Last Shot (JD.)

[Jalen August]

Jalen would probably follow JD to the moon and back; she had a lot of faith in him. Whenever he was ready to show her off to his parents, she would be the best, well behaved, well mannered girl they ever met. Because although Jay could be pretty quirky, she could pretend to be perfect sometimes too. She grinned at him. “Once in a while?” She asked teased, daring him to say something to counter that. Her family could adopt him any time, so long as it wouldn’t make their relationship creepy or anything.

Jalen shook her head ‘no’ as JD spoke. Who whispered into people’s ears? That didn’t even make sense. Was she missing something? It would probably be weird to ask him to show her. She assumed it would be very ticklish and annoying, especially with her sensitive hearing and all. So she just shrugged instead, wanting to let the topic slide. It was probably just one of those guy things she would never understand anyways.

Well fine then, that would work. How hard would it be, memorizing her own crazy way of doing math by turning it into English? She even had a few acronyms and sing-a-longs to help with the process. That teacher on School of Rock? Yeah, that would be her if she had to teach math.

JD was suggesting other activities as Jalen continued to concentrate on the conundrum that was going to be her math final. She really only caught on to what he last said. “Well for you it’ll be easy. I just don’t understand things the same way you do.” She sighed, fidgeting with her hands and knuckles like she always did when she was anxious. Leave it to math to be a total cock block.

[JD Paerson]

"Hey!" he said, trying to defend himself. "I'm not that bad. Sure I talk a lot, but most of the time I'm not actually saying anything totally stupid, it's just talking too much about a subject that people don't actually care about. That doesn't mean that it's dumb or ridiculous or...foot-in-mouth. It's not what I'm saying. And I don't do the rambling thing nearly as much as I used to anymore, you should know." His case was strong. Supported by all that evidence. Yup.

He glanced through her notes again. At least it was math-related. Some of it almost made sense, though looking at the numbers helped him to make sure he was reading appropriately. He didn't understand most of these connections, but language had never been his strongest point. The numbers were just...so much cleaner.

He sighed. The test was still bothering her. So he tried to focus again, being the good boyfriend that she was sure he was. "Well you don't have to understand things the way I do, just understand them. Like, you know, you understand writing a lot better or deeper or whatever than I do. But I can still write a paper. I know how. But you seem to have an understanding of it here. Or else how did you get through class? I'm sure you've got it all figured out."

Yes. Confidence. She was good at math, she was going to pass, there was no need to worry. No need to study. She was awesome, she would be awesome...he reached out and touched her hair. Awesome hair. "You know, I have to say I'm really starting to like the new hair color. It suits you."

[Jalen August]

Jalen only smiled at JD, shaking her head. “Point and case,” she said, gesturing towards his mouth. JD still rambled quite a bit, but she was glad he still felt comfortable enough to be a blabbermouth around her, even if it was about nothing. She watched him thoughtfully. “You have gotten a bit better, except when you’re really excited about something.” He really couldn’t argue that.

Numbers were abstract and could mean so many different things. You’d think a 1 would be simple, but no. Put it into a fraction it became something else, and negatives? Don’t get Jalen started! Her notes made crystal clear sense to her, even though it probably took her ten times the amount of effort to get to the same solution. Her and JD were complete opposites in this regard.

Smiling, Jalen tapped her noggin and tried to let things go. “Yeah, I guess I understand it mostly,” she said, “but you helped me a lot too, so, I’m not going to take full credit for my amazing grade.” They both knew her mark was atrocious, but it really could’ve been worse. Besides, JD had taken a hopeless case and made it hopeful, even if it was just a passing mark.

Jalen giggled a bit to herself as JD commented on her appearance. “You really think so?” She asked, fluffing it up a bit with both hands. “It does bring out my eye color more,” she smirked at him, “and it’s fun to make everyone believe you’re a new kid when you’ve been here this whole time.” Yes, get her mind off of math altogether. That was a good way to keep her relaxed. She scrutinized him for a moment. “You are not allowed to go blonde though.”

[JD Paerson]

"Yeah, all right. Fine." He gave it to her. "Excited or angry. I think it's usually when I'm arguing with someone, actually. And not just you." High emotions made him less eloquent. And for someone who was already pretty crap with words, the results just weren't pretty.

"I tried to help. I don't think I'm a really good teacher." He still didn't understand what was so hard about her working with numbers. There were straightforward rules. All you had to do was understand that logic and it all made sense. "In the end I didn't do that much to help out. You probably would have done way better if you'd had a decent tutor." He frowned, wondering who else she might have gone to for help. Would that have fixed her college problem now?

He let his hand drop from her hair. "Yeah, I do." He smiled, watching her. "At least you didn't go bright red or anything. It wouldn't have looked good, even if everyone really would have thought you were a new person." He chuckled. "You have beautiful eyes that look gorgeous with or without the brown hair." And she did, those nice big eyes with long eyelashes...And he tried to keep his attention focused on her face.

He snorted. "Oh, don't worry, I have no intention of ever dying my hair. Aside from how much my family would freak, Zac would be convinced he was converting me to something. Also, I have amazing hair. I wouldn't change it for the world. It's sure to only come out worse." He briefly tried to imagine himself as a blonde, but it wasn't a good picture. And besides, he was having fun imagining other things instead.

"Your hair is pretty," he continued, since this track of thought seemed to be working better, "And your eyes are beautiful. But you know what I like best about you? Your smile. You have the best, biggest smile." He put his hand up to touch her lips. "Absolutely gorgeous."

[Jalen August]

Maybe it was because Jalen wasn’t someone who wanted all the answers, but enjoyed how to get to the answer more. She knew that wouldn’t make sense to JD and so had never bothered trying to tell him. Some things in life just weren’t supposed to be straight forward, so math was a hard concept for her. Well, calculus, simple math she could do.

“I would’ve done way better if I gave a damn to begin with,” she said, reassuring him that it wasn’t his fault at all that she sucked at math.

Jalen grinned at him. “The brown was sort of spur of the moment. I think next time I’ll try purple.” Oh yes, she was being serious. But she didn’t think JD would care what colour she dyed her hair, despite his apparent dislike of red. She had no idea what he was talking about once Zac was mentioned, but she let it go. There were other things to focus on.

Something caught, and it wasn’t just JD’s fingers on her lips, no. Jalen felt a bit of a fire starting in the pit of her stomach, one that made her smile broader to show off for him, and also lean forward to kiss him. He wasn’t always so good with words, as previously stated, but when it was, it was oh so sweet.

[JD Paerson]

JD released a quiet sigh. He didn't know how make people care more about certain subjects. As far as he could tell that just had to be something you did on your own. But why couldn't everyone else see that it was important to try hard at everything, care about everything, in order to get to where you wanted to be? Wasn't it worth trying to reach your goal? But Jay didn't think so, and he didn't know how to convince her otherwise.

"Purple?" he asked, taken slightly aback. He tried to imagine Jalen with purple hair but couldn't do it. He shook his head. "Don't you think this is enough? I mean, you don't want to go too far and regret it." He didn't really understand the compulsion to dye hair all the time, or to make it a strange color. Maybe it was just his military upbringing, but it just seemed...strange.

When Jalen leaned forward to kiss him, JD smiled so big he was sure he looked like some sort of toothy demon. He apparently had done something right. Now how was he supposed to do it again? The compliment track seemed to be going well, so he decided to stick with that.

So when he pulled away, he left his head close to hers and said, "Not to mention you're a great kisser. And I like your laugh. I love how free you always sound, Jaybird."

Not, of course, that he would take this farther than she wanted to go. Or so he promised himself. He just was really starting to hope that she was wanting to go a little farther this time.

"I love you," he tried again, looking to be more serious. "And you don't have to promise me anything yet. Just any time you feel ready." Any time, really. He was still a little impatient.

[Jalen August]

In the end, it was hard to try and get people to see the way you did. Some people were programmed a certain way. Jalen accepted everyone for who they were, and she didn't appreciate when someone tried to change her. School hadn't been high on her list of priorities, and maybe once all this grad drama was over and done with, she would get where she wanted to be in life without a degree. You know, once she stopped fretting over college in the first place.

Jalen grinned, nodding her head. "Sure, why not?" She giggled, pushing her hair out of the way. She shrugged, "I regret nothing." Honestly, she didn't. Every moment in life mattered, brought you closer to where you wanted to be. "Besides, if I can't pull it off, and I'm sure I can, I can just dye it back. It's easy!" She smiled. Not a lot could go wrong in this area, and she certainly wasn't allergic to the dye.

Jalen sort of hoped that JD would eventually catch on to what got him higher up on that pedestal she had built him. You really could teach someone new tricks, so long as they were willing. She smiled back at him, her eyes lit up. "You're not so bad yourself Jonah," she said softly. She laced her fingers through his. It felt right to be with him. "I love you too," she said, looking down at their hands, before kissing him again. She didn't know where this was going, but she wanted to know what it felt like to be as free as he thought she was.

[JD Paerson]

"Doesn't it mess up your hair or something? I mean, doesn't it start to look bad or get easier to mess up?" He wasn't sure on this, since he'd never done anything himself to dye hair or even t-shirts, but he was fairly certain that dye could cause problems. He wasn't about to argue that she couldn't pull it off. Because that would only encourage her to switch it over faster.

"So you don't have any regrets? None at all? About anything ever?" He raised his eyebrow and gave a half-smile. It was only slightly a loaded question. But if she was going to bring it up...

Jonah again. He really wasn't used to that. And he still wasn't quite sure whether it was good or bad. He loved Jay, and she seemed to like his name, so...maybe it was all right. Even if he still preferred to be JD most of the time.

He kissed her and moved his arms around her waist, hugging her tight. He wasn't exactly in the mood to talk right now, even if he could've thought of anything to say.

[Jalen August]

“Yeah, excessive dying can ruin your hair, but honestly JD, how often have you seen me with different colored hair?” She smirked at him. Always Mr. Logical. “One screw up isn’t going to ruin my hair forever.” And like she said before, she regretted nothing. She grinned. “Once my roots start coming back I’ll have to dye it again anyways.” It would probably just go back to blonde, but that didn’t really matter.

Jalen drew her eyebrows together as though mad, but she really wasn’t. Especially since she was still smiling. “Nope, everything I’ve done, every heart ache, has lead me here, to this moment. And I just couldn’t regret that.” She grinned at him. Loaded question answered. Yes being with Cody had been so great, and then so bad, but that didn’t mean she would want to skip it. Maybe at that point she was upset, but now, looking back on it, she was doing just fine. Better than fine actually.

He could be Jonah just for her. She liked it better that way anyways. She didn’t really have a good nickname for him. Jaybird worked just fine for her, but what else could she call him other than darling, hun, or superman? His name was his, and she liked the way it sounded.

Grad was coming too quickly. She would relish this moment.

[JD Paerson]

"I don't know, you could've been doing different shades of blonde this whole time. I probably wouldn't have noticed." Not that he believed that was true, but it was worth mentioning. "Well fine, dye it again, I guess. But I still don't know that you'd want to have purple hair for a while. You might start getting hit on by some of the emo kids or asked to go to a rave or whatever." His powers of dissuasion, he felt, were lacking on this point. He decided to back off a little and hope she wouldn't dye it just because.

"Really? You're okay as long as you're in this moment?" He raised his eyebrows. "And here I thought this was just an ordinary moment. Is there some highlight I'm missing here?" He wondered, inwardly, if he could say the same. No regrets at all? Probably not. Even if it got him here, there were some things he wished he could take back. Not that he had to talk about all that now. "I'm glad I can be here for you."

Rubbing her arm, he sat there and considered his future. And while he might have wanted to be thinking about the distant future, he found himself more and more focusing on the immediate future. "So," he began. "What do you want to do now?"

[Jalen August]

Jalen laughed a little and patted his shoulder. “I’m here with you, that’s all I’m trying to say.” He looked so confused, it was just too cute. Jay was one to live in the moment, and she regretted nothing, painful or joyous as any moment had been, there was always room for more, and even better moments. She smiled at him. She was glad he was here too.

“I dunno,” she said, settling herself against him comfortably. “Can we just stay like this for a while?” Jalen just didn’t want to think. If they could just not move, her brain would eventually space out and she could just listen to JD’s heart beating. She glanced up at him and decided he was a good man to love. Sometimes he was hard to love, but he challenged her and she loved that about him. “Unless you want to do something else?”

[JD Paerson]

[Augh, sorry for the extreme lateness.]

"Sure...sure, we can stay..." JD was all right with that. Mostly. He chewed the inside of his cheek surreptitiously. He wasn't sure if he should ask for anything more or not.

"If you come live with me in Boston," he said, trying to lead into the question most pressing on his mind, "what sort of place do you think we should get? An apartment, maybe?" He wasn't sure how to ask the next part of the statement but went with what thought might be the more convincing argument. "It might be cheaper if it was, um, only a one-room place." He inwardly winced. It didn't sound as good aloud as he'd hoped.

"I'm not," he started, then tried again. "I've tried to be...I mean...patience isn't always my strongest...you know I love you..." He sighed. This wasn't coming out at all the way he'd hoped. He half expected her to slap him and walk away.

[Jalen August]

Alas, JD just couldn't stay quiet for long. Jalen smiled to herself.

"If, and that's a big if," she said, but she'd hear him out. Jalen gulped, unsure of how to answer something so hypothetical, and yet important. It had been on her mind also. She watched him with wide eyes, blushing furiously.

She raised a hand to his lips, shutting him off. "I think, I know what you're getting at." Jalen lowered her hand, her eyes settling on her hands folded in her lap. She had never been with anyone before, not really. And she wasn't sure if JD was going to be someone she wanted to be close with. There were a few things holding her back.

He was driving her away. Jalen knew things had happened between him and Mia, and while she wasn't impressed, she hadn't thought it was a big deal until well, she fell in love with him. Would he go sleeping around with other people just for the thrill of it too?

Jalen smiled a bit. "Maybe I'll go," she said. It was best just to leave things like this for now. Everything would make sense at the end of the summer. Right?