Chapter Twenty-Three

{Chapter Twenty-Three}

I go up to the door and knock when I get to Ian's house. Haiden answers with a bright smile and motions me into the house.

"Levy, I wasn't expecting you. Ian is up in his room." He adds after closing the front door and turning the lock. I take a step towards the hall but glance at Haiden, trying to read from his face if everything is okay. Considering he answered the door smiling, I assume everything is okay. He also looks fine, a bit happier than he was yesterday for sure. So I nod with a smile of my own and walk through the familiar hallway.

Passing white walls and family photos, along with the living room where Owen is watching some kind of romance film. I walk up the stairs and down the next hall, stopping at Ian's door. I open it without bothering to knock and bite my lip.

Ian is once again at his desk, typing on his computer quickly with earbuds in to drown out every other noise. I close the door behind me and move across the room, getting a sense of deja vu when I hear the distinct sound of heavy metal coming through his earbuds.

I move behind him and tap him on the shoulder, still unsure if it would be okay to wrap my arms around him like I want to. He jumps in surprise, yanking his earbuds out and turning in his chair. His eyes brighten when he registers that it's just me and I smile.

"Hey," I greet and he grins, jumping out of his chair to hug me.

"Hey," he echos in greeting. I smile, holding him tightly to me and resting my chin on his head.

"Ian, I...we need to talk, baby." I state, pulling away to look at him. He looks at me with curious and nervous gray eyes.

"About what?" he asks nervously. I smile wanly at that, hoping he doesn't get upset.

"About us." I reply and clear my throat, dropping my eyes. "You, me, and Jer." I add and he stiffens though I don't expect anything less.

"Okay." He says with a nod after a moment of silence. I look around and lean down to kiss his temple lightly.

"Come on, let's go to the park." I say. I don't want to talk to him in his room, not that I don't like it because it's really nice but I don't want to talk about our relationship in the room where his last relationship was destroyed.

He tilts his head to the side in confusion but nods anyway and moves to pull his shoes on, grabbing his wallet and phone as well. I take his hand, leading him out his room, through the hall and down the stairs past the living room.

"I'll be back," he calls when we're halfway to the front door. I unlock the front door, open it and we slip out as Haiden tells us to be back before midnight. I walk across the grass to my blue Camaro parked at the curb, while Ian seems to take the stone path to the driveway, avoiding the grass.

I open the passenger's door for him and he slides in so I close the door, moving to the driver's door. I get in, close the door and turn the key, making the car start up with ease. I pull away from the curb and head to the park that's about a mile from his house. I park in an empty spot and we get out, walking to the gazebo close to the play structure in the middle of the park.

I look around the less than pristine gazebo, catching sight of numerous spots where the eggshell white yellow is chipped, revealing the aged brown wood beneath. I walk over to the railing facing the brightly colored play structure where kids are running around and laughing. Ian takes a spot next to me but I keep my eyes on the play structure.

"I don't want you to feel forced into anything." I state and continue before he can say anything in response. "If you don't want to be in this relationship, if it makes you uncomfortable in any way, I don't want you to feel like you have to stay with me. I want you to be happy, even if that means I won't have you."

"Levy," he starts and I finally tear my eyes from the play structure to look at him.

"I want you to be happy, Ian." I state, taking his hand and giving it a squeeze.

"I know, and I know what will make me happy." He says seriously, looking into my eyes. I realize when I search his eyes that he's so much stronger than I give him credit for, he's not some fragile vase that's going to break into a million pieces at the slightest touch. It makes me happy to know he's strong, even if he doesn't act like it.

"What will make you happy?" I ask at last. He takes my other hand in his and pulls me closer, looking up at me as he's a little shorter than me.

"You. You'll make me happy, Levy. You're not forcing me to do anything, and I appreciate that so much. I love you and I'm sure we can make it work. I don't want to loose you, I don't want to look back in thirty years and wish I had stayed with you. I want to look at you in thirty years and be happy that I chose to be with you." He explains, standing on his tip toes to kiss me chastely.

When he pulls back I realize my eyes had begun to water so I quickly look away and clear my throat, attempting to compose myself. When I'm sure that I won't begin to cry I turn back to Ian and smile.

"I'm happy to hear that." I reply, my voice cracking a bit but I ignore it. He smiles and pulls me to the center of the gazebo, catching me by surprise. He wordlessly puts his right hand on my waist and moves our left hands out, positioning us in a dancing pose.

"You want to dance?" I ask, looking around for any parents or guardians who may have a fit about us filling their child's mind with filthy ideas. It wouldn't surprise me, I know not everyone in the town could possibly be okay with it, there's always some bigot out there.

"Why not?" he asks, taking a step closer and I instinctively take one step back, remembering when I was younger and Mom would attempt to teach me how to slow dance. I laugh and dance around the gazebo with him, even twirling him before dipping him. He looses it at that point, laughing and making me drop him when he looses his footing. Of course, he manages to pull me down with him by latching onto my arm.

I fall on top of him, causing him to huff from the sudden weight of my body on his but he continues to laugh breathlessly.

"Ugh," I groan but I'm laughing as well. I push myself off him to sit on the dusty worn wood floor of the gazebo and he does the same as he begins to regain his composure. I smile at that, happy to see Ian smile and laugh so much.

"See? That was fun." Ian states, standing up and dusting off his clothes before extending a hand out to me. I take it and he helps me up and helps me get all the dust off my clothes.

"So it was." I reply with a grin. We're silent and I bite my lip as I get an idea. "Do you want to have lunch and meet Jer?"

He looks at me in surprise and seems to think about it for a few minutes. I shift from foot to foot, hoping he says yes. At last he nods slowly, nervously.

"Okay." He agrees. I smile and pull my phone out to ask Jer if he can come to lunch.

"Where would you like to eat?" I ask after I put my phone back into my back pocket. I entwine our fingers and lead him down the steps, across the green grass back to my car.

"Oh, there's this place on Eighth that has really good sandwiches. Can we go there?" I nod and drop his hand to get to my door. My eyes widen and I let out a choked sound, surprising Ian. He moves over to me quickly and grabs my wrist.

"Are you okay? What's wrong?" he questions worriedly and I wordlessly motion to the car. He stares at it in confusion while I stare at it in horror.

"Someone scratched her beautiful paint." I state, staring at the scratch marring her previously perfect blue paint.

"What? Wait, that?" he points at the scratch. "It's tiny. A surface scratch actually." He adds with an arced brow.

"Someone is going to pay." I threaten, ignoring Ian's assurance and looking around for the person who committed this crime.

"Wow," he sighs, dropping my hand and taking my keys out of my pocket. "It's a car, you can easily get it fixed. It'll be pretty cheap too, Owen can actually do it." He adds and unlocks the door before sliding into the driver's seat. I snap out of my horrified state to look at Ian, who already has the door closed. I try to open it but it's locked so I sigh and reluctantly get in the passenger's seat.

"Why does everyone insist on driving my car? She's mine, I should be the only one driving her." I grumble, putting my seat belt on while Ian pulls out of the parking spot.

"I'm not sure you know where the place is so why not drive rather than try to give you directions? That's okay, right? 'Cause I'll pull over if you don't want me to drive." He adds, nervousness entering his voice.

"No, it's okay. I trust you won't hurt her anymore than she's already been." I add in exasperation before smiling and reaching over to take one of his hands in mine, lacing our fingers. The drive is silent as he drives across town to a small little diner tucked between two other buildings. He parks in front of the diner and we get out after I tell Jer where to meet us.

We go in and take a seat, waiting for a waiter to give us a menu. I look around at the all-American type restaurant with checkered tables and paintings meant to be realistic in style. My eyes move from the paintings back to Ian who's looking at a painting of the diner positioned above our table.

"When will he be here?" he asks nervously and I shrug, not really knowing.

"Probably in a few minutes, he doesn't live too far from here." I add, glancing at my phone to see Jer said he would be here in a few. I look back to Ian and reach over to take his hand in reassurance because he's begun to fidget.

"It's going to be okay," I assure though I don't really know that. What if they don't get along? What if this is too much for Ian? Or Jer realizes he can't do this? But I don't voice those concerns, instead I smile reassuringly at Ian.

"I hope so," he mumbles. I open my mouth to say something else but the door opens and Jer walks in. My eyes move to him, taking in his light gray shirt under his heavy leather jacket, black jeans with a chain attached and black combat boots with his golden blond hair perfectly styled. He catches my eyes and an easy smile finds its way on his lips as he moves across the diner to our table, taking a seat.

"Hey, I'm Jeremiah, you must be Ian." Jer says, extending his hand to Ian. I let go of Ian's hand so he can reach out and take Jer's, shaking it with a nod.

"Yep, that's me. Well, I mean, you probably knew that though. Unless you didn't know Levy, that would be more awkward than my awkward babbling." Ian replies before groaning, dropping his head as pink tinges his cheeks. I cough to disguise my laughter while Jer silently shakes with laughter.

"So you go to private school?" Jer asks, obviously moving the conversation so Ian won't feel as embarrassed. Ian looks back at Jer after shrugging.

"Yeah, it's not as bad as everyone makes it seem though. The worst part is the uniforms, and they're a bit more strict than public school, but I don't mind." He explains calmly while Jer nods.

A waitress drops off three menus, asking for our drink orders before Jer can respond to Ian's reply. We all put in our drink orders and she leaves us, allowing Jer to reply.

"I went to a private school through high school, it wasn't bad, just not fun." He adds with a shrug and Ian nods. The table falls silent and Ian clears his throat, causing me to jump slightly in surprise while Ian drops his eyes.

"I don't know if I'll be able to trust you," he mumbles, glancing at me and biting his lip. "Either of you." He adds and I open my mouth to assure him he can trust both of us but he speaks before I can.

"I'm going to go to the bathroom." He states and I nod numbly while he gets up and moves quickly to the bathroom. I move to follow him, worried that he's upset but Jer reaches out to place his hand on top of mine.

"Stay, I'll check on him." He adds with a small smile. I nod reluctantly before he gets up to follow Ian. Leaving me to hope everything is okay, but I can't be sure.