~ Chapter 61: Midnight ~
[ Jackie’s POV: ]
After we ate dinner, Justin laid out a blanket on the sand and we laid down on it, gazing up at the stars.
I had finished telling him about the topic I don’t talk much about—my parents.
It wasn’t anything they did that was so horribly bad.. It’s just that I feel as if I don’t really have parents, as they’re never around. They’re always traveling for their jobs and I’m never in contact with them. I always tell myself that this shouldn’t bother me, but… How can it not? I’ve practically been raised by babysitters and family friends. I started living on my own once I was 16. It was still in our house, except my parents were never home. They took care of the bills and left plenty of money for food but I didn’t care about all that. I just wanted them physically with me. That’s all I needed.
“You okay?” I heard Justin’s soft voice call out to me. I turned my head to look at him while he gazed at the sky.
“Y-Yeah,” I cleared my throat. “It’s just.. The stars are beautiful.”
Justin slowly grabbed my hand, intertwining my fingers with his.
“Not as beautiful as you,” he whispered, now looking me dead in the eyes.
I stared back at him, sensing the seriousness in his tone. There was a small smile at the corner of his lips and I let out a breath in awe. He’s so perfect.
I squeezed his hand. “You love making me blush, don’t you?”
He let out a chuckle before speaking, his voice gentle and honest. “I just want to make you happy.”
I could feel the butterflies beginning to form in my stomach. “I could say the same about you,” I said softly, feeling the happiness surfacing inside me. “I love you.”
Justin’s smiled widened as he scooted closer to me. “More than Apple and Banana Pie?” he joked, causing me to let out a loud laugh.
“Way more,” I giggled.
He leaned even closer until our noses were touching. “I love you too.” He couldn’t keep his eyes off of me and I shyly stared back at him. He reached up with his free hand and gently held my chin, caressing my lips with his thumb.
“I know I’m asking for a lot…” he whispered, his hand traveling down to the back of my neck. “But please.. Never leave me.. I’ve had enough of that… Of people leaving me.”
I rolled to my side so that now my entire body was facing him. “I’m never, ever going to leave you,” I reassured him. “I promise.”
He let out a bittersweet chuckle. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Jackie,” he sighed sadly before tilting his head and crashing his lips into mine. I felt my entire body heat up as I kissed him back, unable to believe how lucky I am to be here with him.
Within a matter of seconds, our kiss got deeper and more and more passionate. I lost track of time and focused on this very moment, the sound of the waves crashing along the shore was the only source of noise surrounding us. The moonlight showering us with its warmth among the cold night.
After a while, Justin pulled away and, without a warning, he grabbed me by my waist and pulled me on top of him. I let out a squeal before landing on his cozy body and I heard him let out a laugh that rang like music in my ears. He wrapped his arms around me and laid a hand on the back of my head, pulling me down into a hug. My left cheek was now pressed against his neck as he rested his chin on the top of my head. I could feel him stroking my hair lovingly as I realized I wanted to stay like this, in his arms, forever.
“How do you feel about a midnight swim?” he whispered in my ear. I nuzzled my nose against his neck and placed a kiss on his skin.
“Right now?” I could feel a smile forming on my face.
“Right now,” he clarified.
It was silent for a moment before I pulled away from his hug and suddenly stood up. Without so much as a warning, I began sprinting towards the ocean.
“Race you there!” I shouted back at him, laughing at his confused reaction.
“Heey!” I heard him shout from behind me. “That’s so not faaaiir!”
I merely laughed again and continued to run. Within a few seconds, I reached the water and I felt waves crashing against my legs. As I was turning around to see where Justin now was, I let out a scream when arms wrapped around me and I was swung over someone’s shoulder.
“Gotcha!” Justin smirked, spinning me around.
“Justin!” I shouted while laughing, holding on to the back of his shirt, which was now wet with water.
“Thought I couldn’t catch up, didn’t you?” he teased. I squirmed away from his grip and splashed water towards his face. He took his revenge by wrapping his arms around me and we both fell down on the sand, where the waves were mildly crashing down upon us.
Before I could scold him, his lips were suddenly against mine, shutting me up instantly. My eyes widened as I couldn’t help but feel even more butterflies inside my stomach. Just then, another wave washed over us and we both yelled and laughed about how cold the water felt.
The night went on as we played along the shore, occasionally going further into the ocean and splashing water on each other. At one point, we pretended there was romantic music and we began dancing as Justin twirled me around and sneaked a few kisses here and there. I lost count on the amount of times we laughed and teased each other. I could honestly say it was, hands down, the best night of my life.
After our date was over, Justin gave me a piggy-back ride all the way back to the car. I teased him about how he was my “sexy horsey” and we talked and laughed about the night we just spent together. I rested my head against his shoulder and he turned his head and kissed my nose.
When we made it to the car, we both got inside and Justin started the engine. I felt a rush of sadness dawn over me as I wished this night would’ve never ended.
“Alright,” Justin breathed, pulling the car onto the road. “Do you want me to take you home?”
I raised my eyebrows in confusion. “Where else would you take me?”
I saw Justin’s cheeks turn red. “Well.. Um.. I was, uh.. I was kinda hoping you’d come back with me to the hotel,” he suggested. “You could meet my mom, if you wanna.”
“Wh—… Really?!” I asked in excitement.
“O-Only if you want to.. I don’t want to force you or anything—”
“—But I want to! I’d love to meet her!” I said, trying to get my head wrapped around this. Me? Meet Pattie Mallette? The very woman who gave birth to my idol? My everything?
“Okay then, but you’ll have to borrow some of my clothes to sleep in since we’re both soaked,” he laughed.
“Sure, thank you,” I smiled at him. He turned his head to look at me and smile back before returning his focus on the road.
It was quiet for a while before I saw Justin reach forwards and turn on the radio. My eyes widened and I looked at him as if he had just lost his mind, my jaw dropping open.
Justin glanced at me and laughed. “Why are you looking at me like I’m some sort of alien?”
I blinked a couple of times and recollected myself. “You just… Turned on the radio..”
“Yeah? And?” he grinned.
“Every time I turned on the radio, you always got mad at me and told me to turn it off,” I reminded him.
Justin bit his lip. “That was the past,” he said. “This is the present.”
I continued to look at him in awe as he cranked up the volume, the song She Looks So Perfect by 5 Seconds of Summer blasting on the radio.
All of a sudden, Justin broke out into a loud voice, singing along to the song while I continued to stare at him as if he was insane.
“Well?” he smirked. “You gonna sing along or nah?”
I let out a small giggle before nodding my head and singing along with him. We sang songs the whole car ride—Justin sounding like the perfect angel he is while I sounded like a group of honking seals on fire.
*********************
So, um.. Remember when I said that this book was almost over?
Yeah, well.. Justin also said Heartbreaker was coming “soon.”
Aanyways, so what did you guys think of their date? ;)
I put up the link to a song that I thought really went with this chapter. You could either listen to it while reading, listen to it after reading, or not listen to it at all if you want.
Also, the thing about Justin turning on the radio:
It was a reference to Chapter 11 and Chapter 32 when Justin doesn’t like listening to the radio because his ex, Alicia, might come up on it.
Did anyone else catch up on the fact that he got over that because he realized he loves Jackie now?
If you did, I applaud you *pats head and feeds you a cookie*
There’s actually a lot of irony in this book. Like the relationship between Tyler and Jackie. Anyone catch that?
If you want, I can explain everything later when this book is over :)
See you guys on the next update!
- Nina xx