Valentine’s Day dawned snowy and windy. It
was a perfect day to stay snuggled under the comforter and not jump
out of bed, and since it was a Saturday, that was what I’d intended
to do. I’d always considered V-Day to be a stupid holiday made up
so people would spend all their money on flowers, candy and cards.
But this year, I really wanted to be with Jake somewhere, anywhere,
I didn’t care. I hated being stuck at school while he was in a bus
across country. Since there was no possible way I could be with
him, I just wanted to sleep the entire day away. He wasn’t kidding
when he said it would be hard.
“
Get up, Bella,” Annie
yelled, tugging on my pillow. I held it tighter and rolled over,
away from her. “I mean it! Come on, let’s go eat.”
“
Not hungry,” I mumbled,
pulling my comforter over my head.
“
Please, Bella,” she
wheedled. “I want to see if Zach came through today.”
I rolled my eyes, which defeated the whole
purpose since she couldn’t see me, and tossed my blankets to the
foot of the bed. I huffed as I crawled out of bed and stumbled to
the shower. I took my time, even though I felt guilty for making
her wait, but I didn’t want to see all these happy couples making
goo-goo eyes at each other.
We fought through the blizzard and made it
to the cafeteria wind-blown and hair full of snow. Of course Zach
came through and plied Annie with flowers, candy and a cute little
stuffed frog. I concealed my frown as my mood darkened. As we were
leaving the cafeteria, Mrs. Bartholomew, the ancient Admin
secretary stopped us.
“
Good morning, girls,” she
greeted with a sweet smile gracing her wrinkled face. That woman
knew everyone’s name at school. “Isabella, when you go collect your
mail you’d better take Camryn or Ann with you. You’ll need
help.”
“
Sure, thanks,” I told her
as I cast Annie a questioning glance.
“
I’ll go with you so Annie
can take her stuff to her room,” Cammy offered.
We hurried through the snow to the Admin
building and checked our mailboxes. The only thing in mine was junk
mail and more colleges trying to convince me to apply. I shrugged
at Cammy, wondering if Mrs. Bartholomew had finally lost it when
Cammy approached the desk and asked one of the volunteers if there
were any packages for me. The girl grinned and pointed at a long
white box tied securely with a pretty purple ribbon. My jaw fell as
I gaped at it. I picked it up carefully.
“
That one, too, hon,” she
said, pointing to a plain brown box marked ‘FRAGILE’.
Cammy grabbed it and we hurried back to my
room.
“
That’s a florist box,”
Annie exclaimed excitedly as we walked in the room. “Open
it!”
Like I wasn’t going to
anyway. I carefully slipped the ribbon off and opened the lid to
reveal what had to be at least three dozen long-stemmed red roses.
I gasped as my eyes grew. Annie and Cammy peered over my shoulder
and admired them. I grabbed the card with trembling fingers and
smiled. It was a standard florist card with little red hearts all
over it and
Happy Valentine’s Day
printed on the top. Scrawled underneath in
someone else’s writing was simply ‘love, Jake.’ I stared at it,
caressing Jake’s name with my fingers, until Cammy nudged my
shoulder.
“
Open the other box,” she
insisted.
I set the card carefully aside and wrangled
open the other box. I sifted through all the packing and pulled out
a square cut, crystal vase.
“
He’s too practical,” I
murmured. But it was beautiful.
“
He must have spent a
fortune on you, Bella,” Annie said in total awe. She took the heavy
vase from my hands and turned it slowly in hers. Cradling it in her
arms, she took it to the bathroom and filled it with water. When
she brought it back, we arranged the roses and set the vase on my
desk. I clutched the card as the three of us huddled on my bed and
stared at the flowers.
Okay, so maybe V-Day wasn’t so bad after
all.
Chapter Nineteen
I did attempt to focus on the movie in
Literature class as the narrator droned on and on—about what, I
wasn’t really sure. But it was Thursday afternoon, my last class of
the day, and my four day weekend loomed before me – taunting me
without mercy. I glanced at the clock and watched the hands tick
off the seconds, counting down until I could touch Jake again.
I was fairly certain he was in town. He was
driving down from Chicago to take me home so he could meet my
parents. We would stay the night at my house tonight and tomorrow
afternoon we’d head to his dad’s house. We’d spend the rest of the
weekend there and sometime Monday, he’d drive me back to
school.
I glanced at my teacher who was totally
enraptured by the film and pulled out my phone. I had it set to
silent while in class, but I was still able to text. Extremely
anxious, I finally gave up on the movie. I typed out a quick
message and hit the send button.
Where are you?
It didn’t take long for him to respond.
Eating a cheeseburger.
Yeah, I was going to have to hurt him.
Horribly.
You suck.
I gazed around the room, making sure no one
was watching me.
Have one for you.
I grinned. Okay, so maybe I wouldn’t hurt
him.
You don’t suck anymore.
Aren’t you supposed to be in class paying
attention and learning something?
A few giggles escaped my lips but I managed
to turn them into a cough. A couple heads twisted in my direction
but I looked at the television screen. After a couple of minutes, I
sent another message.
Watching a film. Very boring.
Take notes. You never know when the teacher
will spring a test on you.
I snorted and once again, earned a little
attention. I covered my mouth and coughed.
“
Allergies,” I
whispered.
“
Are you all right, Miss
Ames?” Mr. Berent asked.
I crammed my phone under my desk and nodded.
“Yes, sir.”
He turned back to the movie. I turned back
to my phone.
Gotta go. See you soon.
OK
I slipped my phone into my pocket and rested
my head on my desk, eyes on the film but mind on four glorious days
with Jake.
***
Jake met me in the Admin building and I
waited, not too patiently, until we were in the parking lot before
launching my body at him. He was startled but caught me
nonetheless. I twined my arms around his neck, and he wrapped his
around my waist. He pressed his eager lips to mine. His kisses were
as fervent as mine as he leaned against his car and held me close
to him. He pulled slightly away, his mouth still very close to
mine.
“
We have an audience,” he
grinned, his warm breath brushing my face.
Twisting in his arms, I spotted Lance and
Dean near Lance’s car, watching us without shame.
“
They’re jealous,” I said,
standing on my toes to peck him on the cheek. “They wish they could
kiss you.”
He rolled his eyes, lips twitching on the
ends. He picked up my bag and threw it in the trunk before opening
the passenger door for me. “Let’s go, Iz.”
***
When we reached my house, it was close to
dinner time, and I was a big ball of nerves. Although I was blessed
with very cool parents, I was still a little anxious. I mean, I
loved this guy. Of course, he didn’t know that and my parents
didn’t know that but I still just wanted them all to get along.
Jake carried both our bags to the front door
as I let us in and yelled for my parents. He raised a brow at me,
amusement flickering in his eyes. I shrugged and told him to drop
the bags on the floor just as my dad walked in the foyer.
“
I thought I heard my sweet
little Belle’s big mouth,” he smiled, hugging me tightly to his
chest. “You look great, princess.”
I swam in this affection for a few minutes,
absorbing as much as I could before standing on my toes and kissing
his cheek. I stepped back and took Jake’s hand. “This is Jake
Johnson.”
“
Nice to meet you, Jake.
I’m Rick Ames and this,” he pointed over his shoulder as my mother
floated into the room, “is my wife, Rita.
My mom drifted over to shake his hand with a
smile. She gave me a quick squeeze, patted my cheek and told me how
pretty I looked. Typical Rita Ames. I resisted the urge to roll my
eyes as she looped her arm through Jake’s. “Are you two hungry?
We’re making fajitas tonight.”
She gazed adoringly at Jake. “Do you
cook?
“
Yes, ma’am,” he answered
with his crooked smile. “I used to cook for my dad and my sister
all the time.”
“
That‘s nice to hear,” she
said, steering him out of the room. “Bella is hopeless in the
kitchen.”
I gaped at my dad who slung an arm around my
shoulders. “How are you, Belle? Seth said you were having some
problems at school. He wouldn’t tell me what, but he did say he
took care of them with Jake’s help.”
“
Yeah,” I said, biting my
lip. I studied my shoes as I tried to fight back my tears. “It…um…”
and then I lost my ability to speak.
Dad wrapped his arm around my shoulders and
ushered me into his office. He shut the door as I sank to the
handsome leather sofa.
I loved his office. The huge mahogany desk
appeared foreboding as did the leather furniture, but I knew
better. Even though a huge bookshelf loaded with law books
dominated one wall and the rest of the décor was very masculine,
I’d always felt comfortable here. It was so Rick Ames, and I used
to sneak in here when I was little and swivel in his chair, waiting
for him to come in and pretend to be mad. He’d end up tickling me
until I couldn’t breathe and take me in his lap. As I grew older,
I’d come to him in this very office and we’d have some pretty
serious talks. I was closer to him than my mother, although I knew
I could always go to either.
He sat next to me and took both my hands in
his. His brow knitted in concern as I inhaled deeply to dispel my
tears. “Why don’t you start at the beginning?”
With a feeble smile, I began my story with
how I met Jake and how close we’d become. I explained to him about
Lance and the Fall Festival.
“
So, Jake took you to this
dance after this Lance fellow changed his mind?” I nodded. “I
remember. You faxed me the permission form to allow Jake on campus,
right? Then what happened.”
I took another deep breath and described the
events after the Fall Festival. I told him how I started dating
Lance and about the parties we always winded up attending. I
couldn’t look in his eyes when I talked about my drinking binges.
His body tensed beside me, causing my heart to crash at my feet. I
hated disappointing him.
Finally I told him about Lance and Dean’s
bet.
I chanced a glance at my father’s face and
cringed. His lips were set in a straight, firm line and his face
was a lovely shade of purple. “Did he win the bet?”
“
No,” I said, shaking my
head emphatically. “No, Daddy. I thought I loved him, but I wasn’t
ready for anything like that. I told him that, and he broke up with
me.” I ducked my head. “I was very embarrassed and I didn’t tell
anyone, not even Seth. And things just continued to spiral
down.”
He squeezed my hand and encouraged me to
continue.
“
Then I got into a huge
argument with my friends, and they stopped talking to me. Lance
broke up with me and when I came home for Christmas break, I was so
lonely. Seth was gone. You and Mom were gone. Then Krysti called
and told me about the rumors and what Lance did to her. I was
devastated and I just packed a bag and left. Next thing I knew, I
was in West Village where Jake and his band were supposed to be
playing that week. I told Jake the whole sorry mess, and he just
listened. He let me stay with him and we talked and he helped me
figure stuff out.”
My dad had stayed quiet during my rambling.
“And now you and Jake are dating?” I nodded, not looking at him.
“How did that happen?”
He handed me a tissue as I sniffed then
wiped my nose. “New Year’s Eve.”
I recalled the party and how my feelings for
Jake changed.
“
And has Jake treated you
respectfully?”
I wasn’t expecting that question at all.
“
Of course, Daddy. He
always does. I did stay in his room with him, but we didn’t…you
know.” My cheeks flamed and my voice turned hoarse. “He doesn’t
expect that sort of thing from me.”
He tipped my chin and looked into my face.
“You love him, don’t you?”
I tried to smile but failed so I nodded
instead. “I do. Are you going to tell me I’m too young?”
Leaning back, he gave my shoulder a squeeze.
“Not at all. I actually don’t think age has a whole lot to do with
it. Maturity is the most important factor, in my opinion. I think
you’ve matured a lot since Christmas.”
A curious, nostalgic smile appeared on his
soft face. “Hell, I fell in love with your mother when I was
sixteen.”
I sank into his side and heaved a sigh. “I
made some pretty horrible mistakes.”
He stroked my hair. “You’re not perfect,
Belle. You’re going to make mistakes. I always told you it was okay
to mess up once in a while as long as you don’t hurt anyone and as
long as you learned from it. Now, it looks to me like you’ve
learned, and you’re trying to move forward. Am I right?”
I sat forward and twisted to face him.
“Yeah. I know I got so wrapped up in Lance and his world that I
neglected everyone and everything else. That’s something I won’t
let happen again.”