𝐖𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐒 ¹ || 𝒋𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒂𝒉 𝒇𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒓

𝟏𝟓

𝑲𝑬𝑵𝑫𝑨𝑳𝑳

𝐇𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐞𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐡𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐭, 𝐧𝐞𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐈. Eventually he seemed to settle on an uncertain smile as I sat across from him. I tore my gaze off of him to glance at the table and noticed an iced tea waiting for me, the wrapper folded into a little rose next to it. That's a habit I've found Jer doing whenever he was nervous or waiting, he always had to be doing something with his hands. I'm the same way.

I smiled a little and Jeremiah's eyes seemed to light up at the sight, "I got you a burrito too if you happened to be hungry."

"Thanks," I replied, not entirely hungry from the nerves of this conversation. God, Nicole would kill me if she knew I didn't eat today.

The air wasn't quite as awkward as I expected due to Jeremiah talking after about thirty seconds. "Kendall I don't even know where to start," he sighed and locked eye contact with me. "I've been thinking ahead to when I'd be talking to you and its like everything I'm at a loss of words. First thing I want to do is say sorry, obviously. I know that I've said it before, but my actions never seem to prove it and I feel awful. This time I'm going to prove it," I stopped him for a second and he looked at me, more attentive to me than he'd ever been. It reminds me of one of the first times I'd ever opened up to him about my family. His attention on me and nothing but me.

If it was anyone else I would have felt small under the intensity of his gaze, but this is just Jeremiah. This is the boy I fell in love with. The version of him sitting across from me; the patient and attentive boy that showered me with affection and comfort.

"Jer, how," my voice cracked a little bit despite the soft tone I spoke to him with. "This isn't the first time you've said that," I added and he didn't look away from me. I watched his arm debate reaching out to hold my arm that rested on the table. I couldn't look at him anymore.

He apparently made a decision and gently held my hand across the table making little comforting circles of his thumb as his soft tone brought me back to reality, "Hey, hey Ken, look at me please."

I didn't move my hand away as I looked at Jer as he continued, "Can I show you why I fell in love with you Ken?"

I nodded as he brought a little brown paper box onto the table from next to him, "Open it," he instructed and I looked at him.

"You can't-" I started to say and he cut me off.

"Win you back with gifts, I know. I'm not going to, just please open it," Jer finished my sentence and I bit back a smile.

"JEREMIAH," one of the workers called and he looked at me.

"Hold on one sec?" he asked and I nodded and couldn't help the quiet laugh that followed. This boys timing is almost comedic, almost.

Jer returned maybe 45 seconds later holding two tin foil wrapped breakfast burritos and two mini cups of salsa.

"Burritos can wait," I asked and he smiled.

"Yeah," Jer agreed and I took the top off the box.

On the top of things inside the box was about 20 scraps of paper. The first one I took out was instantly recognized as the corner of a page of his notebook. It had been an extended science period and I had taken to drawing in his notebook instead of taking notes. A few hearts circled one that had a j+k in the middle. "Science class, before we started dating. You practically fell asleep on my shoulder," he said and I smiled at the memory.