LOGINShare
The Most of It
Last Updated:
2024-10-29 19:42:56Related chapters
All Grown Up A Nice Date
AudreyI should have known, when Jesse showed up with flowers, that he wasn’t just planning on taking me back to his place and having his way with me. Not that I wouldn’t have appreciated that as well. There had been something about the mystery of it all, though, that let me know how serious this was. That made something warm flutter in my chest. Even if I knew that it also meant Annabelle would probably be teasing me the next time she saw me or giving me another of her patented lectures about how I was only going to end up hurt and hurting Jesse.I didn’t want to think about that right now. Instead, I felt a small smile grace my face as Jesse led me into the restaurant.I had only been here once before, and it was on my sixteenth birthday. I don’t think I really appreciated then just how hard it must have been for Mom to save up for a splurge like this. Of course, she had known one of the waitresses and was able to get us a special deal since we came on one of the nights when they we
All Grown Up Casual
Audrey“I know that,” Jesse said, and I hated the defensive note that crept into his voice. Because I knew that he knew that. I wasn’t trying to imply that he was an idiot or that he hadn’t thought about the same things that I had. I knew that he knew I was leaving.I took a deep breath. “I just, I haven’t been acting like this thing has an ending,” I told him. “I’ve been acting like I’m here and I’m going to keep being here. I’m acting like this is forever. But it isn’t, and we both know that.”Jesse frowned. “Where is this coming from?” he asked. Then he continued, “Do you want to leave? Because seriously, it’s okay if you do. I’m sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable.”“You didn’t make me feel uncomfortable,” I told him, sharply shaking my head. “The opposite, actually. Jeez, Jesse, you always make me feel the most comfortable that I ever do, in the whole world. I’m more comfortable around you than I am when I’m dancing.” I paused for a second, wondering if that was true. The word
All Grown Up Missing Out
AudreyI grinned at him, even though there was nothing really funny about it. “You just want to know how much time you have left with me, don’t you?” I asked.He grimaced. “I hate thinking about it that way, but yes. In a way.”I shrugged. “Well, I’m back to training on it, but I’m still being careful. More than that, I don’t really know,” I told him. “It doesn’t feel as bad now as it did when the director first sent me here, but that’s not saying much. I’m not training quite as hard as I was then. We were almost to the end of the string of shows, and that means I was dancing pretty much every night.”“Wait, you didn’t lay off it when the injury first happened?” Jesse asked, sounding appalled.“No way,” I said, shaking my head. “Like I said, we were almost to the end of the string of shows, and I was giving it everything that I had. That’s what you have to do if you’re a dancer.”“Why?” Jesse asked simply.“Why do I dance?” I asked, confused.“No,” Jesse said, shaking his head. Then h
All Grown Up Private Dance
JesseI didn’t know what to expect when Audrey led me up to her studio. Of course, this wasn’t the first time that I had seen her dance since she had come back. Not that I had gotten to see much of her dancing the day that she’d reinjured her ankle when I’d surprised her with lunch, but I had seen enough to know that she was right when she said that she didn’t dance the way that she used to. No, she was a lot more refined now.That wasn’t really the right word for it. Except that in some ways, I supposed it was. Refined like a diamond, sharp and cold. There was something about watching her dance the other day that made it seem like she was just going through the motions.That was something that I had never seen when she was younger. She’d put her heart and soul into dancing. I wondered if it had something to do with the lack of audience. It had to be a pretty big difference, going from dancing on a global stage to being here in Aberdeen, dancing in a dingy studio upstairs from a downt
All Grown Up Undone
JesseI didn’t know where to look. There was her expression, which was utterly serene as she twirled and skipped around the room. I had seen Audrey look happy before, but it was nothing compared to this. She turned a smirk on me as she moved through a particularly complex, and panty-baring, series of moves.Then there was the fact that she had put this whole dance together herself. She had told me that these moves were easy and designed to allow her to train without putting too much strain on her ankle. Her definition of easy seemed to mean something like ‘impossible to mere mortals’. She contorted her body in ways that I could never have imagined a person could do, and then some.All while keeping a smile on her face.Her hair came undone from its braid as she twirled, but she didn’t pause to tie it back again, instead just leaving it to ripple down her back. It flowed in waves with the momentum of her movements, and that was yet another thing for my eyes to snag on.She might have d
All Grown Up More Than Dancing
AudreyWhen I first leased this place, planning to use it as my dance training studio while I was stuck here in Aberdeen, I had thought about getting rid of the couch. After all, the thing wasn’t very appealing, with its worn-out leather and dust. It looked like it had been there since before I was born. Not only that, but it was just going to get in the way as I was dancing.I had wanted a proper dance studio, with all the trimmings. Floor-length mirrors and good lighting and everything. A place like I had back in France. At the very least, I wanted a good rectangular room that was large enough to move around in. A place where I didn’t have to worry about some couch that the previous owners hadn’t taken with them when they moved on. Because I was sure that I was never, ever going to need that couch.Now, I had to admit that I was pretty dang glad that I had kept the stupid thing around, in spite of the time that I had stubbed my toes on the leg.I smiled up at Jesse as he trailed his
All Grown Up Losing Her Already
JesseI knew that, eventually, I was going to have to let go of Audrey. This night had cemented that fact in my mind more than anything else. Of course, she had flat-out told me, right from the start, that she was only here for six months, and only because her director had told her that she had to take six months off from her dance academy. I had never even expected her to actually be here for six months.Her impending departure was nothing new, but at the same time, it up to now had just been some nebulous thing off in the future. Something that I dreaded, sure, and something that we probably needed to talk about at some point. But it was something that I knew I still had time to tackle.Tonight, I wasn’t so sure. Tonight, it felt like I was losing her already.It was all to do with that dance of hers.First of all, it had shown me that her ankle, although not fully healed yet, was definitely on the mend. She hadn’t wrapped it before dancing, and even though I knew it was a workout s
All Grown Up It's All an Act
Jesse“You’re so sappy,” Audrey said, but I could tell that she wasn’t unhappy with that.We lay there quietly for a while longer, until I felt like I could doze off right there on the couch, uncomfortable as it was since I couldn’t stretch out and since it wasn’t really meant to fit both of us like this.I finally sighed. “I guess I’d better get you home, huh?” I asked her.“I guess,” Audrey agreed with a small sigh of her own. “I kind of wish I had my own place so that I wouldn’t have to worry about getting home. But I don’t want Mom to wonder where I am or if I’m all right. Nor do I really want to tell her that I’m, you know, sleeping with you. I’m sure she already knows, but it’s not the conversation that I want to have with her.”“Yeah, but if you had your own place here in Aberdeen, then you’d have to stay,” I pointed out, trying not to sound too wistful as I teased her about it.She was quiet for a moment, and I knew that she was considering how to answer that.“Just a joke,” I
Latest chapter
All Grown Up All Grown Up
AudreyI couldn’t believe that Jesse had gone to all of this work to build the perfect nursery for our baby. From the looks of the crib, it was hand-built, not just one of those flimsy things that you put together from the store. I could tell that there was still some work that he planned on putting into that, and there was a rocking chair only half finished on the floor. But Jesse was building me a nursery for our baby.I could barely believe it.Here I had been so worried that he would want nothing to do with me or the baby, when in fact, exactly the opposite was true. He wanted this enough that he was willing to put his love and dedication into incorporating us into his life and his home. He wanted our baby to grow up here just like he had grown up here.He was so perfect. I didn’t know how to tell him that.Instead, I was given the opportunity to show it to him.I caught his hands in mine and tugged him out of the nursery and back down the hallway to his bedroom. This time, I was
All Grown Up Moving Forward
JesseWhen I heard Audrey’s reasons for why she hadn’t told me about the pregnancy, I felt my heart break a little. Not because her reasons were terrible, but because I’d been so terrible to her this week. If she’d only explained things to me before. I knew that was my fault, though. I hadn’t let her explain. We’d been tired and too full of emotions to really talk last weekend, but I at least should have made time to see her earlier in the week.I didn’t know what I’d been expecting from her, but her actual reasons for not telling me were almost too sweet.“I’m assuming that you want to try to get yourself back into shape and go back to being a ballerina once the baby is born?” I said now, at dinner.To my surprise, Audrey shook her head. “Honestly, I think those days are over.”“I’m sure you can talk to your director and work something out with him,” I said, frowning. “I know there was the injury as well as this, but he seems like a reasonable guy. It’s not like you don’t have the ta
All Grown Up Mending Bridges
AudreyJesse slowly came up to the porch, like he thought I might run in the other direction. “You look really pretty,” he said quietly.“Is that all you came here to say?” I asked tartly.The lips of his mouth twitched with a grin. “Just the start of it,” he promised me. “Have you already eaten? I was hoping that maybe I could take you to dinner and we could talk.”I stared at him for a long moment. So now he wanted to talk? I wanted to hear whatever it was that he wanted to say, though. I wanted him, so badly that I ached. I found myself nodding. “Let’s go,” I said, heading toward his truck.We were both silent on the way to the restaurant that had been our favorite as teens. I should have known that he would take me there. Back to where it all began. There was a part of me that was terrified that I was never going to be able to come back here again after this too-serious conversation that we were about to have.There was another part of me that soared with hope, wondering if this m
All Grown Up Missing Him
AudreyI shook my head. “It’s more complicated than that,” I sighed. “He just got mad because I didn’t tell him that I was pregnant until we were on the way to the hospital. I lied to him about why I was back here, and he can’t trust me anymore.” I bit my lip. “I deserve it, for waiting for the perfect time. I just didn’t think waiting was going to end up making things so terrible.”“Oh, Audrey,” Annabelle sighed, coming over to sit next to me on the bed and giving me a hug. I knew she was probably going to be running late for her shift, but she didn’t seem to care. She just wanted to make sure that I was all right. I nearly cried with how much I appreciated it.She noticed. “Are you crying?”I had to laugh. “Hormones,” I told her. “I’m pregnant, remember? My emotions are all over the place.”She shook her head and went to grab me a tissue from the box on the dresser. “For what it’s worth, I don’t think he’ll be mad at you forever,” she said. “You didn’t see him when you were in Paris
All Grown Up Baby On Board
AudreyI’d had a great day with Mom and Annabelle, cooing over all the adorable little things that we could buy for the baby in the local mall. I knew that they were really excited about the baby, but as much as I tried to match their enthusiasm, I still couldn’t help but feel upset and unsure. It would have been so much easier if I had known that Jesse and I were an item and that he was going to be there for me. For us.I still hadn’t heard from him, though, and now it had been nearly a week since he had found out about the fact that I was pregnant.It had been a long week. Other than that shopping trip, I had barely left the house. What was there to do? Anywhere that I went around town, there was a chance that I might run into Jesse. I didn’t want to admit that I was avoiding him, but the conversation that he and I needed to have wasn’t one that I really wanted to start in public where anyone could witness it.It was a small town. Soon enough, everyone was going to realize that I wa
All Grown Up Audrey
JesseI took a calming breath to steady myself. No. I at least knew Audrey well enough to know that she wouldn’t do something like that without at least telling me that was her plan. Even though I hadn’t reached out to her, she knew where to find me if she really needed to talk about something like that. She knew where I worked, and she knew where I lived.At least, I thought I knew Audrey well enough to trust in that. If not Audrey, though, I had a feeling I would have caught an earful from Annabelle if her sister was even considering that.“You’re sure it’s yours?” Joe asked.“Yeah,” I said. I grimaced. “I actually asked her if it was someone else’s and that was why she hadn’t told me about it. She got pretty upset that I had even dared to think that she might have been with someone else. I believe her.”Joe nodded, and I could tell he was thinking everything over.“Am I right to be angry with her?” I asked, when he didn’t say anything. “I mean, she flat-out lied to me. You were rig
All Grown Up Processing
JesseI knew that I should probably talk to Audrey. Not talking to her was driving me crazy. She had always been one of my best friends, and if there was anyone that I wanted to talk to, it was definitely her. I missed her. I wanted to know how she was handling all of this. I wanted to know what she was thinking.I wanted to make sure that she was following the doctor’s orders to rest and stay off her feet for a little bit, in case it was the stress that had caused that terrible cramping that she’d had the other night. It had been hard for Audrey to stay off her feet before when her ankle was injured, so I could only imagine how she was coping with it now.I hoped for the sake of the baby, our baby, that she was taking the doctor’s words seriously. I had a feeling she would be, though. Somehow, I knew that she was going to make an incredible mother. That little baby was lucky.It was one of the few things that I was sure of.The rest of it was all uncertainties, and that right there w
All Grown Up Stress
Audrey“Eleven weeks,” I said. “Annabelle and I went for the ultrasound on Friday.” I pulled out the picture to show her, and her face lit up.“Look at that little peanut of a thing,” she cooed. “He looks adorable.”“He?” I asked skeptically. “You can’t possibly tell that from the picture.”Mom tutted. “Let me have my dream,” she said. “It would be good to have a little man around the household again. Besides, look at the way he’s positioned. He must be a boy.”I tried not to laugh. “Maybe it’s a boy,” I said, glancing at Annabelle.“Audrey’s hoping it’s a girl so that she can teach her to be a ballerina,” Annabelle said.“The world could use more male ballerinas,” Mom said, winking at me. “I always wished that I would have a boy to balance out you girls.” She sounded wistful, and I suddenly realized that I had never known if two kids were all that she planned to have or if things just hadn’t worked out for more. It suddenly seemed like something that I should know.Mom was wrapped up
All Grown Up Telling Mom
AudreyI had barely left my bedroom for the rest of the weekend after Jesse dropped me off at home. I couldn’t help thinking of the terrible things that he had said to me out in the driveway. I couldn’t help thinking of how much I deserved for him to say those things and more to me.I had fucked up. I knew that now. No, I had known that all along. I knew that I should tell him about the baby. All the reasons not to tell him seemed so stupid now. I couldn’t even think how to apologize to him, in fact, that’s how stupid all the reasons sounded in my head.Not that I was going to get a chance to apologize to him. I had given him his space on Saturday. He wanted time to cool off and process things, and I would give that to him. Sunday, I hadn’t been able to stop myself from texting him, though. I understood if he wasn’t ready to talk yet, but I just wanted to know when he might be ready to talk. The uncertainty was killing me.He hadn’t responded. Suddenly, I felt panic go through me, eve
