Post by smile♥ on Sept 7, 2008 23:00:02 GMT -5
"He loves me, too, his love is true, Why can't he be you..." -- Patsy Cline 'Why Can't He Be You'
26
26
The two of them had many more nights like the night after the hospital. The next month was filled with late nights in the dark, watching the glow of television, and stealing kisses from each other. It always started out innocent with simple conversations about how Cooper was doing or how school or work was going... But then somewhere around midnight it would grow intimate and the two of them couldn't keep their hands - or lips - off each other.
But tonight was different. Cooper had woken up for about an hour while they were all there. It was the most miserable hour any of them had ever experienced. He gasped for air and screamed in pain as he finally felt the effects of his withdrawals until finally he passed out from the pain. There wasn't a dry eye in the room, even the guys' eyes grew watery as they watched a friend go through so much pain.
After he passed out, Jason took her home, and the two of them climbed the steps to her room, where everything that had happened with Teddy happened with Jason. Of course, it wasn't the first time the two of them had been together, but she felt wrong. It wasn't right to be doing this to Jason and to Calli... And she hadn't stopped it, so it made both her and Teddy equally guilty.
- - - -
The sunlight streamed through the cracks in her blinds, and she realized she was pinned underneath his arm. She smiled to herself, thinking about how nice it was. If only things were this simple... She tried to move and he pulled her closer, but loosening his grip just a little. They stayed like that until the alarm clock rang out a few minutes later, telling her to get up.
"Turn it off," he mumbled cutely into the pillow before sitting up, his messy hair falling over his face.
"I have to get up," she told him. "I have tons of stuff to do before we leave tomorrow."
He grunted something incoherent and she smiled as he let her get up. She gave him a quick kiss as she watched him get dressed. "I'll call you later to let you know what time I'll pick you up." He bent down for one more kiss before leaving. She didn't move until she heard his pickup start and back out the driveway.
"I really need to figure myself out," she laughed as he rubbed her face dramatically.
- - - -
"So how is Lauren doing?" She asked Hailey as the two of them made their way to Wal-Mart to pick up a few things for Tessa's trip.
"She's not doing so well. She refuses to leave the hospital and we have to force her to eat sometimes. I think the nurses are ready to get rid of both of them," Hailey told her. "But I don't blame her. I would do the same thing for Brady."
She nodded in agreement. She'd do the same thing for Jason... Or Teddy.
"So how are you and Jason doing?" Hailey giggled like a school girl when she asked that question. "I saw his truck their last night when I dropped Marsh off."
Tessa rolled her eyes. "We're good... Great. He's a great guy."
"What about Teddy?" She felt herself lose the ability to breathe. Has everyone noticed? Are we both that transparent?
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you two are like Siamese twins sometimes and he seems like he's really into you even though he's got Calli and you seem into him even though you've got Jason."
She rolled her eyes and stumbled through a lie. "We're just friends. Really good friends. Trust me, I wouldn't do that." Yeah, the old me before I ever met the kid...
"Ok," Hailey said skeptically as the two of them parked and entered the store.
- - - -
Late that night, a vibration from her cell phone told her that Teddy was coming over, and a light knock on the front door a few minutes later told her that he had arrived. She opened the door in her old UGA hoodie and a pair of gray sweat pants, with red puffy eyes that told him she had been crying.
"What's wrong?" he whispered when they got to her room. She shook her head as she sat on the bed and stared blankly at The Weather Channel. Hmm.. There's a snowstorm moving in.. "Tess..."
Even when he was whispering, the way he said her name excited her. "Nothing's wrong, ok?" She whispered as the two of them sat together, until she finally caved and told what was bothering her - minus the fact that she was sneaking around. "I guess I'm just overwhelmed with the Cooper thing and going to Oklahoma. I mean, what if his family hates me? What if they're like a bunch of psychos who want to eat my brains? Or what if they belong to some sort of weird sex cult and I'm going to be Jason's, like, eleventh wife?"
He tried his best to hide the laughter, but he couldn't and he let out a big snort, "I'm sure that they are going to love you. I mean, who wouldn't? You're the most interesting person I've ever met, and you're nice and friendly. They're going to love you." He told her and she nodded. "As for the sex cult, I'm sure you'd fit in well."
She grabbed the nearest pillow and hit him over the head with it as the two of them laughed together over her silly insecurities. It was then that she realized she had started feeling better about herself since she met him. He had told her that what had happened to her wasn't her fault, and no matter how many times she tried to go back in time, things wouldn't have ended any differently. She liked the way he made her feel... But she also liked the way Jason, her boyfriend made her feel, because he understood and had been through some of the same things.
Pretty soon, they were back into their regular routine, and just like clockwork, at one in the morning, he left and returned to his own home, leaving both of them wondering when the next one of their meetings would occur.
- - - -
"You ready for this?" Jason smiled as she came out of her house, pulling her bags behind her. She returned the smile as she joined him a gave him a quick kiss.
"Are you sure you don't want to take my car? What if it starts snowing or raining or something?" She asked as he lifted her luggage into the bed of his truck and tucked it under a tarp held down with bungee cords. "Ok, ok. So you thought about it more than I did."
He chuckled at her as they climbed in and started on their journey.
"So tell me about your family," she said almost two hours later as they crossed the Alabama state line and cloudy sky grew even cloudier.
"Well, I have two brothers and two sisters. I'm right in the middle," he started. "The oldest is Angie, she's married and has two kids, Hayden and Josh. Then there's Jesse, he's like a modern day Jesse James and him and his fiance Beth are always into some sort of trouble."
"Like Bonnie and Clyde," she laughed.
"Like Bonnie and Clyde," he agreed as he stole a glance at her. "Then there's me. And then my sister Gabbie. She's the quiet observer. She likes photography. And then there's my little brother Aaron. He's a nerd, but he's one of those cool nerds who does whatever he wants and the chicks all dig him and the guys kinda want to be him," he laughed.
"So he's a ladies a man?"
"He tries, but he's not exactly successful," the two of them laughed. "He wants to be like me, because I'm his older brother, ya know?"
"Be like you? So you're a ladies man? Should I be worried?"
He smirked a little, but something in him changed a little bit. "I sort of have a past that I'm not exactly proud of. But I was in high school and I was a football player that had everyone looking up to him, and I had daddy issues, sooo..."
She nodded, "I know how that is."
After hearing about his family, she grew excited. She wanted to meet them and she wanted them to meet her. She had a good feeling that she would fit in just fine with them. But she couldn't stop thinking about Teddy and what he might be doing or what he really thought about her trip out here with Jason.
