Changes

Jae gasped against the hand and struggled slightly. The voice sounded so familiar but she just couldn’t place it for the fear she felt overrode everything else.
“Who the hell are you,” He snapped again.
“I’m staying here for a week, I got permission, I swear,” Jae mumbled into the hand. How did he expect her to answer anything when she had a hand clamped over her mouth? He grabbed her arm and spun her around.
“JAE!” Chase exclaimed, “What the hell are you doing here, my god, I can’t believe you’re here. How did you get here!?”
“Chase . . . how dare you scare me like that” Jae yelled back at him in shock. She hadn’t seen him in over a month and here he was, looking very pissed off.
“Dammit, I asked you a question.” He said stepping closer to her.
“And I could be asking the same question to you, Mr. I’m coming back I promise and then disappear for a month.” Jae snapped at him, trying not to notice how handsome he still was. Gos, she loved him, it hurt so bad.
“God, Jae . . . oh my god, my mother, she knew.” He stuttered
“Of course your mom knew I was here, she offered to let me come here.”
“Oh man,” Chase groaned, “this was a set up”
“Excuse me? If you don’t want to be here you can just leave, I was here first.”
“Oh, no. I’m staying here; you and I have a lot to talk about. I’ve been looking for you all over the city, dammit, I am staying.”
“Obviously not much since you have been gone for over a month”
“At least I didn’t move!”
“Oh, so you finally noticed that I moved out and just where the hell were you besides you’re parent’s house, oh… and by the way your father is fine! There was never anything wrong with him, you damn liar!” Jae snapped at him as she walked into the living room, Chase following closely behind her.
“Jae, I can explain.”
“Oh, I’m sure you can, but right now I do not want to hear it, I’m tired and I’m going to bed, now excuse me” Jae snapped as she stepped past him and walked up the stairs. She went straight into the master bedroom and started to take her clothes off to put on her pajamas, she was about to pull off her pants when the door opened.
“What are you doing” Jae exclaimed.
“This is my room.” Chase said as he stepped in and went to the bed. He took a seat and started taking off his shoes.
“Chase, you are not sleeping in this room.”
“Yes, I am. It’s the room that I always sleep in when I am here.”
“But, this is my room!”
“So we share.”
“You’re not being reasonable, Chase. I picked this room yesterday.”
“Maybe it’s a sign like the fact that you still wear the ring I gave you.”
“What are you talking about, this is not a sign” Jae responded, trying to ignore the fact that Chase noticed she still had the ring on. She just couldn’t seem to take it off and put it away, not yet.
“Sure it is, a sign that we are meant to be together”
“Excuse me? Together? You left me for over a month to do God knows what and now we’re supposed to be together!”
“Jae, I went and talked to my parents then I had to fly to Kansas City to fix something at the office there, I came back 4 days later and you were gone. I figured maybe you needed space; you never answered your phone when I called so you must have been mad at me, so I went to work and worked like crazy. I went to your place last night, but you weren’t there, some blonde was there.”
“You like blondes that should have been nice” Jae snapped. Part of her was melting from his explanation but she didn’t want to, he didn’t love her.
“I do not like blondes; want to know what I like.”
“No”
“I like brunettes with beautiful blue eyes. I like a woman who can make me laugh and make me feel so terrible it hurts. I like a woman who loves me just as much as I love her. I like a woman who has so much energy and love that she spreads it around an entire apartment building. I like a woman who makes friends with elderly not to be nice but to have them as friends. I like a woman who bakes cookies on Saturday mornings and then shares them with everyone she knows. I like a woman who cooks a big dinner just because her brother asked her too. I like a woman who has so much courage she makes it through a horrid accident that took away her memory for a long time.” Chase told her as he sat on the bed with his head in his hands. He couldn’t look at her, not yet.
“Chase. . .”
“Don’t you get it, I ran away because I was so damn scared that I was wrong about you. I thought that you would turn out to be just like Jessica, just like every other woman I have ever dated. I know you’re not like that but I just couldn’t trust myself with my own judgment. Mom said that you came and met her and dad; I was shocked when she told me. She said you were worth it, I told her . . .” He explained and then looked up at Jae. She stood there, eyes shimmering with unshed tears.
“Chase. . .” Jae said quietly. She wanted him to stop, but couldn’t get herself to say more.
“I told her, she was right. I was also, and never say this to anyone because I will deny it, I was hysterical because I . . . I couldn’t find you and I didn’t know what else to do.”
“Chase, I was always right there, don’t you get it, I was always right here, waiting for you”
“Jae. . . I. . . Jordan. . . I love you”
“Oh, Chase. . . I love you too,” Jae said as a tear slide down her check, she reached out and hit his arm.
“Ouch” Chase said as he smiled.
“Took you long enough you dummy” Jae told him.
“I had to work some things out.”
“So, what does this mean?”
“Well, how about we make this ring,” Chase said as he paused to grab her left hand, “lets make it a real thing”
“You mean, really be engaged to be married”
“Yes, Jae, I can’t live without you. I know I am not the most perfect man, I know I still have a lot of explaining to do about why I didn’t tell you about who I am but I love you and no one is going to ever love you like I do, I promise you that.” Chase told her as he pulled her onto his lap.
“Oh, Chase, yes! But . . . can we get a different ring, I mean, I like this one but I want to pick out something for me, not something that your sister picked out and since this one is for the “fake engagement” I want one... a different one for the real, we can take this one back.”
“No, we can keep it and I’ll just get you a new one”
“Chase. . .”
“Don’t ...I have the money, I can do it, this one we should keep forever, even if it was a fake engagement ring it still seemed real”
“Yes, it did”
“So, no more changes right”
“Right, I’m happy with who I am and well. . . I need a job.”
“No you don’t, not if you don’t want one. Like once the kids are born”
“Um. . .Chase, I’m . . .” Jae started to tell him about her virginity.
“I know.” Chase stopped her; she didn’t need to voice what he already knew about her.
“You do?”
“Yep, I do and it’s okay. It just makes you more special”
“Ok, no changes and no running away, right”
“Right and if you do want a job, we can do that.”
“Until the babies” Jae said smiling at him.
“Well that’s up to you also, I mean we have the money if you don’t want to work but if you want to I will be behind you 100 percent”
“Thank you”
“Of course, anything for you, now can we go to bed, together? I promise I won’t do anything you don’t want me to do”
“Ok”

Jae got up and went into the bathroom to change, then came out and saw Chase already in bed, smiling at her. She crawled into bed next to Chase; she snuggled right next to him and sighed contently. Sometimes, things do work out for the best.