I'm Right Here

Finally

After I finished my breakfast I got up from my seat quickly and started to walk away. I couldn't handle knowing he liked me, but not having him know I knew he liked me. However, I stopped by someone saying, "Hey wait Ramona. Can I talk to you?" Of course it was Jackson. My face heated up, but I turned around slowly to find Jackson standing right behind me.

"Uh yeah, sure. What's up?" I tried to sound casual. I'm pretty sure I failed at sounding casual, but I tried.

"Can we um... go somewhere else not around—" he hesitated gesturing around the kitchen, "everyone."

"Um sure?" I said, nervously. I pushed through the kitchen door and walked into the living room, Jackson trailing behind me. I didn't want to get my hopes up, but I thought that this might be when he would finally tell me that he liked me. I was insanely nervous. I wanted him to like me so bad, but now that I thought about it, I had no idea what I would do or say if he told me he did. I didn't know whether I should stand or sit or what, so I just stood awkwardly in the middle of the room.

Jackson blushed just slightly. I could see his chest rising and falling slowly, taking deep breaths. "There's something I've been meaning to tell you, but I've been putting it off because... well I don't know how to say it. I guess I'll just say it right out. I like you Ramona. A lot. And I don't mean like a friend or a sister, I mean like... will you go out with me?"

I was having trouble breathing. I didn't really know how to react. This was everything I could've hoped for. "For real or to make someone jealous?" I laughed. Laughing was something I did to take the nerve away.

He blushed harder. "Sorry about that. But, yeah for real."

"I would love to go out with Jackson," I said. I tried acting calm on the outside, but in all reality, I was freaking out majorly.

"Wait so like... you like me back?" he asked, getting more confident. I nodded. His mouth dropped open a little and I smiled.

"Dude what took you so long?" I said jokingly. I hugged him and his arms hesitantly wrapped around my waist to hug me back. Today was a good day.

***

The school week went by fast and we had Friday off, so Jackson had planned on having our first date. I woke up the morning more excited than ever. I ate breakfast quickly and then called Lola to come over and help me get ready. I could always count on her to come rushing over, and she definitely did this time.

It took us a whole hour to decide what I should wear because we kept getting distracted, but I ended up standing in front of my mirror wearing a white sweater tucked into a jean skirt and some white high top converse. Once I was dressed, it took me about another hour to curl my hair and put on some light makeup.

"Am I ready?" I asked Lola. I looked at the clock and it was 11:30. Jackson and I were going on a picnic at noon, so technically I still had half an hour if I needed to do something else to fix myself.

"You look great. Eee I'm so excited for you! I told you Jackson would like you! You guys are so cute together," she said. I blushed and smiled shyly. I was so happy that I could finally go out with Jackson and Lola was supportive and so was everyone else. Well everyone else we had told so far. DJ and my mom knew, but we had been planning on telling everyone else today.

I talked to Lola for a little while and at 11:58 there was a sudden, short knock at my bedroom door. "Yeah?" I called.

"Um... you ready?" Jackson's voice said awkwardly.

"Yeah just a minute!" I said. I looked at Lola and took a deep breath.

"You got this," she said encouragingly. I got up and walked over to the door, opening it.

"You look nice," he said.

"Thanks." I smiled. We both walked down the stairs and into the kitchen, where Steph and Jimmy were sitting at the table talking. Jackson and I started to walk out the back door, but Steph's voice stopped us.

"Where are you two going?" she asked, curiously. I glanced at Jackson.

"On a date?" he said awkwardly. Steph's eyes widened and she pointed back and forth between us.

"Wait a second," she said, "you guys are dating now? When did this happen and why didn't I know about it?!"

"I didn't know about it either Steph," Jimmy said, frowning.

"It happened last week and we were going to tell you soon, but if you'll excuse us we're just gonna get going now," I said quickly and tried to rush out the door.

"Fine! Don't tell me the dating details," Steph said.

"Ok we won't," I said, shutting the door behind me. Right before it closed I heard an uttered "how rude" and I laughed. Jackson laughed too.

"Ready to go?" he said. I nodded and he grabbed my hand, pulling me along to our picnicking destination, which happened to be the park. I was a little worried about our first date being a picnic, since it would require a lot of talking, but I hoped there wouldn't be too much awkward silence.

Jackson spread out a blanket and put the basket in the middle and then we sat down. The time flew by. My worried melted away as we talked and laughed about anything and everything. Why had I been so worried about awkwardness? Everything was going so well.

Suddenly Jackson cut off what he was saying and looked at me. "Hey I just remembered something. A while back I got a note saying I had a secret admirer and I was super confused because I couldn't figure out who it was. It was you wasn't it?"

"What?" I asked. Jackson had a secret admirer?

Yay! I finally updated! So sorry to keep you guys waiting, but Wattpad is being super annoying and I've been really busy too. I hope you like this chapter and hopefully there'll be another one coming soon! ❤️😘