It was the weekend and it was also the day of my party. I woke up and my dad had made me a birthday breakfast and my mom took me out to shop after. I had got a few things and after we went and got our nails and toes done. The whole time I was out I was thinking about Justin, a part of me wanted him to be here for today.
As the day went by my family and I were setting up everything for the party, it was already 3:00 o'clock and I needed to get ready before everyone started to arrive at 5 o'clock.
I showered and got ready, before I knew it my friends started to arrive. It was Avery first, then Jackie, Allison, and Lilly. They all told me happy birthday, and they were excited for tonight, probably because Jack was going to be here, and they wanted to see how that was going to play out.
We had music playing and we were dancing in the backyard, little by little more of my family started to arrive and some family friends of my parents.
"So what time is Jack coming?" Lilly asked.
"My mom sent out the invitations, so I'm sure he got it, but I didn't want to hound him and keep asking if he was going to come." I said.
Then it was like a cue had popped up.
"Well, I guess his answer is yes." Jackie said as she nodded towards the backdoor.
I turned around and there he was, the boy I had a crush on since I was a child, the boy who literally now looked like a man, 6'0 foot, dark green eyes, and a smile that could literally make any girl instantly fall head over heels.
He spotted me and walked over with a gift in his hand.
"Hey, lyss, Happy Birthday." Jack said with a smile as he stepped closer to me and picked me up and hugged me.
A literal swoon moment, he smelled so good.
"Thank you, Jack." I said as I hugged him back. "I didn't think you were going to make it." I said as he put me back down.
"How could I miss your birthday? Besides, don't I always come to your birthday every year?"
"No, you don't."
"What? What are you talking about? Yes, I do."
"Um no, last year you couldn't make it because you and your family went out of town."
"But I made it up to you, didn't I? When I came back, I took you out to your favorite restaurant." He said with a smirk.
"Okay I guess." I said as I slightly rolled my eyes playfully.
"Here this is for you." He said as he held out a box with purple wrapping paper.
"Thank you." I said as I took the box from his hand. "If you're thirsty there's soda in the ice chests and the cups are on the table, and I'm sure the food should be getting done right now."
"For sure, I'm gonna go get something to drink, do you want anything?" Jack asked.
"No I'm okay for now, thanks though." I said.
He nodded then walked away. I turned around and the girls were staring at me as I stepped closer to them since they had walked a couple of steps back.
"Oh my gosh Alyssa!!!" Allison said with a squeal.
"What?" I said as I laughed a little.
"You can tell that there is some type of chemistry between you two." Avery chimed in.
"This again." I said with a chuckled. "Look I'm going to let it be and if he wants to make a move he can, but like I said he doesn't like me like that."
****
An hour or two passed by and everyone was having a good time, we ate, played a few games, and danced some more. I was having the time of my life and just being in the moment. While I was dancing Jack made his way to me and leaned down to me.
"Do you want to go inside for a second?" He asked me in my ear since the music was just a little loud.
"Yeah." I said nodding.
Just then he took my hand and led me inside. Him holding my hand was nothing, because he had done it so many times before but when I turned my head, I could see my friends fanning themselves with their hands and giving me a thumbs up, I just shook my head and giggled to myself. We were inside now and the music from outside was not as loud. We walked into the kitchen and he had his gift that he got.
"You want me to open this now?" I asked him.
"Yes." He said as he handed me the gift.
I took the gift from him and started to unwrap it.
"Wait!"
I jumped a little.
"What the hell!" I said as I laughed. "You scared me! Why do you want me to stop?" I asked.
He started laughing too.
"Because I want to see your reaction." He said as he picked me up and put me on the counter. "I won't be able to see your reaction because you're so short." He said.
"Ha ha ha so funny." I said sarcastically. "Now can I continue to open it?"
"Yes you can." He said as he folded his arms and watched me.
I finished unwrapping the box and set the paper aside. It was a medium sized box and when I opened it, and my mouth dropped open a little, it was a necklace with my name on it in cursive and my birth flower attached to my name, and earrings that were my birth flower too, except there were purple gems in the middle of the flowers.
"Jack... you shouldn't have." I said as I looked up at him. "Thank you so much, I love it." I said.
"You're welcome." He said with a smile. "Do you want me to put it on?" He asked.
"Yes, please." I said as I took it out of the box and handed it to him. I moved my hair out of the way and he moved close to me and wrapped his arms behind me and clasped the chain together.
"Thank you." I said as he moved back just a little bit.
"You're welcome." He said.
I was now staring into his dark green eyes, I couldn't think, my mind was blank. What's going to happen right now?
I then felt his hand come up to my cheek and he stroked it with his thumb. Agh is this happening right now? Just breathe Alyssa, breathe, breathe, breathe. His lips were now on mine and I was kissing him back. The kiss was slow and gentle, nothing crazy, I felt his hand on the middle of my back. I started to get butterflies in my stomach but there were no sparks. Then I felt something a little wet and I couldn't help but laugh a little.
"Did you just slip me the tongue?" I said laughing some more.
"Was it bad?" He asked as he chuckled.
"Maybe a..." I started to say but was interrupted by someone clearing their throat.
I looked over and it was Justin.
"Justin..." I said, I couldn't believe he was here. I tried to get down from the counter but Jack picked me up and set me down.
"Um your mom invited me, she wanted it to be a surprise."
"Thank you for coming, um this is my friend Jack, Jack this is Justin." I said introducing them both, while my mind was still trying to process and trying to figure out what to say next.
"It's nice to meet you." Justin said.
"You too Justin." Jack said.
What the hell do I do? I looked over at Jack.
"Can I talk to you later." I asked him
"Of course." He said as he kissed the top of my head, then walked past Justin and back out to the backyard.
It was just me and Justin in the kitchen. Then we both started to speak at the same time.
"You first." I said to him.
"I had this whole conversation with myself about what I was going to say, but now all of that has gone out the window." He said.
"It's crazy to say that I did too but I tried so hard to get past it and not call... trust me I really wanted to..."
"Then what was stopping you? Because I called you all the time hoping that you would answer and to say that it tore me up on the inside when you didn't."
"Justin it hurt me more than anything not answering your calls, I knew that if I didn't answer things between us wouldn't go back to the way they were. Look things probably won't work for us because I'm three years younger than you and..."
"So because of a three year age difference you wouldn't want try again but I'm guessing that guy is at least my age and you would rather go out with him?"
"Justin I'm not dating him and I couldn't date him because I'm not over you, that kiss had no spark. When we kissed for the first time, I felt that spark with you. I... I want to be with you but I can't be your girlfriend. I don't want you to be criticized or have something said about you because of my age."
"Who cares what people think, who cares what they say about me..."
"I do! I care! Do you think that I would want people talking about you?"
"Alyssa that's the price that I pay for being in this industry, no matter what I do or who I'm with, there's always going to be news outlets that have some type of headline about me, I would never let them say anything bad about you."
"I don't know Justin, I've given it so much thought and I think that the only thing that we could do is just be friends for now and then when we feel like the time is right, we can give it another shot."
I had no idea what could be going through his mind right now, would he agree to it? This whole conversation felt like we were in some type of romance movie and trust me this is not a movie, this is real life.
"What if we get back together, but no one has to know about it. The only people that can know about it is your family, my family, and my crew."
"Justin if we get back together someone is bound to find out and then who knows what they will do with that information."
"No one will find out."
I contemplated on the idea of getting back together, part of me was so happy and excited but the other part of me was still worried. But I trust him and I believe him.
"Okay... okay lets get back together." I said with a smile.
"Really?" He asked with a smile on his face.
"Yes." I said.
Justin came closer to me and lifted me up and hugged me tightly. He put me down and kissed me, the kiss felt like it lasted forever, it felt right. Just like that, somehow, everything that I was worried about went away. The last thing I have to do is tell Jack because now I don't know where that leaves us. But I also want to know why he kissed me.
"So what are you going to do about your um... friend?" Justin asked.
"When I said that he is my friend I meant that, he has known me since I was a kid and we grew up together, that whole thing that happened I didn't feel anything, but I'm going to talk to him and get whatever needs to be cleared up, cleared up."
Justin nodded then kissed me once more.
"Oh I forgot to tell you something."
"What is it?" I asked him.
"Happy Birthday." He said.