#thread: jackson

Maia made her back to her dorm room to grab Jackson’s gift and quickly freshen up after spending the morning with Jackson. Grabbing the gift from beside her bed, she held it with both hands as she made her way back to Jackson’s room. Making her way into his dorm room, she walked in just as Jackson was pulling out her gifts. She returned his grin with a soft one of her own. While Jackson placed her gifts on his desk, she gently laid her large, flat square-shaped gift on his bed before making her way over to where he stood by his desk, looking at the three gifts before softly saying, “you didn’t have to get me so much.” And taking a moment to look at them before slowly taking the gift on the top and unwrapping it to see the Ursa Minor and Ursa Major pin set. Taking the pins in her hand, she admired them for a moment before looking at Jackson feeling her heart soften at the gift. “I love it. They’re so cute.” She said before taking it upon herself to pin the Ursa major on her shirt and giving him a smile once it was pinned on and placing the small one back in the box and then removing it from the stack and placing it to the side. “Thank you.” She spoke as she began opening the other gift.

Once it was unwrapped, she looked at the moon lamp and her eyes lit up almost immediately. “Oh my god.” She muttered excitedly. “Jackson, this is so cool.” She said as she took out the moon from its box and turned it on. “Ooh.” She cooed in awe at how it looked when it was lit. “Oh, Jackson. I love it.” She said as she felt her heart swell in her chest, feeling excited over the prospect of having this in her room at night and gazing at it. However, she was determined not to let her emotions take over. Maia felt her grin grow into a gentle one feeling her hurt slightly hurt at how well he knew the things she liked. Maia looked over at him as she held the moon in her hand and let out a small sigh at the love growing in her chest. “I love it.” She repeated as she turned it off and placed it back in the box. “This is a lot, Jackson. You really didn’t have to get all this.” She said as she looked at the last box and ran her hand over it after moving the moon box next to the box with the pins in it.

Maia began unwrapping the last gift, wondering what the large object inside could be. As she opened the gift, she spotted a note and under it cardboard where the gift must have been. Picking up the note, her eyes scanned the words as she read them, feeling her emotions begin to bubble up with his written words, recalling the words he said to her on the island. Maia placed the note down and looked over to Jackson as she felt her eyes begin to glisten at the overwhelming love that she felt through the gifts before even opening the last one. Seeing the look in his eyes that prompted her to open the last gift, she inhaled as she looked back at it and decided to continue opening his gifts. Removing the cardboard from the map that was hidden in it, Maia felt herself grow in awe at the map. Almost like everything around her went quiet and she existed only with this celestial map. It was breathtakingly beautiful. “Wow.” She breathed out as she tried to take in all the details of the map, feeling her heart flutter at its extravagance. As she continued to look at the detail, Maia’s lips slightly pouted as she felt her heart feel full that this is something that Jackson got her. Her eyes filled to the brim with tears as her previous attempts to keep her emotions at bay were miserably failing.

Maia attempted to say something before she focused too much on how overwhelmed she was by all his gifts but before she could try to distract herself from the tears that threatened to fall, they were already rolling down her cheeks. Placing the cardboard down, she let out a sigh as she failed in containing her emotions, bringing her hand up to wipe her tears. “God, Jackson. I didn’t want to cry today.” She said with a sniffle as a light laugh escaped her through her tears. She took a moment to cry as she wiped her tears while they fell before looking over at him and letting out a big sigh, taking a step towards him and wrapping her arms around him to embrace him. “I love them all so much. Thank you.” She said as she tightened their hug and tried to stop herself from crying. “And that note… I love you so much.” She sighed out in a whisper as she continued to hold him for the next few moments. @urkingbby

Emmett spotted Maia and Jackson, having heard that Maia had a new boyfriend but he didn’t have the chance to really talk to him yet and so this was his chance. Making his way over to the two of them, he had a mischievous grin on his face as he usually did. “Pretty wild what happened yesterday at graduation, huh?” He asked once he reached them, Maia rolling her eyes at his mere presence, already getting ready to take Jackson and leave. “You know, Maia,” he started when he spotted her expression. “It seems like you do belong here, seeing how problematic these kids are too.” He joked, although he meant every word.

Maia was unamused with his joke, but she needed to have Emmett leave, or simply just walk away with Jackson from him because Emmett had no tact in his words with Maia. “That’s great.” She said flatly, her expression clearly displeased with him. “Let’s go.” Maia said to Jackson before she took his arm and began making her way away from Emmett. 

Prior to the Spring Break trip, Maia was mostly feeling frustrations with the fact that her secret was revealed. People pitying her or judging her. It was rare to find an in between. The main emotion she felt during that time was irritation and she didn’t see it coming to an end anytime soon. Until she found out about the Spring Break trip. It was really a moment for her to change her mood. The scenery, the weather, everything was enough to put her in higher spirits. One thing that always lifted her mood was nature and that’s pretty much was she was surrounded by. The trees, the ocean, the sand, all of it was natural. She wasn’t tied to being indoor in a class all day with other people, but she was able to be in solitude. It was what she needed at that point.

Given that the spring sports season had officially started, Maia was spending the majority of her time practicing. Even though it was Saturday she did have her day ahead of her which involved practice and then her own training that she would do after to make sure that she was excelling. However, today she made sure to make room to drop off the things she got for Jackson’s birthday. In the morning, she stopped by his room and left a little “breakfast basket” that included muffins, teas, coffee, oatmeal and other snacks for him to eat that morning. She figured she get a variety and he could eat whatever he felt like eating. After practice, she made some time to drop off his actual gift, sneaking into his room once more and dropping off a little box on his desk that had a note which read Happy Birthday. In the box was a necklace that she made, crafted from Obsidian in the shape of his cats with their names engraved in white on the back. And even then, she felt like Jackson deserved more.

Once her lacrosse practice came to an end, Maia was hoping that Jackson would still be at his rowing practice or at least the tail end of it so she can catch him. She knew the chances were slightly higher than usual since her practice ended early, so she hurried back to the locker rooms and changed into a pair of leggings and sweatshirt and jean jacket to top it off. It was still cool out, but it was definitely a nice day out. Making her way quickly to the lake, she spotted the rowing team and it seemed like their practice was coming to an end. As she made her way closer, she finally spotted Jackson and she couldn’t help but feel the corner of her lips tugging into a slight smile, the mere sight of him making her feel lighter. Once she was close enough, she pushed her glasses back, having removed her contacts after practice seeing as how she had the same ones in all day. “Hey.” She greeted with a grin as she made her way up to him, shoving her hands in the pockets of her jacket. “Happy birthday.” She tagged on.

It had been a long day of silence, after crying in the art room the previous day, Maia had felt a tad bit better. However, the overwhelming feeling of the heaviness within her was still very well there. Classes had been over for a couple of hours now, another day of silence, another day without her being able to bring herself to speak. She was more tired than usual, but she couldn’t sleep. It wasn’t unusual for her to be unable to sleep, but she wasn’t able to take her usual naps either. It was evident on her features just how tired she was. The lifelessness in her eyes and the dark circles under them. Maia only had one thought, more specifically: one person that she wanted to see. She wanted to hold back and not burden him. She knew he was already going through enough and so she decided against it. A couple of times, actually. 

Before she knew it, she was in front of his door. She stood there for a moment, shutting her eyes as she struggled on whether or not she should knock. But then the thought occurred to her that maybe he wasn’t even there. And with that slim possibility, she knocked on the door. Once the door opened, Maia didn’t let a moment pass as she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his waist, tucking herself into him as she let out a sigh of relief. Almost as if his mere presence was lifting the weight that she had been feeling and she was pleased that was the case.