Whoa.
At first, he was just stiff. He couldn't breathe. He snapped back into reality, closing his eyes, and gently moving his hands to hold her face in his hands. He moved cautiously, not wanting to hurt her.
Gosh goodness gracious and stars above. She kissed me. She kissed me.
She was nervous, obviously. She had fully expected him to yank back and reject her but he hadn't. She relaxed slowly, letting his touch be an anchor to reality. His lips were soft and warm, a comfort in her frozen world, his touch careful and slow, less like he was scared of her and more like he didn't want to drop a precious diamond. A gentleness that she wasn't used to.
He continued the kiss for a few more seconds before gently breaking away. Every part of him begged him to stay and keep a hold of her, but he was confused. "I- wait. This is going to perfectly and I just. What does this mean now? Cause I mean, we just met each other, but I don't want to unmeet you." His eyes darted around a little bit. He couldn't help but feel this was a mistake. "But you do realize I'm not the great, one and only Zavian, right? I just, I'm 'star boy' who's completely obsessed with the night sky. I'm that classroom goody two shoes that is clubsy and can't stop rambling for the life of me and I don't know, I mean, I just. I'll. Yeah, I don't or I do, I can't tell."
She chuckled lightly. He was too cute. "One question at a time." Her voice was rough and slightly raw but at least she could speak. "I realize you're not Zavian. And that's why I like you. You're different. Like me. And to be fair, the art girl and the star boy? Seems almost too perfect." "Ives!!" She heard Lillian call. "Looks my that's my cue to go." She pressed a final quick kiss to his lips and dropped a small piece of paper into his lap. "I'll see you tomorrow, my star boy." She smiled, grabbed her bag and walked out. The note was small but simple. '47 California Lane. 11:30. See you then ❤️'
He sat there for a moment, rereading the note in hand before standing up and running to the door to watch her leave. She slowly got out of view, and he leaned back against the door frame. His eyes closed. 'Seems almost too perfect.'
(Shall we skip to Saturday or you got other plans?)
(We can skip, I don't have anything else.)
(Unless you want Jackson to rant to Zavian about Ivy which would be fluffy and adorable.)
(Oh my gosh yeeeessssszaskjd;sldkfj)
"Jackson, what the heck, man?" Zavian was walking down the hall to him. "Why'd you just leave me like that?" Jackson was still leaned up against the door frame, silently staring off in the distance. He wished there were stars. Maybe then he could think through all these emotions. Zavian shook him a bit. "You okay there?" Jackson snapped up. "Oh my gosh, I like her." Zavian was obviously confused. "Huh?"
"I really really like her! And she like me! Or I think she does!" He began to pace around the room " I mean, she kissed me, so that's gotta mean something right? And the heart on the note-" he held it up, rereading it "-It's like, a heart! For me!" He spun back around to Zavian. "Not you! It's me!" He couldn't stop ranting. "Gosh, every bit of me feels like it's burning when she's near, like she's her own little star that shines brighter than all the rest and all the darkness that's ever been! I just! I really like her!"
Lillian turned to Ivy and stopped. "Explanation. Now." "I got into a fight. They were attacking Jules I had to do something." "Yeah I got that part, I meant the guy." "Oh, Jackson?" "Yes! The star nerd in the office with you!" Lillian wore a knowing smirk as Ivy blushed. "I may or may not have…a tiny… miniscule…major crush on him." "Ahhhh! I knew this day would come!" She squished her little sister into a hug. "Lil! There's people around!" "Right, right, let's get you home." She grabbed her arm and tugged her out to the car.
Zavain just stood there, leaning against the door frame and smirking as Jackson continued to rant about how his heart was racing. "I mean, SHE KISSED ME and I'm not even sure what now because of all this is just making everything turn in a way I never expected it to! She chose me and I would choose her in the heartbeat my heart skipped every time she pulled me closer with- I know I'm stupid and in love and ranting because I'm nervous, but I don't know what to do." He finally turned back around to Zavian, catching his breath slowly.
"First, dude. Chill out. Like, seriously." A light chuckle came from him. "Second," he took the note that Jackson held, "You're going to go tomorrow. And try not to die from lack of oxygen. Alright?"
He nodded. "Yeah, okay."
Lillian burst in the door with Ivy in tow. "Ivy has a crush!!" "WHAT!?" amy (the most wonderful woman in the world) popped out from the kitchen with a shocked look. Ivy punched Lillian in the shoulder. "Shut up!" "Oh my god, who??" amy (the most wonderful woman in the world) smiled excitedly. "No one!" "The star dork." "Jackson?" "No!" "Yes!" "Lil!" Lillian stuck her tongue out at her younger sister and smiled. "Whatever! Also, since you're sooo interested, he's coming over tomorrow." "Wait what?!" They both looked at her, surprised. "Yeah, I invited him to come watch me paint." "You don't even let us watch you paint!" "I know. But I like him." "Hey!" amy (the most wonderful woman in the world) pouted. Ivy shrugged and headed up the stairs to her room, pausing at her door. "By the way, I may or may not have kissed him." She closed the door behind her and listened to her sisters' yells of surprise.
(YEEESSSSS shall we skip?)
(Heck yeah! You can start.)
(Cooliosis my dude)
Jackson had gotten up early just to get ready. He stood in front of the mirror to make sure he looked okay. "Is this okay?"
"Yeah, I think so," Amelia responded. She brushed her long, brown hair out of her face.
"I think so?" "You've been doing this since seven. You're fine." "Are you sure?" "Just go!" "Okay okay."
He gathered his things and started to the door. The master bedroom was cracked open a little enough to see his mom still sitting on the bed motionless. He gently knocked on the door. "Mom?" No response. "I'm gonna go now." Still nothing. "To a girl's house. To watch her paint." Still absolutely no response. He sighed and turned around.
"You sure you're okay by yourself?" His little sister came around the corner. "Yeah, I'm fine. Now, go!" She practically pushed him out the door and slammed it behind him.
She'd been up at 6 like she was every day. She loved to watch the sunrise. It had only been a couple of hours but she had her music blasting and her painting started. She wore an old pair of paint splattered blue jeans and an equally paint splattered button down faded blue shirt rolled up to her elbows. She tied her hair back into a bun and stuck a pencil and pen through it. Her arms and face were covered in different colors of paint, a spare paintbrush tucked behind her ear. The canvas she was working on stood in the center of the room, giving her enough room to work without getting paint everywhere.
He stood there, hesitating to knock. He finally pushed himself forward and knocked softly. What if it was all a joke? And, like, she's just playing me like Jess did?
amy (the most wonderful woman in the world) opened the door. "Hey! You're Jackson, right? Ivy was talking about you yesterday. Come on in! She's just upstairs, as you can hear. You'll find her pretty quick." She chuckled as she listened to Michael In The Bathroom blast from Ivy's bedroom.
(miCHael iN tHe bAThroOm at a pARty, nO yOu can'T coME iN!)
He was surprised at first that she had said Ivy had talked about him. "Oh, um, thanks." He stepped past her and began the heart racing walk upstairs. He neared her door, almost trembling from the music, and knocked. "Ivy?"
"One second!" She called, quickly pausing her music, trying her best to not get paint on her phone and opened the door. "Hey! There's my star boy, I was wondering when you'd get here. Come on in!" She stepped aside and returned to her canvas that she'd been working on all morning.
"Hey there." He stepped through the door frame careful, almost as if he was going to break something. All he could do was look at her for a moment. Shes beautiful. With the paint everywhere, some would say she was a mess. All he could think was what a beautiful mess she was and how she could be his for once.
"Don't mind the paint that's literally everywhere. I told you, I'm an artist." She chuckled, blowing a stray piece of hair out of her face. "Take a seat! This shouldn't be too much longer, then I'll be able to let it dry." She gestured to her desk in the corner of the room. Paper, pencils, markers, paint brushes, everything sat in cases or boxes, meticulously placed unlike the disarray of her easal. She picked up her paintbrush and resumed her work.
He did as she said and sat. His eyes watched her stroke the canvas in awe. She was amazing. Each stroke brought another part of a picture he would never be able to imagine as beautifully.
She hummed as she worked, bringing the sunrise she'd seen just a few hours earlier to life on the material in front of her. She pushed her glasses up with the back of her hand and pulled her face closer to the canvas to be sure of perfect details. After about 5 minutes, she put her paintbrush down and smiled. "And done! All that's left is to let it dry!"
Jackson sat in awe. "But- wait, that's. That's amazing. How? I don't even. What?" He was so confused with how amazing she painted. How come I couldn't have met her years ago? We could be so far now.
She shrugged. "I tried." She removed the pencil and pen from her hair and took the hair ties out, leaving it to fall back into the slightly wavy mess she'd pulled it up into that morning. "You can come look if you want. I don't bite."