What Happened in Jackson?

One Week Later: Date 1

I sat out on the porch swing, waiting for Brannan to pull up. Despite knowing that Daddy would have killed me if he'd known I was waiting for a boy outside, rather than letting him walk up and knock on the door. I wasn't going to let Daddy know that I was being taken out by Brannan.

My stomach turned with nervousness and excitement. Nervous because this was the first time I'd ever been taken on a date and excitement because it was the first time I'd ever been taken on a date. There was this nagging thought in the back of my head that questioned whether or not this was a good idea. Jess, all of the best stories are a direct result of terrible ideas, I reassured myself, watching Brannan's car pull into the driveway. He parked and stepped out. That's when I saw the single rose in his hands and I couldn't help but swell with pride and joy. It was probably the most romantic thing I'd ever seen a boy do for me.

He walked up the front steps and smiled, handing me the rose. "Don't ladies typically wait inside?" he asked, winking at me.

I giggled and stood up, taking the rose. "I'm no ordinary lady." I gave it a sniff and smiled. "Is this from a garden?"

He smiled as his eyes lit up when he extended his arm. "My mom grows roses. She says that's her contribution to the work dad and I do."

"She does a really wonderful job. It smells wonderful," I wrapped mine around it and we both walked down the steps and out to his car.

"You do look rather beautiful, JessaLynn O'Brien."

I blushed, bashfully smiling. "Thank you. You don't look so bad yourself, Brannan Johnson."

He smiled and chuckled, opening the passenger door for me. I climbed in as he shut the door, the quickly ran around the car to the other side. "Are you ready?"

"Of course," I replied with a goofy grin, buckling up. He followed suit and started the car.

..........................................

"So honestly the date was really wonderful," I spoke into the phone, with Olivia on the other end.

Olivia squealed. "I told you it was going to work out, didn't I, Jess?"

I scoffed and laughed. "I never once said you were wrong, Olive. All I was saying was that I was nervous about it."

I stood over the large pile of laundry on my bed and sighed. Those would have to be folded, hung, and put away before anything else got done. I groaned out loud by accident, and Olivia took notice of this.

"What's got you aggravated so suddenly?" Olivia asked.

"I have all of this laundry and it's 2 AM and I'm so tired and I want to sleep," I replied, putting the phone on speaker and picking up clothes to fold. I couldn't keep my mind off of Brannan. We had such a great time. Despite the fact that the line to Dixie Freeze was at least a mile long, I couldn't help but feel that he and I had connected on a deeper level. His whole life had been surrounded by farming and business, just like mine had. It was one was many things we had in common.

I hadn't even noticed that I was still on the phone when I heard, "JessaLynn Lane O'Brien!"

"What?" I snapped out of my trance and looked at the phone.

"You've zoned out for a solid five minutes," She complained. "I'm gonna head on to bed. You get your laundry done and text me tomorrow, alright?"

"Okay, Olive. Love you girl,"

"Love you too, Jess. I'll talk to you in the morn'."

She hung up the phone and I let out a sigh, doing the same. I yawned, continuing to fold the laundry in front of me. I really needed to stop procrastinating on my normal, everyday duties and just get back to work already. I glanced over at the clock and saw that it was already getting close to three and groaned. 7 AM was gonna come fast and hard if I didn't get to bed. I let out a sigh and gathered the clean clothes off of my bed and set them in the armchair in the corner. They would have to wait until I got home from the farm in the afternoon. 

**********************

*AUTHOR'S NOTE*

Hi, my name is Sarah and I'm the author of this story. This is a story I've been writing for nearly two years now and I'm very proud of it. 

Tune in next week for a new chapter! How are you liking this so far?  What do you think of what's happening? Do you anticipate anything crazy coming up? Let me know in the comments below!