11
WE RODE IN SILENCE FOR A GOOD THIRTY MINUTES BEFORE WE ENTERED A SMALL TOWN.
I figured Jared was going to stop at one of the various restaurants, but instead, he kept driving.
Five minutes later, we came to a small park; Jared turned onto the gravel parking lot and parked.
“We’re here,” he announced, unbuckling his seatbelt.
I looked around.
“We came all this way, to go to a park?” I asked, incredulous.
Jared chuckled. “Oh, how you doubt me, Katy.”
“But I’m hungry!” To further drive home my point, my stomach growled, loudly.
“Don’t worry, I’ve got the food part covered,” he hopped out of the car and jogged around to open my door. He held his hand out to help me. I glared at his hand. “I’m not going to hurt you, Katy,” he whispered.
I took a deep breath and placed my hand in his.
Just like at the club, I didn’t feel much of an urge to pull away.
I let him help me out of the monstrous vehicle and promptly removed my hand, before I did something weird, like hang on.
Jared laughed and shook his head.
He moved to the back of the SUV and opened the trunk. He grabbed a cooler and a couple of blankets.
“Are we planning on sleeping in the park?” I asked.
“Only if you want,” he winked.
I gave him a horror stricken look.
“I’m just kidding, Katy,” he assured me.
I almost wanted to tell him that my scared expression had nothing to do with his words, and more to do with the butterflies attacking my stomach.
“This way,” he nodded for me to follow him.
I shook my head to snap myself out of my thoughts. “Want me to carry something?” I asked, when I saw him struggling with the blankets.
“I got it,” he said, adjusting his grip.
I snorted. “Jared, I won’t think you’re less of a man if you ask me to carry something.”
He chuckled and looked down at me with those chocolate eyes. “You’re funny.”
“I’m really not,” I said, struggling to keep up with his long legged stride. The guy was easily, six foot one, and I was barely five foot.
“And that, my kitten, is precisely why you are,” he stopped and looked around. “This is the spot,” he said, sitting the cooler and blankets on the ground.
I looked around and saw that there were other people sitting around with blankets and snack food.
Jared had picked a spot a fair distance from everyone else and closer to a line of trees.
He took one of the blankets, shook it, and spread it out, doing the same with the other.
He sat down and opened the cooler, rummaging through it.
When I continued to stand there, he looked up at me. “Sit down, Katy,” he patted the blanket beside the one he was sitting on. “Look, I even brought you your own blanket, I thought it would make it seem less like a date if we had separate blankets,” he grinned.
“I do not understand you,” I sat down on my blanket, a good two feet of space between us.
“Ah, on the contrary, I find you to be a far greater mystery than myself,” his brown eyes shimmered with suppressed laughter.
I rolled my eyes. “We can just agree to disagree, then.” I folded my legs under me and tucked my hair behind my ears. “I know there’s more to your story than you let on.”
Jared sighed. “Yeah, you would notice that.”
“Why would I notice that, when other people wouldn’t?” I questioned.
Jared sighed. “Kindred souls.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, confused.
Jared went back to rummaging through the cooler. “When people go through horrible, unspeakable things, it changes them, Katy.” He closed the cooler and turned to me. There was a haunted look in his eyes. “You can always recognize that pain in someone else.”
I looked down, away from his eyes that saw too much.
“It gets better, Katy,” he whispered. “I know, that right now, it doesn’t seem like that, but whatever happened to you… one day it won’t hurt as much.”
“I doubt that,” I whispered.
“Well, I know, because I’ve been in your shoes. I know what it feels like, to think that the pain will consume you. But one day, you just have to let go,” Jared, said. “Now, enough heavy talk. Turkey or ham?” he held two saran wrapped sandwiches in the air. “I wasn’t sure which you’d like so I made you both.”
“Ham,” I said, reaching for the offered sandwich.
Jared grinned. “Somehow, I thought you might pick that one. Want some chips?”
“Depends on what you have?”
He held up a bag of Doritos and Sun Chips.
I grabbed the Sun Chips.
“So, are you going to tell me why we’re here?” I asked as I unwrapped my sandwich.
“They play old movies in the park, every Friday night, all summer long. This is the last night until next summer,” he motioned to a large screen. I saw a man fiddling with a projector.
“Are you trying to woo me?” I asked, with a raised brow. “Romantic old movie in the park screams seduction.”
Jared threw his head back and laughed. The sound of it filled my body with warmth.
“Trust me, kittycat, if I was trying to woo you, I’d have a much better scheme up my sleeve. Why do you ask, is this working?” he leaned back on his elbow, stretching his legs out, and looking up at me with those perfect brown eyes framed by lashes I’d die for.
I blushed.
“It is working,” he chuckled.
“I hate you,” I snapped.
“No, on the contrary, I think you’re falling for me. It’s okay to take the leap, Katy. I’ll be here to catch you,” he said, in all seriousness.
Oh boy, I was in over my head when it came to Jared.
“No thanks, I’m afraid of heights.”
He laughed; the sound was warm and rich like honey. He shook his head and grabbed a Dorito.
Oh my, had I rendered Jared speechless? Score for me. Normally, Jared was the one leaving me flustered.
The lights in the park dimmed at that moment and the projector flickered to life, filling the screen with a black and white image.
“I brought popcorn if you want some,” Jared leaned towards me and whispered. “Do you want any?” he asked, when I didn’t say anything.
“Sure,” I said, just so he’d move away. He was far too close and it was making me feel frazzled.
“Here you go,” he said, handing me a Ziploc bag full of buttery popcorn. Our fingers barely grazed but it was enough to send a shiver down my spine.
“Thanks,” I said.
“You’re cold,” he commented, having noticed my shiver.
There was no way I could tell him that, no, I wasn’t cold, it was just the affect he had on me, so instead I nodded in agreement.
“I have a sweatshirt in my car. I’ll be right back,” he was gone before I could protest.
I wasn’t really comfortable sitting here by myself with a bunch of strangers, so close to the woods where someone could easily drag me off.
I took a deep breath and told myself that everything would be okay.
In no time, Jared was back and kneeling down beside me.
“Here,” he handed the gray sweatshirt to me. “It’ll be huge on you but it’ll do the job.”
“Thank you, Jared,” I said, slipping the material over my head. It was large enough to fit three of me, but I didn’t mind. It smelled like him, slightly citrusy.
I inhaled the scent, soaking it in and trying to memorize it. I blanched when I heard Jared chuckle.
With reddened cheeks, I peeked at him, but thankfully he wasn’t looking at me. His eyes were glued to the movie as he munched on his Doritos.
I silently thanked God that Jared hadn’t noticed. That would have been beyond embarrassing and I would’ve had no reasonable explanation for sniffing his shirt.
I finished the sandwich and started on the popcorn.
I found myself sucked into the movie, absolutely riveted.
When it ended, I wiped away a tear.
“Are you crying?” Jared asked.
“No,” I sniffled.
“You’re totally crying. Why?” he asked, there was no laugh to his voice. He wasn’t mocking me.
“It was just so… beautiful. They don’t make movies like that anymore,” I answered.
Jared leaned back on his elbows and turned to me. “I agree completely. I’m not too macho to admit that. Movies like this…” he paused. “They’re timeless.”
“Exactly,” I whispered.
Everyone around us started packing up the leave.
I was getting ready to stand, when Jared said, “Not yet.”
“Why?” I settled back on the blanket.
Jared stretched out, his shirt riding up a bit, showing off his perfect stomach.
“I want to look at the stars,” he whispered. “Just for a little while. Please?” he begged.
“Okay,” I laid back and looked up at the sky.
“When I was little… my mom… she used to tell me to always look at the sky. She said that the stars held a million wishes. That each one was a promise, a promise of something good,” Jared whispered. “I used to think she was lying. There was too much bad in my life for me to believe in something good. But she was right. No matter how bad things get, you can always find the good, Katy. It’s taken me a long time to realize that, too long, but it’s the truth.”
I turned away from the stars and looked over at Jared. “What happened to you?” I knew from bits and pieces that Jared dropped here and there, that his past wasn’t all rainbows and sunshine.
Jared twisted his head, meeting my gaze. His brown eyes were full of pain.
“I want you to know me, Katy. The real me, not the guy everyone else sees, but the person I am underneath it all. I want to bare myself to you but I’m afraid the truth will make you run from me.”
My breath came out all raspy; once again, Jared had left me completely speechless.
“Why… why would I run?” I finally croaked.
“Because the truth isn’t pretty,” his eyes never wavered from mine.
“It never is,” I whispered.
“I want to make you a deal,” Jared breathed.
“Okay,” I said, hesitantly. “What kind of deal?”
“I’ll tell you about my past, when you tell me about yours. I won’t push you to open up to me, Katy. I’m not like that. I’ll give you time, all the time in the world. But in the meantime, I want you to give me a chance, because I think we could turn out to be something great.”
I swallowed. Finally, I said, “You really like making deals, don’t you?”
He chuckled. “Only with you.”
I took a deep breath and turned away from his thoughtful gaze. I looked up at the thousands of blinking stars.
Minutes past, maybe longer, and neither one of us said a thing. The silence was comfortable and I reveled in it. I was seldom comfortable with the quiet. It let my mind wander to places it shouldn’t. But with Jared… it was peaceful. I felt peaceful, for the first time in two years. I owed it to him, to see if there was such a thing as fate.
“I won’t run from you,” I said, still looking up at the night sky. “I know you think I will, but I won’t. Whenever I’m around you, I don’t want to run, and I think that’s the reason I do tend to run from you. I’m scared of the unknown; I’m scared of losing my heart to you because I’m afraid it will shatter just like my life has.”
I heard Jared take a shuddering breath from beside me. “Katy, if you give me your heart, I promise to do nothing but protect it.”
I could feel his hand creeping towards me and instead of scooting away, I wrapped my pinky around his.
“I hope so,” I whispered.