She always ended up coming back, no matter how hard she tried to stay away. He always seemed to pull her back, or maybe she always ran to him once she'd realized what she'd done. Maybe, through some weird, complicated events, they ended up meeting somewhere in the middle, almost like fate or destiny.

But fate and destiny didn't exist, Jo reminded herself, because, if they did, surely they wouldn't be so cruel. They'd have her bump into him at a cute, little coffee shop or bookstore, or possibly in the middle of a rainstorm if they were feeling particularly reckless that day. They wouldn't have them meet again like this.

Jo sat, frozen, on his front porch for a while, not sure exactly why she had gone there. In fact, it was a pretty crappy plan, now that she thought about it. Maybe he wouldn't forgive her this time. Maybe she had run back a bit too late. Maybe she'd said one word too many or too little, and maybe he'd tell her to leave him alone and go sort her shit out on her own time. Oh God, that couldn't happen; it just couldn't because she already had no goddamn idea what she was doing.

She had run back yet again this time, not because she wanted to, but because she had to. Because if she didn't, she would've reverted to that 16-year-old girl who lived out of her car, and Jo had worked too damn hard to go back to that. Something inside of her told her that, if Alex rejected her now, in such a sensitive and vulnerable state, that that pathetic girl she'd been so desperately trying to hide would come back to stay.

Maybe she already had.

"Oh, man, you're killing me here." Jo did not move. She couldn't look him in the eyes, not yet at least. "I'm trying to leave you alone. I'm trying to get out of your freaking life, but you're everywhere." Deep breaths, deep breaths. "And now you show up to tell me the same thing?" No, Alex, never again. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Please don't do this. Let me stay. God, let me stay. "Well, guess what?"

She somehow found the courage to look at him. "Can I stay here?" Breathe, Jo, breathe. "Please?"

He was quiet for a moment. "He hit you."

"I need to stay with you, Alex, I – "

"He hit you," Alex repeated, a note of hysteria in his voice. "Damnit, answer me!"

The breath caught in her throat – never before had she seen this type of rage, this fierce protectiveness that border-lined animalistic. "Y-yes," she choked.

He slammed his keys into the door and opened it brazenly. He moved to grab her arm, but she recoiled. Alex scowled. "I'm not going to hurt you," he told her, taking hold of her arm once more and dragging her inside. He ravaged through his refrigerator with alarming speed, stuffing ice messily into some plastic bag. "We're going to my room now," he informed her. "And you're going to tell me everything."

Jo only nodded. She'd lost her nerve and couldn't find it anywhere in her to speak.

"Jo?" Alex said, bringing her back to her senses. "We're going to my room now, okay?" Alex sighed at her lack of a response. "Look, you're scaring me. I'm going to need you to talk to me. You have to talk."

They held eye contact for some time, and Jo felt her heart beat erratically in her chest. Because that look in his eyes, that primitive one that proclaimed a longing to protect his property? Jo couldn't help but find it strangely… attractive. "Okay," Jo said quietly. "Let's go."

Alex gave her a reassuring smile and handed her the bag of ice. "Here. Put this on."

One silent trip up the stairs later, Jo lay snuggled in Alex's bed. She'd be lying if she said the thought of being in his bed had never snuck into her mind, but, in these accidental fantasies, it'd been under very, um, different circumstances. But this was nothing like Jo had ever imagined it would be. His bed smelled so distinctively of him, a mixture of coffee and Old Spice, so Alex, that it was hard not to feel instantly comforted. The sensation of being wrapped up in his blankets that were drenched in his scent made her never want to get up again. She was overcome with the overwhelming desire to just ignore all that day's events and breathe in the smell of coffee and Old Spice forever.

"Do you wanna talk about it?" Alex asked her.

Jo burrowed further into the blankets. "No."

"C'mon," he prompted, tearing the blankets of off her. Jo groaned and felt strangely bare without his comforter. Putting the ice back on her face, Jo sat up and looked Alex in the eyes.

"What do you want me to say?" Jo asked. "Is there anything to say?"

"I need to know what happened," Alex informed her. "Before I go kick his ass, I have to know for sure."

"We, uh, we were fighting," Jo started, and the memory rushed back: how he tortured her with his words, how he looked at her with that surprisingly devilish look in his eyes, how he drew his fist back, and he –

And now she was sobbing hysterically, unable to stop the moment from playing over and over again. It was all too much, and the desire to hide in his coffee-and-Old-Spice scented sheets consumed her.

"He hit you?" he demanded, his eyes narrowing dangerously. Jo mustered up all her will power to manage a weak nod. Alex shot up, clenching his fists by his sides, and paced around the room for a bit. He suddenly stopped and ran out, putting his hood up and stomping down the stairs.

"What are you going to do?" Jo cried out, shocked at her ability to speak again.

She didn't want him to leave, she realized. As comforting as it was that he was so protective, all she wanted was for him stay the night. She wanted him to sleep next to her as she tried to nod off, and when she finally did and was woken up by the nightmares that were sure to come, she wanted him to hold her firmly and whisper comforting words into her ear.

The room seemed strangely silent without Alex, and the scent of him seemed to have faded. And as she sat in the silence, something clicked. She didn't want to sleep in here because of the scent, and she didn't come to his house because she'd been in a state of shock; it was because she loved him. Whether or not she loved him as a friend or as a lover, she wasn't sure, but all she knew was that this was fate's doing.

It must exist, Jo told herself, because how would she ever find herself in this situation otherwise? "What a dick," Jo told herself. She wasn't quite sure if she was talking about Jason or fate. Both, she decided. Definitely both.

Thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it :) Please review, favorite, etc.!

Also, for those of you who are reading Secrets, Secrets, Are No Fun, I'm really sorry that I haven't updated it in so long. I've had writer's block :/ Hopefully this makes up for it somewhat?