Chapter 30
MITCHELL
Pausing at the roundabout, I give way to the blue commodore to my right. It takes off, going around the corner a little too fast and I catch the green P plates on the car, shaking my head. Teenagers.
Charlotte is not going to be one of those stereotypical teenage rev heads. Mark my words.
I quickly glance at Rissa, making sure she’s fine with the drinks and food on her lap before turning back to the road and continue driving.
Once I park the car, I quickly race around the front to help Rissa out by taking everything off her lap and offering my free hand. She rolls her eyes but accepts it, climbing out and reaching for the drinks but I pull my hand away, clicking my tongue at her.
“You know I’m more than capable of carrying them, right?” I hum my agreement, nudging the car door shut with my side, refusing to let go of her hand.
When we turn toward the RV, she stops in her tracks, her eyes fixed on the logo on its side and her eyes mist over, lips parting on a gasp.
It’s a line drawing, swirls turning into a heart with a dog’s paw print in the middle that loops back out into more swirls. On either side of the heart is a bee and a rose with little bubbles at the top. It’s a little feminine for my taste but otherwise, I don’t understand her reaction.
“We refused to do this without you.” Marissa startles at Jace’s soft words, having not heard him come up from behind us. “It’s not Bee Rose’s Vet Clinic, but,” his voice trails off, not finishing his sentence but the look of understanding she gives him tells me it’s not needed.
Her lip trembles and she closes the distance between them, throwing her arms around his neck. Jace stands there for a few seconds, eyes wide with shock before he wraps his arms around her waist, digging his nose into the crook of her neck and closing his eyes.
“You brought coffee?” Charlie unintentionally breaks the moment, jogging over and the two part.
“Um, I know we said we’d go out for coffee, but-”
“You remembered,” Charlie whispers after he takes a mouthful of the coffee I hand him. He doesn’t comment on the change of plans, doesn’t even question it, and I give Rissa an ‘I told you so’ look as I distribute the rest.
They both look pleasantly surprised after swallowing the first sip and honestly, so am I. How someone could drink a latte with two extra shots of syrup, I’ll never understand. Latte’s are inherently sweet. That’s just asking for a rotten tooth.
“What’s in the box?” Jace asks, taking another large mouthful of his drink, apparently not sharing my concerns.
Lifting the lid, I reveal the muffins inside. “Chocolate chip muffins.” Jace immediately grabs one, finishing it in two bites before washing it down with his sugar-filled concoction.
The sound of tires screeching has everyone’s attention whipping to the road, only to find it empty.
A few seconds later, we hear it again, only this time a little further away and I shake my head.
“Dickheads,” I mutter under my breath, feeling hands brush against mine before the box is snatched right out of my hand.
When I snap my head back around, Jace is already racing off, halfway to the table he was sitting at yesterday morning, cackling as he goes.
“Some things never change.” Marissa shakes her head with a laugh and Charlie agrees. “Come on, we better catch up before he eats them all.”
Sure enough, by the time we make it to the table, Jace has already devoured three more muffins and his coffee. Charlie quickly snatches the next muffin out of his hand before he has a chance to bite into it and sits down.
“So, what were you guys doing before we got here?” Rissa asks after we’ve all sat down and finished off a muffin each.
“We went for a quick run,” Charlie explains, dusting crumbs off the table.
“You like to run?” Rissa scrunches up her nose and I smirk. I run every morning around town before she wakes, but a couple times a week as a form of exercise, I have her run around the property with me a few times. “So does he.”
“I run; he endures it.” Jace nods to Charlie beside him. “He runs for me, but if I didn’t need to regularly burn off excess energy, I guarantee he wouldn’t voluntarily do it for himself.”
“I know the feeling,” Marissa remarks under her breath and I roll my eyes.
“It’s good for you,” I tell her before turning to the guys. “How often do you run?”
“We try to go regularly but with Charlie’s work schedule, it makes it hard and after the last time I ran alone, we try to avoid it, so it ends up being here and there.”
“What happened last time you ran alone?”
“Oh, um…” Jace looks away, a frown marring his face and his cheeks redden.
“Last time, I uh, kinda ran until I collapsed. A passerby found me and called an ambulance. Turns out I sprained my ankle without realising and ran until I tore a muscle.” He rubs the back of his neck, sharing a look with Charlie and I frown. That’s…concerning.
“Oh my God,” Marissa whispers. “How the hell did you manage that?”
“I uh…I have bipolar and ADHD.” He clears his throat and shrugs a shoulder.
“So, I um, I don’t always realise when I’m over doing it, I guess.
” He reaches for another muffin, this time just picking at it as he avoids looking at anyone and I narrow my eyes at his reaction.
It’s like he’s waiting for us to get mad at him, or make fun of him, and I wonder if other people have reacted poorly in the past.
“Shit…that must have been hard on you,” Rissa whispers, getting this faraway look as she recalls something only she can see before visibly shaking it off. “When did they…?”
“Diagnose me?” Jace finishes her question when she doesn’t, and she nods. “Not long after they…separated us. Well, the bipolar anyway.
“When they took you away, I sort of spiralled. Especially when they refused to tell me where they took you or even let me talk to you. I stopped eating. Stopped talking. Just stopped…I physically couldn’t get myself out of bed and the school eventually requested a welfare check when I stopped attending.
They said I was just being a typical teenager, acting out because I wasn’t getting my way.
“The second time they did a welfare check, they diagnosed me with depression and gave me antidepressants but after a bit, the teachers and my foster parents thought I was faking it or on drugs or something cause I’d go from being practically comatose to twitching and racing around giddy like I was high.
So of course, that meant I had to be on drugs.
" Jace rolls his eyes, shaking his head.
“The third time was more serious because they found me on the roof of the school.” I hear Marissa’s sharp intake and when I look at her, tears are freely streaming down her cheeks. Reaching out, I pull her in closer, wrapping my arms around her and Charlie does the with Jace.
Our eyes connect and his flick to Marissa before returning to me. He gives me what I think is a thankful smile before jerking his chin in a slight nod.
Beside him, Jace sniffles clearing his throat before continuing.
“Safe to say they took that seriously. The school went into lockdown and the cops, fire brigade, and ambulance all showed up and they evacuated the school. Guess they didn’t want to traumatise a bunch of teens in the event I actually jumped. ”
He scoffs and shakes his head. “I wasn’t going to.
Least, I don’t think I was. Not that they believed me.
Let’s just say when they see a teenager on a rooftop, looking down with their toes on the edge and they have a history of depression, it doesn’t matter what you say when you get back on the ground.
It’s a guaranteed trip to the psych ward – sorry, mental health unit,” he corrects when Charlie nudges his side, giving him a firm but gentle look.
One that looks familiar, like he’s had to do it a number of times.
“Can you believe the first thing they did was check to see if there were any drugs or alcohol in my system, even after I told them I hadn’t taken any? They didn’t believe me. They still thought I was acting out, rebelling or whatever.”
“Actually,” I interrupt, sitting forward.
“In that situation, even if they don’t believe you’re intoxicated, it’s mandatory for them to first rule it out.
I’ve come across it a few times when I’ve pulled victims out of a situation that’s caused a psychotic break of some sort.
It doesn’t mean they didn’t believe you, Jace. ”
Some of the bitterness fades from his expression as he thinks my words over.
Eventually, he gives me the smallest of smiles and shrugs.
“Don’t matter anyway, they came back negative.
Wasn’t hard for them to admit me after that, and they started ordering a whole bunch of tests to rule shit out.
I don’t even know or understand half of the crap they tested me for, but it all came back negative.
“There was a lot of back and forth with the doctors and the hospital’s psychiatrist until they concluded that the previous doctor I saw, misdiagnosed me with depression when I actually have Bipolar I. Turns out, the antidepressants only make everything a fuck load worse. Go figure.
“Anyway, they worked shit out with the school and I was able to retake the tests and assignments I missed because of my poor attendance, and they slowly integrated me back into classes with some…adjustments and I graduated.
“The meds helped for a while. Until they didn’t. Eventually, I stopped taking them, started self-medicating with alcohol and pot and-” he glances at Charlie with a wince. “-some rather…unhealthy lifestyle choices.
“When Charlie found me, I was in a pretty shitty place, physically and mentally. He’s the one who convinced me to try again. We went through a number of doctors and a bunch of medical cocktails. They all helped for a while…but I don’t know, it never fully helped.
“There were so many times I wanted to just give up. The whole process was frustrating and just exhausting, but Charlie wouldn’t let me give up.
If it wasn’t for him-” Jace turns to Charlie, now speaking directly to him.
“-I would have given up a long time ago, and I'd be right back where you found me nearly seven years ago.”
It's quiet for several long minutes, the two sharing a moment while Marissa and I process everything he just told us. Tilting my head, I watch them, a little fascinated by the relationship they seem to share.
Already in the past two days, I’ve seen them unconsciously offer each other support, sometimes before the other is even aware they need it.
It’s a fascinating thing to observe, to see them so open with each other in a way you just don’t see today.
Especially, and I hate to say it but, especially in men.
“But, you’re okay now? Not okay, I didn’t mean it like that.
Just…have you found, uh… something that helps you now?
” Rissa stumbles over her question, trying not to offend him but he doesn’t look offended or upset.
In fact, he looks almost…happy to have her asking questions, which is a confusing reaction that I don’t completely understand.
“Eventually, yeah. It’s been a very long, long journey of trial and error to find what works for me and it wasn’t until two years ago when I stumbled across Dr Lynn, my current doctor, that we learned I also have ADHD.
That’s a huge reason why everything we tried worked for a little bit but eventually…
“Of course, that diagnosis brought with it a whole new round of trial and error. The first stimulant they gave me for the ADHD, actually triggered my BD. So yeah, that was fun.
“But we did find a mix that’s been working pretty well so far, I guess.
I mean it’s not perfect, I still have my ups and downs.
I still have trouble sleeping and regulating my emotions, and I get these bouts of energy I can’t control that make me feel reckless and irritable if I can’t-” he waves his hand around a little, searching for the right words.
“-expel it. I don’t know, it’s hard to explain but running helps… when supervised.”
“You’re welcome to join me if you want. I run every morning from five to six around town,” I offer, seeing an opening to get to know one another and be useful at the same time.
“Thanks man, I might just take you up on that.”
“Good. We start tomorrow.” I nod, and his brows raise before he sputters out an agreement.