Krista

Oh, right. I forgot he owned the apartment building that they moved into.

The rest of the ride he left me alone; I listened to the buffering sound of the wind coming through the driver’s side window. I could feel the warmth in the breeze that hit me, it completely overtook the air conditioning he left running. There wasn’t a cloud covering an inch of sky and the flatness of everything that told me we were close to being back at his ranch more than the leaving of the last town. We weren’t that far apart, as things went, but nothing looked normal out here three counties

CJ's dad sounds like a piece of work too, but off-screen for the most part. So maybe Cj is exactly where he needs to be... entitled and assy.

Yeah, someone who knows me well told me that I reminded them of Jenny a bit. I don't see it really, aside from being pushy... but really. *whistles*

Aww, thank you for this lovely comment.

Yeah, Cj and Clinton's dynamics were interesting to me. I think if I was writing this story now, it would be even more fun for me to write than I remember it being when I wrote it all those years ago. Corey's taste of freedom has been eventful, but I agree I think if he had his friends next to him, a lot of things would have been different. I don't think his dunk in the river would have happened, Cj would have been wrecked, I imagine. The concept of Summer has been mostly lost on poor Corey over the years, working, being conditioned for football, etc.

Fair. I'm sure Corey does as well. lol.

I think this is where I transition the story a bit, judging by the comments I'm reading. This story is a lot older than it looks as well. Most of it was written pre-GA Stories upgrade, when it was still an Archive. So the dates are a bit skewed as far as first published compared to the last date published for the last chapter. It was back when all Signature authors had "Hosted Sites," and Forums of our own. Typing that out, I suddenly feel old...

Yeah, I remember him being rather efficient.. lol.

Could be just her being a rude-ass and not wanting to be witness to her sister being a flirt.

Maybe...

I innocently and briefly flirted with the idea of a "Prequel." Story involving Grace, Welker, Craig, Henry, Cindy, Troy, Rick, Carrie, *can't remember Troy's wife's name. To tell their stories of their senior year, keeping in line with how I depicted them in High school. How some things have changed. Cindy was going to be more like Jackson and Henry is Luke, but more golden-retriever. It would have made her a bit of a hypocrite, but it would have made for her dislike of Jackson a bit more profound, because she grew from that. It would have had to involve something I didn't want to involve though, that I also flirted with in the original writing of Jackson's story as well, but didn't touch. Mostly to spare Luke and Henry. Troy would also be a lot more central, but I also would have had to make him being a bachelor for an entirely different reason than his wife leaving him. Grace/Cindy/Henry/Craig dynamics being the driving force of the plot though. I realized though, that since I didn't touch those major plot points in the original, I couldn't touch them in the prequel, so I decided there wasn't enough story there, unless their parents became strangers to a point from their own children.

Baseball players all day for me. At least in uniform anyway...

Jackson wouldn't have it any other way. Beautiful. Thankyou. You summed up what I wanted to depict with their friend group. I wanted people to realize that Toby, Derek, are just as much of a part of his life as anyone else. I wanted that bond to be there always. I wanted them to overlook flaws, differences, and know they're in this for long run because they've been together since birth. The girls coming along when the hormones did, but still becoming part of Jackson's family. He 'thought' he was willing to leave all that behind, not seeing the value in it, but as the days approached he knew he wouldn't ever be able to, and didn't want to. They will raise their children together, grow old together, fight and make-up, but they'll be there. These chapters leading up to the final chapter were some of the chapters I really loved writing. It made knowing that I was going to be ending it soon a bit bitter sweet, but I needed to move on. Jackson's story had played out with me, the characters is what kept me going. I also wanted them stuck in this time, not burdened by adulthood, but planning and visualizing those dreams on a more concrete level.

The more I read and write, the more I don't want to always do the, "first love is the only love..." type stories. I know in Romances there needs to be a quick transition from first to only. Like if Jackson and Luke were a thing, they would need to break up pretty early on in the writing, and then I would need to make the second romance become 'the' romance and make it worthwhile. The first one would need to be flawed somehow as well, either Jackson or Luke would need to be 'bad for that relationship' or some incident would need to occur. So, it is a bit unrealistic that all these relationships would have lasted the five years. Lily an Derek seemed more connected than Heather and Toby, who were a good match, but maybe not one that would hold together long-term. Ally's relationships didn't last. Olivia and Connor, unfortunately, but I honestly don't think Connor would have survived her, so maybe he dodged a bullet with her... lol. I wish I could explain the Coaches not being there, but none of my coaches came to my wedding... I'd say scheduling conflicts would be the bigger issue, or everyone moving on. He was only with Tony for a few months after all. Scott for four years... but a college coach would be busy and somewhat distant, as they have a lot more of a demand on their time, I'm guessing. Either way, them not being there is because I forgot about them. Which is what I should have led with... lmao.

Oh gosh... you've started another one. Good luck. You might find a running theme in my stories (another one that I wish to break from, mind you). Other than C names being all over the place. This one is a lot worse on that front, I think.

I will not entertain all this slander with a comment. 😮

Oh no, you most certainly will not downplay the fact that it could snow on your head in the middle of damn July. Not when I endlessly make fun of you for it. I feel vindicated and I will be rubbing it in, even if there's just one little frozen delightful flake landing on your forehead.

Not to leave you hanging without a comment, but I'm going to leave you a little bit in suspense, because I'm going to be rereading this chapter. I know it is the confrontation chapter. I want to see the words for myself. I do remember Cindy being overwhelmed by the lack of support coming at her from all angles. I think she also showed a lot more humanity in this passage, but I can't be sure I'm remembering correctly or not. (okay so maybe I didn't leave you in suspense and talked a lot anyway) I will never pressure anyone into coming out, most people have that fear for a reason. Something has given them a reason to pause. So, I simply wish everyone going through such a dynamic with the people they love strength. Everyone we know is fighting some sort of battle that no one sees, or understands. So, strength. Thank you. I struggled with her. I knew I needed to land her well or people will not see her value in the writing. There are many reasons why I struggled, but some of them are spoilers so I'll not get into that until you're finished and if you want to know, you may ask me again.

Only a few have admitted, to clarify.

Ah, I thought you were alluding to a permanent goodbye and that Luke is seemingly indifferent.

and I'm totally saying this preparing to be proven ass-end wrong in the coming chapters when I finally declare what time of year it is, because I forget stuff like this all the time, so. You can't trust these people called authors, their either evil and know they are... or they're forgetful like little innocent me.

Mid-July would be my guess. *whistles* not the beginning, not the end, but leaning towards middle-late? School calendar-wise, not meteorological, unless you're living in who knows where Canada @wildone where it very well could snow in July. Right?