Jayson (Fallen Brook High School YA series)

by J. L. Wyer

Jayson’s intense gaze slowly rakes up my body in increments, from my strappy heels, to the panels of my dress that seem to float around my knees, to the deep V of the dress’s bodice.

  “Liz, you are captivating.” The butterflies in my stomach wake and scatter into a million fluttering wings.

  Thankfully, my unsteady legs are able to make it to the bottom of the stairs, but I’m not going to take any chances. As soon as Jayson offers me his hand, I latch onto it, but he stops me on the next to the last step. Careful of my hair, he reaches one hand around my neck and spreads the other across the dip of my spine, pulling me in. He holds me like that, silver eyes travelling over my face, before inching in and capturing my lips in a sweet kiss making my toes curl.

  Mom clears her throat behind us. She and Dad are standing at the front door, camera in her hand. So embarrassing.

  “Is this how it’s going to be at prom next year?” my dad asks her.

  “Oh, much worse, I’m afraid.”

  My dad groans.

  We stand for what seems like hundreds of pictures because once Mom is done, Hailey jumps in with her phone to take more. Jayson apologizes to everyone saying we’ll be late if we don’t leave now and guides me outside, hand placed possessively at my back.

  On our way to his truck, bright twinkling lights catch my attention. Our oak tree, which I now call our "date tree," is lit up from top to bottom with lights, and an old-fashioned swing hangs from the bottom branch. When did that happen? Among the crystal lights, silver origami stars hang down from the branches. I take it all in and decide that it’s the most wondrous thing I have ever seen. I look over to Jayson who is beaming at me with pride knowing his romantic gesture is what put the awestruck look across my face. I decide that the tree is the second most wondrous thing — Jayson is the first.

  “I’m speechless. It’s so magical. I don’t have words." Jayson threads his fingers with mine and brings them up to his mouth for a reverent kiss on each of my wrists. He leads me over to the swing and holds it steady for me to sit down. “Aren’t we going to be late for dinner?”

  “Already planned for that. Trust me.” He smiles, waiting as I smooth down my dress and gently lower myself to the polished wood board of the swing.

  Once I’m settled, he gives me a small push. “You keep surprising me,” I say tilting my head back to look up at him.

  “I used to daydream about doing this for you when I was younger.”

  “Your dream was to push me in a swing?”

  “Actually, yeah. I would daydream of you wearing your blue princess dress, the one you wore the first day we met, and that plastic tiara. Your hair would be loose and tumbled down your back and every time I would push you, it would whip back and float down like a cascade of shimmering silk. I imagined your smile and your laughter as you swung high into the sky to catch the stars.”

  "You're very poetic tonight," I tease and his cheeks turn red.

  He lifts his hand and pulls one of the silver origami stars down from its string that holds it tied to part of a branch and hands it to me. “Open it.”

  I place my feet down to stop the swing from swaying and carefully pull apart the star. Just like the paper gifts he used to leave me on my windowsill last summer after we started dating, this star is also filled with his handwriting. Inside he has written “a daughter who has your eyes and your smile.”

  Curious, I ask him, “What’s this mean?”

  Jayson bends down to my upturned face and whispers to me, “Inside every star is a wish. My wish.”

  My brows scrunch together before his words hit me. His wish is for a daughter, our daughter. One that looks like me. Tears spring to my eyes. We may be young and not even close to having a conversation about our future, marriage and kids, but his sweet thought is romantic and touching, nonetheless.

  “Every star on our tree is filled with a wish. Wishes that I want to share with you, spend the rest of my life giving to you. All you have to do, Liz, is reach for the stars and I will give them all to you. I love you so much.” He moves my hair to the side and kisses my ear, my neck, my bare shoulder, and I shiver.

  “You absolutely slay me.” I’m so enamored with this boy. “I love you too. So much.” A single tear slips down my face, one that he captures with his finger and places to his lips. Jayson is kissing my tears away.

  Before I can finish expressing my appreciation for his extraordinary gift to me, we hear Hailey squeal next to us, Mom and Dad behind her. Mom’s hand is covering her mouth as she looks at the old oak tree decked out like Christmas. Dad reaches over and pulls her to his side, placing a kiss on top of her head.

  “That’s the most romantic thing I have ever seen!” Hailey exclaims and starts to snap picture after picture of us and the tree, fingers flying across her phone. “Brea won’t believe this.” Jayson groans against my shoulder.

  Jayson doesn’t notice, but his parents and Julien are standing on their front porch, arms linked together in a chain, watching us. His mom is silently crying, and Julien is videoing Jayson and I. He better send me a copy tonight. I allow myself a minute to take everything in. Jayson’s warmth enveloping me from behind, the tree in all its twinkling splendor, both our families sharing in our romantic moment. I think to myself, nothing will be able to top this moment. Boy, was I wrong, as Jayson shows me later that night.

  Dinner at Anaïs was unbelievable and I am a girl swooning. Jayson has romanced me in so many ways and it hasn’t stopped. He had bouquets of small yellow daffodils, my favorite flower because they represent renewal and look like sunshine, already waiting at our table in the restaurant when we arrived. Knowing I’m allergic to dairy, he made sure they had homemade raspberry sorbet available for my dessert. Once we arrive home, it’s past midnight and I am ecstatic to see the tree is still lit. Mom and Dad didn't give me a curfew, which is completely shocking, but I'm not complaining. I don't want this night to ever end.

  Jayson reaches to the back seat of his truck and pulls out a swirled hand-blown glass jar. Opening the passenger door for me, he helps me out.

  “So what’s the jar for?”

  “We’re going to capture some stars,” he vaguely states, and we walk hand in hand to our tree. He plucks down one of the origami stars and places it in the jar. “For your collection,” he teases, referring to all of the jars in my room that hold various things I’ve found over the years. “It’s so you can open one and read it every day.”

  We take our time picking all of the paper stars from the tree and placing them in the jar. Jayson has to get the ones that are higher up since I’m wearing a dress. Once we finish and the jar is full, Jayson takes my hand and leads me to the backyard.

  “Um, where are we going?”

  “Your evening, princess, is not over with.”

  “A romantic walk in the backyard? How did you know that’s what I wanted most?”

  “Nope,” he kisses me as we walk toward the forest.

  “This isn’t going to turn into some lame horror B-movie scene is it? Clueless teenagers go out in the middle of nowhere to make out and are attacked by a chainsaw wielding mass murderer with a hook for his hand.”

  “Who says we’re making out?” he winks, and I punch him.

  “Okay, I give up. Where are we going? Oh!”

  We stop at our old fort, the one Hailey and I built but belonged to me and my two princes. Memories of our days playing out here together coalesce in my mind like a slideshow, one image after another after another. Jayson is using the flashlight on his phone to help guide our way and, even in the dim light, I can tell something is different. New plyboard has been put up and a proper roof is on top. Jayson pulls aside a heavy tarp covering the entrance to the fort and I notice that the tarp has stars printed all over it.

  “Hold on just a sec,” he says as he stops me at the entrance before going inside. A flicker of light appears and casts a shimmery glow around the interior. Jayson has placed more fairy lights inside which are draped across the tops
of the plyboard walls and roof.

  “Jayson, when did you do all of this? The tree, the fort?” I ask as emotion overcomes me.

  “Julien helped. I hope you like it.”

  “You definitely win the prize for the most romantic boy in the world.”

  In response to what I just said, Jayson brings his hands to my face, tipping it up, thumbs rubbing gentle circles next to the sides of my mouth. My hands reach out and grab his arms from their own volition and hold on for dear life, needing his strength to anchor me before I get swept away in a tidal wave of emotion.

  “Liz,” is all I hear before he kisses me. This kiss is different. It makes my body float like my bones have been replaced with helium. The warm glow of the twinkling lights surrounding us casts shadows around the fort creating a dreamlike ambience.

  “Princess,” he whispers down at me. I look up into the beautiful gray eyes of the boy I have known for most of my life.

  As if I weigh nothing, Jayson lifts me up in his arms and I press my nose against the crook of his neck. We don't speak as he lays me gently down on a blanket I never noticed it was there when we came inside the fort. Jayson must have put it out sometime earlier today before we left for our date. He settles on top of me, kissing my lips, my cheek, and down my neck.

  Pushing up on his arms so it looks like he's hovering over me suspended in mid-air, he gazes down at me, his eyes questioning. Without him saying a word, I know excatly what he's asking me. Am I ready to take our realtionship to next level? It's something I've been talking to Hailey a lot about lately. How do you know if or when you're ready to have sex for the first time? Should I wait until I'm older? Should I wait until I'm married? All I know is, this feels right. This moment with Jayson feels perfectly right. I love him and he loves me, and I'm ready.

  I give him an imperceptible nod, a smile blooming across my face. To prove to him I want more, that I'm ready for more, I reach down and pull his dress shirt from his trousers and slide my hands under it then up his torso to his chest. I can feel his heart thudding a triple beat against my palm.

  "I love you, Jayson."

  Jayson kisses me fiercely as he slides his hands to the back of my dress where the zipper is located.

  "I love you, too, Liz."

  He pulls a condom out of his wallet and places it beside us on the blanket. We take our time removing our clothes, allowing ourselves lingering moments to touch and kiss each other. Jayson's body is beautiful. Swimming has given him wide shoulders and strong arm and leg muscles. He murmurs words of praise and love against my bare skin, telling me how good I feel, how thankful he is that I said yes.

  We explore every inch of our bodies before finally, finally, Jayson tears open the condom packet, sheathing his hardness, and gently slides inside of me. Our twin moans at how good it feels floats around us in the night air.

  I have to admit, there is a pinch of pain, but it ebbs away quickly. Jayson kisses me the entire time we make love, and it's the most wonderous feeling I have ever experienced. As he moves in and out of me, a tingling starts low in my belly and expands outward. It takes control of my body and then, like the fireworks display we watched at the beach, I feel my body explode into a million sparkles. Jayson says my name and begins to shudder, holding me tight against his body.

  In the aftermath of what I would describe as the best experience in the world, Jayson collapses on top of me, the weight of him like a warm blanket. I wrap my arms around his neck and just breathe. Jayson raises his head to kiss me tenderly — once, twice, three times.

  “That was perfect. You were perfect, Liz.” He smooths my damp hair away from my face. I reach up to trace his eyebrows.

  “I’ll never look at this fort the same way again,” I snicker. Jayson starts to laugh which reminds both of us that we’re still connected intimately.

  “I need to get rid of this,” he says and reluctantly rolls off of me to dispose of the condom.

  We spend a few more hours out in our forest fort holding one another and talking before we make our way home just before sunrise.

  Chapter 14

  Elizabeth

  A noise keeps dinging near my ear pulling me out of an exhausted sleep. At first, I dreamily wonder if it’s my alarm for school but then remember that it’s Saturday, so I flip over and snuggle back down in my pillow. The dinging doesn’t stop. My fuzzy brain finally engages, and I realize that it’s my phone making all the noise. I decide I’m going to kill whoever keeps texting me at — I squint to focus on my bedside digital clock — eight in the morning on a weekend. I stretch my arm to reach for my phone and groan. Why am I so sore? My arm stills when it hits me. It really happened. Jayson and I really happened. This time when I groan, it’s not from discomfort but from remembering every touch and kiss Jayson gave to me. I collapse back against my pillows and relive every moment of last night.

  I hear the bathroom door click, and Hailey peaks her head through. “Thought I heard you moving around.” She swings the door fully open and I pull the covers back for her to join me. She barrels over to the bed and plops down next to me. After we settle, cocooning ourselves under my down comforter, she rests her hands under her face and looks at me.

  “So?” Hailey grins widely at me. I know what she wants but I don’t know if I’m ready to tell her about last night.

  I decide to buy myself some time by deflecting. “How was your Valentine’s evening?”

  Hailey gives me a knowing look but plays along. “Brea and I just hung out and watched cheesy Hallmark movies. We also tried out your new swing. Hope you don’t mind.”

  “Of course not.”

  My phone starts dinging again, but I continue to ignore it.

  “Are you really going to make me pull it out of you?”

  “Pull what out of me?” I ask innocently.

  “Fine, have it your way. I heard you and Jayson come in here at six this morning. Mind telling me what my big sister was doing and why she was out all night?”

  I cringe. Were we that loud coming in? Did Mom and Dad hear us too?

  “Dinner at Anaïs was fabulous.”

  “Not what I’m talking about and you know it. Dinner doesn’t take twelve hours.” Hailey tickles my side and we start to wrestle on the bed, her fingers attacking my rib cage and under my knees where she knows I’m most vulnerable.

  “Okay! Alright! Uncle! Uncle!” I capitulate.

  “Spill the beans or I go for your feet next.” When I hesitate to answer, she lunges to grab my legs and I yelp.

  “After dinner, Jayson took me to our old fort.” She stops her attack but continues to waggle her fingers over my feet as she waits.

  “And?” she prods inching her hands closer.

  “And it was everything,” I exhale, eyes closing as I picture Jayson’s face hovering above me, his eyes boring into mine as he slid into me for the first time.

  Hailey collapses on top of me with a fierce hug. “I knew it! Oh, Lizzie. Oh, I’m gonna cry.”

  A bit bewildered I push her off. “Why are you going to cry?”

  “Happy tears. I’m so happy for you. Are you okay? You did use protection, right? How do you feel?”

  For some unknown reason, I remember the words my mom said to me when I was little about crying "love" tears. I get it now.

  “I feel good,” I falter trying to find the right words. “Changed. Different. Loved,” I breathe out the last word.

  “That’s all I need to know. I don’t need any details. I just wanted to make sure you were happy about it.”

  “I am. I promise.”

  “Mom said breakfast is soon. They don’t know you stayed out all night. I covered for you.” She grins letting me know that I owe her one.

  “Thanks, Hales. Tell her I’ll be right down after I take a quick shower.”

  “I think that would be wise. You smell like Jayson’s cologne.”

  I toss my pillow at her as she exits through my bedroom door. Opening my phone, I see I have several t
exts from Jayson, Maria, and Julien. I look at Julien’s first. He sent me a picture of him and Elijah at their dinner in Fayetteville. Julien has his arm behind Elijah, and Elijah is leaning into his side. They look so happy together. I hope they had a good time last night and didn’t run into any problems.

  Me: Love the pic you sent. How did it go?

  While I wait for Julien to respond, I read Jayson’s texts.

  Jayson: Wanted to be the first to tell you good morning and that I love you, princess.

  Jayson: Thank u for giving me the best gift last night. I will protect and cherish our first time forever.

  Jayson: I’ll drop by later. Check your windowsill.

  Jayson: Many more next times to come.

  I look over and see an origami star on my windowsill and get up to grab it just as Julien texts me back.

  Julien: We had a great time. All was smooth and quiet. I stayed at Elijah’s after.

  Me: Keeping me in suspense?

  Julien: No. Just don’t want to ruin anything that’s building between me and E. But what did happen was nice. Very nice. Not one to kiss and tell

  Me: So happy for you both. Really. Give E a huge kiss from me. I love you Julien.

  Julien: Love you too Liz.

  He sends me another picture, this one of him and Elijah right now at a table drinking coffee.

  Julien: Don’t forget to delete our convo.

  Me: On it. xxxooo

  I delete our entire chat and the two pictures Julien sent me. Since Jayson and Hailey know the password to my phone, Julien asked me to start erasing any text or picture that included him and Elijah. I wish he would talk to his brother, especially since things seem to be getting more serious with Elijah. I remind myself that it’s Julien’s story to tell when he’s ready to tell it.

  I should read Maria’s texts next but can’t seem to do it. I’m not ready to hear about her date with Ryder last night. What if she and Ryder took things to the next level like Jayson and I did? God, I am such a hypocrite. I should be existing in the happy elation of having sex with my boyfriend for the first time — a boyfriend who I love — and not being jealous about the possibility my best girl friend may or may not have had sex with my other best friend who I am also in love with. It’s so screwed up.