Being Julia (A Forever Novella) (10 page)

I felt my heart beating rapidly as the nervousness in my stomach began. “You could always stay for a while until he’s ready to go.”

He looked at me with a smile. “You don’t mind? You sort of look like you want to be alone.”

“No, I don’t mind. I was just escaping the craziness of my graduation party.”

He sat down next to me and all I could think about was running my hand down his torso, feeling every crevice and well-defined muscle he had. “Ah, I remember my graduation party last year. My parents went all out. By the way, I’m Jake Jensen.” He smiled as he held out his hand.

“Nice to meet you, Jake Jensen. I’m Julia Black.” I smiled back as I shook his hand.

The feeling of my skin heating up when I touched him was unreal. It was a feeling that I’d never felt in my eighteen years of living.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Julia Black. So, why are you trying to escape your graduation party?”

I felt instantly comfortable with Jake, and I didn’t seem to have any reservations about telling him my problems. “My best friend died a month ago from a drug overdose while she was in rehab.”

“Wow. How do you overdose in rehab?”

“I don’t know. Neither the doctors nor the facility could give us an explanation. She used to come here and stay with us every summer, and not to have her here, especially at my graduation party, is really hard.”

“I’m really sorry, Julia,” he said as he looked down.

“Thank you, but it’s okay. It’s all just a bit overwhelming. Enough about me. Tell me about you, Jake Jensen.”

He laughed as he looked up at me. “My parents just bought the house down the beach. I have two sisters, and I just finished my first year at Columbia.”

“Columbia? I’m going to Columbia in the fall.” I smiled.

“Really? You’ll love it, and now you know someone who can show you around.”

“That’s great; then, I won’t feel so scared,” I said as I looked down.

“No, you won’t,” he whispered.

I looked over at him and, for a moment, we stared into each other’s eyes.

“Julia,” I heard Collin yell from a distance. “Dad said you need to come back now.”

“That’s my brother. I guess I have to go,” I said as I stood up.

“It was great to meet you, Julia Black. I hope to see you around.” He smiled.

I smiled back at him as I put my hand up and gave him a small wave. I started to walk towards Collin, stopped, and turned around. “Hey, Jake,” I yelled. “Would you like to come back with me so you can see the craziness of my graduation party?

He smiled as shouted back. “Sure, just let me take Mozart home and grab a shirt. I’ll be back in a minute.”

“I’ll wait for you.” I smiled. “Collin, tell Dad that I’ll be there in a minute.”

Collin walked over to where I was standing. “Who’s that?”

“Someone who just swept me off my feet,” I said as I put my head on Collin’s shoulder.

Chapter 11

As I waited for Jake to return, Collin went back to the house. I stared out into the ocean as I whispered, “London, did you see him? Jake Jensen? I know I’ve only known him for about thirty minutes, but I think he’s something special.”

“Hey,” Jake said as he walked up to me. “Thanks for waiting.”

“Hi. No problem,” I said as we walked through the sand back to my house.

We could hear the music and the laughter as we walked towards the house. “My God, how many people did your parents invite?”

“About 300 people.” I smiled.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah, me and my dad were trying to hide out this morning, but my mom caught us.”

We walked up to the patio and made our way through the crowd. I saw my mom standing in the kitchen, talking to my dad. Both of them turned and looked at me as we stepped through the door.

“Where have you been?” my mom asked.

“I told Dad that I was taking a walk down the beach.”

“Yes, you did, Julia, but that was a long time ago,” my dad said as he looked at Jake. “Who’s your friend, Princess?”

“Dad, Mom, this is Jake Jensen. We met on the beach.”

Jake held out his hand to both my mom and dad. “Jensen,” my dad said as he looked at Jake.

“Daddy!” I exclaimed.

“You wouldn’t happen to be William Jensen’s son, would you?”

“Yes, sir. He’s my dad.” Jake smiled.

“Ah, I knew it. Jake’s father owns the largest dealership in the city, where I buy my Range Rovers. I’ve been buying from your father for years.”

“Mr. Black, that’s right. I’ve heard your name before. You own Black Enterprises. My dad talks about you.”

“All good, I hope.”

“Of course.” Jake smiled.

Okay, this was perfect. My dad knew Jake’s dad and he seemed to really like him. I couldn’t have asked for this meeting to be more perfect.

“You and Julia have already met,” my dad said.

“What? How?” I asked.

“Back when you were about eight years old and I bought a new Range Rover. You wanted to come with me to the dealership and Jake was there. He was sitting behind his father’s desk. The dealership had a playroom and your father asked you to take Julia and show her the toys while we went over the numbers for the purchase.”

“See, I told you I felt like we’d met before,” Jake said as he smiled at me.

I wished I would have remembered that, but I didn’t. Jake and my dad continued to talk while my mom pulled me into the living room.

“Oh my God, Julia. He’s hot.” She smiled.

“He took my breath away, Mom.”

“Sweetheart.” She smiled as she put her hand on the side of my face. “I don’t know what to say except ‘be careful.’”

I smiled at her as she placed her arm around me and we walked back into the kitchen. Jake turned around and flashed me a smile.

“Mr. Black, would it be all right with you and Mrs. Black if I took Julia on a date?”

I looked at my mom and she was grinning from ear to ear. My dad looked at me and then back at Jake before giving his answer.

“Yes, Jake. You may take my daughter on a date.” He smiled as he put his hand on Jake’s shoulder.

Jake walked over to me as his amazing green eyes stared into mine. “Julia, I know we’ve only known each other a couple of hours, but I was hoping you would do me the honor of going on a date with me tomorrow night.”

I was so excited that I wanted to scream “yes!” and jump up and down, but I remained calm and smiled at him as I nodded my head and told him yes. He continued to smile at me as he nodded his head like he was happy with my answer. The fact that he asked my parents first scored him big points. As the guests were starting to leave, Jake said that he should get going. When I walked him down to the beach, he pulled his phone from his pocket and asked me for my number. I gave it to him and he told me that he’d text me so that I would have his.

“Goodnight, Julia Black. I’m looking forward to our date tomorrow night. How about I pick you up around seven o’clock?”

“Seven o’clock is perfect.” I smiled.

He leaned closer to me, kissed me lightly on the cheek, and began to walk away. I called his name and he turned around. I put my hand up and gave him a small wave.

“Goodnight, Jake Jensen.” I smiled.

“Sweet dreams, Julia,” he said as he turned back and walked down the beach.

I said goodbye to the last guest and closed the door. I leaned up against it and sighed. My mom walked over to me and smiled.

“What a great party, but I’m glad it’s over.”

“Me too, Mom. Thank you for everything.”

“Aw, you’re welcome, sweetheart,” she said as she hugged me.

I went upstairs and started a hot bath. I twisted my hair up, set my phone on the edge of the tub, and climbed in. I slid down until my head rested comfortably on the bath pillow. As I closed my eyes, the sweet smile of Jake Jensen filled my head. I couldn’t help but think of his almost six foot height and his light brown, tousled hair, which made him even sexier. The shape of his lips and the smile that came from them. A smile that made his green eyes light up and captivate me when he looked into mine. As I was dreaming about Jake, my phone beeped. I opened my eyes and looked over to see a text message from him. My heartbeat picked up pace as I read his message.

“Hi, Julia. It’s me, Jake. I just wanted to say goodnight and that I can’t wait until our date tomorrow night.”

I smiled because I couldn’t wait either. I dried off my hands and quickly responded.

“Hi, Jake. I’m very excited for our date. I can’t wait to see you again.”

I stepped out of the tub and changed into my pajamas. I looked at the clock and it was two a.m. I walked downstairs to get a glass of water and I saw my dad sitting on the couch in the living room.

“Dad, it’s late. Why aren’t you in bed?” I asked as I sat down next to him.

“I’ll be heading upstairs soon, Princess. Shouldn’t you be in bed? You’ve had a long day.”

“I just came down for a glass of water,” I said as I sat down next to him.

“I want you to know that I like Jake and I approve.” He smiled as he put his arm around me.

“I like Jake too, and I’m glad you approve. But you do know that even if you didn’t approve, it wouldn’t have mattered.

“I know,” he sighed. “The women in my family are very defiant.”

“That’s because we don’t like to be controlled, Mr. Black,” my mom said as she entered the room. “There’s only one place where I let you control me.” She winked.

My dad got up from the couch and put his hands on my mom’s hips. “Would you like me to control you right now?” he asked with a smile.

“Oh my God! I’m going to bed!” I exclaimed as I got up and ran up the stairs before I could hear any more.

****

I couldn’t sleep, so I got up and started making our family Sunday breakfast. My mom and dad walked into the kitchen just as I started to make the eggs.

“Good morning, Princess. What’s all this?” my dad asked as he kissed me on the head.

“I couldn’t sleep, so I thought that I’d make breakfast today.”

“Morning, baby,” my mom said sleepily as she kissed me.

“Morning, Mom. Can you go wake up Collin?”

My dad poured some coffee and sat down at the table. “Why couldn’t you sleep? Were you thinking about Jake?”

I turned to him and smiled. “Maybe.”

Collin and my mom walked into the kitchen. Collin looked so tired. “You look tired,” I said as I poured him some coffee.

“Gee, maybe if I wasn’t kept up all night, I wouldn’t be so tired. Let me tell the two of you something,” Collin said as he looked at our parents. “I can appreciate how much you two love each other, but you’re old and you have sex like you’re in your twenties. When you bought this house, you obviously didn’t consider the bedroom situation because my room is right next to yours and you don’t seem to care whether I can hear you or not. I’m asking you to please add on another bedroom to the house, preferably way on the other side of where my bedroom is.”

I stood there, with the spatula in my hand, in shock at what my brother had just said to our parents. My mom and dad looked at each other and then at Collin.

“Okay, son. We’ll add on another bedroom,” Dad said.

“That’s a great idea, Collin. I’m surprised we haven’t thought about it before.” Mom smiled.

“You know, Ellery, the family will only grow, so maybe we should just expand the house with more than just a bedroom. Think about it. Julia and Collin will get married someday and have kids of their own, and we’ll want them here in the summer to visit, so we need to make sure we have the room.”

“I agree, Connor, and I think we should do it.”

“Oh, Dad,” I said. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about. It’s about that scholarship I won. We don’t need it, and there are students out there that do. Can we give the scholarship to someone else? To someone who really needs it?”

“I already thought of that, and I left a message for the dean. I don’t see why not, and if we can’t, I’ll just match the scholarship and give it to someone in need.”

“Thanks, Dad.” I smiled as I got up from the table.

I started to clean up, but my mom told me to go and get dressed because she was taking me shopping for a new outfit for my date with Jake. It was unexpected and I was so excited. She and my dad cleaned up, Collin went back to bed, and I went to my room and got dressed. As I was brushing my hair, my phone beeped with a text message from Jake.

“Good morning. I hope you slept better than I did. I can’t wait to see you later. Have a great day, Julia.”

“Good morning, Jake. I didn’t sleep at all. I just got done making breakfast for my family and now me and my mom are going shopping.”

“You cook? You’re even more perfect than I thought.”

My heart melted when he said that I was perfect. This feeling that had overtaken me was something I couldn’t describe. I’d never felt anything like it.

“Don’t put me on that pedestal yet. I can only manage to cook breakfast foods.”