Chapter 4

As the sun began to set I ran my fingers through the sand, feeling every single grain that slipped through. Looking out over the water, it glistened shades of pink and orange.

"What are you thinking about?" Parker asked as his body moved closer to mine. I wave of panic rushed through me.

"What do you mean?" I asked nervously. He just laughed.

"I mean what are you thinking about?" He gently rested his head on my shoulder.

"I uh, I don't know." My nervousness was taking over in a big way. He picked his head up and looked at me.

"I need to ask you something. I think I already know the answer but please don't laugh at me."

"Yea I promise." I was so nervous my hands began to shake. I needed to take Pinky's advice.

"Will you come to my boxing match tomorrow and cheer me on?" I let out a deep sigh, but could help but laugh.

"What? That's what you wanted to ask me? Yea of course I'll be there. Oh but what time, I have dinner plans tomorrow I think at six."

"It goes from noon til six, dinner plans with who?" He asked and I sensed a hint of jealousy.

"Don't worry about it, it's no big deal. But yea I'll be there." He turned his body to face me.

"No it is a big deal to me. After what happened today I want to keep an eye on you." I grazed my fingers on his cheek and watched his close his eyes.

"Parker I'm a big girl, I can handle it." He slowly opened his eyes. I couldn't help but to look into them, they just pulled me in. He put his hands behind my head and pulled my face to his.

"I just don't want to lose you. Promise me if anything happens that you can't handle call my name, and I will take care of you." He whispered his head against mine.

"Of course." I whispered back my whole body trembling. His fingers caressed the back of my neck. I placed my shaky finger under his chin and tilted his face up. He smiled as he pulled me in and kissed my lips slightly.

"Are you okay?" He whispered grazing his lips against mine. I pulled him in and kissed him again. His fingers ran through my thick hair. I hand never felt this way before, nothing was going to ruin this moment. He laid me down on the sand, we made out until the moon was high in the sky.

"Sapphira, it's ten didn't you say you had plans at noon." The housekeeper Mrs. Hawthorn said opening the curtains the next morning. I groaned and pulled my comforter over my head. "No no missy get up." She said pulling the comforter down. I rolled over to see the portly older lady standing over me hands on her hips. She had been the housekeeper for my dad since I was young. My mother moved to France with her new husband and kids, so he had no one to watch over me. That's when Mrs. Hawthorn came into the picture.

"Shirley, when you met Mr. Hawthorn what did it feel like?" The old woman's face had turned from stern to shocked. She sat on the edge of the bed.

"Miss Jade have we met a boy that we like?" She asked in a motherly tone.

"I think so." I smiled sitting up in the bed wrapping my arms around my legs.

"Well when I met Walter we were still in high school. He was on the football team, but I was what you call a nerd. I liked him all four years of school, then when we graduated there was a party for the graduating class. Everyone was there, and we just bumped into each other and talked. The rest is history." She smiled as she reminisced.

"But what did it feel like when you kissed for the first time."

"It felt wonderful .Everything just felt like that's how it was supposed to be." I saw a tear come to her eye. I decided to drop it. She wiped the tear and stood up. "Okay Up and get ready." I obeyed and walked into the bathroom to take a shower. All I could think of was last night and kissing Parker. Here I was trying to be the outcast in school, and here he was standing in front of me, the most perfect guy in the world. As I showered I fought with myself about how stupid I was for not seeing him differently before. Walking out of the bathroom Mrs. Hawthorn walked into my bedroom. "You have a phone call His name is Lefty, something like that." My heart dropped. How did he get my number?

"Hello?" I said.

"Hey Sapphira sorry I had to call you but…"

"How did you get my number?" I interrupted.

"Oh I went into the school records and found your home number. But I was just calling to make sure we were still on for tonight." His voice sounded weird, almost like it didn't sound like him. Then again I only talked to him once, but still I would have recognized it. I shrugged it off.

"Yea. But look this isn't a date. This is just you apologizing for kicking me in the face." I said forgetting all about the cut that was barely visible in the mirror.

"Oh no I know. So six, same place?"

"Yea bye." I hung up the phone not even waiting for his response. I walked over tossing the phone on my bed and opened the closet. As I rummaged through I saw my now clothes, and my before clothes. I wanted to really wow Parker today so I grabbed my short pink skirt and my pink and black argyle vest and put it on quickly. Parker told me he would be at my house at eleven. I quickly ran to the bathroom and threw my hair up into a simple ponytail and put light makeup on. I looked at myself in the mirror. I felt cute, and I guess that was how I was supposed to feel. Running back into my room I looked in the closet again finding my pink flip flops. I slid them on and ran downstairs. Almost on cue the doorbell rang. I walked over to answer it but Mrs. Hawthorn ran up behind me.

"Get in the kitchen. Don't make yourself seem desperate." She said shooing me away. "By the way, you look very nice today Miss Jade." I smiled at her and walked into the kitchen. Looking around I decided to grab a drink. I walked over to the stainless steel fridge and opened it. "Miss Jade, Mr. Ogilvie is here to pick you up." Said the woman. I smiled taking a sip out of the bottle of water I grabbed and closed the door. Parker was wearing a dark red boxing uniform with a yellow stripe on the side. His mouth dropped when he saw me.

"Wow." He walked over to me. "Let me see." I spun for him doing a cute little dip at the end. He grabbed my hand. "You look wonderful." He said looking at me.

"Thank you. Mrs. Hawthorn I will be home kinda late, tell daddy I'll see him later."

"Okay dearest." We walked down the hallway and out of the front door. We were kind of quiet til we reached the middle of town.

"You know Sapphira you look really great today." I said glancing over at me.

"Well I hope so. I wore this for you." I said shyly. He laughed nervously.

"No you didn't don't lie." I stopped and grabbed his hands turning him to face me.

"Why would I lie to you?" I asked. He looked defensive.

"I don't know. I just wouldn't think you would wear something just for me is all. Last night was just crazy, like it was all a dream. I know Pinky told you to do it, so I thought you were just being nice." His voice was somber. "I already know that you will never like me the way that I like you." He let go of my hands and started walking again. I ran to catch up to him.

"What makes you think that?" He stopped and sighed.

"Because things just never work out in my favor. If I like someone they already have a boyfriend, or they just want to be friends." He looked away from me. I saw a couple walk out of Aquaberry and come our way.

"Please can we hang out after my dinner thing. I want to talk to you alone and not when you have a boxing tournament in a half hour."

"Hey guys." Pinky's squeaky voice came from behind Parker.

"Hey, look I gotta go I'll see you there Sapphira." Parker walked quickly away.

"Hey Pinky, hey Derby. Sorry about that we were having a difference of opinion." I said watching Parker glance back one more time before disappearing around the corner.

"Derby honey, go make sure Parker's okay." Derby nodded and kissed her cheek before running off. "Did you kiss him?" She asked putting her hands on her hips.

"Yea and I realized I really like him, but you told him that you told me to do it. Now he thinks I did it because I was just trying to be nice." I felt a tear come to my eye.

"You like him?" She asked in a serious voice. This was the first time her voice didn't make me want to kill something.

"Yea, why is that a bad thing now?" I wished she would just leave me alone.

"So you kissing him changed your mind?"

"Yea, it just felt right. Like all I want to do right now is kiss him again." Pinky smiled and hugged me.

"You can thank me later then go get him." When she let go I immediately began to walk toward the gym. Finally reaching it I saw Parker and Derby talking on the side of the building. Parker looked over at me. I saw Derby put his hand on Parker's shoulder and tell him something. Derby walked toward me.

"Take it easy on him. He has fifteen minutes to be inside." Derby said walking by me. I slowly walked over to Parker who was obviously crying. I hugged him tightly and kissed his neck.

"Parker I know that I have been blowing you off and being really stand offish. But I was scared. I have never had a boyfriend before and I just didn't want to hurt you. You are a really great guy and I never want to see you get hurt, especially not by me. But last night I realized I am ready and I want you to be my first boyfriend." I whispered gently into his ear. He pulled away.

"You really mean it?" I kissed his lips softly and wrapped my arms around his neck. He slowly slid his tongue against mine and grabbed my waist, pulling me closer. I felt something hard jab in between my hips. I pulled back.

"What was that?" I asked smiling.

"Something that you can take care of on a later date. I have to go inside and kick some asses." He smiled. "And by the way I will hang out with you after your dinner thing." I smiled and he grabbed my hand as we walked into the gym.