Anchored

Jade

I awaken with Danny's strong arms cradling my small body. I sigh softly before wriggling so I can face him. His eyes open slowly and the moment he recognizes my face he smiles.
"Good morning miss perfect." He says groggily in his gravelly sleepy voice.
"Good morning baby." I reply before resting my head against his chest.
He lifts a hand to pet my hair before a small knock is heard at the door.
"*sniffle* Danny?" Hallee says from behind the door.
"Shit!" Danny mutters under his breath before standing up. "Hallee did something happen?"
"Dad showed up this morning and--"
"Wait, WHAT?!"
"Dad was at the door this morning and he was telling mom that he still loved her and that he was all better now."
"That's all so much fucking bullshit!"
"Shh don't yell he's downstairs!"
"SHE BELIEVED HIM? Hallee, he would hit us!! HE WOULD HIT HER! Why would she EVER forgive him?"
"I don't know!"
"Wait a minute, what's going on?" I say as I stand up from the bed with a blanket around me.
"I never told you this but my dad would abuse the 3 of us. He was also cheating on my mom so eventually he got tired of us and left with the other girl."
"Oh my god that's terrible!"
"I'm gonna go smack some fucking sense into that man!" Danny's knuckles are white and his teeth are clenched.
"No. You can't do that! Maybe dad did get better!"
"There is no better Hallee! That man can't undo his damage."
With that Danny ran down the stairs. I grab the sweater that's sitting on the wood dresser and the sweatpants that are on top of his laundry basket and hustle downstairs as quickly as I can.
"LISTEN HERE YOU LITTLE PIECE OF SHIT! YOU CAN'T ABUSE US THEN RUN OFF WITH YOU'RE LITTLE GIRLFRIEND AND RUN BACK TO US! YOU LEFT! I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU FOR ABUSING ME! OR MY SISTER OR MY MOTHER! YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE! GET THE FUCK OUT NOW!"
His dad rises from the green sofa and sets down his beer. He stands at about 6'4", towering over me and Danny. He walks over to Danny and grabs him by the wrist.
"That kind of language will not be spoken in this house."
"I SAID GET OUT!!!"
He twists Danny's arm, making him scream.
"This is intolerable behavior Daniel."
Suddenly Hallee grabs his beer bottle and smacks him upside the head with it.
As the glass shatters over him Hallee's eyes fill with horror.
I run over to her and hold her close.
"You didn't do anything wrong it's okay. It's okay. You were protecting yourself."
"Jade, I think he's dead." Danny says as he stands up holding his arm.
Hallee starts sobbing into my chest. She's shaking like crazy and her breaths are choppy. I hold her closer and whisper to her.
"Its not your fault. It's his fault. You'll be okay. You are safe now. I've got you, I'm not gonna leave. You were protecting yourself. You aren't going to get into trouble."
She whimpers a few more times then the cries have stopped for the most part.
"Danny? *sniffle* Where's mom?"
"FUCK!"
With a sudden burst of adrenaline Danny runs into the kitchen. I can hear him shuffling around in there.
"Hallee I'm gonna go help him I'll be right back. Stay here."
I run into the kitchen to find him sitting on cold linoleum floor staring blankly into the pantry. As I join him on the floor I risk a glance into the pantry and find his mom laying on the ground with I bleeding wound on her head.
*******
I gasp and sit up as a quiet knock is heard on the door.
"Hallee?"
"Can I come in Jade?"
"Yeah of course give me a minute." I stand up and grab a t-shirt from Danny's along with a pair of sweats. Thank God that was just a dream. I open the door to reveal a puffy eyed Hallee.
"Aw Hallee what's wrong?"
"I don't know!" She whines before bawling.
I wrap my arms around her and hold her close to me.
"I get like that a lot. It's tough. I'm glad I have your brother to help me through it."
"He helps me a lot too."
"I know, he's able to help me because of you. I'm very grateful for that."
"Thanks Jade."
"What'd I do?"
"You understand. Most people don't get it and they make fun of me."
"Well those people are ignorant bitches. I know it's hard but you gotta tell yourself they don't matter. At the end of the day all you're left with is you. If they don't like you it doesn't matter, all that matters is if you like you."
She hugs me one last time before letting go. She offers me a smile so I smile back at her.
"I like you." She says and smiles at me again. "I'm glad Danny has you."
I smile at her again. Then she returns to her bedroom.
I walk over to Danny's bed and lift the plain blue comforter. I slip under the covers and cuddle myself up against Danny. I look up at his face and boop his nose. He smiles and pulls me closer to him.
"I love you Jade." He says in the gravelly sleepy voice.
"And I love you Danny."
He kisses my forehead before rolling over and preparing to get out of bed.
"I have to take you back home in a bit huh?"
"Unfortunately, yes."
"Don't worry break's over soon so you'll be able to see me all the time at school."
"Yeah but my birthday is on the first day back. I am not looking forward to that."
For a minute I can see that my birthday was news for him but he plays it off like he already knew.
"I'm sorry baby. I'll make your birthday amazing. I promise."
"You known I hate promises."
"But this is one I'm going to stick to no matter what."
"Good luck with that."
He stands up and walks to the side of the bed I'm on. He grabs my arm gently and pulls me into an embrace. He puts his hand on my hip and the other on my cheek and raises my lips to his. He places a passionate kiss on my lips before walking to his closet to pick an outfit.
"What should I wear today?"
"Get your blue flannel and a white tee shirt with a pair of black jeans."
"Wow so specific, okay."
"Sorry baby. It's my favourite outfit for a guy to wear."
"I get it. When I sleep at your house I get to pick your outfit though."
"I can live with that."
He puts on the outfit and turns around to face me.
"What do you think?"
"I think, I have great taste." I say before walking over and puckering my lips.
"Gimme a kiss Danny."
"You're gonna have to work for it." He steps up on his toes and cranes his neck.
I jump up trying to give him a kiss.
"You're so meannn. Gimme a kiss already you shit!" I pretend to storm off but he grabs my arm and pulls my hips against his then plants a kiss on my lips.
"Took you long enough." I tease, smiling.
"I love you J!"
"I love you Danny."
**
My birthday.
The alarm clock blares at 5:30am and I sit up immediately. Every year on my birthday my mom leaves a present outside my door. I walk over the freezing hardwood floor and open the bedroom door. There sitting before the door is a small black gift bag.
To Jadey bug
Love you have an amazing 17th birthday. Love you,
Mom.
I yank the tissue paper out of the bag and find 3 Twenty Øne Piløts tickets at the bottom of the bag.
"AHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"
HOLY SHIT I GET TO GO TO THE MOTHER FUCKING TWENTY ONE PILOTS CONCERT HOLY SHIT!!!
I check the date on the ticket...December 28th...
HOLY FUCKING SHIT THAT'S DANNY'S BIRTHDAY! I AM GONNA BRING HIM AND I'M NOT GONNA TELL HIM ABOUT THE TICKETS YET. I CAN USE IT TO SURPRISE HIM FOR HIS BIRTHDAY OH MY GOD.
With excitement pulsing through my veins I run to the bathroom to start my shower. When I finish I blow-dry my hair then tie it up real quick in a pony tail while I do my makeup. I walk back down the hall to my room and pick out an outfit. Black super skinny jeans, oversized knit grey sweater with a cute black heart in the middle, black and white converse with a black beanie. After putting this on I grab my curler wand and curl my hair. By 6:30 I am 100% ready to go so I grab my phone from my nightstand and see that I have a missed call from Danny at 5 am and a text message at 4:47am it reads:
Good morning my beautiful queen. I hope you slept the best last night and that today is one of the best days you will ever have. I love you so much and you deserve the best. You're so amazing and perfect, I'm so grateful to have you in my life. I love you, I love you, I looooooove you! ❤❤❤❤
He's such a dork. I can feel the heat in my cheeks and my mouth is hurting from how big I'm smiling. God, I love him.
I walk down the hall to my mom's room and open the door for Mac. I let him go outside then fill his bowl with food. Next I search a little for loki before I find him sitting on the back of the tan couch in the living room.
I pick him up and carry him over to the space we keep his food water and litter. Apparently all three of these have already been taken care of, I turn on my heel and head back to my room, still cradling loki. I gently set him down on my bed and sit down beside him. A few scratches behind the ear is all I give him before going to my phone. Next thing I know there's a kitten walking across my lap trying to smack the phone out of my hand.
At 7:30am I grab a coat before heading outside. A hear "car radio" by Twenty one pilots playing so I check my phone.
It's my dad.
"Hey Dad!"
"Hi Jade how are you?"
"I'm great!"
"That's amazing! Happy birthday sweetie!"
"Thanks!"
"I get off work early today, is there a chance you could talk to your mom and see if we can go get your birthday present?"
"OOH! Yeah I'll definitely ask. Gimme a text at 2:30pm so I don't forget?"
"Sure thing pumpkin. I gotta go, there's a meeting in five."
"Oh...okay...talk to you la-"
"Bye sweetie love you!"
"Bye."
That's the first time he's called since August, first day of school. He had to cut it short because of a meeting then too. Hopefully I can see him for a while and he doesn't get called back to work. That's happened before. Oh shit! Does he know about Danny? Maybe I'll have to bring Danny so he can meet him... I don't know. It's 7:38am, Danny should be here any minute.
At 5 minutes later Danny pulls into the driveway. He jumps out of his car and runs to give me a huge hug. He lifts my by my waist and twirls me around twice then sets me back down and kisses me deeply.
"Happy birthday babygirl!"
"Thanks baby." I say.
I bite my lip and give him another kiss.
"Okay J one more but then we have to go."
"Okay fine."
He kisses me again, groping my ass a bit before walking me back to his car. We talk a lot about what I want for my birthday on the ride to school. When we get there he walks me to history.
"Okay babe I'll see you next period. Have an amazing birthday." He kisses me then runs back to the hallway to his next class.
History is a complete blur but I manage to write down some notes that will hopefully be useful. I run to locker 629 to put my things away so I can see Danny. When I get there Danny is standing on my number waiting for me. He kisses me then says,
"This is number 5. Let's make this a game and try to get to over 17 throughout the day."
"Okay, but no quick repetitive kisses, that's cheating."
"Ok. Game on."
He flashes his gorgeous smile and for a second I look into his ocean eyes and remember what we used to be. He used to be my celebrity crush that I somehow managed to start dating. That's fucking nuts.
"I love you."
"I love you more babygirl."
I bite my lip as he walks back to his number. After taking roll Dr. G has us pair up and of course I go with Danny. Dr. G explains how to play my favourite sport (soccer) then he releases us into the field. First we have to do passing drills so Danny and I pass the ball back and forth.
I kick it a little farther than where he's standing so I run to chase after it. He sees me running and sprints after the ball too. I lean into him trying to get him to lose balance but he does the same. I shove him making him fall over, but because of my failed legs I fall over with him. We lay on the ground laughing then he pins me down to the ground and kisses me.
"Good try with distracting me but I'm still gonna get that ball Danny."
I shove him off me and run after the ball again. I pick it up with my hands and immediately after I find Danny's arms wrapped around my waist. He's about to kiss my neck when the bell rings. I run as fast as I can to go change out.
Next up is English where we are just told to read the remaining pages of Anne Frank, the most boring book in the world. I quietly take my phone out of my bag and hide it between the book pages. With nothing to do on instagram I decide to text Danny.
Hey baby.
Hi beautiful. How's your birthday?
Great so far. My dad called this morning.
Oh cool. Why didn't you tell me during pe?
I forgot.
Well, what did he say?
He said he got some of the day off and that he'd take me to go get my birthday present.
That's awesome!
He's never met you before...maybe I should bring you?
But you don't get to see him much.
Exactly. So he should meet you asap.
Okay then J. If it makes you happy.
YAY!
I love you.
I love youuuu!
Although it felt like 5 minutes the entire period had almost passed and the bell was about to ring.
After the bell rings I go straight to my locker and grab my book of lyrics to my favourite songs so Danny can sing them to me. I walk with my head down through the overcrowded hallway and out to the courtyard. I sit down under the tree. About 5 minutes later Danny and Paul walk out from the cafeteria and head over to where I'm sitting, Danny is holding his lunch tray along with a small gift box.
"Danny..."
"Jade."
He sets down his tray and hands me the small box while Paul takes a bite of pizza and watches us eagerly.
"I know we haven't been dating long, but time isn't a measure of love so fuck it. Open the box."
I slowly open the tiny white box to find a promise ring with a small saffire surrounded by two smaller diamonds.
"Danny! This is beautiful!"
"But wait! There's more!" Paul says with a mouthful of pepperoni pizza. "I helped with the next thing."
"Come on J take out the ring, the other thing is under the container for it."
I remove the ring from the container and hand it to Danny to put on my finger. Inside the box is a small bracelet that says "anchor girl" in cursive made out of metal. The bracelet itself is made of black kind of string like material.
"Oh my god Danny thank you so much!"
"Oh and to go with your anchor girl bracelet I have an anchor boy bracelet."
He shows me his bracelet covered arm and there it is. A black rubber bracelet with anchor boy in bold white lettering.
I grab his face an pull him into a harsh kiss.
"I love you so much Danny. You don't even know how much this means to me."
"I love you Jade. I always will."
For the rest of lunch I admire the ring while eating at Danny's food.
When the bell rings I stand up and give Danny a kiss. He grabs my ass as he pulls me in closer and it sends a tingle throughout my body. I head to my next classes, his ocean eyes and moppy hair are the only things in my mind beside my ring.
When the final bell rings my mind is so occupied I don't even pay attention to the load of people in the hallways. I walk over and lean against the fence where I meet Paul and Danny. As usual Paul arrives first so we wait around for my clumsy boyfriend. I love calling him that.
"Oh um...I don't know if I said this, happy birthday Jade."
"Oh, thanks Paul!"
He scratches the back of his neck and says "Yeah...no problem."
There's something up with him...DANNY!
My blue eyed doofus runs up to me and kisses me deeply with my hips against his.
"You ready J? How about you Paul?"
Both of us nod so Danny grabs my hand and walks to the car.
Can this day get any better?