I wake up Thursday morning completely clueless. Then I rub my eyes and look over my shoulder. "Oh yeah. That happened."
I try not to wake Beau as I slide out of bed.
"Good Morning." I say to my mom when I walk in to the kitchen. "Is Beau staying here all day?" She asks. I nod, "probably." "I'll call the school for him if you want." "Really? That'd be great, thanks!" I grab a pop tart and go to my bedroom.
"Jeans, boots, Luke Bryan T-shirt, bun?" I say to myself. "I think yes." I finish getting dressed then go to check on my patient.
"Hey Beau how ya felling?" I push the hair out of his face as he wakes up. He gives me a blank stare, "A little better I guess." "Are you going to school?" "Hell no." He mutters.
"Do you need anything before I go?" I ask. "Not at the moment." "Can you walk?" He sits up, "I'll try." It takes a lot of effort, but he is able to stand.
"Alright well, if you need anything, text me." I say walking out of the room.
"Hey CJ." Braxton smiles and puts his arm around me while I put my things in my locker. "Morning." I lean to kiss him. "What are you doing tonight?" He asks. "Taking care of your friend." "I'll come over and help if you want." He suggests. "Do that." I smile and walk to my class.
Lunchtime comes and I stand in line to get my chicken taco. "Hey CJ!" Alicia calls from the back of the line. "What are you doing this weekend?" She says as she comes to where I was standing. "Im going to Colorado. I got an interview." my best friend congratulates me as we move up the line.
"So I heard something happened last night?" She hints. "Oh something happened alright." I explain everything to her.
After school, I was walking out to my truck when I was stopped by Braxton. "Can I get a ride?" He asked, grabbing my shoulder. "Sure, where ya going?" He shrugs. "I can bring you over if you want." I suggest. "Yeah, alright." He follows me to the truck.
"I'm home!" I say walking through the front door. "Me too!" Braxton follows me inside. "Hey guys." Beau says from the couch. "Nice to see your alive." Braxton says. Beau shakes his head. "Feeling better?" I ask. "Well enough." "Think you'll be back at school tomorrow?" "Only if my outstanding service continues." He smiles.
"Mr. Pratt sent this home for you," I hand him a huge textbook. "Sucks being in AP chemistry doesn't it?" I go to the kitchen, leaving the boys alone.
My phone rings, it's Jackie. "Hello?" "Hey, what time are you coming home?" "Sunday morning, why?" "I want you to come over." "Yeah, I'll be there." "Okay thanks. So what's up?" "Oh, nothing." I can hear the boys talking in the other room. "You really like her, don't you?" Beau says. "I love her." "Did I just hear that?" Jackie asks sounding shocked. "Hear what?" "Oh please, I heard it." I can tell she wanted me to say more. "Alright fine, listen." I whisper, and stand around the corner from the living room. "I'm asking her to prom." I couldn't stop smiling.
"You're staying home tomorrow right?" Beau asked as soon as I walked in the room. "Yeah, why?" He shrugged. I sat down in a recliner and put my puppy on my lap while we talked. "You guys can stay for dinner if you want," I suggest. "I'm not sure what we're having though."
"Sure, why not."
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After dinner, when all the dished were done, I found myself on the couch sitting on top of Braxton. "We should talk. Come with me." He picks me up and sets me down over by the front door. "Where are we going?" "You'll see." I pull my boots on and follow him outside.
My dad is standing in the garage cleaning his tools. "Where you going?" Braxton goes over to talk to him while I get in the jeep.
A few minutes later Braxton comes back and gets in the drivers seat. "Where are we going?" "You'll see." He's sounds a bit irritated.
We drive for a while. Nothing looks familiar. "Braxton I'm serious where are we?" He pulls off the main road in to a corn field. "Here."
He shuts off everything and we get out. "Just go with it." He lays a blanket down in front of the truck, and we sit down.
"So is this one of those get to know you dates?" I ask. "It doesn't have to be." He says with a smile, turning on the radio.
One of my favorite songs comes on, Shotgun Rider by Tim McGraw. "Wanna dance?" He awkwardly asks. I take his hand and we start dancing. "I'm sorry, uh...I'm not good at dancing..." "Here, follow me." I lead him. "1..2..3..4..1..2..3..4.." We dance to the beat of the music. I rest my head against his chest and we dance right up until the end of the song. I look up in to his big brown eyes. He bends down to kiss me, I go with it.
We lay on the blanket and watch the sun go down. "So..." I break an awkward silence. "So...hows life..?" He pauses. "Absolutely great. How about you?" "Great..." He stutters. I give him a confused look. "You don't sound very sure." I persuade him to say more. "Well, things at home are just kind of...rough." "What's wrong?" "Ever since my parents split up," he sighs. "My dad quit work and started drinking. Heavily. He's drunk all the time- and he's not the good kind of drunk either." He stops and shakes his head. "To be honest, I'm a little scared."
"Scared of what? Him?" I ask. He nods his head. "That's why I don't go home often. And my mom moved really far away and took my little brother with her." "Were you guys close?" "Me and my brother were the best of friends." He covers his face with his big hands. "I don't know what to do."
I put my arm around him and he puts his head on my shoulder. "I don't know what to do either, I guess wait another month until we graduate. Then you can move out." I suggest. He starts to cry.
"You probably don't like sensitive guys." "It doesn't matter. To me, if a guy has enough balls to cry in front of his girl, that makes him strong. Kind of."
"CJ..?"
"Yeah?"
"I love you."
I take a deep breath.
"I love you too."
