Read The Beginning of Us for Free Online Page A

I asked laughing. When I saw that he wasn’t joining in, I stopped.
     His eyes stormed over and he shook his head, “Like I said Teeg, I don’t want to mess things up with you. I just want you safe. Raegan and they can camp tonight, too." He leaned in and kissed my cheek. "I'm never going to take advantage of you Teegan. Not when you're sober and not when you’re drunk," he whispered against my skin.
    It was then that I remembered his story. The one he confessed to me while we were at a frat party. His best friend from elementary school had been killed in an automobile accident involving an intoxicated driver. An event that had scarred him for the remainder of his life. While he didn’t denounce drinking, obviously, he was adamantly against driving drunk. A very admirable quality that had charmed me.
    “Okay. I'll speak to her, but even if she doesn’t want to, I'll stay,” I assured him. He sighed with relief and nodded once.
    “Good.”
    ***
    The rest of the night was fun. Raegan didn’t question me about mine and Jax's hand holding or the kisses he kept giving me all night. She was too enthralled with Luke, a senior that was paying her attention. He was tall and lanky and an art club member. Her perfect match.
    We walked around, talked to a bunch of people and kissed a lot . I stopped drinking because after a few more cans I was very buzzed, not completely hammered, but I knew my limit. Jax had quit drinking too.
    Raegan had planned on staying too, since she was too tipsy to drive. Luke and his buddies had several tents set up on the far side of the barn.
    “You look tired Teeg. Wanna crash?”
    For the first time that night I brought my phone out and checked the time. It was two o'clock in the morning. I hadn't stayed up this long in ages.
    “Yeah, you don’t have to go with me though. If you want to hang out go on ahead.” I yawned and stretched
    “No, I'm not gonna leave you alone in the bed of my truck with a bunch of drunk guys around. What kind of boyfriend does that, you goof?” He smiled, his dimples showing in the moonlight.
    He said goodnight to his friends and took my hand. We were silent on the short walk there and a million things ran through my buzzed head. How warm his hand felt, how he kept stealing sideways glances.
    We reached his truck and after moving the cooler to the cab, he began to unpack the rest of his bedding. He brought a comforter out, laid it down first and then two navy blue sleeping bags and finally pillows and a blanket. He took his time setting them all on top of the comforter. Finally he finished making the pallet and made a voila gesture with his arm.
    “Very nice,” I remarked with another yawn.
    “Do you need to brush your teeth or take a piss before you lay down?” he asked.
    I scrunched my nose at his question and he smirked.
    “I'm weird, I know. But I have a kid sister, Roxy. I watch her a lot. I also was a Boy Scout for many years, so camping's in my blood,” he explained. “Plus, I can't go to sleep anywhere without brushing my teeth. I have an extra unused travel brush in the cab.” He grabbed a small zippered case and a bottle of water and proceeded to hand me a new packaged mini-toothbrush.
    “You're a mess,” I said quietly opening it. “But hey, at least you've got good hygiene habits.”
    He began brushing his teeth. “I know,” he answered, his mouth already full of toothpaste foam. He looked utterly ridiculous in the cutest way.
    I commenced brushing my own teeth and found a tree to pee behind. I also changed into the nightshirt I had jammed in my backpack for Raegan's house. Jax took off his shirt and got into athletic shorts. He never looked at me and I never looked at him.
    Finally, we hunkered down on the bed of his truck and Jax lay on his side facing me. In the distance, I heard Luke Bryan's song, 'Crash My Party' and smiled. He was one of the only country singers I loved.
    “It's been a fun night, Teeg.”
    “Yes, it has. An