Chapter 9: Finally finding the one

The following day I drove back to Cameron after breakfast with Jane and left the car outside. Nemis would pick it up eventually. Things between Jane and I were good, like really good. I even started joining drama classes since I was such a fantastic actor. Might as well use my training to my advantage. At lunchtime, I would sit with Rocksyn and Jane. Sometimes Cameron even joined us, but he was upset that I wasn't always with him. Jane and I would even just go to the library and mostly make out when Rocksyn spent time with the cheerleading squad. The whole knew something was going on between Jane and me. I finally convinced Rocksyn to let me sit next to Jane in geography.

Cameron kind of just gave up on trying to be with Rocksyn, but I knew he still liked her. Heck, I even met Jane's aunt. She's super chill and seemed to like me. Jane kept wanting to meet my parents, but I always made up some sort of excuse. My mom couldn't meet the target. I hated calling her that. Jane was so much more than just a target. I believe that I actually cared about her. So, I set up this whole thing to ask her out while we were on tour.

We stopped at this magnificent waterfall on the way there. I made sure I was first off the bus and ran ahead to set up what I had planned. Rocksyn was in on it and kept Jane occupied at the back of the group. I jumped into the water and made my clothes wet, so it looked like I had drowned. A girl from drama started screaming as planned, and everyone gathered around me. I lay dead still and made sure no one could notice my breathing. It was the perfect act to see if Jane cared about me. She walked over to my body, crying and put her face on my chest. I held my breath so that she couldn't feel me inhale and exhale. "Taine?" She stuttered through sobs.

"Jane, why are you crying?" I asked and ran my fingers through her hair.

"Because you drowned." She cried and looked up to see me smiling at her. "You're okay!" Jane gasped and covered her mouth. She looked so confused by what had just happened.

"Jane, you care about me," I smirked and stood up. My drama teacher handed me a small white box I had made. "This has your name written all over it," I said, confused and gave her the box. As she looked down, I quickly took a white rose from the girl in my drama group. "Jane, after I met you at the social, I fell really hard for you. My feelings for you are real… what I'm trying to say is Jane, would you please be my girlfriend?" I asked. I was so nervous and kept saying her name. Fuck our previous deal. I wanted to be with her. I wanted to date her and make sure everyone knew that we were together. For once, I put my heart first.

Jane agreed but afterwards questioned why I had changed my mind. I told her just to trust me and kissed her again even though the teacher had already warned us about P.D.A.

We spent the rest of that year together. I visited Jane every weekend; she came to watch every rugby practice, and if we had a chance, we were with one another. I even helped her unpack and get her apartment sorted. We painted and wrote our initials in secret places all around town. I still sent the information to that email I was given, but the boss lady still didn't contact me.

She wrote me a letter:

"Taine, you are indeed a blessing in basically everyone's life, especially mine. Every day I get to know more of you, and every day I like you even more. Just everything about you is so cute and attractive; I can't get enough! I know that only yesterday marked 6 months since the day of that social... of our kiss, but I can already tell that you are more than what I've ever wanted in a guy.

You make me smile so easily with all your cute comments or just the sound of your voice. Which I love listening to, by the way... in the non creepiest way possible. You make me laugh all the time! Like, I've never found a conversation with another person so entertaining. When you just say random stuff like spraying peoples eyes with vinegar or when you make noises with your chair and almost fall off.

You understand precisely what I mean when I try to explain something, even though my explaining skills suck! We agree on so many things, which I find so cute. Plus, we can talk for hours and hours without getting bored, well from my side, I've never had an unpleasant conversation with you. I adore the cute nickname you gave me... and I love the way you say them. It just makes me feel so unique and adorable at the same time. I love how we have the same sense of humour, even though sometimes we laugh at horrible things. Dark humour for the win!

I love how you make time to talk to me even when you are busy with homework or rugby. It means so much to me, and I genuinely appreciate it. It's also so cute when you're hella tired but still wanna stay up to talk. I love how we often call 'cause we miss each other's voices. I wouldn't spend my data or time in any other way... well, maybe to phone Rocksyn ... but that's about it. I feel so comfortable talking to you, plus I trust you like a hella lot. So, opening up to you comes naturally. I also find it so cute how you always dismiss my doubts and make me accept your promises and what you say.

There's just something about how I feel towards you that is both scary and amazing all in one. It's a different feeling than I've ever felt before. Like, a connection where you just get me and being with you just feels so... perfect. I'm sorry if that's cheesy, but it's so true. I never want that to change, and I genuinely believe that what we have is just going to strengthen and last a lifetime, hopefully. Kinda laying it down heavy here, but oh well... you kinda promised not to go anywhere, so hopefully, I don't scare you off.

I can't wait till I see you again. I'll be able to see that adorable smile and hear you laugh. I can't wait until I can hold your hand in mine... or just keep you close while we cuddle; basically, anything that includes the two of us sounds perfect! Even if you wanna go kill someone, I'm up for that too. Just promise you won't snitch on how we destroyed the evidence and body. Hopefully, you don't actually wanna do that... but just in case.

I want you to be that special someone I have every day of my life. I want to come home from university or eventually work. Just tell you everything that happened and listen to your day in return. I want you to be the person I phone first when I need to feel better or just be told I'm appreciated when I feel down... I want you to be that person that I always want to see and miss like crazy. I want to go on all those cute romantic dates with you, including diving, night beach walks/swims, movie dates or just simple Netflix and chill days.

You are basically my dream guy. From your crazy personality, weird thoughts, future dreams and hella sexy appearance. I can't wait to fall even more for you and just get to know everything about you. So I guess my promise to you is that... I promise to try my best to make you happy every day and always be there for you to turn to.

Thank you for just being you."

Jane is so frikken cute, right? We hadn't told each other that we love one another yet, but I'm sure that how I feel about her is love.

"Bunny, can I please tweeze your eyebrows?" Jane asked. Yeah, she called me bunny. Don't ask.

"Fine, sweetheart. Just don't hurt me, okay." I laughed and put my head on her lap. She excitedly giggled and started the torture. I have high pain tolerance, but I could feel every hair that Jane pulled out. Warning for all the gents, don't fall for the tweezing eyebrows trap.

"You're such a baby." She rolled her eyes while smiling.

"I'm your baby," I added and flipped her over onto her back. Yes, we were that cheesy couple.

"Rawr."

"You are so sexy." I moaned and kissed her. Her soft lips parted naturally, and I sucked her tongue into my mouth. We had agreed to not do anything else besides kiss until we were about 16 (grade 10). I was perfectly okay with waiting until Jane was ready. She was the longest relationship I had ever had and the best girlfriend any guy could ask for. We also did this thing where we drew infinity signs on our wrists as a promise to never hurt one another.

"Oh, my aunt wanted to know if you could come with us on holiday by any chance?" Jane asked when she pulled away.

"These July school holidays?"

"No, the August holidays." She sarcastically laughed, the smiled, "Yes, these ones."

"I'll swing it by the lady that looks after me, but I'm sure it's fine."

"You know I don't care about where you live or who looks after you, right."

"Jane, we've been over this. I stay in an area that isn't safe, especially for a white girl. That's why I always carry around my lucky knife. Plus, the woman I stay with doesn't like when I bring people over, even if you are my girlfriend. I'm sorry, sweetheart." I explained. That was the cover story I gave her when she wanted to come over to my place.

"Okay. I'll stop asking now." She sighed. "But, I have that new hazelnut cappuccino that we can try."

"Sounds awesome." I smiled and smacked her butt when she got up. Jane giggled and ran out of the room.

Damn, I loved this girl. I even considered telling her everything. Who I was, who I worked with… even about the mission. I didn't because I was afraid that she would hate me. Jane would have to carry the burden that I kill, steal and hurt people all the time. I wouldn't put that on her. She would also be pissed that I only got to know her because it was all part of the mission. It has developed into so much more than that, but I couldn't risk it. I couldn't lose Jane. I was such a better person with her, and my view of the world had changed.

There were good people out there, and the purpose of life was to try your best to be one of the good ones. It was so challenging to be a good person. That's why there are so few of them left. I wanted to be better. I wanted Jane to be proud that I was trying. Yeah, it had only been a few months, but Rome wasn't built in a day, as the saying goes. My phone beeped, which was probably Cameron sending me a meme. I switched my phone on, and my heart shattered. Nothing worse could have happened right now. I wouldn't even take a hurricane over this notification. This was when everything changed; it was over. My built-up bad luck from over the years decided to strike all at once.

The boss lady of D.T.A. had finally responded.