A/N: OH. MY. GOODNESS.
So... I looked at my profile, yeah, and it said that I was #23 for humor, #53 for romace and #94 for What's Hot. THANK YOU SOOOOOOO MUCH!!!!
So, no vote requirement this time. Just know, the faster the votes = the fast I upload! (: It's huge encouragement!!
Also a couple of people had questions about the Thriller scene from last chapter and that it was in '13 Going on 30'. I've actually never seen that movie, so I didn't know that it was in it. I went to a party and one of my friends requested Thriller and then actually led the dance. Granted, he was the only one that knew it, so the rest of us just looked like idiots, but that okay (;
Also, a lot of people have been asking if I would do a chapter in Jason's POV. The answer is no, because I want to the first book to be completely in Jenna's POV. The sequel, on the otherhand, is completely in Jason's POV. Unfortunately, I can't release any information about the sequel until later on because then it would give away the ending, and let's just say that even though this is EXTREMELY cliche, my ending is different than most endings that you'll probably read.
SO, enough talking! Happy belated 4th of July and sorry it's not edited!
ENJOY!
_____________________________________________________________________________
Chapter Seven
I woke up the next morning to the sound of my mother singing her favorite song by Elvis Presley (he wasn’t even in her era!) and to the smell of bacon and eggs. The events of last night hit me all at once. Why was Jason so upset about Fred? We’re more together than him just slutastic Vanessa Miller ‘having a little fun’. Doesn’t that count for something?
With a smile on my face, I trudged out of my room to the kitchen. My mom turned around smiling brightly. “Jenna! I’m so glad you’re up! You had a late night visitor.”
One eyebrow shot up. “What do you mean I had a late night visitor?” I asked, seriously doubting that my mom was sane.
“Jason stopped by.”
I froze as I could feel the color draining from my face. “Well I don’t ever want to see him again. So please-”
“He came to apologize, Jenna,” my mom said quietly. “He said he was wrong and just wanted to make sure that you got home safely. He said that you ran off, but your friends were still there, so he was worried about you.”
I shrugged, feeling a little bit better that he had come to check on me. “Liam brought me home. The party scene isn’t really his thing.”
“What happened, Jenna? Why did Jason have to come and apologize?” A deep groove appeared in between her eyes, a tell tale sign that my mom was worried. She wore her features like an open book; you always knew the way she felt.
I sighed. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Yes it does,” she said firmly. “We used to talk about everything and now you go straight to your room when you get home. Your dad and I have hardly seen you! And-”
“If I wanted to talk about it, I would,” I said shortly, picking up a piece of bacon and popping it into my mouth. “Things have just been complicated and Jason hasn’t helped at all. Actually, he’s pretty much made it worse. So forgive me if I don’t feel like talking about my feelings all the time,” I snapped.
With a sad expression on her face, my mom pulled me into a tight embrace. “I’m always here, sweetheart. If you ever need to talk, I’ll listen, okay?” I nodded. “Okay?”
“Okay.”
She sighed and turned the heat off the stove.“Jenna, I’m sorry about the other night when we all went to dinner. I shouldn’t have said that. I was just really excited because I thought that the two of you seemed to click, and when Jason said what he did-” Her eyes were getting all glossy.
“It’s okay mom,” I said. This time, I enveloped her in my arms. “Jason’s just an idiot.”
She laughed. “Aren’t all guys?”
Someone snorted from the doorway. I turned to see my Dad shuffling in. “I resemble that remark.” He kissed my mom on the lips and gave me a quick hug. “You look like you’re feeling better.”
I nodded. “I am.”
“We’re just having a girl moment.” My mom wrapped an arm around my shoulders and grinned. “Just mother daughter bonding.”
He chuckled and sent me a knowing look. “Well don’t let me interrupt you girls. Jim and I are going out to the driving range.” He pulled a Gators hat over his messy hair. “I watched a video on youtube about stance and the way to hold the club. Apparently, it makes all the difference.” He chuckled to himself. “We’ll find out today.”
Mom pulled him close and kissed him hard on the lips. “Do you want to eat first?”
For the first time, Dad seemed to notice the food that was really making my mouth water. “Ooh! Yes!” He pulled a plate down from the cabinet and began piling as much food as he could fit onto it. “This smells really good, Lindsey. Thank you.” He shoved a fork into the eggs. “Yep, they’re good.” He hadn’t actually tasted them yet, so I’m not sure how he came up with that conclusion.
Mom thanked him and began making our plates. When I looked back at my dad, almost all of his food was gone. “Need a shovel?”
He stopped, fork mid air. “Am I eating too fast?”
I nodded, a grin finding its way to my face. “Just a little bit. You know, it’s really bad for you to eat that fast, because you eat so fast that your stomach doesn’t have time to tell your brain that it’s full so you keep eating and then you overeat and that’s bad for you and then-”
“Holly invited me to lunch today. Jenna, I imagine that you don’t want to attend, seeing as how Jason is going to be there?” Mom said, cutting me off.
I shook my head and finished off my breakfast before leaving. The din of my parents’ conversation disappeared as I retreated back to my bedroom. Questions seemed to ricochet around my head, and, unfortunately, they all centered around Jason Michael Anderson. Everything about him made me want to question the way I felt. Every time he talked to me, I found myself mesmerized by his eyes and the way his lips formed each word. Nothing was making sense anymore, and it was only the first freaking week of school.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Sunday night at seven o’clock sharp, Fred was ringing the doorbell. I bounded to the door, a goofy grin on my face. My mother promised to be nice to him and my dad said not to keep my hopes up. Two words turned my dad’s mind of Fred: tattoo and piercing.
Fred walked in through the door carrying his calculus text book and a calculator. “Hey, Jenna.” He planted a soft kiss on my forehead and gave me a quick hug, shutting the door behind him.
“Fred, I’d like you to meet my parents, formally this time!” I took him by the hand and led him into our living room. My mother was sitting on the couch with a stiff back and forced smile. My dad was standing beside her, arms folded across his body with a hard look on his face. “Don’t be scared! They really don’t bite,” I whispered. “Mom, Dad, this is Fred, my calculus tutor. Fred this is my mom, Lindsey and my dad, Paul.”
I watched as a nervous smile replaced Fred’s normal, carefree grin. I couldn’t help but stare at him with admiration and happiness. He had taken out all of the piercings and wore a long sleeve, button up black shirt with dark jeans, while I was clad in sweats and baggy T-shirt. His hair was combed and gelled and he smelled amazing! It’s my philosophy that if a boy smells good, he must have semi-good hygiene. Fred was saying something that didn’t actually register in my mind. When he turned to look at me, he caught me staring. A light blush colored my cheeks as he wrapped an arm around my waist. “And I feel real bad about her getting sick on our first date. I talked to the owner of the restaurant and she assured me she would cover any medical bills. She feels really bad, we both do.” How had they gotten on the topic of my food poisoning?
“I’m sure it’s not your fault,” my dad said. “It happens. There was nothing that you could have done about it.”
“Next time, maybe try an American restaurant,” my mom suggested.
I laughed nervously. “You’ll have to forgive my mom. She doesn’t trust Chine restaurants or McDonalds.”
He nodded. “That’s understandable.”
He was acting so different around my parents. It was obvious he was trying hard to impress them, after all, he did say that he wanted “in”, whatever “in” was. “Mom, Fred and I are going to go study, if that’s alright.” I began to lead him down the hall towards my room.
“That’s fine,” my dad said. “But at the kitchen table. Ain’t nothing good that comes from a girl and a boy alone in a bedroom. Especially with raging hormones.
“But Da-”
“No buts. I was a teenager once, and I know exactly how they think.”
I sighed. “Yes sir…”
So instead of going to my room like any normal teenager would do, we sat down at the kitchen table and worked out problem after problem after problem until my stomach growled, giving me a fantastic excuse to stop doing math equations and go eat something. “I already ate dinner, but we’ve got ice cream!” I said excitedly. “Want a bowl?” He nodded. “You have to trust me, okay. This might seem kind of gross, and that’s what I thought, too, but this is the best thing since sliced bread!”
“I think you mean, the coolest thing since sliced bread,” he corrected.
“Same difference.”
“So what’s so weird about your ice cream?”
I grinned as I pulled out the mint chocolate chip and the oreos. “Well… I like to crush up a few oreos into tiny little pieces and mix it in with my ice cream. I’m telling you, it’s so good it’ll make you want to go home and slap your momma!”
He laughed and looked down at me nervously. I happened to be holding a meat tenderizer and a plastic bag. “Maybe you ought to put that down.”
I shook my head with a happy grin on my face. “Best way to dismember oreos to the right size is to pop them in a plastic baggy and BAM, hit them with this heavy doohickey I’m holding. It’s a great way to release frustrations.”
“Really now?”
I nodded and put the cookies in the bag and pounded on them until they were chunky and crummy enough to put in the bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream. “Now taste, and be amazed!” I said dramatically, thrusting the bowl into his arms and dipping a spoon inside.
“If I die… I’m blaming you.”
“You may die… of pure bliss.”
He grinned at me and took a bite of the ice cream, keeping an emotionless face on the whole time. “You can go make yourself a bowl now.”
“You like it!” I said, grinning happily.
He nodded. “It’s surprisingly really good.”
“I know, now give me my bowl. You can go make your own.” I pulled hard on the bowl, but Fred wasn’t letting go. “Come on, give me my ice cream.” He ran his tongue along the rim and onto the ice cream that was in his tongue’s reach. “I still want it.”
Grinning, which, might I add, was absolutely beautiful, he shook his head stubbornly and pulled the ice cream completely out of my grasp, not that I really had much of one anyway… “Go get your own. Why can’t you leave a man in peace with his ice cream?”
“Oh, good, Jenna, you’re making everyone ice cream. You can make me a bowl, too,” my dad added, walking into the kitchen.
I groaned, but it was futile to argue with my dad… I never won. It was almost like he was, oh I don’t know, the parent. When his ice cream was made, and my mom’s, and Ellie’s I was finally able to make mine. “Oh good, you made me another bowl,” Fred said, reaching out towards me.
“YOU STAY AWAY FROM MY ICE CREAM!” I snapped, rearing around and crouching over my bowl of amazing goodness.
Fred laughed and assured me that he wouldn’t try to take my ice cream. He watched me eat it, a strange smile on his face the whole time. “You’re really beautiful, you know that?”
An annoying blush stained my cheeks. A lot of times, when guys call me pretty, I either can’t tell if they’re being serious, joking around or just making fun, but when Fred said it, I knew that he wasn’t joking around or making fun. I knew that he was serious. “Thanks,” I murmured, taking another bite of ice cream. “You look really great tonight. Thanks for doing all of this. Tutoring me and coming to meet my parents.”
He nodded. “I told you that I wanted their to be an ‘us’ didn’t I?”
I shrugged. “Sort of… not really.”
He leaned forward and placed a quick kiss on my lips. “I really like you, Jenna. I’ve actually had a little bit of a crush on you since freshman year. This is just the first time I’ve ever gotten up the nerve to actually talk to you.” He looked really embarrassed, but sincerity was written all over his face. “And now that I have, I don’t want to stop.”
I was speechless. No guy has ever come up and told me something like that. I know that it wasn’t some long spiel, and maybe it was even a little bit cheesy, but it didn’t matter. I knew that he was serious and everything that he was saying was giving me goose bumps. I leaned forward, unable to stop myself, and gently pressed my lips to his.
It was one kiss, short and filled with meaning. “Are you asking me out?” I asked, touching foreheads with him.
He nodded. “Will you… ahh… will you be my girlfriend?” He asked.
“Of course I will,” I said, a little bit unsure, but totally confident at the same time. I can’t explain the feeling that I had, but I knew that saying yes was the right thing to do.
“Really?” He shot up out of his chair and had the biggest, goofiest lopsided grin on his face that I had ever seen. I nodded, laughing and took the last bite of my ice cream. “Great! Do you want to go out with me tomorrow night?” I nodded, laughing all the more. “Great! Umm, I’ll pick you up at six?”
I nodded. “That sounds really good to me, but listen, I don’t want anything formal, okay? Like, let’s just go to Sonic or some fast food restaurant and then maybe a movie. Nothing too formal.”
“Perfect!”
We talked and laughed a little bit longer until my dad announced that it was time for Fred to go home. By ‘go home’ my dad meant that it was time for the two of them to go on a ride together. A very long ride all through the country to have a “friendly conversation”. Basically, in a nut shell, my dad would tell him three things: one, I’m a virgin and was expected to stay that way. Two, if he ever did anything, anything at all to hurt me, my Dad would castrate him. Three, not to ever bring pickles around this house because he couldn’t stand the smell.
I sent Fred a quick text message on their way out the door. ‘Good luck! (:’ was all it said, but I knew that he wouldn’t need it. Any test that my dad gave him, Fred would pass with flying colors, I knew it.
“Okay, he’s not bad,” my mom said after she put Ellie to bed. “He’s not what I expected and he is sweet.”
I grinned, nodding my head a little bit too fast. “Mom, he’s the best.” With that, I headed on up to my room and logged on to facebook to change my relationship status. Before I had logged off, a little red one flashed on the top of the screen by the ‘notifications’ box. I clicked on it and waited for my slow computer to load the message. There was one comment on my relationship posy by a Jason Anderson. ‘With Fred?’ was all it said.
‘Yes,’ I responded, closing out of facebook before he could say anything.
My phone vibrated on the desk. ‘Two messages… Jason’ was on the screen. With a sigh, I unlocked my phone and read the messages. ‘I’m really sorry, I shouldnt have said that. I was being a jerk and was mad bc u called me out on something that I shouldnt have done.’ I scrolled down to the second message. ‘If you want me too, I won’t talk to you at school unless you talk to me first.’
My hands shook as I read the messages. ‘That’s what I want.’
I dropped my phone onto the carpet, an unsettled feeling growing in the pit of my stomach. ‘Okay. I’m sorry, I really am. My offer still stands, though. If you ever need anything, just call and I’ll be there’.
Somehow, I knew it was true. Even if I was mad at Jason, and didn’t want to have anything to do with him, I knew that he would always come for me. ‘I know,’ was all I could manage to type back before collapsing on my bed. As strange as it is, I fell asleep thinking that Jason texts really unnatural for a guy. His English and punctuation were actually pretty good, making it really easy to read. They were also longer than four words.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
True to his word, Jason didn’t talk to me at all during school. In fact, he avoided me like the plague. In anatomy, he sat on the other side of the classroom and I didn’t even see him at lunch. Liam was practically nonexistent, too.
News about Fred and me being in a relationship spread like wildfire around the school. Amazing how fast news travels… People had come up to me all day asking me questions. Was it true that we were really together? Is he dangerous? Is he really a thug? Is he a good kisser? I laughed at all of them. Yes, we were really together. No, he isn’t dangerous. No, he isn’t really a thug and yes, he’s a great kisser.
Anna was mad that I was dating “Fred Flinstone”, and Rinn was unhappy because she was convince that Jason and I were meant to be together. “Guys, y’all are just going to have to get over it, Fred’s an amazing guy,” I told them.
I saw Liam one time that day, and it was at the very end of the day after the dismissal bell rang. “LIAM!” I yelled, tackle hugging him. “You, mister, have been nonexistent all day and it’s really making me upset!”
He laughed and squeezed me tighter. “Sorry, I ate lunch with some of the guys on the football field.” By some of the guys, I knew that he meant Jason.
“You mean… you blew off our date for your brother?!” I asked, feigning hurt.
He chuckled. “Bros before hos, you know?”
My mouth fell open and I smacked him across the chest. “Are you calling me a ho?”
He laughed and rubbed his chest. “Jason’s right, you do hit like a dude. Oww…” I rolled my eyes at him. Men are such babies. “And I didn’t actually mean to call you a ho, because I know that you’re not.”
I folded my arms and rolled my eyes. “Mmhmm, sure that’s what you meant. I know the way you really feel about me.”
He laughed. “On the bright side, Sarah’s coming down in three weeks.”
I squealed. “OH MY GOD I’M GOING TO GET TO MEET YOUR GIRLFRIEND?! I. AM. SO. FREAKING. EXCITED!”
He laughed. “Yeah, she’s pretty excited to meet you, too. I’ve told her all about you and Jason’s weird little crush on you.”
“His weird crush on me?” I’m sorry, did I just hear him, right? No, there’s no way that Liam just said that Jason has a crush on me. “Why is it weird?”
He shook his head, running his fingers through his hair in a very guy like fashion. “Nothing, forget I said anything.” He turned on his heel. “Well, gotta go to football practice, Jenna. Big game this Friday night.”
“Wait, hold on, freeze!” I called, storming up to him and doing my best to get into his face. Have I ever mentioned that he’s tall? Like, really tall. “Tell me exactly what you just meant by that.”
“I didn’t mean anything by it, Jenna.” I narrowed my eyes at him. With a sigh, he said, “It’s just that Jason sort of has a thing for you.”
My eyes grew to the size of eggs – ostrich eggs. “What do you mean ‘has a thing for me’?”
“Do I really have to explain what having a crush means?
I shook my head. “No, I know what that is, stupid. How long has he had this little ‘crush’ for me?”
Liam shrugged awkwardly. “Not too long… maybe since he was eleven? No, it was ten because it was just before he moved that he told me.”
I rolled my eyes. “Oh great. You realize that this isn’t just going to ‘blow over’ in the ext couple of days right? A crush that’s lasted eight years doesn’t just end like that,” I said, snapping my fingers to add emphasis.
Liam shrugged. “Oh well.” And that’s all he said before he walked off. Oh well, that’s the only explanation I get is ‘oh well’? Sighing, I turned around to head back to my locker, only to run smack into a very hard chest. I looked up, half expecting to see Jason, but it wasn’t, it was Fred, and for some reason, I was a little disappointed.
“What was all that about?” He asked. “Should I be worried?”
I shook my head. “No, Liam is just an amazing friend that has a hard time answering direct questions.” About his brother, I added silently. I know how Fred feels about Jason, and bringing him up right now would not be a good thing… “You’re coming for six, right?”
Fred nodded, brushing his lips across my forehead. “Yep,” he said, popping the ‘p’.
“Good.”
One thing about Fred’s dates, I knew that I was going to have a good time, of that, I was sure. Something that was becoming a less and less occurance.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
We arrived at Taco Bell about an hour before the movie was going to start. We opted to see Cars 2, mainly because I loved the first one and felt like being a kid. After he paid for our meals, we sat down in a corner booth. “I love Taco Bell,” was all I could say before I took a huge bite of my burrito.
“I couldn’t tell, you only said that seventeen times on the way here.”
I grinned. “Yeah, well, Mom doesn’t like fast food and I generally have no money, so I never get it.”
He chuckled. “Anytime you want Taco Bell, just call me and I’ll come pick you up.”
I nodded. “Absolutely.” I took a sip of my Dr. Pepper and tried to think of something to say so things wouldn’t get awkward. “What happened when you were younger? What you wouldn’t tell me the other night.”
Fail. Things just got really awkward. “Why do you want to know?”
I shrugged. “I just want to know why my boyfriend is the way he is, I suppose.” The word ‘boyfriend’ felt kind of funny rolling off my tongue. I don’t know why, it just felt weird saying that.
“It’s not a good story.”
I shrugged. “So? Just tell me.”
He didn’t say anything for a long time, and neither did I. He slowly ate his taco and sipped on his drink. “When I was little, my Dad was an alcoholic. From the time I can remember, he beat my mother.”
“Go on,” I urged as he paused.
“When I was thirteen or fourteen, I finally got up the courage to stand up to him. When he was about to hit my mom, I grabbed his hand and twisted it backward. He found a cast iron pan and began beating me with it. Almost every day after that, he would come home drunk and beat the crap out of me. When he was sober, he would apologize and sob about trying to be better. He said that he didn’t know what he was doing, but that’s no excuse. One night, my little sister tried to get in the way, she was six, and my dad raped her and then beat her so bad that he ended up killing her.”
I gasped and took his hand in mine. “He got a life sentence for murder and child molestation. I haven’t heard from him since.”
He was shaking. “Six years old. What kind of sicko would do that to a child? Six. Years. Old. I’ll never forgive him for doing that to her. I lost my sister because he couldn’t control his temper, because my mom married a screw up.” One tear slipped from his eye, but he caught it before he thought I noticed. “I told you that my story isn’t a happy one.”
I shook my head, my thoughts all jumbled up.
“Lizzie would be ten next month if she was still alive.”
I got up from my seat and walked around to his side, wrapping my arms around him. “It’s okay to cry. It’s okay to be upset. You have every right.”
He didn’t say anything for awhile. “People never think that it’ll happen to them, and they judge before they know the whole story. I’m not going to lie to you, Jenna. Most of my tattoos are from when I was either drunk or high. The piercings are something I got somewhere in the mix of all that.”
“I don’t care. You’re different now, right?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Different.”
“I’m sorry for pressing, but I’m glad you told me.” I leaned into his arm and smiled up at him. “Come on, let’s go see Cars. Get your mind off of he past and onto the animated future.”
He just smiled at me, memorizing every part of my face. “You remind me a lot of Lizzie actually. You both have the same hair.”
“That’s why we’re alike? Because we both have chocolate brown hair?”
He chuckled. “No, you’re personalities are really similar.”
I grinned, pulling him up out of the chair and leading him out of the restaurant. “Now drive Casanova.”
“Don’t call me Casanova. You do know who Casanova is, don’t you?”
I nodded. “Everybody knows who Casanova is.”
“So you’re calling me a man whore?”
“No. I’m calling you charming.” He pulled off to the side of the road. “Oh for goodness sake just drive!”
Laughing, he pulled out onto the middle of the road. “You’re the only person who can make me want to go kill someone and then laugh all in a ten minute time frame.”
“Well don’t kill anyone, and good. I’m glad.”
We got to the movies minutes before it started and raced in just before the opening credits came on. I honestly didn’t really enjoy the movie, but Fred seemed to, and that’s all that matters. It was my new goal to make sure that Fred was entirely happy. It hurt to see him like that, and I never wanted to see him that way again.
_____________________________________________________________
A/N: Sooo... what did y'all think?? Sorry all you Team Jason fans, next chapter will have more for all of y'all! Soo, Team Fredders, what did y'all think?? Also, isn't Fred's story sad?! I thought so.
Question of the chapter: Which would you rather do, paintball or swimming?
Thank all of you a million!!
~Bre (: