Book 2: Chapter 31

***Chapter 31 ***

My head was throbbing a bit after yesterday's endeavors. It made me regret ever drinking in life. Who even invented such things? It was like the worst possible thing you could do to yourself. Especially if you did it too much. We all drank over the limit except for Jay who cut back on drinking altogether. The lucky jerk.

Despite feeling like crap, Jay was trying to get me to drink black coffee as he does. He said it'll help make me feel better. However, I don't think I wanted to feel that much better. He was offering me black coffee. The vilest thing on this planet. I rather have a headache than drink that wretched stuff.

"No way!" I screamed bothering my headache even more.

Jay laughed not giving up. "Come on, you'll feel so much better once you do." He tried convincing me.

I cross my arms perturbed by the whole thing. "Jay please don't make me," I whined.

"Autumn come on it's not that bad. Besides, I just want my girl to feel better." He held the cup out to me.

Looking at it grossed me out but I sucked it up taking the mug from him. "Fine but only because I like it when you call me your girl."

That made him laugh as I shuddered with every sip I took. Jay let me rest up for a little bit as my hangover died down. Laying around in bed was always amazing. Jay paid extra attention to me getting anything I may have needed. It wasn't much but just knowing he was there made things all the better.

Once my head was feeling fine, we decided to get started with painting the bathroom. We’ve been putting it off for so long that it only seemed right to finish now. We were delayed getting to the best part which was the furniture! The room was so empty after we’d taken everything out. Jay still hadn’t decided on what he wanted and that’s where I was going to come in and help.

Since the bathroom wasn’t nearly as big as the bedroom, it only took a few hours to get it finished. We still somehow managed to get paint all over us. Thankfully it was still the afternoon so we had time to shower and go shopping. Though, I wanted us to have a little bit of fun.

Getting to the other room, I didn’t hesitate to grab Jay by the shirt and pull him down on his bed with me. He had no idea what was going on but I knew exactly what I wanted. Even though I previously turned Cyrus down, it didn’t mean I had to do the same to Jay. We were officially together.

Catching on quickly, Jay didn’t hesitate to kiss me as his hands explored every inch of my body. It’s the first time since I’ve been back that he’s touched me all over like this. That hunger that I’d felt ever so long ago was back in full force. So much so that I slipped my tongue into his mouth inviting him to go further.

He almost did as he trailed kisses all down my neck to my breast. But before we could get into it, he suddenly stopped. I was confused and quite frankly taken aback. What made him want to stop? He’s never had that notion before.

Confused, I look at him trying to understand what happened. “Is everything okay?” I asked to get a feel for what happened.

He smiled nervously before answering. “Yeah, yeah I um…well, I don’t know how to put this.”

That scared me. “What do you mean? Did I do something wrong?” He was worrying me.

Chuckling Jay shook his head caressing my cheek with his thumb. “No gorgeous, not at all. You see I had this thing that I wanted to do. You know to make things special,” he explains.

I giggle. “How special can sex possibly get? I mean, it’s sex,” I say still not understanding what he meant.

“That’s the thing, I don’t want to just have mindless *sex* with you anymore,” he thought for a moment. “Although it did use to be really fun, like holy shit.”

Laughing, I roll my eyes even though he was right. “Get to the point, Jason.”

He sat up a little contemplating how to word it. It seemed as though I was intruding on his plans that he claimed Kameron was helping him with. I still don’t see why she would help him sleep with me though. He didn’t need help with that. However, he wanted me to trust him so that’s what I was doing. Hoping to God that it wouldn’t backfire. Though his reasoning for stopping honestly shocked me.

Looking away Jay began to tell me what he wanted to do. He didn’t want to just have sex. He wanted something more. Something so special we wouldn’t be able to forget it.

“Listen, my history with women is not that great. Simply because I just didn’t give a fuck, especially after the incident with my mom. And as you know I wasn’t able to learn things about women from her or my dad since he upped and left.” He was always so long-winded.

I nod my head. “Okay, I’m listening.”

He smiled graciously. “Well, then I met you and my world changed. I can feel again, see the world again, hell sometimes I barely recognize who I am anymore. But that’s why I don’t want to just have sex with you, Autumn. I…” he trailed off. “It may sound weird, but I want to truly make love to you.”

That was news to me yet not shocking. We were wrapped up in this thing called love. A fresh young love at that. I younger than him, but who's to say we can’t achieve that feat? If this was something he wanted to make special then we were going to do just that. It was weird that Kameron was helping him with it but again I was trusting him.

Smiling, I couldn’t help but give him a quick kiss again. He was the sweetest, most thoughtful guy I’ve ever dated even including Cyrus. The way he meticulously planned everything our second go around always amazed me. It’s like he knew he’d make his way back to me and knew exactly how he wanted to do it. As much as his leaving hurt the first time, ultimately I’m happy that he chose to go that route. It turned out better for both of us.

“Who knew you and I would have this great of a connection,” I said lovingly.

Jay grabbed my hand kissing my knuckles the way he only knew how. “Honestly, the moment I saw you I knew.”

My eyes narrowed. “You mean when you tried stealing my cupcake?” I asked.

He laughed. “I gave it back.”

I rolled my eyes standing up. “Mhmm sure, now let’s go get dressed we have to meet Bradyn and Ashton soon.”

Instead of showering separately, we showered together. That probably delayed us even more but we didn’t care all too much. Loving each other always came before anything else. Especially since we had to be secret about it in front of everyone else. Our moments alone were always going to be us being extra lovey. Just until we were able to be more open about ourselves.

After our long-winded shower, we finally got dressed as Jay suggested I wear one of the sundresses I had. It was a lavender floral print that stopped just below my knee. It had a small slit on the side and had the right amount of flow to it. I wore sandals and grabbed a small white bag to carry around with me. Jay was satisfied and so was I to be honest. He always picked out the best things for me to wear.

With all our dilly-dallying, we finally went on to meet up with Bradyn and Ashton. Throughout his whole room making-over, Bradyn and Ashton have been super helpful. They wanted to be in the whole process plus it gave us another potential couple to hang out with. It even made Bradyns and I's relationship stronger as we were spending more time together than last year.

The minute she saw me, she ran up hugging me as tight as she could like always. I always loved how cheerful she was. That was one of her best traits for sure.

“Hey guys, sorry we took so long,” I apologize holding on to Bradyn.

Ashton greeted both Jay and me before speaking. “Mm I wonder what you two were up to,” he teased.

“Nothing like that you perv,” Jay said debunking any thoughts he had.

Ashton laughed not buying it. “Sure, anyway where do you guys wanna start?”

“The bed section!” Bradyn suggested.

That was a smart decision as we all made our way to the bed section. There were plenty of options to choose from but I was leaving that to Jay to decide. The boys were occupied looking at all the different choices while Bradyn and I went off mainly looking at decorations. She was telling me about a surprise Cyrus had planned for Jay that I had no idea was happening. Call me a bad girlfriend I guess.

“Did you know Cyrus is having a surprise birthday party for Jay on Wednesday?” Bradyn asked me.

I paused with my eyes wide. “His birthday is Wednesday?” I genuinely didn’t know.

Bradyn looked at me flabbergasted. “You’ve been dating this guy and you don’t even know when his birthday is?”

That made me feel like shit. “To be fair, we’ve never talked about it,” in my defense. “Oh my goodness what the hell am I going to do!”

Jay found out when my birthday was which was through Jeremy. I never thought to ask him but he hadn’t brought it up either. It was so last minute for me to come up with a gift idea. We’ve spent nearly every day together. How would I find time to even get him something without him seeing? Why didn’t anyone tell me sooner?

There was this sudden panic setting in. I was his girlfriend and yet didn’t even know something so small as his birthday. It would be awkward not showing up with a gift for him. Would he get mad if I didn’t? Seriously, it’s been a few days of us being together and I was already going to be dubbed the worst girlfriend in the history of girlfriends.

“You know what he likes right? Make him something it’ll be more special that way,” she always had great ideas.

I sighed crossing my arms. “But what do I even make him? I’m not the artsy type if you haven’t noticed.”

She laughed. “No, I think we all noticed.” Ha ha, so funny. “Still, I’m telling you if you make something from scratch it’ll make his day.”

Pouting, I crossed my arms listening to what she was saying. Generally, when you make something the gift is more appreciated. It doesn’t necessarily have more value than a purchased present. But it would mean a lot more. The only problem was thinking of what to make him on such short notice. We have to talk more about this these kinds of things.

I was going to be stuck in a funk until I felt beautiful strong hands grab at my waist before wrapping completely around me. Jay nuzzled himself between my neck leaving a light kiss. Anything he did always made me smile. He was such a cuddle bug and I loved it. Even now.

Getting a good look at my face, he saw my mind racing a mile a minute. “What’s the matter gorgeous? Not feeling too well again?”

I shake my head not to worry him. “I’m okay, promise.” I didn’t want to give his surprise away. “Just a little hungry.”

“We’ll do a little more looking around and then go grab something to eat. Sound good?” He asked giving me another kiss on my cheek.

I nodded smiling at him. “Of course, sweet face.” We hold hands as we continue to walk through the store.

This time he was the one smiling at me. “Sweet face? I think I love that pet name.”

“You love everything,” I say not surprised that he would like that.

He didn’t disagree though. “Only when it comes from you, gorgeous.”

I laughed as Ashton and Bradyn fake gagged at how lovey we were. It was nice being able to express ourselves out in the open with two people we trusted. Getting to do anything like this would always makes me happy. Jay just made me happy. Whatever gift I would make him had to be spectacular and if I played my cards right it would be amazing!