The 'L' word [Jay]

[Jalen August]

Jay was smiling softly. “I’m willing to take the risk. It’s not always about perfection, maybe I just like the thought of “dancing” with you,” she said, making small air quotes around ‘dancing’. She couldn’t wait to see how madly JD would blush at that comment. He seemed to have a hard time wrapping his mind around the fact that she liked and wanted to spend time with him.

“Apparently,” Jalen said as he tried to explain himself. She was laughing at that point and didn’t push the matter further. “You’ll have to ace poetry too if you want to get into Harvard,” she said without a lick of evidence for what she was saying. She just assumed that if he needed overall good grades, that included English, and English included poetry.

Sensing his hurt, Jay shook her hands, “I wasn’t trying to insult you JD, I was just saying it’s not something you need to worry about. Zac seems pretty loyal to you, and it wouldn’t be a burden on him to help you out if you needed it.” She nodded at her own explanation while smiling. She tried to clarify the situation, glad to see that she wasn’t the only one who took things the wrong way. She would never assume anything about anyone, but especially assume that JD was money hungry. She thought too highly of him for that.

“People don’t usually go around tripping over things on purpose,” she teased. He was going to be alright, that’s what mattered. She watched him and grinned, “No, my dad works on Christmas day, and he’d be pretty upset if we had stuffing without him, it’s his favourite.” She said. “You can wear whatever you want. I guess I’d classify it as semi-casual, or is it semi-formal?” Jalen let the matter hang for a moment as she thought about what she would wear that day. Maybe her new sweater.

Unable to see a reason to linger, she stood from his bed then, ready to leave. “See you then?” She asked, hovering over him for a moment.

[JD Paerson]

It took him two seconds to get it. The air quotes, that is. Once he did, though, JD ducked his head as he felt his neck flush. Surely she didn't mean...? But what else was she supposed to be talking about? Trying to think about it hurt his head a bit, so he decided to ignore the comment, as though he hadn't understood any more than what she'd said. he'd deal with it later.

"No, I don't--he wouldn't..." JD sighed. "I know it wouldn't be a burden or anything. But I would know. I don't know, I guess it just...I wouldn't like it." He hadn't been raised that way. He wasn't supposed to ask for anything. He would get a job working fast food before asking Zac for money. "If he just gave me money it would be like...like he was pitying me. Like he didn't think I could do it on my own. And I can. You can be successful without money. And that's kind of what I'm trying to prove. To me and him." And my dad.

"Okay, semi-formal." What the hell did that even mean? Why did girls always go around throwing around terms like "semi-formal" when that only meant somewhere in the gray area between slob and tuxedo? The most frustrating... He'd ask Zac. Zac always knew what things like semi-formal were supposed to mean. He was such a girl like that. "I'll see you then, I guess."

He opened the door for Jalen, only limping a little. "Thanks for the books, by the way. And the safe, and the invitation. I'm really looking forward to it."

And she hadn't even noticed, or hadn't commented on it. Maybe putting "love" on the card wasn't as big a deal, after all.