Last Shot (JD.)

[Jalen August]

High school was coming to an end. Jalen was both relieved, and scared to death. She knew she was going to graduate, even if she did fail that math exam. It was almost guaranteed to happen, but a 50% overall mark was still a pass. For someone who didn’t worry about the future, she was terrified of it now. It was all too real. And to add insult to injury, she hadn’t gotten into a single college. Not even the local one. She didn’t think her marks were so bad. The post secondary institutions disagreed.

Now all Jalen could do was wait, and try studying. She was in her room, her music playing softly in the background as her dark eyes scanned over the calculus textbook she had scribbled all over. It was against school rules, but she wanted to at least try and understand this book. And since she understood English really well, writing in the textbook would only help, right?

She sighed, tapping her pencil to the beat of the music, her eyes glancing towards her cell phone almost every other minute. She was just dying for a distraction. She had also completely managed to avoid telling JD about her lack of prospects after graduation. She did this for a number of reasons. One, she didn’t want to seem like an idiot to him. Two, she didn’t want to rain on his parade of superior intelligence. And three, she was afraid to tell him. It wasn’t like he hadn’t asked, she just avoided it, or changed the subject. She felt like he would leave before she told him, and now it was eating her alive when she needed to be studying, of course. Stupid life and its stupid ways.

Picking up her phone, Jalen shot JD a text:

Hey JD. I know you’re studying for finals, but can you PLEASE come visit me? We need to talk.

This would be easier than telling him the other thing she wanted to tell him. Jalen was in love with JD.

[JD Paerson]

Finals for JD were a bit of a joke. He'd already taken all the AP tests, so he had those credits under his belt. And even if he completely failed these final exams for the classes he still had a pass. But there was the principle of the thing, and he had to make sure he beat out at least most of the other people in his class. Besides, he still wanted to make sure he graduated with all A's so his acceptance to Harvard wasn't in jeopardy.

Still, he knew all of this information, so the studying was a bit of a joke. Mostly he was running through his English textbooks, trying to remember authors and publishing dates for the identification test. It wasn't his favorite task in the world, so when his phone buzzed he picked it up with relief at the distraction.

He read the text with a little confusion. If she needed to talk she should know he wouldn't hesitate to put down what he was doing to go to her. Oh well, she sounded like she needed something, so he packed up all of his textbooks and left the library.

It was the work of a few short minutes to get over to her dorm room. As he left the library he texted back.

On my way, see you soon.

He ran up the stairs to her room, more for the exercise than anything else. He knocked on the door, already smiling in anticipation.

"Hey there, gorgeous. You wanted to talk?" He leaned down to kiss his girlfriend as he stepped into the apartment. "What's up? Is this about the dinner date for Friday? Don't worry, I already checked out the place, we won't have another seafood fiasco."

He dropped his bag on the ground by the door. "Is everything okay?" It was hard to tell emotion on a text, but now that he thought of it, it was a bit strange she'd capitalized the word "please." "I hope nothing's wrong," he said, somewhat nervously.

[Jalen August]

Jalen always found it amazing that their opposites attracted. It was something she appreciated immensely and hoped it would never get in the way. She didn’t want to take him for granted, so instead of barging into his dorm, texted him to make sure he wasn’t busy. It was something she did out of respect.

Grabbing her phone again, Jay didn’t bother trying to stop the smile that crossed her face. He was coming. And just as quickly as it came, the smile vanished because of what she had to say to him. She just hoped that he didn’t think she was going to break up with him or something. She had been pretty vague in the text... But maybe man’s general density would come to her aid.

She heard a crystal clear knock and went for the door, wrapping her arms around him in a hug as soon as she saw him. It hadn’t dawned on her to warn him about her new hair first, but that had been the last thing on her mind. “Hey yourself,” she said, taking the kiss and returning it back to him. Jalen laughed, shaking her head. “I do not want food poisoning again, I mean I love shrimp but...” she shook her head, “but this isn’t about dinner on Friday. Dinner will be perfect.” She smiled and shut the door behind him.

“I’m sorry to interrupt your studying,” she said, looking down at his bag with a frown. Jalen pushed her hair out of her face and grabbed his hands. “I just,” she gulped, before dragging him down to the couch with her, “it’s something about school. It’s eating me alive and I thought I should tell you.” Jalen was about to say something, but JD seemed to be looking at her for the first time. “What? Is there something on my face?”

[JD Paerson]

She wasn't going to comment on his compulsive need to check out a restaurant before they went? Wow, she must be preoccupied. But then who wasn't these days? He himself was still half caught up in remembering "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" or whatever it was and how it was published in...1922?

"You didn't bother me, I needed a break," he said, trying to reassure her. He let himself be pulled down to the couch, eyes still on her face. She brushed some hair out of her face...hair? Hair!

That must be what he'd forgotten to notice. And how hadn't he noticed? He must have been totally distracted. I mean, really, you had to be pretty dense not to notice when your girlfriend dyes her hair an entirely different color. In a bit of a daze he reached out to stroke her hair, rubbing it between his fingers.

"No, no, it's not..." He looked at her, a little confused. "Well, I admit I liked the blonde, but this looks good, too. Though I think it'll only increase the number of times we get called Lois and Clark. Hey, maybe that's an idea for Halloween this year." He managed a smile. Admittedly it was a bit of a shock, but he could see himself getting used to it. And Jalen becoming a brunette wouldn't change the way that he felt about her.

"Was this it? The hair? It looks good, really. When did you get it done?"

[Jalen August]

He must've known that she was worried over her calc exam, she must've told him about a hundred times. She also must've thank him two hundred times for all the help he had given her studying. If it weren't for him, she might not be passing, barely skimming by or not.

Jalen smiled, glad that she wasn't the only one who needed a study break.

She tilted her head to the side, a grin on her face. There was a strange look in his eyes as he reached out for her hair. He seemed to be in a trance. And then he pointed out her hair, and she sighed, before laughing. "I totally forgot about telling you about this..." She said, chuckling nervously to herself. Of course, she was happy that she wasn't a monster or anything. She decided to ignore the bit about how they probably wouldn't see each other during Halloween. "I don't mind being your Lois, JD," she said, beaming at him. Ah, puppy love at it's finest.

Her serious expression turned light as he said her hair was good, and for that, he received a kiss. "Thanks hun, but it's not the hair..." Jalen looked down at her hands and gave his a thoughtful squeeze. "Look, I'm really glad you got into Harvard, and I'm really excited for you, but I... I just..." She blinked rapidly, looking back up to him. "I didn't get into college... Anywhere." Jalen's breath hitched and she curled herself into him, her face on his chest as she let a few tears slide. His leaving, her not having a substantial future. She was stressed.

[JD Paerson]

"My Lois?" He managed to say, somehow coming up with something witty. "And here I thought you were Superman." He smiled and kissed her back when she said it wasn't the hair, but his mind was already racing. Was it something else he'd forgotten? Had she said something recently that he'd missed? Because she still seemed upset.

She just...what? He was really confused. Was this about her not being able to come to Boston with him? Because they could manage without being in the same town, he'd just come visit her often and they could talk on the phone, and it could still work.

But that wasn't it. She was worried. And JD didn't know how to help. So he did the only thing he could think of. He hugged her as she cuddled into his side and kissed the top of her head, patting her back.

"Ssh, it's okay. It'll be okay," he said quietly, trying to think through everything. She didn't get into college, so...she needed to figure out what to do next. She'd need a place to go. She could come with him! But what if Boston wouldn't be a good place for her to practice her music? And what if she wasn't ready to move with him...why was everything so complicated?

"It's all right. It'll be all right." He pulled back a bit to look at her face. "Hey. Who's the smartest and strongest girl I know? I know you. It doesn't look good now, but you'll think of something. We'll think of something. But I think to start maybe just some ice cream? Or some gaming to get your mind off things?"

He was hoping for a bit of a diversion so that he could have time to work through a plan. Sure he was good at coming up with stuff, but he still needed some time to think these things through. And ice cream was always good for calming people down.

[Jalen August]

Jalen laughed. She loved that JD could always do that for her. He was easy to love. "Oh please, if anyone's Superman here, it's you. You're the only man between the two of us anyways," she said glad to have such a wonderful man as a boyfriend. "Unless we're both bits of Superman, since I have super hearing and you have super speed..." She just let the thought go, since she was starting to ramble again like she always did.

Jalen was worried about the relationship lasting, she didn't know what she was going to do when she couldn't see his face every day. But no, she still had hope for it. This thing she wanted to say, it wasn't about them at all. It was about how pathetic she was.

At lease he was safe. He wasn't judging her yet. Jalen wiped at her face as he tried to look at her. She bit her bottom lip. "I don't know what I'm going to do next. Work I guess... I don't know..." She said. If there was anything she didn't want to do, it would be living at home like a bum. "Oh, my parents are going to kill me!" She said through small sobs. Poor JD, crying girls were never easy. She said all this at the same time he was speaking. She held her breath. "Smartest? Obviously not..." She said a little bitterly, looking around for some relief.

Jalen nodded a couple times. "Doesn't matter..." She said with a shrug, looking at him. She wiped her eyes and tried to smile, but it broke immediately. "I'm pathetic aren't I?" She asked.

[JD Paerson]

If they hadn't been in the middle of a conversation, he would have leaned forward to kiss her and cut her off on the Superman conversation. As it was he let her trail off and chuckled. "Let's just call the relationship Super and leave it at that." For once he wasn't rambling. Small victories.

"Your parents won't kill you. Maybe your brother, he seemed more the type, but based on what I know of your parents, they might be disappointed but they won't kill you. They love you and they'll want to help you, just like me." He sat next to her and rubbed her shoulder, resting his nose in her chocolate hair. It still smelled slightly of ammonia.

"As far as being smart, do you know how many of the world's geniuses graduated from high school and went to college? Almost none." He sat back a bit and looked at her face. "So going from history, your future looks a lot brighter than mine." He smiled a little, then wrapped his arm around her again and stood up.

"I'm going to get you some ice cream." He went to move into the kitchen, but when he saw her smile falter he sat down again. "Later. I'll get that later. Hey, hey. Jay. You're not pathetic. Okay? You're going to be great. Sure, it's looking hard, but I know you'll do great. Okay? We can do this."

He started thinking again. She was a musician. She could go work as a musician. That would work. There were clubs and places in Boston, he was sure, she could come with him and work there.

"So where are you going to work? I bet you could get a job singing somewhere, or working on your music. You'll be great!" He had every faith in her and in their future. Nothing could go wrong.

[Jalen August]

Wiping at her eyes while she laughed, Jalen was oh so glad that JD was on her side. She was struck by what he said, and he knew she would be affected by what he said. Words could be her power or her kryptonite. She looked down at him on her shoulder, being oh so adorable. "I'm glad you want to help me sweetheart, I just wish I could've done this on my own..." She said, biting her bottom lip. Certainly he didn't love her too, like her family, like he had just referred to. No, that was wishful thinking in the midst of a crisis.

Jalen shook her head. He was certainly out on a limb, a very long one, just for her. "I am no genius. Books and music aren't going to get me anywhere..." It was something she had never believed until she received all those denied application letters. She bit back a sob.

She laughed as he sat back down. "Yeah okay." Jalen wiped the rest of the tears away. "Thanks JD, for listening. You're a wonderful boyfriend." He needed to know, even though he was told many times he was. Jalen was just a sweetheart that way.

She shrugged. "I don't know JD, any ideas?" She asked. Jalen had seen a shop for sale in town, but there was no way she could start there. That was something she needed to work herself up to. "I guess I could sing somewhere. Maybe Cole knows if there's any positions open where he works." She said with a shrug. It wasn't something she wanted to think about, but knowing JD, he would have a job and name tag all figured out for her by the end of today.

"Get the ice cream now?" She asked sweetly, looking at him. "I mean, since you're at my beck and call now." Jalen was trying desperately to push past the fact that she couldn't change her acceptance into college.

[JD Paerson]

JD nodded. He could understand the need to be independent, feel like you could manage everything on your own. And he didn't want to take over her life, but if he could just help her get to a point where she could do everything on her own...

"Yeah, you're probably right. I mean, what musician got anywhere without drugs? Okay, time to find you a dealer." He grinned, then immediately grew serious. "That was a joke," he said. "If you ever do drugs you will be in a rehab center faster than you can blink." Drugs were basically the only point that he could agree with his dad about; they were always, always bad business.

He shrugged. "Every once in a while I manage. Least I can do." Listening was easy. As long as he could keep his mind focused. And this was important, so of course he was going to be there for her. Just like he knew she'd be there if he ever needed to open up about his dad.

"Well." He supposed this was the time to pitch his idea. "If you wanted to start out somewhere a little better than Pilot Ridge, you could come with me to Boston." He looked at her, raising his eyebrows as he made the suggestion. "You know I love you, and I'd love to have you with me there. I bet you could find a club or something where you could start singing and get noticed." He was still working on the details. But they could get a place, they each had a car (already a step ahead of the crowd) and could get wherever they needed. It could work.

"Oh, am I? Well, I suppose you should enjoy it while you can." He stood up and kissed her once more as he went to go get the ice cream from the kitchen. "You won't always be needing me, since soon you're going to be rocking the world, which means you will have to get as much out of my service now."

He grabbed a large spoon--couldn't find the ice cream scoop--and began serving out large portions of ice cream. He carried both bowls into the living room and held one out to her with a bow. "Your food, my lady." Then he plopped onto the couch again next to her.

"Are you going to be okay?" he asked, reaching over to brush her hair over her ear and stroking her cheek with his thumb. "I mean, I know you'll be okay, but I mean right now. Do you want me to stay here with you?" Studying could wait.

[Jalen August]

It wasn’t his fault she hadn’t tried hard enough. Even when she was applying for school, she knew it was a slim chance she’d get in. Her grades fell into the third group of students accepted, the last pick of the bunch. She didn’t have the right grades, and the grades she did have were the wrong ones. She didn’t have any science, and took only calc, which wasn’t saying much when she was basically failing. College just wasn’t something she thought she had wanted until it was too late.

Jalen laughed at the mention of drugs. “Of course it was,” she patted JD’s knee, “I’m pathetic, not desperate.” She was glad he was trying to cheer her up. It said more than he had managed to in the long run. “I am not adding drugs to the rocket look JD, relax. Aren’t you supposed to be consoling me, not the other way around?” Jalen asked, glad that she was smiling at least.

“Saying thanks would have sufficed,” she said, leaning onto him again. Why did JD always have to find an excuse for how great he was? Ah well, at least he was humble. “You do really well, seriously. Most guys are not so wonderful.” Or in other words, most guys didn’t know what to do with a crying girlfriend.

Jalen blinked hard, wondering if she had heard him right. Oh who was she kidding? Her hearing was impeccable. “Come? With you? To Boston?” She was stunned. And then he was insisting that she knew he loved her. She held up her hands. It was just a lot for her to take in. “Wait. You love me?” She paused, looking at him. “And you want me to move with you?” This was insane. She closed in on JD, her face mere inches from his. “Okay, where’s JD and what did you do with him?”

She laughed as he left to get the ice cream, leaving her baffled. “You can come on tour with me.” She said, glad that JD had so much faith in her. It let her have a little faith in herself. But really if JD had been in her shoes, she would’ve done the same thing.

Taking the ice cream, Jay settled into the crook of the couch, extending her legs over his lap. “Thank you sir, now you may have the privilege of being by cushion.” She giggled at herself and watched him. “I’ll be alright, I just didn’t want to not tell you something important to me.” Jalen always tried to be honest with people she loved. “You can stay if you want, I won’t make you, though I can’t say no to your company.” She smiled at him and ate her ice cream. He was such a gem.

“And what about you? Smooth sailing from here?” She asked. Was he really serious about her coming to Boston with him?

[JD Paerson]

"Yeah, sorry," he said, calming down. "No, I know you wouldn't do drugs. It's just one of those things that really bothers me, so I even have a hard time joking about it. Anyway. Sorry. Your turn, all about you now." He opened his eyes wide to look at her, showing absolute concern and not trying to make her laugh at all, what ever made you say that.

He didn't feel comfortable just accepting compliments, but since that was what she seemed to want from him, he simply shifted a little in his chair and mumbled, "thanks." And he resisted an urge to add a disclaimer to the end of that.

JD laughed and put his hands on either side of Jalen's face, then leaned in and kissed her nose. "Of course I love you. And I would love it if you wanted to move with me to Boston. Don't feel pressured, of course. If you don't want to leave your family yet I'll understand, but I really would be happy to have you with me." He wasn't really sure why she was so surprised. Ever since he asked her out he hadn't tried to keep it a secret how much he cared about her. At least she knew now.

He took his first bite of ice cream and raised his eyebrows as Jalen propped her feet up on his lap. "I am so honored," he said. He glanced at the bottom of her feet, wondering how ticklish she was. "If you want me here, I'll stay."

He took another bite--a rather large bite--of ice cream and talked around it. "Well, it'll be hard, of course. I mean, I've still got another seven years of school in front of me, and then I'm still banking on them starting up the space program again. But if I can manage to get through all that, then I guess I'm all set. The only thing I'm still wondering about is if I'll have a beautiful girlfriend there with me the whole time."

Finally he couldn't resist it any more. He carefully set his half-eaten bowl of ice cream down on the coffee table and started tickling the bottom of Jay's feet.

[Jalen August]

Laughing at him, Jalen gave him a funny look and shook her head. “I promise you I will never do drugs, my life isn’t that terrible.” She said, ruffling JD’s hair. “I think you could use a trim before graduation,” she said, deciding to ignore his comment about how everything would now be about her. That was a problem, she didn’t want the spotlight on her. Leave it to JD to talk about drugs when she was worried about school.

Jalen rolled her eyes, why was it so hard for anyone to ever take a compliment these days? “You’re welcome, I don’t hand out compliments all the time you know.” Wrong, she complimented him left right and centre. He just didn’t seem to appreciate it as much as she’d hoped he would.

Staring into his eyes, Jalen’s mouth hung open. After he kissed her of course. Of course he loved her, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. “I didn’t think...” But she cut herself short. “That’s not how you tell someone you love them.” She said, feeling like she was in some strange universe. “Aren’t you living with LaDouche?” She asked, her face flushing bright, bright red as she tried to make sense of what he just said so casually. Why was she worried about saying she loved him again?

Jalen wiggled her feet happily, staring at her ice cream instead of the intent in JD’s eyes. “Good, I’m glad my glorious cushion isn’t leaving me,” she said, looking up at him with a sly grin. Jalen groaned. “Seven years,” she poked his chest with her big toe, “I think I’m in love with a madman.” She said, trying to make everything seem just as casual as he had.

She couldn’t feel more in love as he wanted to keep dating her while he was away. And she would have told him so, if he hadn’t started raising hell. Jalen screeched from the unexpected tickles on her feet, and as she jerked her legs away from him, her ice cream went straight onto his neck. Jalen watched as it land, a hand raised to her mouth as she tried not to laugh. It wasn’t going so well for her. “Serves you right,” she said, getting up from the couch before he had any more smart ideas.

[JD Paerson]

He frowned and put a hand on his hair, smoothing it down so his bangs covered his eyes. "All right, maybe." He blew the hair out of his eyes. "I guess it's probably best I have you to keep tabs on this sort of thing. I usually forget." He really wasn't so good at taking care of things like that.

JD raised his eyebrow. "No? Just to me, then? Well, I suppose that's fair. I mean, aside from me who else are you around a lot? Roommates, family...nothing too spectacular, I suppose. Everything must really pale in comparison." And he grinned, back to joking again. It would take him several years before he felt comfortable accepting a compliment.

He frowned. "Um, no, I'm pretty sure I did it right. At least the way I've always done it, so if it's wrong I suppose it's best you tell me now." Really, what was he supposed to do? He didn't see it as a lie or a secret, so why shouldn't he just say it openly? And what did she mean, she didn't think...? He chose not to call her out on it.

"Well, yeah, Zac told me he would, but that's more his idea than mine. I don't have to live with him, really." He frowned for a moment, deciding to address something that had been bothering him for a bit. "And, uh, can we start calling him Zac? Or the Prince, or something? I don't really like the name 'LaDouche.'" He'd only ever used that name twice. And it was only when he was extremely upset. Other derogatory nicknames, sure, but that one...just no.

He smiled broadly, glad to hear she was up to joking. "Yup, probably. But I'm sure I'm better than...someone...out there..." He pretended to think for a minute. "Eh, I'm sure it'll come to me."

She reacted spectacularly to his attack, and he was busy laughing as the ice cream landed on his neck. He turned to look at her with surprise, already grabbing the bowl and setting it on the table. He wiped at the ice cream with his hand, then looked at his palm. Looking up at Jay with an evil glint in his eye, he grinned and stood up. "Was that really my fault? I mean, you were the one who gave me such an easy target." He held out his hand toward her face as he stepped toward her.

[Jalen August]

Jalen scoffed, before laughing. “I’m not your mother JD, I’m just pointing out the obvious.” She said, an eyebrow raised. She was just as unwilling as he was to have things so oddly domestic. They were still in high school, even though all of that was going to change very soon.

Laughing, Jalen gave JD a healthy smack. “Stop pretending to be a jerk, we both know you’re a teddy bear on the inside,” she teased, “besides, do you really want me complimenting everyone else all the time? I don’t think you’d take me very seriously then.” Not that he was now, since he couldn’t swallow any kind of compliment. Not even when they were from her and heartfelt. What about all the poems she wrote him recently? She didn’t spend time writing them for just anyone.

“You tell people you love them as much as I compliment people,” she said, trying to explain herself. Really, there was no special moment, nothing of feeling. It had just been said so mundanely, like doing dishes or throwing out the trash. Jalen gulped. She wasn’t any better really, she still hadn’t outright said how she felt. She was still nervous about it.

She wasn’t sure about all this. It was like she was getting cold feet again. How come this always happened to her? And why did everyone she date have to fall in love with her and leave her wondering why? Jalen had been thinking about this when JD was talking about Zac. She stared at him, a nerve being hit. “Okay...” she said, instead of telling JD she could call Zac whatever she wanted to call him. Shifting in her seat, Jalen sighed. She didn’t want to talk about Zac anyways.

Jalen was definitely mentally face palming, and shaking her head. You’re such an idiot, she thought to herself, referring to herself and JD simultaneously. Why was this not going anywhere?

Jalen saw him coming and shrieked, “JD!” Her grin subsided and she stepped up to him as he stepped towards her. “JD,” she said, grabbing his ice cream hands, “I love you, and I’m not joking around, so just stop for a minute and think about that.” Jalen stood straight again, letting go of her boyfriend. There, it was off her chest and she even managed a smile after releasing a held in breath.