Intertwined

Chapter 24: Climbing The Statue Of Liberty, 90 Years Ago. Naked.

A X E L

"Oh, seriously, no." Scar protests.

"Do it!" Heath exclaims.

Now that Dad had gone to bed, the dares had turned vulgar.

"Ew, I don't want to see." J covers her eyes next to me.

"I'm not proud of it, okay? It was a dare, like this one." Max says confidently.

"And who dared you?" Parker asks, amusement dancing in his eyes.

Mason grins maniacally. "Who do you think?"

I give him a high five.

"Here it is." Max shows us the picture finally. It was a picture of him, climbing the Statue of Liberty, 90 years ago. Naked.

"I'm not seeing." Juliet says stubbornly, like a child.

"Okay, it's gone." Scar lies and she opens her eyes.

She shrieks when she sees the picture, her chocolate eyes filling up with horror, she covers her eyes again.

She's so cute, I swear I'm gonna take her-

Shh, mind!

This time Parker laughs, giving Scar a fist bump, Heath shakes his head.

"I hate you guys." J deadpans.

Her saying that the only person she wants to be kissed by is me is quite possibly the best birthday present ever.

Not that Follow guy, or anyone else. Me.

And despite of our issues, it counts for something. Here I was, celebrating my birthday with my family, happy.

***

When it was a little past 3 and none of us could stand without falling asleep, we decided it was time to go to bed.

When I'm ready to go to bed, a knock on my door interrupts.

I swing it open, and there she stands.

"Hey, I got you something," she hands me a lousily wrapped present.

I can't help the growing smile on my face.

"I'm sorry I couldn't wrap it well, I tried but-"

"No, no, it's perfect!" I reassure.

I open the gift.

My tone is flat. "J, this is the flash drive you borrowed from me last year for a project and never returned."

Her cheeks flush and her eyes widen. "You- just plug it in. There's a video on it."

"Alright." I laugh, plugging the flashdrive into my laptop which lay majestically on my desk.

I wait for it to load and when the video begins, I'm shocked. Water begins to pool in my eyes and she smiles tentatively at me.

Dad used to have a camcorder with which he recorded a bunch of our home videos, something went wrong a few years ago and none of the videos would play.

It broke our hearts, I was especially sad because it had the video of 7 year old me learning how to play guitar from my mom.

And right now, on my screen, there it was. The video!

"J, I don't- I have no idea what to say, how to thank you..." I'm stammering, probably crying, and I'm sure I look hysterical as I hug her like my life depends on it.

She smiles her beautiful smile. "I'm glad you like it." She wipes my tears.

"It's like I have a part of her with me now." I don't stop hugging her. I can't stop hugging her.

She nods her head. "Don't cry, please."

I let out a little laugh. "Sorry."

She kisses my cheek and her lips linger.

"Do you think you could..." I can't finish my sentence, but I point towards the bed. I haven't slept well in days. I just want to sleep next to her again.

As her lips quirk and her cheeks turn rosy, she nods.

And like that, she's lying next to me. Sleeping peacefully, her chest rising and settling slowly and steadily, her lips parted.

And I love her. I do. I've never been more sure of anything in my life.