"I think you'd be good at it." He smiles, and I find my heart swooning. The only other person that supported my "crazy and reckless" dreams was my Dad. I know that is no reason to attach to Judson. I'm sure he's just telling me what he thinks I want to hear.
"My mom thinks it's ridiculous, and Dakota. He thinks it would be hard to find a job. They are probably right. That's why I have been taking classes at community college at home. I had the opportunity to go to art school, but after arguing with everyone, I decided to stay."
"So you stayed home because everyone told you, you can't. That doesn't seem much like the girl I know. I could see you giving everyone the finger and taking off." He smiles at me, and I let out a giggle. That is the real me, you know, the one no one gets to see or cares much for. Everyone at home prefers class president, level headed, cheerleader Blakley.
"That would have been more fun." Instead, I got stuck in a routine. Basically, people telling me, "Do what you want, but make sure you do it this way."
"Who is Dakota?"
Shit.
"My boyfriend... My Fiancé... My ex... sort of."
Shit. Shit. Shit.
"So you let a boy tell you not to follow your dreams? I say boy because no man would want his future wife to be mediocre." Dakota was really good at manipulating me to do whatever he wanted.
"Yeah. I woke up, just a little late." I laugh nervously. A single tear falls before I even realize it's coming. I wipe it off as fast as I can and stand, so maybe he won't notice.
"Sounds like you were trapped in a life that everyone else wanted, except for you."
"Well, it's all shot to hell now." God, let's talk about something else.
"Any more questions? I think you are up to like six-ish gifts." I wink at him. I am enjoying this too much.
"I couldn't think of anyone else I'd rather be indebted to." He draws me in and wraps his arm around my shoulder as we head back toward the house. He may take that back if he keeps asking me questions. I can't tell him everything.
We are approaching the house when he steps away from me and covers my eyes.
"I have a surprise for you."
We walk toward the house. I am so confused as to what in the h-e double hockey sticks is going on.
"Don't open, not yet." He takes his hands off, and I hear his car door opening, "Ok, open."
In the front seat is a box wrapped in silver paper with a giant pink bow. What is he doing?
"Happy birthday!" He sings. He got me a birthday present? I couldn't tell you the last time someone got me a birthday present.
"You didn't need to do that." I smile at him as he lifts the box from his car and hands it to me.
"Open it." He instructs. I walk toward the porch to a chair to sit. I pull the paper away and see a box, a camera. A nice, costly looking camera. What the fuck? I literally only told him this twenty minutes ago. There is no way he could've done this.
"This is... this is incredible. I can't accept this Judson, it's too much. How did you do this? We were literally just talking..." He cuts me off. "I bought this earlier today. The way you were taking pictures on the boat, I could just tell it's something you liked to do."
He shrugs.
He bought this before I even told him because he saw me.
"No one has ever done anything like this for me before. I don't even know what to say."
"Just say, thank you." He smiles and gets a knife out to cut open the box. I grab his neck and pull him into me, "Thank you."
He smiles and plants the most gentle kiss on my lips. He pulls the camera out of the box and hands it over to me.
"Get to work." He demands. I squeal, do a giddy dance and take the camera, and the first picture I snap is him. Judson. The only reason I have to smile.
CHAPTER 17