Her Tomorrow

Monday finally came after what seemed like an eternity. There he was, leaning against his car in his blue Nike t-shirt and jeans, waiting for me when I walked out the door expecting to meet the bus, smiling. As I walked towards him, he walked towards me as well. When we met, he wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed me as he did last night. I felt like I was flying.

“Good morning Jess. Had a good weekend I hope.”

“It lasted forever and thankfully ended so soon. How was yours?”

“It was good. Glad it’s over though.”

“Why? We have school now.”

He laughed. “Because I get to see you.” He kissed my forehead, and released my waist, but placed his hands on my hips before fully letting me go. “Let’s blow this joint. How do you feel about skipping school? It’s a beautiful day out. I think we could pull it off.”

I thought about it for a second. “Sure. What’s one more day?”

“That’s my girl! Vamos!”

We got into his car, turned around, and he took my hand, resting them on my leg. I put the radio on so the car wouldn’t be totally silent. He sung to a couple of them, and I sung along with him, or rather I tried to sing along with him. I had no idea what he had planned but I trusted him.

He pulled over to the side of the road. “Ok. Blindfold time again. I know where we’re going now, but it’s a surprise.”

“You didn’t know before?” I said as I reached for it.

“Nope.” He laughed, then helped my tie it on. We pulled back onto the road, he turned the radio up so that was all I could hear, and then took my hand again.

We drove for about an hour but I could tell that we were near when he started to slow down. When we stopped he told me to wait and got out of the car. Next thing I knew he opened my door and helped me out. When I went to take the blindfold off, he stopped me, bringing my hands down to my side, his fingers laced with mine. He kissed me again.

“I’m never going to get tired of that.” I could feel his lips smiling against mine. We stood there kissing until he finally pulled back, taking my blindfold with him.

“We’re here.”

“I see that. But where is here?” I looked around for clues but all I could see was woods, covering what was either a really big hill or a mountain, whatever the difference may be.

“My dad brought me here as a kid. And I wanted to show you now. Take my hand, and let’s go.”

He led me to a path I hadn’t noticed. We walked, talking, but quietly so no one could hear us without being very close to us. We climbed higher and higher, and soon we could hear running water.

“We’re almost there. Come on!” He quickened his pace, pulling me along. A few minutes later I knew exactly what he was talking about. We had arrived at a waterfall, not that big but a waterfall nonetheless with a small pool at the bottom.

He started taking off his shoes, pants, and shirt. “Let’s go.”

“You’re kidding right? That water’s going to be freezing!”

He wasn’t kidding. He did a cannonball into the water. “Oh. It’s not THAT bad. Jump in!”

“No!” I laughed. “I’ll put my feet in.”

“Fine. Just hurry up before I come out and make you get in.”

I took my shoes off and placed them near his. I walked over to the edge and put my feet in. I was wrong. It was somewhat warm, just not warm enough to swim. He swam gracefully, then floated on his back for a while. I leaned back on my hands, my feet still in the water, looking up through the trees and into the clouds. Today felt so perfect. The weather, the setting, the company, everything.

“Hey Jess!” He broke my trance and brought me back to earth. I looked at him and the next thing I knew a huge splash was headed my way, and I was soaking wet.

“Ahhh!! What was that for?!” I wasn’t angry. On the contrary I was laughing.

“Since I couldn’t get you to go in the water, I decided to bring the water to you. That a problem?”

“You’re unbelievable! But it’s ok I guess. I’ll let you off this time with a warning.”

He laughed then got out of the water and stood next to me. “What if I do this?” He picked me up and threw me in as if I weighed nothing. All that training for football I suppose.

“I…you…ughh…haha!” I didn’t know how to react. Probably wouldn’t’ve heard me anyways for he jumped in right beside me as soon as I was airborne.

“Gotcha babe!”

“I guess so you jerk!” I started swimming to shore. It wasn’t bad when I just had feet in but now it was cold.

“Hold up a second. You just got in!”

“And now I’m getting out! It’s freezing!”

He grabbed my hand and pulled me back towards him, holding me against him.

“Still cold?” he asked bearing that smile I can’t ignore no matter how much I try.

“No not so much anym-”. Before I could finish, he had pressed his lips to mine. He didn’t pull away this time, but pulled me closer. Instinctively my hands placed themselves, one on his heart, the other wrapping around his neck. Our lips danced until we couldn’t keep ourselves above water anymore. As we pulled away to stay afloat and before I could open my eyes, he had already placed on hand on my cheek, gently rubbing it.

“You’re beautiful.” was all he said. I muttered a thank you and blushed. “I want to ask you something but I want you to hear me out before you answer. Ok?”

“OK.” I think my heart just stopped.

“Jessica, Jessie, Jess, you make me feel like I’ve never felt before, in a good way of course. Or rather, you make me feel, unstoppable. I feel so happy when I’m around you. And when we’re apart, all I want to do is be with you. I know you wanted to wait until this thing with Max was over but to be honest, I don‘t care about him. He is no longer a part of your life, just a leech trying to be. I want to be what he couldn’t be. I can protect you. Just please give me a chance to be what you deserve. I love you Jess. And I mean it. I’m not just saying it. You make me feel out of this world. You’re smile, your voice, they send me soaring through the clouds. Jessie..” He looked me in the eyes, his own full of hope and sincerity. “Will you be my girl?” Yep. Right there. It stopped.

My mouth ran away from me but once I realized what I said, it felt like the right answer. “Yes.” It barely came out but it did, and he heard it. “Thank you!” and once again our lips danced briefly.

We swam until our hands looked like prunes at which point we climbed out. We laid there in the sun, soaking it in and getting warm again until we could hear our stomachs growling, to which we both laughed.

We were mostly dry by the time we got back to the car. It was still in one piece this time, which is a very good thing, meaning he hadn’t followed us here. We drove back, fingers laced together talking and laughing. I told him what happened with Sam this weekend. He told me how his mom dragged him shopping. We kept the radio off. We didn’t need it to fill what we could not say as we had earlier.

We stopped at a diner on the way back for something to eat. I ordered a hamburger with lettuce and a coke while he got a pasta dish that looked absolutely fantastic. We finished it off with a small ice cream cone.

We sung to the radio the rest of the way, which wasn’t far. I guess “us” becoming official made things a little easier to be around each other. We weren’t guessing the other’s feelings, and we weren’t worried about being accepted.

He dropped me off a little later than normal but not before kissing me again. I think I can get used to this.

Sam was in the kitchen waiting for me.

“The school called.” Shit.

“I know.”

“What do you mean you know?”

“What do you mean what do I mean?”

“I mean tell me how you know the school called.”

“I didn’t.”

“But you just said..ugh. Nevermind. Are you ok?”

“Yeah. I’m fine.”

“OK. Good. That’s all that matters. Uhh..” he paused, as if trying to find words. “Dinner is fend for yourself tonight.” He continued to stand there in the kitchen for a minute, then finally walked out to avoid the awkward silence.

Ok…I also left the kitchen and went up to my room. I did my homework and my laundry, and then ate. I found some leftovers in the kitchen for supper. I finished, did the dishes, and went up stairs only to hear the phone ring.

“Jess?” Mike.

“Hey. What’s up?”

“Did Sam tell you what happened today at the school?”

“No. He said they called, and I assumed it was just them saying I was absent. Why?”

“Max.” My heart stopped again. “He found you’re locker. Someone saw him breaking into it. Inside were a bunch of letters addressed to you but the school released them to the police instead. The good news is, they are now following a trail which means they might catch him soon. Is Sam there?” I could breathe again, but just barely.

“Uhh yeah. He’s here.”

“Ok. Please lock your house up tonight, and call me if anything happens. Alright?”

“Ok. I’ll be fine. Thanks for calling though.”

“Ok. I’ll pick you up tomorrow babe. Sweet dreams.”

“You too. See ya.”

I went downstairs and locked the windows and the doors with the locks that Sam and I installed. I was exhausted but wasn’t sleepy. I went upstairs anyways, locking my door behind me and my window as well. I put my music on, got into my pajamas and laid there as if I were going to bed. I don’t know how long it took me to fall asleep but eventually my thoughts in combination with the music put me into a deep slumber.

- - -

A bang on my door woke me up, nearly making me pee myself.

“Jessie. You awake?”

“Sam! I swear to God if you scare me like that again..”

“Well how the hell else am I supposed to? Get up and hurry your ass up or you’ll be late.”

“Alright!” I looked at my clock and swore under my breath. Five minutes before Mike was here. I rushed to throw clothes on and brush my teeth. I was out the door with my bag in hand five and a half minutes later, and there he was sitting in his car.

“Sleeping in Jess?” He laughed. “Come on. Let’s get going. Gonna be late for being early. Sorry bad joke haha.”

For the next week people stared for the first few days but that didn’t last long. It grew old soon, as if it was expected. But when we weren’t together, which was usually only during class, I could feels dozens of eyes watching me. It made me wish I was back to being invisible. I knew why they stared which made me angry, but seeing Mike always made that anger go away. Maybe things would finally start getting better.