Priceless

Later that day Logan decided he wanted to go buy some books, and he could never do it with someone because he claimed he was extremely quiet and walk-y around bookstores, and if I came with him, I would just be bored. Though I liked reading books, like Logan I liked doing it alone, too, and it was 6 PM; I had to get to Jess’.

So he drove me there and introducing him to the guys was not an option, so I let him drive away as I entered the house. “Bailey!” everyone simultaneously exclaimed, and one by one they hugged me, of course John being the first. He was such in a happy state that I’d figured Erin hasn’t told him yet, so I shot her a look. She just widened her eyes at me as if saying, “I don’t wanna ruin this night for everyone.”

And then there was Stephen. When everyone was done hugging and chitchatting me a little, he emerged from the kitchen and gave me a big smile. He had a red cup on each hand. He motioned towards the backyard, and I smiled as I walked over to him. Josh looked at us and rolled his eyes.

“Jess, just a little heads up, Stephen and Bailey are gonna have sex on your backyard,” he said and some laughed, and some said ewww.

“You need to get laid, Josh,” Jess said.

“Hook me up?” Josh smirked.

Jess had a comeback to that, but I tuned them off as Stephen and I walked into the backyard. He handed me one red cup and I sipped, then we both sat down on the elevated cement just right above the grass. His smile was still there as he looked up at me.

“Four weeks and three days. God, I missed you so much,” he said as he drank from his cup.

“And you’re just gonna say it, not show it?” I teased, licking my lips and leaning closer to him, just to let him know it was okay.

“I want to but at the same time, I don’t wanna prove Josh right, so...” He ended it with a shaky laugh as he scooted closer, letting his hand rest on my lap. “Bailey...” He said it so slowly, so delicately, I could almost use the phrase “like a prayer”, but I didn’t. I moved closer to him until our knees were touching.

“Stephen...” And I said his name like a prayer, and when I got the “n” out, he sealed my lips with a kiss. At first it was just innocent, like a typical Stephen kiss, and then it turned hot. I loved how his kisses were always like this. Familiar, but breathtaking.

It felt like we’ve been making out for like five minutes when he suddenly pulled away from me, and took a few deep breaths. “Can’t risk it,” he said and for a second I wondered what he was talking about, then I got it and I laughed.

“Well, we better get inside now or we’re both gonna prove Josh right,” I said. He finished his drink and also mine, and we walked back inside, deciding to just bond with the others first.

Inside, it was a riot. At first I’d actually thought it was just because everyone was having so much fun, then I noticed John was looking pissed as he grabbed his leather jacket from the couch and Erin, in tears, ran down the stairs.

“John, wait—”

“No, Erin just stop it.” And then he walked out of the house and I heard an engine roar to life. Then there was another yell. “Stop it, Kennedy!”

I turned my head to Jess, who was pushing a drunk Kennedy away from her. “Jess, I just want to talk—”

“Stay the fuck away from me—”

“You can’t just ignore me forever—”

“I can’t, but I can ignore you for the rest of my life!”

Then there was a drunk Josh trying to get off of his pants, a tame John Go trying to stop Josh, and a drunk Brian and a drunk Pat yelling at each other over the loud music, and a not-so-drunk Jared yelling at everyone to stay calm.

Garrett approached Stephen and I, looking like he needed a break from all this crap. “This is serious drama you guys. At least on two parts: my sister and John’s issue, whatever it is, and Jess and Kennedy’s. The others are pretty petty. But we should calm them all down,” he said.

“Right. I’ll talk to Kennedy and Jess, Bails, you talk to Erin, Garrett, you talk to Jared and figure out how to stop the other silly fights,” Stephen said.

“On it,” Garrett and I both said, and as they joined the craziness in the living room, I pulled Erin aside and had a talk with her.

“It didn’t go well,” she said, sobbing. “He thinks I don’t love him. He thinks I never even loved him in the first place. He didn’t even listen to me when I tried to reason out.”

“Just give him some time,” I said. “He just needs to think about it. But he loves you, Erin, I know he’ll eventually understand why you...well, why this happened.”

“It just sucks.” She then hugged me, tighter than she’s ever hugged me before, and sobbed onto my chest. “I hate how I’ve fucked this whole thing up.”

“You haven’t,” I said. “Erin, you love him. He loves you. Just give him at least this night to cool off, and then start texting or calling him tomorrow but don’t say ‘I only did it because...’ just tell him that you’re sorry and that you love him, okay?”

She just nodded against my chest and continued to sob and silently I hoped that John would talk to her anytime soon, because I didn’t like seeing Erin Mikaela Nickelsen all broken up like this.

~~~