A/N: And now it's time for middle school Rizzles. :)
February 14, 1988
Sixth grade marked the beginning of Jane and Maura's middle school experience. Their greatest fear was being separated throughout most of the day, but when they were informed that they had both tested into honors-level courses, they realized there was no need to worry. Jane and Maura were in every class together except for P.E. and an elective, which were the two slowest classes of Jane's day. Jane sat by Maura in almost every class they had together and, when she didn't sit by her, she was still able to admire her from a nearby desk.
Jane didn't think it was possible, but middle school had proved to be far more enjoyable than elementary school. Unlike elementary school, where boys and girls either didn't like each other or were shy to talk to each other, middle school was filled with couples. Jane had yet to see a same-sex couple, but she knew there would be at least one next year after she asked Maura to be her girlfriend. With only one year left, Jane's mind was occupied by thoughts about Maura. She had always thought about playing games with Maura or kissing Maura on the cheek, but after she turned twelve, Jane's thoughts began to change. She had gone from having innocent thoughts about Maura to fantasizing about her. They were fantasies that Jane didn't quite understand and she was too embarrassed to ask her mom what they meant. She wondered if these fantasies were normal even if they didn't make her feel normal. The fantasies began after she saw Maura in her training bra while she changed from a sweater to her P.E. shirt when they both ran laps after school for extra credit. There was nothing special about Maura's training bra nor had Maura developed enough to actually fill it, but Maura and her training bra were all Jane could think about.
There were beautiful eighth grade girls who teased their hair and wore makeup and heels, but Jane never gave any of them a second glance. All of her focus was on Maura—Maura, the girl Jane thought was becoming even more beautiful with each day. Jane wasn't sure how or when it happened, but kissing on the cheek was no longer enough for her. Whenever she was face-to-face with Maura, she wondered what it would be like to taste her lips and to have Maura's cherry lip gloss smeared across her own lips. They had kissed briefly in the third grade and Jane wanted to kick herself for being what she considered an 'immature little kid.' I could have been kissing her lips for years, she thought.
Maura had yet to make another attempt at kissing Jane's lips, which made Jane wonder if Maura still wanted to kiss her. Jane and Maura had eased up on the dramatic displays of fourth and fifth grade and Jane had difficulty distinguishing whether or not it was because Maura's feelings for her were starting to lessen or if it was because they had become so nervous about the changing dynamic of their relationship. They had begun to show nervousness around each other. Kisses on the cheek—when they actually happened—were few and far in between. There was no longer any hand-holding because every time they attempted to hold hands they became so nervous that their palms started to sweat. Although they were crushing on each other, Jane and Maura had become so distant that their parents—especially their mothers—had started to give them more freedom. They weren't allowed to go on dates yet, but now that they were in middle school they were allowed to attend their first school dance.
Jane had stressed all week about what to wear before deciding on black leggings and an off-the-shoulder red sweater. Her intentions were to wear an entirely different outfit but when she found out Maura was going to wear a red dress, she thought it would be better if they color coordinated so everyone would know Maura was there with her and only her. She had seen a picture of Maura's dress on a model in a teen magazine, but nothing could have accurately prepared her for the moment she'd see the dress on Maura.
When Maura opened the door at the Isles house, twelve-year-old Jane felt as if she was going to faint. There, in front of her, was her dream girl in a strapless (and short) dress in the same hue as Jane's sweater. The bodice was form-fitting, but just below the waistline there was layer after layer of ruffles. Maura teased her hair for the first time and Jane wondered just how much Aqua Net she had used to keep it in place. Although Maura wasn't wearing any makeup, Jane thought she looked more like a music video vixen than a sixth grade girl.
"You look very beautiful, Jane," Maura said as she invited Jane and Angela inside.
Angela looked at her wide-eyed daughter who had yet to stop looking at Maura. "Jane? Janie, are you okay?"
"I'm fine," Jane managed to say after being unable to speak for what seemed like an eternity. "Hi, Maura. Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Isles."
"Can we leave now?" Maura asked her mom. Although Jane was unable to form any words whatsoever, she mentally seconded Maura's question.
"You're letting my little girl leave the house dressed like that?" Mr. Isles asked his wife. "Maura, go upstairs and change."
"No!" Jane responded louder than she had expected. It was the first word she had spoken since saying hello and she mentally chastised herself for having such an outburst. "What I meant to say was Maura looks beautiful."
"You think I look beautiful?" Maura blushed.
"You're the most beautiful girl in the world," Jane responded. Her nervousness had finally subsided and she wondered why it couldn't have done so after they had left their parents instead of while they were standing in the same living room as they were.
After Constance and Angela had taken over a dozen pictures of the girls, Jane and Maura were finally dropped off at their middle school campus. The dance was held in the auditorium and, although it was the same auditorium she ate lunch in every school day, seeing how it was decorated with pink and red streamers and paper hearts reminded Jane that so much was on the line that night. The love of her life was standing next to her in a beautiful red dress that she was wearing just for her and Jane had a feeling the night was going to end with a kiss.
Whenever Jane fantasized about her first middle school dance with Maura, she imagined having a type of bravado that was strictly Jane Rizzoli, but when they arrived her fantasies couldn't have been further from the truth. She was too nervous to talk to Maura let alone hold her hand or dance with her. When their sixth grade classmate approached Maura and started talking about dresses, Jane took it as her cue to be chivalrous and get Maura some punch. From the moment they walked in, Maura had been excited about the punch bowl and the authentic adolescent experience that came with attending a middle school dance.
As Jane was about to pour some punch in a paper cup for Maura, she was pulled aside by some of the guys from her P.E. class. While she was joking around with them, she noticed a trend happening in the auditorium. All of the seventh grade and eighth grade students were on the dance floor while all of the sixth grade girls were on one side of the auditorium and the sixth grade boys were on another.
"This bites," Jane's friend Steven said as he leaned against the wall.
"That's because you couldn't get a date," her other friend Josh teased.
"Some ladies man," Steven said sarcastically. "You're here with Belinda and you're not even dancing with her."
"I'm gonna work my magic later," Josh responded. "You gotta keep her guessing, you know? Then I'll do what makes me, me. You got a date, Rizzoli?"
"Yeah," Jane blushed. "I'm here with Maura."
Josh immediately gave her a high-five after seeing how Maura looked that night. "Nice work, Rizzoli."
"When are you going to make a move?" Steven asked.
"I don't know," Jane shrugged. "I can't even look at her without losing my nerve."
"You better get the nerve right now," Josh insisted. "That seventh grade asshole Benny keeps checking her out. He's eyeing her. What if he asks her to dance?"
"Maura won't say yes," Jane scoffed. "She's not like that."
"Maybe not," Josh responded. "But you can do one of two things, Rizzoli. You can stand here dicking around with us for the next two hours or you could dance with Maura and maybe even slip her the tongue tonight."
The thought of Maura's tongue in her mouth was far too much for Jane. "I'm gonna ask her to dance."
Jane felt like a woman on a mission when she made her way from one end of the auditorium to where Maura was standing. "Your girl is here," Jane heard one of the girls say excitedly to Maura.
"Hi," Jane blushed.
"Hello," Maura smiled at her.
"We'll leave you two lovebirds alone," another girl said before whispering something into Maura's ear.
Jane looked around nervously until she was certain that they were alone. "Maura, may I have this dance?"
"Jane, it's a slow song," Maura pointed out. "You don't like slow dancing."
"I don't know," Jane shrugged. "I might like it this time. So, will you dance with me?"
"I've been waiting for you to ask me," Maura responded as she let Jane lead her to the dance floor.
Asking Maura to dance with her took some nerve, but the reward for her bravery was more than worth it. As the music played, Jane tried to take in the moment as best as she could. She was holding on to the girl of her dreams and feeling Maura's body pressed so closely to hers that she could smell the scent of her perfume. Holding her this way feels so right. I wonder if she's enjoying this as much as I am.
Jane was too busy trying to commit the entire moment to memory that she failed to notice Maura leaning in to kiss her on the cheek. Jane had expected a single kiss on the cheek, but what she hadn't realized was kisses on the cheek were no longer enough for Maura either. In the middle of the dance floor, Maura ever so gently pressed her lips to Jane's. Although they had kissed once in the third grade, this was an entirely new sensation for Jane and Maura and they had yet to realize that a single kiss was going to forever change the nature of their relationship.
"I'm feeling it, too," Maura whispered in her ear.
"Feeling what?" Jane nervously asked.
"What you're feeling for me," Maura responded. "All I can focus on when I'm around you is what it would feel like to kiss you. I'm yours to kiss, Jane, and you could kiss me any and every time you'd like."
With Maura looking into her eyes, Jane couldn't resist Maura's invitation to kiss her whenever she so desired. Jane kissed Maura countless times before the night ended and, although their kisses were chaste in comparison to the way the eight graders kissed, Jane thought every kiss she shared with Maura was even better than the previous one. As her hand brushed against Maura's in the backseat of the car during the ride home, Jane felt the ring she had given Maura a year earlier. Just one more year until she's my girlfriend.
