Chapter 9: All is Well

Saturday Afternoon- Jason

4:44 P.M.

I was elated when she gave me her address, so I quickly slipped out of the house and started walking. Her neighborhood actually wasn't too far from mine, so I decided to walk.

On the way over, I kept rehearsing in my mind what to say: I forgot to mention something... no, no. By the way, I'm—no, not like that either.
I had no idea how I was going to tell her. I guess it would help if I knew what exactly she knew.

Soon, I found myself at Tamia's house. I walked up to her front door. Should I ring the bell? What if her parents are home? Is she still expecting me? It was a little after 5 o'clock now. I knocked hesitantly.

She opened the door and smiled at me. "What? No doorbell?" she asks me.

I knew I should have rung the doorbell. I felt slightly embarrassed, but her sweet smile put me at ease. "I guess I'm just old-fashioned," I say.

She invites me in and I start looking around the house. Mostly to see if anyone else was home, but I was also taking in my surroundings. It was beautiful—simple, but beautiful. No grand staircase, no gold or platinum albums displayed on the walls, no expensive statues or a fountain. Just a nice, cozy home—a real home. Maybe... she could take me on a tour later? I had to focus.

"There's something I wanna tell you," I say, turning to her.

"That you're a celebrity?" she asks almost instantly.

Oh crap. She does know. Has she always known? Was she playing me? No, she wouldn't do that. She doesn't seem to be that type of person.

"You knew..." I began to say without thinking. "H-how long... how long have you known?"

Her answer surprised me a little: "For maybe about forty-five minutes now."

Then she went on to explain how she found out: her friends. I stared at her as she was explaining. How could she look even more beautiful than before? Does she still accept me as her friend?

My thoughts were disrupted by the next phrase that came out of her mouth: "Look, I would never use you or befriend you just because of your fame. I'm not like that. I wouldn't betray you... like you did me."

Oh no, she thinks that I betrayed her! I took her by the hand and we sat down on the couch. "I wasn't trying to betray you," I said. "I-I just didn't know how to tell you. You were the first person to see me for me and not my fame... and I've never had that. I didn't want you to look at me differently until I could figure out how to tell you. I'm sorry."

She smiled again. I think that that's my new favorite thing. Her smile. Suddenly, it disappeared. "What's wrong?" I ask.

"Nothing," she says, "It's... it's just that I was thinking about how you'd be gone a lot doing shows and tours, and, and... it's just that we wouldn't be normal friends."

I sighed. That was true. We wouldn't be normal friends. We couldn't. Not with me being famous and her being perfectly amazing without fame. "But could we try?" I asked. "I'd never do anything to hurt you."

Her smile returned. "I'd like to try that," she said.

Without thinking, I pulled her into an embrace. I quickly jumped back. "Oh, I'm sorry! I probably should have asked you if I could hug you."

"No, it's fine," she says.

I hug her again. It was the sweetest, most sincere embrace I've ever experienced. I haven't even experienced this feeling with Onise. Oh, right. Onise.

I pulled away again.

"What's wrong?" she asked me.

I really didn't want to think about Onise, just Tamia. I wanted to know everything about her. Onise probably wasn't even thinking about me anyway. "Nothing," I said. "I just want to get to know you better. Can we go to your room?"

Her eyes widen.

"Oh, no, not like that!" I say. Oh crap, what kind of guy does she think I am?

She laughs. "No, it's fine. And I know you didn't mean it like that. It's just that... I don't know if I want you to see my room. It's kind of messy."

I smile. "It's alright. I won't judge."

"Ohh kay..." she said.

I followed her to her room. When she opened the door, I was in awe. It was very nice— two beds (so I'm assuming she shares with her sister), a dresser, a small couch, two nightstands, each with a lamp. Spread across what I assumed was her bed were some notebooks. She also had a backpack and a pair of shoes on the floor. It wasn't messy to me at all.

"Wow, this is nice," I say as I walked in. "Can... can I sit on your bed?" I asked carefully. I mean, she didn't have a desk.

"Yeah, that's fine," she said, picking up her backpack and shoes. "Oh wait, I can move my notebooks!"

"No, it's okay," I said, sliding them over.

She comes over and sits down next to me. We started talking. We talked for hours it seemed like. I asked her everything I could think of— everything from her favorite color to her biggest fear. I wanted to know everything. But not to use anything against her. I wanted to know her and what type of friend I should be for her. I told her everything about myself too. Everything from before I was famous to the day I met her. It was nice to be so open and honest with someone. I didn't want the day to end.




Sunday Morning- Tamia

3:47 A.M.

I rolled over in my bed. Man, yesterday afternoon was amazing! Jason really wanted to be a true friend to me and hadn't intended on keeping his secret from me. He even said that he'd do everything in his power to make our friendship work. He wasn't going to let his celebrity status get in the way. He really wanted this—this friendship, nothing more... I assume. I mean he's with someone and I'm with someone so that's all this can be.

We talked for hours it seemed like. I'll admit, when he asked if we could go to my room, it took me by surprise. But somehow I knew he wasn't that type of guy and he confirmed it with his words. Although I didn't want him to see how disorganized my room was, I agreed. Man, would Larry be mad about this? No, I knew that whenever he and Starr (or any other girl) had a project to do, they'd be sitting in his room (or hers) working on it. He always told me that I needed to trust him and that nothing more than schoolwork was going on. And I believed it.

Suddenly I realized that I had rolled into something when I had rolled over. Wait, was that... was that a person?? I almost screamed. I jumped up and turned on my lamp. It was... Jason. He rolls over and looks at me. At first he looks confused, but then he smiles.

"Oh my gosh, Jason! What are you still doing here?" I whispered hysterically.

Jason stretches and then sits up. He looks around and then the same look of shock appears on his face. "Oh no, we must have fallen asleep!" he says.

Then it all comes back to me. We were sitting on my bed, talking. We really must have been talking for hours because we were both still wearing yesterday's clothes. Oh no, I... I slept with Jason Draper. Like, literally fell asleep with him! I look at the clock: 3:50 A.M.! Oh no.

"I'm so sorry," Jason says, getting up from my bed. "I didn't mean to fall asleep and stay the whole night. I'll go now."

"Wait," I said. Wait, why did I tell him to wait? He needs to go! If my parents find out, they'll kill me! It's unbelievable that we got away with this.

"I hope you don't think I'm mad at you," I say to him. "Because I'm not. I know that this was an accident. I didn't mean to sleep with you."

He chuckles. "Sleep with me?" he asks with a huge smile. "That's not what that phrase means."

"I know that," I say, smiling back. "But we did literally sleep. In my bed. Together."

"But we didn't do anything," he says.

"I know," I say, "But if my parents find out, they'll kill us! Now that I think about it, I'm not even sure if they're home because my sister's not in her bed. And my parents would've come into my room to check on me and surely would have seen you— in my bed!"

"Oh they're home," Jason says nonchalantly.

I was confused. "How could you possibly know that?" I asked. Did Jason just introduce himself to my whole family and everyone is cool with the fact that he was sleeping in my bed?

"I heard a car pull up," he explained. "I didn't know what to do so I slipped into the bathroom. I heard your mother come in and check on you. You were asleep, though. I also heard her say that she'd save you some dinner for whenever you woke up, and she said something about your sister staying with a friend tonight. When the hallway cleared, I came back in here. I decided to wait to sneak out when everyone fell asleep, but I guess I fell asleep first."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I also couldn't believe that we had gotten away with this. My heart was still beating fast at the thought that we could still get caught. Finally I say, "It's not that I don't want you here, but you really need to go." I hope I wasn't sounding too rude.

But Jason smiled. "You want me here?" he asked, seeming to ignore my rudeness.

I couldn't help but smile back. "Jay-ssonnn," I pleaded, dragging out his name.

"Okay, okay, I'll leave," he said. He went towards my window. "But when can I see you again?"

My heart melted. He wanted to see me again! Honestly, I wanted to see him again too. "Well, we have church in the morning but it'll be over by noon. I'll have lunch with my family and then maybe... maybe I can come over to your place?" I wasn't sure about asking him that, but I did.

He paused for a moment. "Sure," he finally said. "Let me know when you're ready and I'll even come pick you up."

"Okay," I said, secretly excited.

He opened up the window and put one leg out. Before he was completely out, he leaned back over towards my cheek. His kissed it and said, "See you later." And then he was gone.