Highmore Manor

Jesse and I stayed holed up in the nurse's office for what seemed like years. After I'd calmed down and realized, even though I was still most definitely angry at Jesse, that it wasn't all his fault I had apologized and found myself spilling everything I had been feeling lately. Except, of course, all the feelings I had for him.

And in return he told me more about himself. I could tell he was still leaving out huge chunks of his past but I couldn't really blame him because I was doing the same thing.

We hadn't even bothered to go and sit somewhere comfortable like the bed; we'd just slid down the wall that we'd been standing beside. Whatever had seemed different between us before and had been a bad thing had suddenly turned into a good thing, I felt so much more comfortable around him and not like I always had to keep my guard up unless I said something stupid and he got angry at me.

Although I was still a little pissed off that he'd let me and Chase get together, I accepted that he had tried to warn me – just he could have done it a lot better.

It felt like we were starting over again and it was good.

After talking for ages we finally fell quiet again, but this time it was a comfortable silence. From the noise that was coming from outside I could tell the party had started up again. Music came throbbing up the steep hill, muffled slightly by the trees and the distance. It seemed like a world away, everything that had happened earlier and the party.

I turned and looked at Jesse. He had leaned his head back to rest on the wall and his eyes were closed so he didn't see me watching him. I took full advantage of the situation to just revel in how unbelievably gorgeous he was. He had one knee up with his arm resting on top of it and the other leg straight out, you could see every contour of his body in the dark blue jeans and grey long sleeved top he was wearing. His face was like a perfectly sculptured Greek god, and the way he was sitting without moving made it seemed like had been completely carved of marble.

I could just sit there and stare at him for hours and not be bored with looking at him.

My eyes traveled down to where my leg touched his, and his hand in mine resting in the little valley between them. Ever since he'd stopped holding me tightly in the hug he hadn't let go of me completely, as soon as we'd slid down the wall to sit beside each other he'd entwined his fingers through mine. But then I didn't mind that one bit.

I watched him as he slowly opened his eyes, as if he knew that I was staring at him, a small smile spreading across his lips as he saw me. I smiled back slightly and looked away before I could find myself blushing.

"Thank you," I said softly, squeezing his hand ever so slightly.

"For what?" he asked just as softly, his half opened eyes watching me lazily.

I bumped against his shoulder slightly. "You know what I mean," I said.

"No I don't, tell me," he teased.

"For being there for me, even when I didn't realize it. For trying to warn me about Chase, staying with me that night on the boat, getting yourself punched in the face and for finally telling me about Chase," I listed off all the things he'd done.

"No problem," he shrugged slightly, pretending to just take it in his stride.

I hit him slightly. "Don't get cocky now," I scolded. His laid back smile transformed into a grin. Our eyes met and held for a while, before he suddenly looked like he'd decided something. He let go of my hand and pulled himself up, then held his hands out for me. I let him pull me up and then brushed myself off, watching as he grabbed his jacket from the bed.

He walked over to the door and turned the handle. The corridor outside was empty, I was surprised the nurse had left us alone in her office for so long I just guessed she must have trusted us, considering as she probably knew who Jesse was. Callie had obviously gotten bored of waiting for us and left, I didn't blame her though. Jesse started walking down the corridor, turning back to check I was following.

"Where are we going?" I asked, jogging slightly to keep up with him.

"You'll see," he said with a secretive smile.

We walked through a maze of corridors until we finally came to a place I recognized. It was the corridors that led to Mr Reed's private wing, the wing I had accidently wandered into months ago. I followed him curiously until we came to the end of the corridor. It ended abruptly and came to huge oak door, and from looking out the windows that lined the left side of the hallway we had come close to the end of the wing.

"Are you sure you should be bringing me down here?" I asked dubiously. Jesse turned and looked down at me as he fished in his pocket for something.

"Everyone's down at the beach so we won't be caught, and you're with me so it should be fine," he said with a smile pulling a key out of his pocket.

He twisted the key in the lock and opened the door slowly, peeking around the edge of the door slowly to check the coast was clear before beckoning to me. I followed him slowly into the room that lay behind the doors, my eyes widening as they took it in and my mouth, no doubt, opening wide in awe. It was a fairly large sitting room of some kind and was decorated in a traditional looking way. The walls were paneled with dark wood and huge bookshelves lined with heaps of books, an ornate rug was spread out over the creamy carpet and in the centre of the room there were a couple of old fashioned cream sofas. On one side a fireplace was still burning away its embers in a warm orange glow, on the other wall adjoining to it were a set of bay windows and a balcony beyond the windows patterned with wire diamonds. Hanging from the ceiling was a beautiful chandelier that cast the room in a warm light.

"I thought you'd be used to nice rooms by now?" Jesse commented leaning on the sofa across the room from me. I met his gaze and let out a little laugh.

"Yeah, but all the rooms I've seen were completely modern, this is something different. This is beautiful," I gaped, walking towards him slowly, running my hands along the tops of the couches just feeling the lush fabric beneath my hands.

Jesse turned away from me before I could reach him and went over the windows that led out onto the balcony, twisting the lock and opening them so that he could walk out onto it.

I followed him out and stood beside him as he leaned on the handrail. The view from the balcony looked out over the tops of the trees and took in the ocean stretching far out in front of the peninsula Highmore was set on. I could only tell the ocean was out there in the dark was because of the lights of boats shining on the horizon and the lights lighting the edge of the cliff too.

"This is beautiful," I said, my heart suddenly feeling so much happier then it'd felt in the past week or so.

Jesse turned and looked at me when I said that, looking like he was going to say something but quickly decided not to and looked back out at the view.

The night air was crisp and quite cold, as we stood in silence the sounds of the party drifting up to us louder then before. The orange glow from the beach tinged the inky blackness with a warm feeling.

I suddenly plucked up the courage to ask Jesse something else about. "You know, you never told me why you really didn't want to talk to me when I first arrived here," I said tentatively. Jesse's head dropped down between his arms as I said it. I half expected him to snap at me and tell me not to talk about that right now but he turned and looked up at me finally.

"You want to know why?" When I nodded he carried on. "Because you're a girl," he said simply.

"What? Are you gay?" I asked in surprise. His deep laugh echoed around me as he shook his head.

"No, I'm not gay," he said with a grin in my direction, raising his eyebrows slightly.

"Oh, so what's wrong with me being a girl?" I asked curiously and a little bit more then confused. Jesse took a deep breath and looked away slightly like he was deciding whether or not he should tell me.

"Because I find it hard to trust people, girls especially," he said finally glancing back up at me briefly.

"Why?" I questioned gently. He took another breath.

"My mother walked out on my family when I was 10, she'd been deceiving us our whole lives and keeping an affair hidden for about 2 years. After that I found it hard to trust anyone, like I said women especially," Jesse said his mouth moving into a thin line as he told me another one of his biggest secrets.

"But not all girls cheat and lie," I commented. He straightened up and turned to face me.

"I know that, I just have trust issues. Because my mother was a woman, I guess I just see all women as untrustworthy. And the way you kind mucked Ryan about for a while I thought you were just like her," he admitted.

"I'm not, I would never cheat on someone," I half whispered. His face softened more as he watched me.

"I know that now," he replied softly, taking a slightly step towards me.

Just then there was a huge bang and we were suddenly lit up in an array of colours as fireworks shot up into sky to our left. Jesse turned away from me to watch the colourful show light up the dark black sky.

"Must be midnight," he commented, looking down at his watch to confirm it.

"Happy New Years," I said with a little laugh.

He grinned down at me. "No, Happy Birthday," he said so sincerely.

It took just two seconds to make my mind up on what I wanted to do next. I moved closer to him, stood on my tiptoes and pressed my lips against his all in one move. I pulled away almost as quickly as I’d moved in. He stared down at me in shock as I licked my lips and bit them slightly, waiting for his reaction. All the shock and confusion suddenly seemed to be swept off his face as he watched mine, his gaze moving between my eyes and my lips.

In that moment I realized what I’d done and just how close he was to me, our bodies touching now at more then one point, his warm breath on me and his almost familiar smell of sharp cologne and something else, like wood or earth.

One of his hands slowly came up and cupped my face, his thumb brushing the corner of my lips. My heart was beating fast in my chest as he tilted his head slightly and moved back in, reconnecting our lips softly.

I slowly rose onto my tiptoes again, deepening the kiss as we came close to each other, my hands resting on his chest and his other hand, that wasn't on my face, on my hip pulling me against him.

I couldn't believe this was happening, and it felt so right, it felt so different to how it had felt before. It felt so perfect.