Page 24 of Timeless
“A role I take very seriously.” He bumped my shoulder playfully while I rolled my lips between my teeth, smiling at the memory that was so uniquely him. “Do you remember that night?”
“Looking at the stars?” I questioned. “Yes. The sky was alive that night. I’d never seen anything like it before.”
“And yet all I saw was you.”
I smacked him with my pillow and laughed. “I can’t with you.”
His expression held firm. “I mean it—still mean it. That night changed everything for me. It was the first time I knew you were the girl for me.”
“Jaxon, we were what, thirteen? Fourteen?”
“That doesn’t make it any less true. We’d been friends for years, then something shifted after we went to junior prom in eighth grade. I realized I was feeling things friends aren’t supposed to feel. But I didn’t want to lose what we had, so I stayed quiet. It wasn’t until that night in high school when we snuck out here once I had my license that the extent of what I felt truly hit me.”
“Was that why you suddenly went all-in on our ice cream adventures and made us try and rate every flavor?”
“Sure was. I knew your weakness after all.”
“Maybe I said yes because of the company and not the ice cream.”
“Did you now?” He flashed that signature smirk of his that always unleashed an array of butterflies in my chest.
“You know I did; you weren’t the only one who was afraid to cross that line from friendship to something more.”
“It was worth the wait,” he said, like the answer had always been obvious.
“Our first kiss was so awkward.” I shook my head, remembering how embarrassed I’d been when our teeth bumped.
“And what did I say to that?”
“That we just needed more practice.”
A soft laugh passed between us, but his eyes dimmed a little, shadowed by something heavier.
“I wanted all your firsts,” he said quietly. “And your lasts.”
Sadness shifted the tone, rolling in like thunder on the horizon, impossible to ignore. The hurt I’d caused him was unfathomable and something I had to live with.
“I’m sorry, Jaxon. I—” I looked away, searching for the strength to say what I needed to.
“It’s okay, Lils.” He reached for my hand and interlocked our fingers.
“But it’s not okay. Nothing has been right since that day.” My voice caught in my throat. “The day I broke us.”
Jaxon used his other hand to gently brush his fingers over my cheek, tilting my chin until our eyes met. “Do you think that was how our story was supposed to end?”
The soft rustle of leaves drew my gaze to the tree line and the darkened abyss, which felt safer to face than the feelings tightening in my chest over the reality of our truth.
“Some stories aren’t meant to have happy endings.”
“Not ours, Lily, not ours.” His gaze silently pleaded for a beat before my silence allowed doubt to creep in. “Unless you no longer share the same dream?”
The pain in his voice was crippling because I knew he’d let me walk away if that were what I chose to do.
But I couldn’t do it.
Not again.
“No. No, I want—” My voice cracked. “I’ve always wanted a forever with you. That feeling, the yearning, desire, it’s never left. I promise you, but?—”
