A/N: I'm not beyond begging for feedback! I really need to hear your thoughts so I can continue it guys! Please? With Jay on top?
"You don't get to speak to her like that!"
His voice is laced with anger, fury even. And in that moment, she doesn't have time to be upset with him, or even think about what Allie said inside, because the only feeling she has time for before Jay's fist connects with the face of the guy, is relief. And worry. Which is illustrative enough of her priorities.
The fight breaks out, and Erin jumps in, pushing one of the guys off of Jay, until he hits the pavement.
"You're crazy!" The guy shouts back, and for a second Erin thinks he'll just return the hit again. But there must be something in Jay's eyes that won't allow for it, because the guy backs away and takes off with his buddies, leaving Erin and Jay alone in the night. As if that weren't enough, she soon feels drops of rain on her face and hears thunder somewhere in the distance.
"Let me take a look," she murmurs, tracing her fingers softly across his face. He flinches, and she realizes she has never seen him this mad at anyone. Anger isn't an emotion she automatically connects with him. Though she has seen him angry before. That first day when they talked in the hallway, after she followed him. He was angry then. And that was nothing compared to this.
The skin beneath her fingertips is turning purple already. Once more, he is bruised because of her. It makes her hate herself. "It'll bruise, but I don't think anything is broken. Did you get hurt anywhere else?" She asks softly, fighting the urgency to cry all of the sudden.
"Stop. I'm fine," he assures, tucking a lose strand of her hair behind her ear. He looks so worried for her, it makes her feel undeserving. "What happened, why did you run out like that?"
"It doesn't matter." She tries to shake it.
"Matters to me."
As if on cue, a cloud rips and in seconds they're drenched. "My house is closer," he tells her, having to almost yell to speak over the storm. She nods, allowing him to guide her into the right direction, as they start to run towards his house. But he can feel her distant, almost a whole step away from him, when all he wants is to wrap his arms around her. He catches a hold of her hand, pulling her to a sudden halt. "What's going on?"
"Did you tell Allie about what happened at the lake?" She blurts out. The storm outside is nothing compared to the storm raging inside of her. A storm of fear. Fear of betrayal. Fear of a broken heart. Fear of losing something she never thought she'd have in the first place.
His eyes widen and he shakes his head to answer. They reach his house, but stop before going in. It doesn't matter anyway—they're both already soaked. "I didn't tell a soul. Not even my brother."
"She knows!" The rain mixes with her tears, and she doesn't care about anything anymore. She doesn't care she will probably get a bad cold, or that she'll be hoarse from all the yelling. "She said it happened between you two. And I don't know what to believe. I want to believe you wouldn't do that to me."
The look of pure shock on his face is convincing. "Erin, I would never. You have to believe me." It breaks his heart that she still can't trust him. That she had been wounded so badly throughout her life she can't believe something good could happen to her. "I love you. I'm in love with you."
She has never heard those words before. Not in such a pure way, not spoken so softly, yet with a power to knock her off her feet. So as they reach his porch, and he pulls her off the rain, it doesn't even matter anymore. The water is dripping off of them onto the wooden porch, and all she can think about is that he loves her.
"Come in. Nobody is home," he assures when she starts making excuses. "My dad went up north to visit my grandpa, and my mom is working the nightshift. Will is at his girlfriend's house," he explains as he leads her up to his room. She's been here before, but it feels different now. She realizes she hasn't been here since they started dating.
In the absence of rain, he can see her tears now, and he wants nothing more than to wipe them off and never make her cry again. But some things need to be said first.
"I don't know how she knows," he swears. "I didn't tell anyone. And I certainly never…" He can't even say it out loud. "I know we weren't really together yet, Erin, but I wanted to be with you. I didn't just jump on another girl as soon as you left."
She nods. Her mind is racing, but ultimately when she breathes in, she believes him. She can't not believe him, when he looks almost as hurt as she feels.
"You've had a horrible life so far, Erin. You deserve something good. You have to stop waiting for something bad to happen."
"I know that. I'm trying." Her voice sounds too choked up for her liking. "You're my something good," she whispers low, nearly inaudible. The corners of his lips tug upwards slightly at her words, indicating that he heard her.
"You should get into something dry," he tells her, pulling a soft hoodie out of a drawer. It's the way he phrases it—not saying she needs to get out of her wet clothes, which is a line she's heard more than once from guys trying to sleep with her. But not Jay. His intentions are as pure as they come, as in he cares for her well-being. That is what ultimately makes her crush her lips against his in search of intimacy and closeness.
He relaxes when she does, as if he were holding his breath, waiting on her to decide whether she believes him or not. The hoodie he's holding for her hits the floor when she deepens the kiss. In that moment the realization hits him.
They're alone.
His fingers bury in her damp hair, letting out all the suppressed longing from the past month and a half. He kisses her like it's the last time he'll get the chance. Like everything in his life culminated up to this moment, when he gets to hold her in his arms and make her his.
She grabs a fistful of his shirt, groaning when his entire body presses against hers. And yet she needs him closer. It's the moment, in which she knows there is no way back. Her arm stretches out, turning the key in his door, watching his eyes widen, as she pulls off the wet t-shirt she's wearing.
Despite his initial reservation, he doesn't lose any time before diving in—drinking her like he's the thirsty man lost in the desert. And until he met her, he might as well have been. It strikes him as interesting that he always thought he would be too nervous when this moment came, but every move he makes next seems to come naturally.
They undress each other, slowly, but intentionally. The wet clothes end up on the floor between kisses and caresses and whispered words of affection. Neither of them feels cold anymore, when he lays her down on his bed, wondering what he ever did to deserve her. His eyes lock with her for a second. "Are you sure?"
"Shouldn't I be the one asking?"
He blushes adorably, and she pulls him down for a kiss that melts away his worries and doubts. Hovering over her, he hooks his fingers behind her panties, pulling them down. It's a flashback to that last night in Wisconsin, and he grins down at her, remembering. She returns the favour—removing the last barrier between them—with a smile and anticipation in her eyes.
Her hand slips down, cupping him softly, enjoying the little sounds he makes. One day she will return the favour for what he did in Wisconsin, but not right now. She guides him to her entrance, and when he pushes forward hesitantly, for a second, she feels like it's her first time as well. Because no matter how experienced she is, nothing can measure up to truly feeling connected to someone the way she feels connected to him.
They move together, in search of their rhythm, and when they find it, it's everything. It's fireworks and waterfalls and everything glorious in that one smooth race to the finish line.
He comes, burying his head into the crook of her neck with her name on his lips, and when she follows a couple of seconds later, arching against the mattress, a single tear rolls down her cheek, because she has never experienced something as perfectly blissful as that.
They're lying in his bed intertwined, counting the minutes until she has to leave. They're already stretching it out, since she was supposed to be home from school half an hour ago, and Hank has had her on a short leash as she likes to put it. But they feel too close to each other to part, and she feels her head might permanently glue itself to his chest.
"Is it always like this?"
She looks up to answer him. "It's never been like this." How can she convey to him just how wonderful he made her feel? How safe she feels in his arms and how it felt like it was her first time as well, despite her having sex countless times before. "I never got the chance to thank you. For what you did back there. No one has ever defended me like that before. Not that I ever had much honour to defend."
"Hey," he brushes his thumb over her chin, "I don't care what you ever did, but nobody can speak to you like that."
She smiles in reply to that, and she hopes he knows how special what they have is. Then his face falls, and he grabs her wrist with urgency.
"We still need to do something about Allie. I wanna know why she wants to split us up."
"I find that kind of obvious."
"Maybe, but I still want to know. Trust me?"
She does. Otherwise she wouldn't be in his bed right now. "Yes. But can we stop talking about her while we're in bed together?"
"You want to talk about something else?"
She grins, kissing down his neck. "I'd rather not talk at all."
Though the time she spent with Jay is worth this inquisition that Voight is putting her through, she still wishes he would stop nagging, and let her go to her room.
"I told you, I weathered the storm there, and as soon as it was dry, I came home."
"Just call next time." That's Hank's rough voice. Too bad she knows he's actually a softie and that strong voice fails to intimidate her any longer. She nods to confirm, and he excuses himself, mumbling something about unpredictable teenagers. Erin wants to tell him how new this still is for her. Never before in her life did she have people who actually cared when she came home (or if she did at all).
"Don't worry dear, he's had a tough day at work." Camille tries to comfort her. The words don't do much, but the piece of homemade chocolate cake she sets in front of her does the job. "So how is Jay? Are you two okay?"
"We're okay." She's leaning onto the kitchen table with a dreamy look. "We're great." If you don't count Jay's jealous friend who is trying to split them up.
"It's nice to see you like this."
"Like what?"
"Happy. I don't think you realize how much you've been smiling lately. It's nice. You have this smile that could replace the sun. And those dimples." Camille touches her cheek to emphasize her words, and Erin feels warm all of the sudden. Tears burn in her eyes, until she lets them fall, thinking that this is what home feels like. This is what love feels like. She never knew before, not really. And she hasn't allowed herself to believe this would last, but she can't anymore.
Hope overwhelms her, like a broken dam, as she cries in Camille's arms—not because she's sad, but because this day has been intense.
"I love you." In that moment, everything makes perfect sense, especially her reluctance to say it back to Jay, even though she knows she's in love with him. But those three words—she has never said them to anybody in her entire life.
And now she knows that Camille was just the person who she was saving them for.
"Oh, sweet girl. I love you too."
Then they both cry together—a girl who has just learned what it's like to have a mother, and a woman who has just realized that Erin is the daughter she always dreamed of. And in that moment, she swears to herself that the crying girl in her arms would never feel alone again.
"Hey, you. What are you still doing up?" He moves his eyes from the tv in the living room to his mom. She looks tired, but a sight of her never fails to bring a smile to his face.
"Couldn't sleep. Will is sleeping at a friend's house. It's just so quiet." Especially after Erin left, only he doesn't add that part, as he gets up to help his mom unload the bags.
"Did you eat?"
"Yeah. You want me to fix you something?"
"That's alright, thanks. How was school? Wait a minute!" She turns his face to the light. "Did you get into a fight again?"
"This was different, mom. They were threatening someone. I had to do something."
"My son, the protector." She pulls him closer, into a hug that he gladly accepts. He doesn't even care if that makes him mama's boy, but his mom's embrace is the safest place in the world, and he never wants to take it for granted. "I'm proud of you, you know?"
"Thanks, mom. I'm proud of you too."
She laughs at that, that wonderful laugh, and he wants to burn this moment into his mind for when he's older. Then she pulls out two spoons, and he grins, pulling out the ice-cream out of the freezer, and they dig in.
"So, this girl you were protecting? Was it Erin?"
"Mom!"
"It was. And you two are what? Dating?"
He avoids eye contact, but ends up nodding anyway. "Yeah."
"You should invite her over for dinner sometime. I'll let you know when it works for me."
"Okay." He mentally prepares himself for more questions, but she seems to get that he doesn't want to talk about it and lets it go. For the most part anyway.
"It's nice to see you happy like this," she tells him, when they're done with ice-cream. "Now off you go. It's still a school night, and it's almost midnight."
But nothing can spoil Jay's good mood. Not his mom inviting Erin over, so she can grill her over dinner; not being sent to bed; and especially not the two less hours of sleep he'll be getting. As he gets in bed, it feels almost strange to plop down on the same sheets they laid on only hours before. It feels strange without Erin to rest her head on his chest.
He stares at the ceiling for a while, before the memories and the excitement of the day inevitably lull him to sleep, only to dream of a certain brunette with dimples in her cheeks.
The morning sun is shining surprisingly bright for autumn, and her smile is shining surprisingly bright for her. She is just thinking about how nothing can spoil her mood, because everything is finally falling into place. She has a family, and she has a boy who loves her, and has proven it in many ways.
Even the evil teacher she had to deal with last year is gone. They're meeting the new teacher today, and Erin wonders who it will be. It can't be much worse than Mr. Hardy, though she has to admit, something good did come out of that miserable afternoon.
She is walking to school, thinking that nothing could ruin this—thinking that for the first time she can allow herself to be happy without waiting for the other shoe to drop.
She just happens to be so very wrong.
A/N: MUAHAHAHA, am I evil or what? Did you like that very ominous ending?
If you liked it, leave me a review to motivate me to write faster!
