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, di
Rossi?" 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, God, I love
you..." Rose whispered.