Chapter Thirty-Eight – I Did Love You

Angelina taps her fingers nervously on her leg as she takes a sip of her Mike's Hard Lemonade. She knows what some of the questions are and knows she'll have to answer some about Jon. Maybe they won't get through all of them. She watches as Savannah takes a card.

"Well, at least we start off simple," Savannah says with a grin. "How old were you when you had your first real kiss? I was thirteen."

Joe smirks. "Same here."

Jon rolls his eyes. "Twelve."

Angelina wrinkles her nose. Like she needs anymore proof of her inexperience. She can't lie about it though because Jon will obviously know the truth. So… "Seventeen."

"No way," Joe says. "Really?"

"Really."

"Wow, don't hear that too often." Joe grabs a card. "If you could only watch one movie for the rest of your life, which movie would it be? God, I don't know. Goodfellas, I guess."

Jon snorts. "Point Break probably." He looks over at Angelina, expecting to hear her say the Notebook.

"I'd have to go with While You Were Sleeping," Angelina says.

"Oh that's a good one," Savannah says. "I'd have to go with 50 First Dates."

They go through several more questions before agreeing to take a break to clean their mess up. Jon isn't surprised when Savannah hurries inside with Joe ahead of her. He lets out a soft breath as he looks at Angelina.

"What happened to the Notebook?" he asks.

Angelina picks up a few of the empty bottles. "Still one of my favorites. But I cry too much with that one."

Jon laughs softly. "Got it." He opens the patio door and gestures for her to head in first. "If you don't want to do this anymore, just say so."

"I'm okay with it." She shrugs as she looks at him. "So far anyways. You too though."

He nods. "Yeah, I will." He follows her into the kitchen and throws the bottles he has out.

"You two okay with continuing?" Savannah asks.

"Yes," Angelina answers. She looks over at Jon who nods. She's not sure how she'll feel about it once the deeper questions start coming up, but maybe it's what she needs.

They head back outside a few minutes later. Angelina settles in and looks out over the balcony wall. It's a beautiful sight to see. She has to wonder what made him move to Vegas.

"All right, Jon, it's your turn," Savannah says.

Jon takes a card, groaning at the question. "Do you have any regrets in any of your past relationships? If so, what's your biggest regret?" He glances over at Angelina. "Of course I have regrets. Honestly, I think people who say they don't are lying." He rubs the back of his neck. "My biggest would have to be not saying anything when she gave me the chance."

Angelina can see him fighting himself with that answer. "Mine would have to be the way I left."

"You don't regret leaving?" Savannah asks.

"Yes and no." She glances at Jon.

"My regret is not leaving my ex sooner."

Joe sighs. "Mine would be believing I could work our issues out."

Angelina takes the next card. "Have you ever done bad things with your parents nearby? If so, what?" She frowns. "Sneaking Jon into my room through the window. I guess that would be the worst."

"I had sex in my bedroom when my parents were downstairs," Savannah answers. "But, in my defense, I was 20."

Joe grins. "I didn't. I would have been killed had I done anything with them around."

"I um… drank, did drugs…" Jon shrugs. "I don't know. I'm sure there's more."

Savannah picks up another card. "Have you ever been too drunk to remember a certain night? Yes."

Joe nods. "Yeah, same here."

"Too many times," Jon mutters.

Angelina shakes her head. "No."

After another few questions, a question that Jon had hoped to avoid comes up. He lets out a heavy breath as he tosses the card away. "Have you ever kept a secret in any of your past relationships? If so, what and why'd you keep it a secret?" He shakes his head. This is something he never wanted her to find out. "Fuck."

"Jon…" Joe raises an eyebrow at him.

"It's not exactly something I wanted to come up." He looks at Angelina. "Never something I wanted you to find out about."

She frowns at him. "What are you talking about?" She takes a deep breath. "Is this about her?"

"No. God no. I'd jump off the balcony before having to bring her up again." He rubs the back of his neck. "I um…" He shrugs. "Never graduated high school." He's not surprised by the look on Angelina's face. "As for why…" He sighs. "I didn't want her to think I was a complete jackass. She was on the verge of graduating herself at the top of her class. I couldn't let her see that I didn't even graduate."

"Jon," she says. "You could have told me."

"Yeah right. Your dad would have loved that one."

Her frown deepens. "Leave my father out of this." She grabs her drink. "No, I've never kept a secret. He knew everything."

Joe sees the way Jon starts to drum his fingers on the table. It's a move he's seen before and knows he's battling himself right now. "Maybe we should stop," he says.

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea," Savannah says. "I'm sorry guys. I didn't know it would get like this."

Jon stands up and walks inside without saying anything else. Angelina finishes her drink before standing up. She smiles at Savannah.

"You couldn't have known." She walks inside to find Jon pacing in the kitchen. "I wouldn't have cared."

He stops and looks at her. "But I did care. I was already beneath you, Angie."

"I didn't see it that way."

"Maybe not. But if you would have known then that I was a high school dropout, do you really think you would have been with me?"

"Yes, I do."

"And your dad would have loved that even more."

"Leave him out of this."

"You know damn well that he would have found some way of keeping us apart had he known that." He sighs. "Fuck, I'm sorry." He rubs the back of his neck. "You were never supposed to find out. Course, I never thought I would see you again."

"Never thought I'd see you again either. But here we are."

He nods. "I'm sorry." He sighs as he leans against the counter. "I should have told you and I'm sorry I didn't."

"It's okay." She smiles sadly. "Things were crazy back then."

"Yeah, that's for sure." He watches her closely. Before either can say anything else, Joe and Savannah are walking in.

"You two okay?" Savannah asks.

"Yeah," Jon answers.

"We're fine," Angelina answers.

Jon walks down the hall and into the kitchen, trying to stay as quiet as possible with Angelina asleep in the living room. He grabs a bottle of water out of the fridge before rounding the corner to look into the other room. He frowns when he sees the couch empty. Where did she go? He looks toward the balcony door, noticing that the curtain is pushed to the side. He walks over and steps outside after seeing Angelina.

"What are you doing up?" he asks.

Angelina looks over as Jon sits down in the seat beside her. "Couldn't sleep," she answers. "Hope you don't mind that I came out here."

"No, it's fine. You okay?"

She nods. "Just thinking too much." She looks out over the city again. "Why Vegas?"

"I don't know. I wanted something different. Not like it matters where I'm at. I don't spend much time here really."

"I gathered that with the lack of anything inside." She smiles a little. "It's beautiful out here."

"Where are you living now? Still in Cincinnati?"

"For now. Been hoping to get out for a while, but I need to worry about the job part."

"Job is always good. What do you do?"

"Right now I'm an editor at the paper. I'm working on getting into publishing though. Hard to do that in Cincinnati though."

"Publishing books I'm guessing?"

"Yeah."

"That's awesome." He watches her. "How's your mom?"

"She's good. Just got remarried last month, so she's really happy."

Jon frowns at that. "Remarried?"

"Shortly after I went back home, Mom and I left. I haven't seen or heard from my Dad since. He never let go of the fact that he was right about me and you. And that the only reason he let me come back home was because of Mom. I spent most days in my room crying. As if it wasn't hard enough breaking up with you, I had that coming at me too."

"I'm sorry you had to deal with that." He sighs. "He was always a jackass."

She laughs a little. "Yeah, I know." She looks at him. "I'm sorry I left the way I did."

He shakes his head. "It was better that way I think. You were right. I would have somehow talked you into staying. And at that point in time, neither of us needed that." He shrugs. "It took me too long to figure that out after you left, but it's the truth."

"I felt like an idiot leaving a letter like that."

He grins. "You did more than I probably could have done." He runs a hand through his hair as he looks out at the city lights. "I'm sorry I couldn't be everything you needed."

She looks over at him. "Jon, you were amazing. I don't think either of us were ready for that kind of relationship. I was seventeen when I met you. What seventeen year old is ready for a serious relationship like we had? Don't take that wrong because I loved you, Jon. I hope you don't question that."

"I don't. I know you did. I hope you know I loved you too."

She nods. "I know you did."