Dear Jason

Burn

"I'll do your show with you under one condition," I mumbled, my hands moving from his face to his shoulders.
"Hmm?" he hummed quietly, staring back and forth from my eyes to my mouth.
"Tell me why you didn't come to me sooner," I asked quietly.
"I told you," he began, "I'm not all that good at talking to girls."
"Bull," I chuckled. "If you went to any girl in our school with your actual personality and that bike you'd be instant boyfriend material."
"Well you were blatantly ignoring me," he sighed. "After everything that happened with Ethan and Jake, I mean. I figured you weren't-"
"I know," I interrupted. "I was, I guess, avoiding you. I didn't want to be, I just was. That's probably why Heather has me burning the notebook. I kept all sorts of thoughts and stuff in there, including the stupid rules that Heathers follow. She had me write them down when I was a freshman, but lately she's been telling me to ditch them."
"You're not a Heather," he chuckled, and I nodded.
"That's what she's been saying," I agreed. I let go of his shoulders and leaned back against the wall of the house. I watched the fire burn and sighed softly.
"My parents always had higher expectations for Heather than they had for me," I said, letting out a soft chuckle. "She was always more social while I was always getting into trouble. I mean, they'd praise me for being smart but it was clear it didn't mean much to them. They're the kind of people who would rather their kid be popular than smart. So, when Heather and I were in the same school again, she took me under her wing. It was absolutely an attempt to get my parents to leave me alone. She would cover me whenever I got in trouble at school for being a wise ass, and I would help her with her schoolwork. That notebook is the notebook I kept freshman and sophomore year."
"Heather and Alex dragged me into a classroom," J.D blurted out, and I quickly looked over at him.
"They did what?" I asked, standing up straight.
"No, no," he chuckled. "Not like that. They wanted to talk to me. It was after Alex broke Ethan's nose. She stormed out of the cafe and then stormed back in to get me. You were busy laughing over Ethan and Jake's shattered reputation."
"Oh," I sighed, relieved that they didn't scare him. "Why?"
"That I'm not supposed to tell you," he chuckled, stepping towards me. "But, uh..."
He put his hands on my hips and looked closely at me. The look on my face must've told him I was okay with it, because he then wrapped both arms around my waist and smiled. "I guess you can take a wild guess."
"You're just as big a pain in the ass as I am," I mumbled, and he laughed.
"What a coincidence," he smiled, and I rested my hands on the back of his neck. "Am I gonna be able to see you like this at school?"
"Have I ever been one to care?" I asked, and he leaned down and kissed me.
"You're a dork," I mumbled against his lips as he began to pull away.
J.D looked at the watch around his wrist and kissed my nose. "I gotta put this out," he said, letting go of me and beginning to put out the fire. "It's showtime."