It was around 11pm and Tilly was wondering why Jen hadn't text her back yet, maybe she's having second thoughts about it, she didn't want to text her again it would make her seem desperate and it was late. Tilly practically forced herself to take a shower and go to bed because she knew that thinking about it too much wasn't good for her. This distracted her for a while and it was easy to get to bed, her week had been quite stressful and the sleep would do her good.
…
Tilly woke up to her phone beeping loudly, she reached under her pillow and grabbed it, not even thinking about who it could be. "Morning beautiful! Sorry I didn't text back yesterday, my phone was out of battery. See you at 1ish after your shopping trip then? Jen xx" After seeing this Tilly didn't even mind that Jen had woken her up, "Don't worry bout it, yeah I can't wait. Tilly xx" Tilly replied then bounced out of bed the excitement of seeing Jen outside of college had already got to her.
After Maddie arrived at Tilly's house they both strolled into town together, Maddie talked about boys mainly and other things that seem important when you're 16. But Tilly barely head any of it, her mind was with Jen, she couldn't stop thinking of her perfect smile and the way she made Tilly melt when she saw her.
They had been walking into various shops for quite a while and were now standing in a changing room, "What about this one Tils?" Maddie asked, she was trying on different tops and was willing to easily spend her father's money on something that she didn't really need. "Yeah that looks nice." Tilly wasn't really paying attention but was trying to make the trip as short as possible, she loved hanging out with Maddie but she could do that anytime, time with Jen was precious.
It took Maddie too long to decide which top she liked best and ended up buying both of them anyway and as they left the shop, a happy cashier waving them goodbye, they said goodbye and started to walk home in opposite directions. Tilly didn't know if Jen had any other plans so she decided to text her "Hey, we finished a bit early, we could meet up now if you're free? Tilly xx"
Jen was alone in the house waiting for Tilly but to her surprise she was being very patient, she couldn't have asked Tilly to do anything else seeing as just the week before Jen had had to leave Tilly for Diane, it was just something they were going to have to accept in their relationship. She was using this time to draw, just doodles but it was a way of keeping her mind occupied and Jen wasn't really expecting Tilly to contact her soon but she did have her phone right next to her just in case. Unexpectedly Jen's phone went off which made her jump then quickly grab her phone to check who it was from 1 Text message from: Tilly she read the message to herself and immediately came up with an idea.
Tilly started to walk home again after texting Jen but her reply was almost instant "Yeah I'm free and starving! Meet you by the archway then we can catch a bite to eat. Jen xx" Reading this Tilly became keen to see Jen and was walking so fast she could've been jogging. Thinking she would arrive way before Jen Tilly slowed her pace down as she walked round the corner to the road by the archway but to her surprise Jen too was obviously exciting to be there and was sitting in her car. Tilly walked over and knocked on the passenger door window, Jen jumped slightly and Tilly could tell she was daydreaming. As she saw Tilly she began to grin and reached over to open the door. It was a big stretch and as she was leaning over Tilly looked down and was able to see right down Jen's top, she couldn't stop herself from staring, "Oi!" Jen protested with a cheeky look, she had caught Tilly out "get in you!" Tilly was slightly embarrassed but got in and shook it off "So should we get some food first? I'm really hungry now." Tilly asked hoping Jen hadn't eaten yet "Good idea! What about the new deli, it looks quite good" agreeing they parked near the deli and walked in together.
They didn't want to make it obvious they were together so Jen didn't walk too close to Tilly though they both wanted more than anything to be near each other. Jen walked in first, the door triggered a bell and a woman in the kitchen called out "Sorry we'll be just a minute!" "Don't worry, I take ages choosing" Jen shouted back causing a woman to poke her head round the doorway, she had long brown hair and Tilly remembered her from her art exhibition where Jen and Tilly first met. She smiled at Jen who smiled back, Tilly remembered Jen making a comment on the woman and the thought of Jen being interested in other people entered her mind.
Not even realising she was doing it Tilly grabbed Jen's hand and pulled her attention back to her too "See something you like?" she was talking about the menu but Jen could see that Tilly was becoming a tad jealous. So she just replied with "Yep" quickly kissed her on the cheek and squeezed her hand a little to reassure her. Tilly loved how Jen could read her like a book and she didn't even care that anyone who walked past could've seen the small but loving token.
Once they had chosen Jen insisted on ordering and paying for them both and as they left they were still being quite cautious of people seeing them, "Where are we going then?" Tilly asked as they both were walking back to Jen's car. "Actually, I need to stop off somewhere quickly, just to gather a few final examples for the Nature project" Jen replied hoping that it wouldn't be a problem, "Sure, anything as long as it's with you" Tilly said awaiting Jen's reply, they had reached the car now and Tilly was leaning against it facing Jen, Jen smiled, she felt exactly the same way.
…
They arrived at the edge of a forest after what seemed to be hours of Jen trying to concentrate on driving when she couldn't stop looking at the beautiful woman who sat next to her. Jen looked up at the sky, it was covered in grey clouds nevertheless Tilly almost jumped out of the car and started walking into the forest leaving Jen slightly behind her, they both finished their sandwiches while walking and chatted casually.
They weaved in and out of trees looking at each other as much as possible, tempting each other to come closer. Tilly wasn't really sure where she was going but still walking slightly in front of Jen before she heard water ahead. They both stopped when they came to the bank of a small river, it wasn't deep but neither of them were wearing appropriate shoes so Tilly started to walk downstream "We'll have to go this way" She began, "Why don't we just go over it?" Jen questioned with a cheeky look on her face, "Isn't it a bit far?" Tilly tried to dismiss the comment but seemed tempted "You mean you can't jump it?" Jen replied quickly "Oh I can, I just didn't think you could" Tilly was teasing Jen and rising to the challenge. "Oh well let's see about that" Jen held her hand out beckoning for Tilly to jump with her. Tilly looked at Jen's hand then up into her eyes. She reached out and took her hand and they both took a few paces backwards as a run up.
"Three…Two...One…" Jen counted down "JUMP!" As she said this they both ran forward and leapt into the air, still holding hands. With a loud splash they both landed right in the middle of the stream they erupted with laughter as they both tried to scramble out. Jen tripped on a rock just poking out of the stream and fell to the bed of dry leaves on the other side, pulling Tilly with her, this caused even more laughing and they had both rolled on to their backs giggling.
"What on earth has gotten into you Jen?" Tilly rolled onto her side to face Jen and couldn't work out why Jen was so lively and childish, "You!" Jen replied she too rolled onto her side and kissed the teenager and kept her face close "I just really…i lo-…you don't know how much you mean to me" Tilly was slightly confused at Jen's muddled words "You what?" she questioned. Jen was finding it hard to express herself but as Tilly started to realise what Jen was trying to say, drops of water started slipping through the umbrella of leaves above them. Suddenly it was pouring with rain and they both instinctively jumped up to walk back to the car. They walked straight through the stream now, they were already soaking. The rain had drenched them but they were stilling walking as fast as possible through the forest, Tilly wasn't concentrating on that though she was wondering if Jen was even feeling the same as her.
"Jen, Jen!" Tilly had to shout because they rain splashing on the ground was too loud to just talk over, Tilly was leaning against the car while Jen fumbled in her pocket for the key, but she knew she wouldn't be able to face the car journey wondering. "One sec, It's in here somewhere!" Jen shouted back, "It's not that" Tilly started to explain and she looked down, unsure of how to elaborate "What? What's wrong?" Jen asked giving up on her search for the keys and trying to make eye contact with Tilly, "What did you mean earlier when you were saying 'you don't know how much you mean to me'?" Tilly finally asked, the rain was still heavily pounding the ground "Tilly I…I mean you mean a lot to me" Jen had a heartfelt look on her face but Tilly was beginning to feel insecure and was becoming frustrated "How much is that?" Tilly snapped back, Jen was hurt at how insecure Tilly was How can she not know how much she means to me? "Tilly you know how much!" Jen was shouting partially because of anger now, "Well I thought I did!" Tilly nearly screamed. Jen walked closer to Tilly as tears started falling from the teen's eyes, though they were nearly unnoticeable because of the still drenching rain. They were inches away from each other and both of them had tears rolling down their cheeks, Jen leaned in and their foreheads were resting against each other's "Tilly" Jen was trying to stop herself crying uncontrollably but Tilly still wouldn't look at her properly "Tilly Evans I love you." Tilly looked up, their heads parting, a smile of relief covering her face. Almost unable to speak she managed to say "Jen Gilmore I love you too" before wrapping her arms around Jen's neck and pulling her in to kiss her slowly.