Could Tell a Love

I felt a tear fall down my cheek and sizzle into the pan of bacon. I grabbed the pieces out of the pan and put them onto a paper towel covered plate. I wiped my eyes before continuing, just in case Jared came down. I didn’t want him worrying about me anymore than he already does.

I tore fresh pieces out of the package and set them in the hot pan, sizzling like crazy.

"Why are you making bacon without a shirt on?" I heard Jared ask as he walked through the kitchen barefoot, also shirtless. Very, very delectable.

"You oppose my shirtlessness?" I asked, sounding offended.

"No, not at all, you’re fucking sexy like that. It’s just, sometimes I question you."

I stuck my tongue out at him, flipping the bacon.

"Beau, don’t tempt me, not while you’re cooking." He gave me a seductive smile. I turned to the stove, biting my lip. Once the bacon was done, I put it on the paper towel and turned off the burner, moving the pan to a cool burner. I turned towards him and basically stampeded him, Jared barely keeping his balance. Our lips met fiercely as I pushed him up against the wall. He didn’t fight like I knew he could. He grabbed both sides of my face, making sure I didn’t go anywhere. My hands stayed on his hips.

We parted both smiling. "Happy one year, give or take." I said, kissing him again.

He laughed to himself. "It is, isn’t it? Damn, and I thought that I’d get attacked like that every morning."

I giggled. "No, not every morning. I gotta bring in some variety. You have to be able to know that it’s a special day." I put my hands in his ass pockets, trying not to feel it up too much, keeping him close, staring into his eyes.

I heard my stomach grumble.

Jared couldn’t hold in his laughter. "I think your stomach is saying ‘feed me!’" He said, making the "feed me" high pitched and cute.

"Yeah, I think so, too." I agreed, reluctantly letting him go so we could eat.

Besides the bacon, I’d also made eggs and bought huge Costco muffins.

"Beau..." Jared said. "..this is too much. You worked too hard."

"There would’ve been toast, but I kinda forgot about it." I said, grabbing some orange juice out of the fridge.

"Here, at least let me do something." He took the carton of orange juice and poured it in the glasses on the table.

I sat down and dished some eggs onto my plate. I grabbed a handful of bacon and a chocolate chip muffin.

Half of my eggs were already scarfed down by the time Jared sat down.

"Hey! Aren’t you supposed to wait til everyone’s at the table before you eat?" He said, hitting me in the arm.

"Hey, I love you and all, but not as much as food." I said with my mouth full. After I swallowed, I said, "Oh, and I made sure that they had blueberry muffins when I picked these up, ‘cause I know how much you like those." I took a drink of orange juice and looked at Jared. He was smiling. His chair scooted closer to mine. "Are you sure you love food more than me?" He started tracing the stitching on the inside of my leg.

I barely kept my orange juice from coming out of my nose. I coughed and laughed. "I won’t be alive to love you if you keep doing that while I’m eating." I let out one big cough and a burp. It rumbled throughout the whole kitchen. I covered my mouth and blushed, my face getting extremely hot.

"Wow, that had power." Jared said.

"Are you sure you still want to kiss this monster?" I asked, smirking at him.

"Of course." He scooted onto my lap. "If anything, now I’m even more attracted to you, if that’s possible." He kissed me.

"Then you’re preferences are fucked." I said, laughing.

"My preference is you, whether it be fucked or perfect." He said, smiling, looking into my eyes, kissing me. "And besides," He continued. "I’m only a dude. And letting that sucker out...that was just hot."

"Thanks, I guess." I said, holding onto his waist so he didn’t fall off my lap. "I know you’re like, ready to go and all, but could we eat first? I would like to enjoy my muffin."

Jared sighed and nodded, messing up my already messy hair before sliding back into his own seat.

"So have you talked to everyone about the record?" Jared asked, already 3/4 of the way though his muffin.

I nodded. "We need to meet with the head honchos to see when we can release it. The artwork is almost done, too." I didn’t like the idea of the last thing we had to do. "We also have that photo shoot today, and I still look like shit." My nose was just about back to normal, but there were still some yellowing, sickly looking spots that meant it was almost done healing. Jared’s eye healed up a lot faster than my nose. It wasn’t broken, thank god.

"Stop it. You look fine. Besides, they have make up so you can cover it up." Jared pointed out.

I fumbled with my second helping of eggs. "I guess."

I heard Jared’s phone vibrate on he counter. He rushed to get it.

"Hey...yeah, that’s today. I don’t know, two hours, maybe? I don’t know, Matt. I can’t tell the future. I’ll just...no, I can’t read people’s minds either. I’ll just talk to you at the photo shoot, okay?" He laughed. "Yeah, bye." He smiled and shook his head. "Expects me to know everything, I tell ya." He sat back down and finished his muffin as I drank the last of my orange juice. We both looked at each other. Jared kept giving me his sexy, seductive looks, and I almost couldn’t resist.

"Jared, lets wait. Til tonight. We have to get ready. And god knows I’ll forget everything once you’re the only thing on my mind." I twisted his hair around my finger, tickling his ear slightly.

"I couldn’t agree more." We both got up and headed towards my room.

"You need clothes?" I asked Jared while grabbing a faded and ripped pair of skinny jeans and my dark blue Queen v-neck, along with my studded belt.

"Yeah." He said.

"Go crazy." I said, leaving the room.

"Hey Beau!" Jared called out of my room. He came out and I turned. "Mind if I join you?" Jared asked quietly.

I smiled and grabbed his free hand, pulling him towards me. "I thought you’d never ask." I pulled him with me into the bathroom and shut the door, where the most amazing things happened. We took twice as long as we should’ve in the shower and were almost late to the studio. We arrived as they were just about to start.

"Are you two always late?" Mike asked as we sat down.

"Shush. We both woke up late." Jared said.

"Uh huh." Matt said, doing quotations with his fingers. "Woke up late."

I smiled and gave him the finger before the photographer came in.

"Alright, we need to get going. We only have today to get this done." She said.

We all got up and went into the dressing rooms. There were racks of clothes everywhere, and some of them made me wonder. Silver spandex pants, lime green puffy vests? "Please don’t tell me we’re doing a shoot with those." I said, pointing to the hideous clothes on the rack at the far end of the room.

"Oh no, that’s not you guys. That’s for a different shoot tomorrow. Your guys’ stuff is right here." She pulled out a rack with some regular looking clothes. I pieced through them and they were all designer brands, with prices all over $100.

"Damn, I’m gonna feel like a walking piece of treasure in all this designer shit." Eric said from the other side of the rack.

"Yeah, you’re tellin’ me." I agreed with him. "Can’t we just like, wear what we have on right now? It’s photo shoot worthy enough. And I don’t wanna rip or destroy anything."

"Whatever works for you guys." She said, sitting with her feet up on a table, filing her nails with a file she pulled out of nowhere. She looked really bored.

We all looked through the clothes some more, looking to see if there was anything that we’d be remotely interested in wearing.

"$150 for a shirt? Holy shit." Jared said, taking out blue v-neck.

"Hey! I’m wearing that shirt." I said, looking down at my shirt and looking at the shirt on the hanger. "And I only paid $15 for mine."

"Rip off." Jared said under his breath.

"So is this gonna be a buckets of fun shoot or a serious shoot where we all have to look pretty for the camera?" Matt asked, leaving the rack of clothes, obviously giving up on finding something that was cheap enough to wear.

"I was thinking fun, or as you say, ‘buckets of fun.’"

"Yes!" He said, doing a little victory dance.

She laughed at his little dance. "So are you guys gonna wear anything off there, or should we just forget that ever happened?"

"Lets forget about it." Mike said, pushing the rack of clothes back to where it originally was.

"Alright! So since it’s such a great day outside, I was thinking we’d do the shoot outside instead of in the studio. Lots more for scenery than in here." She said, sounding more enthusiastic.

"Lets do it." We all said in unison, following her outside.

About three hours and over 100 pictures later, we were back in the studio, ready to cool down. My hair was plastered to my forehead, and so was everyone else’s. Thank god it was only on the way back so the pictures wouldn’t be shit.

"So that was fun." Eric said, coming up beside me and Jared who were holding hands.

I looked down at him, jumping a little bit. "Yeah, I had a blast. I never knew playgrounds were that fun anymore."

Eric laughed. "Neither did I."

After we reviewed all the pictures and chose the ones we wanted, she touched them up to make us look flawless, which I thought was totally fake of us to let her do, but I seemed to be the only one who really cared.

"Hey guys, I have to leave early. Miranda just texted me saying that her car broke down on the side of the road. I’ll see you guys later." Eric said, grabbing his keys out of his pocket.

"Alright, man, see ya later." Jared said. We all waved and turned back to the computer.

"Okay, I think that might do it. What do you guys think?" The photographer, her name we learned was Jenny, showed us a brief slide show of the pictures. They pretty much looked next to perfect.

"They’re great. They look awesome." Matt said, pretty much speaking for everyone.

"Alright, then if you guys like them, I think we’re done. Wanna order some pizza or something for lunch?" Jenny asked.

"Actually, I think I’m gonna go see if Eric and Miranda are alright. Anyone else coming with me?" Matt said, getting off the chair and grabbing his sweatshirt.

"I’ll come, you guys’ staying here?" Mike asked Jared and I.

"Yeah, we’ll catch up in a little while. No need to wait up for us." I said, smiling at Matt and Mike.

"Alright, see you guys. Thanks for the work, Jenny." Mike said, waving and walking out behind Matt.

"So why aren’t you guys going with them?" Jenny asked, closing out the pictures on the computer.

We shrugged. "Sometimes you just need time away from them." Jared said, looking at me and smiling.

"This might be kinda personal, but..." Jenny paused, probably trying to get her thoughts straight. "Are you two...together?"

I nodded, grabbing Jared’s hand again. She smiled and laughed. "You don’t know how cute you two are together. You would make Romeo and Juliet jealous." She closed her laptop and put it in her bag.

We both giggled and blushed. "Thanks." We said in unison.

"Well, I’m heading out, so you guys gotta go somewhere else. I gotta lock up."

I sighed. "Alright, I guess we should go check up on Miranda and Eric."

"I guess." Jared said, getting up, pulling me up as well.

I laughed at the unexpected jolt upward.

"Oh, I’m sorry! Did I give you whiplash?" Jared asked in his concerned way, hugging me.

"No, Jared, I’m fine. Don’t have a heart attack." I said, hugging him back. "Lets go."

"Okay. See ya later Jenny. Nice doing business with you." Jared said, grabbing me by my waist, keeping me close. I put my hand in his ass pocket.

"See ya." She said. It sounded like she was trying to suppress a fit of giggles.

I smiled as I got into the drivers seat and started the car. "So are we gonna go to Eric’s?"

"Mmhmm." He said, looking through my iPod and finding something to listen to. "Envy on the Coast sound good to you?"

"Perfect." I said, stopping at the corner and turning in the direction of Eric’s house.

Jared dug his phone out of his pocket about half way there and answered it.

"Hey. Yeah we’re on our way, chill... it’s not like we have anything else to do. Yeah, okay." He laughed and looked at me, rolling his eyes. I smiled and concentrated on the road. "We’re seriously like, ten minutes away, I think you’ll survive."

I looked at the clock. It was almost 5:30. I didn’t know we were at the studio that long.

"Alright, we’ll see you in a few minutes. Bye." Jared flipped his phone closed and let out a big laugh. "Eric is so funny sometimes."

"What was he doing now?" I asked.

"He thought that we got in an accident, too. He’s so paranoid."

I laughed. "That would be pretty ironic, though."

"You’re tellin’ me." He said as I turned down Eric’s street. "I guess we got here sooner than ten minutes, huh?"

"I guess so." I said, driving down to the end of the street and turning into his driveway. We parked behind Mike’s car and got out.

"Alright, stay out here for a second. I have to go check something out first." Jared said, kissing me before going and poking his head in the house. He turned towards me and motioned for me to come.

"Alright, now close your eyes." He said.

"Why?" I asked, confused.

"Just do it, please." He said softly in my ear.

I closed my eyes and he covered my eyes with his hands.

"What, you don’t trust me?" I asked, smirking.

"Haha, no, not really." He said.

I shook my head and kicked him. He opened the door and led me into the house. It was eerily silent and the house seemed to be completely dark. "What the hell’s going on, Jared?"

"Just trust me with this, alright?" He whispered, leading me through his house. We stopped and the only thing I knew was that I was standing on carpet.

"Now stay here and keep your eyes closed. I’ll be right back." Jared said, removing his hand from my face.

"I think I’d be able to open my eyes and still not know what’s going on." I said, putting my hands in my pockets and waiting, eyes still closed. I felt Jared grab me by the waist and lead me forward a little more. "Alright, open your eyes."

"Oh, finally." I opened my eyes and a huge wave of "HAPPY ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY!" hit me.

I couldn’t breathe. Eric’s living room was decorated ceiling to floor with streamers and balloons and everyone there....I started crying. "Oh my god, Jared!" I hid my face in his shoulder, hugging him tightly. I didn’t want anyone else to see me crying. "This is great!"

I looked up at him and smiled, wiping my tears of joy and turning towards everyone else.

"Holy shit." was all I could say. "Who set this whole thing up?"

Eric stepped out from the crowd with Miranda attached at his hip. "That was this guy and this girl right here."

I smiled and hugged them too. "Thank you guys, so much. I didn’t even think you’d remember."

"Well of course we’d remember." Miranda said, handing me a tissue.

I smiled at her and Eric. "God damn you two. You surprised the hell out of me."

"So then it worked?" Eric asked.

"Oh, it worked." I agreed, sitting down in his big puffy chair, still trying to soak it all in.

"I don’t think you wanna sit down yet, Beau. There’s still something else we have to show you, rather, someone else." Eric said, running down the hall. Seconds later, he emerged again with his sister, Katie, and my brother, Casey.

I covered my mouth, which was open in shock. "Katie! Casey! Oh my god!" I shot up off the chair and tackled her in a huge hug. "I haven’t seen you guys in ages!"

"I know. When Eric asked me to come for a surprise party for you I couldn’t say no." She said into my chest. I felt her tears of happiness soak into my shirt.

"God, how are you? Do you still live with Casey?" I asked, letting go of her and examining her. It was surreal seeing her so grown up. She’s a freshman in high school now, the same age I took Eric from his house. I took her two years later when Eric was 16 and he could help with bills and food because he could get a job, and he insisted that I get his sister out of that house. I sent Katie and Eric to Casey’s house after I could barely afford to feed myself let alone those two. I felt terrible for dumping them on my brother, but he said he could handle it.

She nodded. "Where else would I have to go?"

"And besides, why would I let her go somewhere else? She has it made with me."

I shrugged. "Okay, stupid question." I hugged Casey. "I missed you so much."

"Miss you too, bro." He said, patting my back. "How long’s it been? Two years?"

"Give or take." I let go of Casey and looked at Katie again. "You’re so grown up. I’m so used to seeing a little three foot high Katie in little dresses and tights, with her red hair in pig tails. Not a 14 year old Katie—"

"15." She corrected.

"15 year old Katie-" I smiled at her. "—dressed in bitchin’ jeans and a band shirt. I taught you well."

She laughed. "You’re the best."

I smiled. She was just like a daughter. My daughter.

"So are we gonna have a huge tear fest or are we gonna eat?" Matt said, throwing his arm around my shoulder.

"Food. That sounds good right now." I said. My stomach agreed.

We all congregated to the kitchen and found platters of food and coolers of beverages, alcoholic and non alcoholic. I clung to Jared like an overprotective girlfriend as we got food. "And you thought I did too much this morning."

"I didn’t set this up. I just went along with the plans."

I kissed him, regardless of who was watching. "Thank you." I scooped some chips into a Styrofoam cup and grabbed a bottle of Miller lite out of the cooler. I found a conveniently placed bottle opener right in front of me. Once everyone had food Eric went into the room where he was hiding Casey and Katie and brought out a couple boxes, wrapped in shiny paper.

"Alright, this is crossing the line. I don’t want presents." I said.

"Yeah, you said nothing about presents, Eric." Jared agreed.

"Well what’s the point of a surprise party if the party part doesn’t include presents? And the surprise isn’t as fun when one of you know about everything. I needed to leave a few things out." He said, smiling.

I just shook my head at him but couldn’t stop smiling either. No matter how much I didn’t like people getting me presents, I still got a happy feeling when people gave them to me.

I took the envelope since that looked like that least expensive thing of the 5 presents.

"Who is this from?" I asked before opening it.

Matt and Casey raised their hands. "We both dished in on it."

"Oh god." I said, opening it slowly. In pulled out two pieces of paper. Those pieces of paper turned into plane tickets. To Hawaii. Jared and I gawked at them. I read through them throughly. Flight leaves in two days. We come back a little over a week from then. I let them fall to the floor.

"Fucking first class?! Round trip?!" I yelled, still in shock.

"Hotel included and everything." Matt said proudly. "We all thought you guys needed a little time away from everything."

"How much did this cost?" Jared asked, holding it together better than me.

"Close to nothing. I have good connections." Casey said, looking at Matt, winking.

"I still can’t believe it...I don’t even know if I can.." I stuttered.

My words were interrupted by Jared’s lips. His hands were on each side of my face. We parted and Jared was smiling widely. I heard Katie let out a little "awww" from behind us.

"Beau, this is great! Just what we need, an escape. Relax and get all the stale drama off our shoulders before the tour drama starts building up. It’s someplace new, somewhere we’ve never been before."

"I guess." I agreed reluctantly, picking up the tickets. "I really love them, guys. Thanks so much."

Matt and Casey both smiled.