A Step Back (Jennifer. A + David. S)

Chapter 9: Something

{Something - The Beatles}
David's POV
The early hazy light reflects across my face, waking me up. Waking up next to Jennifer is the best feeling in the world, isn't it? I lazily reach across the bed and grab a nice cold pillow. I stuff my face in it and try to fall back to sleep. In the mornings you wake up, fresh and ready for the day. Until you realize all of your troubles that seemed so far away and distant are actually your life, and you need to deal with them.
When I finally get out of bed and make breakfast, I decide to play a record. I love music, it's something that never gets old. Music will forever be apart of history whether you talk about the 1400s or 3,000 years in the future. My favourite band is The Beatles, because their music can be so different. From pop to rock, heavy metal, psychedelic, love ballads, anything you can imagine. I pick up the famous Abbey Road record and flip to the back to choose a song. I read over the song, Something. This song is so romantic and heart breaking I almost want to cry almost every time I hear it. It's so beautiful. I place the record on, and lower the needle. The crackles of the old 1969 record pour into the room.
Something in the way she moves
Attracts me like no other lover
Something in the way she woos me
I don't want to leave her now
You know I believe in how
Somewhere in her smile she knows
That I don't need no other lover
Something in her style that shows me...
(You can read the rest online)
(Seriously though, please open another window and play this song! The song is super romantic and sweet!)
I sit down on my couch in awe. This song makes me think of my love for Jennifer. Well, sort of. The guy who wrote this wrote it for his wife, and his best friend was in love with the guy's wife. Whatever. After hearing that song, my heart always aches for love. I remember when I was only 6, this record came out and my parents bought it. They played it every night, dancing along in the rain to the song I will always remember: Something.

JENNIFER'S POV
It's normal to wake up at 5:30am on a Saturday right?
I'm just so tired, but I can't go back to sleep. How about some music? I grab my Walkman from beside my bed and find my tape of Abbey Road, by The Beatles. I'm just in a Beatles' mood right now, okay? I push in the tape and on comes where I left off, Something, my favourite song.
After a 'healthy' breakfast of doughnuts, I decided to get out of my pjs and possibly get dressed. As I walked into my room, I noticed I'd left the window open and it had started to rain! The whole street was shiny and wet, as more and more rain fell down onto the concrete. My carpet around the window was soaked. Oh great, cleaning! I close the window, but I notice a man walking through the rain; his hands buried in his pockets. But he's not wearing a hood and he doesn't have an umbrella! Maybe it's my time to give back. I'll go and bring him an umbrella! I grab my shoes on and decide between a pink umbrella or a red one with hearts. Which one is more manly? Men fall in love too, right? So I grab the hearts one and bolted down the stairs and out the door, running right into the man.
"Oh sorry sir!" I say, dropping the umbrella as I wipe the rain from his coat off of my...pjs... I forgot to change, so I'm wearing a pink nightie. Ouch.
"It's me Jennifer!" The guy says, as he unzips his coat.
I immediately recognize the voice as I look up to meet eyes with David! I bring him into a hug and squeeze him like a teddy bear.
"Woah, not breathing!" He says, as he pretends to choke.
"Where were you going mister?" I ask, laughing.
"I uh- don't really know. I guess I didn't have a final destination."
I laugh and grab his hand, while pulling him back to my front door to let him in.
DAVID'S POV
She was getting wet, so I hold my coat over her head. Jennifer looks so cute in her nightie! She clings to my torso, warming me up. She holds my shirt tightly in a fist with her other arm secured around my waist. She leads me to her door and opens it, revealing a pretty-new modern house. She then shoves her hand out like a crossing guard.
"Alright mister, if you want to step any further, you must take off any wet clothes." She announces sternly.
She pulls off my coat and hangs it behind her, as I pull off my shoes. I follow her upstairs to a little library sort of living room. I sit on the couch, my hands folded on my lap while she grabs a blanket. She enters the room again, this time with a cardigan on.
"So, since it's rainy and cold, do you want me to make us hot chocolate?" She offers kindly.
I smile at her in return.
"How about I'll make you some hot chocolate instead while you put on some music?" I ask.
She grins and pats my shoulder.
"So what do you want to listen to?" She says, while walking over to a shelf of records.
I tell her different artists I like until we decide. I grab two cups and boil some water. She grabs a Chuck Berry album off of the shelf, puts it on the turntable, and then drops the needle. I love the warm old crackle of the record. Oh the 50s. I wasn't alive, but I almost wish I was around to be able to say I lived through the beginning of the greatest age of music, even though I was only a little boy at the height of it. Jennifer wasn't even alive!
I stir the chocolate powder into the cup and bring her a mug while I make sure not to spill mine.
"Wait! I almost forgot! We need marshmallows!" She announces, making me almost spill the liquid.
She grabs a handful of marshmallows and dumps half into my cup.
"Cheers!" We say, as we clink mugs, almost spilling the chocolate on the couch.
The great rock music of Chuck Berry made her wiggle around the couch. I laughed and smiled at her adorableness. She's so sweet and caring. After side one of the record finished, Jennifer finally slurped up the last of her marshmallowy hot chocolate. She had a little on her chin, it was so cute!
"Hey Jennifer, you have some stuff on your chin!" I tease jokingly.
She adorably tries to lick it off with her tongue, but fails. I chuckle a bit before grinning at her. Oh no, here comes the blushing. I stick my hand out to her face and caress her cheek with my hand, wiping the marshmallow off with my thumb. We look deeply into one another's eyes. Oh if only she knew the way I feel about her.

She awkwardly giggles a bit before jumping on me and trying to tickle me. She straddled me and tickled my stomach while I wriggled under her, trying to break free, but I'm laughing too hard! She tickles my side, my neck, and my stomach before I finally got the strength to fight back. I pushed up and laid her on her back and hovered over her while tickling her stomach and sides. She used all of her force in her hands to push my chest, but she was too weak. She couldn't stop giggling!! Jen was so sweet under me.
"I can't-breath-stop!-David!" She laughed out.
I finally keeled back, letting her breath. Our chests were heaving, trying to catch our breath. I glanced down at her beautiful face. I was still sitting atop her so she pushed me in the stomach to get me off of her. She sat up and pulled back her hair.
"Alright then. What do we do now?" She asked me.
I shrugged my shoulders. I don't know.
After ten minutes of catching our breath and smiling, she perked up.

"We can talk about stuff. You know? I want to be able to tell you anything, and I'd like you to feel the same way. I love being able to have someone I can trust." She opens up.
We both sat up, after a long while of fun, and she tenderly ran her hand back and forth on my leg.
JENNIFER'S POV
"Okay, you can ask me anything, and I promise I'll answer." He announces.
I ponder for a moment. Maybe I should just start out light and then ask him more personal questions a bit later.
"I noticed you limp a little. What happened?" I ask, sympathetically.
He looks down instead of meeting my eyes.
"Well, I broke my leg in eighth grade and I had crutches, so two boys shoved me down stairs and it never really healed properly." He replied. Geez, they're cruel. That's so...odd. You always hear about kids getting severely bullied and beat up, but it's always in the movies or on TV. You never really see it. Or exposed to it.
"I was just one of those kids who always got beat up. It was sort of a routine." He added.
Knowing someone who's gone through such pain, and I don't necessarily mean physical pain, is like knowing a whole different species of people. They're so different; they seem to have a sullen, but intelligent outlook on life. I console him by running my hand from his knee to the inside of his upper thigh.
"How close were you with your parents?" I question him.
He grits his teeth and clenches his jaw; it's obviously a highly sensitive subject for him. I reach out to hold his shoulder.
"My dad didn't really like me because I wasn't masculine enough. I am pretty sensitive and I never wanted to play football or baseball with him. He also didn't care that I was pretty smart; he thought that was fourth in importance after athletic ability, popularity, and goods looks. He'd always called me a sissy and a girl. I hated that.
My mom was actually quite nice, and always took care of me, but she stopped liking me when I left high school because of my sister. I'd always hid that fact that I had no friends and I was beat up all the time because I didn't want her to worry. I'd have to cover up bruises and cuts by wearing long sleeve shirts and jackets. And when I'd get a black eye I'd say I had run into a pole. I'd tell my mom I had tons of friends at school, and when she asked why they never came over, I replied that I would go to their houses. But in reality, I was either getting beaten up or hanging out with my history teacher. My sister comes in because she told mom after I'd left high school that I was a loser, had no friends, and was constantly beaten up. She's a two years younger than me. My mom doesn't really accept me as much anymore because I had lied to her." He finished.
Wow.
I don't even know what to say. I was crying. Literally crying my eyes out.
"No, please don't cry. You don't even know what it does to me to see you cry; I can't handle it." He whispers gently into my ear.
David's eyes were damp, and when he looked at me, he wrapped his warm arms around me.
We gently rocked back and forth as we listened to the pitter pattering of the rain on the roof and windows.
I could hear his deep breaths, as his chest pressed against my side. The warmth of his breath tickled down my spine.

A/N: Hopefully not too sad for you guys! I made this chapter to make the story more dramatic, and I do not think a lot of this was true. (I really hope it's not true) I would also like to mention that this story will be long, and someone asked me when the two would finally get together. It will happen, but not in the next few chapters because I want there to be a substantial build up. Hopefully you guys can live through it, but it's going to be better when the two get together.
Question of the Week: Describe yourself in 5 words or phrases. (That's not a question lol whatever)
1: Artistic 2. Classic Rocker 3. Basically a hippie 4. Tall 5. Total fangirl.
What about you guys? Please leave your comments below!