Earlier while I listened to her talk about Jane Eyre I was so engrossed in everything that she said. I never once thought about anything else. But the moment she’d quit talking, I would find myself staring at her lips, or her eyes, or the tiny little lines on her forehead. She really was beautiful.
“Do you mind if we move upstairs now? These chairs really hurt my ass.”
Her eyes grew wide.
“I just want comfort. That’s all. Hell the couch would be fine with me.”
“We can go upstairs.” She pushed in her chair and started out of the kitchen. I followed closely behind her.
She reached for and turned on the light inside her bedroom. I was surprised at the sight of it. The walls looked freshly painted and there was nothing hung on them. The dresser was bare, and even the floors.
“Are you sure this is your room?” I asked, looking around.
She nodded and a wide smile spread across her face.
“Grace… The room is empty.”
“And,” she said.
“And it looks like you moved out, not in.” I admitted.
“I don’t have much stuff.”
“You don’t have anything.”
I walked over to her full size bed and laid down my things on the light gray comforter. Her bed was freshly made, not a wrinkle in it. She was truly baffling me in every way.
“Look Jackson, I know we don’t know each other well, but what you see is what you get with me. I’m just a simple kind of girl. This is the way I dress; this is the way I live.” She said as she pointed around the room. “I’m not ashamed. I like it this way.” She confessed. “Honestly I don’t know any other way. I’ve had nothing to compare my life too.”
I bit down hard on the inside of my jaw as I thought about what she was saying. I guess I wasn’t too far off with my “Little House on the Prairie” theory.
“I get it Grace. It’s not a big deal. I’ve just never known anyone quite like you. That’s all. If this is what you like then great. I’ll try not to be so hard on you. I like to joke and mess around. That’s all.” I hoped that she wasn’t taking me too seriously. She really seemed nice a different and I felt comfortable around her, like I didn’t have to try so hard. I could just be myself.
She smiled. “I get that. I’ve been around you long enough now to realize that.” Her laughter filled the room. “I just wanted you to know. You can make assumptions or joke all you want. I can take it. I’m a big girl.”
“Yes you are.” And she was all right. “Now lets get this paper done.”
“Yes. Let’s…”
I watched her as she slipped off her little white shoes and socks and climbed up on the bed. She had the tiniest little feet. She had to be tiny under that skirt. I bet she had a kicking little body too, all tight and shit. I had to shift around to keep from growing an erection in front of her innocent eyes.
It took us two more hours to finish the paper but we did it, and damn it, I was impressed. This was a good paper, and I had her to thank for it. She helped me in every way. She was a great teacher. There was no way that I was ever going to read Jane Eyre, but truthfully she made it very interesting for me. Something I never thought would happen. Hell, I wouldn’t even take literature under normal circumstances. My counselor suggested it. She said it’d be easy. I did like to read, but only things with adventure and action.
My phone rang from inside my backpack and I fished it out to see who it was. When I saw Holly’s name on the screen I quickly hit reject and tossed it back in. I had spent the last three hours in a whiny free zone. I couldn’t handle her. The bitching and complaining would be too much for me to take. For the moment, I was enjoying the peacefulness of Grace’s company.
“I bet you get an A on that paper.” She said breaking me from my thoughts.
“He’d be stupid not to give me an A.”
“Absolutely.” She nodded her head in agreement. Her smile was bright and eyes so engaging. They were a dark blue, almost midnight color. But at times, when she would turn her head just right I could see a tiny hint of green. They were penetrating and gorgeous. There was so much light inside of her. It shined bright through her eyes. She was exactly what happiness would look like, if it had a face.
I watched her as she yawned and leaned her body back against the headboard.
“I should get going.”
“Okay.” She said. “I’ll walk you out.”
I grabbed my bag off the floor and followed her down the stairs to the front door.
“I had a nice time Jackson.” She admitted a little sheepishly.
“You know what?” I slid past her and stepped on to the porch. “I did too. I really did.” I smiled. I didn’t tell her what I was really thinking. If she saw right through my devilish grin, she never said. I couldn’t help myself. Despite her lack of know how, she was mesmerizing. I wanted to be next to her. I wanted to touch her. It was probably best that I was leaving, otherwise I would find some way to persuade her to do dirty things that her innocent mind knew nothing about.
“Really.” She cocked her head to the side. “Who knew that I could be so much fun?” Her voice was high pitched. She was clearly mocking me.
“Wow, I didn’t know that you were funny too.” I joked back.
She shook her head. “Goodnight Jackson. Let me know how you do on the paper.”
“I will.” I quickly kissed her cheek before she realized what I was doing, and before she had the chance to slam the door shut in my face. “Thank you.” I said waving goodbye and walking away.
I wanted so badly to kick up my heels as I walked to my car, because the look on her face was priceless. She didn’t expect me to do that. Hell, I didn’t even expect it. It was just my way of saying thank you.
Okay, not really. Truthfully I’d wanted to do that all night, but knew she’d probably freak out. Not only were my hands drawn to her, so were my lips. When I turned around to steal one last glance at her my smile widened.
She stood there in the door jam with her hand against the cheek where I kissed her. She was staring straight at me. I had shocked the hell out of her. Her face was blank. Shit. Maybe I’d frightened her. That wasn’t what I was trying to do.
I chanced a wave, and let out my breath when she waved back with a tiny smile on her face.
Victory was mine.
Taking a seat behind the wheel, I drove off with the biggest smile on my face.
11
Grace
Holy crap.
I locked the door behind me as I ran to my room as quickly as I could. My cheek was still warm or maybe it was my blood pressure. I didn’t know. All I knew was that he kissed me.
He freaking kissed me.
Did I like it?
Was I angry?
Would I let him do it again?
Yes, no, and definitely yes.
I wanted to scream. It was my first kiss. Well, not really kiss because his lips never touched mine. But I didn’t care. I was counting it.
There was no way I could sleep after that.
First I wanted to write about it, and then I wanted to tell to Darcy.
I bounced around the room and grabbed my poetry book from my dresser. My heart was still racing and I’d never felt this excited about anything.
Opening the book, I turned to the first blank page and started writing.
Jackson
My face was heated. My soul was touched.
His kiss was tender, soft, and warm.
Sometimes the most unexpected things brought us happiness.