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I told Skyler everything that happened last night. I told him about the ride home, how I calmed Maisie down, and then how we went to my room. Skyler yelled, “Yeah, baby!” really loudly when I got to the part about our kiss. I put my hands over my face and groaned loudly. I guess that being friends with Skyler means I have to be embarrassed.
I didn’t include the part about my collection of snow globes because I thought it was too personal. I didn’t have to tell Skyler everything. When I looked at the clock again, it was four o’clock in the afternoon. I had been at Steamy Bean Cafe for too long, so I said goodbye to Skyler and went home after getting another cup of coffee to go.
I spent some time with Maisie and my mom when I got home. Then I saw that Jaxon had sent me a text. I went to my room to answer his text. We ended up talking on the phone for a long time. He said he was bored on his business trip and wished he could be with me. I laughed awkwardly and went on with my day with my new friends and Skyler.
I was worried at first that we would run out of things to say to each other, but that never happened. We talked about a lot of things and nothing at the same time. My mom yelled from downstairs that dinner was ready, which cut off our conversation. I didn’t want to hang up on him, but I did. Then I ate my dinner quickly and left again.
I sent Jaxon another text, and he called me right back. It would be an understatement to say that I was happy. We talked until I couldn’t stay awake anymore. He heard me yawn and told me to have a good night. After I hung up the phone, I went to bed right away.
Once again, I dreamed of Jaxon.
I worked at Steamy Bean Cafe all day on Sunday. Natalie and I worked the same shift, so we talked and laughed the whole time. She made me promise to see her soon, and I didn’t mind. I missed her.
I was texting Jaxon while I made coffee for customers and put things away in the back. He would ask me what I was doing, how my day was going, what book I was reading, or anything else he could get out of me. It was sweet that he wanted to know so much about me. I wasn’t very interested, so I don’t know why he wanted to know everything about my life, but I satisfied his curiosity as long as he answered questions about himself. He liked to be the one asking the questions, that’s all.
When I asked him if Ezra could come with him on the business trip, he said that Ezra was his business’s vice president. I wanted to learn more about his business, but he said he had to go to another meeting when I asked.
He told me he would come home on Monday morning and have a surprise for me. I was very nervous when Monday finally came. And it’s not because I’ve already had three cups of coffee. And it’s not because of all the sugar in the huge amounts of whipped cream that came with the three cups of coffee I drank.
The idea of seeing Jaxon made me happy. I couldn’t stop smiling all morning at Steamy Bean Cafe, even on the short walk to Psychology.
“Wow, what’s making you smile like that?” Skyler asks with a knowing smile on his face.
“Are you going to make me say it?” I say under my breath. “Okay. I’m looking forward to seeing Jaxon. Aren’t you looking forward to seeing Ezra?”
Skyler laughs like a crazy person. “Oh, honey. I said hi to him this morning. Again, and again, and again, and again—”
“Oh my gosh! Stop! I don’t want to know!” I yell. I push my hands as hard as I can against my ears to block out Skyler’s bad words. I could only hear him laughing softly. Thank goodness the lecture started soon after that, so I didn’t have to hear about what Skyler and Ezra did in their bedroom. Just thinking about it made me feel bad.
Today’s class was about Ivan Pavlov and his idea of classical conditioning. It was actually very interesting, and I wrote down my notes in my notebook at a very fast pace to keep up with the professor. I wrote down notes about unconditioned, neutral, and conditioned stimuli with one of my 1500 pens. I also wrote about how his dogs would drool at the sound of a bell.
After we are done, I put my bag together and throw it over my shoulder. I can’t stop thinking about texting Jaxon when I get home. What kind of surprise did he mean?
Skyler puts a hand on my shoulder to stop me from leaving the room without him before I can run home. I look up at him to see what he wants.
He asks, “Do you have any plans for today?” My heart sinks a little.
“Um… No, I don’t have any set plans,” I tell him truthfully. I didn’t tell him that I wanted to see Jaxon again later. That would make me look too hopeful and needy, which I didn’t want to do.
“Good. You have plans now,” he says with a smile. The sun warms my skin as I walk on the dead autumn leaves on the grass. It felt like the air conditioner was on the “icicle” setting, and I shivered as the warm sun warmed my frozen fingers and the rest of my body. I forgot for a moment that I was talking to Skyler because the warmth felt so good.
“What plans do I have?” I ask myself nervously. I trust Skyler, but he can be a little troublemaker at times. I wouldn’t be surprised if he played a trick on me right now. I’ve heard stories about his past pranks, and none of them are good.
“Those plans.” He sticks his chin out and tells me to turn around. I turn around slowly, and when I see Jaxon leaning against his matte black Tesla, I get excited and my heart starts to race. I don’t think he’s supposed to park in front of the building like that, but he doesn’t seem to care because he leans casually against the hood of his car like it’s the most normal thing in the world.
He has on a plain black T-shirt and ripped black jeans. He looks like a sexy dark angel as he leans against his car with his arms crossed. His black hair is pushed back in a messy way, but it still looks great. His muscles are so thick and bulging that his arms look like tree trunks.
As I smile, he slowly starts to smile too. I swoon inside. His Jaxon eyes light up when I run over to him. When I say “walk,” I mean “speed-walk.” I don’t want to look too excited to see him. As soon as I can reach him, he pulls me closer and wraps his huge arms around me, making me feel warm. You don’t need the sun if you have your own heater. I put my head on his chest and he puts his head on my neck. He seems to enjoy doing that, so I can’t stop him.
After we have our moment, I pull myself away from him so I can see his face.
“Hi,” I say with a shy smile.
He gives me a smug smile because he knows how he makes me feel. “Hey, love. I missed you.”
My heart races and my head spins. “Y-you did?” I say. I peek up at him through my lashes, and Jaxon runs his hand through my hair, resting his palm on my cheek. “Yes, I did. I couldn’t think about anything else but you. Ezra got mad at me for spacing out or being distracted while texting you, little one.”
I was so embarrassed that my jaw dropped. I was keeping him from doing his job! “I’m sorry, I didn’t know I was keeping you from important things when I texted you. You shouldn’t have-”
Someone pushed a single finger into my lips, which cut me off. “Stop, Calla. I wanted to. You’re more important than any meeting,” he said with a smile. He slowly pulled his finger away, and his eyes seemed to focus on my lips as he bit down on his own.
“F**k, I want to kiss you, but not with all these nosy assholes watching.”
I quickly turn my head, and sure enough, there is a small crowd around us. I quickly stepped back from the crowd, partly hiding behind Jaxon’s big body. He growls at the few people who are looking at us when he sees that I’m uncomfortable with the attention.
“Keep moving, or I’ll rip your eyes out of their sockets so you can’t ever watch her again,” he says. In a matter of seconds, the crowd breaks up. If I were anyone else, I would be scared and maybe even peeing my pants right now. But his authoritative voice sends a warmth straight to my core. I try to relax by tightening my thighs, but it doesn’t work. If his pupils are getting bigger, Jaxon has already turned around and seen me. He gently takes my hand and leads me to the passenger side of his car.
“Let’s go before I have to do it right here against my car.”
 
The ride to our unknown destination is short—only about fifteen minutes. I don’t get to use the car very often because my mom and I share it. Because of this, I’ve never been able to see the towns around here. She drives to work most of the time, and I only drive when I need to do errands or get groceries. Jaxon is going the wrong way to town, which I’ve never been to before. I’m really looking forward to seeing where he’s taking me because it’s not close enough to walk to my house.
I’m so excited that my knee is bouncing up and down in my seat. I can’t stop smiling. I’m with a cute guy who says he has a surprise for me. I’ve never done anything this exciting before!
“Baby,” Jaxon laughs and puts his hand on my knee to stop it from bouncing up and down. “Calm down, we’re almost there.”
“Sorry,” I say, but I’m not really sorry. “Where are we going?” I ask him with big, excited eyes.
He said in a teasing tone, “Not telling.”
I really don’t know where we’re going. We drove out of town, and now it looks like we’re in the next small town over. He drove us through a lot of dirt roads to get here, and if he hadn’t been driving, I would have never found it. It took so many turns to get here that my head spun, and it almost seemed like the town was made to be hard to find.
He drives for a few more minutes before pulling into a parking space. The ground is covered in small white pebbles, and there is a big park all around us. Families are playing frisbee, eating at picnic tables, and spending time outside in the sun. A big forest surrounds the park, and my eyes are assaulted by a sea of greens and browns as they take in the new surroundings. The sun shone down on us and made everything look golden, which gave it an almost otherworldly quality. The wind was light, but it smelled great, like wildflowers and freshly cut grass. The dandelions spread out across the grass. The wind broke them up into a million pieces, and the white pieces floated through the forest before I lost sight of them.
Jaxon comes around and takes my hand as soon as I get out of the car. He has a small gift box with a pretty bow on top in his other hand. I can’t help it; my face is starting to hurt from all the smiling I’m doing today.
I point to the gift in his hand and say, “Is that for me?” I told Jaxon that lavender was my favorite color, so he wrapped it in that color.