I Never Promised You A Rose Garden

Jared's P.O.V.

I saw Jesse go to dance with Rachel, and saw Kassidy sitting all by herself. I took a deep breath before walking over to her. I almost chickened out twice, and both times mentally kicked myself before continuing my trek to get to her from across the hall. When I finally did I stood there awkwardly, and trying to build up the courage to say something to her so she’d know I was there.

“Hey,” real smooth Jared, real smooth. I could hear my brother's taunting and snide remarks at my lack of brilliance with that one.

“Hi,” she replied, and I could tell she immediately felt a little out of place.

“You look really great,” I offered, feeling ridiculous already, but I knew I needed to talk to her.

“Uh, thanks. Um… you too,” she said, before looking away. I let out a deep breath and then sat down beside her.

“I’m sorry,” I blurted, and she looked down at her hands.

“It’s oka—”

“No, I don’t think you know what I mean. I’m not sorry for the almost kissing you thing,” I cut her off, and she looked up at me, extremely confused.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m sorry for letting us drift apart, and I’m sorry for not doing this that night,” I said, before leaning over and pressing my lips to hers. The kiss was quick, and as I pulled away just far enough to look in her eyes I could feel the electricity coursing through my body, my lips almost tingling. I’d never had a kiss that felt so… right.

“Jared…” her eyes were wide as they searched my face. I felt my face turning red, and then she managed a small smile, before looking down at her hands.

“This whole time I thought you were ashamed that you’d tried to kiss someone like me,” she admitted, hiding slightly behind the curtain of her hair. I racked my brain trying to understand what she was talking about, but couldn’t make sense of it.

“What do you mean, someone like you?”

“Come on Jared – look at all of the other girls here; I can’t hold a candle to any of them, and you could have any one of them,” she whispered, looking away. I put my hand over top of hers, and then softly turned her chin so she was looking at me.

“Are you kidding? You blow them all out of the water,” I whispered, before kissing her again. She kissed me back this time, her hand on my bicep lightly, and I felt my mind start to race.

“Um…” I looked up to see Jesse standing there, and Kassidy’s face fell. I hadn’t thought of how awful she’d feel when Jesse found out about me kissing her, and somewhere inside I worried that she regretted kissing me.

“Jesse, I…”

“I kissed her Jesse,” I told him, hoping that if she wanted to stay with him instead it would help her. It would suck ass for me, but I guess if she's happy that's what matters. I felt the worry build inside my stomach at the thought of it, and when I looked over saw Kassidy close to tears.

“I figured there was something between you two, that party at Enns’s…” he shrugged. “I kind of thought you two were together the way you acted at first.”

“Jesse I’m so sorry – I should have never…” there were tears glistening in her eyes, and Jesse pulled her into a quick hug.

“No, Kass it’s okay; I should have known by the way you guys acted that it wasn’t just nothing. It’s just as much my fault for thinking I could take the place of something like that,” he said, and Kass wrapped her arms around him.

"That doesn't make it right Jesse, I should've at least--"

“I’m serious Kassidy, and it's okay, honest,” I heard him whisper, and she nodded, a soft smile on her face and tears on her cheeks.

"Thanks Jesse,"

“You, take care of her all right? You mess up again and I’ll kick your ass and I won’t be so willing to let her go,” he told me, and I nodded.

“No fear of that,” I assured him, and he nodded, and pressed one more lingering kiss to her cheek before heading back out into the crowd of people. It only took about fifteen minutes for Rachel to be hanging off of him again. I knew he didn’t have feelings for her the way he might have for Kass, and while I felt bad I somehow didn’t really feel guilty.

We sat next to each other, her tiny hands in mine as we talked; my chair scooted right beside hers so we were touching. It was like old times, where we could talk about anything and everything, but somehow it was different. It was in the way she looked up at me and smiled before looking away again, and the fact that I could hold her hand and kiss her cheek.

A slow song came on, and I could pretty much feel my palms turn sweaty as I stumbled over my words.

“Do you, um, want to dance?” I whispered, and she nodded.

“I’d love to,”

I led her out to the dance floor, and as her arms went around my shoulders I wrapped mine around her tiny waist. We swayed back and forth, not really dancing because I was afraid of stepping on her feet, but it didn’t even matter. She rested her head against my chest, and I took a deep breath, my chin resting on top of her head. Near the end of the song I lifted my head, and as she looked up, wondering what was going on, I kissed her once more. When I pulled away slightly I saw the smile on her lips and went in for another one, this time letting my tongue trace along her lip.

When we pulled away she nestled her face against my chest again, but not before I saw the smile she wore, and that put one on my face too. We continued to dance, regardless of what song was playing, until I felt someone tap my shoulder.

“Hmm?” I turned and saw Eric and Alanna looking at us like we’d grown an extra limb.

“What…?” he asked, and Kassidy just shrugged, her cheeks an adorable shade of pink, never moving away from me.

“You finally got the lead out of your ass?” Alanna asked, and I nodded, even though I felt a little embarrassed.

“Yeah, I guess so,” I replied, and she sighed.

“About time. Now you have her home before three and you had damn well not be there when I go back there in the morning,” she said, and both of us turned bright red.

“Yes mother, now can we keep dancing?” Kassidy asked, and we all laughed.

“I guess so – but if you don’t obey the rules young lady you’re grounded,” Eric chimed in, and I raised an eyebrow.

“And you had better have her home before three and if you stay the night she will be grounded young man,” Kassidy informed him, causing more laughter.

“Yes ma’am, we’re gonna go dance now,” Eric said, leaving us alone again.

“Wanna know something?” I asked, and she looked up at me.

“What?”

“I think this is possibly the best night ever,” I smiled, before kissing her again.