Buck and Jules both sneak out for a romantic valentines dinner.
Jules’ footsteps made a soft noise against the gravel as she quietly tip-toed along the sidewalk. It was late, almost four am. Connie wouldn’t notice her absence, the next morning Connie would think Jules was attending school, not running off to the love of her life in Baltimore. She sat down on the worn bus stop bench, trying not to think about how many people had sat there before she had.
The bus slowly screeched to a halt in front of Jules, she had fallen asleep. She glanced down at the watch her father bought her the last time she was in California and it read 5:03. The bus was empty. The sleep deprived teenage girl took her seat in the back of the bus and started her three and a half hour journey to Baltimore, Maryland.
The bus ride was quicker than she had thought it would be, most of the time she was texting Buck while she was charging her phone with the portable charger Connie had gotten her for Christmas. With one of the wired earbuds in her ear, she heard the bus driver announce the arrival of her stop. Jules climbed off the bus clutching her dark indigo sweater and into the chilly spring air of Baltimore.
Satisfied with her plan Jules got into her Uber and said “Thank you for picking me up!”, the driver responded with “Of course! Traffic is pretty heavy right now but I’ll do my best to get you to ‘Arundel Hills Park’ as fast as I can” in a soft but perky voice that kind of annoyed Jules. She smiled, nodded, and put both of her earbuds in to cut off any chance of a continuing conversation. The trees and cars whizzed by as they flew down S Camp Meade, a road Buck had told her about in their earlier conversations.
As she neared her destination she texted Buck “hey, im almost there! ru on ur way???”, less than a minute later Buck replied “Almost there!” This put a smile on her face. This was the first time she was going to see her boyfriend in almost a month! Jules clutched her backpack which held the contents of
The bag clattered as she exited the car, and gave the driver a “generous” tip of two dollars.
Jules found a table in the middle of the park and started setting up her idea of a perfect valentines date. Spreading out the tablecloth, that had been folded in her backpack. Setting up the two candles she’d brought, and placing a couple plastic cups side by side—to be used for sparkling lemonade. And finishing the set up, a box of chocolate hearts. She nervously checked her small watch which read 10:00 am. Buck pulled into the empty parking lot around that time. “JULES!” He screeched as they shared a hug and started talking about their travels that day.
“I can’t believe this all actually worked!” Buck said after taking a sip of his lemonade. “I know right! I can’t believe you skipped school!” She responded. “Well actually the school had to close today for a teacher meeting that will last well into the afternoon, but Eugene and Katrina don’t know because I deleted the email they sent and deleted the voicemails they each received.” Jules was impressed, she had no idea Buck was capable of this especially now.
They finished their romantic meal of chocolate and lemonade then decided to drive around and look at the town Buck had been living in for the past few months. Jules knew it would all be over soon and that she would have to get on her bus at twelve in order to be home at four. She teared up in the passenger seat of buck’s car “I can’t do this, I need to be with you. I feel so.. Alone. When you’re not with me.”
“I know what you mean” Buck responded, “I want to visit soon, maybe for Easter.”
That’s not the answer Jules wanted. “ok” They sat in silence the entire ride to the bus station. “OH wait! I forgot..” Buck pulled out a single rose. “Aww how romantic!” Jules said as she pulled him in for a hug. “Bye Buck, I’ll miss you so much you have no idea.” Jules choked. They both didn’t want to leave the safety of the vehicle. Jules reluctantly exited the car with her much lighter backpack and puffier eyes.
She returned home to Connie like nothing was wrong. Connie had not suspected anything, their plan had worked.
~ thank you for reading 🙂 I know its a much smaller story than normal but I hope you enjoyed it anyway <3 ~
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