Trust Me: A Jesse Rutherford Love Story

Chapter 12

"So what now?" I laughed a bit, our foreheads still against eachother's.

"You wanna just stay here a little longer?" He asked, motioning to a small sofa in the otherwise empty room.

"Yeah," I smiled. I liked that idea. We sat down, his arm around my shoulders, me comfortably curled into him. "Actually I have something to admit," I said suddenly.

"What is it?" he asked, sounding a slightly alarmed.

"I don't really have that much relationship experience..." I trailed off, trying not to embarrass myself.

"Oh," His voice softened. "That's okay. We'll take it slow if that's what you want to do." I smiled at him, thinking about how lucky I was to have someone like him. Someone stepped into the doorway just then, causing us both to look up. Niall stared at us, looking wide eyed and devastated. He backed away quickly, not wanting to see anything more. I felt bad. It's the worst thing, to have feelings for someone that aren't returned.

"He'll be fine," Jesse reassured me, confirming my suspicions that he had seen what had happened last night. But I didn't want to talk about last night. My jaw still hurt a little bit, and so did my arm. But As long as I was wrapped in Jesse's arms, I felt safe. We sat in a comfortable silence for a while, absorbing the atmosphere. The sounds of the party were muted, but I could tell everyone was laughing, in a happy mood.

"So why don't we go on a date the day after tomorrow?" Jesse proposed, breaking the silence.

"The day after tomorrow?" I asked, confused.

"Tomorrow's the fourth of July, I'm guessing everybody's going to want to celebrate," He explained. "So? What do you say?"

"I think that sounds great," I said happily, getting lost in his eyes all over again. "Where are we going?" I asked curiously.

"If I told you, the whole surprise would be ruined," He exclaimed.

"Surprise?" I raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, surprise."

"Please?" I pouted

"You're going to have to wait."

>>---------------> <---------------<<

The rest of that night passed in a blur, but I'm pretty sure that everyone knew what had happened between Jesse and I. Zach's birthday was pretty happy, for the most part, other than the unhappiness he had over not knowing about Quinn's secret. He asked me about it again later that night, but I wouldn't-I couldn't say. It was already ten o' clock, independence day, and the anticipation for the following day was unreal. Tomorrow would be the first date of many, then the next day, we would drive to the beach for Quinn's birthday and spend a few days there. I was sitting on the couch at our hotel room, flipping through channels on the tv with a bag of microwavable popcorn next to Jesse, Harry, Quinn, Zach, and Mikey.

"So where are we goin'?" I asked as Jesse stuck his hand in the bag of popcorn. He didn't even bother replying, he just ate his popcorn in silence, smirking at my attitude towards the situation.

"It's about time you two went on a date," Quinn said from the other side of Harry, who was beside me.

"You're one to talk," Harry remarked, his eyes not moving from his computer screen.

"Excuse me?" Quinn asked in confusion.

"Nevermind it," I could feel Mikey roll his eyes.

"Whatever," she said, looking at the thing she and Harry were doing on his computer. "I know where you're going," She bragged, knowing what it would do to me.

"What?" I asked, almost choking on my popcorn. She smiled evilly and looked back at Harry's computer. I groaned in frustration; she was as hard to break as Jesse. I continued to channel surf until i saw a picture of The Neighbourhood pop onto the screen. I flipped back a channel to see what it was all about.

"The Neighbourhood was out celebrating band member Jeremy Freedman's birthday at Amos' Southend in Charlotte the other day, along with bands Prodigy and One Direction. That's right, hold in your screams, girls. The Neighbourhood and One Direction, and our homies in Prodigy all hang out." The entertainment reporter smiled excitedly.

"Homies?" Zach asked, the tv capturing his attention from his phone.

"But could there have been drama?" The reporter continued, causing all of our heads to snap up and look at the tv screen.

"Nicole Ryder left the club early, quickly followed by Je-" I changed the channel, not wanting to hear what was about to be said.

"Wait, Nikki, What?" Quinn asked, worried. Jesse took my hand and squeezed it, knowing what had happened. Louis was the only other person who knew.

"Nothing happened," I lied.

"Anyway, I have to go talk to Liam," Jesse said, saving me from any further conversationing on the topic. "You want to come?" He asked, holding his hand out to help me up. I nodded and took his hand, then left to go find Liam. I could hear Harry, Quinn, Zach, and Mikey fighting over the remote, then the channel being switched back to the one with the reporter. I sighed, and pushed open the door to Liam's room in the hotel suite, Jesse behind me. Liam was sitting on his bed with Bryan, Louis, and Niall. Niall coughed on his bottle of water as soon as he saw us, and abruptly stood up. I tried to avoid eye contact knowing what would happen, but he looked right at me. Just by that one look, even though it was a glance, I could see the sadness. How much it pained him to look at Jesse and I holding hands, or even being near eachother.

"I'm going to go.." Niall started, his voice getting too choked up. Maybe because of the water, maybe because of his emotions. looked away, feeling worse. He cleared his throat. "to go talk to Dylan and Quinn. And probably Zayn."

"Okay," Liam acknowledged, his expression unreadable as he watched Niall awkwardly squeeze past me through the door. I looked at the ground, feeling everyone's eyes in my general direction.

"So," Louis began, slowly turning his head from the door. "Are you two..?" He smiled a little, lightening the mood. I was happy that I knew Lou. He was so supportive.

"Yeah," Jesse clarified, Looking at me. I started to smile, like an idiot, still looking elsewhere. I finally had what I wanted, why should I let Niall's crush get in the way? "But, um, Liam, can I talk to you?" Bryan, Louis and I sensed that Liam would need a little bit of space if he was going to answer whatever Jesse was about to ask him, so we moved away.

"Where's the ringg?" Louis joked in a soft tone.

"There isn't one," I laughed. "But he asked me on a date."

"Where?" Bryan asked, grinning.

"Like you don't know," I told him.

"You're right, I do know," Bryan teased.

"So do I," Louis said. I looked at them both as if to say, 'are you serious?', causing them both to laugh.

"Everyone knows, don't they," I realized.

"He's been planning it for a really long time, love," Louis said, amused.

"Oh," i said blankly. He's been thinking of asking me on a date for a long time? "He likes me," I said happily, almost too loud.

"Obviously," Bryan rolled his eyes, smiling at my happiness over the fact. I looked over at Jesse, who looked up from Liam, smiling sadly. Something was going on with Liam. I motioned for Bryan and Louis to be quiet so that I could hear what was going on.

"As long as he's there though, I have no chance," Liam said, looking much like Niall had.

"Dude, if they do start dating, he'll probably realize they're no good for eachother." Jesse reasoned. "And if not, I'll always be here to help you." I had no idea what that meant, so I couldn't be sure whether it was good or not.

"I don't know how much more of it I can take though," Liam said quietly.

"If you love her, you can wait," Jesse told him, smiling up at me. I bit my lip and looked at my feet, too embarrassed to look him in the eye. He's sweeter than the jackass reputation some people pin on him. Bryan and Louis seemed genuinely happy for us. And I was grateful for that.