen him as a wife-beater. Boy, does Rory know how to pick 'em, he thought bitterly. He might not have been there for her all the time, but at least he'd never hit a girl in his life, with the exception of his cousin Emilie when he was two, and he didn't remember that so it didn't count.
Lindsay sighed in her sleep, and he gritted his teeth. Thinking about the jerk, or Rory, was not going to make things better. All he could do now was get some sleep and hope that everything and everyone would go away in the morning.
No such luck.