Brave (New Earth Saga)

Ch. 20

I felt the cool wind continue to hit my face as I sat on Joe's shoulder. At this altitude, in this late hour, it was much colder than I could have anticipated. Of course I had planned to go home with Aaron in his car, but of course I didn't even make it to the end of the dance without winding up back in what was seemingly becoming my home away from home, the principal's office.

One moment I was in pure bliss sharing a tender kiss with Trent, the next I was surrounded by yells and screams seeming to vibrate the entire cafeteria.

They thought he was trying to eat me. Giants who saw Trent and I actually thought he was trying to eat me instead of kiss me. This really brought to light that it was apparently more believable for Trent to look at me as a snack than oh, I don't know, a fricken PERSON, he just might have liked.

When I thought my life couldn't get more humiliating than the initial commotion in the cafeteria, I then had to explain what was actually happening between Trent and I to both Vice Principal Marshall, Principal Howard, and then a very worried, and overly concerned Joe. Truth be told, I've always felt a little on the outside being one of those march to the beat of my own drum types, but today was a whole new level of individuality I was in no way trying to reach. I can assure you, that without a doubt I was the only person in the entire school who first very nearly scared her date half to death by not warning him that her dad was in fact many stories bigger than him, only to turn around and offend said dad, because it was apparently imperative that both dad and date felt uncomfortable, and then to top it all off I was caught kissing another guy who was not my date, only for the school to freak out and call home because it apparently looked like I was about to be eaten.

Once Joe and I finally arrived home, it felt like deja vu to my first day of school where all I wanted to do was curl up into a ball and hide from my problems in my bed, but instead Joe walked straight to the kitchen and placed me on my pedestal atop his giant table. Silently, Joe sat down in one of his chairs and struck me with a look of disappointment. Of course he was disappointed, I'm a huge embarrassment to him. First I dropped the M word at him, then I humiliated him in front of the principal and vice principal of the school he's put so much into. I'm the worst.

"Would you like me to start?" Joe finally asked, breaking the silence. I couldn't yet find my voice so I shook my head yes. "I don't think you need a lecture from me, cuz I'm sure you're doing that to yourself in that head of yours, but I might need to say some things that I think you need to fully understand." I again found myself nodding my head on the verge of breaking over anticipation of what Joe was about to say.

"Morgan, I love you unconditionally. So you know what that means? It's not a temporary thing. Nothing about you is temporary for me. I say this because I sometimes feel like you think I'm going to just wake up and be done with you one day or something, but if you could see how much of my heart you take up, you'd see that that's impossible."

I didn't know what to say. That wasn't at all the direction I thought Joe was going with the convo. I mean, a part of me knew and believed he loved me unconditionally, but with Mom no longer here, it just felt like the family glue was missing.

Next, Joe surprised me once again by apologizing for his behavior earlier today. If anyone should have been apologizing, it should have been me! I'm the one who dropped the M word! However, Joe refused to let me interrupt him to apologize. He continued making his point clear, and then revealed that his demeanor toward Aaron had shifted earlier because he knew Aaron's father, Anthony Trust.

Surprised to hear Joe confirm the suspensions Aaron and I had earlier about the possibility of Joe and Aarons dad knowing each other, I pleaded to hear how they knew each other. Joe clearly wasn't thrilled to know Aaron's dad, and as Jade would say, I needed to hear the juice. Of course, Joe wasn't going to make it all that easy. Joe suggested we take turns answering questions. If you give an answer, the other person has to give an answer next.