Falling In Love: Of All The Dumb Luck (On Hold)

Chapter 19

Jared:

I had laid in bed for a couple of hours after Kelsea left contemplating whether or not I should go see her, then decided we should go to the lake.

I took Kelsea out to the lake, it's always been our favorite spot, the place we run to when we need a break, to think. It's almost 4:30 when we get to the lake. We walk out to our favorite spot by the ridge, the water is roaring over the rocks. "Now will you tell me what's going on? What's so important that couldn't wait until the morning, even if it couldn't wait till morning you didn't have to drag me out here at three in the morning."

I take in a deep breath of the morning air before I sat down. The scent of the trees, the water; the sound of the water hitting the rocks, bringing back all of the memories we have here. "Remember the first time our parents brought us out here..."

"It was for Holly's third birthday. Your parents rented that big house at the other end of the lake. We were determined to jump right in the boat the minute we got here.

I continued, "We all got into the boat and rode around forever. We stopped over by the tree..." It was the end of the beach, where the sand touches the grass. The rocks lead from the sand like stairs in a castle.

"Our parents decided we were going to have the picnic on the hill under the oak tree."

"And that's when we found this spot; right here..."

"And we've been coming back ever since." Kelsea said finishing my sentence. "So what's on your mind? Why'd you bring me out here?"

"I'm gonna cut right to the point here..." I inhaled, quickly preparing myself for what I'm about to say.

"I wish you would." She cut in.

"Kelsea I'm not in the mood for your snarky comments!" I exclaimed, standing up. I didn't mean for it to sound so mean. "I'm trying to be serious here!" I started pacing, Kelsea stood up and met my pace, placing a hand on either arm, grabbing my attention. There we stood, staring into each others eyes, perfectly understanding each other without saying a word.

I couldn't tell you who leaned in first. But it felt perfect. Our lips finally touching after all these years. Her arms moved up around my neck, my hands on the small of her back, our lips touching, moving in perfect sync. Then I felt a raindrop hit my arm, then another, and another. The rain started pouring down. We pulled our lips apart, but didn't let our bodies separate an inch.

Kelsea:

We pulled into Jared's driveway just as the sun came up. Neither of us said a word the entire ride home. He pulled the car into his driveway, and turned the car off. I slowly unbuckled my seatbelt, and opened the door. I climbed out of the car and crossed the grass to my front porch, unlocked the door, slowly pushing it open, so I didn't wake my dad up.

I pushed the door shut behind me, and leaned back against the door, closing my eyes, playing the night over in my head, again and again.

"You got an early start." I force my eyes open. "What?"

"You got an early start with your physical therapy. I'm proud of you. How strong you've been through all this." I can't lie to my dad, and for a split second I thought about it. "Or not. I don't know anyone who starts PT at three in the morning." But something told me he already knew. Maybe it was the look on his face, or the look in his eyes. "Dad we were just..." He cut me off, "I don't want to know...  Go get changed and come get some breakfast." He said and walked towards the kitchen, I almost forgot that I was soaking wet. I went upstairs and changed into some dry clothes, then went and had breakfast with my dad.

Later That Day

Jared texted me, making sure it was safe to come over. I reassured him that my dad wasn't going to kill, but I'm only like 75% sure about that.

Minutes later Jared's head popped through the door. "Hey, J."

"Hey. I think we need to talk."

I cut in. "About last night."

"About the last few months." I gave him a questioning look. He grabbed my hand and led me to the couch. We talked for hours. He told me about what happened while he was out. At first I couldn't believe it, then everything made sense. "So did you ever figure out who hit us?" I ask trying to draw some of the tension away from the conversation.

"No, I almost did. Before I woke up, I think. The last of it's a little fuzzy." Now I was curious, maybe he remembered all of that stuff about the car. In the last three months I had been looking for someone to blame for all of this. The cops got nowhere, but if he's remembering all this, maybe they can figure this out know. "Do you, by any chance remember that license plate number?"

"Maybe. Why?" 

"You do know that they didn't find out who did it, right?"

"I guess I didn't think about it. What are you thinking?"

"Taking it to Detective Hunt." I said slowly, slightly mocking Jared, but also to make sure he was on the same page.

And that's what we did, He said he'd call and let us know what he finds, and asked him to not mention it to my dad.

When I got off the phone Jared asked, "So, why are we not mentioning this to your dad?"

"What do you think I spent my time in the hospital doing? I obsessed over this, finding the person who... took you away." I slowed at the end of my sentence, knowing fully that I just left it all out in the open, waiting for Jared's response.

"Sometimes I forget that you guys worried that entire time, that I wasn't the only person effected by the accident. But I did the same thing, kind of, because I tried to figure it out, too." And for a split second I saw the vulnerability in his eyes.

"So, what is this?" Jared said gesturing between us.

"What do you want it to be?"