ILY

ILY and This Kiss

At first, Topaz's lips felt cold. But as Jethro moved closer to her, tightening his embrace, pulling her closer to his body, he felt it becoming warm.

Topaz was caught by surprise at first. She was not expecting Jethro to kiss her. Her eyes were wide open when his lips caught her lips.

But then she felt warm, as if she had been transported in front of a fireplace after sitting outside in the snow. Jethro felt like home. She found her hands moving to the back of Jethro's neck. It felt that it was the only support that was keeping him in this world. As Jethro's lips continued to move on top of her, it felt like she was being transported somewhere else, somewhere peaceful, someplace that she wanted to stay longer.

She felt Jethro's hands on her waist, pulling them closer to his body.

Then his right hand moved lower, low enough that he could not feel it anymore.

She did not realize that Jethro pulled her legs, both of them so that they were wrapped around his body. Out of nowhere, she felt a shooting pain in her legs, traveling to her back.

"Ahhh," She winced in pain, her lips moving away from Jethro's

"What? What happened?" He sounded worried.

"My legs, my back. I felt it." She said in a panic.

"What, what do you mean?" Jethro was starting to pull her back to where his car was.

"Ahhh..." She continued wincing. She was definitely in pain.

"I am going to take you to the hospital. We will call your Mom when we get there." Jethro said. He had already placed Topaz on the front passenger seat.

"No, please." Topaz retaliated, but she sounded in pain.

Jethro grabbed all their things in one swoop and dumped them in the back of the SUV. He immediately sat in the driver's seat and turned on the engine.

"I don't want to worry Mom, just not now."

"Fine. I am not calling you Mom but we are going to the hospital. I could at least give you that. But we really need to have you checked." Jethro insisted.

"Alright, just don't call Mom," Topaz needed to be certain that they were not going to involve her mother just yet.

"But I need to call Clyde. We need to have an adult with us, or the hospital might end up calling your Mom."

" OK, but promise me that Clyde will keep it a secret."

"He will, as long as it is not a life or death situation. We can trust him." Jethro assured her.

She squeezed his arms as they drove to the nearest hospital.

They both stood silent as Jethro continued driving. Topaz tried to access herself. The pain was already going away. She could not feel anything anymore.

What if she was wrong? What is, she was just caught in the middle of their kiss. What if she never really felt anything at all? That she was just imagining things.

Jethro called Clyde when they arrived at the parking area.

"Wait. I think I am not feeling anything anymore." Topaz said, not wanting to go inside the hospital thinking she had made a mistake,

"We are already here, let us at least have you checked." Jethro told her. 'I promise, I won't say anything to your Mom as long as everything is normal. Even Clyde. We won't let your Mom know unless its something serious."

Topaz sighed. "Fine, let's head now before I changed my mind.

Jethro left her on the passenger seat as he grabbed her wheelchair.

He suddenly realized that they had just shared a kiss. It was Jethro's first. Was it Topaz's first kiss too?

He tried to forget about the thought. He needs to focus right now. It was the second time of the day that Topaz claimed that she felt something in her legs. Maybe she really did. Maybe not. But they are about to get a more concrete explanation once they get her checked inside.

Clyde was already on his way. Jethro explained the situation as fast as he could and assured Clyde that they were all good. That they just need to have her checked. He also mentioned not telling Mrs. Layton yet.

Clyde arrived at the hospital ten minutes after Topaz and Jethro arrived. When he entered the ER, it seemed like Topaz was already done. Jethro was writing some paperwork while Topaz lay in the bed by her side. She looked like she was on the verge of crying. Or maybe she already did.

"What happened?" He immediately asked Jethro when he was already standing close to the bed.

Jethro looked at Topaz, whose back was facing him.

"The doctor thinks it's just phantom pains. He could give her tests but she refused to. She just agreed with him that it may be phantom pains. I am just signing up some papers so we could check out.

"Here, let me do that." Clyde offered, taking the paper from him.

"Sorry to bother you, Clyde. Just send me the bill so I can pay you when I get back home." Topaz said, slightly turning around her head.

"Just feel better, I got this. No worries." Clyde said, walking to the receptionist to ask where the cashier was.

It was already around four in the afternoon when they went out the hospital.

Clyde excused himself and said he was headed someplace else. Jethro knew that he was just headed home and was just trying to give them privacy.

Topaz has already changed into dry clothes.

"Do you want to go straight home or do you want to go someplace else?" Jethro asked Topaz after Clyde left the two of them in the parking area.

"I think we better head home. Mom would be cooking already by now. I do not want to give her an idea that something happened today. As a matter of fact, let's forget everything that happened at the hospital. This never happened." She said.

Jethro wanted to say something else but somehow she understood what Topaz wanted to happen. She did not want to give her mother false hopes. She already had one today. It was already enough for her to be the one disappointed. He did not want to disappoint her mom too.

"Fine. But if you feel anything again, let's get back to your doctor. Get tested."

"Can we not talk about it. I already had enough for today." Topaz regretted that. Everything about today was perfect except for the things that happened after the kiss.

"Sorry, I did not mean that to sound like that. What I mean is that everything that happened after the, you know. Today was perfect, except for that phantom pain." She corrected herself. She did not want Jethro to feel bad,