UNSPOKEN

20 (Present and Past)

Present

Once we got to the house where I was delivering the muffins, Jackson decided to stay in the car because he saw that one of the guests to the brunch was friends with his mother and he didn't want her mother to know he was there. I shook my head and took the trays into the house by myself, got paid and went back to the car.

"Really?" I asked looking at him.

"What?" he said.

"Your mother doesn't know you are staying at her place?" I asked turning into my seat to see him better.

"Nope, she doesn't," he said not looking at me. "Want to have lunch?"

"Only if you tell me how it is that your mother doesn't know you are staying here and why is it that you don't want her knowing," I said crossing my arms.

"I'll do my best," he grinned.

"Take me to lunch then," I said.

We ended up eating at a tiny restaurant next to the beach where we ordered a couple of burgers and sat on a picnic kind of table.

"So," I said while grabbing a fry from his basket he slapped my hand and smiled Get yours " you can have one of my onion rings," I said showing him the rings basket he shook his head. "Anyway," I finally said, "tell me. Why does your mother ignore your whereabouts?" I asked.

He shrugged and then looked up. "I don't want her looking for me," I stared at him "What, Mar?" he asked like a little boy throwing a tantrum.

"That's not a good enough answer," I took a bite of my burger and continued to stare at him.

"Ok," he took a deep breath "my parents are close friends with Sally's parents," Sally. I loathed the name it was so cheesy. "I've known her all my life," I nodded but wondered if he had something with Sally back when we met. How long have they dated? "So, if my parents knew where I was they would be here persuading me to go back to Sally or even worse, Sally would be here!" I could see the panic on his face.

"Where do they think you are?" I asked biting on an onion ring.

"Jersey," I raised an eyebrow "they think I am staying with Ray," I raised an eyebrow again. " You remember Ray, don't you?," I nodded. "he got married like 3 years ago because he knocked up his girlfriend and now they live in New Jersey." He shrugged.

"Sally won't go looking for you at Ray's?" I really didn't want to know about Sally but I wanted to know about Jackson. He was opening up and I was finally getting a glimpse of what was going on in his life and I was willing to endure the mention of Sally's name.

"No," he shook his head as he took a sip of the beer he had ordered. "They hate each other," he shrugged.

"That's gotta be difficult," I said looking at the beach. "Dating someone that your best friend hates," I shrugged.

"It is, but it has always been like this. Ever since we were in 3rd grade and they had to "share" me." I laughed out loud at that.

"You are so full of yourself," I shook my head.

"Am I?" he looked at me smiling, Ray loves you.

"I haven't seen Ray in years," I said, as I took a bite from my burger.

"He loves you though," he said and I nodded.

Past

December had always been a busy time at Ronan's bakery so between my job there and all the orders I've received for holiday muffins and cookies I was exhausted but Alexa dragged me to a stupid party anyway. It was freezing and everyone was inside the house where the party was but I wanted to enjoy the beach. Winter was my favorite season because I could actually enjoy the beach without getting burned by the sun, at least not too much; I could get away with a few layers of sunscreen.

I wrapped my favorite hoodie around me and sat while contemplating the ocean. There was a bit of snow here and there but not enough to discourage me of enjoying the fresh air for a while. I took a deep breath because I felt something shifting on the weather, I needed a bigger income of oxygen and suddenly I knew why. I turned around to find Jackson leaning against the door frame looking at me smiling, I'm here.

I immediately stood up and ran towards him, he opened up his arms and caught me as I jumped. I put my hands on each side of his face and looked into his eyes smiling, I missed you.

"Me too," he said and we kissed. It had been a little less than a month since I'd seen him last but it truly had felt longer.

"How long are you staying?" I asked as I climbed off of him.

"I'm going back for Christmas and then I am coming back for New Year's ," I squealed and hugged him.

"I already love it in here," I heard a voice coming from behind us and saw Alexa and some guy staring at us.

"Mar, this is Ray, my best friend," said Jackson.

"Nice to meet you, Ray," I said smiling as Ray took a couple steps forward and I took the opportunity to inspect him more carefully. He had light brown hair and blue eyes. Unlike Jackson, ray kept his hair short and his face stubble free; he was so Alexa's type, I looked at her and I could tell she was already planning a way to seduce Ray.

"I'm thrilled to finally meet you, Marion, I've heard a lot about you," he grinned.

"I see you've already met my best friend," I said looking at Alexa.

"We've met," she said smiling. I turned to look at Jackson smiling, she'll try to seduce him. Jackson laughed and smiled back at me, He'll let her. I laughed out loud.

"What the fuck..?" Ray's voice brought us back to the world we shared with the rest of the humans and out of our own.

"They are doing that creepy thing they do," said Alexa disgusted.

"Do they do that a lot?" Ray asked

"All the time. Do you want to grab a beer?" she said putting his hand around his elbow.

"Lead the way, beautiful," said Ray and they both walked away.

"Is he a friend of Connor's too?" I asked as Jackson and I walked to the beach.

"No, he was my neighbor back home. We eventually went to the same grade school together but we knew each other way before that," he said as he passed his hand around my shoulders.

"Like me and Alexa," I said and he nodded.

"Want to get out of here?" he asked and I nodded.