Trust Me

Operation Jacksmine Pt. 2

"What did you need to talk about?" Jackson asked. I was shaken out of my trance.

Had I been staring at him this entire time?

"Right, um, so, basically, I just kinda, well actually, totally, definitely..."

"Spit it out, Jasmine," he said.

Alright Jas, you can do this.

"I like you."

SCREEEEEEEEEEECH

The tires wailed as Jackson braked hard. He looked at me in disbelief with wide eyes.

"You what?!"

Uh oh. This wasn't the reaction I'd imagined. Where was the soft smile of happiness and the declaration of requited love?

"I knew this was a bad idea," I said to his frozen figure. "I'll just leave..."

I don't know what I was thinking when I said this, because we were on the side of a road, but I started to step out.

"Wait!" Jackson said, grabbing my hand. I turned around with a smile, ready for my fantasy to come true.

"Uhh, you forgot your backpack...."

Really, dude? Like, seriously? Why do I even like you?

I scowled and reached out to grab the stupid bag out of stupid Jackson's stupid hand.

"Wait!" he repeated. What now, my purse?

"You forgot me," he said.

"What?"

He shook his head.

"Wait, that sounded so much better in my head. I'm starting over. Wait! I..I like you, too."

I could hardly believe what he was telling me. It didn't seem real.

Well, Jackson was being a fool so it was probably real.

"You mean it? This isn't some kind of joke right?" I asked, clambering back into the car. He took my hand and smiled at me.

"I had this whole thing planned out. I was going to ask you out, and we'd go on our first date, and then we'd have our first kiss under the moon on a picnic blanket." He shook his head and laughed. "But you ruined it by kissing me in a cookie dough haze. I should have known anything with you involved would be complicated."

My heart swelled at his confession. "Well, it's no picnic blanket under the stars, but I'd be down to have our first non-cookie dough hazed kiss right here."

"I could say the same."

---

"OH MY GOD! MY SHIP HAS BECOME CANON!!!!!" Noah screamed when Jax and I walked into the school holding hands.

"It worked? It worked!" Bhoomi squealed.

"I'm surprised Jackson didn't act like a total idiot and scare her off," Cami snorted. I grinned and Jax shrugged sheepishly.

"He almost did."

Lucas smiled knowingly.

"I'm happy for you guys," Josh said.

"What is going on here?!" someone screeched behind us. We turned to see Tami.

"Who the hell are you?" Josh asked. I was wondering the same thing. She was completely irrelevant. Nothing more than an average popular wannabe. Why did she care about anything we did?