Jason Douglas and Carissa Carmichael manage to fall head over heels for each other in the short time they both are attending a Summer youth convention before senior year. A scandal quickly derails their budding love and once they return home they b...
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"Please fasten your seat belts we are preparing for landing." I hear as I groggily woke up. " We're here already?" I ask the guy sitting next to me. I really need to ask him his name. " Yeah, you were sleep for awhile." he says fastening his seatbelt. " What's your name by the way?" he ask staring at me. " Carissa." I say out of breath while quickly snapping my seatbelt into place and letting my seat back up. " Well i guess this is goodbye." he says looking at me nervously. " I guess so." i say biting my lip " Here let me put my number in your phone, maybe we'll bump into each other again someday." " Maybe." I say handing him my iphone. I watch him as he goes into my messages and type a quick message then hand the phone back to me. " Here, i text myself so that i would have yours as well, it should send when we land and you switch your airplane mode off." "Thanks that was nice of you." I say blushing. "And smart." I add. The plane lands smoothly and before i know it we're getting our luggage and heading in separate directions. Ugh! I forgot to even get his name! Dejectedly I make my way towards the pick up cars and limos until i see a sign with my name. "Hello, I'm Carissa and I'm going to the youth convention." i say putting my hand out for the elderly man to shake. "Ahhh Carissa, I've missed you so much, you've grown so much." he says pulling me into a bear hug. "Hey Jeffery." i say hugging him back. " What's with the sign, you didn't think I'd notice you?" i say laughing. He had been the same driver for me here since my first convention in 7th grade. He was always nice and he looked out for me anyway he could. He was an old friend of my dads.
"Okay let's go Missy ." He says putting my luggage in the trunk . "I know you might want to grab some real food before you report for your sentence ." he jokes closing my door and hopping in the driver's seat. He was absolutely right I had to have at least one more fast food meal. At the convention everyone was so wrapped up in calories and carbs. Every summer I lost at least five pounds from just eating rabbit food. It was pure torture.
" So where would you like to go before I drop you off? Jeffrey asks looking at me through the rearview mirror.
"How about Zaxby's?" I say pulling out my phone. I dial my dad and he picks up on the fourth ring. "Hey Car ,everything going good?" My dad ask cheerily. " Yeah I made it safely. I'm in the car with Jeffrey headed to the campus."
"Tell Jeff I said hey and have fun,text me when you're settled in." "Jeffrey my dad said hi." I say looking at Jeffrey. He waves back as a response while pulling out into traffic. "He says hey dad. I guess I'll talk to you later." " Talk to you later Car. "My dad said hanging up. " How's he doing?"Jeffrey asks quietly. I sigh. "I barely see him anymore, he's always so busy, a lot more than usual." Jeffrey shook his head. "I remember when he was so carefree, who would have thought he would end up being the CEO of a top business?" He chuckles to himself. I didn't know the carefree man he spoke of. I vaguely remember my dad being that way when I was a toddler but that all went away when he took over the business for my grandfather.
"We're here." Jeffrey says startling me out of my thoughts. "Great because those peanuts on the plane weren't nearly enough." I say rushing out of the car. I order my food and we sit down at one of the black booths near the door. I am silent and savior my meal. Every now and then I look up at Jeffrey looking at me sadly. When I finish my meal I can't take it anymore so I just ask. "Jeffrey what's wrong? Why do you look so down?" " Well Carissa I guess you're old enough for me to tell you." He says bringing his hands together. "I have stage 4 cancer and I'm not doing too well." My hands immediately come up to my mouth as I gasp.
"That's not the sad part Carissa." He says bringing my hands back down. "My daughter just deployed to Iraq and I don't believe I'll be around when she gets back."He finishes looking down. " Don't say that." I say tears stinging my eyes. " Its the truth. I have 6 months at max." He said sniffling and clearing his throat. " "Now come on so you can make your grand entrance miss Carmicheal." He says smiling and grabbing my hand to help me up. I dump my tray and walk to the car quietly. The entire ride to campus I'm deep in thought. Jeffrey was a good man and a good dad to Sam. I remembered the two summers when Sam came to the convention with me. She was great,she would be heartbroken when she lost her father. He was the only family she had left since her mom had passed away giving birth to her.
"She know's." Jeffrey says interrupting my thoughts yet again. "Huh?" i ask confused. "Sam knows I'm dying and she's at peace. She pushed up her wedding date for me to walk her down the aisle. It was a beautiful ceremony and she was a beautiful bride." I silently shake my head and sit the rest of the car ride in silence.
I straighten up in my seat as i start to notice the campus. I don't know whether to dread the fact that I'm finally here or get excited. I had spent my last 6 summers here.
Slowly the dorms got bigger and bigger as we approached the drop off circle. The car stopped and the trunk opened. I grab my shoulder bag and get out.
Jeffrey hugs me and hands me the handle to my luggage. "Knock them dead kiddo, i know you'll do great." he says as he gets back in the car and drive off. Sadly that felt like a final goodbye.
I walk to the front door of the dorms where a tall thin brunette is standing with a clipboard. "Hi!" the woman chirps a little too excitedly. "I'm Sharon and I'll be interning here this summer. Welcome to the Business Youth Convention! What's your name sweetie?" she asks looking down at her clipboard. "Carissa." i said adjusting my bag on my shoulder. "Carissa Carmicheal." my phone vibrates in my pocket but i ignore it. "Oh my goodness!" she says panicking. "I didn't recognize you, you don't ,um, look like you." she says stuttering. She really meant i didn't look super glammed up and rich like in the magazines, i looked normal in my jeans and tank top. "It's ok." i said laughing good naturedly. "I know my way from here." i say heading to the common room for the welcome brief. I roll my luggage into one of the cubby's and scan the room with my eyes. I see a lot of familiar faces and a few new ones. "CARISSA!" i hear as someone jumps on my back. I look around to see Breanna and Sabrina walking up. "Thank goodness you're here, i was starting to think you had escaped on us." Sabrina says hugging my neck. I hug Breanna too when she finally gets off my back. My phone vibrates again reminding me that i have a text. It read: Unknown #: I see you're well acquainted, you must not be new around here. I type a quick response confused: Me: Who is this and what are you talking about? A response came back quickly Unknown: You must not have saved my number, this is Jason. Me: Who? Unknown: From the plane today. I'm behind you. Hi Carissa.
I turn around slowly and gulp. There he was by the bookshelf, smirking back at me. I lifted my hand to wave and he returned it.
"Who's that?" Breanna asks looking between the both of us. "Jason." i say breathlessly
********************* Excuse my grammar! What's your favorite thing to watch on Netflix?
