Chapter Five: A Future.
Parker's POV: Before
I stared at our joined hands and smiled down at Jessica who had her head on my chest. We were on top of the roof of my house, just outside of my bedroom. This was the place that I usually came to star gaze but I brought her with me this time. It was getting late and I needed to tell her something before she returned home. My nerves were scaring me into silence though and guilt was eating me alive because what I needed to tell her could possibly make or break our relationship.
"You said you wanted to talk to me? Should I be scared that you're running off with another girl?" Jessica asked me, playing with my hand. I guess I can't back out now.
"I'm not running off with another girl but, I-I got my acceptance letter into the military today and... I'm accepting the offer." I told her, once the words came out my mouth her whole body was still.
"O-okay, I-I'm really p-proud of y-you." She stuttered out before looking up at the star-filled sky and blinking quickly. Her grip on my hand loosened and before I uttered another word she was getting up.
"I think I should go, so I'll, um, see you tomorrow or something." She then vanished through the window, leaving me alone with the words I wanted so badly to say on the tip of my tongue.
~
Jessica avoided me until graduation. Everyday no matter how much I tried to see her, she was hidden whether that be in a crowd of people or over at a friend's house. My texts remained either unread or replied to with one worded excuses. My phone calls were answered with the sound of her voice mail or the calls remained a distant conversation that made up of me trying to be what used to be of us.
Daniel was getting suspicious of my depressing mood and while every other person of our graduating class was overjoyed to get out of high school, I was wishing to go back in time. My sadness was all replaced with relief as soon as graduation day came around and Jessica finally, after a very long two weeks, acknowledged me. When I was walking up to the podium to collect my diploma my eye caught sight of her. This time was different than the looks we had shared in the previous weeks, this time she finally held my gaze and smiled, in that moment I knew that everything was going to be okay.
~
After the ceremony both my family and the Turner's piled up into our cars and headed back to our house to have a celebratory dinner. Daniel and I planned to go to the graduation party that our friend was throwing afterwards and I was hoping that maybe, just maybe, our parents would force us to take Jessica along with us like they usually made us do.
Most of the dinner conversation was focused on both Daniel and I's feelings about graduation and if we were nervous about going to bootcamp in August. Jessica sat across from me and kept playing footsie with me the entire dinner and would smile when everybody wasn't watching us. Oh how I've missed that smile!
"So, when you boys head off will you be leaving any broken hearts here?" Jack, Daniel's father, asked both Daniel and I as he and my dad chuckled. Daniel laughed along with them and soon I nervously started laughing as well.
"Jack, stop it you're embarrassing the poor boys." Daniel and Jess' mother, April, said. "Look you have Parker blushing, that isn't a sight that I've seen in ages." With that comment my cheeks felt even more flush than before. Jessica was laughing slightly at my embarrassment but that scared me, as it should have her as well, our relationship could have been discovered and I hadn't even gotten the chance to speak with her yet.
"Don't look so nervous there Parker, I'm just teasing you boys." Jack told me. I nodded and then everything went back to normal. Conversation drifted away from Daniel and I and soon enough everyone was slowly starting to move out to the living room. Jessica and Jane were on clean up duty since Daniel and I did it the last time our families had dinner together.
"Hey, I'm gonna head out and grab some clothes from my house and then I'll come back here to pick you up, sound good?" Daniel asked me as we headed to the living room to ask if we could go out.
"Yeah, okay, I should probably change too." I said.
"Change for what exactly?" My mom asked as soon as we entered the room.
"Well, you see, there's this party that our friend is hosting. It's just a small get together, like a last goodbye for all of our friends and we were wondering if we could go." I lied smoothly.
"Are you eighteen years old?" My mother asked me. This confused me, she had never asked me this before and I wasn't sure if this was a trick question.
"Yes?" I answered, questioningly.
"Then I have no say whether you can or cannot go to this party but I hope that you will be responsible enough to make good choices and try to be home before I'm getting up in the morning." My mother said, seriously.
"Same goes for you as well Daniel. And if you are drinking please be safe, I don't need a call telling me that you are having your stomach pumped." April concluded. We both nodded and before we could say anything, all of the parents were kicking out and telling us to leave them alone.
"You think it's a trap?" Daniel asked me. I shrugged, not knowing exactly how to react to what just happened in there.
"Well I'm not going to mull over it, I'll come pick you up in an hour." And then I was left all alone in the hallway leading to the door. I heard laughter coming from the kitchen and knew that Jessica and Jane were up to no good in there but I decided to leave them to it and instead headed upstairs to have a shower before I headed out for my last high school party.
~
"Can we talk?" Jessica asked me as soon as I entered my room after my shower. Her presence scared me nearly half to death, firstly because I haven't really talked to her in two weeks and secondly because I was only wearing a towel around my waist. Her face flushed once she noticed my attire and quickly started to get off my bed and head toward the door.
"Maybe I should go and we can talk later, um, when you're, uh, not..." She said as she passed me, her eyes directed to the floor.
"Wait, stay here I'll be out in one minute." I hurriedly told Jess as I rushed into my closet to put on some pants and a shirt. I was not going to waste this opportunity to talk to her. When all of my clothes were placed properly on my body I came out and saw that Jessica had once again made herself comfortable sitting of my bed.
"What did you want to talk about?" I asked her.
"Well I want to apologize about my behaviour, it's just that I didn't know how to react because I figured that you might go to college and I wouldn't see you for a little while but when you told me about the military, I freaked out because you might not come back at all..." By then she was sniffling and tears looked to be trying to escape.
"It's like I just got you and now you're going to be shipped off with the possibility of you not coming home at all. And I'm really sorry that I just left like that, I shouldn't have rushed off and hide from my problems, I should have told you how I felt and not been a coward." By now Jessica's head rested on my shoulder and I could feel some of her tears on my t-shirt.
"Did you know that it was rumoured that Orion and the goddess Artemis were once lovers? Even with this knowledge of their affairs some believe that the reason Orion died is because Artemis killed him but it was also speculated that her brother, Apollo, had something to do with his death."
"What does that have to do with me apologizing and about you going into the military?" Jessica asked me curiously.
"Well what I'm trying to tell you is that Orion was never killed because he went hunting or fought any battles, he died because of the love of his life... The reason I'm telling you this is because nothing is going to kill me unless you or your brother decide to do so. Just like Orion I'm not going anywhere even if you choose to kill me or your brother does." I told Jessica.
"How do you always know what to say?" Jessica questioned.
"I'm just that awesome." I cockily replied.
"Shut up and kiss me you fool." Jessica demanded before she leaned in towards me.
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Hey Guys!!
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Until next time!
bookworm.