Episode 857: Look Away

Every hope he’d had of trying to win her back, was gone. How could he chase after her, ask her to choose between her boyfriend and him, if, outside of school, he couldn’t even spend any time alone with her, his family wouldn’t let him leave the house with one of them in tow.

Then there was the whole possibly dying thing, he didn’t want to think about that, but it was possible that he’d die sooner than later, and he couldn’t very well say hey Caroline, ditch the really nice guy you’re dating so you can watch me die, it’ll be a fun time. And on top of that, there was a chance she’d only choose him because she felt sorry for him. He wanted her smiles not her pity.

But pity was all Caroline gave him these days. So, no matter how he looked at it, this was his Valentine’s Day option, the movies, with his brother.

“Hey,” Nate said. He stepped right in front of Jesse at the entryway to the movie theater complex, nearly causing a collision between them. “Why don’t we grab a burger or pizza or something?”

“We agreed on the movies,” Jesse argued. “Every restaurant in town will be jammed with couples, I don’t want...”

His voice trailed off as he saw the reason his little brother had tried to usher him out of there. Caroline, with her boyfriend, manning yet another table in search of donors for him. Jesse knew she was being kind, she cared and she didn’t want him to die, but Jesse hated it. He hated that he was some kind of pity project for her, instead of just the guy for her. So Jesse did what his brother suggested, he did what he’d been doing for awhile now, he turned and walked away when everything in him wanted to walk towards her.

Episode 858: Are We All We Are