The Beginning of Us (5 page)

“It was sweet how you were with them in Government. You can tell a lot about someone by how they treat a little kid.” He took a deep breath and rolled his shoulders back. “You wanna get back to the party? I don't want Raegan sending a search party out for you.”

I scoffed, "She would, wouldn't she?” he nodded and I laughed. “Why then, yes boyfriend I think that sounds good.”

He bit his lip and kissed me quickly. “That sounds so good coming from you. You’ve made my night, girlfriend.” He hopped down, his hair falling in front of his eyes. He stood facing me and gently grabbed my waist. My fingers moved his hair to the side. And then without thinking, I ran them through his thick locks while his blue eyes shone brightly. I leaned in to kiss his forehead. I wanted this moment to last forever. I’d never felt as complete as I did then.

Jax sighed softly and pecked my chin before we each grabbed another can from the cooler.

“After this one, I'm done. I'm such a lightweight,” I remarked softly. I was buzzed not only from the alcohol, but from my make-out session with my new boyfriend. Was it me, or were all these emotions exaggerated in my teenage body?

Jax scoffed in response and took hold of my hand, “Don't worry; I won't let you get smashed babe.” He brought my hand up to his mouth and lightly kissed it. My whole body was humming. It was beyond ridiculous how every single touch and kiss made me feel.

“How are you gettin' back home tonight?” Jax asked as we neared the table where Raegan and the other girls were.

“I rode here with Red,” I answered, looking over at her. She was talking to some guy, by the name of Luke, who I had seen in one of my classes. She was smiling wide and talking with her hands like she did all the time.

Jax nodded slowly, “Ah, well do you think she's okay to drive?”

I looked up and saw his brows furrowed. I shrugged my shoulders in response. I wasn't really sure.

“Some of us are camping out here. Now that the weather's nicer it won't be so bad during the night. I brought a couple of sleeping bags out in my truck.”

“Are you already trying to get in my pants, on day one?” I asked laughing. When I saw that he wasn’t joining in, I stopped.

 His eyes stormed over and he shook his head, “Like I said Teeg, I don’t want to mess things up with you. I just want you safe. Raegan and they can camp tonight, too." He leaned in and kissed my cheek. "I'm never going to take advantage of you Teegan. Not when you're sober and not when you’re drunk," he whispered against my skin.

It was then that I remembered his story. The one he confessed to me while we were at a frat party. His best friend from elementary school had been killed in an automobile accident involving an intoxicated driver. An event that had scarred him for the remainder of his life. While he didn’t denounce drinking, obviously, he was adamantly against driving drunk. A very admirable quality that had charmed me.

“Okay. I'll speak to her, but even if she doesn’t want to, I'll stay,” I assured him. He sighed with relief and nodded once.

“Good.”

***

The rest of the night was fun. Raegan didn’t question me about mine and Jax's hand holding or the kisses he kept giving me all night. She was too enthralled with Luke, a senior that was paying her attention. He was tall and lanky and an art club member. Her perfect match.

We walked around, talked to a bunch of people and kissed
a lot
. I stopped drinking because after a few more cans I was very buzzed, not completely hammered, but I knew my limit. Jax had quit drinking too.

Raegan had planned on staying too, since she was too tipsy to drive. Luke and his buddies had several tents set up on the far side of the barn.

“You look tired Teeg. Wanna crash?”

For the first time that night I brought my phone out and checked the time. It was two o'clock in the morning. I hadn't stayed up this long in ages.

“Yeah, you don’t have to go with me though. If you want to hang out go on ahead.” I yawned and stretched

“No, I'm not gonna leave you alone in the bed of my truck with a bunch of drunk guys around. What kind of boyfriend does that, you goof?” He smiled, his dimples showing in the moonlight.

He said goodnight to his friends and took my hand. We were silent on the short walk there and a million things ran through my buzzed head. How warm his hand felt, how he kept stealing sideways glances.

We reached his truck and after moving the cooler to the cab, he began to unpack the rest of his bedding. He brought a comforter out, laid it down first and then two navy blue sleeping bags and finally pillows and a blanket. He took his time setting them all on top of the comforter. Finally he finished making the pallet and made a
voila
gesture with his arm.

“Very nice,” I remarked with another yawn.

“Do you need to brush your teeth or take a piss before you lay down?” he asked.

I scrunched my nose at his question and he smirked.

“I'm weird, I know. But I have a kid sister, Roxy. I watch her a lot. I also was a Boy Scout for many years, so camping's in my blood,” he explained. “Plus, I can't go to sleep anywhere without brushing my teeth. I have an extra unused travel brush in the cab.” He grabbed a small zippered case and a bottle of water and proceeded to hand me a new packaged mini-toothbrush.

“You're a mess,” I said quietly opening it. “But hey, at least you've got good hygiene habits.”

He began brushing his teeth. “I know,” he answered, his mouth already full of toothpaste foam. He looked utterly ridiculous in the cutest way.

I commenced brushing my own teeth and found a tree to pee behind. I also changed into the nightshirt I had jammed in my backpack for Raegan's house. Jax took off his shirt and got into athletic shorts. He never looked at me and I never looked at him.

Finally, we hunkered down on the bed of his truck and Jax lay on his side facing me. In the distance, I heard Luke Bryan's song, 'Crash My Party' and smiled. He was one of the only country singers I loved.

“It's been a fun night, Teeg.”

“Yes, it has. An interesting turn of events.”

He brought his hand up to my cheek and gently ran his thumb across it. “I hope you still wanna be my girl tomorrow when you’re sober.”

I giggled, “I was sober when I said yes. Maybe I'm not now, but definitely when I said yes.”

I closed my eyes as he leaned in and kissed me softly, his lips barely brushing over mine. Shivers cascaded down my spine.

“I love kissing you. It's not awkward at all. Like we’ve been kissing for years.” he commented sleepily.

I froze as my eyes snapped open.
Because we have,
I wanted to say.

He laughed, “Alright, that sounded girly. Time for bed before I say something else equally stupid.”

I sighed and snuggled up to his chest as he wrapped his arms around me and sighed in return. “Goodnight, girlfriend.” He murmured.

“Goodnight, boyfriend.”

It was the perfect ending to our second first night together.

Chapter Six

Teegan

I awoke to a rooster crowing. Opening one eye, the beautiful burnt orange sky lit up my vision. I sat up immediately, memories of last night crashing into me.

My gaze fixed towards the East where the sun had just peeked above the horizon. It was truly glorious. Like God Himself came down and just painted the sky.

I felt something stir beside me and I looked down. Jax had his arm thrown across my hips and his head resting on his other arm. His mouth was slightly open, his hair, of course, concealing his eyes. I groaned inwardly; he was
so
gorgeous. I felt exactly the same as I did in college when he asked me to be with him. Lucky.

If I was going to be stuck as a teenager, my place was beside him just like it was when I was an adult.

All of a sudden, my chest constricted with excruciating pain. It literally knocked the wind out of me and I gasped for air as the memory of
that
night came full front to my memory.

Jax nodding his head when I asked if it was over. The feeling of my heart shattering, just like the picture did when I threw it. Slowly my heartbeat returned to normal and my breathing slowed. Why was I here, with Jax, if we weren't going to work out?

I lay back down, facing away from Jax. His breathing was deep, soothing, and I finally felt myself relax. I was dozing back off, when he finally stirred, pulling me closer to him.

“Morning, sleepyhead.” I whispered, grabbing onto his hand.

“Morning, sexy Teegan,” he whispered into my hair. Jax stretched and sat up. The muscles in his back rippled slightly and his arms flexed taut. “Man! That is one beautiful sunrise huh?”

I sat up next to him, crossing my legs while nodding in agreement.

A few silent moments passed and he looked over at me, “Well girlfriend, what do you want to do today?”

“Me? I dunno. What are you doing?”

Jax's hand ruffled through his messy hair, “Hmm, I kinda feel like hanging out with this girl. She's pretty hot actually. A really exceptional kisser. Very sweet and has this amazing laugh that is a tad bit dorky, but cute nonetheless,” he teased, looking at me through hooded eyes.

“Oh yeah? I saw you with her last night,” I replied, playing along. “She
is
pretty hot. How'd you manage to snag her?” My eyebrows lifted and I pursed my lips together.

“To be honest, I have no clue. I'm pretty damn lucky, or just irresistible. Either one.” The corner of his lips lifted slightly, his dimple popping out.

“Ha ha! Anyhow, I don't have anything I want to do. Except right now, I want to eat. I’m freaking hungry.”

“Ah, music to my ears. Gotta get dressed first darlin'. First, though, I have to give you one of these." He leaned forward and kissed my cheek, and an instant heat spread throughout my body. His lips lingered on my skin a few seconds and then he pulled away.

He stood in front of me facing the other way so I could change. Afterward, he brought out the infamous toothbrush holders, and we brushed our teeth. I wanted to find Raegan so we trekked off to the other side to find the tents Luke had mentioned.

Jax hand found mine instantly as we started walking and I looked up at him. He smiled at me and winked.

“How did you sleep? The truck wasn’t too hard was it?”

“No, I slept fine. Really great, as a matter of fact. You're an awesome pallet maker, boyfriend.”

He squeezed my hand gently and brought it to his mouth, giving it a peck, “I try, girlfriend, I try.” A few moments of silence passed when he spoke up again, “That doesn’t bother you does it? The whole girlfriend thing? I just like using it.”

“No! It’s amazing, like our own nickname for each other, even though it's totally lame when couples have nicknames.” I rolled my eyes at my sarcastic tone.

“Yes, ma’am, totally lame,” he laughed.

We found Raegan, who refused our offer of breakfast. She and Luke had already made plans. I could feel the tension between us and it hurt. I knew she didn’t understand and I was dying to tell her, to tell someone, but I couldn’t. Not immediately, because I had no clue what to say without winding up in an asylum for the remainder of this second life.

A few of Jax's friends were up and called out their goodbyes, but things were generally quiet. Everyone was still passed out as we climbed into his truck and he expertly maneuvered his way out of the field and back to the highway.

It was odd, how comfortable being around Jax was, especially considering the emotional previous week I had at school being around him. He seemed at ease behind the wheel of his old Ford, shifting the gears effortlessly and humming along to the radio. He looked at me several times, not saying a word, just smiling at me.

We pulled into an IHOP parking lot and my stomach rumbled in response. I was so embarrassed; it was one of those loud, gurgling noises and I was completely mortified. All Jax did was drop his head back and laugh, his Adam’s apple bobbing up and down.

“Come on girl, let's go get you fed before you die of starvation,” he said breathlessly. He leaned over and kissed me on the mouth, his teeth gently grazing my lip.

Breakfast was a mixture of Jax being a sarcastic jokester and an adoring boyfriend, and somehow, it made me want him more. We talked about everything and nothing at the same time, our conversation staying on neutral ground. He seemed a little guarded and finally, frustrated, I asked him what was up.

“I just... It's still kinda surreal that we're here as a couple. And that last night was real. At the risk of sounding like a total fairy, I haven’t felt this comfortable with a new girlfriend ever. That feeling like I had last night, like we’ve been doing this for years is still around, you know?” He stopped talking, searching my eyes with his beautiful icy blue ones. Before I could respond, he said quickly, “I am a fairy. You’re now regretting your decision to date this seemingly hunk of a man aren’t you?”

I rolled my eyes and grabbed his hand, “I feel the same way, Jax. You really have no idea. And no I most definitely do not think you're a fairy.” I paused. “Well, maybe a tad bit, but I'm still sexually attracted to you big time so I’ll let it slide.”

 Jax smirked, his dimples showing. “Sexually attracted huh?”

All I could do was nod in response, embarrassment sweeping through me.

“Like really sexually attracted?” he asked, his voice going a little lower.

“Mm-hmm,” I mumbled.

“Like super mega uber sexually attracted? Like you wanna rip my clothes off right here?”

Letting go of his hand, I put mine in my lap and pushed my head to the side shrugging. “That's a big possibility.”

  His grin widened, revealing his perfect smile. “You're so damn cute, Teegan.”

“Thank you. I don’t try like you; it just comes naturally,” I teased. “And thank you for being honest with me. I appreciate it.” I fluttered my eyelashes at him and we finished the rest of breakfast with no tension.

As we were getting in the truck, Jax turned toward me, “What do you want to do now?”