Page 27 of From Me to You

His gaze softened. “Yes.” He kissed my forehead.

I grinned.

He opened the picnic basket and pulled out some sandwiches, a bottle of water, and what looked like strawberry milk.

“I know you prefer the water,” he said, handing it to me. “I am sorry I couldn’t take you somewhere fancy. I promise I will one day.”

“I prefer this to a fancy place any day,” I told him.

“What is your biggest dream?” he asked, sipping his strawberry milk.

You,I wanted to say to him for some reason, but I replied, “You know it. To become a writer. I want people to fall in love with my stories.”

“Will you give me the first signed copy?”

I laughed. “Sure, if I ever make it that big, you will be the first one to receive my book. But who knows, you might be a big rock star by then who doesn’t even remember the girl he met in high school.”

“I don’t think it is ever possible for me to forget you.”

“And why is that?” I was interested to know what he would say.

“Because you came into my world and created the most beautiful riff that won’t stop playing in my head.”

I sighed. This boy was going to be the death of me.

“What are we doing, Jay?” I asked, scared that I might already be in too deep to get out now.

He looked at me confused. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, I know we are on a date. We are still getting to know each other. But I want to know if you are serious about this. I don’t want to end up getting hurt.” I admitted.

“We are on a date, sweetheart, and I am serious about you. I have never felt this way for a girl before. I know you feel it too, this pull, and I don’t want to let you go.”

“Yeah, I feel it too.”

Jay leaned in and his lips brushed against mine in the softest way possible. And my heart did a flip-flop.

His kiss was slow and soft. He tightened his arms around my body, pulling me closer to him. I ran my fingers through his hair, breathing him in. He tasted like home with a hint of strawberries.

Our breaths mingled as one when he tilted his head and deepened the kiss. I gasped as I explored his mouth. We kissed for what seemed like ages, lost in each other as the world around us blurred.

I ended up lying across his chest as we gazed at the stars. Jay drew patterns across my hand with his calloused finger, holding me tight. We talked about nothing and everything. I felt us getting closer. Our connection growing stronger. Our future was still a mystery—anything could happen. But for now, I was content lying in his arms.

CHAPTER 8

And just like that, a month had passed. A month where I spent every waking hour with Jay. We were inseparable at this point. It was like we both needed each other. Like we both craved each other. We bonded over everything and realized we had so much in common. And we also made out almost at every chance we got, but we didn’t go any further than that because Jay wanted to take things slow.

It was almost the end of winter now. Jay took me out a couple more times. It was nothing elaborate, nothing fancy, but all very special. Very special to me. He was so attentive—he noticed me in ways that no one had before. And it did things to my heart that I couldn’t put into words.

I recalled that one time he brought me black coffee and an apple for breakfast when we went on a hike one early morning. Because he knew how much I hated actual breakfast. And I knew his favorite color was red. He didn’t have a favorite song because he couldn’t choose. His favorite childhood memory was when his uncle taught him to play the guitar. His favorite season was spring. And his favorite person in the whole wide world was me. My heart exploded when he answered that.

My job at Olive’s was going great. Everyone was so kind and there wasn’t much to do anyway.

I worked mostly during the weekdays, picking up some shifts here and there.

Aunty M refused to take any of the money that I made to help around—she said it was for me and that I should spend it. She even gave me an allowance on top of that. I knew she was struggling to make ends meet, but still wouldn’t let me support her. So, I decided to save it all for a rainy day.

School was good. Everyone now knew that Jay and I had started going out. I got a few catcalls and sneers from Lia and her lousy friends, but I didn’t even care.