Because of You

Chapter 18

"I told you you could do it," Jay whispered into my hair. I had been practicing at the studio for weeks now and finally, finally, I was functioning properly again. I had just landed an axel turn with ease and I slumped against Jay, silent tears running down my cheeks. He was the only person I had cried in front of before. It felt strange... but good.

Nina wasn't there because she had planned to hang it with a friends and I told her I could manage a practice on my own. Jayden and I had gone on a couple dates but I had been pretty busy with dance. "Hey, I think we should celebrate. Ice cream?" Jayden said excitedly. He was always trying to get me to go out.

I smiled and looked at at him. "Sure."

He laced his fingers through my and bounced over to the door with me in tow. We walked to the little ice cream shop down the road and went in the door. "What'll it be for the lady?" he asked formally in a British accent.

I giggled. "Jay Jay," I mumbled, embarrassed. He smiled at me and began browsing the ice cream flavors. After a couple minutes we went up to the counter. "I'll have a scoop of chocolate chip cookie dough on a waffle cone and she'll have a scoop of cookies and cream on a cake cone," Jay said to the girl behind the counter. She looked around 17 or 18.

"Alrighty," she said cheerily, scooping up the ice cream. "That'll be four dollars!"

"Oh. Isn't that a little cheap?" Jayden said, glancing at the prices.

"You must've missed the sign," the girl said sweetly, "married couples get a discount this week!"

I blushed bright red and choked on the breath I was taking. "O-oh no we're no-not," I stuttered.

"We're not married. Just dating," Jayden said casually saving me.

The girl looked shocked, but not embarrassed as she said, "Oh. My mistake." She stood there for a minute and then waved her hand. "Ah what the heck I'll give you the discount anyways. You two are just too cute!"

I blushed even more, trying to make myself disappear behind Jayden. He just laughed and thanked the girl, giving her the money. He handed me my ice cream and we walked out the door. He poked my stomach playfully and I looked at him. "What?" I asked.

He suddenly burst out laughing and took a step back startled before I started laughing myself. I didn't know why we were laughing but it felt good. "Why... are we... laughing?" I gasped between breaths.

He put his thumb on my cheek and wiped and I felt something sticky. "You have ice cream on your face, Princess," he said.

Princess? My stomach flipped. Each day was something new, like he was working his way up one notch at a time and seeing what I could handle. It was scary, but exciting because I was always waiting in anticipation for that something. Still, each time he said it did something like that, butterflies infested my stomach. I smiled shyly at him. He didn't move his hand.

Suddenly I was aware that we were very close. He looked into my eyes with a soft smile. Slowly, ever so slowly, he inched his face closer to mine. And, out of nowhere, he kissed me. He kissed me. I tried to stay calm, but I had never been kissed and let's be real I was freaking out. I had no idea what to do. I stood stiffly, one arm pinned straight to my side, the other rigidly holding up my ice cream cone. I tried to do what I saw in the movies, but I wasn't sure if I was doing it right.

He pulled back, an amused look on his face. So I wasn't doing it right. He stepped away and grabbed my hand again, continuing our walk. That was it? But... it wasn't very dramatic. Definitely not like the movies. He glanced at me. I looked away awkwardly. "Wen." He tilted my chin back over so I was looking at him. He raised his eyebrows mischievously. "We're gonna have to work on that kiss."

I glared at him and he laughed. I tried to maintain my glare, but his laugh was too cute, too contagious. Soon we were both doubled over laughing. The half scoop of ice cream I had left went tumbling to the ground and Jayden choked out, "The ice cream!" We just started laughing harder. It was sad that the ice cream was gone though.

We finally settled down and I chomped away on my cone, leaning against Jay. He put his arm around me and pulled me closer to him. It was definitely one of my better days. After the crash I hadn't dreamed of being this happy again... but Jay, he had worked a miracle and made it happen.

Iiiii am so sorry I got lazy and forgot to update for a long time. Hopefully I'll be updating more frequently starting now. How are you guys liking the story? Is it too fluff? 😂 Please vote, comment, and follow me! Thank you my lovely readers!! Mwah😘