Friday after school, Jason caught up with Laura as she was heading toward the parking lot at school. “Hey, Babe,” he called out with a big smile on his face, “What’s going on?”
Laura stopped walking and turned to face Jason. “Hello, stranger, long time no see!” She went up to Jason and gave him a quick kiss.
“Do you need someone to help you carry your books?” Jason replied. “I’ll be glad to help you.”
“No, I don’t have much homework this weekend. I was hoping to have some fun.”
Jason grabbed hold of her hand. “I could help you with that, Babe. I can think of a lot of fun things we could do together.”
“Really?” Laura replied. “You mean a handsome, good-looking stranger could provide me with a good time?”
“Stranger!” Jason exclaimed. “I know there was a lot going on this week, but most of that was your activities.” He put his arms around her and gave her a hug. “Well, let me re-introduce myself. My name is Jason Hunter, and I am your steady boyfriend.”
Laura looked into Jason’s eyes and then gave him another kiss. “Oh yeah, I remember now. Come sweep me off of my feet with some good times!”
“It doesn’t have to be anything fancy,” Jason said. “Just being with you is a good time for me!”
Laura smiled again and said, “You always know the right things to say to me, Jason. There is nothing I would rather do than spend the weekend with you. What did you have in mind?”
“I was thinking of some pool time, and maybe taking in a movie. It’s been a while since we actually went out on a date together. We could also get together with some of our close friends. What do you think?”
“Those are all good ideas. Let’s start with some pool time. Meet me at my house in a half hour. I can’t wait to see you in a bathing suit again.”
Jason and Laura walked to the school parking lot hand in hand. “We’ll have a great time this weekend; just wait and see!” Jason told her. “It will make up for this week, trust me.”
“I don’t know, Jason Hunter! Can I trust your slick, big-city ways?”
“Absolutely, Babe.” Jason turned and gave Laura another quick kiss. “Don’t we always have a good time together?”
“Yeah, I guess we do,” Laura told Jason. “That’s why I love being your girl.”
Jason walked Laura to her car, and then watched her drive off. He then went to his Explorer and drove home to drop off his school backpack and pickup his bathing suit before driving over to Laura’s house.
The weekend turned out to be an enjoyable one for Jason and Laura. Swimming in the Friesen’s pool was good exercise and fun, and had the effect of washing away the stress of school that week. After he went home for dinner, Jason returned to take Laura out to see a movie.
Saturday morning, they got together to work on getting the boxes of shoes ready for a giveaway for needy kids sponsored by Jason’s Whatever Foundation that would be happening later that week. After sorting through the inventory of shoes that Jason kept in the garage at his house, they got a take-out lunch of sandwiches, cookies, and drinks, and drove to a lookout point in the Los Gatos foothills, one of their favorite places to go when they wanted to be alone. Jason had cleared out the back of his Explorer, so after they ate their food, they got in the back for some necking and intimacy.
Right now their romantic relationship was quite comfortable and cozy for both Laura and Jason. This hadn’t always been the case in the past. Over the past year, relations between the two had zigzagged between the highest of highs to the lowest of lows. The highest of highs was at the beginning of last summer after Jason’s daring rescue of Nick. Volunteering himself to go into the den of the two predators who had kidnapped Nick and were planning to torture and kill him for revenge was a very terrifying experience for Jason. Jason knew that in order to heal from the trauma of that experience he needed some real lovemaking as an antidote to the horrors he saw while in Angelo’s underground cave.
With the cooperation of Nick’s mother, Caterina, Jason and Laura, along with Daniel and Diana, were able to spend five days at a beautiful beach house right on the ocean. For the first time in their relationship, Jason really leveled with Laura about what he had experienced during his work on that case and others where he had been in real danger. They opened up their hearts to each other and reached a state of true intimacy that was both touching and beautiful. Although Jason told Laura that they probably would never be able to repeat that kind of experience in the near future, their relationship had forever changed. Jason then suggested that they tell everyone that they were now going steady.
Their relationship had real fire and emotion to it, but as would be inevitable when two very headstrong people are romantically involved, they had differing views of how that relationship would develop. Laura wanted Jason to become a part of her extensive social agenda and stop doing detective work that would place him in harm’s way. Jason wanted to continue doing what he had been doing, directly helping other teens with their problems, especially when it involved an abusive situation.
Things came to a crisis point when Jason and Daniel were tracking down and rescuing Jonathan Kowalski, who had gone missing. Completing the rescue, getting Jonathan medical care, and reporting it to Captain Garcia and the Silicon Valley Police caused Jason to miss a dinner party that was very important to Laura. At the party she had planned to introduce Jason to relatives and family friends who had heard about him but hadn’t met him yet. When Jason finally arrived at her front door, after the party was over, she angrily broke up with him.
Although Laura quickly realized that she had over-reacted to the situation and begged Jason to take her back, the incident did cause a rift in their relationship that would not easily heal. That rift remained until Laura’s mother, Dorothy, had a heart to heart talk with her and gave her some savvy advice about relationships. Dorothy explained to Laura that if she could not accept Jason the way he was, then their relationship was not meant to be. Instead of focusing on the negative, Laura should focus on the positives aspects of their relationship, all of the things that attracted her to him in the first place. “More than anything, Jason needs to know that you love and support him for who he is,” Dorothy advised her daughter.
Laura ended up taking her mother’s advice. When she told Jason that she was now his biggest supporter when he went to help others, Jason was thrilled. It was like a huge weight was taken off of his shoulders, now that the girl he loved could accept the fact that his helping others was a good thing, even if it involved taking risks. The end result was that Jason felt closer to Laura than ever, now that he could confide in her about all aspects of his life.
Now as they lay down side by side in the back of Jason’s Explorer, each of them felt a warm glow of contentment. “I’m always happy when I can be with you, Babe,” Jason said in a soft voice. “I feel so good when we are together.” Jason turned on his side and began stroking Laura’s hair.
“I love being with you too, Jason. When you hold me in your arms, I feel contented and safe. When you stroke my hair, I feel little chills up my spine. Now hold me tight,” Laura said passionately. She nuzzled his nose and gave him another kiss. The couple lay together in blissful contentment for another fifteen minutes until it was time to return back home.