Labeled Love (44 page)

Jules is right. It’s a little humid today. I close my eyes, letting the sun beat down on me. I wish Jace and I were at the beach right now. An incoming call interrupts my thoughts. Grabbing my phone, I answer, “Hey.”

“Hey, pretty girl,” Jace says. I sigh. His voice never gets old. It’s deep and playful and just so sexy.

“I want to be at the beach, just the two of us right now. I want the sand between our toes. I want your arms around me as you twirl me in the water with my eyes closed.”

I hear him take a shuddering breath. “Baby, one day, I promise you, we will wake up every day with your cute little toes in the sand. I will bring you a cup of coffee outside, while you watch the sun rise. One day, you will have that.” He chuckles sweetly. I can almost see his smile as he tells me everything he wants to give me. “It will be the most peaceful time in the morning, baby. Just you and me before…” He pauses.

“Before what, Jace?” Nothing. “Jace?”

“I’m just thinking. Before all those little babies come running through the sand after us.”

“I can’t wait for that.”

“Me, too, pretty girl. Me, too.”

“I love you more than anything, Jace. That will never change.”

“Even if I give you a bunch of little blue-eyed boys, I’m still going to be your number one?” he asks me.

I think about something my dad once told me about his love for my mom. “You will always be my number one, Jace. Because if it wasn’t for you, I would never have any of those future kiddies, right?”

“Right,” he says with his adorable laugh.

“So, yeah, you kind of always will come first to me, baby. And, I wouldn’t have it any other way.” I get quiet. “I just want you to know how much I love you, Jace. You will always be my number one boy,” I repeat.

“You always have, and always will be my only girl, Shay. You’re the only girl I’ve ever seen,” he says. I giggle.

“I’m not the only girl you’ve ever seen, silly. Girls are everywhere you look. You can’t help but have to look at other girls,” I tease. Now he chuckles.

“You know what I mean, Shay. If I have to look at the girl selling me a pack of gum, well, then yeah, I look at her for a minute. But, baby, I’ve only ever seen you.”

“Jace?”

“Yeah, baby.”

“I started writing our song the day we met. I remember going home and calling Jules and telling her I had fallen in love. She told me I was only twelve, and there was no way I fell in love, but I didn’t care what she said. I knew how I felt when I looked at you. There was something in the way you looked at me, and there was something in the way I felt that told me deep down in my soul that I had just looked into the eyes of the boy I would love forever. I started our love song that day. And, all these years later, our love just keeps getting stronger.”

“We will always be strong, Shay.”

“We’ve never had to struggle to love each other, never, not once. We’ve never even fought.” I pause, thinking back to when Cole sent those text messages. “Well, that one time—”

“I know what you’re thinking,” he cuts me off. “We didn’t fight, Shay. You never did anything wrong, baby. It was just hard for me to think about Cole being there with you when I couldn’t. And, I wouldn’t be telling you the truth if I said I wasn’t mad. I was, but never at you. I was mad, jealous, and honestly, I was hurt. And, never once had I felt any of those emotions when it came to you. I mean, jealous, yeah, I’d felt that. I’m always jealous of the time others have had with you. Never once have I questioned our love. I don’t care how old we are. God, baby, I love that you have been my one and only, and that I’ve only been yours. I think that’s the greatest gift, so when I say you’re my girl, and you say I’m your boy… baby, that’s special.”

“Jace, you always say the swooniest things.”

“I don’t try to be swoony, baby. It’s just the truth.”

“Well, just so you know, our song has only taken so long, not because it took me a long time to write, but because I just wanted to experience love with you.”

“You know, maybe I’ve been writing songs, too.”

“What!” I say, gasping into my phone.

“I’ve found myself writing down pretty words about how I feel about you that might be song worthy. That is, if my girl writes the music to go along with words.”

“Are you serious, Jace?” I smile brightly. “Well, you have been writing me love letters for years, so of course, you know how to write music.”

“I don’t know about that, baby, but I’ve always been able to write down how I feel about you.” Then he says, “I’m just teasing you, baby. I haven’t written any songs.”

“You’re just mean.” I pout.

“Don’t pout, pretty girl. Trust me, there are all kinds of love songs written in my head about you.”

“You’ve never had any problem telling me how you feel, and you’ve always written the most beautiful love notes to me. I have no doubt that when we go into the studio together we’re going to make the best music together.”

“We already make the best music together, Shay,” he says, all low and sexy.

“Don’t get all frisky sounding, Jace.”

“I’m not being frisky, and what the heck is that word? You’ve never said
frisky
before.”

Giggling, I say, “You were just sounding all sexy. Whenever you say, ‘we make the best music together,’ I know what you’re referring to.”

“I’m a guy, baby. I’m always going to think of ‘making music’ with my girl. You take care of the music we make together that the world will hear, and I’ll take care of our music. That’s my favorite music to think about.” I sigh. “So, are you going to finally share our song that I’ve waited, like, eight years to hear?”

“Yup, I’m finally going to sing it for you. I’m so glad I waited. Jace, everything we’ve ever shared is wrapped up into those words. When you hear me sing them, I’m singing every first you ever gave me. The first time you looked into my eyes, the first time we held hands, the first time you gave me your lips, and the first time you told me you loved me. I’ll never forget the first time we danced together, the first time we made love, even the first time we finally got to wake up together. You’ve given me every single first moment.”

“I think you just swooned me, baby.” He laughs.

“Jace,” I say all sassy to him.

“I’m not kidding, Shay. That was really sweet, baby. Thank you for telling me that. I can’t wait to hear our song. Knowing how much every one of our moments is poured into it, I… just can’t wait. Can you at least tell me the name of it? I’m dying over here.”

I take a deep breath. “After our first time, I remembered how amazing I felt, and how you told me you were going to give me the moon and the stars, and you did just that. You gave me the most amazing moment, just like you said you would. I looked up into the night sky after we had just made love, and I knew our song had to be just that. I will never forget when you looked at me and said, ‘You wanted the moon and the stars, baby.’ Our song’s title is ‘The Moon and Stars
.
’” Then I giggle. “Something like that.”

“God, I want to hold you right now, Shay. I love it, baby. I really love it. I can’t wait until I finally hear your sweet voice sing it.”

“It won’t be long now. No more being apart, no more wondering where my boy is. We are going to wake up in each other’s arms every day, really, really soon,” I tell him excitedly.

“I can’t wait,” he says enthusiastically.

I get up off my lounge chair and look out onto the city below. Of course, my mind goes right to wondering where my boy is. It makes me happy to know that we are so close to being together each day. I just know that my parents will be supportive. Once my dad hears us in the studio together, he’s going to know that the timing is perfect.

At our ages, my parents had already moved in with each other, so I don’t think we will have too many problems convincing them that we’re ready for this.

“All right, baby. I need to get all beautified to see my boy soon.”

“Okay, pretty girl. I’ll see you later tonight. I won’t stay at the party too late. I have somewhere I have to be early in the morning.”

“Where?”

“If we’re going to start our forever, I have to make some things happen to set that in motion. I love you, Shay.”

“More than anything, Jace.”

“DAMN, JACE, THIS
house is insane,” Landon tells me once we arrive at the house. Showing up at the party,
I knew what to expect, but Landon had no idea. Shay’s house is even bigger than this, but I don’t tell him that. We walk around to the side gate that everyone seems to be walking in and out of. It doesn’t take long to gain attention. Girls are looking at us like we are fresh meat, and guys are wondering who the hell we are. “This place is packed,” he says as we walk around.

After recognizing a few people, I only care to see one person. I see Jules walking around with a red Solo cup in her hand. Right away, I get a knot in my stomach thinking Shay is drinking. As I watch Jules make her way to the fire pit, that’s when I see my girl. She looks like an angel. Her smile is so big as she sits Indian style on the bench seat. She looks like she’s roasting a marshmallow. 

My girl has a marshmallow in her hand, not a red Solo cup
.
 

Landon nudges me forward. “Are we going to stare at her all night or actually talk to her?”

Shaking my head, I look over at Landon. “Um, sorry, man. She kind of takes my breath away.”

“Jace, you are so fucking whipped.”

I glance at him while twisting my lip up in amusement. “She’s the only one that makes me that way.” He rolls his eyes at me, pushing me toward the girl that makes my heart beat. I can feel it the closer I get to her. As our eyes lock, she stands up and starts walking toward me. She looks so damn pretty. Long, dark, wavy hair, bright blue eyes, and the prettiest smile I’ve ever seen wraps her arms around me. It’s comfort, it’s familiar, and it’s the best fucking feeling in the world.

It’s home.

Her embrace is all I need. Even over the smell of the fire, her intoxicating scent is around me, invading me to the point of surrender.

I don’t want to let go of her. It’s been three days since I’ve seen her. I should be thankful; most of the time, I have to wait longer than that to see her pretty face.

“Hey, baby,” she says softly into my ear. I love when she calls me “baby”. Her voice is my undoing. When she’s being sassy, I can hear her humorous tone. When she’s being sexy, she lowers her voice just enough to make me pay close attention. She reels me in with that tone. Right now, she just reeled me in so close I’m hoping I don’t bring attention to myself.

I let go with hesitation as she looks up into my eyes. Bright blue meets pale blue, and everything feels right in my world. This is how it’s always supposed to be. 

“Hi,” she whispers.

“Hi, future Mrs. James,” I mutter quietly to only her, never breaking eye contact.

She smiles. “I missed you.”

“I always miss you,” I say.

“Give me your lips, baby.” Reaching up, she presses her lips to mine. She pushes down every single doubt or insecurity I’ve ever felt when she says that to me. Even through the sighs from her friends around the fire and Landon’s annoying huff, I keep her mouth to mine. Everyone else falls away when I’m this close to my girl.

She teases me with her pouty lips until I open up for her. Her tongue finds mine. She tastes like a summer day. Hot, sweet, kissing me slowly… the way I like it.

The crackling of the fire stops us. We’re standing so close I don’t want her to get hurt by the flames. As I look around, everyone is staring at us, so I slip my hand into Shay’s, giving it a tight squeeze. The other girls here have nothing on my girl. No one does, or ever will to me.

Landon starts talking to one of the girls and gives me a sideways glance with a sly smile. I think he’s going to enjoy this party. Speaking of party, I’m not staying long. Garrett texted me, and I have to meet him early in the morning. I haven’t told Shay yet.

She leads me to the bench she was sitting on, and I sit down. She falls straight onto my lap. “Jump up, so I can get something out of my pocket,” I tell her. Of course, she’s wearing her charm bracelet. She moves around on me, causing me to stir.  I lower my voice. “Baby, don’t move around on me like that.” Leaning her head back on my chest, her long, soft curls cascade all around me. She turns her head slightly, kissing me on my cheek. “I’ve got something for you.”