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All Grown Up The Night is Young
JesseWe finally paused to grab food, although with the score tied at one game each, we were already promising one another more rounds of play afterward. “God, I forgot to ask if you were still on a dancer’s diet,” I said suddenly as we looked over the pizza menu.“It’s fine,” Audrey said.“No, seriously, I’m sorry,” I said. “I should have thought about that.”“And taken me where?” Audrey asked, raising an eyebrow at me. “I don’t think Aberdeen has any low-fat, no-carb, whatever-whatever places where I could stick to my diet. I knew what I was getting myself into.” She took a deep breath. “I’ve been pretty lax on my diet since I got here. And I mean to be better. I don’t want to give it all up. But at the same time, well…” She trailed off again, looking embarrassed.“Well what?” I asked her.She gave me a tentative smile. “The director gave me a challenge when he was sending me here,” she said. “He told me to treat this like a research project. To find some hobbies and, like, figure o
All Grown Up Letting Him In
AudreyI shouldn’t have been surprised with the way that the evening ended up going. It was classic Jesse, through and through. God, how many nights had we gone out bowling with our friends when we were teenagers, all because Jesse wanted to? Granted, it wasn’t like there was all that much to do around town, but he always seemed to be the one to get us off the couches and out the door.There was something to be said for that.Then the conversation? I supposed it was no surprise that I found myself talking about my feelings, my wants, my dreams, my desires, with him. He always had a way of getting me to open up to him. I felt comfortable around him in a way that I didn’t with anyone else. I felt like I could tell him how out of place I felt here, without him thinking that I was just some stuck-up dancer with her head in the clouds.And for the first time since coming back to Aberdeen, I started to wonder if maybe I had been wrong. Maybe there was someone here in North Carolina who real
All Grown Up Signals Crossed
AudreyI wished for an instant that I could see inside of his head. What was going on in there? Why did he always tangle up my emotions like this? One moment, I would swear that we were on the same page, that we were both looking forward to the same things, that we both needed one another. And in the next moment, we were just friends. Nothing more. And we never would be.Jesse cocked his head to the side, though. “You don’t want me to take you home?” he asked slowly.There was a part of me that was still afraid to admit the truth. But then I thought about the fact that I’d be going back to Paris soon enough. I never had to see him again if I didn’t want to. Might as well put all my cards on the table.“Jesse,” I groaned. “I want you. I wanted you when we were teenagers, and I want you now. So no, I don’t want you to take me home. But if this isn’t—” I didn’t get to finish that thought before Jesse was on me again, lunging across the truck and pressing hard against me, his mouth prac
All Grown Up Still Here
JesseI woke up on Thursday when my alarm went off, and I groped on my bedside table for my phone. I yawned as I shut the thing off and then lay there for another moment, already going through my morning in my mind. First, I’d get up, have a quick shower, throw on some jeans and a T-shirt. Then, a quick breakfast of leftover egg hash that I had made the previous morning. And then into work.I quickly ran through a mental inventory of the orders that we had going out that morning. It should be a relatively easy morning, which was good. I had slept well, but it was one of those mornings where I felt like I could definitely just linger in bed for the whole day and be content.I stretched and rolled over, surprised to encounter a wave of long, blonde hair. Audrey woke up with a yelp and shoved me off of her hair, and between my surprise and the strength of her shove, I tumbled naked over the other side of the bed. I landed hard and grunted out a breath. Then, I peered up at her as she scr
All Grown Up What Now?
JesseI stood there under the spray, leaning heavily against the wall with both palms. Jesus, I had slept with Audrey Buchanan. Fucking finally. But how did I deal with this now? What was she thinking? What the hell was I thinking?I was thinking that it was just fun between friends, I finally reminded myself. She would be headed back to Paris in six months at the latest. Our time was limited. Last night was just fun. Nothing more.I breathed out a sigh of relief, nodding to myself. Just friends. Nothing more. Then, I went about my usual morning routine. Audrey was out of my bed when I went back into the room to grab my clothes. I nodded again and forced myself to focus on what I was doing. Joe wasn’t going to hear about this from me. Not as long as I was on time and didn’t give him any reason to wonder what I’d been up to the night before.When I headed downstairs, though, I stopped in my tracks. Audrey was there in the kitchen, wearing one of my flannel shirts. There was coffee alre
All Grown Up Plans For Paris
AudreyIt was a relief to have the house to myself when I got home on Thursday morning. I knew that my absence couldn’t have gone unnoticed. Annabelle at least would have known that I didn’t come home since she and I shared a room. And Mom knew that I had been out after she went to bed the night before. She would put two and two together as well.I wondered what they would say. Of course, Annabelle wasn’t so young anymore. She had to have had a fling or two in her life. It wasn’t like I was a teenager anymore, either. It wasn’t like Mom could really say anything about it. If I wanted to go home with Jesse, that was my prerogative.But what I was more worried about, I realized, was the fact that either of them might be too vocal in their support of my relationship with Jesse. Not that it was a relationship. We were still just friends. I hadn’t missed that pained look that came across Jesse’s face that morning when I had kissed him goodbye. It had flickered across his face, barely notic
All Grown Up Guilty
AudreyThe director laughed. “I’m glad to hear that,” he said. “And I’m glad to hear that you’re resting a little. We look forward to having you back here soon.”“I look forward to being there,” I said. “But not before I’m ready!” I gave a little laugh that the director echoed.We said our goodbyes and hung up the phone. And I felt better than I had in a while. It really sounded like things were going to come together. Like I was going to be able to head back to Paris without waiting a whole six months to heal up and train more. Hell, maybe I’d be back in time for casting for the fall. I could only hope so.I thought about calling some of my friends as well, but I didn’t want to jinx myself by telling them I was hoping to come back sooner. And anyway, what would I say to them? They would be full of news about the final shows of the season, the latest gallery openings, shopping, and all the wonderful things that they had been up to.My life here in North Carolina couldn’t compare to th
All Grown Up Sister Knows
JesseTo say that Friday afternoon was slow was an understatement. There hadn’t been anyone in the hardware store in the two hours since lunchtime, and we had long since finished going over inventory and all the other side tasks that I kept for days like this.I had sent Chance home when it became clear that if the floors took another polishing, we were going to need ice skates to get around the place. Now, it was just Joe and me. He was scrolling through something on his phone, but I could tell that he was just as bored as I was.I straightened up off the counter. “All right,” I said, finally making the decision. “Let’s get out of here for the day.”Joe raised an eyebrow at me. “Are you suggesting that we close early?” he asked, pretending to be horrified.I rolled my eyes. “Yes,” I said. “There’s no one here right now, and I doubt anyone is going to have anything too pressing that they need between now and tomorrow morning. It’s one of the first really nice days of the summer. Let’s
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