After Everything

Chapter Thirty-Five: The Talk

It was the last homecoming committee before the dance that Saturday.

Brittany was demanding orders around the gym, making sure everything was to her liking. If something wasn't perfect, she would freak out. She worked too hard for things to start going wrong, especially in the final stages.

"Everything is looking good," Trevor said from behind her. She turned around with a smile on her face. "I really like the posters against the wall like that."

Brittany smiled, appreciating his compliment. She knew it was a good idea to place the yellow, purple, and green colored posters against the wall of the gym. It made everything look more festive and put together. "Thanks," she smiled before pointing to the homecoming court sash around his neck. "Cute sash, by the way."

"Thanks," he chuckled, looking down at the black and gold sash. "It's dumb we had to wear them to school today," he said, thinking back to forensics class when he took the sash off to go to the bathroom. He would have rather not worn it at all. "I don't stand a chance next to Jake or Jordan, anyway. I don't have much to be excited for."

Brittany shook her head in disapproval. "Don't say that!" She exclaimed. "First of all, you have no idea what place you're going to rank. Second, I voted for you and not them so that's something to be excited for, right?"

He laughed. "Yeah, it is. Thank you."

"Of course," she smiled. "I guess we'll just have to wait and see the results."

"I guess," he nodded.

"Now, if you excuse me," she said, grabbing the megaphone from the table beside her. "I have to make sure everyone's doing what they're supposed to." Trevor chuckled, watching as she walked away on a mission.

Jordan was standing on the latter, hanging decorations at the front entrance of the gym. Max was standing below him, making sure he didn't fall backward.

"Nice job, Jordan!" Brittany said into the megaphone.

"Thanks, Britt!" He shouted back, feeling thankful that she didn't find a reason to claim he wasn't working efficiently. He breathed easy as he hung up another streamer.

Brittany turned around to see Cassie scrolling through her phone. She sighed, placing the megaphone in front of her mouth. "Cassie! Finish taping posters to the wall!"

She was quick to set her phone down, shrieking in fear. "I'm sorry!"

"It's alright," said Brittany as she swiveled around, only to see Parker playing with the hula hoops instead of hanging decorations. "Parker! Are you crazy? Put those away."

He stopped the hula hoop from spinning around his waist. "Sorry. We got bored."

Giovanni emerged from the corner, holding a hula hoop in his hand. Brittany should have figured he would also be behind that. "Just put them away and get back to work!" She hissed.

Jake chuckled on the bleachers, watching as the chaos of Brittany's dictation unfolded in front of his eyes. He found it quite amusing, especially when he saw those who weren't doing their work before she did. He almost wanted to point them out to her - he was that invested. It was like a game.

"Oh, look!" Jake said as he pointed in front of him. Juliana sat one step down from him, looking up from the decorations in her hand. "There's Lola. You should go over there and start another fight."

Juliana playfully rolled her eyes, not finding his comment very funny. "Jake, you know I regret that."

"Why?" He questioned before laughing. "I find it pretty funny you were fighting in front of your team."

"It was definitely unnecessary," she told him, turning back to doing her work before she was the next person Brittany called out. "I couldn't hold back, though. You should have heard what she was saying to me. I was provoked."

He chuckled, still finding it funny that his girlfriend got herself into a catfight. It wasn't every day that she texted him saying she got into a fight at practice. "What did she say again?"

Juliana sighed, evoking the situation. "She said that you're out of my league and that you were flirting with her when you first met," she said as Jake nodded his head, remembering what she told him the night it happened.

However, she left out a huge detail, and that was telling him that Lola said he didn't love her because they hadn't had sex yet. The truth was, Juliana had been avoiding that conversation. She thought it was awkward and didn't want to bring it up. What was she supposed to say? But now that she was given the chance to inform him of what Lola said, she figured she would just go for it.

"She also said that you don't love me because we haven't had sex."

Jake was flabbergasted, wondering why she was just telling him this now. It took him a few moments to gather his thoughts before speaking. "What?"

"Yeah," she nodded her head, avoiding turning around to look at him. She was too nervous to look into his eyes. "I know it's not true, though. It's not a big deal."

He shook his head with a look of disgust. "That's pretty rude of her to say," he commented, still in disbelief. "I'm sorry we haven't talked about it."

Juliana continued to tape the decorations together. "Well, to be fair, I didn't know if I should say something to you because this is my first time like... discussing it with a boy," she said before laughing at herself. "Actually, for a while, I didn't know it was something you talked about because Cassie and Jordan did it spontaneously in her hot tub."

"And I haven't been in her hot tub since," Jake laughed as she laughed with him. He was right. That was one place she'd been avoiding since Cassie informed her. "No, it's my fault. You aren't my first girlfriend. I should have asked you when you wanted to do it. I just didn't want to make you feel pressured, and I especially didn't want you to think I was forcing you if you weren't ready yet. I'll wait for as long as you want me to."

Juliana had been thinking about having sex with him for a few months now. She didn't see the point in waiting any longer. They had been dating for seven months, she loved him, and she felt ready. She had just been nervous to talk to him, and a little more nervous to actually do it.

"So," he spoke after there was silence between them. "Just let me know when you want to."

"I'm ready," she answered, finally gaining the courage to look into his eyes. "I don't care when."

He looked surprised, then nervous. "Are you sure? Please, I really don't want you to feel pressured, Juliana."

"You're not pressuring me. I've had time to think about it," she explained, putting him at ease. "It doesn't matter when just as long as we're not in the hot tub."

Jake laughed, shaking his head. "We can make it more special than that."

"Hey!" She lightly hit his leg. "It was special for them."

He lightly hit her back. "It wasn't their first time."

"That's true,"

"I'll make it special," he told her as she nodded, liking the sound of that. She wasn't sure what to expect or what was considered 'special' in the rule book of having sex, but she trusted him when he said that. "I promise."

She smiled at him. "Okay."