"I can't believe it's really you!" Jake said through blurred eyes to Hamilton. "It's me, I'm here Jake. I'll never make the mistake of letting you go again. It's been hell without you, boy." Hamilton said affectionately. "I love you lots Jake, okay? Don't think it'll ever stop, even if my father is an asshole." "Ham!" she whined. "Uh hem!" said an anxious looking Benny. "Oh, sorry Benny, I was just on my way to talk to you because I was bored. But that won't be happening now!" Jake said, eyeing Hamilton. "Oh." Benny said, slightly disappointed. "Well, are going to introduce me to this young man?" Benny urged her. "Of course, this is Hamilton. Benny, he was the one I was telling you about." she said smiling. "My, it's certainly nice to meet you then Hamilton, any friend of Jacque's is a friend of mine!" Hamilton smiled at him and said, "Thank you sir. She is amazing." as he squeezed her hand. "That she is, young man, and like a daughter to me." "Awwwww!" Jake said and ran over to him for a hug. Now pleased, Benny encouraged Jake, "Yes well, I'm not going to hold you up any longer, Jacqui, now run along and enjoy each other's company." They both smiled, "You're the best Benny, bye!" "Bye. Nice meeting you sir." Hamilton said politely. They stepped into the elevator and just hugged, happy to be together again. As the elevator dinged, indicating the 45th floor, Jake said, "Ok, ready to meet everyone?" "Do I really have a choice?" Hamilton replied. Jake opened the door and shouted for Consuela with obvious happiness in her voice. "Chica, what is it? Up so early?" she started as she approached her from the kitchen. When she saw that Jake wasn't alone she gasped. "Jacqueline, you didn't tell me we were expecting guests." "Consuela, this is Hamilton." Jake said. "Ahhhhh, Hamilton, why didn't you say so! Welcome Hamilton." she said lovingly. "Uh...hi." he answered apprehensively. "Well, why don't you join us for breakfast. It looks like you've had a tiring trip." Consuela urged him. "Yeah, sure, that would be great. I'm starved!" he said, glad to finally be able to eat something. . . . Over a delicious breakfast of grapefruit, hot cereal and French toast (What, it's Jake's favorite!), all was more-or-less quite. Jake kept glancing at Hamilton, not believing he was really there, that she hadn't really lost him after all. Hamilton who was helping himself to seconds and thirds of everything ate happily while all the time staring at Jake, marveling at her beauty. Consuela served them and sat down to eat herself, uncomfortable in their presence. "So, Jacqui, you came home very tired last night, so now do you want to tell me what happened?" Consuela asked her interestedly. "Um, yeah, about that." Jake struggled, glancing at Hamilton. "Well, I kind of got kicked out of Rawley." Consuela's fork fell onto her plate. "Jacqueline, that's not so good. Do you have something to tell me?" Jake looked at Hamilton and back at Consuela. She had to tell her, and so Jake told her everything, with little inputs from Hamilton of course. A little while later, Consuela was nearly in tears, "I can't believe you ran after her all the way to New York! Ah, to be young and in love! Bless you children. Now, go, spend some time alone together." she said. Jake and Hamilton smiled and thanked her, and she left the room. "So, now we get to spend more time in MY room. One of these days we should go up to your room!" Jake said. "Okay, wanna see it?" "I'd love to." Hamilton answered, just happy to be with her, all worries aside. "Okay, but I'm warning you, it's very girly!" Jake said. "I think I can handle it." Hamilton replied, smiling. Jake grabbed him by the arm and pulled him through the large apartment to her room. . . . "Ok, here we are." Jake said. She opened the door and walked in with Hamilton. It was a nice sized room with high ceilings and soft purple carpeting. In the middle there was a canopy bed with still-unmade pink and purple bedding. A set of white furniture including a desk, dresser and nightstand furnished the room. It was completed with a few posters of her favorite bands. "Wow!" Hamilton said. "It's so not you." "I know." she answered. "It's so my mom!" "Yeah, well that makes a little more sense." "Hamilton, I'm so happy you're here. I've been dying inside without you." Jake said. "I'm happy to be here too. I love you so much. I couldn't live without you. My father just doesn't understand that, or me for that matter." Hamilton said. "Hmmm...my mom and your dad???" Jake joked. "Ha, ha. So," Hamilton said, "how do you sleep at night here? It's so noisy!" He went over to the window to look at the view. "Wow, we're high." Jake walked over to Hamilton and hugged him. "I missed this so much." Hamilton said. "I really can't live without you Jake, you're my best friend. I love you so much and I know I tell you a lot, but I think you need to hear it." "I love you too. Now enough sadness, we're together now, that's all that counts. We'll worry about the future later. Ready to see the city?" Jake asked. . . . After Hamilton had taken a quick shower they set out. Jake, still in her capris and tube top said, "It's so awesome to be with you at home, in my own clothes." "Yeah, it's so awesome to be in this huge city with the most beautiful, foxy girl in the entire place." Hamilton responded. Jake kissed him and they were on their way. First, she took him to the regular touristy places: the empire state building, the statue of liberty and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Then she took him to all her favorite spots: shopping at the seaport, Our Name is Mud(A store where you can paint pottery and make your own platters and stuff-really cool place!), where he made her an 'I Love You' mug. Finally, loaded down with tons of shopping bags, to the cafè in Barnes and Noble. By that time it was already evening. Hamilton didn't remember ever having so much fun in his entire life. "So, what should we do tonight?" Jake asked. "You mean this day isn't over yet?" Hamilton questioned surprisingly. "Oh please, New York comes alive at night!" Jake exclaimed. "So, here are some choices. We could see a movie, but that's kind of boring...We could go to a club, any one, they're pretty much all the same. We could go back to my place and just relax, OR..." Jake smiled suddenly getting an idea. "Or what?" Hamilton asked interested. Next thing he knew, Hamilton was standing outside under a sign that read 'TKTS'. "Um, so could you tell me exactly what we're doing here?" Hamilton whined. "No whining." Jake said. "This place is called TKTS. You basically come here when you have no money but you wanna see a Broadway show. They have really good sales on tickets very last minute and that kinda stuff...and since I couldn't have planned this, lets see what they have here." "Okay, whatever." Hamilton said. "I wouldn't know so I'll just trust you on this one." They finally reached the head of the line. "Hi, what do you have for umm," Jake looked at her watch, "now-ish?" she asked. "One seat for Beauty and the Beast, one seat for Jane Eyre and two seats for Aita and..." the teller said unenthusiastically. "We'll take Aita." Jake interrupted. "How much will that be?" "Twenty dollars a ticket." the teller replied. Jake opened up her wallet and gave the teller $40. "Thank you, enjoy the show." she said. "Ok, all I know nothing about this show is that it has something to do with Elton John and it won some awards. I've heard it's good though." Jake assured a very confused Hamilton. They walked to the street it was on, stopping at a street vender to buy hot pretzels for the show. They got to the theater and climbed all the way up to their nosebleed seats. The show started with a bang of music. Jake and Hamilton both found themselves really enjoying the show. During the intermission, Jake said to Hamilton, "Okay, I gotta go pee, anything you want while I'm up?" "Um, no thanks I'm fine." Hamilton said and kissed her on the cheek. The curtain lifted just as Jake came back. The rest of the show was even better than the first part. Jake cried as the forbidden love in the play progressed. When the show was over, Jake and Hamilton were frozen in their seats. "Wow, that was by far the best show I have ever seen, and trust me, I've seen 'em all." Jake said. "Wow Jake, I've never experienced anything like this before, this entire day has been so perfect. I totally forgot about the problems we have, I love you so much. Thank you for everything." Hamilton said sincerely. "I love you too Ham. I really want to do something special for you, I feel like I'm dreaming. I have not only found the love of my life, who I want to be with forever, but he actually followed me into New York City and rebelled his parents for me. I..." Hamilton interrupted her, "Jake, you have done so much for me already, I just want you to promise me we won't have to be apart again, I don't think I could deal with that again." "I'll always be here Ham..." Excuse me, but the theater is ready to be cleaned, would you kindly find the nearest exit." a man in a green tuxedo was telling an elderly couple sitting in the next aisle. Jake and Hamilton watched the couple. They looked like they could be in there seventies...and yet, they looked just as happy and in love as ever. They got up slowly at the usher's request and walked out holding hands. "That's going to be us someday, Jake." Hamilton said. Jake smiled and gave him a short loving kiss. The usher was now on his way over to them so they got up and exited the theater. They walked down the block to the nearest Starbucks and each got a cappuccino to go. Then Jake hailed a cab and they went back to her apartment. . . . Meanwhile at Rawley, Bella and Will were seeing Sean off. They were standing at the very same bus stop that Scout and Will had on their way to St. Martin, and that Hamilton had stood at on his way to NYC. Now, Sean with one huge duffel bag was on his way to an academy in California. "I always knew you'd make it big some day, man." Will told his friend. "Can you believe it?! Two townies gone wrong!" Sean exclaimed. "Guys, don't make me feel like a failure here!" Bella shouted jokingly. "No, we love you Bell." Will said. Just then, the bus rounded the corner. "Okay, that's my cue." Sean said. Will put out his hand for a slap and Sean pulled him in for a hug. "We'll write for sure man." Sean said. Then, Bella embraced him. "I'm sorry things didn't work out Bell, but you're still one of my best friends, you always will be. I'm expecting letters from you too." Sean told her while hugging. "Already sent it out, so you'll get it tomorrow or something." Bella told him. "Bella just thinks of everything." Will joked. "Are you coming or not?" The angry bus driver yelled. "Yeah, yeah, I'm coming." Sean said. He gave Bella one more hug and slapped Will five. "Bye guys." Sean said and got onto the bus. Will and Bella watched it pull away and then went to Friendly's. There Scout was finishing up his shift. Will, taking over, put on his apron and got started on taking a couple's order. Bella approached Scout. "Hey." she said. "Hey." Scout replied uncomfortably. "Can we talk?" Bella asked him. "Yeah, that would be great. Lets go for a walk." They walked through New Rawley, passed the houses Bella was so familiar with and Scout had never even seen. "So, Sean left today, got a scholarship to a baseball school." Bella said. "Great!" Scout replied. "We broke up, Scout. I didn't really love him, I just needed someone, you know, and Sean's great, one of my best friends. But it's not love, it's not like..." "Us." Scout finished. "I can't live like this either, Bella. It's like every time I'm with you I just want to be with you and I can't." "It's not fair, Scout. I think I love you. Why can't we just be together like normal couples in love?" Bella said. By then, they had stopped and were facing each other. "We can be together. Who the hell cares what our parents did. It was their mistake, why should we have to suffer? Besides, we don't even know for sure if it's true!" Bella kissed him. It was a kiss of love, a love that was not allowed but was too strong to be pushed aside. The kiss told everything they had felt since the day they met that past summer. When finally the kiss ended, they just walked hand in hand towards Bella's house. "Scout, we have to keep this quiet, my dad can't find out." "I know Bell, but if Jake and Ham can do it, we can too." He said smiling. He looked around to make sure no one was there and gave her one more loving kiss. "I'll call you later." he said and she went inside. . . . At Hamilton's house, the Dean and Kate were eating dinner silently. Kate dropped her silverware loudly. "I think you've made a mistake, Steve." she said. "The house is just too quiet without Hamilton and you read his letter, you've seen how happy he's been since he met her. I think you've gone too far this time and taken the Dean title a bit too seriously, you've driven our son away!" Kate said, starting to cry. "Kate, I'm so sorry, but I don't know what more I can do, I can't allow that girl back into this school, it's illegal. She can't continue living in the boy's dorms!" Steve said. "What about the girl's school?" Kate said, looking hopeful. "Kate, this is out of the question, I can't reward such behavior!" "HE'S OUR SON, STEVE!" Kate said and left the table. Steve just that there, torn between what to do. . . . In Jakes apartment, at two thirty in the morning, Jake and Hamilton were still up talking. Jake had changed into some cute, girly pajama set and Hamilton was lying next to her in bed in just his boxers. "So Jake, how come you never talk about your dad?" Hamilton asked, playing with her hair. "He was killed three years ago by a drunk driver. I have since vowed never to have a drink but that's beside the point. We were so close Ham. He was always there when my mom wasn't. Most of my best childhood memories revolve around him. He is such a big part of me. |
| Perfect |
| Part 4 |
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