Our Little Love Story *NOW PUBLISHED ON AMAZON KINDLE!!*

chapter eleven

We quickly sat up, and I could instantly feel the heat of embarrassment flood across my cheeks. 

“Oh, uh, hi, Mom. Uhhmm, you guys remember Tiffany?” Jared asked, straightening himself more on the couch next to me.

Jared’s mom didn’t say anything, just walked off to her bedroom shaking her head. 

“Yeah. Hi, Tiffany,” Jared’s dad said. He turned around to go back into the kitchen, but not before I caught the hint of a smile on his face. 

“Well, uh, you ready to go back home?” Jared asked, looking over at me. I nodded my head, still too embarrassed to speak. We got up, straightening the couch cushions and headed out the front door. 

Once inside his vehicle, Jared drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, and then looked over at me. I looked back, silent. I wasn’t sure what to say, or how to go about saying it.

“Well, that was… something,” Jared stated, referring to his parents walking in on our full-blown make out session.

“Yeah,” I agreed. Jared and I looked at each other for a long while, and then both burst out laughing. 

“Well, I guess they know now, about me and you,” Jared said, still laughing.

“Yeah, I guess they do,” I giggled a little, still unable to believe we were ’caught in the act.’ 

Later on that night, I lay in my bed, thinking over the hours before. I’m not sure exactly how I got so lucky, or what I did that was so right to deserve someone like Jared in my life, but I’m glad that it was so. I fell asleep soon after, Jared in every dream I had that night.

****

We were sitting around our table the next afternoon, just finishing lunch after we had attended church. Jared was there with his parents of course. There was a moment of awkwardness (at least for me) when they stopped by where we were sitting to say hello. Jared simply said hi, and returned to the other side of the sanctuary with his parents for the service. 

I was leaving in the morning for our church retreat, and I still needed to pack everything. I went into my bedroom and tossed my suitcase and duffel bag onto my bed. Sighing, I started rummaging through my closet for ‘church appropriate’ attire. I wasn’t sure if I’d have access to a washer and dryer, so I just took a few sets of pajamas, and enough socks, underwear, and outfits for the two weeks. I went into the bathroom and grabbed all of my hair stuff, toothbrush and toothpaste, and anything else I would need while I was gone. Tossing everything into my blue duffel bag, I zipped it closed, and sat on my bed.

“Oh, better get some stuff to do for the drive,” I said out loud to myself, and grabbed another small overnight duffel bag. I tossed in some books, my cell phone charger, a notebook and some pens, my Ipod, and some snack sized bags of chips and a few granola bars. I set the bags and suitcase on the floor at the foot of my bed and grabbed my phone off of my desk, and laid down on my bed.