Status: Active!
If We Jump
Three More Times, Press Rewind
“We have an hour, I’m gonna run to the liquor store, anybody wanna join?” John said, staring at me. I could tell he was hinting for me to go with him. I rolled my eyes with a smirk and made my way to the door.
“So you’re really not gonna tell me?” He said, when we got to the store.
“Tell you what?” I asked him, already knowing what he was talking about.
“You and my brother”
“Oh, well you didn’t ask” I laughed and he gave me a dirty look.
“Okay fine, don’t tell me.” He pouted.
“I don’t know what to tell you, I don’t really know what’s going on either” I told him truthfully. We’re trying again at dating, but I didn’t know if it was going to work out in the end. I didn’t know if he’d feel the same after all these years once we spent some “dating” time together. I didn’t know how serious things would be. I didn’t want to say the wrong thing and have it get back to Stephen.
We got everything we needed, really we just picked up random things off the shelves. John didn’t let me pay because the party was for me. We got back to the house and there were already cars lining the streets and when we got up to the door, we could hear the music from inside.
There must have been 150 people in there, it was packed. Some people I knew said hi to me and gave me get well soon wishes but there were a lot of people I had never actually met before. I followed John into the kitchen and ended up finding Stephen. He smiled when he saw me and stood up on a chair, before whistling to get everyone's attention.
"The guest of honor has arrived!" He yelled pointing at me, earning cheers from everyone. He gave a little speech, pointing Morgan out of the crowd and telling everyone how I broke my ankle, which apparently was hilarious to everyone, before getting down and coming over to kiss me.
"Do you mind if I go sit for a while?" I asked him, "My ankles starting to hurt a little bit". He smiled and walked me to the couch before disappearing. Morgan found me and we were talking about the tour and he asked me how I was feeling, when Stephen returned. He had two drinks in his hand, one for each of us. He sat with me and joined in on the conversation. He had his arm wrapped tightly around my waist, holding me close to him and I couldn't help but think it was because of who we were around. We talked with Morgan for a while, before josh took him away to show him something in the other room.
"I'm not into him like that. You can relax." I told Stephen, wiggling to loosen his grip on me a little bit.
"I never said you were." He answered taking a sip from his cup. I'd never seen him so protective before, and honestly it was kind of hot in that moment. I just hoped he wouldn't get carried away.
"They're setting up beer pong in the other room, do you want to go watch or do you want to stay here?"
I thought about it for a second before answering, "Why don't we play?" He looked surprised but smiled and walked with me to the table. When it was our turn, it was Stephen and I against Jess and her girlfriend Kim. I was a lot better at playing than I thought, I only missed one shot. Kim wasn't too bad either. Every time someone landed a ball in a cup, everyone chanted as they chugged. We ended up winning and as I turned to say something to Stephen, I kicked my cast into the table leg, sending a shooting pain through my bone. His eyes widened when I winced in pain and he immediately put his arm around me asking if I was okay. I nodded, trying to breathe through it.
"C’mon lets go lay down for a few minutes so you can rest it". I looked around and no one else seemed to notice what happened so I agreed. He tried to carry me up to his room but I refused, insisting I could do it. I hated having to rely on someone else for even the smallest tasks.
We were able to disappear into his bedroom unnoticed. I sat on the edge of his bed and felt a wave a relief after taking my weight off the cast.
"What do you want to do?" He asked me.
"I just want to spend time with you honestly"
"Lay down babe" he said with a smile before he got under the covers. I did the same and moved over so I could put my head on his chest. He smelled like cigarettes, Cologne, and a little bit of whiskey, like he always did. I could have stayed there, breathing in his scent and listening to his heart beat forever.
"I think I'm gonna stay here" I said after a few minutes.
"In Arizona?" He asked and I nodded. He tilted up my chin and gave me a long, gentle kiss.
"Looks like you're stuck with me" I smirked.
"I wouldn't have it any other way"
We were both pretty buzzed but not yet drunk. We stayed in his room for about 45 minutes before I told him we should back down to the party. I didn't want him to miss out just because I wasn't feeling it.
I met up with Jess and Kim downstairs so Stephen could go hang out with his friends instead of worrying about me. We sat around the table drinking and laughing for a long time. They seemed like a really good match, and I told Jess how happy I was for her.
"You and Stephen seem like you're meant to be too" Kim smiled at me.
I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know, I hope so. Things always seem to happen and we end up apart" I said, remembering the last time we were a couple.
"But you always find your way back to each other" Jess said. I guess she was right. The alcohol was starting to get to me. I was missing him a lot, even though he was just in the other room. I started to get sad, thinking how we'd eventually drift apart again.
Jess must have noticed my expression and she put her hand on mine. “Don’t worry, I’m not letting you two break up” she laughed. I gave her a small smile and went to go find Stephen. It was around 9:00 p.m. and people were beginning to leave. I couldn’t find him anywhere. I looked out the window and saw him standing outside talking to Justin. I didn’t want to interrupt, so I went up to his room to wait.
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I put out my cigarette and said goodbye to Justin and his friends before going back inside. A lot of people had left but there were still some left hanging out. “Did you see where Dakotah went?” I asked Jess.
“No, she went to go find you” She answered. Josh added that he saw her go upstairs as he walked by.
I walked in and she was sitting cross-legged on my bed, playing on her phone.
“hey, I was looking for you” I said and she met my eyes with that beautiful smile of hers. “you all partied out?”
“Yeah, didn’t really feel like socializing anymore” she said, putting her phone down. She got up and limped the few steps over to me to give me a hug.
“everything okay?” I asked, squeezing her back. She nodded and let me go. “I have something for you” I told her. She seemed a little down, so I figured it was the perfect time. I went and got it out of the desk drawer in the other room.
She looked confused as she unwrapped it, but it turned into the biggest smile when she saw that it was a scrapbook.
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Like always, Stephen knew just how to get me in a better mood. I unwrapped the gift and saw it was a scrapbook. He came to sit next to me as I looked through the pages. The first half of the book was pictures of the two of us in high school, pictures of me with the rest of the summer set, and pictures we had taken on our many adventures. There were a bunch of pages with pictures from tour, the summer after graduation. My favorite was of Stephen, Jess, and I standing backstage at one of their shows making faces at the camera.
Further into the book, was a blank page titled, “The Lost Years”. On the page next to it, he had handwritten the lyrics to The Way We Were. The last few pages had pictures from the show performed with them in and some pictures we took together while he had been taking care of me this week.
I was already getting emotional looking through this book. The fact that he had put his time and effort into making something so personal for me for no reason just made me love him more. Then I flipped the last page and saw the back cover. There was a drawing of a ring and something he had written.
Kodah, I’ve never felt so strongly about anything. You’re the love of my life, and the one that got away. Stay with me forever.
Whenever you’re ready.
xo Stephen
I could feel my eyes filling up as I read it and a few spilled out. I’ve dated my fair share of guys, and no one’s ever made me happier. I read over his words again and wiped my eyes. I leaned over and kissed him. When I pulled away, he wiped his thumb across my cheek to catch the last few tears. I looked back at the words and nodded to him. His eyes lit up. “Really?”
“Yeah. Let’s get married.” I told him, causing more happy tears to escape. He hugged me tight and I squeezed him even tighter.
“So you’re really not gonna tell me?” He said, when we got to the store.
“Tell you what?” I asked him, already knowing what he was talking about.
“You and my brother”
“Oh, well you didn’t ask” I laughed and he gave me a dirty look.
“Okay fine, don’t tell me.” He pouted.
“I don’t know what to tell you, I don’t really know what’s going on either” I told him truthfully. We’re trying again at dating, but I didn’t know if it was going to work out in the end. I didn’t know if he’d feel the same after all these years once we spent some “dating” time together. I didn’t know how serious things would be. I didn’t want to say the wrong thing and have it get back to Stephen.
We got everything we needed, really we just picked up random things off the shelves. John didn’t let me pay because the party was for me. We got back to the house and there were already cars lining the streets and when we got up to the door, we could hear the music from inside.
There must have been 150 people in there, it was packed. Some people I knew said hi to me and gave me get well soon wishes but there were a lot of people I had never actually met before. I followed John into the kitchen and ended up finding Stephen. He smiled when he saw me and stood up on a chair, before whistling to get everyone's attention.
"The guest of honor has arrived!" He yelled pointing at me, earning cheers from everyone. He gave a little speech, pointing Morgan out of the crowd and telling everyone how I broke my ankle, which apparently was hilarious to everyone, before getting down and coming over to kiss me.
"Do you mind if I go sit for a while?" I asked him, "My ankles starting to hurt a little bit". He smiled and walked me to the couch before disappearing. Morgan found me and we were talking about the tour and he asked me how I was feeling, when Stephen returned. He had two drinks in his hand, one for each of us. He sat with me and joined in on the conversation. He had his arm wrapped tightly around my waist, holding me close to him and I couldn't help but think it was because of who we were around. We talked with Morgan for a while, before josh took him away to show him something in the other room.
"I'm not into him like that. You can relax." I told Stephen, wiggling to loosen his grip on me a little bit.
"I never said you were." He answered taking a sip from his cup. I'd never seen him so protective before, and honestly it was kind of hot in that moment. I just hoped he wouldn't get carried away.
"They're setting up beer pong in the other room, do you want to go watch or do you want to stay here?"
I thought about it for a second before answering, "Why don't we play?" He looked surprised but smiled and walked with me to the table. When it was our turn, it was Stephen and I against Jess and her girlfriend Kim. I was a lot better at playing than I thought, I only missed one shot. Kim wasn't too bad either. Every time someone landed a ball in a cup, everyone chanted as they chugged. We ended up winning and as I turned to say something to Stephen, I kicked my cast into the table leg, sending a shooting pain through my bone. His eyes widened when I winced in pain and he immediately put his arm around me asking if I was okay. I nodded, trying to breathe through it.
"C’mon lets go lay down for a few minutes so you can rest it". I looked around and no one else seemed to notice what happened so I agreed. He tried to carry me up to his room but I refused, insisting I could do it. I hated having to rely on someone else for even the smallest tasks.
We were able to disappear into his bedroom unnoticed. I sat on the edge of his bed and felt a wave a relief after taking my weight off the cast.
"What do you want to do?" He asked me.
"I just want to spend time with you honestly"
"Lay down babe" he said with a smile before he got under the covers. I did the same and moved over so I could put my head on his chest. He smelled like cigarettes, Cologne, and a little bit of whiskey, like he always did. I could have stayed there, breathing in his scent and listening to his heart beat forever.
"I think I'm gonna stay here" I said after a few minutes.
"In Arizona?" He asked and I nodded. He tilted up my chin and gave me a long, gentle kiss.
"Looks like you're stuck with me" I smirked.
"I wouldn't have it any other way"
We were both pretty buzzed but not yet drunk. We stayed in his room for about 45 minutes before I told him we should back down to the party. I didn't want him to miss out just because I wasn't feeling it.
I met up with Jess and Kim downstairs so Stephen could go hang out with his friends instead of worrying about me. We sat around the table drinking and laughing for a long time. They seemed like a really good match, and I told Jess how happy I was for her.
"You and Stephen seem like you're meant to be too" Kim smiled at me.
I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know, I hope so. Things always seem to happen and we end up apart" I said, remembering the last time we were a couple.
"But you always find your way back to each other" Jess said. I guess she was right. The alcohol was starting to get to me. I was missing him a lot, even though he was just in the other room. I started to get sad, thinking how we'd eventually drift apart again.
Jess must have noticed my expression and she put her hand on mine. “Don’t worry, I’m not letting you two break up” she laughed. I gave her a small smile and went to go find Stephen. It was around 9:00 p.m. and people were beginning to leave. I couldn’t find him anywhere. I looked out the window and saw him standing outside talking to Justin. I didn’t want to interrupt, so I went up to his room to wait.
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Stephen’s P.O.V.
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I put out my cigarette and said goodbye to Justin and his friends before going back inside. A lot of people had left but there were still some left hanging out. “Did you see where Dakotah went?” I asked Jess.
“No, she went to go find you” She answered. Josh added that he saw her go upstairs as he walked by.
I walked in and she was sitting cross-legged on my bed, playing on her phone.
“hey, I was looking for you” I said and she met my eyes with that beautiful smile of hers. “you all partied out?”
“Yeah, didn’t really feel like socializing anymore” she said, putting her phone down. She got up and limped the few steps over to me to give me a hug.
“everything okay?” I asked, squeezing her back. She nodded and let me go. “I have something for you” I told her. She seemed a little down, so I figured it was the perfect time. I went and got it out of the desk drawer in the other room.
She looked confused as she unwrapped it, but it turned into the biggest smile when she saw that it was a scrapbook.
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Dakotah’s P.O.V.
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Like always, Stephen knew just how to get me in a better mood. I unwrapped the gift and saw it was a scrapbook. He came to sit next to me as I looked through the pages. The first half of the book was pictures of the two of us in high school, pictures of me with the rest of the summer set, and pictures we had taken on our many adventures. There were a bunch of pages with pictures from tour, the summer after graduation. My favorite was of Stephen, Jess, and I standing backstage at one of their shows making faces at the camera.
Further into the book, was a blank page titled, “The Lost Years”. On the page next to it, he had handwritten the lyrics to The Way We Were. The last few pages had pictures from the show performed with them in and some pictures we took together while he had been taking care of me this week.
I was already getting emotional looking through this book. The fact that he had put his time and effort into making something so personal for me for no reason just made me love him more. Then I flipped the last page and saw the back cover. There was a drawing of a ring and something he had written.
Kodah, I’ve never felt so strongly about anything. You’re the love of my life, and the one that got away. Stay with me forever.
Whenever you’re ready.
xo Stephen
I could feel my eyes filling up as I read it and a few spilled out. I’ve dated my fair share of guys, and no one’s ever made me happier. I read over his words again and wiped my eyes. I leaned over and kissed him. When I pulled away, he wiped his thumb across my cheek to catch the last few tears. I looked back at the words and nodded to him. His eyes lit up. “Really?”
“Yeah. Let’s get married.” I told him, causing more happy tears to escape. He hugged me tight and I squeezed him even tighter.
♠ ♠ ♠
awww :') comments?