The Girl Next Door

Tensions were running high between the two former friends. They saw each other at school but never said a word. Lunch was extremely difficult since both refused to sit at their old table and had to take up new eating places. Veronica had taken to keeping her curtains closed and Jason had done the same with his blinds, yet neither one could resist sneaking peeks at the other one’s window from time to time. Butch had gotten too big and protective of Veronica for her to keep. He tried to attack Alex one day for yelling at her and she was forced to give him away.

Prom came and went with Jason at home by himself and Veronica at the prom with Alex. Jason had watched them leave. Veronica was absolutely breathtaking in her red gown. The top was corset-style and strapless while the bottom was loose and flowing. ‘That should have been me’ Jason thought as he watched Alex help Veronica into the limo. As the vehicle pulled off, Veronica’s mind wasn’t on the prom, her date, or what everyone would be wearing. It was on the boy who she could have sworn she saw standing in his window, looking down at her.

Time continued to fly by. Both wanted to make amends but neither knew how to go about doing it. Jason’s birthday rolled around one week before graduation. Lucky for him, as far as seniors were concerned, school was over with that week. Getting home later that evening, after sending time with Marcus, Jason found his mother in the kitchen with a round little cake and nineteen candles on it.

“You shouldn’t have” Jason said, a smile tugging on his lips, as he looked around at the decorated kitchen.
“Well, this is the last birthday I’m going to get to spend with you in a while and I....” his mother trailed off.
“It’s gonna be okay, mom. I’ll be fine. Every things gonna be fine” he said, making his way over to his mom for a hug. “Now lets eat some of this cake.” he said, feeling the wetness from her tears through his shirt and feeling the sting in his own eyes.

After the cake, Jason made his way up to his room. Immediately he noticed the open window and the breeze blowing in. He walked over to it and looked out through the blinds. Seeing that Veronica’s lights were out he headed over to his bed and saw a box wrapped in comic paper. He sat down and slowly began opening the paper. ‘Might want to read these later’ he thought. Once he finally got the paper undone, he opened the box and looked inside. “Holy shit” he chuckled out loud as he pulled out a model Porche Boxter S Anniversary Edition car. He examined it from every angle and nearly fell off his bed with laugher when he saw the cutout head of himself in the driver’s window.

“Thanks Ronnie.” Jason said to himself.
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“Where is she?” Alex thought, as he honked his horn again. Veronica was still in her room. She knew the ceremony started in another hour and a half and she had to get going.

“Come on” she grunted at a piece of her hair. Her white graduation gown bellowed out behind her as a breeze blew through the window. She heard Alex’s car horn again and slammed her curling irons down on the dresser.

“I’ll be down in a minute!” she yelled out her window. ‘Is someone laughing at me?’ she thought, hearing a chuckle. She looked to the window across from her to see Jason leaning on the sill, a lopsided grin on his face. The months they spent avoiding each other seemed to melt away as she felt herself began to smile.

“Can I come over?” he asked softly.
“Sure” she responded, without hesitation. “But be careful of your robe.” He wore a blue robe, not being fortunate enough to have been in the National Honor Society, like Veronica. So he was stuck wearing half of the schools colors. The other half, yellow, being reserved for the girls. He carefully climbed over the branches and hopped into the open window. They stood, looking at each other for a minute before Jason broke the silence.

“Thanks for the car.” he said. Veronica smiled broadly.
“I’m glad you like it. She turned and went back to her dresser to work on her hair. Jason stayed in his place, taking a few deep breaths to steady himself for what he was about to say.

“I came over because I had some things I wanted to say, before it was too late.” Veronica frowned a little, but nodded her head. “I love you, Veronica Mitchell. And I don’t care who knows.” Veronica stopped curling her hair and turned around.

“I don’t know when it happened, but I know it did. And I’m tired of acting like everything is the same between us. I don’t want to just be your friend. I want to be your boyfriend. The one who loves when you climb this tree out here to get to my room. The one that loves when you wear your glasses and the way your hair smells like oranges. The one that loves you and everything about you. I couldn’t leave without letting you know how much you mean to me.”

“What, are you talking about leave?” Veronica interjected, suddenly confused.
“The military. I’m going to the Marines.”
“When?”
“Today, right after graduation, I have to go.”

Veronica could feel tears sting her eyes but forced them back.
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner.” she said, her voice cracking. Jason picked up on this and felt his breath catch in this throat. “We had been fighting and I didn’t really know when would be a good time to tell you.” Veronica nodded, understanding what he was saying. “I just....”she started. “I just wish....I don’t know. I wish you would stay.”

“Why?” Jason asked, hope laced in his voice. “Just tell me why I should stay. Give me one good reason. That one reason that you know is true. The one I want to hear. The one reason that will make me stay, \'cause once I get in that car, with those sergeant, there’s no turning back.”

By now Jason had walked over to stand in front of Veronica, his hands on her shoulders. He was staring into her eyes and she knew what he wanted to hear. It was the same thing she wanted to say. ‘I want you! I need you! I love you!’ her heart screamed.

“I...I.... she stammered.
“Please” he whispered, almost begging. The anticipation was killing him and he did the only thing he could think of. He leaned in and captured her lips with his. She wasn’t surprised by this and readily accepted the kiss, bringing her hands up around his neck. He, in turn, lowered his hands to her waist and pulled her closer. She parted her lips slightly, thus beginning the battle of their tongues. Veronica could feel herself becoming flustered and highly aroused. Just when she thought she would cave in, Jason reluctantly pulled away from the kiss. “Please give me a reason to stay” his pleading whisper tickling her nose. She took a deep breath, trying to regain control of her senses. A horn could be heard outside, followed by a voice yelling her name. Jason knew who it was but refused to let her go until her heard her answer.

“I have to go.” came a shaky voice. Jason’s heart clenched at her words and he refused to believe them until he began to feel her hands loosen from around his neck. He opened his eyes, taking his hands off her waist. He looked at her for a moment before kissing her forehead and turning to exit the window.

Veronica could only stand there shaking, letting tears roll down her face. She heard the car horn again and turned back to her dresser. She quickly grabbed her cap, not caring what her hair looked like, and a pair of sunglasses to cover her tear filled eyes. She hurried down the stairs and into Alex’s car.

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The graduation ceremony was long and anxiousness filled the air. The entire football field was a sea of yellow, blue, and white, and the students sat, awaiting their diplomas. Veronica was quite a ways away from Jason but that didn’t stop her from thinking about him. She had been one of the first to receive a diploma, being on the NHS, but had to wait for the other students, giving her nothing but time.

A name caught her attention and she looked up to see Marcus walking across the stage, smiling and pointing to someone in the student crowd. She looked over to see Jason, who was also smiling and pointing back at him. Marcus’ name started with a W which meant the ceremony was almost over. ‘But I don’t want it to end.’ Veronica thought. ‘He’s going to leave when this is over, and I don’t want him to leave.’ But the ceremony finally came to a close and families and friend were crowded around, congratulating each other and saying farewells.

“This is it.” Jason said to his small group. His mother, Marcus, Veronica, her mother, and Alex, all stood around Jason wishing him luck. Everyone except Alex.
“Good luck, man.” Marcus said, hugging Jason.
“And be careful.” Mrs. Mitchell added.
Jason went over and gave his mother a tight embrace as she whispered “I love you” and “Be good” in his ear.
“Glad to see you go.” was all he got from Alex, along with a smirk.
Jason looked at Veronica, one last time before turning to leave. She couldn’t even hold his gaze as she looked away, sun glasses still on. Jason weaved his way through the crowd and made his way to the two Marine sergeant on the edge of the field.

“You didn’t say good bye, honey?” Mrs. Mitchell asked, turning to Veronica. She shook her head violently, unable to say anything. Jason’s mom went to stand in front of the young girl. Slowly, she pulled Veronica’s glasses off and looked her in the eyes.

“Go to him.”

Veronica just stared and Ms. Hampton for a minute, before taking off in the direction she thought she had seen Jason go.
“Wha...” Alex started before trying to take off after her. His mother grabbed his arm.
“Let her go.” she said. “She has some unfinished business to take care of.”


She hoped she was going in the right direction. She thought she saw him go this way. She finally made her way to the edge of the crowd and could see him getting into a car, right outside the field. Veronica was running now, shoes in hand. The threat of him leaving, all too eminent. Her heart was thumping in her chest and panic made it hard for her to breath as she saw the car began to pull off.

“Jason!” she yelled. “Jason! I love you! I love you!”

A person in the back of the car turned around. She couldn’t make the figure out but it just had to be him.

“I love you. You hear me? I do love you! Jason!” she continued yelling. She could feel herself begin to wheeze and her legs begin to become weak, but she couldn’t stop running.

A window, in the back of the car, rolled down and a piece of paper flew out.

“Jason, please! Don’t leave me! I need you!” she yelled as the car began to pick out speed. “I love you!” Her pace slowed and she eventually stopped running. The car was gone. “I love you.” she sobbed looking at the dust behind the car. She just stood there for a minute, crying, wishing Ms. Hampton hadn’t taken her sun glasses. She finally stopped crying enough to see the piece of paper on the ground.

All it said was: I love you too.

A/N
*Oooooo, should have told him sooner Ronnie.* Hope you all enjoyed the few new chapters I\'ve put up since my \"retreat\" and I see that some of you are actually glad I continued with this story. Anyway, this will probably be the last capter for 2004, so everyone have a happy holiday and be safe. See you in 2005 and don\'t worry, this story is far from over.