The Downfall of the 'It Girl'

You might just get your 'happily ever after,' Princess.....

“Wow, this is beautiful. I would’ve never guessed that this little stream was back here,” I breathed, taking in the scenery all around me in childlike wonder.

“Yeah, it is nice,” Calvin replied, his hand still wrapped around mine. “I stumbled upon it one day by pure accident. I like to come out here to think, or when I just want to be completely alone for awhile,” he added, lightly squeezing my hand, which instinctively caused an explosion of butterflies inside my belly, but I did my absolute best to remain neutral and unaffected on the outside.

“Come, sit with me over here,” he said, his eyes seeming to be studying me oh-so-carefully. Silently obeying, I let him lead me over to where a large tree trunk had fallen almost perfectly across the stream, making it into a sort of  bridge. Stepping up and onto the top of the tree trunk, we carefully walked about halfway across, holding our arms out like we were amateur tightrope walkers. Stopping just over the top of the middle of the flowing water, Calvin crouched down, lowering himself gingerly onto the trunk so that he was now sitting instead of standing. Holding onto my hand still, he helped me to sit down onto the trunk next to him, our feet dangling over the side, just a few feet above the water.

The smells and sounds of nature all around us made it seem like we had somehow discovered an entirely different world than the one we lived in; like it was our own personal version ’Narnia,’ or something.

“Jenna,” Calvin said after a long time, his eyes focused on the water below, “I DO love you. Try as I might, I can’t help it. As you already know, my family has moved more times than I could even try to keep track of, and I’ve made it a point to not get close to anyone anywhere. My dad works a lot, so for the majority of my life, it’s just been me and Mom,” he glanced up in the direction of where his house lay, just on the other side of the woods, and then looked over at me. I didn’t know what to say, so I just kept quiet and let him talk. This was what I was wanting anyway, wasn’t it? For him to open up? 

“But when I saw you walking in the rain that day, originally I did offer you a ride home because I felt sorry for you, who wouldn’t have, honestly? But then the more time that we spent together and the more that I got to know you, the closer I unwillingly became to you, the harder and deeper I found myself falling in love with you, despite my futile attempts at trying to remain distant and uninvolved,” he paused, his eyes finding mine once again.

“Calvin, I---” I began, but he cut me off.

“Please, Jenna, let me finish. I need to get this out,” Calvin said, his voice soft and full of emotion, for the first time ever, I was fairly certain.

“Sorry,” I mumbled, and silently vowed to keep my lips sealed from here on out.

“I just don’t know how to do ‘relationships’ or ‘love,’” he continued, looking back down at the water below us. “This whole ordeal between you and I has made me take more trips out here to think than usual, you know,” he glanced up, a crooked little smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. I smiled back, and dropped my gaze to his hand which hand once again found its way to mine. Lacing his fingers through mine, my stomach did a little flip-flop. 

“There’s just something about you, Jenna Matthews. Something that draws me to you, like a moth to a flame,” his voice was quiet, almost breathless sounding. “And, like I said, try as I might, I can’t stay away from you. Part of me WANTS to, and a small part of me says that I know I SHOULD, but I can’t, I just simply CANNOT,” releasing a small sigh, Calvin’s gaze was focused on me and only me. “What say you, Jenna Matthews?” he asked, a ghost of a smile reappearing on his lips.

“Well,” I began, searching for the right words, “I say that I’m very glad you finally opened up to me and let me inside of that extremely confusing head of yours,” a small smile formed on my lips, and I found myself praying that he didn’t take any offense to my words. 

“It’s not really all that complex, actually,” he replied quietly.

“Says you,” I said, a small, breathy laugh escaping from my lips. A few moments of easy silence hung between us. “So,” I said finally, breaking the comfortable quiet, “where do we go from here?” 

“Well,” Calvin began, looking up from the water below and holding my eyes with his, “I guess we could start here,” he finished, and in the next second he had placed each of his hands on the sides of my face, pulling me closer to him still, his warm, damp lips pressing passionately into mine.

                                                                  THE END.
                                      

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:

Hey, everyone! *waves* 
This is THE END of the story, *at least* for the time being, anyway. I *did* have a measly 3 chapters up of a 2nd 'Downfall' story, the "sequel" to this story, but after racking my poor little brain constantly, I just absolutely CANNOT come up with any material that I like/deem okay enough to continue the story with whatsoever, and I really am sorry for that, and for stringing any readers along with hopes of the sequel being written/updated regularly. I didn't want to take it down, and left it up for as long as possible, but finally I just came to the decision/realization that this story was seriously going NOWHERE FAST...and I don't want to have/leave up any amount of stories that are just hanging in unfinished limbo. ***IF*** ((<<---NOTE THE 'IF' THERE.)) it rekindles itself inside my wee little brain, I'll see what happens, and if the ideas keep flowing, then I'll repost it back to WP. Until then, this is all that there is. Please don't hate me forever! *insert sad puppy dog face here* 

Thanks to everyone that read this story, and any of my other works that any of you might have taken the time to read! I sincerely appreciate it! It honest-to-goodness astounds me that much of anyone would want to read anything I write, and I'm beyond flattered when so many of you take the time to comment and/or message me about how much you like(d) whichever story or stories of mine that you've just read...I seriously get all squishy faced and all warm and fuzzy inside, no joke ;-) 

Anyhooooo......that's all....just wanted to let y'all know what was going on. And I'm getting ready to start working on a new/old story or two, so keep an eye out (hopefully pretty soon) when I get those posted. I'm making myself have at least a 4-5 chapter minimum on any new story before I post ANY of it to WP from now on. That's the plan, anyway. ;-) 

Much <3,
Tierney =)