Chapter 9

    Jonathan and I had spent a few more hours that evening talking about his family and mine. I learned that he'd taken up cooking on a dare from his younger brother Darryl who was currently going through culinary school. Jonathan used to tease Darryl of being girly since he was always in the kitchen with their family cook and asking questions on how she made this or that. When Darryl got to high school, he took a few home economic classes and decided that he wanted to learn how to be a chef.

     By the time Jonathan was modeling, both he and Darryl traded friendly barbs about being gay since Jonathan was always looking 'pretty' and Darryl was always cooking. Somewhere along the way, Darryl declared it was an art and challenged Jonathan to try to do it. Turned out Jonathan was a budding chef. He admitted he wasn't anywhere as good as Darryl was, but it was something he enjoyed nonetheless.

    However, the thing that amazed me most was that I found out was that he actually went to the same high school as I did. When I found out that he had been a senior when I was a freshman, I asked why I had no idea who he was even then. He told me it was probably because at the time, he was still not really very outgoing. It seems he only had that select group of friends and he still was a bit of a geek, despite the fact that he was starting to model.

     When I laughed at that and told him I wasn't really convinced, he took out his senior yearbook to show me his picture. Imagine my surprise when I saw it. He wasn't kidding. The boy in the picture looked nothing like the man sitting next to me. In the picture, he had short hair, with bangs that slightly fell into his eyes. And he wore glasses back then too. Even his clothes were all geeky, a button down shirt with a collar and a side pocket!
   
    "O...kay. That's too weird." I mock shuddered and gave him a smirk, "So, I wouldn't have known you then and now, but how is it that you always knew me?"


    He chuckled, "That's easy, some of the kids in my classes, had brothers and sisters in your classes, so I knew who you were. I also knew Danny, your brother, I had him in a couple of my classes."


    I shook my head, "No, if you knew Danny, then I should have known you because Danny used to let me tag along to most places with him, and I knew most of his friends."


    "I wasn't a friend of his, Alex. I just knew him from the classes I had with him. We didn't share the same group of friends. His group were the hard-working students, mine were the rich ones who never had to work for what they had."


    "Yeah, you're right about that, he was always pushing himself so hard. But then, I knew it was because he seriously wanted to be a lawyer and he always knew how hard it would be to get into law school."

     Jonathan nodded, "Yeah, I was trying not to be a hard-working student, so I attracted the same ones. Only my dad had more money than theirs, so I became the one they all wanted to be the best friend of." He emphasized that with a roll of his eyes.


    I laughed, "So, you knew me because of Danny?"


    "Well, I knew you were his little sister, but I didn't really know who you were then. It wasn't until after I'd turned 21 and started hanging out at Incognito, the club across from Spotlights. I remember seeing you walking down The Sidewalk with your group, heading towards Spotlights. I was with a few guys in line to get into Incognito when I saw you. 


     I was so busy watching you laughing at something one of your friends said, that I hadn't realized the line had moved forward until one of the guys nudged me forward. They laughed and asked where I'd just gone and I pointed to you and said maybe we should go to Spotlights. They all looked at me like I'd gone nuts and one of them told me that there was no way they'd go into that club, plus a chick like you would never give a guy like me the time of day."

    I arched an eyebrow, "And yet, here we are."


    He grinned at that, "Yeah, here we are."


    "So, how did you know who I was then?"


    "One of the guys had a younger sister who was your age. So he knew who you were and told me about your father owning Horizons. So, I started to do a little research." He gave me a grin as he finished.


    "You started stalking me!" I exclaimed.


    He just kept on grinning.

    Jonathan hadn't stalked me. Turns out, the guy who knew who I was, was more than willing to tell Jonathan everything he knew about me. Of course, he only did it so that Jonathan could understand just how far out of his league I was, but that didn't stop Jonathan from being interested. After that, he just always noticed when I'd be at the club or not and his friend always ribbed him about his infatuation with me. I wasn't so upset with him about knowing who I was because I knew if the shoe had been on the other foot, I would have made every effort to find out about the guy I was interested in.

    Jonathan asked me about my family and why it was that I wasn't trying to fit in either. I told him that it wasn't that I didn't love my family, but that I wanted to find out who I was for myself instead of having it all planned out and dictated to me. I knew my father only had my best interests at heart. I knew how hard he'd worked to get his restaurant off the ground and be able to give his family everything they could possibly want.

     But I wanted to plan my own life out, while my father seemed to think he could plan it out for me so that I'd be taken care of. I wanted to experience life myself, my father wanted to protect me. He was like that for everyone in the family. It was just that some of us didn't mind being taken care of, while others, like Danny and I wanted to take care of ourselves.

    I hadn't started to really rebel until towards the end of my junior year and it was just amplified during the summer since all I seemed to be doing was hanging out with the group at Spotlights during the nights and then spending the days at each others houses. I told Jonathan that that summer was when I really started to find myself getting irritated with the way Mark was acting with me. He'd started to become more possessive. Always wanting to know where I was and who I was with. I'd even gotten the impression that the others who were with me when I wasn't with him would report back to him what I'd done when I was with them.

     That's why I'd started to work at The Body Shop midway through the summer. It was something to break the monotony of my perfect life. Jonathan understood what I was saying. I knew he would. It's why I understood why he did what he did. Of course, I knew that I probably had a better life then he'd had at that point because at least my father and I were civil towards each other and I still have my best friend.

    By the end of the night, we'd learned a lot more about each other. He told me what his life was like as he'd been a model and I told him some of the things that had happened in the past year that made me realize that I didn't really like the perfect life I had. So, when he finally walked me to my car and gave me a hug good-bye, I knew we were on the road to recovery. Jonathan was still the same guy I'd met two weeks ago. Only now we'd learned so much more about each other and agreed to be open and honest with each other.

    The next morning, I woke up to the sound of my phone ringing. I groaned and rolled over to answer it. "Hello?"

    "Alex? You never called me back, so I'm assuming things went well?" Sarah's voice was way too chipper for ten in the morning.

    "Yeah, we talked. He told me the truth."

    "Really? And did you have to meet him halfway?"

    "Sarah, I'm not that cruel!" I sighed, "I volunteered the information before he could ask. It only seemed fair."

    "Oh girlfriend, I'm so proud of you."

     "Thanks, so can I go back to sleep now?"

    I heard her laugh before she said, "Uh, uh. You are gonna get yourself out of that bed and get ready to have lunch with me in about two hours. Then we'll hang out for a bit."

    "I work Sarah."

    "I know you do, but that's not until later this afternoon right?"

    "Yeah, I go in at four."

    "Good, then get up and get ready."

    I grumbled a bit, but told her I would meet her at The Cheesecake Factory, one of our favorite restaurants, at noon.

    As I stepped out of the shower, my phone went off again, I rushed into my room grumbling about the timing of these people who kept interrupting me when I was busy. I grabbed my phone and answered slightly irritated, "Hello."

    "Alex?"

    I found myself smiling at the sound of Jonathan's voice. "Hi, Jonathan."

    "You okay?"

    "I'm fine." I chuckled, "I was just getting out of the shower when the phone rang, so I had to run into my room to answer it."

    "The shower...hmm....you must be soaking...wet." I could hear the smirk in his voice as he made that comment.

    "Jonathan,” I mock gasped, “get your mind out of the gutter!"

    "Can't help it. The image of you stepping out of the shower and running into your room to get the phone," he paused, "are you even wearing a towel?"

    I laughed, "Yes, you dork! I am."

    "Awww...that's a shame." He laughed before continuing, "So, you work today?"

    "Yeah, at four."

    "Well, then, would you consider going to lunch with me before you go to work?"

    I frowned, "I already told Sarah that I'd go to lunch with her."

    "Oh, okay. Well, some other time then."

    "No wait, Jonathan." I said as an idea came into my mind, "Why don't you join us?"

    "No that's okay, I don't want to intrude on your time with your best friend."

    "You won't be. Sarah wants to meet you anyway, so what better time than now. Will you meet us at the restaurant?"

    "You sure?"

    "Yes, I want you to meet her."

    "Okay, I'll go."

    I told Jonathan where the restaurant was and told him to meet us there at noon. I called Sarah back and told her Jonathan was going to have lunch with us if that was okay. She said it was okay since she wanted to meet him anyway.

    Sarah was the first one there. I was walking towards her as Jonathan pulled into the parking lot. When he joined us at the doors, I introduced my best friend to my boyfriend, then we went inside to have lunch. It was a very good lunch. Sarah and Jonathan got along really well.

     Sarah began calling Jonathan her girlfriend after she'd discovered how good his fashion sense was. I joked that it was a byproduct from his modeling days and that launched a whole other discussion between them. Sarah wanted to see the pictures and when she asked if he'd posed nude for any, I nearly choked on my water.

     Jonathan simply smirked and said he'd never posed nude, but he was certain she'd be interested in some of the swimsuit photos he'd done. Even my attention was caught by that time, so when we'd finished lunch, he drove us back to his place and we sat on his living room floor looking through all the photos he kept from his photo shoots.

    Sarah and I both were gawking at the photos. Jonathan was very photogenic. The camera loved him. He had such a natural grace that came through in all of the photos. Sarah liked the ones that had him dressed in really funky, stylish outfits. I loved the ones that were done in black and white, more mood pieces than fashion photos. But we both agreed that Jonathan was definitely made to be in front of a camera. He simply shrugged and said it was fun while he did it, but it wasn't something he'd pursue again.

    Jonathan drove the both of us back to our cars about an hour before I had to be at work. Sarah hugged both of us and told me she'd call me later before getting into her car and driving off.

    As Jonathan and I held hands and walked to my car he asked, "So, boyfriend, huh?"

    I smiled as I looked up into his eyes, "Um, yeah. I hope you don't mind that I said that."

    We stopped by the door of my car and Jonathan turned to face me. He placed his hand against my cheek, "I was hoping to be that to you."

    I smiled, "I want you to be that, Jonathan."

    He returned my smile as his lips lowered to mine. I sighed as he deepened the kiss. I couldn't lie to either of us. I'd missed his kisses. His touch. Slipping my arms around his shoulders, I pulled him closer to me, relishing the feel of his body next to mine. He slid his arms around my waist and slowly pulled his lips from mine. I pouted.

    He grinned, "Will you spend tomorrow with me, beautiful?"

    I nodded. "Call me tonight? We'll discuss what we will do tomorrow, okay?"

    "Okay." He leaned in and gave me another long, lingering kiss before he finally let go of me and helped me into my car.

     He gave me one last peck on my lips before shutting the door and stepping back, so I could drive off. I smiled and blew him a kiss before driving off to work for the evening, thoughts of spending the next day with Jonathan already drifting through my mind.