"Beth! Wait up!" Jack called after her.
He didn't have to run far. She had stopped right inside the tree line. "Jack! Why? That would change everything."
"I know! I told you I was worried. I said I didn't want to lose you but you promised I wouldn't. Why did you walk away?"
"Because….kissing….you can't take it back. Once we kiss, we aren't just best friends anymore."
"I don't want to be just your best friend." He stood close, their foreheads almost touching, her flip flop clad feet between his. "I want more. You are everything to me, Beth. Thinking of being apart is killing me."
"You honestly think doing this will make my leaving any easier?" He sighed, kissing her forehead, his hands now gently on her upper arms.
"I don't know." He pulled her closer and wrapped his arms around her. She wrapped her arms around his back. This hug was different. It meant more than "have a good night" or "see you tomorrow" and that scared her, but somehow, at the same time, felt right.
Would kissing him feel right too? "Come on, Thatcher. Take a risk," she thought to herself. "You want your own life. Make it."
She lifted her head from his shoulder and stared at his mouth. It was mere centimeters away. His lips looked perfectly kissable and soft in the shadows. Knowing she would need to initiate any kisses at this point after rejecting his first attempt, she stood up on her toes and pressed her lips to his for a brief moment.
When she pulled back she was a bit disappointed. "Will you please kiss me, Jack? I obviously don't have a clue what I'm doing."
Now, Jack was in no way an expert on kissing. His only attempt other than this one was motivated by jealousy in the third grade when he found out Beth and Bobby Palmer had kissed under the slide at recess. So he had found the nearest girl, Masey Simon and smooched her in front of everyone. Not only had everyone laughed, but Masey stomped on his foot and then went to tell the teacher. Then, his parents were called and he was given a lecture on "proper behavior" by the principal.
"I think we just need to relax a moment. I was surprised that you kissed me so I wasn't ready."
He shook out his arms and shuffled his feet making her giggle. "Are you warming up?"
"Something like that." He took a deep breath and grew serious, stepping close again. "You are beautiful, Beth."
"Thank you." The guy sure knew how to make her heart pound.
He put his hands on her waist and inhaled her scent again, closing his eyes. Her hands rested on his forearms and then moved up so that her arms were resting around his neck. He took that to mean she was ready so he slowly tilted his head and kissed her, gently and lovingly. She tasted like heaven and felt perfect in his arms, just like he knew she would.
"Yeah, that was…." she paused, losing her train of thought.
"Better than Bobby Palmer?" he teased as he laughed.
She blushed and turned. "It's hardly a comparison."
They walked back to the lookout and grabbed the blanket. "What does that mean exactly, Beth? That Bobby was a better kisser and I don't compare? Or that because we were in third grade it didn't count and therefore you can't compare me to him?"
As they started walking back down the lane to the street, she took his hand. "Bobby was slobbery and messy, not a good kisser. You were not slobbery or messy and I enjoyed it immensely. That being said, it was our first and second kiss. I'm sure it will get better the more we practice."
"Well, I guess not being slobbery is a plus even if you basically told me I got a C+ in kissing 101."
They walked another couple minutes in silence and then Beth spoke. "Are we really doing this? I mean, this is big."
"It is. I think that if we don't try, we'd regret it. I know I would anyway."
"Me too."
He walked her to the house to grab her keys and then to her jeep, feeling completely out in the open. He knew that his mom could very well be cleaning up somewhere by a window. She would see anything that happened. "Well, see you tomorrow?" he asked her, the same as he always did.
"Yeah, I'll be here." He hugged her, maybe lingering a bit longer, allowing himself to enjoy how she felt in his arms.
"I would kiss you goodnight but anyone could be watching."
"It's fine." She kissed his cheek quickly and climbed into her jeep and then drove away.
THE NEXT DAY
Jack ate breakfast like normal, chatting with his family but his mind was completely on Beth. He planned on practicing his kissing technique with her a bit later.
"Whatcha smiling about, bro?" Tom asked as they finished cleaning up the deck from his party.
"Nothing." He hadn't realized he had been smiling.
"I saw you and Beth head off last night. Did you take her to the lookout?"
"Yeah."
"And…."
"And what?"
"Did you tell her? Dude, give me something."
"No I didn't tell her."
"It was the perfect time. Why not?"
"I was about to but then the fireworks started." Everything he said was the truth, he just chose to respect his own and Beth's privacy and not give any more details.
"Oh well. I'm sure you'll get your chance."
"Yeah."
She arrived a short time later with his graduation gift and a smile. "Hey," she said, kissing his cheek.
Tom raised his eyebrow at the new display of affection between them.
"Hey, yourself. Whatcha got there?" Jack asked her.
"A present. I would have brought it yesterday if someone had told me his party was a graduation party." She nudged him with her shoulder.
"Sorry about that."
"That's ok. I forgive you." The look Jack and Beth gave each other screamed attraction and Tom immediately felt like a third wheel.
"Uh, I'm going to head down to the lake. You guys take your time." Tom left and Jack looked at Beth.
"New suit?" he asked, fingering the skinny strap on her shoulder that peeked out from under the neck of her oversized t-shirt. It was purple. He was pretty positive she didn't have a purple one before.
"Yeah."
"Can I open my gift?"
"Sure." She handed it to him and waited. It was a picture frame that said BFF's across the bottom and inside was a selfie they had taken a few weeks before at graduation.
"Maybe it should say something else now?" Jack suggested.
"You'll always be my best friend, Jack. No matter what."
"Thank you for this. It will maybe help me not miss you as much when you leave in a few weeks." It wasn't going to though. He felt the ache in his heart and stomach already just imagining her gone.
"Hey, don't look so worried. It will be ok. We will see each other a lot."
"Wanna help me get the tubes from the shed?"
"Sure." He took her fingers in his hand and they walked to the shed in the yard. As soon as they were safely hidden away from prying eyes, he pulled her close. "You didn't really need help getting the tubes, did you?" she asked with a smirk.
"Are you saying I brought you in here just to practice our smooching?" he asked, pretending to take offense.
"Pretty sure you did."
"Ok, well, yes. I can't really deny it since we said we would always be honest with each other. I want to at least make it to a B-."
"So, what are you waiting for then?"
"Not really waiting. This is just new. We haven't really discussed details about boundaries or anything."
"I say no roaming hands and no kissing in front of others at this point. I'm still not sure about how our families are going to react to our new relationship."
"Agreed."
"But since there aren't any others here at the moment…." She blushed, surprising herself with her flirting. She couldn't deny that his kiss yesterday had changed her feelings about him, or at least made her realize how she actually felt. Ever since then, she had thought about nothing else.
He smiled, his dimples popping. Why had she never noticed how crazy adorable he was when he smiled?
He grabbed her hands and slowly captured her lips, trying to hold himself back from getting carried away.
"Jack!" his mom yelled from the deck.
Jack pulled away from Beth and grabbed a tube before walking out the door. Beth grabbed another and followed.
"Yeah, Ma?"
"There you two are. Hi, Beth. Your Dad and I are headed into LA for a few days."
"You are?"
"Yeah. We are leaving in a few minutes. You got things covered here?"
"Yeah. You can trust me."
"I know. Just remember the rules."
There weren't an overabundance of them but one that now made an impact was no girls in the house. "No problem, Ma. Have a good trip."
"Thanks, Jack. See you in a few days."
"Rules?" Elizabeth asked after she had gone inside.
"Yeah you know, like no parties, no drinking, no girls in the house."
"Ah. Good rules."
"Yeah."
"Let's go float," Elizabeth suggested. So that's what they did.
They spent their days and evenings together for the next six weeks, each of them falling hard for the other. About a week before Elizabeth was supposed to leave for college , Jack took her out on a date.
He picked her up, which wasn't all that unusual, even in their friendship, so her family wasn't suspicious.
What made her parents suspicious was Jack showing up in his parents SUV, in a suit, with a bouquet of flowers.
"I knew it," William muttered from the window. "I knew this would happen, Grace."
"What, dear?"
"Her and that Thornton boy. I knew it."
Grace walked over and watched them walk out the door, Jack's hand on her lower back. "He's a gentleman. I don't see anything wrong with showing her respect, do you?"
"Of course not. But she is leaving in a week."
"Maybe that's why he's making it special. Maybe that's the only reason."
"He is staying here to go to school so I guess that's an upside."
"She's almost nineteen. She's responsible and he very obviously cares about her and you know as well as I do, he would never do anything to mess up their friendship. We need to trust her choice, William."
….
"So where are we going?" Elizabeth asked him as they drove.
"Lakeside Grille."
"Awesome. I'm in the mood for shrimp scampi."
Jack reached for her hand and she readily gave it. Tonight was the night. He was going to say the words. It had been a magical summer and not only was he ready to tell her, he also had made a decision about what he was going to get a degree in. He had thought long and hard and he knew that if he wanted to marry her someday, and he did, he would need to be able to support her and a family.
"I made a decision about my degree."
"Did you?"
"Yeah. I am going to go for my criminal justice associate's degree."
"You're going to be a police officer."
"Yeah. What do you think?" She was silent for a moment, just staring at their hands. "Beth?"
"Jack, I don't want to lose you."
"What? I'm not going anywhere. What do you mean?"
"That is a dangerous job."
"It can be but it's an important one. You know my dad used to be an officer, right?"
"Yeah. And he got hurt."
He squeezed her hand to get her to look at him. "I didn't mean to upset you. I'm sorry." He hoped she would be proud of him but he could see she was scared.
"It's ok. I am proud of you. That was a big decision."
"Honestly, it was important to me that I pick something that can support a family. I also know what's involved with it so I'm more prepared."
"Tell me about it. How much schooling is involved?"
"Two years and then about six months at the police academy."
"Promise me that you will be careful, Jack. I'm serious. I love you and I can't lose you."
He looked at her, almost not believing what she had just told him. It was almost as if it had been easy for her to say. Why had it been so hard for him?
"I love you too and I promise I will always be careful."
"Ok." He saw her wipe her cheek and then look out the window.
When they pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant, he turned off the car, walked over and opened her door and held out his hand. As soon as she was standing he dried another stray tear from her cheek and smiled. "You look amazing tonight."
"So do you. I hardly ever see you dressed up."
"I wanted tonight to be special. We only have a week left before you leave and I thought getting dressed up and going out to dinner was a good idea."
"Don't forget the flowers."
"And the "I love you"?"
"Yes, that too, absolutely."
"I feel like I've loved you forever," he confessed.
"You have?"
"Since we met, pretty much."
"We were eight! You didn't love me when we were eight."
"I did. Why do you think I kissed Masey Simon? You kissed Bobby and I was so jealous."
"Why did you wait ten years to tell me?"
"Lots of reasons but I think the important part is now that we said it and we don't have any secrets."
The night was one more perfect night in a summer full of them.
…..
A week later, the night before Elizabeth was to leave for Vancouver, she met Jack at the lookout for dessert. She took him strawberry shortcake and whipped cream and they shared it as they sat under the stars and full moon.
They didn't speak much because neither of them wanted to talk about the next day. It was too hard.
It was bittersweet for her because she was excited to finally be starting her life. Finally moving forward. Yet, she was sad because the handsome guy next to her was going to still be here.
He was proud of her and his own classes were starting in a few days and he was happy about that. That didn't erase the ache deep inside.
"I think we need to say goodbye tonight," he told her as he took a bite.
"You can't come to my house in the morning?"
"Beth, I can't say goodbye in front of your parents. They don't know about us and I don't want this to be how they find out."
"I understand."
"Are you sure?"
She nodded and pushed the dish into his hand. Her appetite for dessert was gone now.
"It's getting late. I should get home."
"It's only 9:30."
"This is too hard," she said, her voice breaking.
He stood and helped her up, pulling her into his arms. "I love you so much."
"Me too."
"We will see each other for Thanksgiving, right?"
"Yeah but that's three months away, Jack."
"And then Christmas and New Years and Spring Break and then summer will be here again. It will go fast."
"You are just trying to make me feel better."
"Yep. Is it working?"
"A little." She stood on her toes and kissed him. "Promise me you won't find some other girl and fall in love with her."
"I'm gonna love you forever, Beth Thatcher."