Chapter 1

(2 years later)

I was on my way to the science room to receive help with my chemistry class. The teacher and I didn’t have any coinciding free time during class, so we could only meet after school. I hated being alone with teachers, but I had no choice so I dragged my feet to get to the classroom. Arriving at the classroom door my anxiety spiked, but I took a deep breath and walked in. The atmosphere in the room was light though which helped with my anxiety and prepared myself for a long afternoon. I located Mr. Rees sitting at his desk reading some papers, and released my held breath in a long sigh of relief.

“Afternoon Jackie,”  Mr. Rees got up from his desk. “I have some stuff set up at the lab tables so you can go ahead and have a seat over  there and I’ll be right over.” 

“Yes, Mr. Rees.” I grinned widely shutting the door. “I really appreciate your help with all of this.”

“Of course! What kind of teacher would I be if I didn’t?”

“Are you coming to sit down over here to help or just wait for me to ask a question?”

“‘I’m coming over right now.”

He came over to sit in the seat next to me and organized the materials that we had sitting out so work would go a little smoother. We started the work, and I listened very close to every word he said . Although I had excelled in chemistry I was struggling with the current material and couldn’t afford to fail out. Although as time went on I started watching Mr. Rees more than the lesson my mind reeling as I followed his jawline with my eyes. He was hard focused on the papers though, and even my prying eyes couldn’t pull his attention away from the work. When he did finally turn towards me our faces were close enough I could feel his breath and his face blushed bright red.

“Do you see how these two equations don’t come out properly?” He spoke, unmoving.

“Kind of, but I do want to know want to know if this can work properly.” I rubbed my hand on his. 

“I don’t know, Jackie. Although I would love to play into it just seems like trouble.” 

“Oh come on Jesse. No one has to know. We can go to your place.” 

“Hm.” He stared at me intently for a moment before cracking a smile. “Fuck it. Let’s take a chance at this.

I packed up my stuff slowly and discussed the plan with him trying to stay calm while jittering internally. Mr. Rees listened intently while waiting for me to finish, so there was a time break between us leaving. Although we had a meeting and us leaving at the same time wouldn’t be too curious we wanted to make sure attention wasn’t raised. I zipped up my bag, said my farewell, and headed to my car. Twenty minutes later I climbed into Mr. Rees car outside the local Market Basket and started our drive up to Plymouth. We drove in silence wondering if this was an okay thing to do or if we were making a terrible mistake. In the state of New Hampshire I was of lega agel, but our form relationship being student-teacher it wasn’t. Finally a clear final thought came into my mind and I broke the tense silence.

“We can’t tell anyone about this or your job could be at risk.” I looked over at him. 

“I won't, trust me. I love my job and although I want to do this I don’t want to risk it at the same point.” 

“We’re here, but I’m okay turning around if you want to back out if it would make you more comfortable.”

“I just don’t want to risk this chance either, so let’s go.” He squeezed my hand and got out.

He walked up the walkway to his door and unlocked it, swinging the door open and waiting patiently for me. I pulled myself out the car and wandered up behind him trying to hide my excitement. I walked into the apartment and took a peak around at it to see what his living quarters were like before taking my shoes. Jesse shut the door behind us and snuck past me and into the kitchen. He grabbed to beers and motioned me to come further into the apartment. Seeing that I was uncomfortable he offered me one of the beers even though I was underage, but I declined and just tried to shake the nerves myself.

“I’ve never done anything like this before.” I smiled nervously at him, “It’s definitely exciting though.”

“Just wait and things will get much better” He smiled softly at me.

“I feel like I could just jump you right now.”

“Oh really?” He looked at me curiously, an eyebrow raised.

I grabbed Jesse by the tie, pulled him tight against, and looked up at him. I kissed him lightly to see what would happen and he pushed back against pulling me as tight as he could. Thoughts were still swirling in my brain, but I concentrated on the situation at hand by running my hands through Jesse’s hair. He pulled me into another long kiss that sent shivers through my body, and his hands explored every spot he could grab. I attempted to unbuttoned his shirt, but my hands could not stop trembling with nerves. He grabbed me right under my butt and lifted me up around his waist to carry me to the bedroom chuckling.

             Jesse put me down on the edge of the bed and kissed me lightly running his hand through my hair. As he stood back up I reached for his buttons and started at them slowly working through the excitement. At the last button I reached into the shirt running my hands down his body and revealing it to me. He pulled his hands behind his back and tugged on each sleeve letting the shirt fall to the ground before reaching for mine. He tugged on it and pulled it over my head before looking down and taking in the new view. He smirked at me and pulled me up unbuttoning my pants letting them fall to floor allowing me to do the same to him leaving us to take each other in.

            “Are you still okay with this?” Jesse pulled away for second.

“Yes, I am okay with this.”  

We embraced in a kiss, and collapsed on the bed giggling through our intertwined lips. His hand wrapped around my back and unhooked my bra quickly. He ran his hands up and down my body and I felt goose bumps follow his touch. With a quick slide of the finger, and pull at the bridge, I was exposed from the front. He grabbed both my underwear and his and pulled them off, exposing all of our hidden secrets. We took a minute to explore with our hands to the places that we hadn’t been able to touch yet getting familiar with each other and comforting the last of the nerves. I blushed red as his eyes dug into me staring at my fully exposed body almost unbothered by mine. 

He grabbed my hands in his and laid me down putting them over my head and kissing my neck. I could feel his body wanting to form to mine, as he released my hands and ran his hand down back pulling me closer. I wanted him to take everything, but I was scared and nervous and allowed my body to show that. He pulled away for a second letting me say stop if I needed to allowing me to have my boundaries, but I told him it was okay. He checked again trying to comfort me and I assures him once again it was okay, so he made his move. As he went inside me I wanted to just melt into the bed and let out a moan. Jesse smiled and started up a nice pacing paying attention to me to make sure I was still okay.

“Jesse! Jesse!” A man’s voice filled the room as the front door slammed shut suddenly. “Where are ya?!”

“Hold on AJ!” Jesse got out the bed in a panic. “Stay here unless I say otherwise.” 

Jesse threw on his boxers and ran down the hall before he could come in any further. I covered myself with the blanket, and wondered if it was over before it started. I heard Jesse say ‘goodbye’, so I was guessing he made up some lie for the person to come back at another time. I awaited Jesse’s return, but even after him saying that I could still hear a discussion going on. I wasn’t sure if he was having an issue getting rid of them or if there was something wrong. I thought up getting up and getting dressed prepared for an emergency exit. In a moment though I heard the front door open and close and single set of footsteps come down the hall.

“Sorry about that.” Jesse said as he walked back into the bedroom.

“What'd you tell him?” I laughed as he collapsed on top of me.

“I told him that I was cleaning the apartment, so I would call him tomorrow.” 

“I love you.” 

“Do you really love me?” 

“I really do love you. I’m here because I love you, and I just realized these feelings as I stood in the living room with you. I don’t need anyone but you.” I paused and gazed into his eyes. “How do you feel?” 

“What would you say if I told you I loved you too?” 

“Depends if you do or not.” 

“I do.” 

“I'm happy that I found you then and took that step.” I smiled broadly. “When I graduate in two weeks you have to promise me you’ll stay with me.” 

“I promise I’ll stay with you for the rest of your life. The rest of your beautiful, simple, loving life.” He kissed me with a smile. “In fact, after you're done your first year at Plymouth, you can move in. We'll get married and have beautiful little kids running around.” 

We embraced in a kiss, and he got back on top of me getting me excited again to move into a comfortable point. I had only had sex once before, but this was beyond that and something new. Although after our talk I noticed a change in him. His body was softer, his movements slower, and the feeling was more sensual than the first time. I was thinking into the future about what this could turn into from this point. My mind and body were on the run together imagining the new life that we could have together. I stayed in rhythm with  Jesse and enjoyed our moment together until something drew my attention away.

“What was that?” I looked out the open door. “Is he back? Can you see if he is?”

“Honey, I’m home. I got kicked out of the dorms for a couple weeks. I know you’re never home, so I decided to stay here.” A deep voice filled the room.

“Is that Adam?” I gasped covering myself. 

“Yeah. He came to me after college. He graduated last year right?” Jesse got up quickly.

“Yeah. I didn’t realize that you two were friends.” 

“I'll take care of it.”  Jesse headed into the living room. “Hey. Listen can you come back later? I'm a little busy right now. It’s a Friday night, so I have a guest over.” 

“Well I don’t think they’d mind me coming and watching the game.” Adam laughed lightly. “If they do they can deal.”  

“Please. I need you to come back tomorrow. You, AJ, and I can watch a game tomorrow. Red Sox are on.” 

“Okay., but I’ll be back with my stuff tomorrow.” 

“Why don't you stay with Kaila? You guys are good.” 

“She has a huge thing going on. Five girls in a three bedroom apartment, I'd rather die before I move in there.” 

“Well, I'm here tomorrow. You, AJ, and I can chill then.” 

“Check ya, later.” Adam shut the door.

“I'm back.” Jesse came in again after shuffling around for a while. “Now where was I?”

“I think we’re done here as I much as I don’t want to be.” I kissed him and got out of bed. “Too much of a break for me, sorry.”

I grabbed his shirt off the floor and put it on. It was big on me and perfect for hanging out with Jesse for a while. We sat on the couch drinking and watching comedy movies that were almost too stupid to laugh at. Jesse and I hung out on the couch for a while trolling through streaming services and just talking between us. I looked at the clock and saw that it was after midnight, so I pulled Jesse into his bedroom from his light slumber. We curled up in bed and he snuck up behind me wrapping his arm around me. He nuzzled into my neck and I very quickly fell into a deep sleep.

I woke up the next morning to find Jesse already getting my stuff together and smiled as he wandered around the room. I was ready to get going before the boys showed up, and even happier that Jesse woke up before and had managed to find the majority of my stuff throughout the room. He saw I was awake and gave me a small kiss before offering to dress me. He grabbed my skirt and felt a shock of goose bumps run up me as he slid it on me. I tied my hair back, found my thong, and put my shirt on after we finally found that. I threw what I wasn't wearing in a bag and headed out to the car. Jesse soon came out the door to join me and we headed to Market Basket to drop me off.

“I love you.” Jesse kissed me goodbye. 

“I love you, too. See you on Monday.” I got in my car.

I watched him drive out of the parking lot and towards his home. I took a few minutes to check my phone and clear my head after a long night. There wasn’t much to check in on as my social life wasn’t super busy, but there was always something. I started the car and drove to mine and my friend’s apartment in complete silence, reviewing the previous night’s events. I pulled in front of it and got out, tucking Jesse's shirt in under my seat, and putting my back-up tank top on. I laughed lightly as the girls came running out when I got out in a worried frenzy asking about my whereabouts. I made up a lie and apologized that I had let my phone die losing contact.

“Were you seeing Henry again?” My friend Stacey asked. 

“No I was seeing Jenna. Henry and I have been done since January. You guys should know.” I embraced them in a hug. “Alright who wants to go to McDonald’s, because I am hungry!”

“Nah, I have had enough fast food. I went out with Zach last night and he is amazing.” Mandy laughed lightly. 

We all went in and sat on the couch for the rest of the afternoon. I guess we were ready for a day of relaxation, but I needed to take care of Jesse’s shirt before someone found it. When most of my friends were with their boyfriends or asleep I headed out to take care of it. I went to my grandparents and wrapped the shirt, drove to my aunt's house and made a digital card. After talking to her for a few minutes I said goodbye and headed to my dad's house purposefully while he was. When I got there I left a thank you note for letting me use the printer and printed the card for Jesse out. I put the card with the package back under my car seat where the shirt originally was, and started the car.