A Hidden Truth

A Hard Day

[Juniper]

    The day was pretty standard. I read in most of my classes, because I didn’t need the test review. Tutoring gave me more review than working with the review sheet in class. At lunch, I picked up my salad with no incident and went to the classroom that held lunch detention.

    The room seemed split. I sat in the back corner with my book, a group of boys sat near Clayton on one side of the room, and another group around Randy toward the front. Becca sat near the door. Neither group of boys would let her sit with them.

    The nickname, Auntie June, had stuck. I was hearing it a lot. Some fairly bold people came up and asked if I was having an affair with Hank. I told them no and reiterated how stupid that was. Then, I showed them the picture of Jaxon in my bed and asked why I would want some old man when I had that waiting for me. It seemed to appease them.

    Clayton talked to me a little in seventh period. I made sure to remind him of the tutoring session at four-thirty and told him he could stay for supper and the second session if he felt he was still having trouble. That made him happy.

    When the final bell rang, I waited by the drinking fountain near the main doors. Amber came up a little after with a stack of notes that had been flattened from their previously folded forms. She’d told her contacts this morning, we needed all the dirt they had on Becca in case she came after me again. They were more than happy to oblige. 

    I would type out the rumors and send them to Red, Beau, and Trace to be distributed. I generally hated bullying and gossip, but that was the way the game was played. Not playing wasn’t an option.

    After managing to stuff the stack of notes into my bag, Amber and I headed out the door. Tammy and Kelly were waiting. Kelly was going to be in my group session, so I figured it would be okay for Garrett to give us a ride.

    The sight in the student pick up area stopped me in my tracks. Garrett was standing in front of a truck that looked brand new. It was a black Ford F-150 extended cab. Not a cheap vehicle, if I remembered pricing from last summer accurately. I wondered where he bought it. There were only two dealers in town that sold Fords, Hank’s and Peter Dawson’s.

    Tammy nodded in that direction after I’d stopped right outside the doors. “Those girls have been trying to hit on Gary for a while. He gives one word answers or grunts in response. They’re eating it up. And look who the leader of the pack is.” She snickered.

    I craned my neck and saw Becca’s bleach blonde head weaving side to side, the way she did when she was flirting. I had to laugh. He was totally ignoring her, which was making her try even harder.

    “Come on, Kelly. Let’s go save my brother-in-law.” I chuckled.

    We waved goodbye to Tammy and Amber before heading into the crowd of teenage girls in heat. Garrett saw us coming and looked mildly relieved. He raised his hand in greeting. I pushed through the crowd and gave him a hug.

    “Sorry about the wait, Garrett. I had to find Kelly. She’s coming home with us.” I smiled.

    “No prob, Juni-bug. Let’s get going, though. I’m pretty tired. Not a lot of sleep last night.” He winked.

    “Already cheatin’ on Jaxon? That didn’t take long.” Becca sneered.

    Garrett and I laughed. He opened the front door and then pulled open the back extension. He got the split front option, there was a console instead of a middle seat in the front. Kelly got carsick when sitting in the back, so I took that position.

    I looked down at Becca, who was smirking and the rest of the crowd of girls who were looking pretty pissed.

    “Allow me to introduce, Garrett Henley. He goes by Gary. He’s Teddy’s boyfriend. My car’s having trouble so he’s gonna be driving me around for a while.” I shifted my attention back to Garrett, effectively dismissing the girls. “Nice truck. Where’d you buy it?” I asked.

    “I went to see Hank. He gave me a good deal. Says he and your mom are looking forward to seeing you for lunch tomorrow. Remy got in another fight and she’s just at a loss.” He sighed and helped Kelly into the cab.

    “Poor mama. I’ll give her a call later. Let’s go, I want to get supper prepped before the study groups get in. I hope you’re okay with hanging out in your and Teddy’s bedroom. I don’t think it would be great for the focus of the kids coming over if you were wandering around like you do.” I winked.

    “I’ll wear a shirt!”

    “Sure you will.” I laughed. “Bye, all!” I called as he closed the doors and walked around to the driver’s side.

    We drove away. It was a good way to get the news out that Garrett and Teddy were dating. Three of those girls would be coming for study sessions over the next few days. They’d be able to confirm for everyone.

    “Did you really buy it from Hank?” I asked.

    “Yeah. It was good for the cover and it let him know you’re being looked after by someone other than tiny little Jaxon.” Garrett explained. “You hurt him today, you know.”

    Kelly turned and looked at me. I hadn’t really had a lot of time to talk to my friends. I most certainly didn’t plan to tell them, I was so nervous about potentially scaring my boyfriend away by jumping his bones, that I kicked him out of my bed.

    I sighed. “I can’t have him sleeping next to me tonight. I explained it to him in the car. It’s personal, not something I want to talk about. Alright?”

    “You’re open about almost everythin’ else in your life, Juniper. The only time you kept secrets was when Hank was doin’ things. Does Tammy need to have a talk with Jaxon?” Kelly said with a bit of a growl in her voice.

    My friends were fairly protective of me. I had to say something or Kelly would tell Tammy I was hiding something to do with Jaxon and it would be a whole thing.

    “Fine. Just… it doesn’t leave this truck. Got it?” I groaned.

    They nodded and waited.

    “I’ve been trying to get Jaxon to have s*x with me and he keeps saying no. It’s getting harder and harder not to touch him. I just needed a night where I didn’t go to bed with whatever the female version of blue balls is. This isn’t to punish him, it’s to give me a break.” I explained.

    Kelly started laughing. It wasn’t what she was expecting and struck her funny bone. Garrett began laughing after a while, too. I was frustrated and upset I’d had to say that in front of people, but getting it out relieved something in me.

    “I honestly thought he was pressurin’ you into other things. That’s nuts. My sweet lil Juni is tryin’ to force herself on a man. What is the world comin’ to?” Kelly giggled.

    “When you implied you weren’t having s*x, I thought it was a mutual decision and you were just a little bitter about. Not that he was shutting you down. Poor, Juni-bug.” Garrett snorted.

    “So glad y’all are enjoyin’ this. Not like I haven’t been through enough.” I drawled.

    “Better stop. She gets mean after she goes Texan.” Kelly warned with a grin.

 ****

    After we arrived at the house, I worked on preparing supper while Kelly dug through the cupboard for snacks to set out. I was making shepherd’s pie the easy way. There wasn’t a lot of time for my usual effort. I found I missed having someone else to do the cooking. But it was good practice for when I got to Austin. Didn’t want to be going out all the time or living on ramen and T.V. dinners.

    Once everything was finished, I set out pitchers with lemonade, sweet tea, and ice water along with cups. I’d thought this out and gotten some plastic cups at the store yesterday. It would be helpful.

    Around four-fifteen, people started showing up with Clayton being the last to arrive shortly before four-thirty. He asked to stay for both math sessions. I told him to call his parents and let them know. It was a good thing I had so much food fixed for supper.

    Setting advanced math students at the dining room table and the other math students on the couch, I began handing out worksheets and instructing them to circle the problems they didn’t know how to solve. It was a good first step, since most forgot to bring anything listing where they had issues.

    It was a bit of a slow start, but we began picking up momentum after a while. I was really happy with how the session was going, there was almost no talking that wasn’t math or snack related. Clayton really needed a way to remember what method to use to solve almost everything. He mixed them up a lot.

    Kelly was actually helping the girl beside her, who had an issue with one of the things she was really good at remembering. I was proud of her. Kelly rarely talked to anyone she didn’t feel she had to.

    As I was helping Polly Cramer with the equation she was stuck on, I heard the front door open. It must be after five. Polly looked up from her paper and giggled. I knew it was Jaxon, but I was trying to get her to focus on her actual problem.

    “I’m going to go take a shower, Juniper.” Jaxon said.

    “Okay, see you in a bit.” I responded without looking up.

    I got Polly back on track and then went to start the oven preheating. It was mostly to reheat everything and melt the cheese, so it wouldn’t take long for supper to be ready. Pulling vegetables out, I began preparing a salad to go with the meal. I’d told Kelly she wouldn’t have to eat it as long as she ate the vegetables that were cooked in the pie. She, begrudgingly, agreed.

    It was almost enough to distract me from the sound of the running water in the bathroom right next to the kitchen. I could hear the fall of the water and the sloshing sound as Jaxon washed himself. I desperately wanted to slip into the bathroom and the shower with him. The itch inside me came back and I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath, before I opened them and finished mixing the salad.

    Everyone started packing up when the timer went off. Most felt more confident. I told them I would send them some problems to work on to keep what they learned fresh until they could test. Jaxon exited the bathroom dressed in blue jeans and a black t-shirt. He came over to where I was picking up and helped.

    Once everything was cleaned up and I’d put supper in the oven, I relaxed a little. Jaxon came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, kissing my neck softly. I sank into the warmth of his hold.

    “How was school, sweet?” He murmured against my skin.

    Chills ran through me. “Fine, I got a lot of reading done. Test review isn’t a concern for me. How was work?”

    “Hard.” He whispered huskily as he rubbed himself against my backside, showing me work wasn’t the only thing that was hard.

    I pulled his arms off of me and pushed away from him. “Stop. If you want to stay for supper, there’d better not be any more of that, Jaxon Boone.” I scolded.

    He sighed and went into the bathroom again. Hopefully to take care of his condition. I looked in the living room, Clayton and Kelly were talking about something on his math paper. Probably her sharing the tricks she and I had worked out. I went to stand against the wall near the alcove where the bathroom door was and listened.

    His voice was quiet as I heard him whispering my name and groaning. I didn’t think he’d be thinking of me when he… I nearly blushed. The way he breathlessly moaned while he touched himself made me crazy. I could almost see the look on his face as he reached his climax.

    Pushing off the wall, I went to join Kelly and Clayton on the couch. We went over a few more problems. Jaxon came out again and grabbed his tablet. He was reading a digital copy of the book for the club. I stole a few glances at him. His focus on the screen was uninterrupted.

    Teddy came home and headed to his room.

    “No fooling around, boys. Supper will be ready in a few minutes.” I called out as the door closed.

    “Yes, Auntie Ju~ne!” They laughingly replied through the door.

    I got up again to serve the salads and pull the pie out of the oven. Jaxon came to help take plates to the table, I grabbed dressing, salt, pepper, and silverware.

     Once everything was settled, Teddy and Garrett decided to eat in the living room, they moved cushions to the floor and folded themselves between the couch and coffee table. I smiled as I watched them sit close and whisper to each other. They were grinning and just enjoying being together.

    On the other hand, I was seated between Jaxon and Clayton with Kelly sitting across from me. The silence at the table was a little awkward. We didn’t seem to have much to talk about. I could have talked about any number of things, but I was worried my voice would fail. The tension was thick.

    As I was eating, I felt something on my leg. Jaxon’s fingers slid over my knee. I nearly choked on my food. Taking a drink, to help with the cough, I could feel his hand sliding up my thigh. I had no idea what had gotten into him, but I hated that he chose to let it out now.

    Though there was still food on my plate, I picked everything up and left the table to get away from his probing fingers. Clayton asked for my food if I was done. I handed it to him before taking my empty salad bowl, cup, and fork to rinse and put in the dishwasher. Everyone was staring when I looked up.

    “Sorry, I need some time before the next group comes. There’s more food on the stove. Teddy, can you and Garrett make sure the kitchen gets cleaned up? Kelly, would you restock the snacks and get the second group’s drinks poured into the pitchers?” I asked.

    “Sure, Juni. You need anythin’ else?” Kelly inquired softly.

    “Nope. I’ll be back out in a little while. If they start coming before I’m back, will you get them settled with advanced math on the couches? There are more in this group.” I told her.

    “Got it.” She smiled and I retreated to my room.