The Night You Took Away a Little More Than Just My Breath

Walking into my house after a long adventurous night with Taylor, I heard nothing but the sound of The Format coming from Jamie’s room. I took off my jacket and hung it over a chair that sat at the kitchen table and saw a little note on the counter. “We went grocery shopping. If you two need anything, call us while were there. -Casey.” I crumbled up the note and threw it in the trash, figuring that Jamie had already seen it.

From upstairs, I heard Jamie singing over the loud music. She had such a wonderful voice. It was powerful enough to make my heart sink. Since her bedroom window is right above the drive way, she probably saw that I was home. I walked up to her room to finally talk to her and set things straight. I wanted everything to be as close to normal as possible again.

I made my way upstairs. But before I went to her room, I went into mine to change my clothes that I’ve been wearing all night long. On my bed, I saw a little piece of paper lying there. As I took off my shirt, I picked it up and began to read.

“Johno,

First of all, I’m not pregnant. And second of all, I absolutely hate this tension between us. I know we’ll never have the same relationship we once had before all of this mess happened, but I want us to become better friends through all this. In a way I feel as if we have become closer. I finally see how much you and I really care for each other. I have so many more feelings that I can’t put into words. So please, if I’m home while you’re reading this, come see me. I miss that smiling face of yours.”

I smirked at the last sentence and threw the note back down on my bed. I put on a baseball tee and some basketball shorts. I walked to her door and knocked on it softly, not expecting her to hear over the loud music. After waiting a few seconds, I cracked her door open a little. She was sitting on her bed looking through the Vogue magazine she was in and looked up as she saw the door open a little. She jumped off her bed and turned down the music as I walked in. We both sat on her bed, facing one another. “I’m sorry.” She said. “For everything. I’m sorry for ruining your life and the friendship with Kennedy. I’m sorry for blowing up at you before I left to go to Alexis’. I deserve getting yelled at in that gas station. Anything else you want to yell at me for right now, go ahead. I deserve it all.”

I took her hands into mine. “It’s okay.” I said. “You didn’t ruin anything and you didn’t deserve anything. Let’s face it, we both blew up and overreacted over this silly mistake. We just have to learn from it.”

“So, what have we learned?” She asked.

“To never take yourself so seriously.” I said. “From now on, I plan to just go with everything that happens.”

“Just go with the flow?” She giggled.

“Exactly.” I said. “Just go with the flow.”

We sat there a moment in silence as I enjoyed being able to just be around her with no tension. “So,” She said. “What were you up to all night?”

I smiled at the thought of last night. “Taylor and I got fired so we went to Tucson and got some ice cream.”

“Tucson?! Why Tucson?” Jamie laughed.

“We just hopped in my car and went wherever the roads took us.” I said. “Then we parked in some empty parking lot and fell asleep on the hood of my car.”

“You like her, don’t you?”

“I honestly don’t know.” I said, shaking my head and staring at the floor.

“But wait…” Jamie said. “Why’d you get fired?”

I laughed. “Taylor and I kind of started to make out and we ended up making our way to my car without locking the door… So our boss watched the tapes and saw everything then fired me right on the spot.”

“You want her.” Jamie teased.

“Whatever.” I looked at her and scrunched up my nose. She giggled and fell back on her bed and looked up at the ceiling, causing her shirt to come up a little and reveal her belly button. I stared as I imagined running my hand up her shirt, longing to feel her soft, warm skin on my fingertips.

“So, what are you going to do about a job?” she asked.

I snapped out of my thoughts instantly. “I have no idea.” I said, as I laid on my side beside her.

“You can become a model. I’ll call my stylist Daniel.” She joked, pulling her phone out of her back pocket.

I chuckled. “No way. The guys would gave me so much shit for that.”

She let out a sigh after her laugh and looked down at the magazine the rested between us. “Oh, oh!” She exclaimed and rolled over on her side, facing me. She opened the magazine to a marked page and turned it around so I could see.

I laughed. “I already saw this.” I said, looking down at the picture.

“Are you serious? When?!”

“Yesterday after we had that little incident in the janitors closet. I went to Taylor’s after that and she had it sitting on her coffee table.”

“Oh yeah, I’m so sorry about that.”

“Why are you so… sexual?” I chuckled.

She simply shrugged and said “Why didn’t you tell me you saw my picture?”

“We haven’t seen each other.” I said. “Why didn’t you tell me your birthday was the other day?”

“Well… we were fighting!” She said.

“Well, we need to party.” I said. “You’re eighteen now!”

“No, no.” She said. “I can’t get drunk with you. The other night will happen again.” She said, getting up.

“Oh, whatever.” I said. “We learned from our mistakes. Come on.”

“I don’t trust myself.” She said. “Like you said, I’m too ‘sexual’.”

“You don’t trust yourself?” I asked as I turned to lie on my back as she stood in front of my feet. Instantly the images from the other night bombarded my mind. It was all coming back and I remembered it perfectly. As she stood there, I remembered seeing her dark silhouette undressing and then climbing on top of my helpless half clothed body. I began to get aroused as I closed my eyes and imagined her climbing on top me at this particular moment. Maybe I didn’t trust myself either.

“John?” Jamie questioned as I opened my eyes. She chuckled. “What are you doing?”

I jumped up. “Oh, nothing.” I said.

She gave me a confused look. “Oh, you were doing something.” She laughed. “You closed your eyes and got a huge grin. And…” She smirked, pointing at my shorts.

I looked down and covered myself up instantly. “Oh, uh…” I stammered.

Jamie just kept laughing. “Thinking about Taylor?”

“Of course not.” I said quickly, getting up. “I- I was… I have to shower.” I stuttered quickly.

I hurried across the hall to the bathroom and shut the door quickly behind me. I leaned against the door and stared up at the ceiling. “What the hell.” I asked myself. “I can’t feel this way for you.” I muttered under my breath as I closed my eyes as the images instantly took over my mind all over again.