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Disclaimer: The beginning of this may resemble some scenes from Season 3's Neverland episode. This is intentional. I'm not trying to steal or copy – its an homage!
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"You going to eat that?"
Beth prodded the pancakes with her fork. "No, I guess not," she said, handing the plate to her aunt.
"What is the matter with you today?" Bessie asked her niece. "Why didn't you go to the beach with Jackson this morning? Is that why you are in such a bad mood?"
Beth snorted. "Hell no! And just so you know, I don't intend to go to the beach with Jackson another morning this summer!"
Bessie was surprised. "But for heaven's sake why?"
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"Because I doubt she'll ever speak to me again!" Jackson answered.
"What did you do?" Doug asked his nephew, bewildered.
Jackson looked down, pushing his cereal round the bowl.
"I kissed her," he mumbled.
"Sorry?"
"I kissed her," he said louder, looking up. "I lost my head, put my hands round her waist and kissed her!" he almost shouted.
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"Oh, is that all!"
"Bessie!" Beth shrieked. "He kissed me! For no reason at all! After I thought I could trust him!"
"And what did you do?"
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"She kissed me back, Doug! She did! But now she hates me for it. So what am I supposed to do about it?"
He looked up at his uncle, who had a smile lurking about his mouth.
"Jackson, don't worry. You said she kissed you back – that means she does like you, whatever she said afterwards. But something must be holding her back. Maybe you should talk to her about it."
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"Maybe you should talk to him about it," Bessie suggested.
"Talk to Jackson?"
"Yes. Beth, this boy is your only friend in this whole town, and before this happened he was a good friend. It's only fair that you talk to him about this. If you don't want to get involved with him, then he'll respect your wishes. But if you do…"
"I do not! I definitely do not!"
"Then you have to make that clear," said Bessie firmly. "Don't let one little kiss ruin your summer, dear."
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Beth heard a stereo coming from the garage of the house. She followed the noise until she found the door.
The theme from Rocky was blaring out through the speakers as Jackson repeatedly hit the punch bag in front of him with repeated force.
"Ahem!" Beth cleared her throat loudly.
Jackson, with his back to her stopped immediately and swung round, grabbing the swinging punch bag as he did so.
Beth raised her eyebrows.
Jackson hurried to the stereo and turned the music off.
"Its not as bad as you think – honestly. That was the radio, that song just happened to come on…" he recovered himself slightly. "What are you doing here anyway? I thought you'd never speak to me again after what happened."
"Well, that was my plan. But then Bessie pointed out that the summer is only half way through and maybe if we talk, then we can be adult about this."
Jackson started unwrapping the protective bandages on his hands. "Sure," he was surprised she had made the first move.
"So," she began, starting to pace a little, "just to recap, last night, we went out – after agreeing that it wasn't a date – and then you kissed me, therefore breaking the agreement by instigating date-like behaviour. So I think that if you just apologise…"
"Whoah!" Jackson held up his hand. "This is your idea of being adult? Apportioning blame to me?"
"… And if you promise that it won't happen again …"
"You kissed me back! You could have stopped me any time! There's no way I'm taking all the blame for this – I didn't force myself on you."
"You're not implying this is my fault?" Beth snapped suddenly, her reasonable tone disappearing.
Jackson was incredulous. "It's not anybody's fault woman! We just… kissed each other. If you don't want it to happen again it won't, but I'm not going to apologise for something we both enjoyed!"
"I did not enjoy it!"
"Oh no?" It was Jackson that raised his eyebrows this time. He began to pace slowly towards her.
Beth moved backwards a little, but there was just the wall behind her.
"Why don't you prove it?"
"What… what do you mean?"
He was very close now. He spoke quietly. "I'll do you a deal. I promise never to kiss you again or even do so much as brush up against your arm in future, if …"
"If what?" She asked clearly.
"If you let me kiss you once more." He was barely ten centimetres away from her but he hadn't touched her. "I'll kiss you just once, and if you can swear, honestly, that you didn't feel a thing, then I'll take the blame and this whole thing'll be over."
"You know, Jackson, even for you, that's a pretty dumb idea." She said.
"Yeah, well," he said breezily, "I think I like it better than your "let's make everything Jackson's fault" idea."
"Do you?"
"MmHmm," he had placed both hands either side of her against the wall. "Shall we try it?"
Beth felt her breath going irregular. Then some part of her brain, the one that wasn't connected to the rational-thought neurons, said "umm… okayyy-Mmm-www! – "
She had barely got her reply out before Jackson moved in on her so quickly he took her breath away. He grabbed her hips and slammed her body into his, his mouth locked onto hers. He leaned into her hungrily and it was only a minute before she responded. Opening her mouth so he could devour her further.
Next thing he knew, Beth had turned them both around and was pushing his body hard against the wall. Once she had him pinned there, she kissed him back with more passion than he could ever have expected.
"God!" Jackson whispered, as they both paused for breath. "You're so beautiful!" His hands were running over her hair, Beth took a step backwards.
"TRYING HARDER!" Suddenly the stereo started blasting out the Rocky theme again. They both jumped.
"I thought you said it was on the radio?" Beth asked confusedly as the stereo blared out, she couldn't think straight.
Jackson tried to get the music to stop, then just slammed into the tape deck with his hand. The music stopped straight away as a tape popped out, the film all mangled.
"It was on the radio… the day I copied it. I just didn't want you to think I was universally lame."
Beth didn't reply. Jackson looked round, her eyes were shut and she was massaging her temples.
"What no come back, Andersson? That one was a gift!" he called out brightly. "Or perhaps you would like to just carry on from where we were?" he added softly, making his way over to her.
Beth put out her hands to ward him off.
"No, Jackson – I have to go."
"Go? You can't go!"
"I can – I, I have to. I'm really sorry I've led you on, but there's no way in the world this thing can go anywhere, and trust me, you don't want it to!"
"You don't know what I want!" he told her.
"Damn it, Jackson! I know what's best for us! You don't want to get hurt again – not by me, and that's exactly what will happen. Believe me, its all for the best."
She wouldn't look at him. She ran out of the garage before Jackson could stop her. He just stared after her, bewildered.
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He found her later, by the docks, sitting alone.
"He-ey, Loser."
"Hey, Rocky."
"Funny."
"You said it, Big Guy."
He sat down next to her; relieved she was even talking to him.
"So can I ask you something?"
"I don't want to talk about it."
Okay, he was wrong.
"Well I do!"
"Jackson!" She made as if to leave, but he raised a hand in surrender.
"Okay! We won't talk about it. Though I don't know what we will talk about."
"We could just sit here?"
They sat for a few minutes both watching the water, afraid to look at each other; both intensely aware there were only a few centimetres between them.
"I must be pretty repulsive," Jackson said after a while.
"Huh?" Beth turned to look at him at last.
"I've kissed you twice and both times you've run away from me screaming."
"Way to go at not talking about it, Jackson, that was almost five minutes there."
"I'm not talking about it, I'm talking about me."
"You're talking about us kissing, if that's not it, then what is?"
"It is not us kissing, it is why you've run away both times. It is why you think either of us will get hurt if we carry on kissing. It is why you are scared out of your skin by just a kiss."
"I said I don't want to discuss it!"
"Beth! I haven't been searching the entire town all evening so we can sit here and admire the view!" Jackson took her hand. "There's something eating away at you that's stopping you doing things you want to do – just talk about it, it might help!"
"You're very confident that you are something that I want."
"Considering you keep running away when I kiss you, then yeah, I guess I am. But I felt it today, Beth. I felt you kiss me back, I felt you respond. You caught fire the same way I did. I don't know about you, but I've never felt that way before from just a kiss. And I can't just give up on that feeling without knowing the reason why!"
"I told you the reason why, Jackson, I'll hurt you!" Beth's voice was chokey, and she was looking away. When Jackson turned her face towards him there were tears in her eyes.
He used his sleeve to wipe them away. His voice now was sympathetic and low. "What's the matter, Beth? Tell me what's wrong."
Beth gulped, but the tears kept coming in a steady flow. "I know I'll hurt you, because I hurt everyone. I haven't been able to keep a guy interested for over a year. I'm too high maintenance," she gave a wry laugh.
"But you've had problems – your friend that died?"
Beth laughed; it was a horrible sound, like a wounded animal. "He was my boyfriend too, once. Oh, not when he died, no then I might have been able to help him. No, I just dumped him, did just enough to push him over the edge!"
Jackson was shaking his head. "No, no… Beth, its not your fault that he killed himself."
"You think? That's not what he wrote in his suicide note … Said everything was my fault, I'd ruined his life."
"Beth!" Jackson was visibly shocked. "That's terrible! I can't believe anyone would do that!" He grabbed her arms in a secure lock. "Beth, you have to listen to me, it wasn't your fault! Those suicide guys – they're selfish right? They're too locked into their own problems to see straight. They don't understand the pain they'll cause by hurting themselves … This guy, he probably thought no-one cared about him, that this would be a way to get back at you somehow, but that doesn't mean it was true. You can't keep on torturing yourself!"
Beth was shaking, but she looked up at Jackson. "Why are you doing this? You should be running a thousand miles away from me. Look at me!"
"You look pretty good from where I'm sitting."
"You're a good liar," she said.
"Beth," he took hold of her firmly, "I'm not lying. Ever since the first day I saw you, I've thought you were beautiful. Okay, I hated your guts, but I still liked the look of you."
Her face threatened to smile.
"Now that I know you better, I see there is so much too you worth caring about. You're not just beautiful, but funny, quick, intelligent – and you look great in a swimsuit!"
"Oh dear God," Beth managed to grunt.
"That's more like it," Jackson smiled. "But you're a tough nut to crack, and you're hurting, but that's why you need me. I don't break so easily – the Witter's are made of strong stuff ya know? And I want to be with you – however hard it may be."
"How could you possibly mean that?"
"I don't quite know. Maybe it was love at first sight or something, but you've turned my heart around, Andersson. When I arrived in Capeside I thought I would be miserable for ever, but now when I compare my feelings for my ex-girlfriend to those I feel for you, they're nothing. Nothing. Just from two kisses and a lot of arguing."
Beth really was smiling now, and looking at him with swollen beautiful eyes. "You like the arguing."
He grinned at her, "Yes I do, yes I do."
She leaned into him then, and kissed him. So sweetly and softly that, just for a minute, Jackson felt the whole universe click into place around them.
"So do I," she whispered. Then settled herself so that she was leaning against him, and he drew his arms around her.
"You know, you never did apologise for blocking my car in that day," he said lightly.
"Why should I?" She asked, twisting herself round slightly.
"You were in the wrong."
"But if I hadn't blocked you in, we would never have met. Do you want you to be sorry about that?"
He grinned stupidly down at her, shaking his head. "See this, this is sweet. I can't get used to you saying things like that…"
She silenced him with a kiss.
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To be continued… Please Read/Review. To everyone that has already done so – you are lovely people and nice things should happen to you. AnnaP xx