Inevitably Yours

QUINN

The rest of the year went a lot smoother after wrestling season ended. Michael and I talked a couple of nights a week when he wasn’t busy with other things; when he was, I spent my nights on the phone with Jaxx. Michael started doing some different grappling training that kept him plenty busy and happy, it seemed. Whenever he wanted to tell me about it, I listened enthusiastically, knowing it was the best way we could still be friends.

My parents missed the big Jazz Band performance of the year and the end of the year Concert Band performance. I was disappointed even with Jaxx, Christy, Aubree, Carl, and Brina in the audience for me.

History got a lot easier having a group of people to help lighten the workload. Carl even helped me study for the final and make sure I pushed out an A- as the final grade.

Christy and Aubree went to his prom together. She looked like a princess in her baby pink dress, and I was so happy for them. Jaxx decided he didn’t want to go to prom as a Junior, and I was okay with that. Instead, we saw our friends off for their night of fun, then we went to a movie and spent a few hours at Wild Bluff watching the stars.

Finally, summer was on the horizon. Aubree was graduating, and Christy enlisted my help to throw him a party after the ceremony. We spent a week baking treats and preparing food. Christy swore I cooked better than anyone she knew.

Jaxx picked me up for the ceremony. I borrowed one of Christy’s summer dresses with flowers all over it. It hugged me a little tight but still looked nice. Christy wanted to have a sleepover at her house after the grad party, so I had a bag packed with extra clothes ready to go. Her parents wanted her to graduate before letting her live with her mate.

Jaxx sent me a message that he was right down the street, so I grabbed my things and headed downstairs. I said goodbye to my parents, my dad warning me about good behavior. I reminded him that I am always well-behaved as I headed out the door. Jaxx was walking toward the door and stopped when he saw me.

“f**k,” he hissed.

“What?” I said, stopping short of him.

“You’re wearing that all day?” he asked. I looked down at the dress. It pushed my cleavage up a little more than I preferred, but otherwise, I thought it was nice.

“Is something wrong with this? I got it from Christy,” I said quickly.

“Babe, I won’t be able to concentrate on anything,” he said. His eyes raked over me, and heat blossomed in my face.

“I- I can change….” I stuttered. He shook his head, his eyes a little dark now.

“Let’s go. Your bestie will murder us if we’re late,” he swallowed.

Jaxx kept shifting uncomfortably and adjusting his crotch while driving to Wild High for the graduation. Heat radiated from my face; I wasn’t bargaining for that kind of reaction.

“Could be fun,” Sapphire purred.

“No. No, no. That is trouble. We’re not far from his birthday, and we’ll see if we’re mates. I kinda want to wait for mine,” I reasoned.

“Ugh, you’re so responsible,” she complained.

Christy met us outside with Aubree’s parents. His mom gave Jaxx a massive hug before rounding on me, very excited to meet me. His dad was quiet but shook Jaxx’s hand after being released from the hug. “Let’s go. Bailey is inside holding our seats,” his mom chimed.

“Bailey?” I whispered to Jaxx.

“Aubree’s little sister. She’s a year younger than you,” he explained quietly.

Christy grabbed my arm and pulled me with her away from Jaxx. “Okay, you look way hotter in that than I do,” she giggled as we led the way.

“Yea, I think Jaxx feels the same,” I g*****d.

“Yea, he isn’t hiding it well. Is my girl finally getting lucky tonight?” she teased.

“Not unless you are rejecting your mate and switching teams?” I joked back, confused.

“Wait, you don’t know?” she asked as we stepped into a large auditorium. She scanned the room, looking for Aubree’s little sister.

“Know what?” I pressed. She found Bailey, and we moved that way.

“After Bree’s party, we’re all going out to the bluff. You and Jaxx and me and Bree. But we’re splitting up to spend the night together. I thought Jaxx would have told you. I only fronted the story about staying at my house so your parents would agree,” she linked. Apparently, she didn’t want Aubree’s parents hearing us either.

“When was this decided?” I asked her, nervous now.

“Forever ago,” she replied. Bailey hugged Christy tightly as we made it to her. She was a bouncy thing already taller than me, and she looked exactly like her older brother. We all took our seats, Bailey on the end, then Christy, me, Jaxx, and Aubree’s parents on the other end. The auditorium began to fill up around us.

“So what, we’re leaving the party and spending the night in the woods?” I asked Christy after a few minutes.

“Yea, and in a dress like that, you’ll have a great night,” she said, smiling at me. Jaxx reached over and grabbed my hand, holding it in my lap. Christy wiggled her eyebrows at me. The lights flickered in the auditorium, signaling that the ceremony was about to begin.

–

The graduation ceremony was lovely, and it was relatively short. After about a million pictures, we headed to Aubree’s house for the party. It was only when we were back in Jaxx’s cat that I got to ask him about the plans for after the party.

“So when were you going to tell me about this little camping trip?” I asked.

“Wait, Christy didn’t tell you?” he asked.

“No, she didn’t. She said something about staying the night at her house,” I told him.

“Oh,” he said, biting his l*p. “I guess that explains the lack of a sleeping bag.”

“Did you think my parents were going to agree?” I asked him incredulously.

“No, I guess they wouldn’t,” he frowned. “I can take you home after the party if you want.” He sounded despondent suddenly.

I g*****d under my breath as we made our way to Aubree’s. I didn’t want to lie to my parents even though they seemed to trust me implicitly. I wasn’t sure how I felt about spending the night with Jaxx, especially finding out only hours before. Jaxx didn’t say anything else, and when we arrived, we immediately jumped into helping Christy and Aubree’s mom get everything set for the party.

“Hey, are you alright?” Christy linked me while we were setting up the desserts. Aubree and Jaxx were carrying chairs to the yard.

“Yea. Just don’t know what to do about tonight,” I told her.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

I sighed, looking over my shoulder. Christy’s eyes followed mine and lit up when they landed on Aubree. “I’m nervous.”

“About what?” she asked. “You guys have been dating forever now. Since Christmas, everything has been great.”

“Spending the night together, though?”

“What’s scary about that? You like him, right? You want to be around him? Won’t it be romantic?”

“I guess so,” I answered. Jaxx and I connected gazes, and he gave me a tight smile.

“Aubree said he was really excited about this. I guess his family stuff has been a little much lately,” Christy reasoned.

I frowned. Jaxx still hadn’t opened up about what was going on with his family; it was almost a weird deja vu moment, although I knew for a fact he wasn’t the next Alpha of Wild Paws. I didn’t want to pressure him into telling me what was going on, but it was hard to help when I didn’t know.

Christy stepped beside me and grabbed my hand. “Come with us,” she pleaded. “It’ll be so much fun. I even packed stuff for s’mores and cocoa. How often are we going to have opportunities like this? If you are too nervous to share a tent with Jaxx, I’ll have Bree share with him, and we’ll share.”Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

“You’d do that for me?” I asked her. “You don’t get to stay with Bree that often.”

“Yea, but you’re my bestie. Maybe you just aren’t ready to leave the nest yet,” she smiled.

“I am not a baby bird,” I laughed.

“Say yes,” she pleaded.

“Okay, I’ll go. No promises on the sleeping arrangements, though,” I smiled.

–

I sat in between Jaxx’s legs while we cuddled in front of the campfire. Aubree and Christy had already wandered into the trees; I didn’t expect to see them back for a while. I pulled apart the gooey, melted marshmallow I had just roasted to painstaking perfection and held it up to Jaxx behind me. He ate it from my fingers.

“It’s good, but burned marshmallows are better,” he laughed.

“You’re insane. The only thing that is meant to be burned is hotdogs and sausages,” I argued. A large yawn escaped me. Jaxx chuckled and kissed my cheek.

“Want to go lay down?” he asked. We hadn’t discussed any disruption to the original sleeping arrangements. Anxiety filled my veins, and Jaxx must have noticed. “Are you scared about something? You do realize we are the big bad wolves out here, right?”

His joke eased my nerves a little. “It’s not that.”

“What is it?” he asked. “Talk to me.”

I didn’t want to tell him I had only accidentally spent the night with a guy before, and he was gone when I woke up. I tried to keep myself from remembering those moments. I wasn’t here with Michael; I was with Jaxx. “I just never….”

Jaxx tightened his arms around me. “Trust me, right?” I nodded my head. “Come on.”

He stood and then offered his hand to help me up. We went over to the tent, and I followed him inside. Christy snagged an extra sleeping bag from Aubree’s before we all left so that I also had one. Jaxx laid on top of his, lying right next to mine. I did the same.

“I’m glad you decided to come,” he smiled, reaching forward to cup my cheek gently.

“Me too,” I smiled.

“Think I can get a good night k**s?” he whispered. I nodded, biting my l*p. He leaned forward, kissing me softly. More of my nerves floated away with his gentleness. Jaxx deepened the k**s as I relaxed, slipping his tongue into my mouth. Baby butterflies filled my stomach, and soon, Jaxx was leaning over me further.

“That dress you wore today,” he smiled, pulling away so we could both catch our breaths. His hand started to run down my body, tracing its contours over my clothes. His fingers played with the waistband of my shorts. I fisted his shirt.

“Jaxx, no, I…” my voice died in my throat.

“Shhh,” he said. “It’s okay. I think I can do a little better than the middle of the woods for our first time.” He kissed me again; I couldn’t decide what to feel. A large part of me wanted to continue, wanted to be closer to him. A small part of my heart was stopping me, reminding me of what came before Jaxx. Sapphire was radio silent.

Finally, his k****s slowed. We heard giggling outside the tent accompanied by rustling nearby; Aubree and Christy were back. “We are no longer alone,” Jaxx chuckled quietly.

“No, we are not,” I agreed, biting back my own laugh.

“Come here,” he said, shifting to lay next to me. He pulled me close to him, tucking me into his arms. “Night,” he said, kissing the top of my head.

–

I laid in the hammock, staring up into the tree in my backyard. Jaxx dropped me off that morning, but I hadn’t slept all night. I didn’t have the energy to do much, so I eventually decided to pull the hammock into the shade and lay down outside. My phone buzzed with a message, and I was dialing without thinking.

“Hey, Blue,” he answered excitedly. “I wasn’t expecting to hear your voice.”

“In this rare moment, I am entirely not busy,” I laughed.

“No book to put your nose in? No homework or studying to do?” Michael mocked.

“I promised myself at least two weeks of summer vacation before starting the summer homework,” I informed him.

“You won’t make it a week,” he chuckled.

“So, what are you up to? I’m not interrupting something, am I?” I asked.

“No, just waiting for the next class to start,” he said.

“Wait,” I said. “Isn’t your graduation today or something? Shouldn’t you be like getting your diploma?” I sat up, now a little worried about him.

“They’ll mail it to me,” he said dismissively.

“Michael!” I exclaimed. “What do you mean ‘they’ll mail it to me?’ Are you crazy? You only graduate High School once!”

“Chill, Blue. It’s not a big deal.” I could hear someone in the background. “I gotta go.”

“No!” I stopped him. “Not until you tell me why you are acting like that.”

Michael sighed heavily, and I heard him mutter something to someone near him. “One second,” he said. There was movement and the jingle of a bell over a door. “Okay,” he finally returned. “Look. I just don’t want to go. I barely know people here, and it’s not home. I shouldn’t be walking the stage here; I should be walking it back in Stary.” His voice tapered off, and it felt like there was something left that he didn’t say.

“But you finished. You should celebrate that,” I urged him.

“I appreciate it, but I just don’t want to go. Look, one of the instructors is gonna practice with me before the next class,” he sighed. “I’ll talk to you later.”

“Okay,” I said, accepting defeat. “Even if you don’t go, congrats.”

“Thanks,” he said softly. I scowled at my phone. I wanted to call him back and tell him he was being dumb, but I knew he wouldn’t answer.

“Quinny, go grab the mail for me,” my mom called out the back door. I swung my legs out of the hammock and padded my way down to the front yard. I grabbed the mail out of the box and shuffled through it, skimming the various envelopes with my mind still halfway on Michael.

I stopped on a letter from the school generically addressed to parents of Stary High students. I ripped it open and started skimming the pages.

“Mom, what does pay to play mean?”