To Love Jason Thorn (2 page)

Ah…

I was pretty sure he’d fallen in love with
me, too. I mean why else would he smile, look into my eyes, and touch me, if he
hadn’t?

Right?

Right?!

Seven years later…

“Thank you for letting me have your phone,
Amanda,” I whispered as I was hiding in my closet.

“Why are we whispering?”

“So Dylan and Jason can’t hear me.”

“Are you sure you want to do this? I mean,
come on Olive, what if he realizes it’s you texting him?”

“But I do want him to realize it’s me.” I
thought about that for a second, and then changed my mind. “Well, okay, maybe
not at first, but eventually.”

Amanda sighed on the other end of the line.
“I’m not so sure this is a good idea, Liv. What if he tells Dylan?” She gasped.
“What if they recognize the number and think it’s me?”

“Oh, stop it. How could they possibly
recognize your cousin’s number? If you don’t open your mouth, no one will know.
And it’s just for tonight. I won’t text him again. My parents are gone, he is
staying over, it’s the perfect timing.”

“Olive!” My brother banged on my door. “The
pizza is here, come down if you don’t want to find an empty box.”

“Break the door down, why don’t you,” I
muttered to myself. Opening the door of my little closet, I yelled back, “I’m
coming!”

“Okay, I’m heading downstairs. What time is
it?” I asked Amanda, getting up from the floor.

“Nine. When will you text him? You have to
let me know what he is saying.”

“I can’t text you while I’m texting him.
I’ll be too excited. I’ll call you tomorrow to let you know how it went.”

“Nope, I’m coming for breakfast then, who
knows when you’ll call me. Plus, I need to get the phone back to my cousin.
They are leaving tomorrow afternoon.”

“Fine, then I’ll see you tomorrow. Wish me
luck.”

Throwing the phone on my bed, I took a deep
breath and looked at myself in the mirror. My strawberry blonde hair was
falling down on my shoulders in soft waves, my eyes were sparkling, and my face
was flushed with excitement over the possibility of what might happen later
that night.

I looked down at my shaky hands and laughed
at myself.

All I wanted for that night was to text
Jason and talk to him as if I was someone else, like an admirer. You see, I’d
had it all planned for days. I was going to text him, of course keeping my
identity a secret, preferably when Dylan was not by his side, and then simply
talk to him. Maybe I could ask him who he would want his admirer to be…
Wouldn’t
it be something else if he said me?

So far the plan was working smoothly.
Depending on how the rest of the night went, I would make my move accordingly.

“Olive!” my brother thundered from
downstairs.

Closing my eyes, I took a deep refreshing
breath, hid the phone under my pillow, and walked out of my room.

“What are you yelling for? I said I was
coming,” I said when I spotted Dylan sitting alone in front of the TV.

“Pour the drinks and bring out the pizza,”
he answered, not even looking at me.

“Why can’t you get up and do it yourself?”
I shot back.

“Just get on with it already. I’m about to
start the movie.”

I opened my mouth to—

“Hi little Olive,” someone whispered right
next to my ear, causing me to jump.

“Jason,” I whispered back, my hands jumping
to my chest to keep my heart in place. “You scared me.”

He chuckled, showing me the dimple. “I
know.”

I laughed back, my eyes shining with love
for the boy I’d known for seven years now.

Tugging at a piece of my hair, he winked
and walked past me with a cold water bottle in his hand. He pushed over Dylan
and sat right next to him.

Eyeing the small seat next to Jason, I
asked, “Do you want anything other than water?”

Turning his head, he smiled at me. “Thank
you, beautiful. I’m good.”

I melted into a small, very happy puddle on
my mother’s favorite carpet.

“Stop flirting with my sister, you
shithead,” Dylan muttered, but I was too occupied with my dreams to tell Dylan
to shush—not that he would listen to me.

Grabbing Dylan’s soda and a few paper
plates for the pizza, I went back into the living room.

“Pour your own drink,” I said, dropping the
bottle a little too harshly on the coffee table in front of him.

“How many slices do you want, Jason?” I
asked, kneeling on the floor and not quite meeting his eyes.

Dylan sighed and muttered, “Here we go
again.”

He didn’t like that I always gave the first
slice of pizza—or cake, or pie, or any type of food actually—to Jason.

Putting his water bottle down, Jason
reached out to help me up. “You are not sitting on the floor.” He pulled me up
to the couch. “I’ll handle the pizza.”

Plopping down next to him, I let him divvy
up the slices between the three of us.

“Two slices good?” he asked, giving me the
first share.

Be still my heart.

“Yes, thank you.”

When he leaned back and shot me another
quick wink, I forgot all about my pizza and reveled in the fact that I was
about to spend two hours sitting right next to Jason watching a movie. It was
the perfect night to text him.

“What are we watching?” I asked, taking a
small bite from the huge slice.

“Nothing you’ll enjoy. We are already
spending our Friday night babysitting your ass so you don’t have a say in the
movie choices.”

“Don’t be an asshole, Dylan,” Jason murmured
with his mouth full.

“So you’re saying you prefer to stay in
tonight instead of going out with the girls?”

As my eyes filled with tears of
embarrassment and something else I couldn’t name, I put my plate down and
attempted to get up, only to be pulled back by Jason.

“Children,” he said in a tone similar to my
dad’s. His warm hand was still closed over my wrist, keeping me seated—or more
like paralyzed. “I promised Emily I would babysit both of you just in case you
decided today was the day to kill each other. So, cut the crap and start the
movie already. The girls aren’t going anywhere, Dylan.”

Still embarrassed, I cleared my throat to
get their attention. “You guys don’t have to stay in for me. I’ll be okay,
Dylan. You know I don’t mind staying alone.”

Looking at my miserable face, Dylan finally
shook his head and reached for his plate. “Nah, it’s okay. Jason is right; the
girls aren’t going anywhere and we’ve wanted to watch this for weeks, now is as
good a time as any.”

The movie started and they both settled
back as all my excitement for the night slowly trickled out of me.

When Dylan jumped up and said, “I’ll get
the lights,” I was still playing with the paper plate in my lap.

Could he have a girlfriend?

I was sure he didn’t have one. Neither did
Dylan actually, not since he’d broken up with his on-again, off-again
girlfriend Vicky.

“Don’t worry, little one, it’s not a horror
movie or anything. It’s action, you’ll like it,” Jason whispered into my ear
before Dylan took his seat again.

Hearing him use the pet name he’d always
liked to call me, I managed to put a sincere smile on my face when I looked up
at him.

“Thank you. You guys can leave after the
movie, you know. I won’t tell Mom and Dad when they come back tomorrow.”

“Are you kidding? I was looking forward to
a quiet night in. Pizza and a movie with a beautiful green-eyed girl by my
side?” He gave me a light shove with his shoulder. “Your brother is the stupid
one, not me.”

Dylan turned off the lights and hopped back
onto his seat. Luckily this time I was melting into another puddle on my
mother’s not-so-favorite couch. I stayed that way until the end of the movie
because Jason’s shoulder stayed plastered to mine the entire time.

About to die from sensory overload, I still
had a stupid smile on my face as I headed to my room for the night.

Let the texting begin…

***

Around 1:30 AM, huddled under my covers, I
listened to Dylan’s bedroom door open and close for the second time. The TV in
his bedroom was on, but their voices were low. Either they didn’t want to wake
me up or they were about to go to sleep, though I highly doubted that was the
case.

Reaching for the phone under my pillow, I
tried to get a handle on my breathing and erratic heartbeats.

As much as I was dying to text Jason, I was
also scared out of my mind.

My fingers as cold as ice, I quickly sent
the first text of the night.

Me: Hi Jason.

Original, I know.

I waited to see if I would hear his phone
go off, but I couldn’t hear anything. My heart in my throat, I sat up in bed
and dropped my head back on the headboard. Maybe Amanda was right. Maybe, this
wasn’t the best idea I’d ever come up with…

Jason: Who is this?

There might have been a squeak that escaped
from my mouth when the phone lit up in my hand without a sound. In the darkness
of my room, an unexplainable rush going through my body, I started talking to
Jason as a stranger.

Me: I don’t think you’d know even if I said
my name.

Jason: We can’t know if you don’t try me.

Me: My name is Michelle. We go to the same school.

Jason: Hmm… You’re right. I don’t think I
know a Michelle.

Me: Can’t exactly say I’m surprised.

Jason: And why would that be, my new friend
Michelle?

Already lost in a different world, my
fingers stopped flying over the buttons when I heard Dylan’s door open and
close quietly. Not knowing whether it was my brother or Jason, I hid the phone
under the covers so the light wouldn’t draw attention.

Me: There are always so many people around
you. Doesn’t give many opportunities for new people to introduce themselves, I
guess. But then again, maybe you already know me.

Jason: That’s interesting. Our friendship is
so new, Michelle who is not really Michelle, and you’re already lying to me?

Me: I wouldn’t say it’s lying. Let’s say I’m
one of your many admirers and a little shy one at that. Just wanted to talk to
you.

Jason: Let’s play your game. What would you
like to talk about?

Me: I have no idea. Maybe you can start with
where you are and what you are doing?

Jason: Easy enough. As I’m already sure you
are not a Michelle, you must already know my friend Dylan, I’m over his place.

Me: I know of him and I know that you are
close friends, that’s about it.

Jason: Would you like me to introduce you
two? It’ll be like a second introduction for us, too.

Me: Not necessary.

Jason: As you wish, new shy friend. What
else would you like to talk about?

Me: Do you have any guesses as to who I could
be?

Jason: Oh, another game. You sure are full
of games tonight, mystery girl.

Me: It’s not exactly a game for me.

Five minutes passed but no texts came in. When
it hit the ten-minute mark, I got anxious, worrying if he already knew who I
was and had put a stop it. Getting up from my bed, I started pacing my small
bedroom. When the space wasn’t enough, I sneaked out of my room and quietly went
downstairs to grab a bottle of water and distract myself with something else.

Padding into the kitchen in a tank top and
pajama bottoms, I stopped short when I found Jason staring out the small window
over the sink.

“Jason?” I whispered.

Turning to me, he whispered back, “Hey,
little one.” His chocolate eyes looked tired for his young age. “What are you
doing up so late?”

Spying his phone on the kitchen counter, I
forced my gaze away. “Bad dream, I guess. Couldn’t go back to sleep.” Acting
nonchalant, I opened the fridge and took out a bottle of water. “What were you
looking at?”

“Just at my house.”

“Your mom okay?”

“I don’t know, Olive. I really don’t know.”
Letting out a deep sigh, he absently reached for his phone and walked over to
me.

“You can talk to me if something’s on your
mind.”

He stopped right in front of me, his eyes
almost invisible in the dark.

“I can?”

“Of course. I know you worry about your
parents sometimes. I can listen if you need to.”

“You’re right, little Olive. I do worry
about them, but they are the last thing I want to talk about.”

“I’m sorry,” I mumbled, looking down at the
floor.