Wondering why

Part 9

When Saturday rolled around I could not think of anything worse than spending the day building an angry old lady a shed.

I wandered down to the angry old lady’s house with Damien, a can of paint in each of our hands. When we arrived Jared was already there with a giant pile of wood and a hammer in his right hand. Damien dropped off the paint he was carrying next to the wood and waved a quick goodbye before running off to baseball practice, which I had probably already made him late for.

It was a warm bright morning and the day was only going to get hotter, yet I still decided to wear a hoodie. So not only do I look like the walking dead in hobo form but I will soon be drowning in a pool of sweat. It’s a promising start.

We started the building in silence other than the odd instruction. He was doing all the constructing and I was just holding up random pieces of wood for him to hammer together. “Ok, this is definitely wrong. What does the instructions say?”

He continued hammering and muttered, “I don’t need instructions to build a shed.”

Brilliant he is one of those suborn guys who refuse to use instructions. I drop the plane of wood I’m holding up for him and let it hit the ground with a loud bang. And reach for the instructions on the grass. Portuguese, German, Japanese, English. “So piece A, which looks like that one over there,” I point to one of the pieces that hasn’t been touched and is still in the pile, “needs to be hammered in to Piece C, which is that one is that one by your foot, at a 90 degrees angle. Ooo they’re testing your maths, don’t mess this one up.” I joke.

“I know what I’m doing we don’t need the instructions.” Jared declared.

I walk over to him and show him the picture of what it is supposed to look like in the end, “At the moment this looks like a gingerbread house made by a 2 year old,” I bluntly state.

“It does not!”

“You can’t even make it stand up, I bet even the 2 year old could figure that one out.”

“Fine.” he drags out the word like it’s painful. I win.

“So, you need to position the foundation pole parallel to the opening at a 2 metre distance.”

He smirks “I think I’m starting to like bossy Holly.”

I just roll my eyes and pass him more nails. We carry on like this for the next couple of hours me reading him the instructions; passing him wood and nails while he assembles it. After a good two and a half hours the structure looks decent and we begin getting ready to paint it.

Before we start painting the old lady comes out with a tray of food for us and a smile. She no longer looks angry but appreciative. Well I bloody hope so. It turns out the woman is called Meryl, and she had a husband but now is satisfied with four cats. “How did that effect the sex life?” Jared asks. Although I said nothing I still find myself going red and apologising for him.

I hit him in the arm “Ouch. What was that for? It was a valid question.” He defends himself while I am hiding my face from embarrassment, to even be associated with him.

“Oh darling, I’ve still got it” she winks at him. This conversation is officially cringe-worthy. I begin painting leaving the seventeen year old and the seventy year old to flirt. They could go on one of those TV shows about how their relationship still works, despite their age difference. With their 50 years they could probably have their own documentary.

I hear footsteps behind me and turn to find Meryl has gone inside and Jared is picking up a paint brush. “So did you get your make out session in the bushes?” I smirk.

“She was harder to pull than I thought”

“Aww, did little baby Ryder get rejected?”

“Never, I let the girl down easy. I told her I was more interested in my Bossy Holly.” I blushed a deep red blush, I didn’t turn around from where I was painting to hide it, but a small smile crept up on my lips. He had said ‘my …. Holly’ and I had another nickname, I didn’t like it but it’s the thought that counts.

Jared came up behind me and I turned to face him. His face looked more angular than usual in this light. The wall came into contact with my back. Shit, that’s wet paint sticking to my back. Jared was coming closer and closer, looking incredibly hot. I was breathing heavily now, while Jared looked from my eyes to my lips. Oh my God, he’s going to kiss me. No no no. I’m not ready for this, whatever this is. I panicked and just followed my body’s lead. I lifted my hand and painted a big blue stripe down his nose. I couldn’t help myself I began giggling out of control. He stared at me stunned and slightly deflated; he noticed I didn’t want to kiss him.

The big difference I have noticed between England and the US is that here if someone likes someone they go for it jump straight in head first, but in England you have to search for the bold otherwise people just end up tiptoeing around the fact that there is something for way too long.

He finally retaliated by painting a giant red cross across my face. He was laughing with me now. I rubbed blue all down his face and he reached down to the red pallet on the floor and flicked the paint all down me. So I got more paint with my hands and ran them down from his face to the bottom of his shirt. It was definitely enjoying running my hands down his toned body more than he was. I tried to make a break to the other colours of paint sat in the middle of the garden, but Jared grabbed my arm. Me being a clumsy idiot stumbled and fell bringing Jared down with me. He came at me, “Come give me a hug,” he laughed, I was laughing too and it was making me weak. My get away attempt was pathetic and I ended up wrapped in Jared’s paint covered body. It was warm lying in his arms on the lawn under the sun. I didn’t try to escape, I actually moved in closer enjoying the warmth he was giving me. Our faces were inches apart and our breath was mingling together, but he didn’t try anything, he just held me tighter.

Our moment was very rudely interrupted by Meryl who shouted out the window “I don’t want you two making purple on my lawn.”

Jared jumped a good five inches away from me and I just lay there in a fit of giggles. And I never giggle. Ever.

We finished up a very pretty shed if I may say so myself. Not to toot my own horn or anything but I would go as far as saying it was better than the shed across the road. Someone had to say it. Jared offered to drive me home, then realised he still didn’t have a car so he walked me home instead. Right to the door, “Night Jared.” I smiled.

“Goodnight Dimples.”

~*~*~*~

A/N

Sorry this update is so late I am currently starting a new story which should be up soon.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please feel free to vote, comment & fan.

-Staryskies