Jack and Rose: Present Time 2 Junior Year
Chapter Thirteen
Rose's eyes flashed open. It was finally here, Christmas day! She glanced at her clock and noted it was 5:30 A.M. Way to excited to sleep, she crept to the other side of the house, to Jack's room. She knew he would not be up, so she quietly opened his bedroom door. She saw him sleeping peacefully. A smile came upon her face, and she wondered if she should wake him up. But, she knew she had to.
She decided to have a little fun with this. As Jack turned over in his sleep, she crawled into his bed. She started to kiss the back of his neck. His eyes finally fluttered open, and he looked at Rose for a few seconds.
"Merry Christmas," Rose whispered, as she gave him a kiss on the nose.
Jack smiled. "Merry Christmas to you, too. What time is it?" he asked, as he looked up at his alarm clock. "It's almost six!"
Laughter escaped Rose's lips, and Jack rolled his eyes. "You're the only one that I know who would get up this early..."
"But it's Christmas!" Rose exclaimed.
Rose gently pushed Jack off of his bed, and he landed on the floor, still wrapped in his blankets. Rose started to laugh, and Jack said, "Oh...do you think that's funny?" He grabbed her by her waist and pulled her down there with him. He kissed her on the lips, and that made her smile.
They both ran downstairs like little kids, totally excited. "Shouldn't we wake your mom?" Jack asked.
Rose shook her head. "Na. She'll be up in five minutes...I set her alarm," Rose finished, with a mischievous smile.
"Well," Jack said, grabbing one of the presents from under the tree. "You might as well open yours from me."
Jack handed her the gift and she smiled. "I wonder what it is..." Rose muttered. She began to unwrap the gift, and when she was done there was just a box. She opened up the lid and couldn't believe what it was.
"Oh, my gosh," Rose muttered, tears forming in her eyes. "You remembered!"
The other day they were walking around downtown, and Rose saw an antique tea glass in a store window. It looked like one her father used to have. It must have been so expensive.
"Thank you so much, Jack!" Rose exclaimed, hugging Jack closely.
Jack smiled, and Rose handed him his gift. When he was done opening it, he smiled again. "Oh, Rose," Jack began. "Where did you get these?"
It was three tickets to a Nelly concert. They were third row, center. Jack loved Nelly. "I figured you could take Tommy and Fabrizio." Rose laughed, happy to see such a happy expression on his face. "I actually won them on the radio."
"How?"
"Well," Rose started. "I called in about five hundred times, but you're worth it!"
"Thanks, Rosie," Jack said, as he kissed her. "You're the best."
Just then, Ruth came walking down the stairs. "Merry Christmas, kids."
They both smiled. "Merry Christmas," they replied in unison.
All three of them spent the afternoon opening up presents and having a wonderful Christmas day. They played board games, told stories, you name it. It was a Christmas that would never be forgotten.
Soon, it was near six o'clock and Dominique had just walked in the front door. "Merry Christmas, sweetie," Dominique said, hugging her best friend.
"Same to you," Rose said with a smile, hugging her back.
They all sat down at the dining room table and Sarah served them a delicious dinner. They ate ham, mashed potatoes, peas, rolls, etc. Dominique didn't seem all there, but that was only expected. She loved her friends to death, but they all knew she wanted to be with her parents on Christmas.
Ruth felt very sorry for her and knew she had to do something. "Why don't you kids go get Tommy and Fabrizio and Alexia?"
"Mom," Rose said. "You said we couldn't do anything on Christmas..."
"Go out. Have fun. Be home before two."
Rose laughed. She got up to grab her car keys. Jack went over to Ruth and kissed her on the cheek. She was the only motherly figure in his life, and they were becoming closer as the days went on. Dominique hugged Rose's mom, and then they all left.
As the three of them got into Rose's jeep, Dominique called Fabrizio and Tommy on her cell phone and told them that they were coming to get them. They didn't bother with Alexia...they already knew she had a date with Cal and didn't even want to bother with that again.
The five of them cruised around for a while. Rose was driving and Jack was sitting next to her. Dominique was in the middle of Tommy and Fabrizio in the back. Tommy had his arm around Dominique because she'd been complaining it was cold.
"Where do you guys wanna go?" Rose asked.
"Riding," Jack replied.
"That's what we're doing now..." Rose said, sick of driving already.
"I got an idea," Fabrizio said. "Let's park at the beach and look at the stars." Even though the guys started laughing at him, Dominique and Rose thought it was an excellent idea, and Rose drove there.
They all climbed out of the car and Rose grabbed a big blue blanket that she kept in her car. She spread it out and they all sat on it, Rose lying in Jack's lap humming their song to him quietly.
"We're juniors."
"That just sinking in on ya now, DiRossi?" Tommy asked.
"I mean..." Fabrizio started. "In two years we'll all be in college. Two years! It just seems like it's not far away. High school is going by too fast, in my opinion."
"I know what you mean," Rose said. "It seems like only yesterday I was in junior high."
"You know what I'm afraid of?" Dominique said. "That we'll all lose contact after high school."
"Not after all of the shit we've been through," Tommy replied.
Jack nodded. "We'll be best friends for life, guys. You know that."
Dominique shrugged, thinking about how her family was always letting her down. She just expected that someday her friends would do the same. "I hope you're right, Jack," she said. "I don't know where I'd be without you guys."
After Rose and Jack had dropped everybody off, they started to head home. It was just about two AM.
"Turn left."
"Why?" Rose asked. "I thought we were going home."
He smiled. "Turn left."
She did, and they continued down a road that Rose hadn't been on too much. She didn't know where it would take them.
"Pull over."
Rose pulled over in the small parking lot. It looked like nobody was around for miles. "Jack...what..."
He began to kiss her fiercely. "I want you so bad."
Rose giggled. "You couldn't wait until we got home?"
"No."
"Oh."
"Do you still have that blanket?"
"You're crazy!" Rose exclaimed.
"Get it out," he said, getting out of the car. Rose grabbed the blanket from the back seat and, holding Jack's hand, they ran into the field. They were both laughing, having a great time. This was the kind of crazy thing that Rose loved about Jack. He always thought of things like this.
Rose threw out the blanket, and she lay down on it. "I'm waiting for you, Jack," she said, with a slight giggle.
He climbed on top of her and they started kissing again, with Jack moving his hands over every part of her body.
"We're gonna be late," Rose said, laughing.
"No, we won't," Jack lied.
He began to undress her until she was only in her bra and underwear. "You're so beautiful," he muttered. He kissed her neck all the way down to her chest.
Rose then helped Jack take off his clothes, and soon they were both completely naked, making love.
"I love you...oh, gawd, I love you..." Rose whispered.