Let's Set Our Hearts At Self-Destruct

A mix between a laugh and a cry escaped from Jaime’s mouth as he peppered kisses all over Avery’s face. Finally. After all these years, Ava said she loved him. If something shot from the sky and killed him, he would die a very happy man. Jaime never heard something more beautiful than her confession in his entire life. He pressed her against the wall and pressed his lips to hers deeply, memorizing their every curve and crevice.

“Avery McCullough I’ve loved you since the day I met you. You have no idea how good it feels to finally hear you say that.”

She grabbed him by the shirt and yanked him closer to her, grinning at him. They shared a few more kisses before Jaime picked her up, spinning her around until they both ended up a dizzy mess on the living room floor. Jaime laughed until he couldn’t breathe, pulling Avery on top of him and hugging her tight to him.

“Hey Jaime?”

“Yes Ava?”

“Why is your house so dirty?”

Quickly embarrassed, Jaime gently set her on the ground and scrambled to his feet. He mumbled something about not expecting company as he tried to clean up the mess in front of them. Avery sat on the floor and laughed, finding his embarrassment quite adorable. She yanked on his pant leg, giggling until he stopped nervously moving around.

Jaime turned around to look at her, a pile of dirty clothes in his hands. She held her hands up in the air like a child, indicating that she needed help getting up. Dropping everything to the floor, he reached his arms out, grasping her hands and pulling her up to her own two feet. The small brown-haired girl grinned and kissed his cheek before bouncing around him and collecting the dishes off of the coffee table.

Before he could protest, she collected all of the dishes in the room and found her way to the kitchen. Avery loved the way Jaime’s cheeks reddened when she began helping him. It almost turned her on how he wanted to clean his house for her on his own. She dumped the dishes into the sink and watched the man she knew she loved with all her heart bumble around the house, trying to make it look like a single man didn’t live there. He cared about her more than she could ever imagine.

Throughout the next few weeks, the pair hung out as much as the possibly could without getting sick of each other. In Jaime’s mind, he didn’t think he could ever get sick of her; even if she turned out to be one of those girls who woke you up at three in the morning because they needed feminine products. He’d go to any store at any hour of any day to get her anything she needed, he didn’t care. The love they felt for each other was more intense than anything they’ve ever felt. Ever.

July crept upon them, which meant it was nearing Avery’s birthday. Despite how they felt about each other, Jaime hadn’t even gotten the balls to ask her on a date or ask her to be his girlfriend yet. No one even knew that they were close to each other again. While Ava sat on his bed, clicking through the channels to find a movie, Jaime stood in the kitchen, giving himself a pep talk.

After more than a few minutes, he grabbed beer that Avery requested and made his way into his bedroom. He had no idea why he was so nervous for something as minute as a first date. Something about her made him feel like he was in high school all over again. Maybe it was because she was the first-and only- girl he had ever loved, even since he was a freshman in high school.

“Hey babe, what took you so long?”

Avery asked, crossing her legs as he twisted the cap off her beer and handed it to her.

“Ava, do you want to go on a date with me?”

Jaime squeezed his eyes shut, gripping onto his bottle so hard he could have broken it. She laughed and looked up at him, taking a swig of her drink.

“Of course, Jaime!”

This made the dimpled man let out a giant sigh of relief. He had no idea why that was so hard, Ava made it seem effortless. He kissed her cheek and settled down next to her, immersing himself in whatever flick Avery had chose.

“Jaimeeeee. Where. Are. We. Going?!”

Avery bounced up and down in her seat, anxious to know where they were having their first date. Jaime had given her small hints throughout the week but every time she asked him, he clammed up. She was now convinced that he was going to send her to her death.

He had bought her a brand new dress that he insisted she wear and it looked even better on her than he imagined. It was a simple green eyelet dress that came down to just above her knees. It matched her eyes perfectly and she was absolutely stunning. Her hair fell in soft curls down her back and she wore light grey tights and brown lace up boots. She was like his own personal fairy.

“Jaime Preciado, you tell me where we are going right now or so help me I will…”

“You’ll…. You’ll what?!”

“I’ll… I don’t know! I’ll kill you or something!”

“No you won’t, you love me too much. We’re here, anyway.”

The car pulled to a stop in front of a flashing blue sign that caught Avery’s attention.

“Roller skating?! You’re taking me roller skating?!”

She beamed at Jaime, almost breaking her arm trying to unlatch her seatbelt. He laughed and slyly fixed his hair in the rearview mirror before stepping out and opening the passenger door for her. Roller skating was Avery’s favourite thing to do growing up; she dragged Jaime to the rink every Friday after school.

“M’lady.”

Jaime grinned, slightly bowing, and holding his hand out for her. She giggled and took his hand, beaming from ear to ear. She was so excited to be doing this again, especially on a date with her favourite person in the universe. He really was spoiling her, holding the door, guiding her in, even squeezing her hand as they asked for their skates.

“C’mon beautiful.”

Jaime grinned at her, guiding her into the rink. They skated around as long as they could, laughing, kissing, being that gushy couple every single person wished they were. When they couldn’t possibly go on, they trudged their way to the food counter. Finally, after seven years of only dreaming of it, Jaime was going to ask Avery out. They ordered their food and changed back into their shoes while they waited.

“Hey Ava, can I ask you a question?”

“Of course!”

He helped her finish lacing up her boot before grabbing her hand, causing her to look up at him.

“So… Avery… I was wondering if you do me the deepest pleasure in being my girlfriend?”

Jaime got nervous and blushed a deep crimson, dropping his gaze at the end. Avery practically jumped into his lap, attaching her lips to his. They kissed for a long while before he broke away to look in her eyes again.

“So is that a yes?”

“Duh.”