Chapter 12- The Only Exception

I don't think that any other person in the world is happier than I am right now.

**Two days ago: March 10**

Dear Diary,

I have a boyfriend. I have the boyfriend! Jared Thail... I just can't wrap my head around it. So freaking unbelievable. Especially the way he confessed he liked me. It was just the most sweet and most amazing thing any guy has ever said to me. He isn't my first boyfriend... he's just my first real, official, sweet, and very good looking one. I won't ever forget today. Every time I hear his name, I get an attack of the butterflies in my stomach. A week ago I could only dream about this happening and now... I CANNOT BELIEVE IT! But I think that maybe one of the best things about Jared is how much he cares and the way he shows it. He literally asked my brothers for their, I guess you could call it, blessings to take me out. Then he let me borrow his shirt -no nasty shit- because I was cold. It may seem like today could not have gotten any better, but it did. Jared called me to offer me a ride for school tomorrow and to say goodnight. My life is officially perfect. I feel like screaming how happy I am, but my oh so lovely siblings will not appreciate me waking them up at three a.m.

.*.*.*.

It is currently ten a.m, and I am going though all the clothes in my closet so I can find something good to wear on my date that is eight hours away. Yes, I am this pathetic.

"Just pick something to wear! He won't care if you have last year's jeans on. I promise you that ,yet again, my friend." Jordy yelled for the eight time. Not even he can bring me down from my all time high.

I threw the jeans I was holding at his face. "They are not from last year! And all I am trying to figure out is if I should wear jeans or a skirt... or," my eyes got wide as I caught a glimpse of what may be THE outfit. "or this?" I said picking out a cute ,casual, white cotton dress that had hot pink flower patterns around the skirt of the dress.

Jordy gasped. "Kim... it's beautiful! Try that on. Like NOW!"

I didn't hesitate at all, pushing Jordy out of my closet, and pulled the curtains so he wouldn't be able to see me. He may be gay and my best friend, but I am definitely not comfortable enough with letting him see me in my birthday suit. I looked in the mirror before I stepped out. What if he doesn't like it?

"Jordy!" I called.

He stepped in eyeing the dress carefully. "Oh. My. Lord." he said slowly. "That boy is going to have a heart attack..."

Naturally, I took that the wrong way. "It looks that bad?" I asked horrified.

"Kim, I meant that in a good way." he didn't even try to hide his amusement. "You look so adorable in that dress. Since it's cold you could should wear a sweater with that." I wasn't really listening because Jordy had said I looked cute in the dress; I wasn't going for cute. I was going for more like a knock out dress.

"Cute?"

Understanding struck his features, "Or gorgeous?"

I smiled at him. "No, really. Be honest. Do you think he'll like it? It's not too much, is it?"

"Its perfect. And once more time, hopefully the last, I will say... he won't care. I promise you, yet again, my friend."

Jordy better be right.

... ... ... ... ... ...

It was now six o'clock. Jared should be here any second now.

I was ready one hundred percent. My dress was on, I had picked a black jacket to go with my 'gorgeous' looking dress, I had my shoes on, and my hair looked nice. Ready to go.

There was a soft knock at the front door.

"Relax." Mandy ordered.

George came over to give me, what I assumed to be, a pep talk. "Alright Kim, you can do this. And if he tries anything out of hand you better tell me. Though I guess if you don't think it's out of hand... just use condoms then." he smiled, but then I punched him on the shoulder. "Ow!"

"Some pep talk," I mumbled on my way to open the door.

I smiled at the sight in front of me.

Jared stood there, looking as sexy as ever, gawking at me. And I don't think I've ever felt more special in my entire life.

"You look amazing..." he whispered, then quickly snapped out of whatever trance he was in. "Oh, um hi."

Jared thinks I look amazing? I felt like screaming 'have you seen yourself in the mirror lately?' at him. He wore a gray, purple, and black plaid shirt -all but the first three buttons were closed- that had the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His jeans were black and so was the shirt he had under. I could tell courtesy of the undone buttons. Sexy is an understatement.

"Hey... you look really nice." I made sure to emphasize 'really'.

Wesley came to stand behind me. "Bring her back bye eleven thirty. Midnight at the latest. If you don't I'm calling the cops on your ass."

Mandy smacked Wes hard enough for him. "Don't listen to him Jared. You look hot, I might add."

Jared rolled his eyes at her; so he must get that a lot then. I felt like smacking her like she had smacked Wes for saying that. All I gave him was a 'really nice'. She had the nerve to say 'you look hot'.

"Don't you two look cute together!" George yelled from the couch. "Well family and guest, I am leaving. I also have a date tonight and am planning on getting laid. Have a wonderful night Kimmy and remember what I told you."

I glared at him. "Just go."

"Ready?" Jared asked me anxiously.

I smiled at him showing all my excitement. "Yes. Let's go."

He opened the door of his car for me.

... ... ... ... ... ...

"Can I pick a song?" I asked when we were -according to Jared- nearly there. Yeah, we had entered Port Angeles about two minutes ago.

He nodded and unplugged his iPod so that I could pick a song."Pick anything."

I chose a song with a funky looking CD cover art and place it back where it belonged so we could here it.

"Oh." he groaned when he heard the song I picked. "You pick this?"

I laughed, "You said pick anything." I reminded him.

"But 'She's a Super Freak'? Why?"

"Cus. It's funky! C'mon sing with me!" I said trying my best to dance in my seat.

"She's a very kinky girl. The kind you don't take to mother. She will never let your spirits down... once you get her of the street!" I sang, "She likes the boys in the band. She says that I'm her all time favorite. When I make my move to her room it's the right time. She's never hard to please."

"That girl is pretty wild now." Jared began. I stopped singing, giving him his solo. "The kind of girl you read about. That girl is pretty kinky. I really love to taste her..."

Sining with Jared was one of the funniest things I've ever done. Not because he was a bad singer -really he isn't. I am- or because I was dancing in my seat, but the reaction the people on the road had to it. They thought we were drunk, I bet. I was sad when the song ended.

"Can you pick another song?" Jared asked. "By the way that's not one of my songs. It's my moms; she must have downloaded it."

"Uh-huh... Any suggestions as to what I shall play?"

He looked at me and smirked. "Some rock and roll."

I rolled my eyes, took the iPod out, and scrolled thru the music. There was too much to chose from so I just shuffled it, not really caring what I ended up with. I plugged it back into the thingy and waited for the music to start playing. "Hey I've heard this before... I know this song." I said, mostly to myself, trying to remember the name of the song. I of course knew the name of the band. Paramore.

"The Only Exception." Jared clarified for me.

I nodded and listened to the song very intently. Trying to remember the words. "When I was younger I saw my daddy cry and curse at the wind. He broke his own heart, and I watched as he tried to reassemble it. And my momma swore that she would never let herself forget. And that was the day that I promised I'd never sing of love if it does not exist."

"But darling you are the only exception. You are the only exception." Jared sang quietly.

I paused the song. "You like Paramore now?"

He shrugged. "I sort of remember you telling me the other day that you liked them. So I listened to a couple of their songs and decided this was my favorite by them." He explained to me ever so sweetly.

"Yeah I love this song to. It's amazing isn't it?" I questioned.

He nodded and drove into a parking lot. By the beach.

"We are going to the beach? You know their is a beach closer to where we live called, ah, First Beach?"

He laughed at my sarcastic humor. "No. Actually, we are going to the Carnival on the beautiful town of Port Angeles."

My mouth opened. "Oh... That sounds like a lot of fun!" I said very enthusiastically.

We had eaten as much as I could handle -I'm talking cotton candy, corn dogs, and soft pretzels- by seven. I was ready to walk it off.

That's when I saw it. Sitting perfectly still across from me on a shelf at the ring tossing booth. I stared at the huge teddy bear in awe.

Jared followed my gaze. "Do you want it?" he asked in an amused tone.

"Yeah." I sighed, "But I have horrible aim."

"Well I don't actually. I bet I could win it for you. "

I looked at him, "No one ever wins at those things. You have to have absolutely awesome luck to win."

He grinned. "It's not about luck Kim. You gotta have skill." he paused, "Buy I could use a good luck kiss... you know, so that I have a better chance at winning." he said, teasing me.

I rolled my eyes and got on my tippy toes to give him a good luck peck on the cheek any ways. He blinked twice and grabbed my hand, pulling us to the game table. He handed the guy a dollar and received four rings in return.

Without even thinking twice he threw the first ring, and sure enough it made it in the stick. And so did the second, third, and fourth. Holly shit.

"Congratulations," said the guy sounding more bored than exited. "Which prize would you like young gentleman?"

Jared threw his signature smirk at me, and pointed to the large teddy bear. "That one."

The guy handed Jared the bear. "Have a good day."

He smiled at the guy, and turned to me to give me my new bear. "Told you I could win it." he bragged.

I rolled my eyes. "You only won because you got lucky." I teased.

He shrugged. "Most likely. You want me to hold it for you? That bear looks more heavy than you."

I laughed. "That would be nice of you."

We walked around, looking for what our next adventure would be. Jared finally found something. "You want to go on the bumper cars?"

I nodded eagerly and then frowned. "But were will we put our bear?"

"Our bear?"

I nodded. "I will share Felipe with you, but only because you won him."

He grinned at me and reached for our bear. "Be right back. I'm going to go put him in the car."

I waited patiently for him to come back. Being melodramatic- I would wait forever if that was ever the case. While I waited I locked my gaze on the port, trying to count all the boats to keep me distracted.

"So are you ready to go on the bumper cars?" Jared's voice asked coming out of nowhere. What the hell? He parked the car like half a mile from here and he was already back?

I tried to not let my curiosity show. "Yeah, lets go."

The line wasn't too long. Not that I cared much because I had Jared here to entertain me with his constant bad jokes.

"What did one ocean say to the other?" Jared asked.

I shrugged. "I don't know."

"Nothing. They just waved."

I covered my mouth, making my laugh sound like muffled noises. "You are full of bad jokes, aren't you?"

He nodded proudly, "And cheesy pick up lines. Don't forget about those."

I rolled my eyes. I was about to say something to him when the line moved, meaning it was our turn! "I call the yellow car!" I screamed.

"Not if I get there first." Yelled a red headed girl, sprinting towards what was supposed to be my bumper car.

Damn she was a fast runner! I was a couple of feet behind her, holding the skirt of my dress so that it wouldn't fly up and show my undies. Ha. Nice choice of words, my self conscious mocked.

"Mine!"She yelled hopping inside of my car, barley fitting in the small space. She was too tall.

I shook my head violently. "No! I called this car You just want it because I do." I complained.

"So." she said shrugging. Notice she didn't deny it. In fact she just admitted it. "Now get away from me before I run you over with my car." she sneered at me.

I was about to rip out her very obvious, cheep looking, extensions when I felt a scorchingly hot hand on my arm. I had almost forgotten I was here with Jared in all my furry.

"Hey-" Jared began only to be interrupted by the cheep looking skank.

She smiled sickeningly sweet and batted her fake overly coated with mascara lashes. "Denise. My name is Denise." She was checking out Jared and that nearly send me over the edge. But his hand on my arm kept me from doing anything I might ,or might not, regret later.

"Whatever. Can you move? My girlfriend called this car and just about everyone heard." I couldn't help but smile smugly at the realization that in the end I had Jared. She could keep the car... it wasn't even real. Stupid bumper cars.

"I don't think so. But we can ride together. I know space is limited so I'm just going to have to sit on you." Once again she batted her eyelashes. Of all the mother fucking nerve... I had to admit though, fake or not she was an all too willing girl who was more or less pretty. What if Jared accepts her offer? Shit!

I was about to smack her into next Tuesday, when I noticed the guy who operated the bumper cars coming toward us.

"What seems to be the problem?" Asked the very young looking guy.

"This child," she scoffed. "refuses to move."

I couldn't control my anger any longer. "Are you fucktarded?" I yelled at her. "Why would I move? I called this lame piece of shit, which you can now have, first. I don't want to sit where you have; the last thing I need is to catch something. And by the way I'm not the one stooping so low to annoy someone that I would hit on their boyfriend. Pervert, you know he's not eighteen yet? So who's the child now? Or sexual molester I should say."

The guy sighed, "Can you three please leave? There are children here! I can't believe you would use such language in front of them."he said pointing to the exit.

I grimaced. "Sorry." I said, again as we made our way over to a bench. "I just couldn't take her anymore!"

He laughed. "Don't worry about it. I thought it was funny... kinda sorta. When you're angry you really let go, don't you."

My cheeks were suddenly warmer. "Yeah. I need to work on that. Let's just be glad that I only verbally attacked her and not physically."

"C'mon." Jared said, offering me his hand. "I want to get a tattoo." he towed me to the tattooing booth.

"Welcome to Sandy's Tattoos. The name is Ritchie. What can I do you for?" asked a short man with his baseball cap on backwards.

Jared seemed to be very determined on which one he wanted. "Can I get this?" he pointed to the picture on pinned on the wall. It was some sort of a star pattern.

"Sure." Ritchie began analyzing the one Jared had picked. "Where would you like it?"

"On my back. Right here." Jared said patting the spot he wanted it. "I want the real deal though."

My breath got caught in my throat. "You- You're getting a real tattoo?" I croaked.

His smile was deadly. "Yeah. I lost a bet to Paul and well now I have to get a tattoo. Its not so bad though because I was going to get one anyways... just not this design." he shuddered in mock horror. "Oh well, whatever. At least its a small one."

Did boys really think so poorly of something that was permanent?

I looked away as the needle touched his skin. It was hard to look away because ,well, this is Jared Thail shirtless we are talking about! I looked away because the thought of seeing him in pain was enough to cause me to not want to ogle at him. Once again my only comfort was the fact he was letting me hold his hand. Weird that he was comforting me.

It took Ritchie a solid twelve minutes to create a 'masterpiece'. I had finally managed to look at Jared's back. "What do you think?" he asked me. "Quite the masterpiece don't you think?"

I was sort of having trouble keeping my eyes on the tiny tattoo and not his muscles. Ritchie's questions could be interpreted in two different ways. I took a deep breath. "It looks good."

"Great!" Jared said, snatching his shirt from the floor and putting it back on quickly. Then he slid on his plaid shirt -not bothering to button it- and gave Ritchie his money. "Thanks man."

"Anytime."

It was now dark outside. I hadn't noticed.

"Kim, I know that was kind of weird. You know getting a tattoo on our first date but, I figured I might as well get it over with now that we were here."

I smiled up at him, "Its cool. I mean you did put up with my tantrum earlier today..."

He smiled back. "Well, how bout we have some real fun now?" he offered, his eyes pointing somewhere. I followed his gaze and realized he was offering we get on a the giant wheel of doom. Or otherwise known as a Ferris Wheel. I was speechless as we walked towards that rotating death trap. I wasn't moving my feet at all, Jared was basically dragging me over there.

My eyes got wide as we stood only a few feet from where the line began. "No! I am not going on that." I all but screamed.

Jared sighed, "C'mon Kim, it's only a faris wheel. No scarry shit."

"But it might roll away or something. A lot of people get on in and it might make it break. Hell no! I am so not getting in that." I said as firmly as I could.

He droped down a little to look me better in the eyes, "Really? I think there is a better chance of me breaking out into song than that actually happening."

Yeah it did sound pretty ridiculous. Ugh! How I hate admitting my few weaknesses out loud. "I'm afraid of hights," I whispered.

Jared's eyes softened. "Well don't worry then. Because I won't let you fall and I won't let go of you. Okay?"

When he puts it like that... I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, "Fine. But promise me that you won't let me go?" I opened my eyes,
"Promise me."

He grabed my hand and looked at our intertwined hands then at me. "I promise. Not even if the world depends on it."

We walked towards the small gate that led to the farris wheel. Just my luck- there was no line. No possible way for me to stall. "Right this way..." said the guy who controlled the farris wheel, motioning for us to follow him. He opened the door for me and I got in with Jared right behind me.

"Okay." I said to myself, "I can do this."

"Kim don't worry. I won't let anything happen to you, trust me." Jared said grabbing my hand once again. Feeling his unatural warmth calmed
me down a little.

When the guy closed the door I flinched. Suddenly we started moving. If it wasn't for Jared here with me, I would've screamed. Then it
stopped; I looked down and saw we were only a couple feet of the ground. "I trust you." I whispered.

He squeezed my hand.

I tried to not notice each time we would go higher up. That wasn't too difficult with Jared sitting next to me. I was surprised we fit, probably because these things were meant for three people.

I started humming the song that was being played on the speakers.

Jared shot his head up. "Do you know this song?"

"Mama Mia? Yeah."

He laughed, "Really? My sisters won't stop sining this song. They love this band. I hate them! They annoy the shit out of me. Well this song does... The rest of the songs are less disturbing to me."

"Wow..." I said rolling my eyes.

After that it got quiet. We stopped talking, but not because we were getting bored but because it felt more comftrable at the moment. I was looking at our hands when Jared squeezed my hand gently. "Kim," he whispered "look." I did as he said and saw that we were finally at the top.

Oh. My. God.

We were really high of the ground. Like I could see almost the entire carnival high. It looked amazing, that's all I wanted my mind to register. Not that a drop from here would surely kill me... Nope. None of that stupid shit.

"Wow. We are pretty high up." I said with an octave higher than I normally would have.

"Yeah we are. Look up, though."

When I looked up I was surprised at how close the stars looked. Then my eyes drifted to the moon. I stared at it with amazement at how beautiful it looked tonight. So bright in the dark sky. "The moon looks really pretty tonight, don't you think?" I brought my eyes back down to look at Jared.

He smirked at me, "Yeah... I guess." I let my eyes go back up to the moon. I watched as we got farther and farther away from the stars. The
only noise I could here was the music playing from the speakers.

The guy opened our door and Jared got out holding his hand out for me to follow. "Have a pleasent evening." said the guy.

"Lets go over there." Jared said pointing towards the beach. I nodded.

"That was fun." I said holehartedly once we were on the sand. He picked an empty spot that wasn't too far from the fair. I looked back
and noticed people were starting to dance on the dock.

I brought my attention to the sky again. Maybe we were not that high up anymore but the moon was still pretty.

"Thankyou." Jared said,

"For what?" I asked not taking my eyes of the moon.

"For agreeing to go out with me... on a real date. And for being my girl."

As he said that my heart skipped a beat. I felt like crying; I mean this night was so perfect -despite the incident at the bumper cars. Tonight was the kind of thing girls see in movies or read about in books. And I had gotten so lucky to experience something like this.

Thank you? He is thanking me? "No... thank you. So much. This was the most fun I've had in months. Today was amazing."

"Well it's not over yet." he said sure of himself.

I raised my eyebrows, "Really? What else is there to do? We've already done everything there is to do at a fair. You know, got kicked out of the bumper cars and got a permanent tattoo. " I teased.

"Sorry."

I sighed. "You know I was joking?"

"Apparently my jokes haven't rubbed of on you yet." he teased. "But seriously, the night is young and so are we. So we gotta enjoy it."

As he said that a song that I liked started playing. I silently hummed the song to myself. Half way through the song I turned around. There were more people dancing. I kind of felt like asking Jared to dance but then I thought that through. Not my brightest idea because I am not the best slow dancer.

Jared noticed me looking over there. "Maybe we should go over there and..." I saw what he was implying so I shook my head. "Why not?"

"Cus I suck at slow dancing. And besides, the song ended. I don't even know this song."

"Doesn't mean that we can't go over there and try."

I smiled at his stubleness. He stood first then pulled me off the sandy floor. "Do you know this song?" I asked not recognizing it.

He stoped right in front of the spot were the dancing was going down. "Nope... Okay so just know I am not the best dancer, but I don't completely suck." He slid his fingers through mine. His lips turned into a heartbreaking smile, "Kim would you like to dance with me?"

I managed to for once in my life not blush a deep red which would have ruined this amazing moment, "I would love to."

Jared led us into the crowd of people dancing right in the middle of them all. He put his hands around my waist and I put my arms around his neck as the next song began.

I gasped when I realized which song it was. "What?" Jared asked looking down at me frantically. He was already looking at me before, but it seemed he was looking to see if maybe he had accidently stepped on me or something worse.

"I love this song. It is the one we were listening to in the car." I said moving side to side with him. His face lost all the signs of worry. "Do you remember?"

"Yeah... It's a really great song." He admitted smiling.

We hummed along to the song until I had to sing out loud. "Maybe I know somewhere deep in my soul that love never lasts. And we've got to find other ways to make it alone, keep a straight face. And I've always lived like this, keeping a comfortable distance. And up until now I had sworn to myself that I'm content with loneliness. Because none of it was ever worth the risk.

"Well you are the only exception. ..." Jared began singing.

We swayed around into the slow rhythem of the song. Jared was still singing the song to me while I just hummed. I wanted to hear his beautiful voice sing without any other sounds. Hearing it made everything go away so it was me and him. Nothing else in this universe except us and the song I will now remember until the day I die.

"You are the only exception... and I'm on my way to believing."

This moment was too amazing. I was so scared of something coming along and ruining it. I never wanted it to end. I was in his arms. Warm and safe. The words needed to be true when he sang them. I felt that way about him. He was an amazing amazing person who made me feel like I could fly. The guy who could make me the most carefree girl on the planet. Only Jared could do that to me.

The song was coming to an end I felt a tugging in my chest. I had to do it. I looked up at him and saw he was looking at me with his curious eyes. I bent up on my tippy toes to give him a kiss on the cheek. "Tonight was perfect." I whispered. "I literally felt like I was flying."

We weren't moving anymore but my arms were still around his neck and his hands were still on my waist. I looked at his brown eyes. There
was conflict in them. It gave me butterflies in my tummy. He was internally debating something, I knew it.

Just as I was about to ask what was wrong, he ducked down to touch his lips to mine.

to be continued...

the song they danced to was about to be a different one, but then i heard the song The Only Exception. i fell in love with the idea of this being the song. so i had to change a shit load of stuff and now this is it. por favor REVIEW; please REVIEW. **can't wait till next chapter. there will be a surprise[: thanks for previous reviews... [: XOXOXOXO

PLAYLIST::

-I Saw Her Standing There by The Beatles

-I Want to Be Your Boyfriend by The Ramones

-The Only Exception by Paramore

-Suga Suga by Baby Bash

-Stuck in The Moment by Justin Bieber