Our Little Love Story *NOW PUBLISHED ON AMAZON KINDLE!!*

chapter ten.

“Well, this is it,” Jared announced, smiling at me over his shoulder as he turned the door handle on the front door to his house and gently pushed it open. We walked inside, and the cool air wrapped around us, instantly soothing us from the heat outside. We were in the living room. There were photos of his family, and individual pictures of Jared and his brother and sister hanging on the walls. A tan and red plaid couch sat against one wall, with a coffee table between it and the television. A couple of recliners were placed at an angle on each side of the couch. There was a bookshelf on a far wall lined with books. A table sat under the front window, with a lamp and different knick-knacks strategically placed on it. In front of us was an archway, leading into the kitchen. 

“You want anything to eat or drink?” Jared asked, still holding my hand and guiding me into the kitchen. 

“Oh, no, I’m alright. Thank you, though,” I answered, still looking around. “You’re house is beautiful,” I remarked. And it really was. I wasn’t just trying to impress him. 

“Thanks. That’s my mom. She’s all into that interior decorating stuff,” Jared said as he went to the refrigerator to rummage around. He came out with a can of Coke, and some lunchmeat and bread for a sandwich. 

The kitchen that we were standing had black appliances, dark cherry wood colored cabinets, and dark gray marble colored countertops. And it was spotless. Barstools lined the opposite side of the counter, and a large table with six chairs sat behind them. A large floral display was in the center of the table, the maroon placemats carefully aligned with each chair. 

I glanced back over at Jared, and he was eyeing me curiously over his sandwich. I laughed a little nervously, to break the silence. He raised an eyebrow, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Oh, you have a little left over,” I said, mimicking my best “Mom” voice. I took my finger and brushed at the corner of his mouth, wiping away the couple of stray bread crumbs. 

“I was saving that for later,” Jared said between bites, and winked. Taking a drink from his soda, he said, “Give me just a minute, and I’ll show you around. Give you the tour deluxe,” he waved the hand that wasn’t holding his sandwich around in a dramatic way. I giggled, and pulled out a barstool to sit on and wait for him to finish eating. 

The guy ate like he was completely famished, because he had his sandwich, his soda, and a snack sized bag of chips gone within a couple of minutes. 

“Aahh,” he said, patting his belly, and letting out a small burp.

“Ugh, you’re such a boy,” I giggled, wrinkling my nose.

“Yeah, maybe. But at least now I’m not a hungry boy,” Jared winked at me and then walked over to where I was still sitting on the barstool. 

“Hmm, so, how ‘bout that tour?” he asked with his hands on my shoulders. I nodded my head, and before I got up, he held my face in his hands, and gave me a quick kiss on the lips. Each time he touched me, or even looked at me, my heart seemed to forget how to quit working, and I felt like I could instantly melt into a puddle. I wondered briefly if he felt the same.

I didn’t have time to ponder long, because he took my hand, helped me off of the tall stool, and began showing me around his “humble abode,” as he called it. I smiled silently, enjoying him pretending to be some sort of low key ’tour guide.’ 

“Well, you’ve already seen the living room and the kitchen. Let’s go this way,” Jared said, guiding me into a hallway off the left of the kitchen. “There isn’t much here. Just a bathroom,” he said, pushing a door open. I took a quick look inside, surveying the tidy bathroom. “Up the stairs are most of the bedrooms,” he added, as he walked up the stairs, with me following closely behind. At the top of the stairs were four doors -- two in front of us, and one on each end of the landing. “Here’s another bathroom,” Jared said, pushing open another door. “And that,” he said, motioning with a jerk of his head, “is Kinsley’s room. Down there through that door,” Jared continued, looking at the far end of the hallway at the closed door, “is my brother’s room.” He turned around and opened another door just a little, “This, I don’t know if I should show you,” his eyes danced mischievously, and he wiggled his eyebrows a little, teasing.

“What’s in there?” I asked, although I was certain I already knew.

“Well,” he replied, pushing the door open the rest of the way, “this is my room.” I nudged past him to get a better look inside. His bed at the far end of the room was made, and there was a few clothes on the floor next to his bed. There was a desk in his room, with nothing but a laptop and an alarm clock on it. A nightstand with a lamp sat on the other side of his bed. The closet doors were shut, and a gun cabinet sat in his room near the door. There was also a stereo on a table on the other side of the gun cabinet. Surprisingly tidy for a teenage boy’s room, I thought. 

“Wow, it’s pretty clean,” I commented, looking up at Jared.

“Yeah, well, my mom’s a neat freak, what can I say? I’m surprised she hasn’t hounded me yet about the clothes in the floor,” Jared answered, pulling the door shut again. 

We went back down the stairs, and Jared showed me the laundry room that led into the garage at the far end of the hallway by the stairs, and the other archway that led back into the living room. We walked back into the kitchen, and through a little ’den’ type of room. 

“My parent’s room is over there, through that door,” Jared informed me, pointing. “They have a bathroom in there, too,” he added. “But this,” he said, flopping down on a couch in the den area, “is where I spend most of my time. Have a seat,” he said, patting the couch cushion next to him. I silently obeyed, and sat next to him on the couch. He put his arm around my shoulders, and pulled me closer to him, and dropping his arm to rest across my stomach at the same time.

“So, do you want to watch a movie or something?” he asked after a few minutes. 

“Uh, sure. What do you have?” I asked.

“Well, a lot of things. Do you like Adam Sandler?” he asked, sitting forward on the couch and looking back over his shoulder at me.

“Yeah, he’s alright,” I remarked.

“He’s more than alright. He’s funny as hell,” Jared said, getting up and retrieving a DVD from the bookshelf next to the TV in front of us. He inserted the movie into the DVD player, turned on the TV, and sat back down on the couch next to me.

“I take it you like him a lot,” I said, smiling.

“Yes, yes I do,” Jared said in his (I assumed) best Adam Sandler voice imitation. I giggled, and waited for the movie to start. Jared pulled me up against him, wrapping his arm around me. I curled my feet and legs up onto the couch, and settled in to watch the movie, comfortable and relaxed in his embrace. 

The movie started (he had chosen ’Happy Gilmore’), and we watched the first several minutes of it in silence.

“You know,” Jared said, “I’m glad we decided to come back here. This is way better than roasting to death out in that heat.” I nodded my head, agreeing. “So, did you go talk to Ray about working at the diner?” Jared asked.

“Yeah. I start the Monday after I get back from the retreat,” I informed him. I had completely forgotten all about the diner, Ray, and the retreat. All that mattered to me at this exact moment was being with Jared, in his arms, in the cool of his den, wrapped in his arms. 

“Hmm, I see…” Jared breathed, trailing off. We were silent for a moment. I turned my head around and upwards to look at him, and he simultaneously looked down at me. We gazed at each other for a long moment, and then I leaned up towards him, kissing him as softly, but as passionately, as I could manage.

I adjusted myself so I was more on my side and stomach than on my back, and reached up and wrapped my hands around the back of his neck, running my fingers through his black hair. Jared breathed in our kiss, wrapped his hands around my waist, and pulled me closer still to him, slightly tightening his grip on me. I didn’t object in the least bit. I moved my hands to his face, my thumbs tracing the curve of his jaw on each side. My eyes were closed, seeming to make my other senses heightened. I was lost in the moment, relishing in our kiss, our embrace, our skin touching. 

Jared was, also, because neither one of us heard the front door open and his parents walk into the den, catching us off guard in our passionate embrace.

 .............................END OF PREVIEW...................

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