Pine Trees

“Who’s ready for dessert?” Henry asks as he shuffles the deck of cards.

“I’m still stuffed from dinner.” Jude says rubbing his belly. I nod in agreement. Jay cooked a huge meal that included all sorts of different Mexican food. I had earlier learned she’s a professional chef, hence all of the fantastic food. “We should actually get to bed, I’m exhausted after driving for ten hours.”

“Oh fine, I suppose we will get to spend all week together.” Jay pouts. “Well give me hugs before bed!” She says, standing from her chair. We do as she asks, and each give her a hug.

I follow Jude down the hall to the guest bedroom. It follows the same white color scheme of the rest of the house, the only color being the plants that littered the room. The bedding is white, and there’s a white rug, similar to the one in the living room. There’s a white lounger to the corner of the room, where our backpacks sit. The window, hidden behind thick curtains, covers one wall from floor to ceiling.

“Their house is so nice.” I whisper to Jude, he nods in agreement. I open my backpack, strip off my black blouse and replace it with an oversized tee. I slip off my jeans and roll them up to put back in my backpack.

“You think this is nice?” Jude asks, stripping out of his shirt and jeans. “Get into bed.” He says and I do just that, climbing under the fluffy duvet. Jude flips off the light switch and walks to the large window, pulling open the heavy curtains to reveal an amazing view of the city in the distance.

“Oh my god, it’s amazing!”

“Right? It’s a perfect view. You’ve got gas works over there to the right, Lake Union, and an amazing skyline view. That’s the space needle there.” He says pointing to the monument in the distance. He climbs into bed with me. I lie my head on his chest and stare out the window at the beautiful image in front of me. His fingers brush my hair, making me fall asleep almost instantly.



I wake up before Jude and roll over onto my side to face him. He looks peaceful as he sleeps. His eyes closed and mouth slightly agape. I softly brush his hair out of his face which happens to wake him up. He begins to stretch then hugs me, pulling me into his chest and practically suffocating me by hugging so tightly.

“I can’t breathe!” I say as I struggle to get out of his grip. He laughs and relaxes, though still holds onto me tight.

“Good morning.” He says going in for a kiss which I gladly accept. His lips are dry, but still soft against mine. His tongue brushes my lips, asking to enter to which I agree, slightly parting my lips. His arm is under my neck, and he uses it to keep me close to him. His other hand he uses to stroke my hair and cheek. He softly touches my neck and hip, reaching underneath my shirt his fingers trace my pantie line. Is this really happening? His fingers then brush my stomach, tickling my tender skin and making me short of breathe.

We’re startled by a loud knocking at the bedroom door, followed by the call for breakfast. Saved by the bell. Jude rolls his eyes, and bows his head in defeat. I giggle and kiss his forehead before pushing him off of me so I can get dressed.

It’s cloudy outside, though Jude has told me that should never be an indication of what the weather will be for the day. I only brought two outfits in my backpack, and didn’t have any plans to go to the van to grab something else, so I slip on my dark blue jeans and favorite maroon sweater. Jude dresses in black jeans, a black tee, and a grey zip-up hoodie.

He smiles at me as we finish changing. He has the kindest smile, the kind of smile that could comfort you through the saddest of movies. It makes you trust that even with all the bad shit in the world, you’ll always be okay with him by your side. I love his smile, I could stare at it forever, which I realize is exactly what I’m doing.

Jude gestures for me to come to him and I do just that, letting him kiss me once again before we join his family for breakfast.

“Good morning,” I say to Jay as I join her in the kitchen.

“Morning!” She says, just as cheerful as ever. I wash my hands and offer to help, which she politely declines. “Please just have a seat.”

“Fine,” I say, knowing she is not one to protest with. I take a seat next Jude as we wait for Jay to serve us.

“Where’s Henry?” Jude asks.

“He had to take Brie to soccer practice.” Jay says as she places plates of crepes covered in strawberry sauce and whipped cream in front of us.

“This looks delicious!” I comment. Jay smiles as she sets down a plate of her own on the table across from us and sits down to eat.

We all dig in, too busy stuffing our faces with her delicious food to actually chat with each other. After breakfast, I help Jay with the dishes.

“What does Henry do?”

“He’s an architect.” Jay starts, then moves closer to me and begins to whisper, “We haven’t told anyone yet, but he just got a huge job offer from a company in Milan, and he’s going to take it.”

“What! That’s amazing.” I say and she puts her finger to her lip, making a ‘sh’ motion.

“We’re going to tell everyone over dinner tonight.”

“Tell everyone what?” Jude asks as he walks into the kitchen.

“You’ll see at dinner tonight!” Jay says and Jude rolls his eyes.

“Are you guys done? I want to take Logan to see a bit of downtown before we head out.”

“Yeah, you two go ahead. I’ll see you guys tonight.” Jay says as she waves us away.

I follow Jude out to the van, where we get in and takes off through the busy streets. Driving in Seattle is terrifying. It’s like the people don’t even care about getting hit, they just walk out in front of cars. I can’t count the number of times I gasped or grabbed Jude’s arm thinking we were going to hit someone.

He finally finds somewhere to park and we get out, heading straight for Pike Place Market. Jude holds my hand as we navigate through the market. It’s crowded and hard to maneuver. I’m thankful to have him leading me. The weather clears up, and the sun shines bright. We walk slowly through the crowd, looking around at the different vendors. So much handmade jewelry, clothing, and other trinkets. I stop at a stand to look at their crystal pendants, when Jude surprises me from behind, holding a bouquet of my favorite flowers: sunflowers.

“Oh, thank you!” I say, taking them and giving him a grateful kiss. We walk around for about a couple hours before we decide to rest our feet and stop at a little gelato shop. We both order a small coneof chocolate flavored gelato.

“I’ve never been to a market like this before, it’s amazing all the things people have to sell.” I say, licking my cone.

“I’m glad you’re enjoying it.” Jude says with a slight smirk.

“What?” I ask.

“Just, your lip…” He says with a chuckle.

“What?” I ask, wiping my mouth on a fresh napkin.

“Nothing, you got it.” He says, though his face tells me otherwise. He goes to lick his cone and I pat it slightly at the tip, making him smear the cold gelato all over his mouth and nose. “Did you really just do that?” He asks, laughing and reaching for a napkin.

“Nah, it wasn’t me.” I shrug and continue enjoying my cone.

“Jude?” A male’s voice calls from behind me. I turn around to see a tall tan boy with floppy blonde hair approach us carrying a skateboard. “No way, what are you doing here?” The guy asks as he steps up to the table.

“I’m just visiting my family.” Jude says, standing up to do that half handshake – half hug thing that bros do.

“It’s been forever, how ya been?” The guy asks, pulling up a chair from another table and sitting between us. I sit there awkwardly and half wonder if he even realizes I’m there.

“I’m doing good!” Jude says. “Uh, Ty, this is my girlfriend Logan. Logan, this is Ty, we kind of grew up together.”

“Hey.” Ty says, nodding in my direction. He stares at me for a good 30 seconds before turning his attention back to Jude. “What have you been up to these days? I haven’t seen you since you moved to Cali, dude!”

Jude chuckles, “Yeah it’s definitely been awhile… We’re actually just passing through, we’re going on a cross country road trip.”

“Dude that’s dope! How long are you in town for?”

“Uh about a week? We’re going start heading south on Monday.”

“That’s perfect, cause Nikki is having a bonfire tonighand I know she’d be so stoked to see you.” Ty says, nudging Jude’s arm. Jude looks at me, quite obviously uncomfortable.

Jude knows I’ve never been with anyone else, but we’ve never talked about his exes… And judging by the look on his face, Nikki has to be an ex-girlfriend.

“Oh right, sorry.” Ty says giving me an awkward glance. “I mean it’d be cool if she came, too, obviously. Nikki’s not the only one who misses you.”

Jude looks to me again, and all I can offer is a shrug. “Do you want to go?” I ask.

“It would be cool to see everyone since I haven’t been back in a while. You know, for old time’s sake?”

“Word! I’ll let them know you’re coming.” Ty says, standing up. “See you later, cool meeting you.” He says before skating off.

“Sorry about that, we don’t have to go if you don’t want to.” Jude says after Ty is out of ear shot.

“Why wouldn’t I want to?”

“Nikki is my ex? I figured you picked up on that…”

“I did. But she’s your ex? You moved away for high school, so it’s been at least a few years since you’ve seen her right?”

“For the most part. I mean I’ve seen her around when I would visit during the summers. It’s just…she was my first girlfriend, and I guess the first girl I, at least thought, I loved even if we were young.”

“Do you still have feelings for her?”

“I’ll always care about her. We were together since we were kids, and to be honest, she’s the reason I moved to California. She cheated on me and I’ll never forgive her for that.”

I guess I really didn’t know what I would be getting myself into with meeting her. A part of me just wants her to like, since a big part of Jude’s life was spent with her. Another part of me already hated her for what she did to him, though thankful because if she didn’t cheat on him, he wouldn’t be here with me now.

Jude grabs my hand and smiles at me. “I’m with you now. You don’t need to be worried.” He says, his thumb stroking the back of my hand. “Now let’s go meet my parents.”