WHAT COMES AFTER THE END OF THIS

Chapter 43

Chapter 43

Chase's PoV

The lack of smile on her face was painful to witness, more painful than my wounded hand and leg combined with the head crushing hangover, but perhaps more than painful was the fact that she had, not once, asked about my injury. 

Sure, she had offered me a courteous, tight lipped smile but nothing more; not that I had done anything to still deserve her affection, quite on the contrary, I had done the opposite: started responding to the female teachers' flirting by, uncomfortably, flirting back when my sweet darling was in close proximity. 

I knew, inside, that I had succeeded in making her hate me, yet there was no justification for the pangs of jealousy and rage I felt rack my whole body when she got onto Jason's motorcycle before school had actually ended.
~*~
Jason's PoV

Call me selfish. Call me the worst person alive to have taken away from the girl behind me, the man she undoubtedly loves and from him the girl he too was fiercely in love with, but I was more than happy to have her sitting behind me just now.

Sad as she was it didn't matter, because soon I would give her all the happiness and contentment the world could offer and even if I had to go beyond the moon to make her happy then I would gladly do that too. 

What I have done has made me realise that love takes out not only the best in a lover but also the worst in them, as it had in me. 

I wouldn't in my wildest dreams have imagined that I would take Yrene away from the man she loved just so I could have her for myself but somehow my heart had convinced me that I had to, and so I had. 

But for Chase it had brought out the best in him, it had made him selfless and handed over with utmost chivalry, the girl he was in love with. But now that I had her, I would cherish her so long as I lived.

~*~

Yrene's PoV

I lifted my head from where it was resting on Jason's shoulder to look at our surroundings, by now the city seemed far off, we were somewhere with thick, green tress and shrubs. I had no idea where we were or where we were heading,
"Jay I glad you're planning on killing me but why here? And why today?"
"Sweetie I would never kill you or hurt you. You mean too much to me for me to do that."
In all honesty I was taken aback by his sudden confession but brushed it off as one of his flirty comments as I smacked him upside the head.
"No, but really where are we actually going?"
"You'll see."
I punched his shoulder again as I noticed him slowing down. What the hell? Why were stopping in the middle of nowhere? I asked him this but as soon as he parked the motorcycle in a clear piece of land, he jumped off, took my waist and pulled me down with him too. He didn't utter a word as he held my hand in his tight but not uncomfortable grip and led me through the thick forest. Just when I was about to call off the hike due to being extremely tired we reached a clearing and to say the least I was shocked. It was one of the most breathtaking views I had ever seen. In the clearing was a beautiful lake, reflecting the tress surrounding it on its gorgeous cerulean surface. A wooden pathway led to its edge and slowly, in awe, walked towards the edge of it, Jason following close behind. I stopped right at the edge of the wooden landing, admiring the sight in front of me as Jason came up right behind me, hugging me from behind and lowering his head to rest it in the space between my neck and shoulder.
"D'you like it?"
"I don't know what to say... Jay it's beautiful. How did you find it?"
"I don't know how but I stumbled upon it once when I had a fight with my Dad and since then it has been my secret spot."
"Secret Spot huh? How many girls have you brought here before?," I cockily added, "or should I consider myself special Mr. Player."
He let out a soft laugh,
"I swear to God, you're the first girl I've brought here. And about you being special...never again doubt your special place in my life and heart." Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I was indeed once again taken aback by this comment of his. Had he changed his player ways or was he just flirting with me? I couldn't think too much of it before he asked me a very silly question,
"Wanna go for a swim?"
"What? Are you mad? No, really are you out of your mind because one has to be for suggesting something like that."
"What do you mean Yrene? you're fucking up my mind with your inner Hermione Granger."
"What I mean, you dumbass, is that it's shit cold and I don't want to freeze out my ass here."
"It's okay, the water isn't even that cold, I swim here all the time. I promise."
"Whatever. But I don't even have my swimsuit with me. So that's a no from me."
"You could always take my shirt or you know use your underwear as a bikini, I mean what's the big deal?" He wiggles his eyebrows suggestively and I whack him again.
"Fine. Give me your shirt then."
"At your service M'lady." In a swift manoeuvre he removes his leather jacket and takes off his shirt handing it to me with a bow. Once I take it he proceeds to take of his jeans and stands in front of me in only his boxers. He's very well toned in the abdomen area for someone who outwardly looks so lean but hey, who am I to complain?
"Like what you see?" Ah, the infamous line and all this time my mind had been thinking, don't say it, don't say it, don't say it and yet Jason, the King of cliche just had.
Ooh that's a nice one, I'm going to call him that.
"So sayeth the King of Cliche."
His response was an obnoxious wink and I couldn't help but feel that somehow the old Jason I knew was back. The same Jason I had grown up with and loved, be it as a friend even but this fun, meaningless banter with him had me realise just how much I had missed this, just how much it had meant to me and just how I had taken it for granted the whole time. I'm standing there thinking about all of this as the male in question jumps into the lake, startling me.
"You comin' in Jones? Or should I take your reluctance to strip down and wear my shirt as a no?"
To answer his question I flipped him the bird and motioned for him to turn around, as I nimbly took off my black trench and white shirt while slipping his on and once comfortable with the fact that it reached below my mid thigh due to his six foot something height and mine all but five five (5'5'). I kicked off my wooden heeled black Mango boots, socks and all and my jeans followed. Surprisingly, Jason has kept his perverted eyes in the opposite direction and I didn't tell him to turn but instead decided to shock the living shit out of him by jumping into the water with full speed. I did exactly that and although the cold bite and hard impact of the water took me by surprise, the look of immense horror and shock on Jason's face when I came up coughing for air, was totally worth it. Oh so the tough, bad boy didn't really have that tough of a heart, now did he? We splashed each other and swam before Jason decided it was too mainstream and we should relive our childhood by playing a game of catch in the water. For want of revival of memories, I succumbed quickly, it was Jason's turn and he was wading through the water to get to me. Suddenly I could hear no sound at all, no wadin, no splashing and when I turned around there was no Jason behind me. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest rapidly out of fear. Where was he? I swear he was right behind me not two minutes ago. I cried out his name, only for it to be echoed back to me and just when I was about to cry out of exhilaration something caught my ankle and pulled me down. I yelped at the sudden lurch and tried to shake off the hold but no amount of kicking and thrashing worked. Where the fuck was Jason? He brought me to an isolated lake and decided to disappear and now I'm about to be swallowed by the lochness monster and the dumbfuck is nowhere to be seen. Monster? Wait a minute... Just when I had put the pieces together I was pulled under the water by a strong force and there, under the calm surface was a very amused looking Jason as I swam towards him and under the water tried to beat him. When my lungs burned due to lack of oxygen I resurface and Jason came along. I was still beyond mad at him for pulling that stunt and was still trying to recover from the fear I had felt when I thought he had left alone so I waded towards him and started hitting him repeatedly but he took it,
"You stupid, blithering, fat, dumb idiot!," I was screaming the weirdest profanities at him, " how dare you do that? How dare you scare me like that?"
"So it's only okay if you do it?," he was smirking at me now, "Women." In my fury I had not noticed how close I had come to him and I wouldn't have either if his hands hadn't gone around my waist, moved upwards and then back down as our breaths mingled,
"Yrene..." His words were a soft plea? A command? What were they? I had no idea. But I didn't care but the King of cliche broke the trance by letting out a strangulated laugh which he quickly turned into a cough,
"What Jason?"
"I'm sorry, your shirt had hiked up and I was pulling that down."
I hit him again and he pulled me closer, wrapping my legs around his waist and leaning in which caused me to panic internally for I felt he would kiss me and I had no idea how to react to that. A funny feeling found its way to my stomach and I suddenly wondered how his lips would feel on mine but before I could take the thought any further he let his  hands leave my legs which, as it is, led to me falling into the water. Jerk.
We left shortly after, and I was happy more so than I had been all day, or since I had left Chase's house. Sleep too, came easily that night. With the feeling of having my childhood friend back and the easiness with which conversation had flowed between us it felt as if I was at peace. At least for now. So I decided to take one step at a time. And right now I was thankful to Jason for taking my mind off of Chase.