Chapter Three
Restraint, You Are A New Enemy
Of Mine

 

That Monday, I drove to school kind of early but not so early that there wouldn’t be kids in the lots. I stepped from my truck and slammed its door. The slam rang through the air and I caught the attention of Jake Sotheby.

“Jake! Hey Jake!”

“Hey, Elliott. What’s up? You ready for Friday’s game?”

That was all anybody thought I was good for and all they ever wanted to talk to me about. I was popular but for a singular purpose.
    “Yeah, I’m ready. Hey, do you know Julia Jacobs?”
    “Yeah, dude. Everybody knows Julia. She’s hot but really weird. Why?”
Hot but weird. Maybe I would be throwing the first punch.
    “Oh, nothin’. Does she park in our lot?”
I knew she was in the other lot but I asked a general question to fish for something more specific.
    “No dude. She’s in Lot A. She has the spot across from Casey Wuthers.” He smiled. “Why? You thinkin’ about tackling that?”
    “What the hell does that mean?” I asked seriously.
    “Nothing. See you at practice.”
He knew I wasn’t going to play along. No wonder Jesse likes that guy so much. They share a one track mind. Jerk.

So, plan A was finding Jesse because he parked in the same lot and plan B was ‘running’ into Casey Wuthers, a girl I barely knew but was cool enough with that I could still approach her without it being weird. Honestly, all I wanted was a glimpse of Jules. One more glimpse to add to the millions I had already stolen but this time I needed to see her so it would give me the courage to do what I needed to later that day. The first time I would see her each day would send me hurdling into an anxiety attack. I figured if I saw her early enough, I could be as relaxed as possible by the time we had class together. I had about a million things I wanted to say to her, whether she would respond or not didn’t matter. I needed them off my chest, for my sanity’s sake.

The ironic part is I knew she searched for me too. That’s what killed me the most. It confused the heck out of me. I often caught her eyes on mine like they were that day in Chemistry but she would always make herself appear distracted immediately after. She cracked me up. I was never in control enough to do anything like that. I think she got a small kick out of torturing me but that was okay. Her pretend frostiness was just another thing I liked about her. She was feisty.

I cut through the school toward Jules’ lot. Her car was there. I searched around but Jesse was running late, as usual, and Casey Wuthers’ car was there but she wasn’t. Well, crud. While searching for someone else, anyone that I may have even had the slightest acquaintance with, I caught Jules walking through the parking lot toward me and for reasons beyond my control I found my feet carrying me forward. I was close enough that words came out of their own accord, providing me with an involuntary plan C.

“Jules?” I confidently asked, seconds from collapsing.

She didn’t respond.
    “Julia?” I nearly shouted.

She walked right past me and I, against my better judgment, followed suit. Before I could reach her she was already through the doors. I picked up my pace, tossed open the school’s double doors and raced into the hall. When the doors opened, the air spilling in from the outside tossed her hair about her face and carried that honeysuckle-orange scent rolling towards me. I recovered from the fragrant punch and when I caught up with her dug my hands into my pockets to keep from seizing her in my arms. The last thing I wanted was an electric shock to spook her away from me again. I wound my way around the other students in the crowded hall, leaned over her shoulder and spoke closely into her ear.

    “Jules, can I talk to you?”

Goosebumps rose on the flesh of her neck. I had gotten her attention. Though she didn’t confirm it with that pouty bottom lip, I had definitely caught her attention. She stopped at her locker and began to spin its dial. Alright, two can play at this game.

    “Jules,” I sighed, casually leaning my shoulder against the locker next to hers. I kept my hands in my pockets for safekeeping. “Seeing that you won’t talk to me, I guess I’ll talk to you. I want to know what we’re going to do about what happened in the hall outside Mrs. Kitt’s class, and inside her class, and every time we’ve seen each other since? I’m dying here.” I pulled my hands from my pockets and ran them through my hair but put them back, just in case. “I can’t eat. I can’t sleep. I dream about you all day. Against my will, you’ve polluted my thoughts.”
She turned, wide eyed, angry and mouth agape. Just the effect I wanted.
    “I never said I didn’t like it,” I amended with a smile.
She turned back to her locker.
    “I know you’re feeling the same things,” I continued.
She rolled her eyes.
    “I can tell I affect you Jules. You can’t hide it.”
    “You do not,” she finally spoke.
And her voice was like velvet. I almost melted into a puddle onto the floor.
    “I know I do. You’ve restarted the combination to your locker seven times Jules.”
Her fingers dropped from the dial, she raised her head and stared straight ahead.
    “I just remembered. I don’t need anything from my locker,” she said stoically.
She turned and walked off, her hair brushing my arm as she stalked away. Even her hair bit with the literal electricity we shared.
    “See you second period!” I yelled, very satisfied at the seemingly meaningless conversation. I knew the truth though. There were deeper meanings behind everything she did, the little she had said, and the way her body avoided mine, avoided the touch that she was obviously denying existed. She was scared. Can’t tell you how I knew it, she didn’t wear the emotion at all but she was scared and I had plans to change that. Jules was beginning to infect my brain and the only antidote I could think to alleviate the pain was more Jules. I went to first period alone with my own thoughts and a smile that caught the attention of every girl I walked by.
    Walking to Mrs. Kitt’s class felt like the longest trip of my life. My legs felt heavy with anticipation knowing the fight that Jules was probably going to put up, but I was ready. Metaphorical punches, mom. Metaphorical. I had no clue what I was going to say to her. I could think of no plan of action during first period and ultimately decided to go with my gut. I hesitated slightly because unplanned conversations with Jules had proved disastrous before, i.e. the teeth debacle, but winging it at her locker didn’t turn out so badly so I went with my instinct.

I had a good feeling she’d bring up the bookstore and I had at least planned on being honest there. I didn’t care if she believed me or not. Either way, I wasn’t going to let her make me feel like I purposely did it and that was that.

I stood outside the door to Mrs. Kitt’s class and took a deep breath before swinging it open. I choked and coughed on the deep breath I took when I saw her face and the whole class lifted their head noticing me briefly, except for Jules. Smooth, very smooth. She glanced from the corner of her eye and the nerves that tingled in her stomach tingled in mine.

Thanks to the supernatural phenomenon that was our electricity, I was privy to everything Jules felt. If the feeling was powerful enough, I could feel it without even touching her which explained the butterflies we shared in that moment. It was an understood knowledge that welled inside my chest and I was never so grateful for anything before in my life. It told me what I wanted to know.

I sat next to her and began to lean in but before I could say anything, Mrs. Kitt had started passing out our seriously delayed textbooks, something about the printers making a mistake, and the donated paper covers from Justin Weber’s Auto Body Shop and asked us to wrap them.

They were so stupid looking. On the front was obviously an older picture of Justin Weber because he was easily twenty pounds lighter in the picture than he was in real life. He was standing in front of his auto body shop and there was a rented sports car between himself and his garage. On the hood laid Kitty, in a fitted jumpsuit with Justin’s logo on the front. Kitty was Justin’s ex-girlfriend from Charleston who left him for a ‘big city’ man but he just wouldn’t let her go. “She’ll be back,” he’d  always say. Poor guy, total denial. On the top in big letters it read, ‘Come to Justin’s. We’ll treat you right.’

Jules had already begun to wrap her book. Her thin fingers carefully measured the folds and creased them attentively. She pressed the side of her thumb’s knuckle across the crease to make sure it took. She did this for all four sides of the cover but on the fourth crease accidentally gave herself a paper cut. The shared pain was sharp and intense and made me jump when she did. The throb subsided when she brought her knuckle to her tongue to soothe the ache. She looked over at me briefly, knowing full well I felt the slice.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Yes, thank you,” she said, breathing heavily from the realization rather than the laceration.

She turned back to her task. Jules was the only one who wrapped her book inside out so the paper would be blank and she could draw on it later. When she was done, I threw a dorky smile her way, and copied her, but for a very different reason. I took out my pen and wrote on the top of the cover in very small letters, bracing myself for the long fight it was going to take to erase whatever idea she had of who I was and what I wanted her to be to me.

 

Hi.
What do you want Elliott?
Can we talk?
About what?
You know what.
About your following me to Koan’s?
I DID NOT follow you to Koan’s.
Right.
Exactly. I am right. It was a coincidence. Boy, you must think the world revolves around you.
I do not! Don’t try to make me appear as if I’m imagining things. I’ve noticed you watching me.
How would you even know that Jules? If you weren’t watching me as well?
It’s Julia, Elliott. Class is about to start. I don’t have time for your games.
She turned to her own notebook. I wrote and shoved the cover into her face.
Are we ever going to talk about what happened the first day of school?
She hesitated, but at last answered me.
I have no idea what you’re talking about.
Jules.
My name is Julia, not Jules, Elliott. How many times do I have to tell you?
I know that but I like Jules. I’ve noticed I’m the only one who calls you that. It makes me a part of you that only we share.
She wasn’t expecting that answer and I could see when her eyes widened then quickly narrowed that she wasn’t exactly adverse to the idea. Whew.
What’s your motivation?
I have to have a motivation to talk to you?
Boys like you always have a motivation.
Boys like me, huh? You’ve never struck me as the type who read into stereotypes Jules. I didn’t know you were such a snob.
I’m the snob? Spare me.
What about the first day of school, huh? Did I act like a snob then? It seems to me that you’re the one who’s the snob. You’ve avoided me like the plague. You see me coming and you run the other direction. I’ve gotten the cold shoulder from you for the past three weeks.

She reached out her hand to yank the pen from mine in retaliation. Her finger grazed mine and the contact struck a sparkled heat between us. We pulled away as if they were hands held to a stove. Everyone around us were completely unaware of the netted lightning bolt that stuck us stiff to our seats and quieted us from its silently deafening effects. With trembling hands I wrote,

There’s no denying that baby girl.
You’re right. I cannot deny that, even if I wanted to.
I looked at her, confused.
Do you?
What?
Want to deny it?
Kind of.
You’re literally breaking my heart Jules. Am I really that bad?
It’s not that. It’s just, I don’t trust you.
Why?
How do I know you’re the same Elliott Gray who would play with me on the rock bridge as kids? You seemed to have changed when we entered eighth grade. It seemed as if overnight we just stopped being friends.
Maybe I was the snob.
Oh, Jules. I’m sorry, really. I was an idiot and afraid of girls. Honestly, it seemed like you wanted nothing to do with me so I stopped talking to you.
I wasn’t some girl Elliott. I was your friend. It was all so awkward that first day and I didn’t know what I had done. Only one day had passed since last we saw one another, but you ignored me as if we hardly knew each other at all. I admit, I did act as if I wanted nothing to do with you, but I was only doing that to protect myself from the way you were acting. I’m sorry too. I should have just come out and asked you.
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
Again, I’m sorry. But, I have to admit, I’m kind of glad we ignored each other.  
That was mean.
Ask me why Jules.
Okay, why?
Because, if we hadn’t grown apart maybe we never would have found our ‘thing’ and I kind of like our ‘thing’. Growing apart meant that we became the people we are today and you seem to be an amazing someone, whom I may have never noticed had we not grown up without each other. Our ‘thing’ may have gotten lost in the friendship.  This brings me to my next question. What’s happening to us?
I don’t know. Your guess is as good as mine.
She swallowed hard. She knew what was happening.
I know what happened to us.
Then why’d you ask?
I just wanted to confirm that you knew too, so I don’t look like a fool again. I do an incredible job of looking foolish in front of you without even realizing it until it’s too late.
She put the back of her index finger up to her mouth and quietly laughed at me. She was laughing. Progress. All it took was an incredibly frightening ‘thing’.
What’s so funny?
You. You’re funny.
Why?
Because even with our ‘thing’, our powerful, powerful ‘thing’, your ego is afraid of rejection Elliott Gray. This town still has a slight hold on you, I think.
You’ve got me pegged pretty well Jacobs.
I know.
What should we do about it then?
Talk after class?
And why not now? As far as I’m concerned, we’ve just gotten started. You’ve somethin’ better to do?

When she didn’t answer, I looked at her and she nodded toward the front of the classroom. It was Mrs. Kitt. She had been watching us and was headed our way. I turned over my book and weren’t able to talk or write for the rest of the class. Jules was definitely lowering her defenses and I was making plans to disarm her completely by the end of the week.   

    On our way to lunch, Jules and I walked side by side. I didn’t want to unnerve her so I stayed pretty quiet. When I didn’t say anything, I clumsily gave her the impression that I was no longer interested in talking.
    “See you third period,” she said and started walking quickly toward her usual table.
I jogged to catch up with her.
    “Uh, I don’t think so Jules. I just got you to start talking to me. Where do you think you’re going?”
    “Well, I didn’t think you’d want to be seen eating lunch with the ‘freak’ of Bluefield High,” she laughed.
She was being sarcastic. She knew that was her reputation and probably reveled in it.
    “Is there a freak here? Point them out to me? I’ve never seen one up close before.”

She rolled her eyes.

“You sure do make a lot of assumptions about me,” I said. “Why don’t you just throw out whatever preconceived notions you hold of who you think I am and consider me a blank slate. Now come on, let’s sit at your table. It’ll be easier to talk if we’re alone.”

I grabbed her hand and the surge permeated my skin and gave me the most luxurious calm pulsing through my arm and torso. We sat down and she stared at the wall away from me.
    “So, Julia Jacobs, why do you sit here day after day by yourself? Don’t you have any friends at Bluefield?”
    “Yikes. You’re nosy. If you must know,” she said, placing her elbow on the table and leaning her body toward me, “none of the girls here like me because of Taylor Williams’ noxious gossip and none of the boys like me because they’re afraid of me.”
    “I’m sorry. I didn’t know about the girls. Honest. I don’t listen to anything anyone says about others around here. Gossip just doesn’t appeal to me.”
    “I find that................refreshing,” she mused, her eyes brightened.

She reclined again in her seat and brought her legs to the chair next to her
    “There are lots of things you might find refreshing about me.”
    “I’ll be the judge of that.”
    “As far as the boys are concerned, I can see why they’d be afraid of you.”
    “Ha! That was rude.”
    “Are you surprised? You sulk around here. Pay little to no attention to anyone and sneer at the ones who even attempt to talk to you.”
    “You don’t know what you’re talking about. It’s a matter of self preservation. You think I enjoy having to be ‘put up’ with? What would you know about it anyway? You’re just as much of a freak, or whatever their definition of a freak is, as I am. Yet, since you’re the king of their football team they look right past it. I know you listen to all the same music I do. I know that you secretly think my clothing is kind of cool.” She slid her hands down her waist. “I have a pretty good feeling that you can’t stand most of your lemming friends and I’m also willing to bet you don’t really care what they think.”
    “Oh yeah? And what makes you think I don’t care what they think? They are my friends after all.”
    “Because you’re sitting at this table while your friends whisper and stare.” She threw her eyes in the direction of the team table. “If you cared so much, you wouldn’t be here at all. You’re perfectly aware of the trouble I’m going to cause you by being here right now. Still, here you are.”

She had hit the nail on the head. I didn’t care. I only cared, selfishly I admit, for my ownreputation because I was a teenager and hopelessly shallow in the matters of position within the young community. However difficult it was to keep up the false pretense of our town’s expectations of me, I knew too well, as Jules did, the load of being the town’s black sheep. I chose the former because it seemed easier.
    “Truthfully Elliott Gray? I’m confident you’re as sick of this place as I am but you just quite haven’t figured out how to let it go. You’re too afraid of losing the security of your popularity that you’d rather not risk being unique and possibly opening yourself up to new and amazing things. You’re too afraid to be yourself and that’s just pathetic to me. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”

She gathered her bag and made her way toward the door leaving me stunned by the sudden turn of events. My, my, my! Who does Julia Jacobs thinks she is? I immediately stood to chase after her. I wasn’t about to give her the last word.

Outside of the cafeteria I caught her arm and pressed her back against a locker. She looked at me with shocked eyes as the electricity clung and snapped against the lockers around us. I kept my hand on her arm to help drive the point home.

    “Who do you think you are passing a judgment like that on me? You don’t know me. You’ve never bothered to find out if I was the same Elliott or not. You don’t like to be judged by your appearance or actions and yet look at the massive contradiction that is you judging me by mine! I was trying to get to know you again Jules. I wanted to know more about you and not because I had ulterior motives but because I was sincerely interested in you. You should know this. This” I said gesturing with my free hand around us, “should be proof enough.”

I let go of her arm and we both relaxed from the release of the lit tension. She stared seriously into my eyes.

    “I’m.....I’m sorry Elliott. You’re right. I, I did judge you unfairly.”
    “Well, good,” I said, running my fingers through my hair, “and I’m sorry if I ever gave you the impression that I was anything like the idiots just beyond those doors.”
She smiled and sniffed.
    “So?” I asked.
    “So, I think that maybe you should call me tonight.”
    “Seriously? That would be really nice.”
    “Alright. Here.”

She grabbed my hand and took a pen from the inside pocket of her bag. She wrote her number on my palm then looked up at me and smiled before releasing our grip.

    “If this were a movie, this would be where we break away from one another and the gooey music would be cued, but....” I said.
    “But we still have like twenty minutes of lunch together? And third period next?”
I moved next to Jules at the lockers. We slid to the linoleum floor in unison.

We ate and passed back and forth simple questions like, what’s your favorite color? Things like that. We had things in common that didn’t really matter much on paper but, to me, were an indication of the things to come.

Also, we shared birthdays. I had forgotten about that. Growing up we were always aware that we’d have to plan our parties around the other until, that is, Jules no longer threw them. It didn’t seem that significant then but intimidated me now. I wondered what it meant. Feel like adding weirder to the already weird? Our birth date was February, 29th, leap year.

We talked music, food, movies, books and when they bell rang, much, much too soon, we headed for third period. Without even skin contact, I could tell her heart was lighter and that mine beat in rhythm with hers.

 

That night, I asked my mom if I could borrow her cell. I borrowed it all the time to talk privately in my room because Maddy had a tendency to get on the other line and eavesdrop, so my mom thought nothing of it. I picked up the phone and ran up the creaky kitchen wooden stairs to my room. My hand shook as I nervously dialed the number written on my hand. Three rings. Her dad answered.

“Hello? Jacobs’ residence.”

“Hello? Mr. Jacobs? This is Elliott Gray. May I speak with Jule, uh, Julia please?”

“Just a moment.”

The silent wait was torturous. My bouncing knee would have kept time with a hummingbird’s wings.
    “Hello?”
    “Hello? Just hello?”
    “Hi Elliott.”
    “Jules.”
She didn’t correct her name. My heart swelled.
    “Can you talk?” I asked.
    “Just a sec,” she said and laid her hand over the receiver before continuing, “Pop, please? I’m beggin’ you.” There was a ruffling sound and a chair scooting backward. “Thank you! I hereby retract calling your love for ‘Tiny Dancer’ lame!”
She yelled the last part then laughed.
    “Okay Gray. It’s not true, by the way. I love that song, especially after ‘Almost Famous’, but if I let him know that, he’d never let me live it down.”
    “You’re funny Jules.”
    “Nah. So, did you get all your homework done?”

“What are you my mother?” I teased.

“Um, no. That would be gross.”

I laughed.
    “Why would that be gross? My actual mother doesn’t feel that way. At least, I don’t think she does.”
    “Because that would mean we’d have to change your name to Oedipus and mine to Jocasta.”
    “Yup, that would be gross. Those names are hideous.”
    “Hardy, har, har.”

“We wouldn’t have to change names, just yet, anyway. We’d have to marry first, then have children who also happen to be my siblings,” I said.

“You’re right. What was a I thinking?......Uh, this conversation has taken a turn down ‘I never thought I’d talk about something like this’ lane. Serious change of subject por favor?”

    “Hey, you brought it up Freud,” I said, both of us laughing. “How about we start over by you telling me something about yourself that no one else knows.”
    “Um, I have nothing to tell,” she said.
    “Um? You hesitated. Besides, everyone has secrets. Are you afraid to tell me?”
    “Well, I’ve got one but I’d never tell it, especially not to you.”
    “Come on! I’ve got to know now. Would it help if I told you one about me first? Then, would you tell?”
    “Nope.”
    “Oh come on Jules! Now that you’ve piqued my interest you’re just going to leave me dangling on your hook? That’s some cruel bait there Jules.”
    “Alright, fine but if you so much as think of letting it pass your own lips, even on your death bed, you’re a dead man Gray.”
    “If I’m already on my death bed you can’t very well threaten me with death, can you? What would be my motivation to keep quiet?”

“Gray.”

“Okay, scouts honor. You can’t see it but I’m crossing my heart and hoping to die.”

“Good.”
I waited.
    “No, baby. You’ve got to go first!” She said laughing.
    “Alright, alright, alright.” I sighed loudly, trying to think.

“Okay. Well, if I had my druthers I’d rather stay home on Friday nights and watch seventies era BBC comedies.”
Complete silence.
    “Are you kidding me? That’s your big secret? My God Elliott! That’s almost boasting. There’s no way I’m gonna’ tell mine now! Especially since you used a word like ‘druthers’.”
    “Oh come on Jules! I just can’t think of anything juicy right now. Please Jules!”
    “No sir. No way. Not after a revealing bit of information like that. How could I possibly follow the scandal that is nineteen seventies era British television? Gimme’ a break!” She laughed. “I mean, if you had said something like, ‘On Friday nights I’d rather lounge around and watch old BBC reruns on PBS while I switch the heads on my sister’s Barbie dolls. Now, that would have been something. I could have worked with that but no, I would just humiliate myself now.”
    “Switch the heads on my sister’s Barbie dolls?”
She laughed.

“What is wrong with you?” I asked. “Alright, hold on. Let me think........Okay. Okay, I think I’ve got one. Okay, don’t tell anyone but once a month, I volunteer at Shady Pine’s retirement community and play cards and games with the older residents who don’t have much family.”

I think I heard a pin drop.

“Anyway,” I continued, “I have to admit it’s one of my favorite things to do.”
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
    “Seriously Gray? Seriously! ‘Don’t tell anyone’,” she mocked, “‘but I’m a super nice person who likes to spend time with old people....Tee hee!’ My God Gray! Just sit tight. Whew! I’ve got to tell you my secret just to explain to you what a secret truly is.”
I laughed.
    “Alright,” she sighed, “over the summer I drove Carmen down to....”
    “Who’s Carmen?” I interrupted.
    “Oh, right. Carmen is my Karmann Ghia.”
    “Oh,” I chuckled.
    “Anyway, over the summer I drove Carmen to the creek, near the rock bridge, that we used to fish for tadpoles in. Remember it?”

“Yeah, I remember. The shallow pool?”

“Yeah. So, I got out and trekked the little quarter mile to the creek and enjoyed the beautiful nature of it all. Well, it was July and it was getting kind of hot and I was dying to jump in but didn’t want to get my clothes wet.” I shifted uncomfortably in my computer chair. “So, I looked around to ensure that no one was there. I mean, it is in the middle of nowhere and you and I are the only two people in the world that I knew of who had any idea where it was so I took off my cut-off’s and my tank top and left them with my flip flops on that tree stump that got hit by lightning when we were kids at the edge of the creek. Anyway, so I dove in. I was having a marvelous time just swimming and enjoying the cool water but when I got out and started for the stump where my clothes were, they weren’t there. I started to worry that someone had seen me and I kind of began to panic until I remembered that I had left half a candy bar in my shorts’ pocket. That’s when I noticed the raccoon tracks trailing away from the scene of its crime.”

    “What’d you do?” I said, swallowing hard.
    “The only thing I could do. I put on my flip flops and walked back to Carmen in my underwear.”
I laughed so hard.
    “How did you drive through town without people noticing?”
    “Well, when I got back to the car I remembered I had an old hand towel from my Tribal dance class in the back so I draped it over my chest and practically sped through town. I say, practically sped because I didn’t want to risk embarrassing myself or your Uncle Danny.”
My Uncle Danny was the town’s sheriff.
    “Oh my gosh, that’s hilarious.”
    “Well then came the hard part.”
    “The hard part?”
    “Yeah, so I made it home right? My parents weren’t there and I had no way of calling for help. Plus, go figure, I only had one key and it was for the front door, meaning the back wasn’t an option. I parked the car as close to the house as possible to avoid exposure and studied the neighborhood for a second. I didn’t notice anyone or anything so I rushed out and bolted up my porch to the front door. Just then, my neighbor, Sawyer Tuttle,” She paused.”Do you know him? He’s in our Chemistry class.”
    “Yeah,” I laughed, “I know him. I sit next to him in class.”
    “Oh, anyway, Sawyer comes sauntering around to the front of his house from the side and catches me in all of my underwear glory. Well, there was no sense in hiding because he’d already seen everything. Plus, like a deer in headlights, the kid just stared with his mouth open. He didn’t even bother turning around. So, I winked at him and finally opened the door.” She took a deep breath. “And that’s my secret. Well, mine and Sawyer’s secret. Well, mine, Sawyer’s and that naughty raccoon’s secret.”
    “And mine,” I threw in.
    “Yes, our secret.”
No wonder Tut stared at Jules the way he did. I couldn’t blame him but that didn’t change the fact that I still wanted to bash his face in.
    “You know, I said something that no one else knew. Sawyer knew.”
    “Whoa buddy! It counts. Trust me. It counts.”
We both laughed.

“You torture Sawyer Tuttle, you know.”

    “No I don’t! I’ve barely said a word to him since. I even wave to him now and again so he knows I’m not angry at him.”
    “Even making eye contact with him is torturing him Jules. He’s seen you in your underwear. I’m pretty sure that’s all he ever thinks about when he’s around you.”
    “No!” She said. I could almost hear it click in her head. “Wait. Seriously? It was so long ago. I’m sure he barely remembers it.”
    “Trust me baby doll. He remembers.”
    “Well, crap. Should I say something to him?”
    “No,” I laughed, “not unless you want him to keep obsessing about you. No, the best thing for you to do is wear a large bulky jacket to Chemistry.”
More laughing. Poor Tut. Poor, can’t wait to punch him in the face, Tut.
    The next day, I saw Jules at lunch and we picked up where our two hour phone conversation left off. We reminded ourselves of all the little things we did together growing up. I had forgotten what great partners in crime we had once been and definitely felt closer to her again. All it took was a simple phone call. It was like time had never passed us by.

I freaked out a little bit while waiting until the end of the day to see her during fourth period Chemistry. We were picking lab partners for the rest of the year that day and at lunch she agreed to be mine.

“Dude, what’s going on with you?” Jesse asked during third period, before the band started practicing.

He pointed to my bouncing knee and the drumsticks nervously twirling in my hands. I stopped all movement before I answered.

    “Oh,” I said, clearing my throat, “nothin’.”
    “Seriously, you’ve got something going on lately and you’re not telling me.”
    “I really don’t.”
He didn’t buy it.
    “Okay,” I said, sitting up, “but listen, you can’t say a word to anyone about this. I’ve been talking to Jules...Julia lately and she’s skittish. I don’t want to scare her off.”
    “Awww man! Elliott!”
All heads turned our way.
    “Shhhhh! Keep your voice down.”
    “Elliott, you can’t go out with Julia Jacobs,” he whispered.
    “I can do whatever I want Jesse.”
He got unusually serious for a moment and his face and voice grew menacing.
    “You’d be smart to stay away from her Elliott. Trust me, you’d be the smartest person in the world to stay away from her.”
    “Whatever Jesse. That’s enough ordering me around. Class is about to start.”

I tried to pass off what Jesse said but it really rubbed me the wrong way. It wasn’t so much what he said, but how he said it that gave me the willies. I decided to ignore it. I had better things to think about, like Jules’ hair and skin.

After rocking it out for an hour and a half. I thought about changing my sweaty t-shirt but was too excited to see Jules. My hair even stuck to the back of my neck, I was so sticky with sweat.

    I threw my book bag onto my shoulder, stuck my sticks in the back pockets of my jeans and hauled over to Mr. Belkin’s Chemistry class. I sat at the lab table in the back with my little friend Sawyer Tuttle. I say little, but the guy was at least six foot two with a broad chest that could probably take a few punches, darn it.

Jules wasn’t there yet so I took my sticks out of the back of my jeans to play with on the lab table while I waited for her to walk in. I really got into whatever it was I was playing because when she strolled in Tut had to shove at one of my elbows, causing me to drop one of my sticks, to get my attention that she was there and not because he thought Jules and I were talking. I’m pretty sure he didn’t have a clue that Jules and I were talking. It was because she was drop dead and that didn’t escape even one of the guys’ attention in that room.

No one wanted anything to do with her but they could not disagree that she was the most beautiful girl in that school. I knew. They all knew. Hell, she was the most beautiful girl in the entire world. It kind of infuriated me that Sawyer Tuttle noticed her; that all or any of the guys noticed her, really. It infuriated me even more that Tut thought I’d want to be one to delve into whatever private thoughts he was having about her.

    I don’t know what got into me but I stood up, leaving the stick on the floor, eyed Tut like a dog eyes a piece of meat and walked right up to Jules. Placing my hand at the small of her back, I leaned into her ear, breathing in the scent of her hair.
    “You haven’t changed your mind have you?” I whispered.
    “No, Elliott. When Mr. Belkin asks me who my lab partner will be I’ll be sure to say your name. Now sit down and stop being mean to Sawyer, despite our history he’s still one of the few here who treats me nicely.”

She smiled and lightly tapped me twice on the face sending a short burst of sparks cascading from my cheek. I just stared into her eyes with a huge grin on my face. She was original, my Jules. Original and too smart, for my own good.

    “Sit down Mr. Gray,” Mr. Belkin said beneath his reading glasses.
I walked back to my seat and Tut’s mouth matched his eyes, wide and in disbelief.
    “Are you going out with Julia Jacobs?” He asked bluntly.
    “No.”
He relaxed in his stool.
    “Not yet, anyway” I threw out so his body language could grow back the tension I wanted it to be at.

The bell rang and Mr. Belkin began taking roll. When he was done, he went down the line of lab tables and asked each student who they’d like their lab partner to be. When he got to Jules, I straightened up in my stool, crossed my arms and winked at Tut. He smiled the most insincere smile I’d ever seen and I could almost hear the curses in his head.

    “Julia Jacobs?”
    “Yes, Mr. Belkin?”
    “Who is to be your lab partner?”
    “Elliott Gray, Mr. Belkin.”
    “See ya’ around Tut,” I gloated.

I joined Jules at her table and she shot a look of disapproval my way. I just stared ahead, knowing well what I’d done but not caring. When he finished pairing everyone up, Tut got stuck with Robby Banden, sucker. Mr. Belkin explained the lab we were doing that day and gave us a few minutes to prep.

    “What’s up with you?” I asked.
    “You forget Elliott Gray. I can feel everything that you feel without touching you, if the feeling’s strong enough.”
    “Oh,” I said, embarrassed, “the anger I felt for Tut you must have been feeling toward me and I couldn’t tell the difference.”
Have to figure out how to differentiate the sensations, I told myself.

She touched my arm, “I can tell you’re sorry, so I’ll drop it.”
Wow, this is going to work out really well, I thought.

“Though I don’t deserve it,” I said, “I’m glad you chose me today.”

“I’d have chosen you even if you had clobbered him onto the ground. It’s just jealousy Elliott. You don’t think I feel it for you when any one of these girls here looks at you? It’s only natural. Just don’t let it bother you. I’m interested in you and you alone.”

“Julia Jacobs!” I shouted in a whisper. “I believe you’ve just stolen my heart. God! Why do you have to be such a firework?”

“That’s an incredibly astute question,” she said, eyeing me slyfully.

I peered back over my shoulder at Tut.

“Tut seems to be kind of mad himself. Why do you think that is Jules?”

“Elliott.”

“What if I brushed your hair from your shoulder? Do you think that would anger him more?”

I brushed a long strand of hair off her shoulder and stared deeply into her eyes, trying really hard not to look back at Tut.
    “I don’t like cruelty,” she said.
    “It doesn’t feel like you don’t like my brand of cruelty.”
She let a smile slip through.
    “I don’t deny that I like it when you touch me,” she said. Butterflies rustled in my stomach.    “But,” she continued, “not at the expense of others.”
    “But Jules, had you not thought that my touching you might help Tut get over you?”
I let the back of my index finger trail tiny zaps down her jaw line. She grabbed my hand and put it onto the lab table.
    “In this class, you will not encourage Sawyer’s hurt.”
    “I understand,” I said, suddenly ashamed of my cruel behavior. “You know Jules? You do strange things to me. I’ve had little to no control of some of the smallest emotions. For instance, this jealousy I feel over Tut?” I leaned into her ear. “It makes me want to kiss you in front of everyone in here. Just so they’ll know that I belong to you and you belong to me.”
    “Well, as much fun as that would be,” she said grabbing my face and turning it toward our solution filled flask, “we have work to do.”
We both smiled flirtatiously then focused on the task at hand with only the occasional teasing remark.

When Chemistry was over, I walked her to her car. The five minute walk was inspiring, to say the least. Images of students slurred around us, but we were the only ones that mattered. I hesitated for the first minute but eventually grabbed her hand in mine. The instant our hands connected, a pyrotechnic shower of light and heat cascaded over our heads before spilling onto the concrete. It was beautiful and I knew exactly what it was. It was the happiness we felt, together, and it reflected in the sparkled bits of electricity that fell at our feet.

“You make me feel like I’m flying Jules.”

“You make me feel like I’m falling Gray. The good kind. The ‘tip of the roller coaster before it plummets’ kind,” she said.

I could feel in my gut that she wanted me to ask myself over to her house but I didn’t give myself the opportunity. I needed to drag out the week so she’d feel obligated to come to my football game Friday. Something Jules never did. Also, the next day, I was determined to take her to Thatcher’s and that was going to be a task in and of itself. I peeled my hand away from the pleasant thrumming, seriously thought about grabbing her hand again, but willed myself away.

    “Bye Jules! See you tomorrow,” I shouted as I ran off.
    “Bye,” she said quietly, confused and waving her beautiful hand my way.

I ran as fast as I could to my truck in the other lot, leaving ribboned trails of Jules’ and my shared electricity behind me. Fireworks shot from my chest and hands, visible to only myself. I smoothly dodged around the crowded hallway of students and objects, dusting them with glimmering powdery dust. I never felt alive as I did in that moment, like I had sat in an emotionless body until I saw Jules that first day of school. Emotions pre-Jules barely registered in my thoughts. I let the light permeate the wind around me, raising effervescent fingers to the air, dropping shiny sparks of magnetic tensions and watched as they fizzled at the ground.

    The drive home felt bittersweet. The electricity was fading without Jules around. I drove home to The Future Cast’s ‘Lovers March’ and blared the song out open windows, belting each word. I was a fool and loved every minute of it. I got home a little sooner than I usually did, ran up the hill to the house, and burst through our kitchen door, startling my mother.
    “Elliott! What’s gotten into you son?”
    “Sorry mama,” I said sheepishly, cautiously closing the door behind me. “I had a really good day at school today.”
    “Oh really? Fix that little problem?”
She stood at the stove, one hand on her hip, stirring something in a pot.
    “Yes ma’am,” I said, kissing her cheek and grabbing an apple before heading up the creaky stairs to my room.

I purposely took my ‘non-squeak’ path, as I called it, carefully choosing the random spots on the random steps that avoided sound. It took me years to figure out the combination and I got a kick out of knowing it by heart. Maddy bothered me incessantly about teaching it to her but my dad said it was good for her not to know for fear a seventeen year old version of Maddy would use it for dubious purposes.

“Got a lot of homework ma’. Just call me for dinner.”

    “Okay baby!”
    “What’s his problem?” I heard Maddy ask on my way up.
    “He’s just happy, child. You should try it sometime,” I heard my mom answer as I shut my door behind me. I looked down at my mom’s cell phone in my hand.
    The phone rang a couple of times before Jules answered.
    “Hello Elliott Gray.”
    “Hey Jules. How did you?”
    “Because I just knew.”
    “Cool.”
    “Why did you just run off earlier?” She asked.
    “Because I don’t want to bug you Jules.”
    “Oh,” she laughed, “Sometimes I don’t mind being bugged.”
    “Really?” I asked surprised. “What a complete one eighty you’ve done on me from the beginning of the week Jacobs. I don’t know what’s gotten into you but I like it.”

“Well, I’ve decided that you’re worth dropping my defenses for. Consider yourself lucky because I’ve never done that for anyone at Bluefield, except for maybe Sawyer.”

“I consider myself very lucky babe, but not because you’ve dropped your defenses.”

After another two hour conversation of talking about absolutely nothing yet everything that seemed important I had to let her go.

“Jules, I gotta’ go.”

“I know, me too. That’s okay. We’ve got tomorrow.”

“Alright, see you tomorrow.”

“Bye Elliott.”

“Bye Jules.......Oh, Jules?”

I waited for a while but no answer.
    “Shoot. She hung up.”
    “No, I didn’t.”
    “Why didn’t you answer me then?”
    “Because I was waiting for you to say whatever it was you were going to say.......So?”
    “I forgot now.”
We both laughed.
    “Bye Jules.”
    “Bye forgetful.”

I hung up the phone and swiveled my chair toward my bedroom door. Smiling at how things can change so quickly in such a short period of time. I didn’t forget what I was going to ask her. I just decided it’d be better if it waited until the next day.

    I left my room and headed down the back stairwell to the kitchen to put my mom’s phone back on her charger. I finished my homework, ate dinner, talked and laughed with my parents, even played with Maddy before I forced my tired feet up the stairs and plunged into my sheets.
    “Today was a good day,” I understated. “A very good day.”
The next day, we were barely able to speak during second period because Mrs. Kitt was on to us. Mrs. Jacobs’ best friend. Enough said. When class was finally over, I nervously walked two paces behind Jules toward the door. Mrs. Kitt was watching us very closely now and we tried to act as inconspicuously as possible.
 “Stupid town and their stupid gossip. I know she’s just itchin’ to call my mom,” Jules whispered under her breath to me once we reached the end of the hall.
 “Let’s go to Thatcher’s after school, avoid prying eyes,” I said joining her side.
She stopped short and I took a step back to join her. For a long time, she hesitated.

“Please say yes. Don’t make me beg you Jules,” I pleaded with a smile.

“Okay,” she leaned in and whispered back.

I could feel her warm breath on my neck when she leaned in to my ear and shuddered at the tingle it gave me. She never knew it, but in that moment I about said ‘screw it’, but when I was close to dropping my bag and books and sweeping her into my arms to kiss her, Mrs. Kitt walked by.

“You going to lunch kids?” she asked, eyeing us gingerly.

You’ve just been saved Julia Jacobs.

We walked to lunch and entered the cafeteria doors. As the daily custom now, all eyes shot our way.

“Wanna’ sit with me and Jesse and the rest of the team? A change of pace?” I asked.

“Absolutely not,” she laughed.

“Why not? They don’t bite.”

“Yeah, but I might.”

“Oh whatever Jules. Come on. You might like them.”

“Yeah, the guys would probably be polite, but the cheerleaders won’t. They hate my guts.”

“I don’t think so Jules. You’re imagining things.”

“No, I’m not, but if you really want me to, then I will, but don’t say I didn’t warn you. Just pay attention to how Taylor Williams and her comrades act toward me.”

“What did she do?” I asked, finally feeling safe enough about us to pry.

I knew how awful Taylor Williams could be. Over the summer, she called me like fifty times to see if I wanted to go to the movies but I was about as interested in that as a cat is in his bath. She was foul. A true sociopath. She constantly gossiped, was cruel to people who she thought were beneath her and was about as intelligent as the lemming she so eloquently emulated.
    “Don’t you remember that awful fight we got in to last year in art class?” She asked in disbelief.
    “No,” I honestly said.
Whenever Taylor’s name was brought up around me I’d phase out, uninterested.
    “Well Taylor accidentally,” she finger quoted, “poured an entire can of blue paint on the piece I was working on for my final project. It also got all over me but when I got up from my stool, dripping in paint, she started to apologize. I thought it was an accident until I saw her wink at me behind Mr. Stewart’s back and all her little followers started laughing at me.

So, of course, that’s when I snapped. I had spent over thirty hours on that painting. I started to confront her but Mr. Stewart stopped me and sent me to the Principal's office. I almost got suspended because of her.”

    “Jules, I had no idea. Don’t tell me any more stories of her being mean to you. It makes my blood boil. How about this? Let’s just stay at the far end of the table with the guys, away from the girls.”
    “I’m not afraid.”
    “Of course you’re not Jules. I only suggested it because I was afraid for Taylor Williams.”
    “You can take an interest in her well being, do you?”
    “Jealous?”
    “Absolutely not.”
    “Your hand tells me otherwise.”
She yanked her hand away.
    “Come on Jules. I have absolutely no interest in her well being whatsoever, but if you gave her a black eye, then she’d attack you in retaliation and then I’d have to punch a girl for attacking you. I’d forever be known as that jerk who punched a girl. Plus, we’d both get detention, possibly suspension. I’m just not at all eager to spend the first few days I’m getting to know you again under adult supervision.”
    “Really? Hmm. Maybe you do have ulterior motives.”
    “Does it feel like I have ulterior motives?”
    “No.”
    “Then, come on!”

I dragged her to the three rectangular tables pushed together and ten of the guys from the team made room for us. We dragged two chairs together and sat at the end cap. Taylor and her idiot followers began to roll their eyes before we even sat down and immediately all five bent in to talk about us. The guys were, at first, pretty aloof, engrossed in a story of how David, our tight end, spent the summer on the coast of North Carolina with his aunt and all the girls that inhabited the beach there. When David was finished they all sat back in their seats and finally took note of us. Really, they took note of Jules.

    “Well looky here Greg,” said David, slapping Greg on the shoulder, “Gray’s got himself a lunch date. Nice of you to finally join us Gray.”
They all laughed, including us.
    “Shut up David,” I playfully joked back, “at least she’s a real person, unlike the ones you probably just made up from the summer at your aunt’s.”
    “Ohhhhh!” All the guys chimed at once.
    “Okay. Okay, Elliott!” Said David, his hands up as if surrendering. “Obviously your love life is something we’re not allowed to talk about and you,” he pointed to all the guys at the table, “I’ve got pictures. Just wait until tomorrow. I can’t wait to see you all fall to your knees at the hotness that was those girls. Just wait!”
    “Oh, we’re not together,” said Jules unexpectedly.

I couldn’t believe she said that. My mouth fell slack and I felt the heat starting to creep into my cheeks. Another “Ohhhhh!” leaked out of the guys.

    “You got just burned Gray!” I barely heard Kyle say.
    “At least........not yet,” I said, smiling at her.

She smiled back and everyone started laughing, except Jesse, who just shook his head. Taylor shot up and ran toward the exit, her cronies in tow. I didn’t think she was even listening, but her quick dramatic exit was all the proof I needed. The guys barely noticed her, tired of her drama, and began talking about David’s summer of girls again.

    “Uh oh,” whispered Jules, only to me, “I think we offended Taylor.”
    “Don’t worry about it,” I said.
    “How could I not?” She replied. “Everyone knows Taylor Williams is in love with you.”
    “No!” I said emphatically. “You’re wrong. She only thinks she’s in love with me. She just wants what she thinks I am.”
    “And what’s that?”
    “Her ticket to prom queen.”
    “Oh,” said Jules.
She bit her lower lip to keep from laughing.
    “Shallow right?” I asked.
Jules became serious.
    “A bit, but more sad than anything else. Imagine if she spent as much time and energy as she wastes on the unimportant doing something that could improve her mind. She could be extraordinary if she wanted to be.”
    “You give her more credit than I do Jules.”

Jules took a spoonful from her pudding cup. I was impressed with Jules at that moment. Even with the cruelty Taylor threw her way, Jules still thought she was salvageable. I added gracious to the never ending list of amazing things I thought about her.

    The bell rang and I picked up Jules’ bag for her and carried it to class.
    “I like talking to you Jules. It’s easy, natural.”
    “It might help that we used to go fishing for tadpoles as kids on the creek and play king of the mountain on the giant rock bridge.”
    “No, I don’t think that’s it,” I said, walking to our class. “I think it’s because we think alike.”
The bell rang after third period.

“Hey,” I said, “meet me at my truck after school? I’m in lot B.”

“Okaaaay,” she sang.

“You said you’d come Jules.”

“I know. I’ll be there.”   

When school let out, I hauled out to my truck and the sight of her stopped me in my tracks. I clutched at my heart. She leaned her back against the passenger side door, her bag already in the back. Her hair blew in the wind and her shirt clung to her figure, accentuating how feminine she truly was. She had both her hands in the front pockets of her jeans. Ugh, You’re killing me Jules. She was the most beautiful girl in the entire world, ironically in its smallest town. Although it only had four hundred and fourteen people in residence that wasn’t what made it the smallest town. No, what made it the smallest was the overwhelming invasion of privacy from the entire population. It was like we had three hundred mothers and fathers keeping track. If you did something naughty, the second it was done someone was calling your mama or your dad and by the time you got home your punishment was waiting for you.

Jules and I lived in the city of Bramwell, fifteen minutes southeast of the city of Bluefield where we all went to high school, in the beautiful state of West Virginia. Thatcher’s, along with many other little businesses, resided on Main in Bramwell’s business district. It was a sleepy little town with one market, a depot for the steam train, and one little post office, run by two employees; one to man the desk, and the other to deliver. Gus and Gertie, a married couple. Gertie manned the desk and Gus delivered. But Gus and Gertie, in reality, owned two jobs. Their second job, as the town gossips, they weren’t paid for, at least not in the traditional sense. They were compensated in other ways, I’m sure, and since their side business was to know everyone else's, that’s where people went to get wind of any scandals or rumors floating about town.

People stopped by there like gossiping was on their ‘to do’ list, right next to shopping at the market and paying the water bill and it wasn’t surprising at all to see through the window that afternoon all the little housewives huddled around Gertie’s desk, chattering and wide eyed. There were a few more wives than usual on account it was the day before our first game and apparently there were things that needed to be talked about. Our town was obsessed with our high school’s football team. They sat at the edge of their seats all summer waiting for the first season’s game.

If I had been smart, or patient, I would have done what the few kids in our town who were actually dating each other knew to do and that was to go to Charleston. No one could pry into your fledgling relationship if they didn’t know about it, right?

You see, Bramwell was the kind of town where the parents had nothing to do but become obsessed with their own children. Living vicariously through their football playing and cheerleading offspring but there was only one diner in the whole damn town and it was a school night so we weren’t allowed to stay out late and I definitely wasn’t going to wait until the weekend to take her out since Friday night was the game and Saturday was too far away.

I felt confident that if I asked her about our lightning bolt, she might stick around this time. We’d been avoiding the matter entirely. Granted, the subject wasn’t exactly school appropriate because people were really good at eavesdropping on us. I knew this because I’d get a full on angry report from Jesse later, on what Taylor thought of things we did or didn’t say to each other. So basically,  you can see I didn’t really have a choice.

It didn’t help much that Julia wasn’t your typical Bramwell resident. While the other girls were painting their nails and practicing their hurkeys, Julia was painting a canvas and practicing her  guitar. For this, she was considered the moody and pensive outcast, but she didn’t care. I loved this about her because she had the guts to stand out amongst the ‘cookie cutters’, at least that’s what she called them, and I didn’t.

While we drove to Thatcher’s, we stayed perfectly quiet the ride there. I think it may have been the anticipation of the conversation about our grossly intense lightning bolt that unsettled us or maybe it was because we weren’t officially dating and I didn’t know how Jules felt about that after today’s denial of it at lunch. Personally, I was more scared of what the lightning bolt actually meant as opposed to the bolt itself. I could handle Jules’ denial of me. That was a piece of cake in comparison.

As we drove, I followed a bead of sweat dripping down Jules’ neck. It was starting to stifle inside the cab. It was an unusually warm day in September and my truck had no air conditioning, so we rolled down the windows and I stared as her long hair lifted and dove with the breath of the wind. Smiles were the only form of communication we held and if my dashboard had been a confessional, it would have known we were promised to be thick as thieves.

Thatcher’s seemed pretty busy. I hopped out and ran to the other side of the truck to open her door for her. I took her hand and the cindery flash shot up both our arms. I let go and she looked at me, paralyzed. It was warmer, brighter. When I smiled, she caught it and I could see all the muscles in her body relax at once as she took the same hand I had previously offered yet again.    

When her hand cupped with mine, there it was, that same shocking voltage, but this time, it was no longer alarming. The spirited force ignited the muscles in our fingers, hands, and arms. It continued through our shoulders and necks. I felt it in my ears, eyes and even tasted it on my tongue. Its bitter alkaline smacked of one of the best flavors that had ever passed my lips, at the time, because I had yet to kiss Jules. We stood with our hands locked for at least five minutes, enjoying the current, not wanting to let go, ever.

“Bizarre,” she giggled.

I nodded once and began to lead her toward the door.

“I blame it on this fickle southern weather,” I teased over my shoulder.

We walked into Thatcher’s and as I had previously guessed, a bunch of students were already there. It made us feel volumes more comfortable in choosing a somewhat private booth.     

Truthfully, it wasn’t the students we worried about gossiping. We could handle them. As a matter of fact, it was the adults but because we were under the protective mask of pre-game day students we picked the dark unwanted booth way back in the corner without difficulty. She slid in and I clumsily tumbled in opposite her. We knew the menu.

Thatcher came up and took our orders. He acted quite annoyed for it being such a winning sales day. There was nothing surprising about that, he was such a grumpy old man but we loved the old crab anyway.

 “What do you want?” he barked.
 “The usual,” we both said in unison, tossing our menus aside.
He eyed us carefully.
 “Keep your gum out from underneath my table.”
 “Yes sir,” said Jules with a wink and a salute.
Thatcher turned and mumbled something under his breath.
 “We’re not even chewin’ gum,” I said with a shrug.
 “I know. He’s so kooky.”

We laughed but it got uncomfortably quiet and Jules pretended to stare out the window at a street she could probably navigate in her sleep. I couldn’t help but stare too, but at her. She was breathtaking. She fiddled with a long curl, twisting it in her fingers while her elbow rested on the table. She sighed and bit her bottom lip crookedly, trying to think of something else to say. The sun shone through Thatcher’s windows and it brought bits of gold out in her green eyes. She caught me glaring and I failed to play it off. I actually think I made her a little uncomfortable.  

“Jules?” I asked.

She turned her stare from out the window and her eyes met mine. I felt a tiny jolt to my stomach.

“Yes Elliott?”

I loved the way she said my name. Her mouth distracted me and for a moment made me forget what I intended to ask her.

“The lightning bolt,” she guessed.

“Exactly,” was all I could rally up.

“Outside Mrs. Kitt’s class, that first day and every time after that, when I feel it, the hair stands on the back of my neck. I can even feel a tingle underneath my fingernails,” she said.

“Me too,” was all I could reply, swallowing the thrill her words gave me.

I was too afraid to say anything else. Frankly, the feeling thrilled me and scared me to death. A wide grin began to spread across her face.

“Hey,” she smirked, trying to lighten the mood, “Have you ever read Plato’s Symposium?”

I chuckled on the inside.

“What are you trying to say?” I asked. “We were once, together, a hermaphrodite?”

She laughed wildly. I could tell she was shocked and frightfully pleased that I even got the reference.

“It suddenly doesn’t sound as romantic as I meant it to sound but it would explain the lightning bolt feeling.”

“You’re ridiculous," I teased.

“I’m only kidding, but still, it can be our own private joke," she said, beaming.

“Already we’ve got an inside joke? Don’t you think that’s a big step? Aren’t inside jokes for people with labels? We’re not even friends.”

I had only said that because of what she had said at lunch.

“We aren’t?” She asked pleadingly.

I didn’t know what I was doing. I had forgotten how to be a man.

Forget parameters, I thought to myself. Forget lunch. Tell her what you want.

“No Jules. We aren’t friends but that’s going to change, because we’re going to start dating.”

A little too forceful.

“If that’s okay with you?” I amended.

She looked pleased, but I couldn’t tell for sure.

“Elliott Gray. I’ve never met anyone like you. You’re nothing like I’d thought you’d be. How you appear to others is not what I see in your heart. You’re well liked at school, but you don’t seem to care. You’re the starting quarterback, and from what I’ve heard your phenomenal, but you don’t seem to be bothered to even talk about it. You’re an enigma.”

“Oh that,” I said, clearing my throat. “I do that for my pop. Don’t get me wrong, I like playing. I mean, it’s fun and all, but he wants me to play college and frankly I haven’t figured out a way to break it to him that I won’t be doing that.”

At that moment, Thatcher’s door opened up and let a tiny gust of wind in. The wind carried itself throughout the diner, caught Julia’s perfume and sent it through my nostrils. It assaulted me, and again, I forgot what we had been talking about. It tasted of honeysuckle and citrus and it was intoxicating. I almost shot up, snatched her hand, and dragged her from that booth. I didn’t know what I was going to do then, but I can tell you this, if the food hadn’t come to free me from the thought I would have seized her with everything I had in front of Thatcher and the whole inane town.

Thatcher tossed everything down and slumped away. It was hot so we let it cool for a moment or maybe we were just too excited to eat.

“Let me try something,” she said.

She reached out her hand, her palm facing me and waited for mine. I reached up my own hand and met it with hers. The voltaic strike punched through us but neither of us pulled away, darkening the diner around our booth. A hot heat built between our palms and our breathing got heavier and deeper as the charge trembled through us. I had to pull my hand away just to keep my sanity about me.

“That’s an amazing feeling, isn’t it?" She asked.

“It’s unfathomable,” I said.

    “What is it?” She asked bluntly.
Asking the very question I had wanted answered since day one.
    “I’m not sure and to be honest with you, I’m starting to think I don’t care.”
That surprised even me.

“You don’t?”

“Nope,” I realized, “It doesn’t matter to me. It’s ours and that’s all that concerns me. I don’t want to have to find an explanation for it. I sort of like that it’s beyond our comprehension, like it’s not meant to be defined.”

“Curiouser and curiouser,” she teased.

We ate our food and pushed our plates to the side. We drank about seven Dr. Peppers a piece, just to have an excuse to talk, until Thatcher’s closed. He had to kick us out. We hadn’t even noticed that everyone else had left, probably hours before. I decided to drive Julia to her house down the street because I didn’t feel right having her drive her own car from the school at nine o’clock at night by herself. Her dad would have killed me. Also, I had an ulterior motive, I wanted to be with her as long as possible the next day and I promised to pick her up for school the next morning.

“So, you think you’re going to London for spring break this year? With Mr. Cray’s English class?”

    “I hope so.” She smiled. “If  I can afford to go. I would die to see Shakespeare’s Globe, or at least the tribute to his Globe.”

    “Me too. Such a pity Puritan law was.”

    “For apparently hating the subject so much, you seem to know a lot about its history,” she accused.

    “Ah, you mistake my knowledge for interest in the history of literature, when in fact, I am truly only interested in history itself.”

    “Is that so? I think that you pretend that you are not interested Elliott. I believe you like the subject and are probably superlative at it, just not as much as your sciences.”

I pulled up to her house and put the truck in park.

“What can we do to afford it?” I asked, assuming it was going to be a joint effort.

“Well, let’s see,” said Jules, “I hear they’re looking for nude models at the community college in Charleston. Maybe they’ll throw in a little Fawlty Towers, make a secret keeper out of you yet. How comfortable would you feel getting naked in front of a multitude of strangers and posing with a bowl of fruit?”

“I think I’d do alright actually, but only if they removed the pears. They make my face appear yellow and that would just throw off the whole aesthetics.” I threw a devious smile her direction. “And you miss Jacobs? Would you feel comfortable? Maybe we can invite Sawyer Tuttle. I’m sure he’d be a very willing student.”

She couldn’t say anything, desperately bit at her bottom lip to keep from giving me the smile I was asking for and shaking her head in mock disapproval.

    “I mean, if you are comfortable don’t hesitate to tell me,” I continued. “You know?” I put my finger to my chin. “Come to think of it, I’ve been meaning to take up sculpting. I wonder if it’s too late to register.”

“Elliott!” She finally laughed, hitting my arm, briefly igniting our light. “I would never do anything like that, ever!”

“It would be for art Jules. It’s different. But I can see that you’re not that kind of girl,” I teased. “If you’re not into nude art I’ve got something else for you that you may go for.” I leaned in really close to her face, “My Uncle Danny said the county is looking for someone to canvas the major highways for dead animal carcasses. How does getting in my truck with me and perusing for smelly deer sound?”

    “That’s disgusting. Is that a real job?”

    “Of course it is Jules. What do you think happens to all those animals? We have to prevent diseases you know. Plus, it’s just unsightly.”   

We smiled at each other. Then she paused and looked at me strangely.

“Wow Elliott, I must say, I’m a little affected by you.”

“To say the very least, Jules.”

 

When I got home, my mom was livid but my dad was too interested in what happened at practice that morning to let my mom rant anymore about the no good I was probably up to. I let her know I was at Thatcher’s with some kids from school from the time I had left until just before I got home. I told her she could check with Thatcher. While my dad asked me about my day, my mom checked my story and called Thatcher. If that woman was anything, she was diligent. I tried to keep up with my dad’s questions but couldn’t help but try to eavesdrop on my mom’s conversation with Thatcher.

Thatcher was usually pretty good at keeping the gossip to a minimum. He was a no nonsense kind of guy, but I could tell from my mom’s facial expression that he was spilling the beans and I was trying to come up with the answers to the questions that were about to barrel my way.

My mom finally clicked the phone quietly on its receiver and stood staring at the wall. My dad realized how quiet she was, hushed himself and waited for her to turn around.

“Shelby?” He finally asked.

She turned around and smiled, something I hadn’t expected.

“Mark, our boy was on a date," she said folding her arms and leaning against the counter.

He turned to me with the most serious pout on his face.

“Now. Now, Elliott. Listen to me. You don’t want to start dating now. The season’s just starting. You need to keep your grades up son,” he said, his voice teetering on hysteria.

“Oh, hush Mark. The boy’s never made anything lower than an A his entire life,” my mom said in my defense, as she sat down next to me.

“I know Shelby, that’s because we’ve kept girls out of his life. He needs to focus more than ever right now,” he said.

The desperation seeped from his pours.

“Oh, so it was you and I who kept girls out of this male teenager’s line of sight? My God Mark! We should sell our secret. We’d make millions,” she said, all the while smiling and staring at me.  “If he’s done well in school, it’s because he’s a natural. He’s a smart kid. Now, calm down sweetheart,” she winked in his direction, “So, Julia Jacobs huh? I know her mama is not gonna’ like that. Boy, her daddy won’t either. Mark, you’re going to have to invite the Jacobs to dinner,” she said over her shoulder. “Julia Jacobs? Strange. Why her baby?”

    “Mom, she is not strange. She’s just different from the girls around here is all. In fact, she’s extraordinary,” I said surprisingly defensive.

“I’m sorry baby. I didn’t mean it that way. She is lovely. Boy, are you protective of her already!” She laughed. “I’ve never seen you do more than look at a girl. I only meant that it was strange to see you take a sudden interest is all.”

“He’s turning into a man Shelby!” My dad said, slapping me on the shoulder. “Aren’t ya’ boy?”

He seemed proud. I guess he felt satisfied that I wouldn’t let my grades slip and mess up my football career.

“I can’t explain it actually. I never so much as glanced at Jules before the first day of school, but something happened. I’m too afraid to even talk about it for fear you’ll think me insane,” I said.

“I don’t judge. You know that,” said my mom earnestly.

And she didn’t.

“Well, I was messin’ around before class in the hall with Jesse Thomas when I saw her floatin’ down the hallway as if on some sort of revolving belt, like a bad eighties movie. I didn’t even see her feet move mom. I half expected ‘Dream Weaver’ to belt from the ceiling speakers.”

She laughed.

“But in all seriousness,” I continued, my eyes reflecting the experience, “Her eyes met mine and it made the weight of my body feel burdensome. She scared me to death during dinner when she admitted to feeling the same thing. It was as if she had read my mind. I touched her hand in class and my hand felt like it was on fire.” I left out the fireworks and the ESP. My mom didn’t judge but she wouldn’t be above committing me. “I swear I’ve never felt, seen, heard, or even read of anything like that before. I couldn’t explain it to you fully. Not even if I tried,” I paused apprehensively, “Mom? Do you? I mean, have you ever felt anything like that before? Is it normal?”

She thought about it for a moment.

“No son, I can’t say that I have,” she looked at me strangely, “but everyone feels attraction differently, I think, honey. Your daddy and I had our own little way of knowing who we were to one another that only we could distinguish.”

My dad, whom we thought wasn’t listening, poured himself a cup of coffee in the corner of the kitchen and chimed in.

    “Don’t listen to her son, we fell in love just like everyone else. Sounds to me like it was just the hormones,” he playfully answered.

“He’s lyin’ through his teeth Elliott. That man was a fool for me then, just as he is now.”

He walked out of the room smiling without a peep of disagreement. He knew she was right.   

“Well, it sounds to me like it was quite a day for you. You hungry? Oh! What am I sayin’? You just ate. Well, you go to bed sweetheart and we’ll talk more tomorrow.”

She stood and kissed the top of my head, but before she left, declared, “I love you Elliott, very much. Remember the rules darlin’.” She pointed at me. “You treat her as a lady, always. You handle her with kid gloves young man, she’s precious.”

“Yes, ma’am.” I nodded.

Then she strolled down the hallway through the living room on her light feet to the master bedroom. She turned right before opening her door.
    “Is she the student you were having trouble with baby?”
    “She was.”
She turned with a smile and opened the door to her bedroom.

I woke an hour earlier than usual and rang Julia to let her know to anticipate me at seven-thirty, an hour before school. I knew it wouldn’t wake her mom or her dad as they would have been at work at six a.m., along with my dad. She answered and her voice impressed on me like freshly baked bread, warm and soft.

 “Hello?” she said, half asleep.
 “Miss Jacobs? It’s Elliott.”
 “I know who it is,” she laughed.
 “You may expect me at seven-thirty this morning.” I detached all formality and almost whispered the rest, “I’m calling this early because I don’t know how much time girls need to get ready and wanted to cover all my bases.”
She laughed, whether it was with me or at me I’m not sure, and agreed to be ready by seven o’clock, and told me not to be late. She had gumption and I loved that.
I showed up at her house at six fifty-five on the dot. The sun hadn’t even shown, which was my plan. My headlights shone brightly onto her home and I watched as she locked her door. I left the truck running and ran up her porch. I took her backpack from her and guided her to the other side of the truck, opened the passenger door for her and threw her bag, with mine, in the bed. When I stepped in, she was buckling her seat belt.

“Hi,” she said flirtatiously.

“Hi,” I said, trying to hide my smile.

“We have an hour and half before school starts. Whatcha’ got planned?”

“I thought we’d watch the sun rise, but I’m keeping the location a secret,” I told her.

    “That’s a perfectly respectable thing to do Elliott Gray.”
    “I know.”

The corners of her mouth gradually turned up as my truck chased the road. I took a backward way to throw her off but once we got close, she knew.

“Our creek,” she said. “Very clever Elliott. Since you like surprises so much, consider yourself ambushed.”

She removed a CD from a plastic case and twisted it in her fingers before popping it in.

“A gift, a small one, really. It’s a mixed CD of all my favorite songs. I made it for you after you dropped me off last night.”

When she’d said that, my throat became dry and I swallowed hard. The words sang through my head and settled softly in my heart. I really liked the idea of her thinking of me when I wasn’t around.

The only thing new in my truck was the stereo my Uncle Danny and Aunt Becky had bought me for Christmas the year before. I reminded myself that I needed to call them up later and earnestly thank them for the gift again.

Jules had drawn on the CD case an intricate illustration of an antique typewriter with a piece of parchment in its platen. On the parchment, written in tiny letters were the songs and their artists in the order that they played. Did I mention Jules is an amazing artist and painter?

The first song began to play and I slammed the truck to an abrupt stop. She grabbed the dashboard and looked over at me.

“What?” She asked.

“That’s my favorite song,” I said.

It was an obscure English band that the British had barely heard of, let alone more than one person in some random little town in West Virginia.

“It’s mine as well.”

There was no use on dwelling on it any more than that. We’d gotten used to the unusual by then. I pressed the accelerator gently so as not to startle her more than I had and when we arrived at the creek bed, we worked the quarter mile through the brush and sat on the large rock bridge we used to play a lot on as kids. I hadn’t been there in years and I didn’t remember it being so magnificent.

Smooth and soft from thousands of years worth of water carving out its intricate form, it sat as a natural bridge between both sides of the creek bank. Water trickled down the cascading hill of rocky matter underneath it and joined the main body of water several feet below. The greenest, wet moss surrounded the stone, as if someone had laid a soft blanket on the flat of it but the wind grabbed hold and blew it to the sides. The quilted moss hugged the rock tightly, foolishly trying to avoid getting wet.

Above, hovered the thickest canopy of green trees and foliage that camouflaged the sky leaving a gap just wide enough for the sun to appear. It smelled sweet and clean and earthy. Its trilling stream wept down the rock bed, tears splashing into each other, finally whirling together and funneling its way back to its tamer companion. The only other thing audible to me was the obnoxious static of my own heart beating from my chest. I painfully hoped that the beating of the water against the rocks was loud enough that my heart wouldn’t betray how vulnerable and intimidated I truly felt.

She sat close to me and stared into the water below. I ordered myself to wrap my arm around her but it laid feebly by my side.

“Elliott?” she asked.

 “Yeah Jules?”
 “Tell me something interesting.”
I cleared my throat, “Okay,” I laughed a little, nervous, “I have dreams of becoming a physician, of donating my time to countries where medical attention is needed most.”
 “Wow Elliott. I have to say, I’m a little shocked.”
 “I know, I’m a little shocked myself actually,” I smiled, but became more serious, “I’m smarter than I look Jules.”
 “I didn’t mean it that way Elliott. It’s just, well, I never once saw you participate in class last year.”
 “That’s because I’m bored half the time.”
 “I can see that now. You were always turning in your tests in half the time of the rest of the class. I just assumed you were turning in blanks.” She couldn’t help but laugh.
 “Is that so? Had you been watching me Julia Jacobs?”
 “No,” she blushed, “I, that is, I mean, I’m not gonna’ lie. You are sort of attractive,” she dug folded hands between her outstretched knees. “You were sort of hard to miss.”
 “I knew it! You think I’m hot!”
Emphatically, she protested, “Trust me Elliott Gray. I never gave you a second thought until that first day so you can get over yourself!”
I laughed.
    “Yeah, not just a second thought. A third, then a fourth, etc., etc.”
    “You’re starting to get a little too confident for my taste.”
 “Whatever Jules, I know the truth. I see it in your eyes. If you could, you’d rush me this second and plant a kiss on my face and you know it.”
If you don’t, I will, I thought.

She began to protest but I jabbed my shoulder into hers and she accepted my non-verbal apology with a smirk. I grabbed her hand and we watched the sun rise in silence. Well, accept for the static bits of electricity entangling themselves around the face of the rock beneath us but we were getting awfully used to the sight of that.

We took in the bits of lilac, pink, and crimson glittering above the treetops. Jules pressed her shoulder into mine and an intense stirring current thrummed through my torso. She sighed deeply from content and my chest rose and fell in harmony with hers. The only thought spinning through my head was how I was going to find a way to spend every waking minute with her and then, how we were going to rationalize it.
    “It’s so beautiful don’t you think Elliott?” She asked, staring at the nature around her.
    “Not as beautiful as you are Jules.”
I was only half-joking.
    “I can’t believe you just said that,” she laughed, “What? Read a book of bad romantic one liners before you came out this morning?”
    “It was bad. I admit, but as cheesy as it was Jules, it doesn’t make it any less true,” I said.
The flush started to seep up my neck and into my face.
    “Well, as cheesy as it was,” she concurred, “you should know that I love cheese. In fact, it goes really well with the blush you’re wearing right now.”
She threw her shoulder deeper into mine.
    “Really? You think so? I’m really bad at this, if you haven’t noticed.”
We both laughed.
    “I’ve noticed,” she laughed. “What was that about my teeth being mistaken for a horse’s?”
I buried my cherry red face in my hands and groaned. I lay back on the stone and laughed. I moved my hands and looked up at a smiling Jules.
    “I, uh, resort to accidental insults when I’m nervous, I guess.”
    “I don’t want to admit it, but I almost died laughing when I got to my car after school. I held it in as long as I could.”
    “Oh my gosh. That is so embarrassing.”
    “Nah, not as embarrassing as your genetically altered vegetable comment.”
She laughed until she fell onto the stone next to me. I covered my face in humiliation.
    “Please Jules! Don’t remind me!”
    “It’s okay. I’m loathe to confess it but I was incredibly charmed by you that day.”

“Thanks Jules. You know? I’ve never dated anyone like you. Truth is, I’ve never dated anyone really. I’m trying really hard......Perhaps, a little too hard?”

I rubbed the back of my neck trying to distribute the blood but she wasn’t fooled. She grabbed my hand and laid it in her lap. She traced the outlines of my palm and fingers. It tickled, but not on my hand, this time in my stomach. I could feel it rising into my throat and messing with my head. I could barely concentrate.

“It’s not possible to try too hard Elliott. Truth is, every girl deserves someone who tries hard. Personally, I couldn’t spend time with anyone unless they did. When I start to date someone,” she cleared her throat, “they need to be as fervently interested in me as I am in them. I wouldn’t take anything less, because that’s what I deserve and so do you.”

    “I will never stop trying hard Jules. Never.”
    “Neither will I.”

“Here comes the sun, Jules.”

Yes, my sun had definitely arrived.

The next day, I picked Jules up for school. It was Friday and just happened to be my first game of the season. I was nervous about asking Jules to come to my game. I couldn’t have imagined her not being there now that we were together and I was quickly becoming aware of whom she really was to me.

“Good morning sweetheart,” she said, locking her front door.

“Good morning dear.”

I grabbed her bag for her and threw it into the bed of the truck along with mine, then helped her into the cab. On our way to school, I decided to just come out with it.
    “So, uh, today’s my first game.” Well come out with half of it, at least.
She had her right elbow rested on the car door and was running her fingers through a large curl. She turned her head toward me and smiled.
    “I know.”
She kept her smile wide and her green eyes on mine.
    “Well, are you gonna’ make me beg Jules?”
    “No, there’s no need baby.”
    “So you’ll be there?” I asked, hopeful yet skeptical.
    She laughed out loud. “I didn’t quite say that Elliott.”
    “Jules! Come on! Please?” I begged anyway, knowing full well that Jules didn’t do anything she didn’t want to.
She was a firecracker, literally and figuratively.
    “I would love nothing more than to watch you play, but I have a feeling that showing people at school who we are to each other today will cause enough of a brouhaha. Let’s take this one step at a time, shall we?”
    “By people, do you mean Taylor Williams? And Marisa Hartford?”
    “And Jesse Thomas doesn’t seem to be that fond of me either. I just don’t want to ruffle any feathers. If you lost this game, they’d all be screaming ‘Yoko’ my direction until we graduated. Football is like a religion here baby and I’m not too keen on being the only one labeled sacrilegious.”
    “Jules, that’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard but listen, although I’d love it if  you came, I can’t nor do I want to make you.”
That was a lie. If I could have made her, I would have.
    “Thank you sweetheart. Don’t worry. I’ll be cheering, no pun intended, for you from our kitchen table at home. Old reliable local channel nineteen.”
    “The kitchen table?” I asked, puzzled.
    “Yeah,” she laughed, “it’s the only room in the house with a television.”
    “Oh my gosh, your mom is hilarious!”
    “I know. Honestly, she seems really harsh around the edges but deep down she is extremely kind and by far is one of the most intelligent women I know.”
That took me utterly by surprise.

“I didn’t know that Jules. I really look forward to getting to know her better then. I assumed that you were nothing like her. I guess I assumed wrong. The way you describe her makes me think you’re a lot like her.”

    “Thank you Elliott. I take that as one of the highest compliments.”

I was surprised by the way Jules viewed her mother. I knew for sure right then, I truly should never judge a book by its cover.

    I pulled into Lot B and the parking lot was packed.
    “You ready for this?” I asked.
    “Ready Freddy. Eventually, they’ll all find out that their starting quarterback’s miss is the last one they would have expected, but that’s okay with me because, the truth of the matter is, I have never felt happier than I do when my hand rests inside yours. I’m happy to be myself and I make no excuses.......but, I’m pretty sure you already knew that about me.”
    “I did,” I said, wrapping my hand over hers. I turned to face her, “It’s what makes you stronger than every girl in this school Jules. You’re an example of examples babe. You pioneer the self esteem cause in this little high school. Who knows how many girls look at you and are influenced. When their minds are ready, whether it will be now or later in life, they’ll be stronger because of your exuberance for life and independence from peer pressure. You’re amazing Jules.”
    “I could kiss you Elliott Gray,” she admitted, a bit starry eyed.
    “What’s stopping you?”
    Her sarcastic stare burrowed through me, “Hypocrisy. Can’t give into the pressures of society, remember? You’re just going to have to wait.”
    “Jules!”

I got out, collected myself as best I could and coolly strolled to her side of the truck and opened her door for her. By the time the handle had clicked, at least a hundred eyes were staring in our direction and those hundred eyes were grabbing the attention of a hundred more. Great, so much for discrete, I thought. We should have come earlier, less nerve racking.

I took her hand and helped her out of the truck. I grabbed our bags, never breaking my grip on Jules’ hand and began to walk toward the double doors. This feeling that emanated through me from her forced me to stop about a hundred feet from the doors. I turned to face Jules. I couldn’t take another step without looking into her eyes. I was too hungry for her gaze. She looked at me strangely when I brushed her hair over her shoulders and trailed my finger down her jaw line.

I placed my arm around Jules’ shoulder to send a clear message to those wondering what was going on between us and started walking once more, a message clear enough that people would accept it immediately and move on. Jules was mine, mine for me to care for, always. And I was hers, for definitely all the same reasons, I hoped.

“What was that all about Casanova?”

“Courage. Needed courage,” I lied.

I let her warmth rush over me and let the beat of my own heart resonate with the extra life she gave to me. It touched the tips of my toes and fingers and swirled through my head. It was a peculiar feeling, something I hadn’t felt on that first day, something new. I was curious to know where it had come from and why. I knew it wasn’t from our shared supernatural current, though it definitely was supernatural, just not associated with our unique gifts. It was something different, something I couldn’t quite put my finger on.

We were a pretty visible distraction, the pair of us. Jules looked like a Barbie doll next to me. Well, a seriously original and unique Barbie doll. Okay, scratch that. The only thing Barbie doll-like about Jules was her insanely long legs and crazy long hair, everything else was Jules’. Her rocker-Victorian style was exclusively hers.

Everyone looking at Jules gave me the feeling that many, many girls wanted to copy her but were too chicken to do so. I also knew every guy around me was probably wondering how the heck I got her. It was the first time I was happy to be six foot four. It was sort of nice to be slightly feared for my size. I towered over Jules, despite the fact that she was also tall, I guessed about five foot eight. We were both some of the tallest in our class and it just added an extra red circle to the target we were both already carrying.

Jules was also breathtakingly beautiful. I looked like a lumberjack in comparison. Her skin was flawless and pale as porcelain. I didn’t have time to shave that morning and was looking pretty scruffy. Jules wore these jeans that made her legs look like they went for miles. I wore a faded pair of jeans that I had put in the dryer the night before and forgot about so they were wrinkled as heck.

It was a bit chilly that morning so Jules wore an olive green, very feminine light knit beret over her freshly washed curled hair. I wore a wool cap from ten years ago over hair that should have been cut two months before. My hair reached just below my chin now and the cap kept it out of my eyes. Jules wore shin length brown leather moccasins over her jeans and I wore boots that were so heavy even a biker wouldn’t wear them.

Jules wore a thin, dark red floor length sweater jacket over a white tank. I wore a wrinkled button up sweater over an old Led Zeppelin t-shirt that used to belong to my dad in the seventies. Plus, my contacts were bothering me that morning so I had to wear my black rimmed ‘Buddy Holly’ glasses. We were night and day. I was night and she was day. She was amazing and I was a massive mess. Suddenly, I felt very self-conscious.

“Stop stressing babe. You look hot,” she said, reading the way I felt through our touch.

    “Thank you sweetheart, but I’m no fool. I know what I look like.”
    “You’re really that clueless? Elliott, every girl here falls over for your casual sexiness. You don’t even try and yet you possess this Johhny Depp ‘I’m a mess yet drool worthy hotness. You kinda’ suck,” she giggled, which made me remove my cap and run my fingers through my hair out of nervousness. “And if you run your fingers through that hair of yours one more time, I think I’m going to hit the wall.” She exhaled sharply then looked at me. “I know you’re stressing about your glasses too because you keep messing with them but your geek magnetism just makes you all the more appealing, not to mention the eyes underneath the glasses! Your eyes are like the brightest blue I’ve ever seen in my life. I swear you could hypnotize with those eyes.”
    “This is a really uncomfortable subject for me. No more please. Let’s change it or I’ll require a bonfire of the vanities or something.”
    “No way, I love my curling iron and makeup.”
I laughed.
    “I meant for me doofus. You’re the least vain person I know.”
    “Uh, oh,” she said. “Here comes Jesse.”
I could feel her stomach tighten in anxiety through our shared touch when he approached. I squeezed her hand to relieve some of the tension.
    “Hey Jesse,” I said casually.
    “Hey,” he said with a nod but as he walked by he scoffed a condescending snort.
    What a jerk.
    “I know,” Jules said in response.
    “You felt that?” I asked, totally forgetting Jesse Thomas.
    “Yeah, I’m starting to be able to hone specific feelings to specific thoughts now. It’s kind of awesome.”
    “I’ll say.”
We reached Jules’ door to Mrs. Hill’s art class and stood just beside it for a few minutes talking. Jules had her back to the wall, her head resting against the tile and I leaned my shoulder on the bit of wall right next to her and folded my arms into each other.  I stared at her for a moment. Her eyes were the most beautiful green I’d ever seen. She stared back. Silence was not uncomfortable for Jules and I. We spoke volumes in that silence.
    “Teach me how to hone down specific feelings Jules,” I said, smiling from our eye contact.
    “Okay.”
I reached my hand for her face but she shooed it away.

“Let me be the one to touch. I think you’ll be able to concentrate better on what I’m feeling.”

She repositioned herself and turned her body towards me leaving a shoulder to rest against the tile wall. She raised her hand and placed it around my throat.
    “There are lots of nerve endings in the neck. I think that would be a good place for us to practice,” she said softly. “Okay, I’m going to think of specific things that I know will trigger certain responses in me but I’ll tell you each thing I’m feeling as it comes to me. That way, you can start to associate. Ready?”
    “‘kay.”
    “Okay, I’m staring at your lips and that makes me feel a need to kiss you.”
I had an overwhelming want to press my lips to hers and involuntarily leaned forward but she backed away.
    “No, no. Try not to share the feeling.” She laughed. “I know it’s hard but just try to figure out the way it tastes and feels first. Here, let me try an easier one.”
She placed her hand back onto my throat and closed her eyes.
    “Okay, I’m thinking about my little art studio at the house and that makes me feel....”
    “Happy,” I said. “You’re feeling very happy and inspired.”
    “Right! What did it taste like?

“Like chocolate and wine?”

We both laughed.
    “Is that what it tastes like to you?” I asked.

“No, your happiness tastes like pumpkin pie.” She smiled.

“This is so weird. I don’t even know how I know that it was happiness. I went with my instincts.”

“Okay, let’s try another.”

Just then Taylor Williams, who shared first period with Jules, walked past us with a look of disgust on her face before going into the classroom.

    “You’re feeling smug........with a twinge of guilt?” I said, almost laughing.
Jules let her hand drop to her side and her cheeks burned a bright red.
    “That was embarrassing.”
    “Oh Jules, don’t be silly. It was a gut reaction and you immediately corrected yourself. I felt it. Now, let’s do another.”
I picked up her hand and placed it back around my throat.
    “I like this game,” I said.
She smiled, stared at me for a moment, then let her hand slide to the back of my neck.
    “Okay, now I’m thinking....”
She pulled her hand away at lightning speed.
    “Wait,” I said, confused. “What was that?”
She turned her head away and clenched her hands into fists. I pushed her back into the tiled wall and pinned both of my arms beside her to keep her from fleeing.
    “You know,” she said, breathing deeply, “I think that’s enough for one day. You’ve been an excellent student. The bell is about to ring. See you next period.”

She ducked underneath my arm, too quick to catch. I waved at her inside the classroom and went to History with Coach Miles. It was a game day and he usually just played a movie. I loved that because it was going to give me time to think about the emotion Jules was trying to hide from me. I was still racking my brain trying to figure it out when I sat at my desk next to Jesse.

    “Hey,” I said, distracted.
    “Hey,” he said sarcastically. “Care to explain why your arm was around Julia Jacobs back there in the hallway?”
    “Huh?”
He crossed his arms smugly around his torso.

“Please tell me she’s nothing more than a tiny distraction right now, a bug to get out of your system.”   

    “What? Why would you say that? Do I look like the ‘tiny distraction’ type to you? Where in my past behavior have I ever given you reason to think that about me?”
    “I don’t know Gray. I guess I’m just hoping is all. You have no idea what you’re doing do you? I mean, jeez Gray! She’s freakin’ Julia Jacobs. She should be a stepping stone on your way to Taylor Williams.”
My blood was beginning to boil.
    “Jesse, I find it so hilarious that you’re suddenly so interested in my dating. It’s also fascinating that you are equally as interested in who I date. Your opinions are comical because, last time I checked, you aren’t even this picky for yourself. Why are you so hell bent on my dating Taylor Williams anyway? If you like her so much why don’t you date her?:”
    “She’s too yippy for me,” he amended and waved me off.
    “Oh, and I enjoy yippy so much, right? Give me a break. I’ve never said a word about the girls you date and I’d appreciate the same courtesy dude.”
    “Fine,” he said through clenched teeth. “You’ll see though. It won’t last.”
    “Yeah, yeah. So, are you excited about the game tonight?” I asked, desperate to change the subject.
The fuming seemed to subside and he leaned back in his desk.
    “Yeah, coach said he won’t be putting Farley in after all. Can you believe it? Doc says his knee doesn’t look one hundred percent. Farley said he could play with no problem but coach doesn’t want to risk it the first game.”
Whew, I thought, barely listening. So annoying. Too bad he’s so loyal.   

Coach started the movie and Jesse finally shut his blubber mouth. I wrapped my ankles around the legs of my desk and tipped my chair back. I wrapped my fingers around the back of my head and stared at the ceiling, just thinking. What in the world was that? She was so quick to pull away. Let’s see. I definitely felt distraction. Then she slid her hand to the back of my neck. That was awesome. Must have her do that again. It was a warm feeling that turned blazing hot. Tasted like what I would think my mom’s Egyptian Cotton candle would taste like. If I didn’t know any better I..........I let my chair fall hard back to the ground in sudden realization. I swallowed hard. She loves me. She’s in love with me. I haven’t even taken her on a proper date yet! Haven’t even kissed her! Yet, she loves me!

My breath trapped in my throat and I almost began to hyperventilate. I planted my hands on the desk in front of me to anchor myself from falling over from the sheer shock of it. Shock. Shock and happiness? Why doesn’t this scare me? Shouldn’t I feel like running the opposite direction from her or something? I mean, yeah, so I’ve known her my whole life and all but do I really know know her? I thought about it for a moment. Yes, I do.

She’s the Julia Jacobs who forced me to suffer my mother’s wrath by arriving late to dinner one summer night of our fifth grade year because I had to help her rescue the feral kittens underneath Mr. Westburg’s wood porch. She’s the Julia Jacobs who helped me fix the flat in my bike’s tire so I wouldn’t get in trouble for riding near the construction site I was forbidden to go near off Main. She’s the Julia Jacobs who used to sing ‘American Pie’ at the top of her lungs with me at the pool in seventh grade and made me laugh so hard grape soda went up my nose. She’s the Julia Jacobs who would weave fantastic tales of adventure over a gleaming flashlight when we used to camp by the creek.

That girl was colorfully, gorgeously, brilliantly, and astonishingly in love with me. I felt it. That’s exactly what it was. The taste of it was remarkably similar to greatness. No, it beat greatness, to a bloody pulp. My heart inflated like a balloon, doubling, tripling in size with each beat when she revealed it to me, like a massive kick drum. Thump, thump, thump. It sang to me and was the sweetest melody that had ever touched my ears. It was beyond words, impossible to put into words. It was something that needed to be touched, heard, smelled, tasted to grasp its full meaning and I knew. I knew that it was mine only. It was a flavor only I could taste and smell, a feeling only my fingers could touch, and a song only I was meant to hear.

Unexpectedly, a choir of angels sounded. It dawned on me. It was a feeling I sincerely shared. She probably knew it too. I know she must have felt it as well. Now that I knew what the love she held for me tasted like it was suddenly easy to recognize my own distinct flavor I had for her and boy was it ever the dominant current. I had sent it streaming through my fingers to hers every single time I’d touched her. She must have gotten a private kick out of my revealing more than I had intended. I was a fool, an unbelievably happy fool.

    “Hey Jules,” I said calmly, when I finally sat next to her in English.
I couldn’t let her touch me or look into my eyes or I’d give it away. I suppressed the feeling as much as possible so she couldn’t read any radiations of it either.
    “Hi darlin’.”
She tried to act as casual as possible but even without our gift I could see through her cool facade.
    “Hey Jules?” I said seriously, turning my body toward hers, resting my elbows on the desk and chair.
    “Yes Elliott?” She said, her head buried in ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’.
    “I think I figured it out,” I said, and paused for a really long time, letting her sweat it out.
She kept her nose buried but her eyes began to look for mine. She was worried.
    “Hmm?” Her voice cracked, her eyes resettling on the wrong page.

“I said, I think I figured out the theme I am going to write about for Mrs. Kitt’s book report due next month.”

“Oh,” she swallowed hard. “I think I’ve got a theme too. What are you going to write about?”

“Oh no. I can’t say. I wouldn’t feel right showing it to you. It’s too soon to reveal such intimate things to one another. Don’t you think?”

“Okay?” She said, furrowing her eyebrows. “You don’t have to. I guess.”

She raised her beautiful nose from George Orwell and turned her body toward mine.

“Why are you acting so weird?” She asked, suspicious.

Mrs. Kitt saved me from revealing too much when she began class.
    As we walked to lunch, I grabbed Jules’ hand and revealed a little secret of my own but didn’t let on that I knew that she knew.
    “What do you say I take you on a proper date tomorrow Jules?”
    “Sh, sure babe.”
She swallowed hard from the reveal, but kept her mouth shut.

“Where?” She asked.

    “I was thinking the Kanawha Library in Charleston to work on our paper and if it’s not too late maybe dinner?”
    “That sounds perfect actually.”
    “It’s a date then.”

The rest of the school day was pretty much a waiting game until I saw her again. I had come up with a plan to get her to come to the game. In French, I tore a sheet of paper out of my notepad, wrote ‘If you loved me, you’ll be there tonight’ and folded it into quarters. I wasn’t sure if she’d get it but I had never hoped for something so much.

After school, I met her at her locker and while she piled books into her bag I snuck the note in its front pocket. When she seemed to have gotten everything she needed, I grabbed her velvety hand and we walked side by side, laughing and joking ignoring every prying eye that shot our direction. I opened the double doors that led to the parking lot and I noticed from the corner of my eye an out of place group that lingered near Taylor Williams’ car. Taylor Williams, Marisa Hartford, and Jesse Thomas. All three were gathered around Taylor’s open driver’s side door talking and laughing. At first, I thought it might be nothing but when we passed by and I waved at Jesse each became quiet and went their separate ways. Jesse nodded his hello.

“That was weird,” Jules said.

“Hmm,” was all I could reply, narrowing my stare on Jesse.

I drove Jules home and walked her to her door before hugging her goodbye. It wasn’t a little hug either. It was a big bear of a hug. I squeezed the air from her lungs and lifted her feet from the porch. I left her as breathless as if I had kissed her. I got into my truck and turned the key, hoping she would check her bag before seven o’clock because that’s when the game started. I drove away with her standing bewildered at the door, staring in my direction, her keys still in hand and her hair mussed about her face.

    The team was required to be at the stadium an hour before the game but I got there five minutes late because the traffic was already horrible getting into the stadium parking lot. It looked like at least two thousand people from the nearby towns decided to make the game their Friday night. No pressure Elliott…. On all accounts. I walked into our locker room and saw all my gear piled into a locker with my name printed on a piece of paper tacked to a broken nameplate.
    “Thanks for showing up Gray,” Coach Miles said sarcastically.
    “I’m sorry Coach. I have no excuse.”
    “Lombardi time, Gray! If you’re not fifteen minutes early, you’re late!”
    “I know coach. I’m sorry.”
    “Well? Don’t just stand there like a bump on a log! Get your gear on!”
    Half an hour before the game we prayed as a team and were out on the field warming up. I tossed the ball back and forth with the team manager. The stands were filling up and there was still no sign of Jules. I’m not gonna’ lie, I was starting to get pretty frustrated. I searched row by row, time after time, and nothing. I eventually caught my parents’ eyes on the fifth row toward the middle and we waved to each other. Hi mom. Hi dad. Ohhh, Yup. I see you there. My dad deliberately and dramatically tucked his hands inside the pockets of his sweatshirt. Yup, I’ll keep my hands warm dad. I nodded. Sheesh.

We only had five minutes before the game and I was beginning to give up on Jules coming. I was starting to feel foolish. If she hadn’t found the note it was going to be embarrassing picking her up for our library date the next day because I would have had a heck of a time trying to steal it back. I especially didn’t want to think about how embarrassing it would be if she had found it and decided not to come.

Suddenly I wasn’t so sure of what I had felt earlier that day. That was only a fleeting thought. My subconscious casting shadows on the truth like a flock of birds trying to drown out the sun. It never works. There’s never enough birds to manage the cause, the sun always finds the earth. I knew I’d have to give into the catch twenty-two and just come out and ask her about it before we even traveled to Charleston the next day and I dreaded that conversation. I was wishing I had never put the stupid note in the bag in the first place. I thought I was being so clever. I tried to stop thinking about it. I needed a distraction or I was going to lose the game. I threw on my iPod and started Muse’s ‘Map of the Problematique’. It always pumped me up before a game.

It was working. I was only starting to refocus when I looked up and through the corner of my eye I saw tall a girl with long dark hair floating behind the bleachers.

    “Oh my God!” I said out loud, gulping down my shock and dropping my hands to my side.    “Well, she definitely got my note.” Butterflies ensued.

She was walking across the cement underneath the bleachers and I could see her face through the gaps beneath the seats. She finally turned onto the ramp leading into the stands and boy did she ever prove to be the distraction I had asked for. She wasn’t wearing anything close to what she had worn to school that day. My jaw went slack and from the corner of my eye I could see my mom following my stare. When she saw Jules she laughed at me and shook her head but I barely noticed, too absorbed in Jules’ every step.

Her hair was down, as usual, and met her waist but this time it was straight as corn silk, her bangs across her forehead instead of swept to the side. At the top of the ramp the wind caught it and blew it behind her. It brought out the outline of her flawless face. She had done her makeup a tad bit darker for the evening and her lips were a dark red. She had a cashmere sweater dress on that covered almost every inch of her, from the scoop neck that met her collarbone all the way down to her knees but hugged her body like it was painted on. She wore her flat brown moccasins again that met the middle of her shins. If there were any doubts in any of the minds of the guys in the stands that she was drop dead, this outfit would erase them all.

She kept her hands at her side until she reached the bleachers but lifted them slightly to balance herself as she stepped onto the first bleacher raising her hemline slightly and making me forget where I was. It left me wondering how anyone could dress so modestly yet be so astonishingly beautiful. It permanently altered my definition of sexy. Once she sat, she slowly looked across the track separating the field from the bleachers and smiled a devilish smile. You’re in trouble Jacobs, I thought and smiled back.

She blew me a kiss and my heart literally stopped beating. I caught it, to be goofy, and tucked it into a pretend pocket. She laughed and I pointed toward my family a little to her right and up four rows. She smiled and nodded, stood and walked up the bleachers toward my parents. 

Each step she took she passed by at least a dozen classmates. I furrowed my brow and took note of all the boys who would be joining Sawyer Tuttle on my enemies list. Tut’s name was now on their twice. You can close your mouth now Tut.

My family stood and I watched as she shook my dad’s hand and hugged both my mom and Maddy before squeezing past them to sit next to my sister. My dad gave me a wink. Please don’t embarrass me dad.

    “Done ogling Julia Jacobs?” The team manager asked me.
    “Are you?” I joked.
He just smiled and passed the ball back to me. It was time to get my head in the game and now that I had both of my own personal muses, that’s exactly what I did. I was preparing myself for the win that came our team’s way.
    When the game was over, the crowd was on their feet and celebrating our first victory. The drum line was doing their finest and it really revved up the team and crowd. I ran off the field over to the fence near Jules and thread my fingers through the chain link.
    “Yoko!” I yelled at Jules.

Her back was turned to me but when she heard my voice she turned and smiled before hopping down the stairs to meet me. She bent to sit on her ankles, one knee resting on the concrete and wound her fingers through the fence over mine. I readjusted mine to rest on top of hers and kept them gripped tightly. Our charge lit up the fence like a net of burning ember.
    “You did well Gray!” She yelled over the drums.
    “Thanks miss Jacobs! I’m really very glad you came tonight!”
    “Yeah, well...........I got your note!” She smiled letting it touch the corners of her bright eyes.
    “Oh yeah? Huh! Thought we’d need to talk about it but I can feel it won’t be necessary!”
    “I don’t think it will Gray! I can tell you feel the same way!”
I smiled.   
    “The exact same way!”

I jumped onto the concrete barrier that separated the track from the stands and leaned my stomach against the fence. She stood and we met face to face.

    I leaned into her ear, “I love you Julia Jacobs.”
I felt her grin against my cheek, electrifying my face.
    “I love you Elliott Gray,” she whispered.

I pulled my face from hers and readied myself to kiss her. We both closed our eyes but when I expected to feel her warm lips on mine, instead, I felt a million hands pull me from the fence and carry me off the field. I stared back at her and shrugged my shoulders with a crooked smile. She only laughed. There would be a time for our first kiss and if I had anything to say about it that time would be very soon, like the next day.

   

I picked Jules up for our study session at the library in Charleston at two o’clock. I was really nervous. I knew her parents but never at a time that I found their daughter to be the most handsome woman I had ever known. Sorta’ added a pressure that hadn’t ever been there before. I tugged on my t-shirt and wrinkled cardigan before bounding up the steps to her front door. I should really invest in an iron. My eyes were tired from the game the night before and I was forced to wear my dark rimmed glasses again which made me incredibly self-conscious despite Jules’ earlier rants. I rang the door bell and looked down at my feet while I waited. Should have cleaned my Converse, I thought right before her dad answered. My blood pressure spiked to an unhealthy level when he signaled for me to step through the door.

“Mr. Jacobs” I said and offered my hand.

He took it and shook it with a firm squeeze. I returned the pressure in kind. My dad had always told me that was the only way a man knew if a new acquaintance was a real man or not.

    “Julia!” He yelled down the long hall next to the front door. Jules’ room, I mentally took note. “Elliott Gray is here!” He yelled up the staircase. For Jules’ mom, I assumed. I’m not going to lie, she scared me a little. She was menacing looking with her black hair and pale skin. Jules looked just like her but somehow on Jules it looked fairy tale-like.

“Come. Sit down in here with me,” he said.

He gestured to a little sitting room that faced the dark, wide winding wood stairs. The house had to have been at least a hundred years old, same as mine, same as most of the homes in Bramwell but The Perry House, The Jacobs’ home, was one of the most well preserved. It had all the original dark wood throughout. The sitting room he led me into had a massive cast iron fireplace, probably original as well. I wondered what it must have been like for Jules growing up around the Victorian furniture as uptight as was in that home. It reflected her mother’s personality to an exact point. Don’t get me wrong, it was beautiful and matched the home perfectly but I would have felt stifled there.

I lived in a farmhouse from the same era but it was a lot more laid back in its architecture as well as my mother’s taste in furniture. I suspect it proved for a lot more comfortable childhood in comparison.

Just to give you an idea, if you went back in time to the late eighteen hundreds to a moment where the first owners of our homes were still about their houses, you’d see a silk clad woman with layers of heavy expensive fabric and a tightly brimmed hat piled high with feathers at Jule’s house and a simple cotton dressed woman with a white apron at mine.

Not much had changed since that era because that was still the difference in social standing between Jules and myself. Jules had jumped the tracks, so to speak. Her father and mother were executives at the company who owned the coal mine my dad worked at and my father was only a miner.

We were from two different worlds, but Jules never acted as such. I knew her mother well enough and I also knew Jules had not gotten that personality trait from her so I reasonably assumed she got it from her father and thus felt very comfortable sitting across from him at that moment.

    “Mr. Jacobs, my mom made these for Mrs. Jacobs.”
I handed him the white cardboard box full of homemade cookies my mom had wrapped with a pale blue ribbon. She said that it was impolite to show up to someone’s home you’ve been invited to without a gift. I didn’t know a thing about any of that stuff and really didn’t care but I didn’t argue with my mom. Refusing would have gotten me a slap to the neck.
    “Wow!” He said, peeling open the lid. “These look incredible!”
He took one out and began to eat.
    “Don’t tell Ann you saw me eating this in here,” he grinned propping his feet up on a very expensive looking coffee table.
I laughed. Definitely where Jules got her personality from.
    “Cross my heart,” I said.
    “So boy....” he began.
    “What are you yelling up the stairs for? Mom’s not here. There was an emergency at the church, something about broken pipes,” Jules interrupted from behind me.

I turned and saw a pair of long legs stride toward the sitting room. I gulped and started to panic. At that precise moment I felt very self-conscious, having no clue what Julia Jacobs wanted with me. I fiddled with my glasses and pulled at my sweater. She was too radiant to bother with the likes of me. I turned my head and faced Jules’ dad again. He sat with his eyebrows creased. I must have taken too long to turn back around. Whatever the punishment for staring too long at someone’s daughter was I didn’t want to find out because his eyes told me it might be penalty of death. Oops. I had no intentions of disrespecting her father and after that held little to no eye contact with Jules to remedy how uncomfortable I had made him.

    “Are you ready?” Jules asked.
    “Sure,” I said, wiping my sweaty hands on my jeans.
    “So, where are you going?” Her dad asked.
    “Dad, you know where. I told you this morning. The Kanawha County Library in Charleston.”
    “Okay,” he sighed, “but if you’re going to be home past seven you need to call Julia.”
    “No problem pop,” she reached up and pecked him on the cheek.

I took Jules’ bag from her, politely shook Mr. Jacobs’ hand and led Jules to my truck. I opened the door for her and swung her bag into the bed. I hopped in, waved to a glaring Mr. Jacobs and headed toward Main.

    When we reached the end of her street I let out a breath I didn’t even know I was holding. I finally looked at Jules. She had her legs crossed and her right elbow on the window’s edge twisting a curl in her hand.

“You’re sweating Elliott Gray,” she said coolly.

    “What?” I said, reaching my hand to my forehead, wiping away the perspiration.
    “Need a towel?” She teased.
    “Yes, actually,” I laughed, “I nearly hyperventilated from the very look of you. I don’t think your dad was too happy with me when it took me forever to break my stare.”
    “He’ll survive,” she said. “Besides,” she leaned in close, “I like the way you stare at me. It’s a sweet stare. It makes me feel beautiful.”
    “That shouldn’t be a problem for you Jules. You should feel that regardless.”
    “It means a little more when you make me feel that way though. So, thank you.”
    “You’re welcome ma’am,” I said and tipped an imaginary hat her direction.

On our way to the library in Charleston, Jules and I talked about anything and everything. When the conversation turned toward music, it got heated though. We were both extremely opinionated when it came to music. Ironically, we loved all of the same bands but differed in opinion when it got down to the nitty gritty of the inner workings of individual songs. The heat was awesome actually. It was fun to talk to someone who held legitimate interest and opinion in something that mattered to me and we traded banter for almost an hour on the subject. When we reached the library and parked in the garage across the street, I put my truck in park and sighed with satisfaction. She was the most intellectually stimulating conversation I had ever had.

“You’re somethin’ else miss Jacobs,” I said trying to catch my breath.

“You’re quite a match, my friend. Sparring with you sure does bring out the spirit in a girl.”

I got out and ran to the other side of the truck. I opened the door for her and grabbed her hand. She thanked me and I grabbed our bags. We walked up the giant steps of the large stone library and ducked through its majestic entrance.

“This library is my Mecca,” whispered Jules.
    “If I could, I would set up a tent in the back and read my life away,” I whispered back. “Join me?”
    “Yes, sir. I will. I would,” she said looking up at me.

I grabbed her hand and we left a sparkled trail leading to a secluded table in the corner at the back of the library. Jules looked behind us.
    “We have a supernatural gift that only we can see and benefit from Elliott,” she said matter-of-factly.
I stopped short.
    “You know, for weeks I’ve tried to pin it down, get an exact name for it. I’m still trying to decipher its capabilities and parameters and all but it’s definitely our own exclusive gift. It’s fascinating.”
    “And awesome. Really awesome,” she barely whispered the last part.
We smiled at each other.

Jules and I smiled a lot. So much, that I found my cheeks actually hurt when I finally rested my head at the end of the day. I would rub the muscles in them, readying them for their inevitable workout the next day. We were unashamed about showing the way we felt on our faces. That’s what I liked about Jules. She was not afraid to tell me through words, expressions, or our ability what she thought and how she felt. What a firework.

    We sat at opposite ends of the table and poured our books onto its dark veneered surface. An hour had passed, I looked up and noticed we were absolutely alone. I interrupted her frenzied writing by placing my hand on hers.
    “Jules?”
Her head popped up.
    “Yeah?”
    “Can I? Can I try something?”
A sly smile spread across her face.
    “What?”
    “Lean towards me?”
She did as I asked and I brought my cheek to hers, before whispering into her ear.
    “Keep your head very still.”

She didn’t say anything but her breathing became as labored as mine. I softly kissed her cheek and the library lit up like the fourth of July. Fiery flowers burst like rockets from our table, exploded in the air above our heads, and their remnants misted to the table, chairs and floor beneath us like snow. I felt her anticipation and I know she felt mine. I felt her happiness and I know she felt mine. I felt her longing for more and I know she felt mine.

    We sat upright, wide eyed and overwhelmed.
    “Do it again,” she whispered.
    “Okay,” I happily agreed but when I leaned in and she closed her eyes, prepared for the coming sensation, I stopped.
    “You try it,” I whispered. “You’ll like it.”
    “Okay, lean into me then.”

I obeyed her and could barely control my laughter. She stilled my head by grabbing my chin and tilting my face and she kissed my cheek softly. The same spirited flames flew above our heads and filled our chests with its sonic boom. We sat up once more, equally as stunned as before.

I had an idea.
    “Stand up,” I said.

We scooted our chairs behind us and carefully maneuvered around the corners of the table coming face to face and panting in expectation. We both watched as my right hand link fingers with hers then again with the left, savoring every touch and every feeling, every spark. We looked into each other’s eyes and waited to steady our rapidly beating hearts for fear they’d burst before we’d get the chance to do what we’d waited so long for.

“Stop,” she whispered, trying not to laugh.

“Stop what?” I laughed.

“Stop intensifying how I feel inside. I don’t know how much more I can withstand. We keep trading emotions up and up and up.”

“What do you mean?” I said, nearly bursting with laughter.

“Whenever I show you how I feel, you react to the feeling and vice versa. It keeps magnifying. You’re driving me crazy!”

“Okay,” I said, almost toppling over with happiness.

We let go of our hold on one another and stepped back. Once we caught our breath and stopped laughing for at least a five second stretch, we repositioned ourselves and slowly intertwined our hands once more.

    “Let’s start this place on nonexistent fire,” I teased.
    “Promise.” She sucked in an excited breath.

We closed our eyes and I placed my feverish mouth to hers. Immediately, violent, zealous flashes of shimmering flames climbed to the furthest point, trailed like rain down the pitched ceiling and spilled down the walls, gathering at their feet pools of fervent, bubbling, silvery liquid electricity before evaporating into nothing.

    We pulled away from the magnetic gravity that was our first kiss but kept our hands intertwined. We patiently lingered while our insides came back into our own control.
    “That was......”
    “The best thing I’ve ever felt and tasted in my entire life,” Jules finished with an intense twinkle in her bright green eyes.
    “Exactly. What do you think? Will they all be like that? How about one more for good measure?” I flirted.
She nodded and bit her bottom lip in a smile.
    “This time,” I continued, “let me hold your face with my hands.”

We did ‘one more for good measure’ six times. The only reason we had to stop was because I glanced at my watch to see how much time we had to practice. It was approaching seven o’clock and Jules needed to ring her dad to let him know I was taking her to dinner in Charleston and wouldn’t be home until eleven o’clock or so.

    “Pop?” She said on her cell phone. “It’s Julia. Yeah, I know, who else. We’ve finished studying,” she winked my way, “but Elliott wants to take me to a restaurant while we’re in Charleston. Is that okay? Uh, huh. Uh, huh. Uh, huh. Around eleven, dad. Okay. See you then. Love you too.”
She hung up and smiled at me.
    “Done,” she said. “Should you call your folks?”
    “No, I told them I’d be home late, but before curfew and they waved me off.”
    “Cool. Well, where to? I’m starving. You wore me out Mr.Gray,” she said with another wink.
    “What’s your favorite food Jules?”
    “On the count of three,” she teased. “One, two, three....”
    “Italian,” we said in unison, then laughed until we almost spilled onto the ground.
    “You’re so fun,” she said.
    “No. You’re so fun.”
    “Where to eat?” She asked, clasping her hands together.
    “Excuse me?” I asked a local walking by, “The best place to get Italian?”
    “Oh. Yeah. Fazio’s on Bullitt. It’s about five minutes northeast from here,” he said pointing in the direction of Fazio’s. “Just follow Capitol to Smith Street, take a left. Right on Court, left on Piedmont, tight on Bullitt. Fazio’s is on your right.”
    I thanked him and dragged Jules to the truck. I threw her into the passenger seat and playfully leaned over her to put her seat belt on for her and kept my face close to hers.
    “Comfortable miss Jacobs?”
    “Yes, very,” she breathed deeply.

I kept my hand on hers and caught my breathe when I felt things I’d never thought I could share with someone let alone feel. I moved my face close to hers and our breaths washed warmly against each other’s cheeks. I just stared as she bit her bottom lip.

    “Oh my God Jules.” I breathed deeply. “You have to stop doing that.”
I leaned my forehead against hers and closed my eyes.
    “Stop doing what?” She exhaled with feeling.

Honeysuckle and orange swam through my head. I grabbed her face without thinking and kissed her mouth so severely it pinned her to the seat. A low hum from the bottom of her throat escaped her lips and sent me spiraling out of control. Blackness surrounded us, only our spark to help guide our movements. She sucked in a breath and kissed me back fiercely only to force ourselves to pull away when it started to get beyond our control.

    “Oh Lord, Jules. I’m scared.”
    “Why?”
    “All I’m going to be able to think about is kissing you from this moment on.” I dragged my hand over my mouth and down my chin. “We’re in trouble.”
She giggled.
    “I’m serious Jules. I’m in the worst trouble of my life right now.”
    “No, you’re not. We’ll be able to restrain ourselves.”
I paused and smiled, showing every tooth.
    “Not right now though, right?”
    “Not right now,” she grinned.

I grabbed her face once more, desperate to get my fill of her. I had taken my first hit of Jules only a few hours before and had already swiftly become a junkie. Addicted.

    Eventually, she had to remind me of our plans. I forced myself from her, shut her door, and walked over to the driver’s side. I placed one hand on the roof to steady myself and let the other lie still on the handle of the door. I took three deep breaths trying to cleanse Jules’ intoxicating high from my brain. I got into the truck, buckled myself in and stared straight ahead, placing both my hands on the steering wheel. My knuckles turned white from the self-induced deprivation of trying to fight the bubbling need to grab her.

My keys were in the pocket of my jeans but I was too afraid to remove my hand from its grip to retrieve them. I knew if I did it that I'd just end up attacking Jules.

    “Jules?” I swallowed.
    “Yes love?”
I tried to stabilize my breathing.
    “I’ll be right back. Sit tight.”
    “Okay? You alright?”
    “I will be, “I said, peeling my hands from the wheel and stepping from the cab.

I closed the door and walked a few feet away and started to pace. I made sure not to look in Jules’ direction. No eye contact. Breathe. Just breathe, I told myself. I heard Jules get out and close her door. I held two fingers up to stay her at the front of the truck, purposely averting my eyes.

    “Please Jules. Stay there.”
    “I can’t.”
    “Why?” I looked up at her and caught her gaze. She was just as hungry for me as I was for her. I inhaled a painful breath. She bit her bottom lip and I knew then that she had no idea how that tortured me, otherwise she never would have done it.
    “I can’t,” she said and rushed over to me.
I grabbed her face and brought it close to mine.
    “We are in trouble aren’t we?”
    “Heaps.”
    “We’re going to need a plan Jules.”
    “I know,” she gulped.
    “I’m kind of panicking here.”
    “It doesn’t help that I’m touching you. I think I need to let go of you Elliott.”
I released her but our natural pull was an agonizing thing to fight. I needed to take charge before all heck broke loose.
    “Okay, get in the car. Strap yourself in. Tight. And I’ll do the same. We’ll go to dinner and take it easy. I think it will help being somewhere other people are. Think we can we can survive the drive?” She nodded then crookedly bit her bottom lip.
    “Gosh damn it Jules!”
She jumped.
    “I’m sorry. I’m sorry but you have to stop biting your bottom lip. You have no idea what that does to me!”
    “Sorry,” she said sheepishly.
She unknowingly bit her bottom lip out of habit.
    “Jules!” I yelled.
    “Sorry,” she burst out laughing. “It’s a habit.”
    “Oh my God. Just get in the truck,” I said, deflecting my gaze.

I took my keys out and hopped in the cab, put on my seat belt like that was somehow going to keep me from attacking Jules again, started the truck and immediately put it into drive. I glanced at the clock on my dash.
    “Oh no! Look at the time Jules!”
    “Well, crap. No dinner then. We can’t risk possible traffic. My dad would be pissed if we were late.”
I sighed deeply when we had to stop at a red light.
    “I gotta’ get you out of this truck,” I said, laughing nervously.
    “I gotta’ get out of this truck.”
She looked at me and I tried my damnedest not to look her way but just could not resist.
    “Shit,” I said, reaching for her, only to be restrained harshly by my seat belt.

I unbuckled my belt, threw it in park, and attacked her again, frantically brushing my lips over hers. I buried my face in her neck and breathed in her inviting perfume. I began to whisper in her ear but the car behind us honked their horn that the light had turned green and I was forced back into my seat. I struggled and fought myself to put my seat belt back on all while keeping my burrowing gaze on Jules. I put the truck in drive and didn’t break my stare until the last possible second.

    “Maybe it’s because it’s so new,” I offered.
    “No. That’s not it. It’s the voltage. It magnifies everything tenfold. It’s always going to feel like this Elliott.”

Jules brushed her bangs from her forehead and kept her hands there trying to get as much air as possible to her face.

    “How do you know?” I asked.
    “You know too. I felt that you knew.”
    “You’re right.”
    “What are we going to do Elliott?” Her voice slightly panicked.
    “We’re going to figure out a way that this won’t dominate our entire lives. I’m seriously considering bringing Maddy with us everywhere we go.”
We both laughed hysterically.

“But for right now,” I said, “we have to change the subject or I will very soon need to pull over and neither of us wants that.”

“I kind of do,” she whispered under her breath.

“Jules! Don’t tempt me! God!”

“Sorry, but I do.......okay.......where did we leave off earlier. Oh hell,” she realized, “talking music just riles us up. How about our papers? Let’s talk about that.”

    “That’s no good.”
    “Why?”
    “Because our first kiss was at the library where we were writing our papers,” I laughed and drug my hand over my mouth.
    “I’ve got a topic for you.”
    “I’m all ears love.”
    “Mrs. Kitt has been informing on us.”
    “What?” I asked, genuinely shocked. That did it.
    “Yup. Apparently she reports to my mom how we act during class and at school. I wouldn’t put it past her if she has spies everywhere. She told my mom that she thinks we’re, and I quote, ‘inappropriate’.”
    “What the hell! We are not inappropriate!”
    “I know and that’s exactly what I told my mom and dad.”
    “And?”
    “They believe me.”
I exhaled slowly.
    “Well, good,” I said.
    From there, we talked for over an hour about anything that would keep us from clawing at each other, including Sawyer. I told her firmly that Sawyer could no longer be a friend of hers and she firmly told me to mind my own business. I wasn’t going to press it again until it became a problem. I resisted the urge to pull over at least fifteen times the first hour but, eventually, we both calmed down enough to distract ourselves with lots more talking and lots more laughing.

Jules got comfortable and removed her shoes, stretched her painted feet across our shared seat, and rested them on my lap. I placed my right hand on her ankles and we enjoyed the purring heat. I slid my hand over the soft skin of her foot and pinched her delicate ankle bone between my forefinger and thumb and the spark flared even more. I ran circles with my thumb across the top of her foot and when she started to get drowsy I let her fall asleep, never taking my hand from her leg.    

I dragged the pad of my thumb along the arch of her foot and was rewarded with a sharp intake of a sleepy breath. That tickled me and my laugh almost woke her but she settled once more against the seat. She had her legs crossed and while massaging the foot in my hand I noticed the foot underneath it had a toe ring around the middle toe. I uncrossed them and re-crossed them with the toe ring foot on top this time.

I hadn’t seen it before because it was hidden beneath her other foot but the ring was connected to a chain. I followed the chain with my finger and had to peel back a little of the cuff of her jean to reveal the ankle bracelet it was connected to. It was extremely attractive on her. I dropped her foot to regain control of myself. It did very funny things to my chest and stomach.

To distract myself, I turned the radio on and Matt & Kim’s ‘Daylight’ came on. I focused on the road ahead of me, dragging my hand over my mouth yet again. I glimpsed her direction. You’re gonna’ be the death of me. I smiled. But who would have thought death could be this sweet?

When I felt in control of myself again I laid my hand on her knee and got the surprise of my life when I felt her dreams. They matched mine perfectly and the ones that didn’t quickly became mine.

    We arrived in Bramwell with half an hour to spare and there was no way I was going to drop her off early if I didn’t have to. I woke her when we were close to home and we both decided the rock bridge was the perfect spot to waste the time. I grabbed my flashlight from my glove box and we crunched in silence through the brush to our little spot. I lifted her onto its face and we laid side by side pointing out constellations, wishing we were kissing instead.

With ten minutes to spare I gathered up the courage to grab her face and we shared three sweet, thoughtful, controlled kisses before I decided it was time to go back. We discovered a third very convenient use for our gift. It kept us very warm, despite the chill growing in the air. She protested when I held out my hand to go but I didn’t want to disrespect her father and insisted I take her back. We trudged our way through the sticky, brisk air back to my truck but felt perfectly warm as we held hands. When we got into the truck she slid in close to me and I draped my hand over her shoulder. We rode in blissful silence. I parked in front of The Perry House and jumped out to open Jules’ door. I grabbed her hand and we inched slowly to her front porch.

    “What time is your curfew?” She asked.
    “Two a.m. on the weekends,” I said.
    “Mine too,” she said, “but it won’t be tonight because I’ve already spent nine hours with you. My dad would never go for it.”
    “Oh,” I laughed, “that’s okay. I’ll see you in church tomorrow morning right?”
    “Yeah, but that’s over ten hours away and I’m afraid I’ll have withdrawals,” she taunted.
    “One more for the road then?”

We smiled and I drew her near to my body, but heard the creak of her front door as it began to swing open forcing me to let go of Jules’ waist. It was her dad. Darn.

    “Darn,” Jules whispered my unspoken thought.
    “Hi, Mr. Jacobs,” I said.
    “Hello Elliott, thank you for bringing Jules home on time.”
    “Of course,” I said and walked the few feet back to my truck to grab Jules’ bag from the bed.

She turned her back toward her dad and held out her hand for it. She squeezed my hand when she took it from me and winked.

    “See you at church tomorrow,” she said.
    “See ya’,” I said, not wanting to leave, wishing we could sit on her porch and talk and kiss until the sun rose.
    I turned toward my truck and felt Jules’ eyes return to her father’s.
    “Did you have fun?” He asked her as I counted the sounds of each step she took up her porch.
I could hear every word.
    “I did, thank you for asking pop.”
    “Did you kiss ‘em?” He teased.
    “Dad! Stop it!” Jules’ voiced trailed off before the door closed.

I shook my head and laughed as I shoved the keys into the ignition and drove the two miles to my parents' farmhouse. When I got home my dad was in the red barn refinishing some old doors he found in a nearby junkyard to replace two of the interior doors of the house. My truck bit at the popping gravel driveway as I parked it just outside the barn. The door squeaked open before I slammed it shut.

    “Hey dad,” I said, pulling my fingers through my hair.
    “Hey son,” he said, glancing up at me, “did you have fun?”
    “I did, dad. I really did.”
    “I can tell,” he laughed.
    “What? What’s that supposed to mean?” My eyes wide as saucers.
    “Your lips son, their swollen, from kissing I assume.”
    I pressed my lips together before lifting a finger to feel them. They were definitely raw but I didn’t know that was visible to the world.
    “Yeah, well,” was all I could say.
    “As long as it’s just kissing, I don’t have a problem with it. You just make sure it’s only that. Keep your hands in your pockets if you have to. You hear me?”
    “Yes sir.”
If I had revealed why I so adamantly agreed with him, he wouldn’t have believed me. I wouldn’t have done anything to Jules that I wouldn’t want done to my own daughter. Jules was precious to me.
    “Get any homework at all done?”
    “Yes sir, probably not as much as I should have but enough. The paper’s not due for two weeks yet. I’m in pretty good shape.”
    “Good. Good,” he said, sanding off some old red paint. “Well you better get yourself into that house son. Your mama’s been waiting all day to talk to you.”
    “Okay dad. Need any help?”
    “Nope. Now get.”

I walked up the little hill my house sat on top of and thought of how Jules was safely becoming a permanent fixture in my life. When I entered through the kitchen, my mom was at her huge ceramic farm sink, peeling potatoes for Sunday’s potato salad. When she saw me she threw down her peeler and wiped her hands on a blue and white dishtowel.

    “Hey mama,” I said and began to walk the kitchen stairs to my room.
    “Wait Elliott. Tell me. How did it go baby?”
    “It went extremely well mom. I had the most fun day of my life today. Julia Jacobs is an incredible girl.”
    “Land alive! I don’t believe I would have ever heard anything like that come from your mouth Elliott Gray. You are a such mystery to me!”

I fought the smile trying to escape my lips and peered down at the step my feet were resting on. I turned around and sat down on the third step while she went back to peeling.

    “So? You gonna’ make me pry every detail from you? For heaven’s sake Elliott! You are just like your daddy.”
    “Who is?” Said Maddy as she rounded the corner and pulled herself onto the counter beside my mom.
    “Your brother is. What are you doing out of bed young lady?” When Maddy ignored her, she went on, “He went on a date with Julia Jacobs today and is bein’ stingy with the details.”
    “Eww!” Maddy said, jumping off the counter. “That’s what you’re talking about? I’m out of here. Who wants to hear about Elliott sucking face with Julia Jacobs!”
Maddy ran up the kitchen stairs and down the hall to her room, closing her door behind her. I brought my stare up from my feet and saw my mom laughing.
    “Dad must have told her,” I said.
    “So you’ll tell your daddy but not your mama?” She teased.
    “It’s not exactly something you go around boasting about mom! Plus, I didn’t tell dad. He guessed.”
    “He did? How did he do that?”
    “Never mind. I’ll be in my room.”
    “Okay son. I’ll just get the details from your daddy then.”
    “Okay mom,” I laughed.
    I closed my bedroom door behind me and fell onto my bed, too happy to move anymore. I leaned over and grabbed my remote from my nightstand to turn on my stereo. Portishead’s ‘Glory Box’ began to play and while Beth Gibbons soothed the edges of my live-wire heart, I replayed everything that had happened that day and smiled at every torturous detail. Damn if Jules wasn’t going to be a very big part of my life.

Julia Jacobs was going to be my future and I was going to be hers.
    The next day my mom knocked on my door to wake me for church. I found myself really alert, more alert than I was used to being on a weekend morning. Mornings weren’t exactly my favorite part of the day, but knowing I’d be able to hold Jules’ hand in a little over an hour made it more than tolerable. I showered, ate breakfast, readied myself quickly and was ready to leave in less than half an hour. I was tired of waiting on my parents and Maddy so I yelled at the kitchen door to let everyone know I’d meet them there, that I was going on ahead of them.
    “Save us a pew!” My dad yelled.
    “Okay!”

I was out the door and in my truck in less than ten seconds and at the church in less than five minutes. I sat inside the almost empty church alone. I kept glancing over my shoulder. I sort of had hoped Jules would have shown up a little earlier so I could get looking at her out of my system and could concentrate. No sooner had I thought this did she walk in, on her own, and strolled down the center aisle of the nave toward me.

She was breathtaking, again, and I didn’t think I was ever going to get used to the way she looked. She was so charming. She wore a dress that looked to be straight out of a Grace Kelly movie, green and white striped. She wore pristine white gloves that barely reached the bottom of her wrist where they buttoned with little pearls. Her bangs swept to one side of her forehead and her long curled hair fell at points at her waist. The only thing missing to complete the look was her hand anchoring a wide brimmed hat to her head and maybe her eyes squinting in the sun.

    “Uh, I....I,I.....Uhh” I stuttered, when she sat next to me.

The bell of her dress fanned around her when she sat and blew her heavenly scent my direction. I shook my head to regain control.

    “Hi Elliott.”
    “Where are your parents?” I asked, trying to talk about anything but the blindingly obvious fact that she was too gorgeous for words.
    “They’re on their way. I drove my own car so I could see you.”
Beautiful and eager to see me. A deadly combination.
    “Me too,” I said, trying not to stare, “I’m glad you did.”
I grabbed her gloved hand and the piece of cloth separating our skin did nothing to stifle the sudden lightning bolt billowing over the pews surrounding us.
    “You look nice,” she said with a wink.
    “You look,” I gulped, “dazzling.”

“Thank you dear,” she smiled and it touched her eyes. “Think you could stifle what you’re feeling?”

I swallowed and dropped her hand, “That’s embarrassing.”

“No, it’s just, well you’re making me feel the same thing,” the church doors opened and she spun around. “Oh, my mom and dad are here,” she said turning back around. “I’ll see you afterwards. Want to eat lunch at the rock bridge?”

“Don’t want to eat lunch at Babe’s with the rest of the parish?” I asked, puzzled.

“Not today. I’d prefer a picnic in the forest Mr. Gray.”

“Sounds perfect,” I said but as she began to walk away, I called her back to me, “Oh, Jules?”

“Yes babe?” She asked, leaning into the pew.

“Pray for me,” I said with a wink.

She rolled her eyes at me and shook her head but couldn’t hide her smile. I watched as she joined her family wishing I could sit next to her as well but satisfied just to be in the same room with her. Just looking at her, I knew that Julia Jacobs was definitely my past, my present, and very much my future.

 

I’m going to marry that girl one day.

    After church, I hopped in my truck and followed Jules home. Turns out, she had a basket already packed. I drove the winding path to the dirt patch free of trees on the side of the road nearest our rock bridge. When I parked, I got out and immediately started loosening my tie. I swung my jacket over the seat, untucked my shirt, and rolled up my sleeves.

“Ahh, that’s much better,” I said. Jules gaped at me. “What?” I asked.

“So quick to undress around me Gray? You should probably check yourself before you wreck yourself.”

“Oh, whatever. You love it. I can see the twinkle in your eye from here.”

“You’re a flirt Gray.”

“No, I’m a tease. There’s a difference,” I joked, hunched over, untying my shoes and throwing on the extra pair of Converse I kept in the cab of my truck.

She laughed out loud, “That’s so? You should probably get your own soundtrack then.”

“I have one.”

“Oh yeah? What song?”

“‘Peanut Butter Jelly Time.”

“Shut up,” she laughed.

“Ready?”

“Yup.”

I had Jules walk ahead of me so I could make sure she was always steady on her feet. She had taken off her heels and I worried she might hurt herself.

“Please let me carry you Jules. It’s not even a quarter mile away.”

“No, sweets. I got it.”

“Please Jules, I’m afraid you’ll step on a piece of glass or something. Jesse and his friends always drink out here. I know they leave their bottles laying around.”

“No, I’ve got it,” she insisted.

She took three additional steps before she gasped and grabbed at her foot.
    “See Jules! That’s it. You’re so stubborn. Even as a kid you were always so stubborn.”

I handed the basket to her and scooped her into my arms. She held the little basket in her lap with her right hand and her heels dangled from her left, cluttering against one another with each step I took.
    “It was just a small stick Elliott. There’s no need to carry me, really.”
    “Give me a break Jules. I’d want to do this even if you were wearing hiking boots. I consider your Sunday attire a lucky break on my part.”
    “I know. I can feel it.”
I grimaced.
    “Uh, can you feel anything else?” I asked, one eye closed and my nose bunched, already knowing her answer.
    “Uh, yeah,” she blushed, nuzzling her face in my neck.
    “That doesn’t help the cause princess,” I laughed. “Besides, it’s only natural Jules, you can stop blushing now. I like feeling attracted to you and I like you knowing that I am.”
    “I like it as well. Quite the ego boost.”

I carried her in silence and we traded feelings back and forth. First attraction, love, more attraction, heat, embarrassment, awkwardness, back to attraction, then love again. All the while, she unknowingly bit at her lower lip to keep from laughing and I didn’t bother correcting it. I grinned like the overeager idiot that I was. God, but I didn’t care.

    When we reached the bridge, I let her legs go but clutched onto her waist not letting her feet touch the ground. I kept my face next to hers and grabbed the basket to set on top of the natural rock bridge before lifting her up to sit on the surface next to it.
    “Stay there,” I said.

I took the handkerchief that my mom always insists I bring to church out of my pocket and bent toward the water, soaking it in the chill spring before wringing it out.

“Finally a use for this ridiculous thing.”

I lifted each foot by the ankle and wiped the dirt from the bottom of her feet.
    “Ssssttt, that’s cold,” she winced.
    “Should have just let me carry you love.”
    “And miss this? Never. If I had a camera you’d be immortalized right now. Never had such delicious blackmailing material before. It’s a shame,” she said over my shoulder while holding onto my back.
    I laughed before soaking the handkerchief once more and wringing it out to continue wiping the dirt from her already clean feet.
    “That tickles!”
She started wriggling her feet but I clutched harder at her ankle to keep her still.
    “This is what you get when you don’t cooperate with me.”
    “Okay, okay!” She giggled. “They’re clean enough! They’re clean enough!”
She fell back onto the rock and held her laughing stomach.
    “I’ll stop if you agree to a condition.”
    “What is it?” She desperately pleaded through chuckles.
    I stopped only to state, “When I want to carry you. You must let me. No questions asked.”
    “No way!”
I continued my torturous ways.
    “Okay! Okay!” She pleaded. “I promise. I promise.”
    “Good.”

I swung her legs over the rock and lifted myself next to her. I stood up and helped her to her feet, keeping my hands on her hips.

    “You’re so much shorter without your heels on. I can see the part on the top of your head,” I teased.
    “I’m five foot eight Elliott. That’s actually tall for my sex, though not all that unusual. You’re the only anomaly here.”

“Six foot four is an anomaly? What are you trying to say Jules? I’m abnormal?”

“In more ways than one Elliott Gray,” she teased.

I pulled her tightly into my chest, pinning her arms to her sides. I buried my face into the skin just above the shoulder and blew against her neck.

“Stop! Stop!”

“Take it back.”

“No,” she laughed.

I blew harder.
    “Take it back Jules.”

“No,” she laughed again.

I blew even harder.

“Okay, I take it back! I take it back!” She laughed hysterically. I pulled away. “Eww, I can feel your saliva on my neck.”

I threatened to do it again by inching closer.

“No! No! Not again! Please! I’ll do anything!”

I raised an eyebrow, “Anything?”

“Anything. Just stop,” she exhaled hard, trying to catch her breath.

“Alright, I’ll let you go only if you agree to go with me to Matthew Tanen’s party on Saturday night.”

She pushed away, no longer being playful. Her eyebrows pinched together.

“No way Elliott. No way will I be going anywhere Taylor Williams or her cronies will be. How dare you even ask me that? You know how I feel about them and their cruelty.”

“Taylor Williams? Who the hell cares about Taylor Williams! It’s not even her party. She may not even be there.” She gave me a disbelieving, sarcastic look. “Okay, she’ll probably be there but come on! The whole team will be there as well. We can avoid Taylor like the plague that she is. We’ll pick a corner of the house, camp there, and laugh at everyone making fools of themselves. It’ll be fun.” I softened my tone and edged closer to her, “I’ll take care of you Jules. You know I will.”

She strained her neck to look up at me, “I’m a big girl Elliott. I don’t need anyone to take care of me. You forget. I’ve made it my entire life being ridiculed by Taylor. I think I can survive my senior year without any assistance.”

“I know you don’t Jules but I’ll do it anyway because it’s my job. I’m protective over the girls I’m in love with.”

“The girls? Plural? Nice,” she chided.

“Wait, wait, and wait. You know what I meant.” I exhaled gruffly, “How did this turn so quickly?”

“I don’t know,” she said, looking away.

After a few seconds, the electricity seemed to have calmed us both down.

“I’m sorry Jules. I just wanted you to come is all. After the game, everyone piles into Matthew’s parents’ lake house for fun. It’s actually a blast. Matthew is so hilarious. He keeps us all in stitches. I was trying to get you to see that they’re not all that bad.”

“I guess it wouldn’t hurt to at least make an appearance....,” she admitted.

“Yes! I know you’ll have fun babe.”

She pointed a finger at my face, “But if Taylor so much as breathes in my direction. I’m outta’ there, with or without you.”

“Deal! And Jules?”

“Hmm?”

“I would never let you go anywhere without me.”

She smiled up at me, stunning me speechless.

“My God Jules. You’re beautiful.”

The sun lit the natural red highlights in her hair. The laughing had made her cheeks flush and the fighting had made her eyes bright. Every part of her was just so alive.

She placed the back of her gloved hand against her forehead, gazed toward the sky and with a southern drawl said, “Oh Rhett, you’re sweepin’ me off ma’ feet!”
    “Hardy, har, har. I’m being serious with you Jules. I have never in my life seen a woman as gorgeous as you. You take the cake buttercup.”
    “Oh Gray, so many points for that one. Just for that, I’d let you carry me anywhere.”

Jules sat on the back of her heels and opened the basket beneath her. She had lots of awesome food in there and I wondered if she had made it herself. I didn’t get a chance to ask because she said she had a surprise for me.
    “Ta daa!” She said and pulled a little portable mp3 player out. “I thought we could listen to music and dance and be silly. The rock bridge is like the perfect dance floor.”
She turned it on and fiddled with it until I heard Silverchair’s ‘Without You’ come on.

“Diorama,” I said.

She nodded and threw a flirtatious smile my way. I reclined back onto an elbow and watched her dance around while belting out every single word. I was mesmerized. When the song was over she collapsed on the stone, happy and out of breath.
    “God, you’re adorable,” I said.
She just laughed and tried to catch her breath.
    “Come here,” she said and patted the bit of stone next to her.
I got up and laid next to her.
    “I have something I want to listen to with you. The melody does insane things to my heart and I want to see what it feels like while you hold me.”
She got up and flipped it to another song. It started and I recognized another one of Silverchair’s songs.
    “Part one of ‘Those Thieving Birds’,” she said. “It makes me want to cry it’s so beautiful.”

I turned to my side and hovered over her. I studied her face for a moment then drug the tip of my thumb over her bottom lip before gathering her in my arms and kissing her softly.

    “Hey Jules?”
    “Yes, love?”
    “I am so in love with you.”
She kissed me deeper in response.
    “No one could love me as much as you love me,” she whispered.
    “Nor could anyone love me as much as you do Jules.”
    “I know.”

After Saturday’s game, as tired as I was, I felt like I was getting my second wind knowing Jules and I would be going to Tanen’s. I planned on introducing the team to how fun Jules really was.

“Good game, Gray.”

“Thanks mister Dorvey.”

“Good game, Elliott.”

“Thanks,” I said to the stranger who patted me on the back.

“Gray!” Jules called from behind me.

I spun around to find her.
    “Stop! You’re under arrest!” I teased.
    “For what?”
    “For stealin’ my heart,” I joked with a crooked smile.
She moved closer to me and clutched the hem of my t-shirt. “Gonna’ frisk me officer?” She asked sarcastically.
    “Are you carrying?”
    “Hell yeah I am. A massive crush on this burdened heart.”
    “Those are capital offenses Jules. How do you plead?”
    “Guilty. Very guilty.”
    “Well, I’m the law and the order in this town and as your judge I find you guilty as well. Now, for the sentencing.” I tapped my chin, “You are hereby ordered to kiss me. Right here.”
I pointed to my cheek. She went in but at the last second I turned and caught her mouth with mine.
    “You’re a clever minx Jules.”
    “You’re a flirt Gray and oh yeah, cheesy as hell. I can’t believe I went along with that. You’re a bad influence on me.”
    “Cheese can be fun sometimes and yes, I hope to influence you severely. Time for Matthew’s party. You ready to go?”
    “I’m more than ready. I’m eager to get this over with.”
    “Oh Jules. It’s going to be fun. I promise you.”
    “Okaaaay,” she said, skeptical.

I walked Jules to my truck and threw my pads in the back. I helped her into the cab and put her seat belt on for her like I did on our library date, except for the part where I lost my head and attacked her.

Matthew’s parents' lake house cabin was on an isolated strip of land on the east side of Bramwell Lake. We had to circle half the lake to get to it.

“We’re here,” I said finally turning into the entrance of the long driveway. “Can you see the lit windows through the trees? I can actually hear all the people.” We passed car after car on our way to the cabin. “Dang, look at all the cars.”

“Must have heard I was coming,” she teased.

“That’s exactly why,” I winked.

We rounded a bend of drive and skirted a thick grove of trees before coming upon the little house on top of Bramwell Lake. The windows were well lit, a stark contrast against the dark forest. Also, the Tanen’s cabin was the only one for miles.

Jules ducked her head close to the windshield for a better view and let out a low whistle.“Kids are spilling out of every crevice imaginable. Do Matthew’s parents really go for this?”

    “Yeah, I get the impression that they love it. They’ll be by in about an hour to check on things and to ‘make sure’ there’s no alcohol but the team knows their drill and usually wait until they’re gone to bring out the illegal stuff anyway. I know they just turn a blind eye on it, probably thinking that kids will be kids and all that or maybe it’s an ‘out of sight out of mind’ kind of thing.”
    “On a scale of one to ten, be honest with me Gray, how scared should I be?” She asked, one eyebrow raised.
    “Ummmm, about a fifteen.”
She laughed nervously.
    I parked on the grass close to the lake’s shore. I strolled in front of the truck, opened her door for her and took her hand. Our shared current, second nature to us now, permeated through our bodies and lit little labyrinths of light out from the soles of our feet, calming us. She tried to walk toward the house but I wouldn’t let her break the hold I had on her hand.
    “Look at the water Jules.”
She stood by my side and gazed out over the mirrored lake.
    “Very beautiful. Peaceful. Not a breeze in sight.”
    “I’ve never seen it stilled like this.”
    “A bit eerie. The calm before a storm?” she asked, scooting her body closer to mine.
    “You’re just being paranoid Jules. Come on,” I dragged her behind me up the deck. The wood clamored beneath our boots.

I opened the door to a living room so full of kids there was barely enough room to walk. Jules’ heart immediately tensed up when she saw Taylor and I felt just how nervous the girl made her. The music was so loud I could barely hear anyone around us.

    I leaned in close to Jules’ ear, “Stay close. If we get separated meet me outside on the deck.”
She nodded. I wound her through the small passageway of kids from school to a corner of the room and sat her on top of one of Matthew’s Peavey subwoofers. I leaned in next to her and spoke closely at her ear.    
    “I’m gonna’ run out to the truck for my mom’s cell. She told me to keep it on me and I forgot it. I need to take a leak first though. Are you okay here for a second?”
    “Sure,” she said.
    “Want some water or anything?”
    “I’m cool.”
    “I know it. Be right back.”

I kissed her roughly, leaving her dazed before meandering my way through the crowd. I glanced a last look at my Jules. She winked in her usual confident way and I ran to the bathroom. I had to wait for three people before my turn but finally got inside. I decided to exit the back and loop around to the front to avoid climbing over people. I got the cell and bounded up the deck but before I had even swung open the screen door I heard a collective “ohhhhh” come from inside the house, making my stomach twist. I hurried inside to see what was going on and caught the tail end of an insult aimed directly at my Jules.

    “.........and no one wants you hear anyway Julia. This is a crowd you don’t belong in leech,” Taylor Williams gestured at the room, her words dripping with venom. Jules was still perched on top of the speaker I sat her upon, giving Taylor a height advantage that allowed her to speak down to Jules literally and figuratively. Had to give Jules credit where credit was due. She was leaning back on her hands, cool as a cucumber.

Taylor leaned over her, “I don’t know what you did to poison our Elliott but once we figure out how to remove your cancerous claws we’ll steal him back. You just don’t fit in, which is why you should just leave Julia. No one wants you here!”

Jules’ expression was cool. Her face didn’t betray a hint of hurt but I felt it. It was strong enough of a sensation that it permeated the room and made my stomach roil.
    “Enough!” I shouted, my voice booming against the walls.

All heads, including Taylor’s, spun my way and the silence was deafening. I felt sick. Above all, this was the one thing I told Jules I would protect her from and I’d failed miserably.

    “Enough Taylor!” A sick glint of shimmer fluttered across her eyes when I said her name and the corners of her mouth twitched.

Apparently, she was a proponent of the theory that any attention was good attention.
I climbed over people to get to Jules and yanked her to my side.
    “She speaks for everyone?” I asked the room.

I scanned their faces but they refused to make eye contact with me and I realized that Taylor was staring each down in silent threat. Leading the lemmings. I turned my attention back to Taylor. The date she had brought from a local community college took a shot of liquid courage and stood by her side, swaying slightly. Although the fool was tall and big, I was taller and bigger which told me he had to have been drunk when he eyed me like he was craving a fight. Little did I know his real motivation. I needed to get Julia out of there.

    “Well Taylor, I can see that you’re also slightly inebriated so I’ll leave you to your date. I’m willing to drop this shit, for now. As for the rest of you,” I stared in seething anger at my boots, “I thought you were my friends. I guess I was mistaken. None of my friends would have allowed Julia to be ostracized like this, especially you Jesse.” I drug my heavy stare onto Jesse.

He shrugged his shoulders and rolled his eyes. I grabbed Jules’ hand and began to squeeze my way to the door but when we walked past Taylor, her drunk date grabbed at Jules, catching one of her necklaces and dragging her backward. I caught her and straightened her up.

“What the hell is your problem?” I asked the jerk.

“I want to talk to that girl,” he slurred.

Ahhh, the truth to Taylor’s outburst.

“What are you doing Craig?” Taylor whispered. We both ignored her.

“Can’t. We’re leaving Craig.”

“I’ve been wanting to talk to her since she got here. She keeps ignoring me.”

He started leaning into Jules’ face, barely able to keep himself up.

“Well, obviously she didn’t care to talk with you,” I said, pressing his shoulder back and correcting his posture. “Take the hint.”

I couldn’t believe the direction this conversation had taken. The rest of the crowd stood dumbstruck, listening to drunk Craig hit on my Jules in front of Taylor. Craig was oblivious to what had been going on, too enamored with Jules to pay attention to the fight between her and Taylor or too drunk to care.

“See bro,” he continued, “you’re under the impression that I care how she feels.”

He practically begged for me to sock him in his weak chin. He’s drunk, I told myself, Just walk away.

“Listen, I’m not sure where you’re from but here we don’t treat or talk to ladies like that. So why don’t you just walk away now. As you can see, we’ve already got a foot out the door. Come on sweetheart,” I said, taking Jules’ waist.

“Nobody walks away from me, especially a four,” he said eyeing Jules.

“You’re a joke dude,” I scoffed.

We started to walk away again but this time he grabbed her so harshly around her shoulders it nearly knocked her to the ground. That’s when I snapped. I charged at him and wound my arm behind my head. It came crashing down with all the strength I had, punching the guy square in the jaw. I raised my fist again, preparing myself to block the return hit, but it never came. He went down with the one punch like a sack of potatoes. I thought it was over and straightened up but out of nowhere came three friends of his I didn’t know he had with him, waiting in the wings for just such an occasion to grace us with their presence.

Two immediately grabbed and held my arms while a third began punching me in the gut and face. Let me tell you, it was painful but not as painful as the fact that Jesse just stood and watched without so much as a twitching thumb in interest of helping me.

“What. the. hell?” I asked him, between punches.

I looked over at Jules mid punch and saw the terror on her face. She felt every single punch that landed and her face twisted in pain. I knew she felt the nausea. I felt that she had and it was the first time I hated our shared connection. She rose above it and started to grab at the one who was punching me and pleaded with tears in her eyes for Jesse to help me. No one listened. Taking matters into her own hands, she sprung her leg back and delivered a knee to my attacker’s groin.

This stopped him before he could hit again and gave Matthew Tanen enough time to come through the back door with James Cappelli to discover me getting beat. They grabbed the three goons and Craig on the floor and started hauling them toward the door.

    “Get them the hell out of here Taylor!” Matthew said.
She ran out the front door and we heard them struggling to get to Taylor’s car.
    “What the hell happened in here?” James asked me. “We were gone two seconds and you get into a fight Elliott? Why didn’t you wait for us?” He joked.
    “Ha, ha,” I sighed, out of breath, trying to stand up straight.
    “You’re bleeding,” Matthew said. “Come on.” He grabbed my arm. “I’ll help you to the bathroom. Get you cleaned up.”
    “No. No, thanks,” I insisted. “I need to take Jules home.”
    “It’s okay Elliott,” she said, unable to disguise the terror in her voice. “I’m fine, really. Let’s just clean off the blood and see what damage there is.”

Her hand shook when she brought it to my face and tenderly brushed a lock of hair stuck to a bloody cheek.

“It’s but a flesh wound,” I teased, trying to lighten the mood. “It’s okay,” I said, turning to Matthew. “Thank you but I would prefer it if we just left. Thanks for helping me out man.” I turned to James, “Thanks.”

They both nodded and helped me to my truck. Jules ordered me into the passenger seat, refusing to let me drive. I complied only because I knew she wouldn’t take no for an answer.
    The drive home was exceedingly quiet. I wanted to touch her so I could see what she was feeling but was afraid of what I’d find out. The expression on her face was like nothing I’d ever seen before. At times, I thought she looked angry but she also looked to be on the verge of tears. She was trying to be brave.   
    We arrived at her parents’ house just after one-thirty in the morning but they weren’t home. 

“Where are your parental units?” I asked.
She helped me inside and took me to the over sized bathroom attached to her bedroom.

“They’re in New York City for the weekend. It’s their anniversary.”

She signaled that she wanted me to sit on top of the counter so she could tend to me and I obeyed.

“Cool. So.......I can’t believe you almost floored that guy,” I teased, referring to the guy she kicked, trying to make the situation lighter.

It didn’t work. Tears began to flow and she buried her face into my chest. I ran my fingers up and down her back. She pulled away quickly, obviously not wanting to be comforted, only wanting to be the comforter. She wiped the tears from her eyes but she wasn’t fooling me. Her eyes were still glassy trying to hold them back.

    “Jules. This is nothing babe. Trust me, I’ve been in a lot worse scraps than this.”
She didn’t say anything but tried to smile. She grabbed three washcloths from a drawer and waited for the water to get warm before soaking them and wringing them out. She helped me remove my shirt and I twisted in pain from having to contort my sides and chest. The bruises had already started to show which made her gasp.

“Yikes,” I said standing up in front of the bathroom mirror. “Oh well. Remember that two hundred and fifty pound lineman that Reggie couldn’t block me from? This isn’t much worse than that.” She nodded.

I grimaced as she took a damp rag to the blood on my face and neck. When I was blood free she had me lay back in a chair in her living room and then went to the kitchen sink to wash as much blood as possible from my t-shirt. Several minutes passed in silence.
    “You’re awfully quiet over there Jules. What are you thinking about?”
    “Nothing,” she said. “Are you okay over there? Comfortable?”

“Uh, well, Jules my sides are really sore and it’s hard to get comfortable,” I said.

“I can fix that.”

She pulled an aspirin bottle from a cabinet, opened the bottle, removed two and grabbed a bottle of water.

    “Here babe,” she said, handing me the bottle and little pills.

    “Thanks sweetheart,” I said, swallowing them.

Tears began to well once more.

    “Babe, tell me what’s wrong.”

    “Me. I’m what’s wrong. You were well liked before we started dating. Revered even. I come into your life and all hell breaks loose. I mean, my God Elliott! Look at what they did to your face! Taylor’s right. I don’t belong in your group. I’m bad news for you. I’m the one responsible for your current condition!”

I fought the pain and dragged Jules onto my lap.

    “Stop! Just stop it Jules! You’re being ridiculous. Before I met you, I was just another lemming ready to drop off the cliff. If you hadn’t come along to wake me up, I would have found myself stuck in a rut going nowhere fast.

“And you’re right you could never belong in that group! Because the truth of it is, they don’t belong around you. You’re too good for them and I was just stupid enough to think they could mesh with you but they can’t. Except for a very very few, they aren’t worthy of our time. And as far as the drunk goes? I’ll just have to get used to that. I have a feeling I’ll be fending goons off of you for a long time. You’re too beautiful for me Jules.”

    “I’m not too beautiful for you. No one could be. You’re the best Elliott and you deserve the same but I at least want to earn the chance to always be by your side.”
    “That’s where you’re wrong Jules. You are the best for me, the very, and you will always be at my side not because you’ve earned that right to be, that’s absurd, but because that’s how it’s supposed to be. It’s where we belong.”
I kissed her forehead softly and smiled at her.

    “I’ll be right back,” she said, kissing my cheek.

She flipped on her iPod’s docking station and Zero 7’s ‘Destiny’ started playing. I heard her rummaging around the kitchen for a moment and she came back with some ice wrapped in a hand towel. She sat in my lap and gently dabbed at the knots on my face and it soothed them immediately.

“I felt you were in pain and couldn’t take it anymore,” she said absently, “You’re right, you know? I was being ridiculous. We do belong together.”

She felt where I needed relief the most and would keep the ice there until I needed it elsewhere.

“You’re wonderful,” I said.

“Oh whatever. This is not a big deal,” she said.

“It is to me.”
I grabbed her wrist and stopped her from dabbing. I felt a knot in her stomach.
    “Thank you, by the way,” she said thickly, before I could say anything else.
    “For what?”
    “For saving me. For protecting me, Elliott,” she said, a tear in her eye.
    “I only did what I had to do.”   
    “No, you did what you wanted to do,” she corrected me, with a teary smile. “I could see what you were doing for me Elliott. The whole damn room could see it.”
    “What did they see?” I asked quietly.

“That you would risk your life for me. I saw it in your eyes Elliott. You would die for me, wouldn’t you?” She asked bluntly.

“Jules, I would kill tigers for you. Yes, I would die for you.”

    “I know you would,” she whispered, so thick I could barely understand her, her face tight with pain, “but please don’t.”

She leaned in to my lips and kissed them as deeply as she could without causing me pain. The unbelievable love I felt from her was overpowering and made me forget the hurt. I pulled her into my chest, kissing her with rigid lips, trying to channel all the passion I felt for her in them instead of taking it out on the rest of her.

When the kiss came to an all too short end she laid her head on my chest and we drifted off to sleep, our electricity warming us through and making us too tired to remember that it wasn’t allowed. Before I closed my eyes I could have sworn Jules had spoken but she was asleep. I simply heard, sleep well tonight, before slipping into a deep rest.

I woke startled at five in the morning to the sound of the phone ringing. I tapped Jules’ shoulder.

“Shit. Jules. Wake up babe.”

“Huh?”

“The phone’s ringing Jules.”

“Crap.” She stood and ran to answer it. “Hello? Yes, he is. I.....okay, yes ma’am.” She handed me the phone, “It’s your mom and she wants to talk to you.”

I dragged my hand over my mouth and tried hard not to panic.
    “Hello?”
    “What are you doing Elliott? Do you know what time it is?” She asked.
    “Well, mom, it’s a long story.”
    “I’m listening.”
    “Basically, I got into a fist fight at Matthew Tanen’s party and got hurt.”
    “Are you okay?”
    “I think so. A few cuts and bruises but I think I’ll survive.”
    “Oh, you think you’ll survive huh?”
    “Yeah,” I continued, ignoring her sarcasm. “I was covered in blood and could barely walk so Jules brought me here to clean me up. I fell asleep on a chair in her living room.” I conveniently left out the part where she fell asleep in my lap. I didn’t find that to be particularly relevant to the story.
    “And?”
    “And that’s all.”
She sighed.
    “Okay, well I’ll be up and waiting when you walk in our door in about five minutes. Understood?”
    “Yes, ma’am.”
I hung up the phone.
    “Jules?”
    “Yeah?”
    “I’m in deep.”
She bit her bottom lip.

    I walked in my back door four minutes later.
    “Mom?”
    “I’m in my bedroom,” she yelled.

I walked in to see both of my parents up with their backs against their headboard, still in their pajamas. I rubbed the back of my neck to redistribute the pooling blood I know that had to be painting my face red and leaned my sore shoulder against the jamb. When they saw me I didn’t get the reaction I was expecting, at all.
    “Oh my God!” My mom screamed and ran over to me, my dad not far behind. “What happened to you son?”
    “I told you I’d gotten into a fight.”
    “Oh my God Mark! Look at his face!”
    “I look that bad, huh? You should see the other guys, barely a scratch on ‘em,” I teased.
    “Who did this Elliott?” My dad asked, inspecting my throwing arm. He scowled when he saw the knuckles on my right hand.
    “Couple of college kids, from Charleston I assume.”
    “Did you call Danny?” My mom asked.
    “No, I didn’t have time to. I needed to get Jules out of there. We had a heck of a night.”
    “Sit down,” my mom commanded.
    “Well, I’d love to, but I can’t.”
    “Why?”
    “Because they punched the crap out of my ribs and it hurts to sit.”
    “Well, that quells any suspicions I had about you and the Jacobs girl,” my dad said.
    “Mark!”
I almost laughed.
    “Are they broken?” She asked.
I’d had a broken rib before.
    “No, just bruised,” I said.
    “Okay, well, let’s just get you upstairs,” she said, “and we’ll help you lie down.”

They both helped me take a stair at a time and once I reached the top I exhaled and promised myself that I’d never let someone hit me in the ribs again. Death before anyone punches me there again, theirs or mine. My parents helped me lie down and my mom promised me a long talk the next morning after church.

    The next morning, while everyone readied for church, I just laid there wishing I could join them when we heard a knock on the back door.
    “Hi Julia,” my dad said.
    “Hi Mark,” a bubbly Jules said.
She called them by their first names with ease. I could barely squawk out Mr. or Mrs. Jacobs.
    “To what do we owe the pleasure young lady?” My mom asked dryly.
Uh, oh.
    “I thought maybe I’d take care of Elliott while you were at church. You know, get him water, things like that.” My mom didn’t respond, so she added, “I’m not skipping out. I’m going to a later service.”
    “I don’t think that would be necessary Julia. Suddenly, I’m not so comfortable with you and Elliott being alone.”
    “Oh,” Jules said, disappointed.
The feeling reached me and was so strong it made my heart ache for her.
    “Mom!” I yelled, holding my side.
    “Wait here,” my mom said to Jules.
She climbed the steps and entered my room.
    “Mom, seriously?”
    “Well, Elliott. Can you blame me?”
    “I guess not,” I conceded, “but look at me. What the heck could we even do?”
She thought for a moment and her face softened.
    “Julia,” she called over her shoulder.
    “Yes Shelby?” Still so familiar.
    “Come on up girl.”

Jules bounded up the stairs and burst through the door, tossing herself next to me. No propriety, that one. My mom frowned.

    “Look at me, both of you.”
We stared and I could tell she wanted to laugh at the both of us but she kept her composure.
    “Julia cannot be on your bed, for one.” Jules slipped off the bed and knelt on the floor next to me. “Also, absolutely no unnecessary touching. Agreed?”

“Agreed,” we said in unison.

She closed the door and we heard her mutter something about her being a fool and something about grandchildren. We held back laughter and I almost snorted trying to keep it in.

    “Oh my God, Elliott,” Jules said, turning her eyes on me.
    “What?”
    “You look like, well, crap if I had to be honest.”
    “Who said you had to be honest?”
    She thought about it for a second before saying, “No one, actually. In that case then, you look like a sexy beast!” She amended.
    “I know I do baby.”
She stood and pecked me on the lips.
    “Ah, ah, ah miss Jacobs. That wasn’t ‘necessary’.”
    “Yeah it was,” she said, a twinkle in her eye.
    “I brought cards,” she said and threw a deck of cards on the bed next to me.

She rolled my computer chair over the wood floor and wedged it as close to me as possible. She sat and shuffled like a regular Vegas dealer then split the deck in half for a very grown up game of War.

    “So, can I confess something to you?” She eyed me flirtatiously, laying down a card.
    “Always.”   
    “After calming down last night, I started thinking about you on your white horse and everything and I gotta’ say, I found you extraordinarily attractive when you came to my rescue. That’s my hand sweetheart. My jack beats your eight.”
    “Sorry,” I said, distracted.
    “Yeah, I mean, the taking charge, commanding a room, throwing that punch. Sexy. And your Monty Python reference? Icing on the cake.”
    “Well, nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.”
    “See?” She laughed. “I’m not ungrateful that you came to my rescue, not at all, but I’m a little surprised. Growing up, you were so patient, I just always kind of pegged you for the ‘lover not a fighter’ sort. Well, also you do the ‘loving’ part so extraordinarily well.”
    I cleared my throat and grabbed her wrist tightly, surprising her. “You know, I’ve never understood the phrase, ‘I’m a lover, not a fighter’. If you’re passionate in love why would you not equally be as passionate enough to fight for it?”

Her mouth fell wide open, “Touché baby, touché.”

    That night, after Jules went home, after a lecture from both my parents, and after her parents got in from New York, Jules called me.

“Elliott?” She asked.

“Yeah, babe? What’s up?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Have you talked to Maddy today?” Her voice trickled sarcasm.

“Uh, yeah,” I laughed.

“Did she happen to mention to you anything that might have happened at church today?”

I swallowed hard.
    “What happened?”
    “Well, I guess Maddy’s been quite the chatterbox, a regular Ouiser Boudreaux, couldn’t wait to mention our little indiscretion to Mrs. Kitt’s daughter apparently and as you probably now suspect, Georgia Kitt spread it around like wildfire. Would you like to take a guess as to her first stop?”
    “Mrs. Kitt?”
    “Oh yeah and guess what else Elliott?”
    “What?”
    “The old Kittster called my mom.”
    “I’ll kill her.”
    “Yeah? Send my condolences to your mama.”
    “Julia!” I heard in the background.
    “Gotta’ go sweetheart. See you in, I don’t know, a year?” She laughed and hung up.
    “Maddy!” I screamed, ignoring the searing pain in my lungs.