A/N: Remember in Unearthing Secrets when Jesse mentioned that Leslie received an iPhone from her grandparents for her fourteenth birthday (ch. 3), and said that she has stolen shots of him in a folder that he can't delete because it has a password (ch. 10)? Well, yeah, here's the full story of it.
If you haven't read Unearthing Secrets (yet, I hope), you can still read this one-shot with no problem, since it's just all about Jesse and Leslie's fluffiness. :3
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Katherine Paterson's Bridge to Terabithia. I own Conrad, though.
It was a Saturday afternoon when Leslie Burke shouted "Jess!" at the top of her lungs while running toward their "castle." She was wearing a turquoise blue top with a pink blazer, blue skinny jeans, and white lace-up high tops.
Jesse Aarons' head poked out the window and looked down at her. Whatever Leslie wears, she always looks great, he thought. "Jeez, Les, you're gonna wake up the whole neighborhood if you keep shouting like that."
"Neighborhood?" Leslie asked innocently, already climbing the tree where their tree house stood firmly.
Jesse got out from their tree house while carrying one of his sketchbooks, and sat on the porch, his legs hanging off the side. Even though Jesse and Leslie were now in their adolescence stage, the space of the porch was still wide enough for them. "I meant the Terabithian creatures that live here," he told her. "Anyway, what's the thing you wanted me to see?"
Leslie's grin almost reached her ears, and her green eyes were sparkling like an emerald's. Jesse was wearing a plain green T-shirt with a white jacket around his waist, and blue jeans. He's too handsome for that simple outfit, she thought. "My grandparents' gift already arrived this morning," she announced.
Leslie just turned fourteen a week ago. She'd received the complete books of Nancy Drew Mystery Stories from her parents with a new bookshelf, a pink headband from Janice, a pair of colorful armwarmers from Scott and Gary, The House of Silk by Anthony Horowitz from Conrad (they're both Sherlockians), and a sweet letter from May Belle and Joyce Ann.
Even Jesse's mom had given Leslie a cooking book that she'd added with the Aarons' "Special Chicken Noodle Soup" recipe on the last blank page, while Mr. Aarons had given her a blue denim cap.
But Jesse's gift was the best: a painting of him and Leslie while she was holding Prince Terrien in her arms on a 24 x 30 canvas. It looked so real. She'd hung it on her bedroom's wall later that night, always gazing at it—especially at Jesse's chocolate-brown eyes—before going to sleep and after waking up. It became her new day-and-night routine. Not that her best friend knew about it; maybe he'd think she was a creep.
Jesse was happy for his best friend. "That's great!"
Leslie fished something from her jeans pocket and gave the "something" to Jesse while sitting down next to him.
Jesse gaped. He was holding an iPhone with a rainbow protector that she'd added with butterfly and smiley stickers. It was his first time to hold an expensive gadget like this. "Whoa! Is this the latest iPhone model?" he marveled, still gazing at it.
"Yep. I already downloaded the popular applications," Leslie said. "Say, wanna play Tap Tap Revenge 4? It's a cool music game with a two-player mode that I'm sure we'll both enjoy."
Jesse gave the phone back to her. "Okay. But show me how to play the game first. Maybe I'll break that thing down accidentally and have to pay thousands of dollars for it."
Leslie rolled her eyes as she accepted the phone. "I know you, Jess. Your hands aren't made to wreck things; it's the other way around."
He chuckled. Moments later Jesse was enjoying the game already just by watching Leslie play the game and listening to her instructions. He also got to smell her perfume and strawberry-scent shampoo.
As the song ended with a final beat and Leslie tapped the final note, she turned to Jesse, grinned, and handed him her iPhone. "I got ninety-eight percent in the easy mode. Can you beat my score, my King?"
Feeling confident because it seemed so easy, Jesse smirked as he took the phone from her hand. "You're on, my Queen." He looked at the screen. "Er, same song?"
"Yes. Just tap the replay button."
He tapped said button and the song "Tap Tap Domination" played again.
"I want the high score
The high score
I want the high score
Blow the high score
I want the high score
So I gotta play more!
Tap Tap, untill I get the high score!"
Leslie giggled whenever Jesse missed a note or forgot to shake the device when an arrow was displayed, but he just ignored her, because he knew it was her way to distract him. She also got to smell his mint-scent shampoo, which she truly loved. Jesse was enjoying himself until he tapped the final note.
He frowned dejectedly as he handed back her phone.
"At least you got ninety-five percent on your first try, Jess," Leslie encouraged with a smile on her face. "That's talent right there."
Jesse shrugged and gave her a lopsided smile. "I guess you're right."
Leslie's eyes brightened once again. "Wanna try the two-player mode now?"
"I'm going to lose again."
"Practice makes perfect, Jess."
"Then again, nobody's perfect, so why practice?"
She shoved Jesse in his shoulder, causing him to laugh. "All right, all right. I was just kidding," he said after composing himself.
"What song do you wanna play?" Leslie asked.
Jesse looked at the screen while scrolling down. "Hmm, let's see...Hey, how 'bout 'Good Time'?"
"Sure. I love that song, anyway."
"You love all of Owl City's songs, Les," he reminded her.
"True," Leslie said with a grin. "And you're going down again, my King."
He smirked. "We'll see about that, my Queen."
They positioned themselves—sitting Indian-style while facing each other—as the song started to play. They tapped the notes with new vigor—wanting to earn the highest score.
But when the chorus came Leslie sang with Adam Young and Carly Rae Jepsen, and Jesse couldn't help but lose his concentration. He loved it whenever Leslie sang, though. The two didn't even notice that their heads were now leaning against each other.
When the song was finished, Leslie shouted a "wohooo!" while Jesse stared at her with a deadpan expression. She got ninety-nine, and he only got ninety-two.
"What happened, Jess?" Leslie asked teasingly. "Just when I thought you were finally going to beat me."
Jesse rolled her eyes. "You distracted me, Les, is all."
Leslie's eyes furrowed in confusion. "Me? Distracted you? But I didn't even do anything to you."
He realized what he'd said too late and panicked for a second. "Oh, er, n-nothing. Never mind."
She raised an eyebrow while crossing her arms over her chest. "Was it because of my heavenly-scent perfume?"
"What? Of course not!" he balked. "I already told you that it's nothing."
"The smell of my strawberry shampoo, then?"
"N-no!"
"You're really not gonna tell me, Jess?"
"Just forget it, Les."
Leslie shrugged nonchalantly. "Okay, then."
Jesse blinked, and then looked at her suspiciously. He knew she was always full of surprises.
Leslie inwardly smiled slyly—already forming a plan to have more fun this afternoon. She suddenly positioned her phone in front of her best friend, and then...
Click.
And Jesse was right. His eyes widened in horror after what had happened and immediately covered his face with his sketchbook. "Leslieee!" he whined.
"What? Did I do something wrong?" she asked innocently.
"You took a stolen shot of me!" he cried.
"Well, there's nothing wrong with that, right?"
Jesse slid his sketchbook down a little—only showing his puppy-dog eyes. "For me, there is!"
Click.
"And besides, a picture is worth a thousand words," said Leslie.
He immediately covered his face again with the sketchbook. "I hate you!" Jesse didn't mean it, of course.
"I hate you more," Leslie said with a giggle, which was really the opposite, and hoped Jesse meant the opposite, too. She looked at the screen of her phone, smiling smugly. "Ah, the face of shame."
"Let me see that!"
"How can I let you see the pic when you're covering your eyes?" she said dramatically.
"Never mind."
"Suit yourself."
Then, Leslie had a bright idea and smiled devilishly to herself. She suddenly grabbed Jesse's sketchbook—which took him by surprise—and threw it over the window into the tree house.
Click.
"Leslie!"
Click.
"As your King, I command you to stop this monstrosity this instant!"
Leslie smiled so sweetly that Jesse thought his heart would melt. "And I'm your Queen, so..."
Click.
Jesse covered his face with his hands too late. He took a peek by parting his fingers slightly and saw Leslie grinning widely while looking at his stolen shots on the phone's screen, no doubt. This was the moment Jesse wished he had a camera, too.
Then he thought of something to get his revenge. Like a ninja, Jesse grabbed Leslie's phone, immediately pressed the home button, and then tapped the camera icon on the home screen.
Click.
"Jesse!"
Click.
"Give me back my phone!"
Click.
"Hey, I wasn't ready!" Leslie complained.
Jesse laughed. "That feeling you get when you finally had your revenge!" he boomed, triumphant. He gazed at the screen of her phone. "Oh, wow. You really weren't."
"Let me see." Jesse turned to her doubtfully as she neared him. When Leslie saw her looking-almost-furious picture, she cringed. But Jesse thought she was still beautiful.
"Well, at least there's a good view behind you," he commented.
"Terabithia never fails to amaze me." Leslie smirked as she quickly tapped the delete button.
"Why did you delete it?" Jesse whined as he quickly positioned her phone away from her grasp.
"We're not keeping any embarrassing photos." She paused. "Well, excluding mine, anyway."
"But that's not fair!" he complained.
"I own that phone, Jess," she said calmly.
"That's still not fair!" Then Jesse remembered why he'd taken the phone from Leslie in the first place—aside from taking stolen shots of her, too. He stood up and went to the photos section, but his face suddenly fell when he couldn't see the stolen shots of him that she'd taken.
"Where are my embarrassing photos, Les?" he demanded.
Leslie giggled. "They're not your embarrassing photos, Jess. They're your cute photos."
He blushed from embarrassment and hoped that his Queen wouldn't notice. Frowning, Jesse scanned the gallery again. A moment later he saw a folder entitled "Jesse's Stolen Shots."
Wonderful, Jesse thought sarcastically, but he knew victory was his. He tapped the folder, but was met with a password screen.
This is easy, Jesse thought triumphantly, unaware that Leslie was giving him an amused look. I know Leslie by heart.
"Terabithia...What? No? How about narnia...narnian...Okay, no...oreocookies...harrypotter...middleearth...Okay, not even your birthday and mine are correct." He looked down at her, who was still sitting while looking up at him with a winning smile, and narrowed his eyes. "What's the password, Les?"
She raised an eyebrow. "And why should I tell you, Jess?"
"Because we're best of friends."
"No."
"Fine. Stay where you are."
Leslie was curious when she saw Jesse begin climbing to the "high tower" of their tree house. She stood up and hollered, "Jess, what're you going to do up there? Take selfies?"
"I'm gonna throw your phone to the east side of Terabithia!" he announced, lifting his chin up.
"As if you can do that to your one and only best friend!"
"Then you don't know me at all!"
Leslie rolled her eyes.
Click.
She looked up at her best friend. "Hey!"
"It's not an embarrassing picture of you, I promise," Jesse said as he lightly jumped onto the porch and stood in front of Leslie. Good thing the tree house was still sturdy.
"Why do I not believe you?" she muttered.
"See?" He handed Leslie the phone. "You even look cute."
Leslie blushed, hoping that Jesse wouldn't notice it. "Well, since you said that I'm cute here, I won't delete this photo."
"You look cute in all of your photos, Les."
"Ha-ha," she laughed dryly. "Nice try, Jess."
Click.
"Hey!" he exclaimed.
"Oh, well. You gave me the phone back, so..."
Click.
"You did it again!"
"Awww. You look so confused here, my King." Leslie glanced back at the screen before adding, "In a good way."
Jesse rolled his eyes. "Meh. You're just saying that so that I won't ask you to delete that photo."
"Okay, only one more, I promise." Leslie waited for a gust of wind before taking the next picture of him. She looked at the result, then laughed wholeheartedly.
"Is it really that bad?" Jesse asked, disgusted.
"No. Actually, you look handsome in all of your photos, Jess," she said softly that it made him blush.
"You also look beautiful in all of your photos, Les," Jesse said shyly.
Even Leslie blushed at his remark, but said teasingly, "Only in pictures, my King?"
He gave her a bashful smile. "Um, yeah?"
She playfully punched him in the shoulder, making the two of them laugh out loud.
Jesse stared at the photo after their laughing moment had subsided, and raised an eyebrow. "My hair was blowing out of control."
Leslie grinned. "Exactly. Now, we must take a picture of ourselves here."
This made Jesse blush for the millionth time already. Taking pictures with Leslie? Holy brown cow! But he went inside the tree house, then came back with his sketchbook covering his face again."But, Les, I'm camera-shy."
"Says the guy who has lots of photos stored in my phone."
"They're stolen shots of me."
"Please?" Leslie pleaded. "And besides, a king and queen should have pictures together."
"No."
"Please?" she repeated with pouted lips.
Jesse put down his sketchbook. "Fine," he exhaled. "But on one condition."
"You want me to delete your stolen shots." It wasn't even a question.
He blinked. "Yeah."
"How about this, Jess," Leslie said. "We will not delete both of our stolen shots. I'll be the only one who gets to see your stolen shots, and you'll be the only one who gets to see my stolen shots. This will be our big secret."
Jesse gave her his puppy-dog eyes, but she retaliated with her level-one-hundred-puppy-dog eyes—with matching puppy whimper and pouted lips. Okay, he so couldn't say no to that.
He sighed in defeat. "Fine, Les. You win."
Leslie smiled and—gaining courage—hugged him. Jesse was shocked by her action, but quickly recovered and hugged her back, a blush forming both on their cheeks.
"And besides," Leslie said, "you're still free to try guessing the correct password."
His eyes widened. "Really? So, if I get it right, I can delete those stolen shots of mine?"
She nodded and retreated from the hug, smiling sweetly at him. "Yes. Any more guesses?"
He thought for a moment, then shook his head with a smile. "Nah. I have to brainstorm and list down the possible passwords on a paper when I get home. You better brace yourself, my Queen."
Leslie laughed. "I can't wait for that, my King. Now, let's have our picture taking together, shall we?"
So the next few hours, the King and Queen of Terabithia were just taking pictures of themselves—serious, grinning, smiling, and being wacky.
The two even had the same thought.
We don't even have to try, it's always a good time...
With you.
000
After eating dinner with her mom and dad, Leslie quickly went to her bedroom. She couldn't wait to take a look at their pictures again, especially her stolen shots of her King.
Leslie had even promised Jesse that she'd develop their pictures (excluding the stolen shots) tomorrow after church in town.
Smiling, Leslie drew the curtain open and gazed out the window toward his best friend's bedroom window. The lights were still on in his room, so she was sure he was already listing the possible passwords on a paper.
"Oh, Jess," Leslie said softly. "If only you weren't dense as a rock."
She sat on her bed and tapped the password to access the "Jesse's Stolen Shots" folder with a sweet smile plastered on her face.
ilovejesseaarons
A/N: I was planning for Jess to make a "Leslie's Stolen Shots" folder with a password on her phone, too, but scratched the idea. I love the idea more that Jess is the only one who'll suffer for trying to crack the password. Mwahahaha!
I don't know about you lot, but whenever my best friend and I play Tap Tap Revenge 4 in a two-player mode, we'd absentmindedly lean against each other's heads, especially if the round is so intense. I just had to put that in the story. Haha!
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this Jesslie one-shot because I had fun writing it. And, as you already know, reviews are really appreciated. ;D
