…And Then…He Kissed Me
By: Jamie
Sommers
Email: jamiesommers23@hotmail.com
Rated: PG 13
(for language)
Synopsis: Jamie Sullivan has been hurt in her efforts
to help Landon with the school play and refuses to give him the time of
day. Landon Carter has been doing
everything in his power to change her mind.
Will he?
Dedication: To all of you fans that wrote and pestered
and hollered and cried and praised and laughed and moaned and sighed. This is for you. May you feel Jesus near everyday of the year.
Chapter 9:
At Last
“I still can’t
believe you asked my father’s permission.”
“It’s no big
deal, plus he was cool about it.”
‘Cool about
it? My father? Sure Landon.’
I looked around at our plush surroundings and I wondered if he was
taking me here to impress me. It looked
very costly and I just didn’t want him to go into debt simply to feed me a
meal.
Upon sitting
down we placed an order for beverages with our waiter. “Sweet tea please?”
“Make that
two.”
“This
restaurant’s really nice, are you sure this is okay?” I asked.
“Don’t even
worry about it, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Choose
whatever you want. So…what’ll it be?”
I know Landon
said not to worry about dinner here, but…the more the waiter talked the more I
wanted to leave.
“…one pound
fresh lobster for $27.95, two pound is $32.95…Frutte de Mare…”
‘STOP!!!!! No more. No. I can’t let Landon spend this kind of money on me. I just can’t.’
I waited until
our waiter was out of earshot and whispered over the table, “I would’ve been
happy with burgers and fries at the diner downtown.”
His hand
reached over the table and took mine.
The smile he gave me stopped my heart as he said, “I know that, but I
wanted to take you here.”
“But Landon…”
I began to protest.
“Jamie,” he
interrupted. “I wanted to do this for
you. Please…just…” He sighed and said,
“Jamie, seriously…don’t worry about it.
It’s okay. Let me do this for
you okay?”
“Are you
sure?”
“I’m
positive.” He brought my hand up to his
lips and kissed my knuckles.
The shock of
electricity that went through me was so unexpected, so startling I shook my
head in a lame attempt to clear it. ‘Get
a hold of yourself Jamie.’
“You okay?”
“Huh?” I sat staring at him, uncertain of what to
say or do.
“I asked if
you were okay.”
“Oh, um…” he
placed my hand back down on the table and picked up his menu. “Yeah.
I’m fine, just unsure of what to order.” We discussed what would be the
best choice for me on the menu and then the waiter returned.
I half
listened as he placed our orders with the waiter and watched as one of the
other waiters walked by with a tray full of delicious looking desserts. ‘Ooooh…is that chocolate cake? Oh…pie.
I see pie and cheesecake. What’s
that thing in the glass? Mmmm…it all
looks so good. So you’ll have some for
dessert. No. I won’t take advantage of Landon’s generosity by ordering
dessert.’ Just then the gentleman
with the tray walked by our table and I could see what was in the glass. It was some sort of custardy thing layered
with, what I was guessing to be raspberry filling, since it was topped with an
abundance of fresh raspberries and a dollop of whipped cream. My mouth began to water as I looked at the
scrumptious concoctions and thought, ‘maybe we could share something. Then it wouldn’t be so expensive.’
“My favorite
is the peanut butter pie.”
“Huh??” I could hear him talking but he didn’t
really get my full attention until the waiter with the tray of desserts left my
view.
“I said my favorite
is the peanut butter pie.”
“Oh.” He had caught me ogling the after dinner
delights and I began to blush. “I’m
sorry. It’s just that…”
“Don’t be
sorry. I enjoyed watching you.”
“Watching me?”
“Your eyes lit
up the minute he brought that tray into view.
It was…cute.”
“Cute? My drooling over dessert was cute?” I began to chuckle and said, “Well wait till
you see me demolish one of those chocolate things. You won’t think I’m so cute anymore.”
We both
laughed and sat back enjoying our surroundings. We began to speak about little insignificant things such as our
favorite food, color, drink, movie. He
had never heard of my favorite movie.
An epic love story set in the middle of WWII starring Michael Douglas
and Melanie Griffith called Shining Through. There was a tiny bit of foul language as well as some mild
violence, but amidst all of that was a touching love story. “That these two people could find love and
hold onto it through all of that chaos, not to mention the end when he saves her…drags
her over the border and then he…”
“Wait!! Don’t tell me! I just may want to see it someday you know.”
“Oh. Sorry.
I just get caught up in it sometimes.
I’ve seen it a hundred times at least.”
“Sounds like a
good movie.”
“Oh it
is! It really is. You’ll have to see it sometime. Maybe…” I
couldn’t believe what I was about to do.
“Maybe you’d like to come over one night and watch it with me?”
“I’d love
to…on one condition.”
“What’s that?”
“You have to
come over to my place some night and watch my favorite movie.”
“Deal. Uh…what is your favorite movie?”
“The
Terminator. Talk about a great
flick. There’s violence, blood, guts
and…well…it’s a classic guy film.”
The way he
described it…I couldn’t help but laugh at his animation. “I wouldn’t expect anything less from you
Landon.”
We continued
to talk about movies for a short while, then the topic moved to music.
“So you
actually liked that CD I loaned you?”
“Yeah. It was cool.”
‘I love the way his mouth moves when he says cool. Any “ool” noise really. School, cool, pool…his lips seem to just pucker when he says it and it always comes out sounding “ewl” instead of “ool.” Jamie, you’re crazy…insane really. Yes, I’m beginning to believe that.’
“Now Eric on
the other hand… well he started off with some…I don’t know. I can’t even describe this music he was
playing. It was…well…”
“Eric,”
I said with a laugh.
“Exactly. Thank you.” He used his fork to point at me
before digging into his salad.
‘I could listen to you forever Landon. You may not know it but you have such a love for life. A passion for living that draws people to you. You’re spirit is contagious Landon.’
“…you had to
see the look on his face. It was
priceless. Then he says, ‘you’re really
messing with a robot’s groove.’ I wish
you had seen him. At the time I really
didn’t laugh, but now that I think back on it…”
“I guess Eric
and I don’t have the same taste in music.
Who would’ve guessed?”
“Yeah,” he
laughed. “Don’t like your salad
dressing?”
“Huh?”
“Your salad?”
“Oh…no…it’s
fine. I was just listening to you.”
“Oh. Well I wasn’t sure about the dressing. I didn’t really know what you liked so I
told him to put it on the side, but…guess they forgot.”
“It’s fine
Landon.” In order to make him feel
better I put some on my fork and lifted it to my lips, “see. Ooooh…” I put another forkful in my mouth,
then another and another still. “Mmmmm.
Difs is gweat…mmmm…” I said with my mouth full.
“Guess you
like it after all,” he chuckled and I realized I probably looked like I had
never eaten in a restaurant before but I didn’t care. This was the best salad I’ve ever eaten.
Our plates
were removed and dinner was served. I
sat there and stared at it.
“I’m sorry…I
thought you said you wanted the chicken.”
“I did…I
do. It’s just that…it looks
so…pretty. I just hate to ruin it.”
“Well I’m sure
the chef won’t mind. Go ahead and try
it.”
I looked down
at the decorative plate and dipped my fork into the culinary work of art. I hated ruining the presentation,
but…well…within minutes I trashed it. I
had never tasted anything so wonderful.
The contradicting flavors…mmmmm.
“Definitely glad we went with the ugly food.”
His laughter
caused a surge to rush through me like I’ve never felt before. My mind was lost in his gaze, his smile, his
voice. ‘You’re in love with him
Jamie. No. I’m not. I can’t be.’ I pushed the thought to the side of my mind and continued our
conversation.
“So let me ask
you. If you knew then what you know
now, and you had the choice, would you have chosen to do the spring play?”
“Nope. There’s no way I would’ve done the spring
play.”
“Oh.”
“I would’ve
done the fall play my freshman year, and then the winter concert, then the
spring play…then my sophomore year I would’ve…”
“Okay…okay…I
get it,” I laughed.
“Jamie,” he
said softly as he took my hand. “If I
had known how incredible it would be to spend time with you…to get to know
you…I would’ve done it years ago. I’m
talking…Kindergarten at least. Possibly
pre-school…”
“Landon…” I
trailed off as the waiter came to bring us fresh beverages.
With the spell
broken he began joking about the play again.
“Now…I’m sure if it were left up to, lets say, someone like…oh…Eddie
Zimmerhoff…”
“Oh. No kidding.
Miss. Garber was so sure that you would be a perfect Tom Thorton, but
Eddie…he tried so hard to convince her that you were the wrong choice. ‘But Miss. Garber, even Landon says he’s
naturally bad at it.’ Finally Sally
says to him, ‘just give it up Eddie.
It’s a lost cause.’ I couldn’t
help but laugh when she said that because not two hours earlier you were at my
locker begging me to run lines with you.”
“I wasn’t
begging you.”
‘Yeah right Landon.’
“I wasn’t.”
“Mmmm
hmmm.” I did my best to impersonate
him. “Doesn’t Eddie Zimmerhoff deserve
the best?”
“Okay…so I was
begging you. BUT! It worked didn’t it?”
“Yeah,” I
could feel the blush creeping up my cheeks.
“It worked.”
The waiter
came to remove our plates and then…the moment I had been waiting for finally
arrived…DESSERT!
“Can I
interest either of you in something for dessert this evening?” He asked with a
knowing grin.
Without a
second thought I said, “Peanut butter pie please.”
I watched as
Landon’s eyebrows shot up and looked at me with a questioning glance. “Well in that case I guess I’ll try
the…uh…what’s that chocolate thing?” He
pointed to the chocolate cake that I was so tempted to try.
“Ahhh,
yes. This is a moist chocolate layered
cake filled with a combination of chocolate covered cherries, chocolate mouse
and topped with a rich chocolate fudge cream and shaved chocolate.”
“Sounds
very…chocolaty. I’ll take it.”
I devoured my
pie and seriously thought about asking Landon if he was going to finish his
cake. All the while I was scraping the
remnants of my treat off of my plate I thought, ‘I can see why this is your
favorite, Landon,’ but my lips were too busy to say anything. I had to get one last bite, one last bit of
chocolate.
“Is everything
okay?” The waiter was back to remove
our remaining plates.
“Mmmmm. Mmmmm hmmmm,” I said scraping my plate. “Thank you very much.”
The waiter
then gestured towards Landon’s barely touched cake and Landon replied with a,
“Yeah, go ahead.”
‘So…what’s
next?’ I wondered as I
looked around the establishment. We had
been listening to the soft music all night and I wondered aloud, “Would you
like to dance?”
“Uh…sorry. I don’t dance.”
“Me neither, I
mean… not usually in front of anybody.”
‘Honestly…who does?’
“Well, no, I
mean I… I don’t, at all, as… as in… I can’t.”
“Everybody can
dance. Come on, you can’t be that bad.”
He just sat there looking at me with the most adorable look on his face. “Please?”
I pleaded, “For me?”
His silent
agreement was one I’ll never forget.
The way his face transformed from one emotion to another. I knew that he truly did do this for me,
that there was no other reason he was dancing, but for the simple fact that I
asked it of him.
“Oof!” ‘He wasn’t kidding about being a bad
dancer but still…’
“Sorry… told
you I was bad at this.”
“But in all
fairness you did warn me right?” ‘…it feels so good to be in your arms.’
“That’s right.” I could
feel the tension leaving his arms as he relaxed a bit. “So… what’s number one on your list?”
‘Dare I tell him?’ There’s only one person
that knows what that is and that was my father. I wasn’t sure if I could share that with Landon yet so I shook my
head ‘no.’
“Okay… uh…
number one on my list is getting out of Beaufort.”
“Mmmm… I don’t
think getting out is gonna be your problem.
It’s more like figuring out what you’re going to do when you get
somewhere.”
“What do you
mean?”
‘He really
doesn’t get it does he?’ “I mean you can do anything.” ‘You’ve got your whole life ahead of you
Landon and you…you’ll make it count.’
“Landon? You okay?”
“Yeah. I was just thinking…we’ve got a long night
ahead of us and only a few hours to get it all in so…we should probably get
going.”
“Oh. You sure you’re not just trying to get out
of dancing?”
“Nope. Not at all.
It was my pleasure ruining your shoes this evening Miss. Sullivan.”
“Well, the
shoes aren’t the problem. It’s the toes
that are irreplaceable.”
##
“Wow. I’m
stuffed.”
“Yeah, me
too. It was good though.”
“Thank you for
dinner Landon. It was delicious. I’ve never eaten in a place like that
before.”
“No. It was my pleasure. I’m just glad you liked it.”
“I loved
it. Especially the pie,”
“Well next
time I’ll just take you to Marie Callendar’s for dinner.”
“Marie who?”
“Marie
Callendar. It’s a restaurant that
specializes in pies. We’ll start off
with her Peach Tarts as appetizers. For
dinner we can have the Dutch Apple Pie ala mode and for desert…”
“PEANUT BUTTER
PIE???”
“Actually I
was thinking we’d try the Heath Bar pie, but if you want to stick with peanut
butter…”
“NO! No.
Let’s try the heath…Landon?”
“Yeah.”
“Uh…why are we
at the school?” ‘This is an odd place to take someone on a date.’
“Oh,
well…you’ll see.”
“Is there a
baseball game tonight?”
“Nope.”
“Then why are
the lights on? And why are we here?”
“I told
you…you’ll see.” He was leading me
towards the baseball field and I was getting very confused.
When we were
within viewing distance I noticed someone standing on the pitcher’s mound. ‘That looks like Mr. Washington, but why would
he be here?’
“Landon. I wasn’t sure if you were still coming or
not.” I watched as they shook hands with one another as if they were longtime
friends.
“Hey Lou, I’d
like you to meet Jamie. Jamie this is…”
“Hello Mr.
Washington. How’s Mrs. Washington
doing?”
“Oh she’s
doing just fine Miss. Jamie. And how’s
your papa?”
“He’s fine
sir. Thank you for asking.”
“I take it you
two know each other.”
“Well
yes. Mrs. Washington used to baby-sit
me when I was younger, but…how do you two know each other?”
“Oh…well…uh…”
“We worked
together for a bit when Mr. Landon here got sentenced to janitor jail.”
“Oh.” I tried not to giggle at Mr. Washington’s
joke. I could tell that Landon was
slightly embarrassed about his time spent in ‘janitor jail.’
“Lou here
showed me the ropes on the first day.
So Lou…do you have everything?”
“Yup. Most certainly do.”
“Great. Thanks Lou.”
“No
problem. Now I’m gonna make myself
scarce while you two play a little ball.
If you’ll excuse me Miss. Jamie.
Landon.”
I bid him
farewell then asked, “Do you always play baseball on your dates?”
“Only if the
girl I’m dating has a dream of hitting a home run.”
“Oh Landon.” I
couldn’t believe it. This was probably
the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me. I could feel the tears beginning to well up in my eyes.
“Now this is
supposed to be fun so no getting all…girly on me okay?”
“Okay.” Desperately fighting the urge to cry I
grabbed the bat and said, “So what do I do?”
He taught me
how to stand and how to grip the bat.
It felt very…heavy. Heavier than
I had expected so when he suggested that I take a few practice
swings…well….“Oooof,” ‘ Oh Landon you’ve got your work cut out for you with
me.’ “Whooops. Guess that wasn’t supposed to happen huh?”
“No,” he retrieved the bat and
came back to me taking up position directly behind me. “Let me help you out with that.” I could feel his body pressed up against
mine, his arms wrapped around my own and his hands covered mine on the
bat. It reminded me of when I was a
little girl and I would stand on my father’s feet when we danced. “Okay…now…uh…now…just…ahem…swing.”
I swung the
bat with all my might and by doing so I knocked Landon to the ground. “Oh Landon! I’m sorry!”
“No. Don’t be,” he stood up and dusted his pants
off. “That was great. Now do it again without me helping.”
“Okay.” At
first I was sure I would be able to do this, but just in case I went through
his instructions aloud. “Arms up,
elbows out, bat just above the shoulder, feet apart, and……… Ooooof!” The bat
went flying out of my hands again. ‘Now
why on earth did you release that bat Jamie?
Because…’
“If you can hit the ball as far as you can
throw the bat…hoooey…Mark McGuire watch out,” he called out to me before taking
up position behind me once again.
In the
recesses of my mind I knew what I was doing was…well…not exactly wrong, but it
wasn’t really right either. There was
no reason other than the blatantly obvious one as to why I was releasing that
bat. I didn’t want his arms to leave me
so whenever he gave me an opportunity to swing the bat on my own, I’d throw it
down the third base line just so I could feel him stand behind me once again in
an attempt to teach me how to hold it.
“You know what
the problem is?”
I hoped he
hadn’t figured out what I was up to so I played stupid. “Well if I knew that Landon, I wouldn’t be
throwing the bat now would I?”
“Yeah I
guess. You don’t have a shimmy.”
“A
shimmy?” ‘Okay…now I’m confused.’
“Yeah…you
know. A shimmy. All the great ones do. Here,” he took the bat from my hands and
stood at home plate in a classic baseball pose. “You go over there and I’ll show you.” With his elbows pointing out, he began to grind his feet into the
dirt and wiggle himself. Twisting and
turning until he pulled his arms back and released. “A shiii…meeeee”
“Mmmkay,” I
watched him in awe. Did he know how
beautiful he was? “I think I’ve got it
now.”
“So…you think
you’re ready to swing at a few?”
“Yup.” It was time to play ball. “Let’s do this.”
“All right
Jamie, you can do this,” I mumbled.
“Arms up, elbows out, head down, and…shimmy.”
“Okay. Here we go.”
I missed the
first four but I hit the fifth and Landon said it was ‘good for a stand up
double.’ I didn’t quite believe him, but
it sounded good anyway. We laughed a
lot and every now and then I’d throw the bat down the third base line just to
watch him strut over and pick it up.
“You two
almost finished up?” Mr. Washington
called out to us from the gate.
“Oh, sure
Lou. We’re done here. Thanks…”
As he began
walking back towards Mr. Washington something inside of me screamed out,
“NO! Not yet Landon. Please?
Just one more? Please?”
“Do you mind
Lou?”
“Nah. In fact…why don’t you take two Miss.
Jamie?"
“Okay Jamie,”
I began talking to myself again.
Telling myself that I could do this.
“This is your last chance. Just
concentrate.” I took a deep breath and
whispered to myself, “Arms out…elbows up…head down…shimmy and…” I nodded to
Landon, telling him silently that I was ready for his pitch. I saw the ball coming straight down the
line, but at the last minute I closed my eyes and began to pray. ‘Please
God. Please.’ I could feel His power in my swing and knew
the minute the ball connected with the bat that His spirit was with me. My hands shook from the vibrations of the
bat and I watched as the ball soared into the sky.
I could hear a
faint, “Go fair…go fair…go fair…” and then a louder “No!” when Landon believed
my ball wouldn’t make it into fair territory.
‘Have faith
Landon. Have faith.’
I closed my eyes as the final gust of wind blew and opened them slowly
to see my ball being carried over the fence on the right side of the foul
post. “I did it. I did it!
I DID IT!! I DID IT!!!”
I could hear
Mr. Washington’s cheers behind me and smiled brightly when Landon called out to
me with pride, “Run your bases Jamie!
Run your bases.”
I ran as fast
as I could to first base and then lifted my face to the sky as I rounded
it. ‘Thank You Lord. Thank You for giving me this gift.’ I could feel the tears flowing freely down
my face as I thought of Landon. ‘You’ll
never know what it is you’ve done for me Landon but thank you. Thank you.’ Home plate was just up ahead and when I arrived I stomped with
both feet onto it screaming out to the night sky, “YES!! Number 34!!!!!”
“You did it!”
he was standing directly in front of me.
“I did
it!” I looked at him and saw pride and
joy radiating from his eyes. “I did
it,” I whispered as I stepped closer to him and took his hand in my own. “Thank you Landon. Thank you.” He stood
staring at me, unblinking and lost in thought so I quickly turned and said,
“Thank you so much for doing this Mr. Washington. I don’t know how I’ll ever thank you…either one of you. This was just about the greatest moment…” ‘No
getting girly Jamie. You promised.’ “Mr. Washington? Would you mind if I used the restroom to get cleaned up?”
“Not at
all. Come with me Miss. Jamie. I’ll let
you in.”
“I’ll meet you
at the car okay?”
“Oh, uh sure.”
Reaching his hand out towards Mr. Washington he said, “Thanks again Lou. I really appreciate it.”
“No problem
Landon. Anytime.”
We walked
towards the facilities in silence not saying a word to one another until we got
back to the baseball diamond’s edge.
“Thanks again Mr. Washington.
I’m not sure how or why Landon got you to do this, but I really
appreciate it.”
“Well, the ‘how’
is simple. He asked. Now the ‘why’…that’s another story.”
“Oh really?”
“That boy
there is smitten with you Miss. Jamie.
When he asked me if I could help him out…well it was the look on his
face that did it. I remember when I met
my Camille. It was the church picnic to
Dawson’s Creek where I first saw her.
She was standing at one of the picnic tables getting ready to take her
mamma’s place turning the crank on the ice cream maker. Peach I believe it was or maybe
chocolate. Any how, I saw her standing
there looking as beautiful as a summer’s day and I fell head over heels in
love. My pappy told me that I had been
staring at her like she was the angel of heaven sent to earth to save my
soul. Never really knew what he meant
by that until I saw young Landon’s face when he asked me to get all this set up
for you.”
I glanced over
at Landon and then back at Mr. Washington as he continued. “He’s a good boy Jamie. He’s just a little confused. He needs some guidance…direction, and I
believe that he’s going in the right one by courting you. That boy need’s an angel. Yep…now that I think about it…it was peach
ice cream…”
I smiled and
kissed his cheek - saying farewell, “Tell Mrs. Washington I said hello.”
“I will. I will.”
“Hey,” I
walked to the car door where he was waiting.
“Hey. You ready for the next part of our date?”
“You mean
there’s more?”
“Of course
there’s more. You didn’t think this was
it, did you?”
I actually did
think that was it. I mean how do you
follow that up? He made one of my
dreams come true and to me there was nothing else in this world that could
compare.
We got into
his car and started on a drive…a long drive.
We chatted about my homerun along the way and I told him about Mr. And
Mrs. Washington. “After my mom died, my
dad wasn’t able to care for me on his own, so he hired Mrs. Washington. She practically raised me until I started
going to school, then…it was pretty much just me and my dad.” I guess it was
evident that discussing this was difficult for me because he immediately
changed the topic to a more lighthearted one.
“Boy I
couldn’t believe it when that ball flew over the fence. I mean…wow.”
“Impressive
aren’t I?” I teased. “Honestly I couldn’t believe it myself. I never in a million years thought I was
capable of anything like that.”
“Geez, I’m
not capable of anything like that. It
was really impressive.”
“Well I had a
good teacher.”
“So…can I ask
you something?”
“Sure.”
“What’s your
number one?”
‘Oh
no. Not that again.’ “You don’t give up very easily do
you?”
“Nope. If I had then I’d be making this drive on my
own.”
‘Speaking
of this drive…’ “Where are we going anyway?”
“What’s your
number one?”
“Oooooh…that’s
blackmail.”
“Nope, that’s
bargaining.”
“Well I’m not
gonna tell so you might as well just give in and let me know where we’re
going?”
“Nope.”
“Come on.”
“So…how about
those Yankees?”
“You’re
incorrigible, you know that?”
“So I’ve been
told.”
“Where are we
going?”
“Just hold on…
you’ll see.” We continued to spar back
and forth playfully until he pulled the car over to the shoulder of the
road. He got out and ran around to my
side of the car saying, “C’mon, c’mon, c’mon, let’s go.” Grabbing my hand, he pulled me along.
“Where are we
going?”
“Run!” He stopped dead in his tracks and we stood
in the middle of the deserted road. “Okay… uh, stand there.”
“All right.” ‘Seriously
Landon…what did they put in your sweet tea?’
“Put one foot
there,” he pointed down to the road, “and one foot there.”
“Okay. You’re
acting like a crazy person, what’s going on?”
“Okay, right
now, you’re straddling the state line.”
“Okay…?” ‘Big deal.’
I watched as
he pointed to the sign that said, Welcome to Virginia, and for a moment I
thought, ‘You drove me to the middle of nowhere just to straddle the state
line?’
Oh…but then he
said, “You’re in two places at once.”
When I found
out about my cancer I made up my list of things to do and when I put down ‘be
in two places at once’ my father told me it was impossible. “No one can be in two places at once
Jamie. That’s just not physically
possible.” In the back of my mind I
knew he was right. There was no way any
human being could physically be in two places at once, but the laws of physics
never saw Landon Carter coming. The one
thing that I believed would never happened, was delivered to me on this night
made of wishes. This night filled with
dreams.
I couldn’t
help myself when I ran into his arms.
“Ahhhhhhh…” he spun me around in a circle and then put me down directly
in front of him. Our foreheads were
pressed against one another’s as our fingers entwined.
‘Landon. Oh Landon.’
I needed to say his name. I just
needed to hear it. “Landon,” I said
hoarsely. “I don’t know what to say…” I
wanted to kiss him. I really wanted him
to kiss me but instead I hugged him and whispered against his ear, “Thank you
Landon. Tonight’s been the best date
I’ve ever had.”
“Jamie,” he
said softly.
‘Please Landon, kiss me.’
“I…” he
trailed off.
“You?”
“I…uh…” he
took a deep breath and stepped back.
“We should be going. There’s
still so much to do.”
‘So much to
do?’ “So…where to now?”
“Nuh uh. Not telling.”
After we got
into the car a thought occurred to me.
“Landon Rollins Carter! You’re
not gonna take me to a tattoo parlor are you?”
I began to laugh at the absurdity of the very thought.
“No. Your father would kill me if I did
that.”
‘Yes, but a
girl can dream can’t she?’
We sat quietly
listening to music on the way back into Beaufort. He picked a station that played music we could both enjoy and we
did. At one point we were both humming
along with the song that was playing.
“You have a nice singing voice Landon.
You should join the church choir.”
“What? Me?
No…no…I don’t sing.”
“Well you
didn’t dance either, but you seemed to do that just fine.”
“Hah. I stepped on your feet more times than I
could count.”
“Six.”
“What?”
“Six. You
stepped on my feet six times while we were dancing. Four times within the first ten seconds of the song.”
“Oh sheesh…and
you want me to sing too? No way. Noooooo way.”
“Calm down
Landon,” I laughed. “If you did decide
to join the church choir, we very rarely slow dance so I’m fairly sure my feet
will be safe.”
“Funny,” he
deadpanned. “Very funny.”
“I thought
so,” I giggled. He held my hand for the
rest of our trip and pulled into an empty parking lot by the water. “Uh…Landon?
Why are we stopping?” I wondered.
“Well there’s
one more thing I want to check off of your list for you before the night is
through.” He leaned over me and reached
for something out of the glove compartment but I had no idea what it was.
“Now I know
it’s not a tattoo parlor, cause like I said, your father would kill me,
but…it’s pretty darn close.” He held
out the assortment of temporary tattoos in front of him and said,
“Okay…butterfly, rosebud orrrrrr…star.”
They were all
so pretty… “You choose.”
“Butterfly.”
“Okay,” I was
hoping he’d choose that one.
He put the
others to the side and looked at me cautiously asking, “Soooo…where do you want
it?”
‘Hmmm…where
do I want it? My shoulder…or no…my
ankle, No…my shoulder. Definitely my
shoulder.’ “Here.”
I pulled my dress down and lifted my hair out of the way pointing to the
spot on my shoulder blade that I wanted him to apply it to.
‘Ahhh, I
can’t believe this is happening. Why
are you doing this for me Landon? Do
you feel it too?’ I felt the coolness of the water soaked
napkin touch my skin as he began to apply it.
I looked into his smiling eyes and thought, ‘Do you know that I’m in
love with you?’ He continued
putting pressure on the tattoo with the moist napkin until finally he peeled it
off of my skin. I looked down at it,
but I didn’t see a butterfly tattoo, I saw yet another dream coming true. ‘Thank you,’ I smiled. ‘Thank you for everything Landon.’ He leaned in and at first I was sure he was
going to kiss my shoulder, but then I felt his breath as he blew against my
skin. Goosebumps formed on my arms and
the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.
‘I love you Landon. I know I
shouldn’t, but I do. I do.’ When he touched me…oh…his fingers ran so
lightly across my shoulder, I wanted nothing more than for him to kiss me. ‘Please Landon. Please kiss me. Just one
kiss. Please.’
“You wanna take a walk?”
‘I’d rather not but…’ “Yes.”
We got out and
walked hand in hand down the wooden boardwalk.
“When I was five or six my family used come here and we’d go fishing off
the docks. Sometimes we’d rent a boat
and go out for the whole day…” He shared with me a story of his childhood.
“It’s
beautiful. Sometimes I wish I had
opportunities to do things like that with my parents but…”
“Yeah. I guess it’s hard for you huh? I mean with
your mom being gone and all.”
“Sometimes,
but then other times I think that this is the way God planned it so there must
be a reason for it.”
“You really
believe that don’t you? That God lays
out some sort of path or something?”
“Yes, I
do.” ‘I wish there were some way I
could convince you that there is something bigger than both of us out there
Landon. Something more powerful and
beautiful than anything on the face of the earth.’
“Hmmmm…”
“How can you
see places like this, have moments like this… and not believe?”
“You’re lucky
to be so sure.”
“It’s like the
wind, I can’t see it… but I feel it.”
“What do you
feel?”
“I feel wonder
and beauty. Joy. Love.
I mean… It's the center of everything."
He stood staring
at me and finally he said, “I might kiss you.”
“I might be
bad at it.”
“That’s not
possible.”
His breath
felt warm against my lips. This was something new a different from the first
kiss we shared the night of the play. I didn't expect that one, I had no clue,
but this one...ahhh...this one was mutual...special. It was our first kiss.
Thousands of things go through your mind at that moment, things you normally
don't think about. Which way do I tilt my head? Where do I put my hands? Do I
still taste like chocolate and peanut butter?
I didn’t know what to do when it was over. I had to look away. I
just couldn’t bring myself to face him.
‘Landon,’ I thought. ‘We
can’t do this. You don’t know… You have
no clue…’
"Jamie,”
he spoke my name so softly I couldn’t help but turn towards him. "I love you."
‘No! You can’t! You can’t love me! Jamie what did you do? How are you… What are you…’
“Now would be
the time to say something.”
“I told you
not to fall in love with me.”
‘Oh Landon, there’s so much you don’t know. I’m so sorry for this. I never meant for you to love me. I wanted you to, but… Oh God forgive me please?’
He leaned in
and kissed me again. This one was so
brief I barely felt it, then he kissed my forehead and I knew that I wasn’t
going to put a stop to this. It was
wrong for me to lead him on this way and I knew it, but I couldn’t deny these
feelings any more than he could. ‘Oh
Landon, will you be able to survive this journey I’m taking you on? Will you leave me when you find out the
truth?’ We leaned our foreheads
against one another’s and held hands.
“Landon…I’m scared.”
“Of what?”
I tried not to
cry but the tears just seemed to fall. ‘Of
hurting you. Of letting you go and
never feeling this way again.’
“Jamie, I promise
I’ll never hurt you. I’ll never leave
you. I love you. I mean it. I…”
“Shhh…” I put
my fingers against his lips in an attempt to hush him, but he kissed them and
then took my hand in his. We just
looked into each other’s eyes and once again he kissed my head only this time
he didn’t remove his lips. He trailed
them back and forth, brushed them across my skin from side to side, letting
them linger. His lips were soft and
warm against my forehead and I wanted, no…needed, to feel them
against my lips. ‘Kiss me Landon.’ As if hearing my silent plea he pulled back
and looked into my eyes before dipping his head down towards mine. My heart began to race as he leaned in. I
could feel his nose brush up against mine...'Landon.' I closed my eyes
and opened my heart...and then...he kissed me.
The End (I hate those two
words L )