Faded Away

|FOURTEEN|

"What are you afraid of?" Black Mike chimed in.

"That things won't work out. That it'll end up like it did with Lily. I just want things to be okay, I love her." I shuddered at the thought of how rancid my relationship with Lily wound up. That's the last thing I wanted to happen between Jackie and I.

"It's not gonna be that way, I know for a fact." Carter argued.

"But how?"

"Because if she didn't love you, she wouldn't have been crying her eyes out when she dropped you off at the airport. That girl loves you. I never saw a tear slip from Lily's eyes when she was around. But Jackie, she's got it bad. You can tell just by the way she looks at you." Black Mike said.

"So y'all don't think I'm moving too fast?" I asked.

"No!" Carter and BM both shouted in frustration.

"Alright, alright." I held up my hands defensively then sunk into the small couch. Carter and BM retreated to the bunk area, leaving me sitting there with nothing to to do. I pulled out my phone and decided to shoot Jackie a text.

To Jackie:
Wyd baby girl? I'm missing you so much right now.

I sat my phone down beside me and laid on my back, awaiting a reply. A few minutes passed, no reply. Maybe she's busy?

15 minutes later and still not a word from Jackie. What if she's doing the same thing Lily used to do? No, I pushed the thought to the back of my mind and tried come up with reasonable explanations as to why she wasn't responding. I didn't bother much anymore and felt myself drifting to sleep.

"Where are we going?" Jackie smiled as we walked hand in hand.

"Up to the boardwalk. Just to talk, and have time to ourselves away from the craziness." I replied then kissed the side of her head. We had made it up to the boardwalk. I stripped down to my swim trunks and stood on the railing. Jackie did the same. I convinced her to jump into the cold water with me. In an instant, we crashed against the water as we submerged. I resurfaced and looked around for Jackie. She was gone. I was alone in the freezing water and Jackie was nowhere to be found. I had lost her.

"Luke!" Carter yelled, awaking me from the dream. "Get up, Jackie is on the phone." He handed me my cellphone and saw Jackie's pretty face on the screen.

"Hey baby." I greeted.

"Hey. I got your text. Sorry I was upstairs with the boys and had left my phone on the kitchen counter. I thought I'd call to let you know everything is alright. Also, we need to talk when you come back." She said on the other end of the line.

"Talk about what?" I gulped.

"Just some things. It's nothing bad, I promise." As soon as she finished, Kerri charged into the bus and told me I had to get ready to go on within the hour. I gave her a thumbs up then turned my attention back to Jackie.

"Yeah that's fine baby. I miss you." I said, quietly.

"I miss you so much I cannot even begin to describe to you what it feels like." She replied. We talked on the phone until I realized I had 20 minutes to shower and get dressed for the show.

"I wish I could talk longer but I gotta go get ready for the show."

"That's alright. I love you. Be safe and text me when you get a chance afterwards." She said. My heart melted at her words. Lily never told me those things and with Jackie, I knew it was gonna be okay from then on.

"I sure will. I love you to the moon and back." I smiled.

"Oh and one last thing, please match your clothes. Have Carter or someone help you because God knows how much you struggle with matching." She giggled. What did I say about my heart melting at her words? Nah, my heart exploded into a firework show on the Fourth of July hearing her laughter.

Author's Note:
Hey peeps!

It's July already holy crap. I'm so excited because I'm seeing Lonestar perform at this Fourth of July festival then next weekend my dad is taking me to another rodeo. So it's gonna be lit.

Anyway..

You should check out a book called For Sure A Maybe! I'll put it in my "Fiction Favorites" reading list so you can find it.

LASTLY...
How long do you want this book to go on? How do you want it to end? Let me know.

Thanks for reading!

Please vote AND COMMENT!

-sam🌸