Turning Tables ---Going Under Construction---

Under The Stars

Reluctantly I grab more wood as I follow Emmitt back to the campsite, our almost-kiss still playing in my head. My thoughts keep spinning as I think about what I want. Not knowing, not being fully in control of at least that aspect of my life makes me start hyperventilating. Everything I have ever done has been a crap shoot and I have been okay with that, until now.

Xander smiles at me as he throws food onto the grill. Emmitt stares as he throws our wood next to the fire to dry. Both of them have amazing qualities... 

"Jade, come here," Cam yells, pulling me from my thoughts. 

I smile, glad for the distraction and head over to her. Joe is across from us roasting a marshmallow. "Smores already?" I ask him.

He shrugs and pulls the blacked outside from the sweet treat. "Never too early for dessert," He defends. 

 Cam smiles and starts a stick fight with Joe across the fire. As they bat at each other I watch Xander and Emmitt talk across the fire. I know in my heart that Emmitt would never say what had happened between us to his best friend but still, I wonder what the outcome would be. 

At the beginning of all this, I would have been ecstatic to have Xander feel the way I did six years ago. Now I can't imagine putting anyone through that pain. Xander, possibly noticing my lingering stare, looks back at me and grins. The fire from the grill illuminates his face and I'm brought back to the time we camped instead of going to prom. 

We hadn't gone quite as far as aspen, but we spent a beautiful night underneath the stars and lost ourselves in each other. It was even more perfect than a dance with a thousand wannabes could ever be. 

Emmitt, with his strong jaw and wistful eyes, looked broken and I knew that I was the cause. He was being torn between a future he saw and a friendship he cherished. Me, I was tearing two people apart in the end. 

"So," Cam exclaimed, taking my attention again. "How did you and Xander reconnect."  Her voice singsonged across the forest and both men behind the grilled stared at me, waiting for the answer to most soothe them. 

"I saw him across the bar," I admitted. "I know I had to speak to him again."

She squealed. "I knew this was a romance waiting to be unfurled." Cam began her next sentence in a deep, narrators voice. "Two lovers broken apart by circumstance brought back together by whiskey."

Joe doubled over across the fire pit. 

"I think you have to thank Facebook on this one," Xander corrects as he throws the burgers and hotdogs onto trays for us to grab. "Food is done though. Let's stop grilling Jade."

"Pun intended," Joe yells from the ground, another round of laughing follows. 

Cam pulls me away from him and to the food. "Ignore him," she tells me. "He is the king of lame dad jokes and you will be hearing many through the night."

Xander comes to me as Cam and I put fixings one our burgers. In a whisper, he asks me, "Do you want to escape for a minute?" 

I look around and no one will miss us if we aren't gone for too long. "Yes please," I hiss in agreement. 

He takes my free hand and drags me away from not only our campsite but the rest of the campsites as well. 

"Where are we going," I ask wearily, my plate of food balanced as well it can be as we march through the unsteady terrain. 

Walking as slowly as he can, Xander helps me over roots and questionable puddles. "It's a surprise," He tells me. "I need to keep some mystery in your life." 

When he finally lets go of my hand its to run ahead of me and lift tree branches aside. I smile at him as I walk under them and finally see the magical spot that he saved for me. I doubt we had walked too far from the group but it felt like we were in another world. Xander grabbed my plate and sat it on a rock close by. 

There was a waterfall close by, not huge but it sparkled in the moonlight. I could feel Xander's hands wrap around my waist and his lips press against my neck. I leaned into the curve of his body, knowing how well they had always fit together. 

"How did you find this place?" I finally asked. It was like I was in midsummer nights dream... Hopefully, I was with the right person. 

Quickly Xander twirled me to face him. "I stumbled upon it a few years ago, but I've never taken anyone down here."

I laugh. "I'm sure we aren't the first to run upon it."

He nodded as he pulled me closer. "You're the first to experience with me though."

With the waterfall playing white noise in the background I hugged Xander close, wanting to soak in as much of him as I could. Our bodies melded together like pieces of a long forgotten puzzle. Eventually, he lifted my face to meet his and as our lips began to meet he whispered, "I love you, Jade." 

I froze, my eyes shooting open. It took every part of my being not to shoot away. I could feel his hands pressed against my back more clearly than ever. "What?" Was the only thing that managed to escape my lips.

Xander looked at me more deeply than ever. "I love you," he admitted once more. "I know I messed this up when we were young but I have every intention of showing you how much you mean to mean to me... If you'll let me." 

He saved me from answering his love cries with a deep kiss. I couldn't help return it despite the fact that I couldn't return his feelings. The longer he kissed me the more I thought about Emmitt and the kiss we did share and the one we could have. 

As he deepened the kiss I let him continue, falling into the familiarity. I felt one of his hands drift into my shirt, cold from the winter air. I shivered, not sure what the real reason was. Uncertain I let my hands wander up his body as well and it was far harder than when we were young. I discovered his tight abs and firm chest. I moved down into the hem of his pants, pulling on the worn elastic, as he moaned against my lips. 

My back hit against a rock but I hardly registered the pain as Xander pulled my shirt over my head and I lost track of time and my thoughts and the world around me...

Then we heard the inevitable cry. 

"Jade? Xan? Are you alive?" It was Joe, a slur already prominent in his voice. Xander touched his forehead to mine as our heavy breaths mingled. "We better go before they find our spot."

Slowly we release each other and move back to the party.