Zach:
They called my boarding flight. I sat at the gate for about 5 seconds.
They called it a second time. Every part of my body was pulling me to get up, but my heart was begging me to walk back out the airport.
They called my flight again. I stood up and walked over to the entrance to get onto the plane. I looked back and tried to feel happy, but I just couldn't anymore. I chose to follow what my body and mind told me and forget about my heart. Deja obviously doesn't care anymore...
I got to my seat which was right next to the window. I sighed and stared out the window. A man and his daughter sat beside me. The little girl was about 6 years old and had hazel eyes and dark brown hair. She smiled at me.
"Why do you look so sad?" She asked.
"I miss some people," I replied.
"Then where are you going?"
"I'm going home to my family in Texas."
"You miss your family?" She asked.
"Of course, I do," I said. "I miss them a lot."
"I miss my mom," She smiled. "I hope I see her soon."
"Where's your mom?" I asked.
"Daddy says she's in Heaven." I felt sorry for her.
"Oh..."
"Mommy is an angel now."
"I bet she is."
"Yeah. Do you have a girlfriend... What's your name? Sorry..."
"My name's Zach."
"Oh well then, do you have a girlfriend, Zach?"
"No..." I laughed a little.
"That's enough Deja," Her dad turned and smiled looking at her.
I stopped. My heart stopped.
"Your name is Deja?" I asked.
She nodded.
"I know a girl named Deja," I said. "She's so pretty and beautiful. Kinda like you."
"Is she your girlfriend?" I laughed.
"I don't have a girlfriend, remember?"
"Oh yeah..."
"I wanted her to be my girlfriend..." I said. "I loved her. She loved me..."
I realized that Deja loved me. She wouldn't have been so hurt if she didn't love me. But my chance is gone.
"What happened?" I smiled.
"She deserved better than me," I sighed. She did deserve better. She smiled and touched my hand.
My heart stopped again. Her touch was similar to Deja's. So soft. So sweet.
"Zach, she still loves you."
"What?" She smiled and yawned.
"I'm tired..." She closed her eyes and lied her head on my shoulder.
"She goes to sleep really fast," Her dad smiled and brushed her with his fingers. "I've never seen her so excited to talk to someone. It's like you've known her forever..."
"She does remind me of someone who made me feel like we had been friends forever..."
I turned my head and watched us leave the ground. My heart ached, but pain was starting to become natural for me.
...
After a 3 hour plane ride, the pilot announced that we would be landing in about 10 minutes. I smiled brightly as I looked out the window and saw my beautiful home beneath me.
Deja woke up and rubbed her eyes looking at me.
"I had a dream about you!" She smiled.
"And what was this dream about?" I asked.
"It was about you and your girlfriend!"
"Deja, I don't have a girlfriend."
"Yeah you do, she's pretty. She has long brown hair and hazel eyes and she has a really nice smile. You kissed her in the dream and told her that you loved her. Then you promised to hold on to whatever feelings you had for her and she promised back. Then I woke up."
I suddenly remembered something like that.
"I don't wanna start a relationship or build any feelings for each other and then have you leave for 2 months, leaving me here to watch you hug other girls. I think it's best if you save your feeling for a- another time." I nodded awkwardly. "Please don't make this awkward, the last thing I want is to make things awkward."
"I won't make things awkward," I said grabbing her hand, I kissed her knuckles before looking up at her. "I'll wait for you, as long as it takes. You have to promise to wait for me too."
"What do you mean?"
"I'll wait for you to be ready to build feelings or to start a relationship, but you have to promise that when I leave for tour, you wait for me and you try to hold on to whatever feelings you have for me in your heart and I'll promise I'll try too."
"I--I promise..." I held out my pinky and smiled. "Seriously?"
"Yes, a promise isn't a promise unless you pinky promise." I smiled. She laughed and hooked her pinky onto mine. She grabbed my shirt collar and pulled me close to her until our faces were only inches apart.
"I swear, if you break this promise, I'll break your pinky off," She said.
The plane landed. I looked at Deja. She smiled.
"I messed up," I said.
"I know. I can tell by the look on your face." She laughed. I rolled my eyes. "How could you forget about your own girlfriend?"
"She's not my girlfriend."
"You still messed up."
Everyone began unbuckling their seat belts and began standing up to grab their stuff.
Deja and her dad grabbed their stuff from the overhead compartments. They moved out to the isle. I stood patiently.
I grabbed my stuff and exited the plane to the gate.
"Bye, Zach!" Deja called. I waved and smiled.
She ran up to me and gave me a tight hug. She tugged on my shirt and I bent down.
"She'll forgive you, I promise..." She whispered in my ear.
I smiled and she ran off. I exited the airport and I was greeted by my family. I smiled and rushed to greet all of them.
We went straight home. I couldn't help, but think about the mysterious girl who was a lot like Deja. I felt like my mind was playing tricks in me, but she was absolutely real.
Deja:
"You ready to go kiddo?" My dad asked.
I nodded. It felt weird going with my dad to a high school football game. The last time we went to a game together at a high school, other than my own games, was when Jonah played baseball.
The game was going to start in about half an hour.
Bridget was still really mad about my dad coming and Brianna just wanted to go because my dad's going.
The car ride was silent as usual. Bridget and I didn't talk to each other whatsoever. The weird this is that Bridget and I got along while my dad and her mom were dating and the first week of their marriage. But we slowly distanced each other when Bridget started avoiding me at school. She would give me dirty looks and tell kids that she didn't know who I was. Then she did the unimaginable, something I would never forgive her for.
"So, who do you think is cute at this school?" She asked as we walked through the doors of the school building.
"I kinda think Bryson Reese is cute," I said.
"He is pretty hot..."
"Honestly." We both laughed.
We separated and it went back to usual. Where she would ignore me until the end of the day. But today, she didn't.
I sat down with Cheyenne and Logan. We talked about Mr. Peterson's homework assignment.
"I didn't know you liked Bryson," Cheyenne suddenly said.
"What?" I asked.
"Everyone's talking about how you like Bryson, but he just asked Bridget out."
"Yeah, see look there they are now," Logan said nodding his head in the direction of Bridget and Bryson.
They held hands and Bridget made direct eye contact with me while she got on her tippy toes and kissed Bryson's cheek.
She walked over to my table with her little group and Bryson. She shoved me over a little bit and stood on the table.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"Hey!" She yelled getting everyone's attention. "This is my boyfriend, Bryson. He is also Deja's crush! But you didn't really think you would have a chance with Bryson, did you? I mean c'mon, Deja. Look at you."
The whole cafeteria was filled with laughter. Bridget slowly descended from the table and gave Bryson a long kiss right in front of me. Embarrassed, I ran out of the cafeteria and cried in the bathroom.
We pulled up to the high school. The school was already lined with spirit banners and a whole bunch of kids and adults who came to watch the game.
I smiled and got out of the backseat. Bridget, Brianna and my dad followed me over to the little ticket booth. We had to pay to get in. I took a seat up on the bleachers next to my dad. Bridget ran off and sat with her friends, getting attention from all the guys.
I smiled when I spotted Kyle and Jamal. They walked over.
"Hey, Deja!" Kyle smiled.
"Hi guys," I said. "This is my dad and this is my step mom. This is Kyle and Jamal."
My dad shook hands with both of them and Brianna just sat there. I rolled my eyes, annoyed.
"Dad, I'm gonna go hang out with them."
My dad nodded his head. "Don't forget to introduce me to Jayden."
"I won't."
We walked off.
"Your dad is going to meet Jayden?" Kyle asked.
"Well, yeah."
"But isn't this your first relationship, like ever?" Jamal asked.
"Yeah, why?"
"It's very rare for a dad to meet their daughter's very first boyfriend."
"My dad's not any dad and my boyfriend isn't any other boyfriend. They're rare."
Kyle and Jamal both rolled their eyes.
"You can be so flipping cheesy," Kyle said pretending to throw up.
"And there goes your man..." Jamal said pointing at the varsity team running out onto the field.
I smiled.
"Jayden!" I called as loud as I could, but the stadium was full and people were screaming as loud as they could too.
To my surprise Jayden turned and scanned the crowd. He spotted me and blew a kiss. I smiled.
"Gross!" Kyle and Jamal both yelled.
"Shut up." I rolled my eyes.
"Are you and Jayden getting married?" Kyle asked.
"What type of question is that?" I laughed.
"I'm just asking," Kyle said. "I wanna be the best man."
"But I wanna be best man!" Jamal argued.
"You can be best man at my wedding."
"Cool!" Jamal squealed.
"You guys are so weird..." I laughed.
...
Our team won.
Everyone was getting up to leave.
"Hey, Deja!" A voice said over the loud announcing speaker. I turned confused.
Jayden smiled from the inside of the little glass box.
"I love you..." The crowd awed as he made his way out and stood at the bottom of the bleachers.
I ran down and jumped. He caught me in his arms. I'd never felt more safe and secure in his oddly very sweaty arms.
"Congrats!" I yelled. He laughed.
"Thanks..." He kissed my cheek.
"You have to meet my dad," I said.
"Are you sure?" He asked nervously. "What if he doesn't like me?"
"He's not. He's gonna love you." He smiled and placed his forehead on mine, kissing my nose.
He set me down and I led him over to my dad.
"Dad!" I waved and ran dragging Jayden behind me. "This is my boyfriend, Jayden."
"Nice to meet you," My dad said awkwardly shaking his hand.
"Hi," Jayden said quietly.
"Speak up," I said laughing and nudging him. My dad laughed.
"Yes, I've heard a lot of great things about you, so don't be scared to talk to me," my dad said.
"Okay..." Jayden smiled.
I laughed at how nervous and shy he got as soon as he started talking to my dad.
"Deja, I'm heading home right now. Are you going to come or do you wanna spend more time with Jayden?"
I looked up at Jayden who was smiling.
"I'll drop her off at home," Jayden said not breaking eye contact with me.
"Okay," my dad smiled.
I said bye to my dad and walked around with Jayden.
"Lets go get ice cream?" Jayden suggested.
"Yay!" I smiled clapping my hands.
He laughed and we walked over to his car.
"Can we pick up Hashbrown though?" I asked.
"Your dog?" He asked.
"Yeah, I feel bad. We left him at home."
He smiled. "Of course," he picked up my hand and kissed my knuckles while steering with his other hand.
We pulled into my driveway. I felt my heart drop staring at the lifeless why don't we house that I had stared at the whole summer. I sighed and got out of the car.
My dad was home, but Brianna and him were both asleep. I ran up the stairs and woke up Hashbrown, bringing him down the stairs with me.
He barked happily as I opened the back door of the car and let him jump inside. He rested quietly in the back.
"Hi, Hashbrown!" Jayden said reaching in the back and rubbing Hashbrown's head. I smiled.
"Buckle your seat belt, Hashbrown!" Jayden laughed and shook his head. "What?! He's our first born son! Don't you dare laugh about his safety!"
"I'm sorry!" He continued to laugh. "I love you, babe."
"Say sorry to our son," I said.
"I'm sorry, son." He rubbed his head again.
"Good."
"Just so you know, I would never name our son Hashbrown," He said.
"What would you name him?" I asked.
He though for a second.
"I would name him Jayden. Jayden Junior." I rolled my eyes and laughed. "What? Do you have a better name?"
"Yes," I said. "I would name our first born son, Marcus."
"Why?"
"I just like the name."
"I would name our daughter after my mom, Marie." He smiled.
"I would name her after my mom too, Caroline." I smiled. He looked over at me.
"Caroline Marie Miller," He smiled coming to a stop at a red light. "Perfect."
He looked over at me. He leaned over to my seat. Hashbrown barked just as he made a move to kiss me.
"Our son doesn't like this smooching thing." He laughed.
The light turned green and he continued to drive. He stopped at an ice cream shop. We both got ice cream.
"So, when do I get to meet your parents?" I asked.
"Probably when they get back from Seattle."
"When's that?"
"Next Saturday."
"So you're just going to be spending all of this week alone?"
"Yup," he said.
"I hate being alone."
"Why?" He asked. He turned into his driveway. We both got out and let Hashbrown out. He followed us.
"I don't know... I get bored easily." He laughed and unlocked the door to his house. It was my first time here.
We both sat down on the couch and watched TV. After he finished his ice cream he stood up.
"I'm gonna go shower and then I'll be right back."
I nodded. Hashbrown sat on the floor next to my feet. I smiled and rubbed his head. Their house was very well organized. There was a picture of a girl in a graduation gown and also a boy which I'm guessing are his siblings. I continued to watch TV by myself.
After about 10 or 15 minutes, Jayden jumped on the couch and lied his head in my lap. I smiled and played with his damp hair.
He sat up and just stared at me.
"What?" I asked. He looked at Hashbrown who was asleep. He picked Hashbrown up and walked over to the stairs.
"Follow me..." He whispered. I turned off the TV and followed him.
He lied hashbrown down on a little bed he quickly made. He then flopped on his bed and grabbed my hand pulling me next to him. He hugged me close and kissed my shoulder.
"I love you..." He whispered.
"I love you too," I smiled.