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Chapter Ten
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When Caterina Valentine wakes up at ten o'clock on Friday morning, she notices a few things.
Red and blue streamers hang all around her bedroom in the rehabilitation center. Flowers sit on her nightstand table, and three cards are propped up, each from Andre, Jade, and Beck. A small note is taped to her bedside clock.
We came by to decorate, but you were still sleeping, Jade's handwriting informs her. We left cookies that my grandma made for you with your nurse – she said she'd give them to you. Happy 4th of July!
Meanwhile at Georgia's house, Bradley and Beck are loading things into the truck Georgia had leant Beck. The bed of the red pickup is almost completely full with barbecue utensils and the meat that Bradley had bought to cook for the festival.
Inside, Jade is playing with Tiger, who has grown to be about twice the size he was as a newborn. Holding three treats in her hand, she looks down at the puppy on the floor in front of her. "Sit," she orders, but Tiger just looks at her confusedly. "Come on, sit." Jade gently pushes down on his back, and the puppy automatically sits. "Good boy!" She exclaims, bending down to his level. She repeats the command again before opening her hand to let him eat a treat.
Just as Tiger is eagerly taking the snack, Anna comes down the stairs.
"So you're not dead," Georgia teases her daughter from where she stands in the kitchen.
"Waking up at ten o'clock does not a dead person make," Anna defends. She turns towards her daughter, who is attaching a red leash to Tiger's collar. "Good morning, Jade."
"Morning. So you're really going today, huh?"
"Just for a couple of hours. I'd rather not answer too many questions about the current state of my life."
Jade stifles a laugh, and, half an hour later, the five of them and Tiger are leaving for the town square. Bradley drives himself, Georgia, and Anna, while Beck takes the truck with Jade and Tiger.
By noon, every booth is set up and nearly everyone in Burley is in the town center for the festival. Two minutes after Jade gets the face painting set out, she has a line of eight kids waiting their turn. She sighs and looks across the street at Beck, who is helping Bradley start to cook. He grins and gives her a thumbs up, and Jade sticks her tongue out at him in return.
"Can I have a pony?"
A little girl with blonde pigtails gives Jade a gap-toothed smile.
"Sure," Jade sighs. "Sit down. Where do you want it?"
She points to her cheek, and Jade gets started. Five kids later, she looks up to see someone considerably taller than her average customer. Andre smiles at her and looks down at the little boy in front of him.
"Jade," he says, "this is my next-door neighbor, Quentin. Q, this is my friend Jade."
"I want a basketball on my hand," the seven-year-old informs her. "Can you do that?"
"Sure can," Jade replies, and reaches for the orange paint.
"How's it going?" Andre asks, leaning on the table.
"So far I've drawn a pony, three American flags, and a snake."
"Doesn't sound too miserable," he laughs.
"What about you? Doesn't Georgia have you working a booth?"
"Yeah, I'm working the water balloon toss, but my shift isn't for another two hours. After that and lunch, I'm going up to Middleton to spend the day with Cat. Tonight, the nurses are taking whoever wants to outside to see the fireworks show, and I know Cat will want to, and I want to be there with her."
"That's cool of you," Jade says, finishing the art on Quentin's arm. "All done, kiddo."
"Thanks! That's awesome!"
Andre smiles and ruffles the little boy's hair. "It does look pretty sick."
Two hours into serving countless barbecue plates, Beck looks over at Jade to see that she's arguing with a little girl about painting a dolphin on her cheek. He chuckles to himself as the two bicker back and forth for another minute, until Jade finally relents. By that point, Georgia is watching, too. She shakes her head. "Oh, Jade."
Beck turns to look at the woman next to him. "Georgia?"
"Hmm?"
"I'm in love with your granddaughter."
Georgia stares at him, and Bradley turns around from the grill to see the look on her face. She waits a few seconds before replying.
"I figured. But thank you for telling me." She pats his shoulder, and Bradley smiles as he turns back to continue grilling. "And, Beck?"
"Yes, ma'am?"
"Take care of her. I know you will and I'm far from worried, but just promise me."
"I promise."
"Good. By the way, darling, your shift is over. Go have fun."
Beck smiles and pulls the latex gloves off of his hands. "Thanks, Georgia."
"Oh, Beck, would you mind grabbing my cell phone from my office? No rush; I just want to show Georgia something but I left it on my desk inside." Bradley reaches into his pocket. "Here are the keys."
"No problem. You guys mind if Tiger stays here?"
"Not at all."
Beck thanks him and leaves the tent to find Jade finishing the dolphin on a very happy little girl's cheek. "You done?"
"Yes, thank god." Jade sets the paintbrush down and takes the hand that her boyfriend offers her. He pulls her up and wraps his arms around her waist. Jade almost pulls away before she remembers that they don't have to hide anything anymore.
"Feels weird to be able to do this in public," Beck practically reads her mind.
Jade reaches up to kiss him. "We don't have to be in public, now that our shifts are over. We could go home."
"No, we can't." He smiles at her. "I promised Andre we'd stop by the balloon toss and play a round."
"Really?" She kisses him again. "But I can think of so many things we could do that are so much more fun than a balloon toss."
Beck grins. "You're evil. Hey, I told Bradley I'd go get something from his office. Come with me?"
Jade shrugs, and they walk hand-in-hand for eight minutes until they reach the office. After Beck has unlocked the door, Jade closes and locks it behind him and follows him back into the office. While Beck finds Bradley's iPhone on the desk and sticks it in his pocket, Jade has hopped up to sit on the exam table.
Beck turns around to see her, smiling slyly and raising one eyebrow.
"We can't," he says, but he barely believes himself.
Jade reaches her hand out and uses his grasp to pull him closer. "Yes, we can." She weaves her fingers into his thick head of hair and Beck finally closes the space between their lips. He kisses with a sense of urgency, as if he's worried that anyone could walk in at any second despite the locked door.
Beck moves downwards, kissing her neck and causing Jade's head to fall back in pleasure. When he moves both of his hands to start unbuttoning her jean shorts, Jade instantly complies and helps him by wiggling them down to her ankles.
"You'll tell me?" He double checks, just as she'd expected him to. She nods her head in confirmation that, yes, she'll tell him if anything feels uncomfortable. At this point, though, she can barely think straight—and she loves it. Beck loops his left arm around her body to hold her close to him. He reaches the other hand carefully down between her legs, and he can feel the effect he's had on her.
He's barely made contact with her skin when she pushes up towards him. Beck gets the hint and, using one finger, slides her underwear out of the way and rubs at her core.
"Oh my god," she sighs, and it's almost muffled completely in his shoulder. Beck slips his finger inside her a second later, and Jade has to remind herself to breathe. An added finger, some hand work, and three minutes later, Jade comes undone around him.
Beck pulls himself away slowly and kisses her forehead and then her lips. "I knew this would be worth it," she whispers against his mouth, causing him to laugh quietly.
Fifteen minutes later, after Beck and Jade have left the office and Bradley has his cell phone, the two head to the balloon toss area. They get there just in time for the start of a new round, for which Andre hands Beck a green water balloon.
Jade stands a foot away from him and crosses her arms over her chest. "You do realize we're the oldest people here by about ten years?"
"Not true," Beck argues. "Some of these kids could be in middle school!"
"Yes, that makes me feel so much better."
"Aaaaaand," Andre's voice comes over the microphone, distracting Beck and Jade. "Toss!"
Beck passes the balloon easily to his girlfriend, who pretends to nearly drop it. They aren't really challenged until the fifth round, when they're standing about six feet away from each other. Jade tosses it just a bit too far, but Beck jumps up and catches it in two hands.
By the tenth round, they're one of two teams left and standing fifteen feet apart. Jade watches the balloon fly towards her, and she catches it tightly. It explodes in her grasp, soaking everything from her chest to face. Beck bursts into laughter as the other team (of 7th graders) jumps in celebration of their win. Andre declares the middle schoolers the champions, and Beck makes his way over to Jade.
"I hate you."
He laughs and kisses her lips, which are still wet from the water balloon. "I love you, too."
While Jade walks to the bathroom to clean off her wet mascara, Beck pulls Andre to the side before the next balloon toss.
"Hey, I kind of need a favor."
Andre nods. "What's up?"
"Well, Jade and I... We've been...doing stuff."
"Stuff, like, stuff stuff?" Andre clarifies, raising his eyebrows and making Beck blush.
"Yeah. Anyway, I just—I don't want to be caught off guard, unprepared."
"And you haven't had the chance to go buy condoms," Andre finishes for him.
"Well, that, and the fact that everyone in this town is going to figure out that I'm dating Georgia's granddaughter, and if anyone saw me buying them..."
"Right. Alright, here." He pulls out his wallet and opens it. "I keep this in here for emergencies, but I'll give it to you just in case."
Beck slips it into his back pocket. "Thanks, man. I'll repay the favor."
"No worries."
For the rest of the day, Beck and Jade spend their time at a few of the other activities. At dinner, they head back to the barbecue tent to help Georgia and Bradley serve dinner. Every booth closes at eight o'clock, giving the people enough time to gather on the lawn for the fireworks show.
After cleanup, Bradley removes his apron and gloves and turns to look at Georgia. "Georgia Wilson," he says, offering his hand out, "would you like to watch the fireworks show with me?"
She takes his hand. "I would." Bradley grins and leads her and Tiger out to an open spot on the lawn, where the two sit down. The puppy curls up in Georgia's lap, worn out from a day of running around in the heat. It's near completely dark, but the couple can still see each other's faces thanks to the street light reflections.
"I want to tell you something," he says. Bradley's voice, which is normally strong enough to command attention, is softer as he speaks to Georgia. "I like being around you. And I always have, which you know, but something about these last few months has made me realize just how much I do." She doesn't reply, just watches his face carefully. "I want to be with you. For real, you and me, together. But if you're not comfortable with that, or if you just want to be friends—"
Georgia shuts him up with a kiss. Bradley puts his hand on her cheek to pull her closer, and suddenly both of them realize how badly they'd both wanted it.
Five minutes into the fireworks show, Jade tilts her head up to look at Beck. They're lying in the grass, side by side, and his arm is around her. "Hey," she says, quiet enough for only him to hear but loud enough that the fireworks don't block the sound.
He smiles. "Hey."
"You know where the truck is parked, right?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Let's go," she says.
"Now?"
She nods and he complies, and they subtly leave the show unnoticed by anyone. The truck is parked back over behind where the booth had been. Since everyone is watching the fireworks show, there's nobody around. Jade reaches the truck first, so she moves to open the backseat door. Beck raises his eyebrows as he watches her climb inside, and she pulls him in to join her before pulling the door shut again.
She straddles his lap and Beck wastes no time in getting her tank top off. While they kiss, Jade unbuttons his plaid shirt and he shakes out of it. Beck has her bra on the car's floorboard a minute later, and both of them laugh when a big firework cracks right as he gets it unhooked.
"Hey," Jade says against his mouth. Her hands are on his shoulders and he looks into her blue eyes. "How much time do you think we have?"
His fingers are dancing on her bare back and making her shudder. "The show is thirty minutes, so, about twenty. Why?"
Jade slides her hands down his chest, and then back up to his shoulders. "I want to."
"You—you do?"
She nods. "Do you?"
He studies her eyes for a second before nodding his head. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah," she promises. "Are you?"
"Yeah. I have to tell you something."
She raises her eyebrows. "Now?"
"It's related," Beck explains.
"Okay. Shoot."
"I was, well, I was worried...that this might happen. That we might be in this situation, and be...unprepared. I asked Andre for a condom, just in case."
"Okay."
"You're not upset?"
"No. Why would I be?"
"I didn't think you'd like it if he knew anything about it."
"Well," Jade points out, "it's not like you can just walk into a Burley convenience store and buy them when anyone could see you and say something to Georgia."
"Exactly."
"So you have one?"
"Yep."
"Okay." She presses her lips to his, and, without another word, moves to unbutton his jeans. When they're completely naked, Beck rips open the foil packet. "Don't mess up," Jade tells him, and his eyes dart up to meet hers.
"What?"
"I'm just saying," she says, laughing. "It's our only one."
"I think it's pretty hard to mess up." Beck slides it on and looks up at her with raised eyebrows. "On the first try."
Jade grins. "Impressive." She holds onto his shoulders as she lifts herself up onto her knees, one leg on either side of his body. "Ready?"
"Uh-huh. Jade?"
"Hmm?"
"I love you."
"I love you, too."
Beck holds her hips and she sinks down, letting him fill her. Neither one of them can speak, and Jade waits a second before lifting up and then lowering down again. The fireworks are still shooting off outside, but Jade has forgotten about everything other than Beck, and the sensation he's giving her as he kisses her lips.
Beck, meanwhile, knows that he may not last longer than a few minutes. Wanting her to finish first, he makes a lightening-fast decision to try something he'd read when researching tactics online. As Jade moves up and down on him, he reaches a nervous hand between their bodies and finds the spot at her core that she'd led him to just the night before.
Jade cries out loud and Beck knows he's done something right. He uses his thumb to rub the spot in circles, which results in Jade moving even faster on him. A minute later, Jade is scraping harder than ever at his shoulders.
"Beck," she sighs, and her eyes close as she finds her release. She continues riding him for as long as she can afterwards, which isn't long but gives Beck enough time to come.
She stops, then, leaning against him tiredly. She's surprised that she doesn't even care about the fact that there's a mixture of sweat—both her own and Beck's—on her chest. When she finally gets the energy to sit up, Beck helps her lift herself off of him and land back on his lap.
They're quiet for a second until Jade starts laughing. "We just had sex in a truck. Does that make us stereotypical teenagers?"
Beck laughs, too. "I don't care."
"Good. I don't either." She leans in to kiss him and Beck grins against her lips.
"Hey, you know what that was?"
She laughs. "Impressive?"
"Totally impressive."
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Another month passes by and Jade and Beck are inseparable. If they're not at their jobs, they're playing with Tiger and finding one adventure after the other with each other.
Bradley's occurrence at dinner becomes normal and often lasts until the morning, making Georgia the happiest woman alive. Anna moves back to Los Angeles to finish settling the divorce from Mitchell and move into a two-bedroom apartment.
Most nights after dinner, Jade finds herself at the piano, playing and composing while Beck watches adoringly. After a week of noticing that he actually could read music, Jade goes to Burley's local, tiny little music store. She buys her boyfriend a Fender and the case and strap to go with it.
"What's this?"
"I want you to have it. It's yours."
Beck looks down at the guitar case she's placed in his arms. "Jade, I love you, but I can't accept this. This guitar costs a fortune."
"I don't care. Yours broke, and you need a new one."
Beck almost furrows his eyebrows before remembering that he had indeed told her his guitar had broken in lieu of the real story. "You didn't have to do this."
"I know I didn't." Jade puts her hands on his arms and rubs up and down. "But now we can play together."
He leans his forehead down so it's against hers. "Thank you. I love you."
"I love you, too."
That night, Beck is testing out the guitar while Jade plays a tune on the piano. Bradley and Georgia are sitting on the couch, each with a glass of red wine, watching as the two teenagers play together. When there's a knock at the door, Brad kisses Georgia's temple and tells her he'll answer it.
The vet is surprised when he opens the door to a police officer. "Keith," Bradley says, smiling as he shakes the officer's hand. "How's it going?"
"I've been better," he answers his friend. "Is Georgia here?"
"She is. Can I ask what's going on?"
The other man sighs. "It's not so good. It's, uh, well, it's about Beck. He's still living here, isn't he?"
Bradley closes the door behind him so as not to let any bugs—or noise—into the house. "Yeah," he answers, "he's inside."
"You happen to know anything about his legal situation?"
He nods slowly. "I know some. Georgia knows more. He doesn't like to talk about it, though."
"His last name isn't Oliver, for one. His parents are looking for him; they put out a nationwide search request. We know it's Beck because they've got pictures and only the last name is different. They've got a whole list of claims about why they need him back and how his status as a non-emancipated minor makes him technically a refugee. Apparently he got all the way to Burley from Tulsa?"
Bradley folds his arms nervously. "Don't tell me you're here to arrest him."
"No, of course not," Keith promises. "There's no warrant yet. I just wanted to give him—and Georgia—a heads up of what could happen if they do demand a warrant for his arrest. The parents pretty upset from the looks of it; he might not have much time."
"Okay. Thanks so much, Keith." Bradley shakes his friend's hand again. "I can't tell you how much I appreciate it."
"No problem. Just...tell him to be careful. I don't know what all went down in Tulsa, but this could get ugly."
The vet nods in understanding and bids Officer Byers goodnight before heading back inside. Unsure of what to do, he casually asks Georgia to join him in the kitchen. She knows instantly that something is wrong when he lowers his voice and has her sit down.
"Who was it? You're scaring me."
"It was Keith Byers. He came by to talk about Beck's legal situation."
"What's happening?"
Bradley relays the information to her and her face pales. "We need to tell him as soon as possible," he says.
"I don't think he's even told Jade," Georgia whispers nervously. "This is not a good way for her to find out."
"Darling, I hate to say it, but we're just about out of options. We need to get this ball rolling now so I can start building a case if necessary." Bradley sees the fear in her eyes and he reaches over to clutch her hand. "We have to tell him."
It's Georgia who makes the move into the living room. "Beck, honey, will you come help Bradley move something real quick?"
"Sure," he says easily, putting his guitar down while Jade continues playing. He follows Georgia into the kitchen and finds Bradley sitting at the table.
"Sit, quick," Georgia tells him softly.
"Is everything okay?"
"Your parents are looking for you," Bradley informs him in a tone only loud enough for the three of them to hear.
Beck feels a pit in his stomach, and then he gets a much more unpleasant feeling in the bile that rises in his throat. He's puking in the sink the next second. Georgia gets him a glass of water and helps him sit back down.
"I'm assuming you don't want to go back to them," Bradley says, still quietly. Beck nods and feels the nausea again. "Okay. We need to get to work on building a case against them. You're going to have to tell me everything—and I mean everything. Are you okay with that?" Beck nods again, and his head is spinning so fast that he barely hears Jade when she speaks.
"What the hell is going on? Why does everyone look like someone was just murdered?"
"Everything is fine," Beck dares to lie to her.
His statement jogs a clear thought process in her brain. "Is this about what I think it's about?"
"Jade—"
"No. No more. I want to know."
"Jade, please, I can't—"
"Stop!" She screams, shocking all three of the other people in the kitchen. Tiger cowers behind her. "Stop saying you can't tell me! I'm sick of it! If you think I can't tell you're hurting, you're wrong! Very wrong." She's fighting tears now-tears she doesn't want to fall in front of her grandmother or Bradley. She turns away to walk up the stairs, Tiger following closely behind her.
Beck's face falls into his palms and Georgia sighs sadly. Bradley stands up from his spot at the table and puts both of his hands on Beck's shoulders. "It's going to be okay, son. Go upstairs and talk to her. We'll figure this mess out in the morning."
Beck rises miserably from his chair and heads up the stairs two minutes later. While Bradley walks Georgia to bed, Beck enters his girlfriend's room to find her throwing things into her suitcase.
"Jade," he says, but she ignores him. "Jade, stop."
"Why? So you can lie to me some more?"
"I haven't lied to you," Beck lies. "Well, I have, but it's more just that I haven't told you everything."
"No shit," Jade huffs, hurling another shirt into her bag.
"Please, Jade. Please stop packing—"
"Then tell me," she snaps, standing up straight to face him. "Tell me everything." He doesn't answer. "I'm not staying unless I know. I can't do this; I can't give up my life in LA if I still feel like I'm in love with someone I don't even completely know. I can't."
Beck feels the nausea again.
"Okay," he says, two minutes of silence later. "I'll tell you everything."