Chapter Nine
“Are you sure you’re going to be okay? I mean, I don’t have to go if you don’t want me to. You seem really antsy today.” Laynie said. She had just shimmied into her leggings and was now pulling her plaid skirt up around her waist.
“I’ll be fine. Yesterday was just… really intense.”
Laynie laughed. “Jonah Collins is a really intense boy. That had to have been the most romantic thing I’ve ever witnessed. I’m surprised he didn’t kiss you right there in front of me!”
I blushed and flipped my tank top on over my head, followed by the green cardigan that Laynie was forcing me to wear.
“I forgot that headband you got me. It’s be right back.” Laynie darted out of the crowded, muggy bathroom and ran up the stairs. I could hear her combat boots clonking up the stairs.
I brushed my hair, parting it when my bangs shadowing my eyes, just like always. My hair was perfectly straight, thanks to Laynie’s mad straightening skills and the use of her favorite hairspray.
My eye liner was light and straight, my face just as pale as always, with a touch of red on the cheeks that Laynie said Jonah would love.
I felt tempted to rub all of the makeup off and just act like I didn’t care about the looks, which I didn’t. But then I realized that Laynie would probably kill me and then make me look even more ridiculous.
Laynie slid back into the bathroom, pushing the headband down. Her thick red tendrils hung freely down her back, stretching down to brush the bottom of her shirt.
The doorbell rang and Laynie darted to the front door, letting Bryce in. I peeked out of the bathroom to see Bryce handing Laynie a bundle of wild flowers. She gushed.
Laynie ran into the kitchen with me leaning against the stove laughing at her. She scowled and then melted, showing me the flowers that he had gotten her. She scrambled around for a vase filled it with water and then sat them down on the kitchen table.
“Wish me luck.” She said, holding her arms out for me to fill.
I hugged her, she smelled like pomegranate perfume. I made a mental note to rummage through the bathroom to find it.
“Have a good time.” I told her. “Hurry. Scoot!” I ordered, turning her around and swatting her.
She yelped and pranced out of the room with me following.
“Hey, Tide.” Bryce waved. I had to give Laynie props, Bryce was probably one of the most amazing boys that we ever hung out with. His voice was always a deep monotone, which just made everything he said that more hilarious. They were a perfect match.
“Hey, Bryce. You take care of her.” I said, gesturing both of them to get out of the house now.
“I will.” He answered, and led her out the door.
I walked around the house, which was completely devoid of life except for me and the flowers that Bryce had given Laynie. I went back to the bathroom, making sure that I was put together well enough to hide that fact that I was absolutely terrified.
Bryce had picked Laynie up at five, enough time to take her out to eat at some snazzy restaurant and then hit a late movie, which I’m pretty sure that she wanted to see the new one about zombies, which would make it one killer date.
I laughed at myself for a second.
The doorbell rang and I jumped. I walked slowly towards the door, hoping that it seemed that I was in no rush to see him.
Jonah stood there staring down at his shoes when I opened the door.
He looked up, a look of awe in his eyes before he smiled.
He shrugged hesitantly, “I didn’t bring flowers. I was going to, but Bryce was there too, and I felt like he should get the flowers for Laynie and it would seem really weird if we both showed up with flowers. I thought you’d be burnt out with flowers.” Jonah rambled, his words running together as he tried to explain himself.
“Hey. Hush.” I said, hugging him around the waist. He stopped talking and relaxed, returning my hug warmly.
“You look amazing.” He said, walking me to his car after I locked up Laynie’s house. Her sister was out visiting college friends for the week, her mom was still working and wouldn’t be home until late.
“Thanks. So do you.” I said, motioning to his usual dark wash jeans with a half sleeve shirt pushed up over the muscles in his arms.
He smiled. “We have to make a quick stop to the grocery store. I need to drop something off for Tom Pitt.”
“I love Tom Pitt!” I said excitedly.
Jonah opened the car door for me, which hasn’t happened to me in forever, and then made his way to his side of the car. We drove to the grocery store, talking about Laynie and how psyched she must be to be seeing a zombie movie with Bryce.
We walked into the grocery store hand in hand. Jonah was groaning, sliding one foot against the tile while I had one arm in the air, growling and pretending to drool with my tongue hanging out of my mouth.
“Zombies!” Tom Pitt said from the deli counter, which happened to be across the store.
I smiled and ran to Tom with Jonah trailing behind me.
“Hey, sweetness.” Tom Pitt said in his girl voice. “You’re lookin’ hot.” He said.
“You too.” I laughed.
Tom Pitt threw his leg up onto the sandwich counter. A swift slap to the head was delivered by his boss, who scowled at him.
Jonah pulled out his wallet, handed Tom a ten.
“Oh my gosh, thank you!” Tom Pitt exclaimed. He turned to me to explain. “My car is on empty and I don’t get paid until Friday. I needed gas to get home, Tidey Evans.”
“Oh.” I said, nodding in understanding.
“Okay. We’ll see you later Tom Pitt.” Jonah said. His hand was on my elbow and we turned to leave.
I yelp and grip at my heart, which went from beating regularly to throbbing heavily, making my entire body ache. I broke out in chills, cowering into Jonah’s side.
James stood there in front of us, just a few paces ahead. He had his eyes focused on me.
He looked terrible. His cheeks were sunken in, dark rings under his eyes.
“Tide.” He came toward me, his eyes menacing, his arm reaching out. His fingers were just about to graze my arm when Jonah pulled me back and hid me behind him. Tom came up behind me and pulled me back to the safety behind the deli counter.
Jonah snarled at him, his shoulders tense. James walked up to him, unfazed, spat his words into his face. “You stay away from my girl.” He said. He was drunk. I could tell by how his words slurred, how his tongue was thick in his mouth.
“Your girl?” Jonah laughed, a terrifying sound that made my blood run cold. “Don’t touch her.” His words were a threat.
“Since when are you her body guard?” James countered. “You have no right to keep her from me.”
“She doesn’t want to see you.” Jonah snarled again, his voice was low. Poisonous.
James looked past Jonah’s shoulder, straight at me. His eyes were hollow and cold. His face twisted from being menacing to be manipulative, a soft pleading look that coaxed me to soften.
I bit down on my anger, remembering every other time he had shown me that face, every time he broke my heart and came back to use me time and time again. I could feel blood in my mouth as I bit down on my lip.
Tom’s hand was kind on my shoulder, holding me in place, an extra layer of protection.
James and Jonah stared at each other, both unmoving, Jonah poised in front of me ready to barrel into James if need be.
James walked off looking at me one last time, his manipulative eyes staring into me. I flinched away from his gaze.
Jonah stayed where he was until James left the store. When he finally did move he turned around to face me, his shoulders still tense, his face still drawn.
This was the first time I had ever seen him angry. I was terrified. His eyes were dark now, his jaw clenched so tightly I thought that he would break his teeth. He was both magnificent and terrible at once. A marble soldier.
He held his hand out to me. I hugged Tom Pitt and then walked to Jonah’s side. We walked out to his car and drove away in silence.
I didn’t know where we were going until we pulled onto a dirt road, following the same path that Laynie and I had taken dozens of times.
Jonah was still shaking, anger boiling over, his hands gripped the steering wheel, spidery sinews and cords of muscles and his entire body flexed. He rolled his neck from side to side.
I placed a hand on his arm.
“Don’t.” he pleaded through his teeth, his voice hard and scared.
We pulled over onto the side of Wolfman’s Bridge. Jonah opened his door, then went around to open mine. I stepped out and sat down on the edge of the bridge, watching Jonah pace violently from one side of the bridge to the other. He jumped up onto the concrete railing, his hands in his hair. He roared.
I cringed, forced my feet to edge closer to him when every part of my being was telling me to stay away in fear of being hurt. But Jonah wasn’t James. Jonah would be the last person to ever hurt me, where James would be me down whenever he got the chance.
I reached my hand out to brush Jonah’s arm, to pull him down from the railing. His eyes were dark pools of hatred.
“Close your eyes.” I told him.
He looked at me questioningly before he finally did as I told him.
I brought my hands to his face, smoothing out the lines of frustration on his brow. I brushed my fingers against the thick cords in his neck, his temples, his jaw. I watched him relax gradually, his brow lifting and his eyes softening beneath his eyelids.
I rubbed his shoulders and ran gentle fingers down the length of his arms.
“Thank you.” I said softly. “For protecting me.”
He opened his eyes, intense and promising. “I swear, Tide. I could kill him for everything he’s done to you.”
“I know you could. But you won’t.” I told him, smoothing my hands down his neck again. “Because he isn’t worth it.”
I pressed my forehead to his, our noses brushing. I edge him over to the side of the bridge and we sat down, letting our legs dangle over the water down below. I grabbed a hand full of stones, gave him half.
“Let’s see who can throw them further.” I said with a small smile.
“You’re on.” He challenged lightly.
We threw stones for about an hour. I remained seated with Jonah, being the baseball player that he was once, standing to wind up and throw. His distance tripled mine. I saw his rocks land up stream, so far that I could barely see the splash.
I jumped up, dusted off my jeans and walked to his car. I turned it on, flipped on the radio.
I surfed through the stations until I found a classical music station that we could both enjoy. I closed my eyes, pictured the sliding of fingers against a cello’s neck, the gentle brushing of a bow against strings.
Jonah grabbed my hands in his, all of the anger gone from him now. He wrapped an arm around my waist, twined his fingers with mine.
“I’m a terrible dancer.” I laughed.
“That’s okay. I’ll teach you how.”
I looked down at our feet as he counted out the rhythm to me, instructed me how to move my feet.
“It’s just like with your singing,” he told me. “When you get into a song, you tap your feet and move your hands, it’s just like that. Feel the music and assign different motions to the movement of your feet.”
I thought about it and then put his words into action.
Jonah laughed when I stepped on his foot. I winced. “Sorry.” I laughed a little.
“You’re getting it.” He eased me around the bridge, I watched our feet as I finally understood the basics. I mustered the courage to look up, my feet still moving. I squeezed my eyes shut, remembering the steps in my head.
“See? You have it.” He laughed. I laid my head against his shoulder as we went from waltzing to swaying back and forth.
The sun was just beginning to make its way across the sky, which had small twinges of pinks and oranges.
“I haven’t danced since middle school.” I laughed.
“Really?” he asked.
I nodded. I had asked James to dance with me, but it consisted of him joking around, jerking my arms around until it hurt and then leaving for a cigarette break.
“That’s probably a good thing though. It makes my dancing skills look better than they actually are.” He smiled against my hair.
As the song ended, Jonah separated from me, leaving me standing in the center of Wolfman’s. He turned the radio off and then walked back to me, taking my hand in his. He motioned for the concrete railing and we sat.
“Tide.” He said. He was calm, not nervous.
I watched him, he looked down at my hands, played with my fingers.
“What we’ve been doing. Holding hands and hugging and everything… I want to make sure we both are seeing it as the same thing.”
I panicked. This is exactly what I thought was going to happening. I had been misinterpreting it the whole time. We were just friends. Jonah wanted to just be friends. My heart sank down into the pit of my stomach, my eyes lowered to my lap, my hair covering my face.
“Don’t mope just yet.” He said, lifting my face to his, his eyes still serious, though he smiled.
“What are we to you, then?” I asked.
Jonah sat quietly, trying to find his words. “When I hold your hand, or hug you, or kiss your cheek, I know that we did those things before. And before it was just what we did as friends. You, Laynie, and I could walk down the Ped mall all holding hands and it just showed how close we all are. We’re best friends.” Jonah trailed off for a second.
This was it. He was going to sink my last ship.
“But now. Now when I do those things, it’s to show you that I really, really like you. I hold your hand because I don’t know how be around you without being so close to you that our skin touches. And I kiss you because it’s the most spectacular feeling to me.” Jonah said down to his lap.
The sun continued to lower as my heart leaped into my throat. My heart thrashed inside of my chest, begging for release.
I blushed, staring down at my lap. I had never known Jonah to speak so openly and so descriptively about everything that he was feeling. It was the first time that he had left out the lyrics and still managed to tell me exactly what was going on.
I nodded, surprised at how no words rushed up to my lips. I had no explanation like I normally did with anyone else. I could explain my way out of things, and make people feel everything that was happening inside of me. But now I was tongue tied. I held his hand, feeling the strength that I had given him just a few days before circulate through me again. He had taken that strength with him; my strength to speak.
Jonah had been with me all alone. Ever since we had met in James’s bedroom. His eyes had watched me. He’d been there to rescue me every time I didn’t have the energy to drag myself out of bed, or make my way to the table to eat. He was there to be my strength when I needed it. And now that we were both strong, we could learn how to grow together if that’s what I wanted.
I could see the knife in his hand that he had used to slit open his chest, to show me his heart; splayed out for me to heal.
My heart warmed and fluttered like a bird in a cage.
Jonah was everything to me… I loved him.
Jonah breathed against my skin, his smiling lips pressed against my ear, his arms folding me in against him. “You don’t have to change for me. Can I please just… keep you?” his voice was soft and low, his breath raw and warm in my ear.
I nodded, smiling and tearing up.
Jonah turned me to face him, his hands gentle on my neck, my jaw. I looked at him and closed my eyes. I could smell his breath, his mouth just inches from mine. I breathed in, taking in the smell of mint.
Lights blazed and I opened my eyes, a car rolling down the road towards us.
Jonah and I rushed to his car to get in and turn on the lights. The car eased around us, honking and hooting. It was a carful of jocks. They all recognized Jonah and howled.
“Who do you have in there with you?” they asked, they’re searching gazes landing on me.
“Is that Tide Evans?” one of them furrowed their brow, trying to make out my face. I hid under my bangs.
Jonah laughed. “Have a good night guys.” He said, putting the car in reverse as the jocks continued on their way, howling and hooting about Jonah and I.
We turned around, making our way back to town. We ate at the local diner, and talked until I began to yawn too frequently and everyone around us had left.
Jonah held my hand in his as we drove back to Laynie’s and sat in the driveway. It was late now. Laynie would be back soon. The lights in the house were on, Connie, Laynie’s mom, must have gotten home a few minutes before us. She was standing in the kitchen, still in her business suit.
Jonah knew not to tell me he’d let me go, or anything else to that degree. James had told me that the last time we had talked on the phone. The last time he had loved me before he decided that he didn’t want to be with me anymore. I had realized then that it was over. He told me he was going to let me go, his voice soft and happy, though I knew it wouldn’t be for too much longer.
“You already have.” I had said in return.
“I don’t know if Laynie told you, but the whole band is coming tomorrow for practice. Bryce and I are coming early, but Blaine will be here around two I think.”
“No, she didn’t tell me. She likes surprises.” I laughed.
“Well, in that case. I didn’t say anything.” He smiled. “But I’ll see you tomorrow bright and early.”
I growled. “How early?”
He grinned, “Early early” he said against my skin. He pressed his lips against my cheek. I closed my eyes, wishing I had the courage to turn my head.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.” He pulled away.
I got out of the car and walked to the door. I waved as he drove off.
“Hey, Connie.” I said as I kicked off the silver flats Laynie had bought me.
“Whoa. Hey, Tide. You look lovely. Was that Jonah?” she asked.
I nodded blushing.
“It’s about time.” She said, yawning and then heading up the stairs.
My cheeks flamed ever brighter and I went into the bathroom to change and brush my teeth.
When I was all settled on the mattress in the middle of the living room flipping through channels, Laynie walked in.
She took her boots off at the door, tiptoeing as quietly as she could.
“Bam!” I said as loudly as I could without yelling. I put my fingers together to form a gun. “Stick’em up!”
She dropped her boots and grabbed at her heart. “Holy Christmas!” she yelped and then laughed.
She scuttled towards me and flopped down on the mattress next to me.
“I just had. The best night ever.” She said grinning.
“Same here.” I laughed.
“What happened?” Laynie said excitedly.
“You go first.” I urged.
“Okay. So we went out to eat at this really fancy Italian restaurant. And we talked for like ever. And then we went to the zombie movie that I wanted to see, and then after that we went to this late night mini golf place, which was hilarious because Bryce can’t golf at all. And me being Irish means I’m spectacular at golfing. But anyway. After that he drove me home and kissed me. He kissed me!” she yelped excitedly. “But it wasn’t one of those pushy things. It was just a really sweet little kiss.” She gushed.
I smiled, radiating happiness for her. “Was the movie any good?”
“Yes.” She melted. “The zombies were crazy awesome. And it was really gory, but not to the extent of making me sick. Overall, I give it a solid four stars.” She said with a shrug and her not bad face. “But enough about me and my fantastic evening. How did it go for you?”
“Before or after the running into James thing?” I asked.
“What?” Laynie’s eyes bulged. “I fucking hate that douche.” Laynie murmured to herself.
“Jonah and I went into the store to give Tom Pitt money to get gas, and then James was there.”
“How did that go? Jonah freaked didn’t he?”
“Freaked is an understatement.” I buried my face in my hands. “Remember how Jonah said we’ve never seen him angry? Well I did. And it was probably one of the most terrifying experiences of my life.”
“Did he strangle him?” Laynie asked.
“No, thank god. That would have really just topped everything off. Seeing James when I was with Jonah and then having to watch Jonah get carted away in the back of a police car. That would be an award winning date if you ask me.” I said sourly.
“So what did you guys do after that?” Laynie continued her interrogation.
“We went out to Wolfman’s. Jonah was a mess. I calmed him down. We threw stones for a little while. He taught me how to dance.”
Laynie squealed. “That’s so romantic!”
I laughed. “You wouldn’t think it was romantic if you knew how many times I stepped on his feet.”
“Okay. Keep going.” She said, flapping her hands excitedly.
I got into story telling mode, ducking down and gesturing with my hands that I was getting serious now. “Okay. After that, he turned the music off and told me to sit down. And I was sort of dying because I thought that was when he was going to tell me that we just needed to be friends. And the way he started talking made me want to cry, because I thought for sure that I was just misinterpreting everything.”
“What did he say?” Laynie shrieked.
“He said something like, he wanted to make sure that we both knew what our relationship was like, and what we were together. Like if we were friends or more. So I was wanting to cry, because I felt awful. But then it wasn’t like that.” I said, wanting to leave some of the magic to myself. “He said that we were more than just friends, basically.”
Laynie’s jaw dropped. “Shut. Up!” she squealed again. “Did he kiss you?”
My shoulders slumped. “Almost. Adam and the stupid jocks barreled down the hill and started honking and saying weird things.” I blushed.
“You almost had your first kiss from Jonah!” she got home from the mattress and started dancing around the house. “I’m going to go get changed out of this stuff but I’ll be right back!”
I laughed and looked down at my lap, replaying everything that Jonah had said, replaying every word. I tried to feel his breath against my skin, and when I could almost picture his lips there next to my neck, I turned over and smiled, covering my face.
Otherwise... you've got a little grammarerrors here and there that could be fixed but the there is absolutely nothing wrong with the story 
It's amaziiiing!