Until There Was You

fourteen

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NOTE:
I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Point out any errors I may have missed and don't forget to vote, comment, and share.

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1 4 | Until There Was You

"Can I tell you a secret?" Waverly asked with her head still on the ground next to Jude's. Their heads were practically touching, arms brushed against each other. The warmth of her was calming as they sat there, staring at the clouds of skyscrapers in the sky. Their discussion shifted to something of a different magnitude, similar to a previous conversation. It was a quick transition, one Jude hadn't expected her to bring up. Jude told her more about his parents, some things, however, she remembered from watching as they grew up.

Jude lifted his head a little when she began talking. It seemed like the time to look and listen, rather than linger and comply. In the end, he ended up laying there instead, next to her curly storm listening to her like she was a famous storyteller. In his eyes, sometimes she was.

The wind blew right above them, missing their figures altogether. Waverly sighed in the quiet and something uneasy protruded in Jude's chest. If there was anything he had learned over time it was that secrets were never good. He wasn't sure how the discussion was going to end.

Waverly continued to look off into the precious distance—a distance she wanted to be a part of, Jude assumed. "I always thought no one loved me as a kid. I guess it was one of the reasons I chose to make everything short termed—to soften the blow, you know. I hardly knew anything about my dad, my mom was always so busy working because she had me at such a young age. Then there was you and Seth, and everyone else."

Jude didn't know what to say to that. As a result, he let her continue.

"I promised myself that someday I would be the center of someone's universe. I would matter to someone, but no one would ever matter to me," she said. The last sentence was slow and steady. Jude could tell that her words were the reason behind her smile. His heart was beating loudly at her truth, her mere confession that meant everything. He hardly knew anything about Waverly, it seemed, all he really did was judge her for who he believed she was. In another world, Waverly would be no different from all the lost teens searching to find themselves, but in this world she was everything above the superficial. She was extraordinary beyond comparison.

Waverly had become the center of Jude's universe, but like she said before about things being short-termed, Jude knew for sure she was. Maybe, in the future it would be his unborn child or his future wife, or another friend who had similar beliefs as Waverly. And although she was his center, he wasn't hers.

"You still believe that?" he asked and there was a calamity of silence. The birds were whistling in the distance and Jude could hear the footsteps of animals and other creatures, trailing all around them.

"I never stopped," she dragged out easily and Jude sat up and nodded. He put a hand through his hair to get the dirt out, and then stood up to check his phone. The time had read 4:13 and Jude realized that they had been out for longer than expected.

"We have to go," Jude initiated, walking back in the direction of his car a few feet away. When he entered and waited on Waverly he didn't go right away. He stared at the radio for a while before Waverly had punched him in his arm and demanded him to go because he was freaking her out. Jude replied with a low laugh and then they were off. Waverly was singing the lyrics to the current song, bobbing her head while doing trendy dances in the passenger's seat. Jude snickered alongside her, which then made her say, "I want to see you try."