Chapter Thirty
"So," Jared began slowly, "School starts soon."
In fact, there were only two days of summer vacation left. August was winding down and school started very soon.
Kim looked up from the spaghetti sauce she was stirring on the stove so that she could give him an amused grin. The fact that the new school year was beginning soon was the reason Jared was over at her house tonight (well, honestly, it was an excuse, because chances were very likely that he was at Kim's house or just with Kim in general every chance he got). Kim had the house to herself for the night since her mom was working and Kylie was with her dad, so she had informed Jared that she was going to be making him dinner and then they were going to watch a movie and during the movie she might even let him 'distract' her and, basically, if he knew what was good for him he would come straight over when he was done with his patrol. So here he was. (Because where else would he rather be?)
"Yes, it does," Kim agreed.
"I don't want school to start soon," Jared commented then.
"Yes, I know," Kim replied, that amused grin still on her face as she turned back to the stove.
"I think it's practically criminal that we're going to be forced apart from each other for multiple agonizingly long forty-five-minute periods during the day, now," Jared commented further.
"Yes, you may have mentioned that once or twice before."
"How are we going to survive if we can't see each other whenever we want?"
"I'm sure we'll find a way to manage," Kim stated. And the fact that she remained facing the stove—thus attempting to hide her laughter, but Jared knew her too well by now to be fooled—told Jared that she wasn't taking their impending separation nearly as seriously as she should be. But that was okay. Because he had a solution.
"You know," Jared began, thoughtful now. "I have an idea for how we can spend more time together."
"Oh really?" Kim questioned, turning the switch for the stove off and turning to face him once again. He was unsurprised to see the amused expression was still on her face.
"Yes. Would you still protest if I offered to drive you and Kylie to school every day?" Jared questioned.
"Yes," Kim's answer was immediate.
"Aw, c'mon, Kim," Jared wheedled.
"No way," She stated with a shake of her head. "We like walking."
"Even in the rain?" Jared questioned.
Kim nodded firmly. "Puddle-jumping is basically our favorite competitive sport," She told him seriously.
"What about in the winter when it gets cold?" Jared attempted to bargain.
Kim paused at that, and Jared had to fight to suppress his grin of success.
"Alright," She finally said. "And you're always more than welcome to walk with us, you know." A smirk crossed her face then. "I'll even let you hold my hand."
"Sold," Jared informed her instantly and she giggled before turning to grab two plates from the cabinet.
"Will you get silverware out, please?" She asked him over her shoulder.
Several minutes later, they each had a generous serving of spaghetti, meatballs, and garlic bread on their plates—Jared's a tad more generous than Kim's—when Jared realized he'd forgotten to ask Kim the most important question.
"How was your day?" Jared questioned instantly. "I just remembered that this is the first I'm seeing you all day because of my patrol."
Kim shrugged easily. "It was the same as any other day, really. Kylie and I went to the beach; Paul joined us for a little bit. Then we went to pick up our class schedules because I remembered the high school was open for that this afternoon; we would have picked yours up, too, but apparently you have to do it in person. It's too bad, too, because then we could have known already how many times during the day we're going to be separated for those agonizing forty-five minute periods."
Jared rolled his eyes at her. Just wait. She wouldn't be teasing him for over-reacting once the school year actually started.
"What classes are you taking this year?" Jared asked instead. "I bet we'll basically have the same classes, so maybe we won't have to be separated so often."
"That's true, since I'm taking all of the same gen. ed. junior year classes as you," Kim stated. "Plus I have Driver's Ed. for my elective this semester."
Jared frowned slightly. "Driver's Ed.? Why are you taking Driver's Ed. this semester?"
Kim furrowed her brow slightly in what appeared to be confusion. "So I can learn how to drive…"
"You don't know how to drive?" Well this was definitely news to Jared. He totally could have taught her this summer so she didn't have to suffer through the most mind-numbingly boring class La Push High offered.
"Well other than the obvious fact that I don't own a car, there's a reason I never drive anywhere," Kim told him, and that amused look was back on her face.
"So you haven't just been taking advantage of my mad driving skills whenever we go places?" Jared clarified.
"No," Kim grinned, "Is that a problem?"
"…No. But I like when you take advantage of me."
A light blush rose on Kim's cheeks, just like Jared had been hoping it would.
"Well," She stated, clearly attempting and failing horribly to overcome her blush. Jared liked teasing her maybe a little too much, but she always gave as good as she got so it was basically alright. "In the future, I'll be sure to do just that…unless it has to do with getting a ride to school."
"Glad to hear it…mostly," Jared informed her. Then another thought struck him, "Why are you only taking Driver's Ed. now? Don't most people take it Sophomore year?"
"Well my birthday isn't until next month so—"
"What?!" Jared cut her off suddenly. "Your birthday is next month? Why am I only just learning this now?"
Kim merely shrugged again. "It never came up?"
"It never—" Jared repeated in disbelief, then he shook his head. "What date is your birthday?"
"September ninth," Kim told him promptly.
"September ninth—that's not just next month; that's barely in two weeks!" Jared exclaimed.
"Have we really never talked about this before?" Kim questioned. "I already know your birthday is in November."
"I'm pretty sure I would remember my girlfriend's birthday…if I knew what it was to begin with," Jared replied.
"So…that wasn't one of the things you had the secretary look up in my file back in May, then?" Kim questioned, absentmindedly twirling some spaghetti around her fork. Jared wasn't fooled, though. How long had she known about that?
Kim giggled again suddenly and shook her head at them.
"Your face right now…" She trailed off with another shake of her head. "You look like you don't know whether to be shocked, embarrassed, or confused."
"How did you know about that?" Jared questioned.
"Paul told me," She replied simply. "He said that you basically flirted my address out of the school secretary so that you could bring me my homework…well, actually, I think what he said was so that you could go find me to confess your undying love to me and ask me to bear your children, but I read between the lines."
"Oh god," Jared muttered, running a hand through his hair in embarrassment. "I'm going to kill him."
"Don't kill him," Kim said immediately. Then she smirked at him again, "At least not yet, anyway. You should wait until you've found out all the other dirt he gave me on you. Then you really will want to kill him."
Jared merely shook his head. Paul was such an asshole. He needed to change the subject before she brought up something else Paul told her. He honestly had no idea what embarrassing things Paul could have told her—true or not—and as long as she didn't tell him what she knew, then he could happily live in a world where he pretended that she knew nothing to blackmail him with.
"So," He said rapidly, "Your birthday is coming up. The big one-seven. Well, really, the mostly boring one-seven that's stuck in between the sweet one-six and the great one-eight. Anyway: your birthday. Are you excited?"
That amused expression was back on Kim's face yet again. He was starting to think it was going to become a permanent fixture there.
"One-six," She corrected him.
"What?" Jared was confused. What was one-six?
"One-six," Kim repeated.
Jared simply looked at her blankly. She was looking at him like he should know what she was talking about, but he clearly had no idea. After all of his concern over not getting to see her every waking hour of the day once school started, he was really shaping up to be an awful boyfriend today, in his opinion at least.
"I'm turning sixteen in two weeks, not seventeen," Kim finally elaborated, clearly taking pity on his cluelessness.
Wait…what?
"No, you aren't," Jared stated, confused.
"I'm pretty sure I know how old I am, Jare," Kim replied.
"But I'll be seventeen soon," He said.
"Good for you; I'll be seventeen next year."
"I don't understand what's happening right now," Jared confessed.
"Clearly," Kim replied, but she didn't look upset about it, so that was a plus at least. "Jared, has it really never come up that I skipped first grade? I'm definitely a year younger than you."
"Wait…so all this time I haven't actually been dating an older woman?" Jared was crestfallen. Granted, he'd only thought that was the case for the past five minutes or so, since finding out her birthday was coming up, but it was the principle of the matter.
Kim looked highly amused now. "Nope. I guess this makes you a cradle robber instead."
Jared sighed in defeat. "Life is so unfair sometimes. Are there any other deep, dark secrets you've been keeping from me?"
"My age is hardly a secret," Kim deadpanned. "However," She continued conversationally, "I think I might have an older brother."
Jared frowned in confusion again. "Your mom...?" He half-questioned, unsure because if that was the case, he was mostly certain that he would have heard about her mom having another kid by this point ('mostly' because there was clearly a lot he was learning about Kim today).
Kim shook her head. "My dad…whoever he is. Do you remember when I told you my dad didn't want anything to do with me?"
How could Jared forget? He'd like to find out the identity of that man—if you could even call him a man after abandoning his kid like her dad did—one day and give him a piece of his mind. Kim was all sorts of wonderful and amazing and perfect; how could someone not want to be a part of her life?
"Well," Kim continued, "Mom never came outright and said it, but the implication she always made was that my dad had another family, and that maybe he would have at least partially wanted something to do with me if I was a boy." She shrugged then. "It doesn't really matter, though. Mom is never going to tell me who my dad is and I'm never going to find out whether or not I have any other siblings. It's okay, though, because I have you."
Rather than be elated by that statement, Jared found himself feeling rather disturbed. "Did you just imply that you think of me like a sibling? Because I hate to break it to you, but even though I don't have siblings so I can't be quite sure, I'm pretty positive you're not supposed to kiss your siblings the way I've kissed you."
Kim outright laughed at that. But that was alright with Jared, because at least it brought them out of the slightly depressing turn their conversation had taken.
"Don't worry," She told him, "I definitely don't think of you like a sibling. And as soon as we finish dinner, maybe we'll skip the movie altogether so I can prove how much I don't think of you like that."
"That is the best plan I've heard all day," Jared stated.
And it really was…but unfortunately that left Jared with another rather large problem looming in the back of his mind. Because now that he'd been clued in to the fact that Kim's birthday was coming up (and coming up very soon), he needed to come up with the perfect plan to celebrate the girl that was the best thing to ever happen to him. And he had less than two weeks.
He was screwed.