Part two of two!

Jaxon's POV of chapter 30

"Are you ready?" Eli pulls the blindfold off of my eyes and I blink rapidly, trying to adjust to the sudden brightness.

"I would be more ready if you had let me write out my speech, but sure."

"If I had let you write your speech, you'd forget it immediately."

"You have no faith in me, do you?"

"No, I have total faith in you!" Eli pats my shoulders. "Just- trust me on this one, alright?"

"You don't have total faith in me."

"I don't you're absolutely right."

"You wound me."

I look over Eli's shoulder at Isaac, who's filming our conversation.

"You're not recording this."

"I absolutely am!" A shit-eating grin crosses Isaac's face. "You can turn around now."

I roll my eyes and spin around, a red string tied to a stick stuck into the ground leading down a path.

"Well this isn't ominous at all."

"Do you want to confess to Jaxon or not?" Eli pushes me forward, snickering when I stumble over a pebble. "Don't fall."

"If you hadn't shoved me-"

"I didn't shove you, I gave you a gentle push. It's-"

"Gentle push my ass!"

"Jaxon Wright, will you follow the stupid string?" Isaac shouts. I fling my hands into the air and stride forward, stopping when I see a photo attached to the string.

"Hey, this is from when Hudson and I first met." I pull the photo gently off of the string, studying it. "This is what Jack, Felix and Hudson were doing this afternoon?"

"I can neither confirm nor deny." Eli pats my shoulder twice. "But I can tell you that there's more pictures and something even sweeter at the end."

"That one's from my birthday party the next year!" I jog ahead and pull the picture off, grinning at Hudson and I's stupid smiles. "God we were so idiotic."

"God you're so in love."

"God you're so annoying."

"God I wish you would just walk forward to the next picture!" Isaac kicks me forward, laughing. "I doubt Hudson only wants to watch you stand there looking pretty."

I flip Isaac off over my shoulder before walking up to the next picture.

"Hey, Eli, I think that's yours." A shimmering blue bag hidden in the bushes catches my eye. Eli walks over to it and pulls it out of the bush as I take the picture off of the string.

"And what's that one of?"

"Homecoming, freshman year." I scratch the back of my neck. "We ended up dancing together to two songs. Something by Shawn Mendes and Adele I think."

"The first detail you can't fully recall." Eli throws his arms into the air. "Give the man an award!"

I kick a bit of mud at him, smiling when he yelps.

"Rude." He moves his foot to kick mud back, then stops and sets it on the ground. "Can't get you all dirty or Hudson won't want to look at you."

"Hudson likes looking at me no matter what clothes I have on." I roll my eyes and step over to the next picture. "Okay, I know Jack didn't have this photo. Who did?"

"Darren had it." Eli plucks the picture off of the string. "He doesn't know what's going on, I promise. Just told him we wanted to make a surprise for you."

"This is from our sophomore year," I explain. "We found out about some senior's after-prom party and decided to crash it. We got so drunk on total accident and got kicked out only an hour after we had arrived. Hudson and I were basically attached at the hip the entire time. He got pulled more than a few feet away from me at one point so I decided to wrap and arm around his waist to keep him next to me."

"You're so far gone," Isaac remarks. "It's adorable, really."

"Shut up."

The next photo is from last homecoming, when Hudson and I decided to go together.

"You two match," Eli comments. "Was that on purpose?"

"Yeah." I smile at the picture. "We went together because neither of us could find a date. Someone had spiked the punch and before we knew it we were drunk and dancing in a side hallway, laughing and tripping over each other."

"You're so going to frame all of these, aren't you?"

"I can neither confirm nor deny." I grin at Eli, snickering when he whacks my shoulder. "I can however tell you that I really want to hold Hudson now."

"The more you stop the longer it is until you can kiss Hudson," Isaac calls.

"I'm sorry, this whole thing was setup for me to keep stopping!"

"Oh, yeah, that's true." Eli frowns and rubs his chin. "Didn't really think that through, did I?"

"That's from when everything went to shit at Hudson's place." I jog up to the next photo and pull it off the string. "You really took a picture?"

"Jack did."

"Remind me to thank him later." I slide the photo into my pocket and walk up to the next picture. "Twister."

"You two failing Twister and laughing like maniacs," Eli corrects.

"He kept tickling me!"

"And you didn't tickle him back?" Isaac throws a twig at my head. "What's wrong with you?"

"A lot, where would you like me to start?"

"Flip the photo over." Eli grabs the picture, pulls it out of my hands, flips it over, and slides it back into my grasp.

"I do know what flip the photo over means, Eli." I glare at the boy before looking down at the picture.

"Read it out loud, dumbass!" Another twig hits the back of my head. I look over my shoulder and stick my tongue out before looking back down.

"To Jaxon," I begin. "Jack and Felix helped carry out Eli's devious plan to get me to confess to you. They helped set up everything so that I simply fell into my proper place and did what I was supposed to. Eli made this plan to get me to tell you something I've wanted to for years now- I like you. A lot. I have for so many years now and it would be a dream come true if you feel even a sliver of what I feel. I'm in the clearing up ahead waiting for you. Hudson."

"I cannot wait until you two finally get together!" Eli exclaims, throwing his hands into the air.

"He likes me." I stare down at Hudson's message. "He likes me. He wants- fuck, I didn't think- I mean- shit."

Eli jogs around behind me and shoves me forward.

"Look up ahead," he whispers. I look up and freeze in place when my eyes lock with Hudson's.

"I see this plan had another half I wasn't aware of," I call, slowly walking forward. Hudson sprints towards me and jumps onto me, wrapping his arms around my waist as he laughs and cries.

"I can't believe they managed to pull this off without us realizing it," Hudson chuckles, taking a step back and wiping at his eyes. "I'll talk first because I know you need time to remember your words."

"Rude, but true."

"I can recall your favorite color. Your favorite song, candy, band, book. I know your birthday and I remember these things about you because I like you. I really, really like you. Felix, Jack and I went to grab you a bag of your favorite flavored gummy bears earlier and the only thing on my mind the entire time was you."

I slide my picture into my pocket and grab Hudson's hands, taking a small step towards him.

"I am crazy about you, Jaxon. If I had a dollar for every time you were on my mind I'd have one dollar because you never leave it. I've wanted to be more than friends with you for a long while now. I want to hold your hand and kiss and go on dates and do everything that couples do because I am borderline in love with you."

"Fuck," I whisper, letting go of one of Hudson's hands to swipe at my eyes. "I'm not supposed to cry until after I confess."

Hudson laughs and ignores the tears rolling down his cheeks.

"I like you." I squeeze Hudson's hand gently before sighing and looking down at the ground. "Wait, no. I mean yes, I like you, but that was supposed to go at the end-"

"Jaxon, it's alright."

"Fuck it." I cup Hudson's cheeks in my hands and lean forward, pressing my lips to his. Hudson wraps his arms around my waist as I wrap mine around his, his body fitting perfectly against mine like the last piece of a puzzle.

"I have been waiting for so long for this to happen." Hudson pulls his head back and takes a deep breath, opening his mouth to speak only for me to cut him off.

"Hudson Walker, will you be my boyfriend?" I lace my fingers together behind his back, waiting silently for his answer.

"Of course," Hudson answers, laughing. "Of course I will."

Hudson stands up on his tiptoes and kisses me again. The only thing I can think of is the boy between my arms and how he's finally, finally mine.