Invisible To Her Bully (Jessa and Noah) novel Chapter 43

Noah

Thursday mornings were always chaos in the Lombardi house.

The smell of coffee hung in the air, mingling with the faint scent of burnt toast coming from the toaster. The TV in the corner of the kitchen was tuned to the local news, though no one was actually watching it. Jackson was half-dressed, running around trying to find his other cleat while their mom shouted reminders from down the hall about laundry and homework.

It was familiar.

Comfortable.

This kitchen had been like a second home to me since middle school.

But lately, being here didn’t feel the same.

Lately, it felt… tense.

I leaned back against the counter, sipping an energy drink as I watched Jessa move around the kitchen. Her hair was still damp from a shower, curling at the ends. She wore an oversized hoodie that swallowed her frame and a pair of leggings.

She didn’t look at me once.

Instead, she went straight for the pantry, pulling out a brightly colored box of cereal — the kind that was basically pure sugar with a sprinkle of artificial fruit flavoring. She grabbed a bowl and poured a mountain of it, the clinking of the cereal loud in the quiet space between us.

I couldn’t stop myself.

The words slipped out before I even thought about them.

“Should you really be eating that?” I asked, my tone sharper than I intended.

Her hand froze mid-motion, spoon hovering over the bowl. Slowly, she turned her head to look at me, her eyes narrowing.

Oh, crap.

The second I saw her face, I knew I’d screwed up.

Jessa’s lips pressed into a thin line, her cheeks flushing red — not with embarrassment, but with anger. Her chest rose and fell as she took a sharp breath.

“You know what, Noah?” she snapped, her voice trembling. “I am so tired of this. Tired of you.”

I blinked, caught completely off guard. “What are you—”

“This.” She gestured wildly between us, her spoon clattering onto the counter. “You. With your stupid little comments. One minute you’re… nice to me, and the next you’re tearing me down. Hot and cold. Over and over again. Do you have any idea how exhausting that is?”

My stomach dropped. “Jessa, I wasn’t—”

“You were.” Her voice broke on the word, and suddenly, she wasn’t just angry. She looked hurt. Crushed.

“You always are. You act like you don’t, but every time you make some snide little remark, it’s like… like you’re reminding me that no matter what I do, I’m never going to be enough.”

She shoved the cereal box aside so hard it toppled over, spilling brightly colored loops across the counter.

“What the hell happened here?” he demanded.

Jessa didn’t answer. She just grabbed her bag off the counter, leaving her uneaten bowl of cereal behind.

“Nothing,” she muttered, brushing past both of us. “Absolutely nothing.”

The front door slammed shut behind her, the sound echoing through the house.

Jackson rounded on me immediately. “What did you do?”

My throat felt like it was closing up.

I wanted to tell him the truth, to explain how it had all come out wrong — how everything with Jessa always came out wrong.

But the words stuck.

“Nothing,” I said hoarsely, knowing full well it was a lie.

Because the truth?

The truth was that I couldn’t stop screwing this up.

And every time I opened my mouth, I pushed her further away.