If We Jump

“So how about we go out tonight?” Stephen asked me as I got in his car.

“Okay” I agreed. He started driving back toward his house; he had come to pick me up so we could hang out.

“We’ve never really gone on an official date. I figured we could go out to dinner or something.” He said, taking his eyes off the road to look at me quickly.

“Yeah, sounds great” I smiled. We went to Stephen’s house and he called some restaurant, that he wouldn’t tell me the name of, and made us reservations for 7 o’clock.

Wherever we were going, I was glad it wouldn’t be too expensive, since he didn’t ask me to change into something nicer. Seven o’clock came quickly and we were soon in his car on the way to the restaurant. When we pulled up outside, I saw a sign reading Villagio Italiano. We were seated off in the corner at a small table with candles on it.

We ordered our food and talked about how our weekends went while we waited for it. When it arrived, our waitress also brought us a bottle of wine, though I’m not sure why. As we ate I commented on how delicious the food was and Stephen agreed, other than that we sat in a comfortable silence until we were finished. We fought over paying the bill, just like we always had, and he drove me home.

“Do you want to come inside?” I offered. My mom was away on business for the weekend and I didn’t exactly want to sit at home alone for the rest of the night. He nodded and walked inside. We ended up watching a movie on Netflix until midnight. It was still relatively early but I was tired and I could tell Stephen was too by the way he was yawning so we went upstairs to my room. He pulled off his shirt and pants so he was just left in his boxers and I walked over to my dresser to look for pajamas. I put on a tank top and shorts and crawled under the covers with Stephen.

He leaned over to give me a good night kiss, but it turned into more than that. He placed his hand on the side of my face and my fingers tangled in his hair. He moved so that he was hovering over my body. When thing became a little more heated, he stopped. “Are you sure?” he asked. Stephen knew I was a virgin, we discussed it after the whole Brent thing, but I also knew he wasn’t.

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When I woke up, I was laying on my side facing Stephen. I picked up my head to look for the clock and Stephen’s arm tightened around my waist for a moment, like a mini-hug, the way he always did when he was awake first. “Hey” he said. I gave him a smile.

“Do you want breakfast?” he asked me. I gave him a small laugh.

“I can make you something if you’re hungry or we can go out to eat.” I said, rolling my eyes. Whenever we woke up together he would offer to cook me breakfast.

“Whichever you prefer.” He said and kissed my cheek. I untangled myself from his arms and got out of bed. My muscles were sore and my legs felt funny but I brushed it off and tried getting dressed, looking as normal as possible.

We went out to the little diner that we always go to and ordered our breakfast. When we had finished he reached across the table to take my hand in his and sighed. “I’ve only got a couple weeks left with you” he said. I nodded, looking at the table. I didn’t want to think about him leaving but I didn’t really have a choice, since he’d be gone soon. “You can still come with us you know...” he said.

“You know I can’t.” I answered, frowning. I wished I could go with him, but I had to deal with things back here that I had put off the last time I went on tour. I had taken this semester off from college so I could get a job, make some money, and go away to school in the fall. I had applied to some art schools, but I hadn’t heard back yet. Now I had to work on getting a job so I could pay off my student loans. “I’m gonna miss you.” I told him. He nodded and said he would too.

The weeks passed too quickly and before I knew it I was shaking Stephen’s shoulder, trying to wake him so he wouldn’t miss his flight. Eventually he got up and got dressed. He had stayed the night with me and now I had to drive him to his house to pick up John and get his things.

Considering that all my friends were leaving me for three months, I was pretty sad. I waited patiently inside the car while Stephen went inside to get his bags. A few moments later, I heard the trunk open and then John Gomez popped in my backseat with a huge smile. He put his hand on my shoulder and said, “cheer up Kodah, we’ll be back really soon. And we’ll text all the time!” I smiled, though I knew he was lying. There was a big time difference between Arizona and Europe and I knew they’d be busy a lot. Luckily, I started my new job at the animal shelter in a few days, so I could keep my mind off of missing them.

Once we got to the airport, we met up with the rest of the band and I said my goodbyes. I hugged all of them and they each gave me encouraging words. I saved Stephen for last. When their plane got called, Jess, John, Brian, and Josh, left me and Stephen to have a little privacy before they boarded their flight. Stephen wrapped his arms around me and gripped me just as tightly as I squeezed him, if not tighter. “I’ll call you when we land, okay Kodah? I love you.” He said, I repeated the last part back to him and his plane was called again. He gave me one last, gentle kiss, and then he was gone.