Out Like a Cigarette

I still can't believe I couldn't get out of the damn date. I didn't even want to go. At all. Why did fucking Jake have to answer for me?

Oh. Right.

Because he's a jackass.

Well. Now it's ten minutes until my damn date and I'm still drying off from my shower.

Sighing I pull on some random clothes since this will most likely just be a movie date, ran a brush through my still wet hair and applied some mascara. I didn't have time to flat iron my wavy hair straight, so it'll just have to be left alone as natural.

Done.

I strolled down The stairs, Jake looking up from his position on the couch in front of the TV.

"You could have at least tried to look like you wanted to go." He tells me, a slight frown on his face.

"Why do you want me to go so badly? If I start dating him you won't have me as a fuck buddy and that would mean you get less. I know as well as you that without sex you get crabby." He laughs at my logic.

"We haven't had sex since the Kyle incident, you know.” He says, going on with “I have a new girl. I really like her, probably more than I should. I don’t want to mess anything up with her…” He finishes, drifting off. That there was proof that we weren’t anything more than best friends and fuck buddies when needed.

“Oh, gross. I don’t want to know. If she gets involved it’s on you. Anyway, she pro-” a knock on the door cut me off. Huffing, I go answer the door already knowing who was behind it. I wasn’t let down. The door revealed a smiling Jace, dressed nicely in fitted, dark grey jeans, a black, bright blue and grey plaid collar shirt unbuttoned to show a dark grey tank, all topped of, quite literally, with a blue beanie the same colour as his button up shirt. It was a bit more put together and matching than his normal outfit, but still pretty casual and not something that made me feel odd for not having put more thought into my own.

“Hey! You look great. Uh, ready to go?” He asks, a light pink colour tinged his cheeks.

“Yeah, sure. Jake, I’m going. No sex in my bed.” I call over my shoulder while closing the door behind me.

“Would he actually have sex in your bed?” Jace asks, looking at me with a small smile on his face.

“Uh, yeah. Been there, seen that, have the mental scars. Not pretty. I got a new bed after that.” I tell him, resulting in him breaking into hysterics as we reach his car. I go to open the passenger door, but Jace leans over and opens it before I can so much as touch it. I say with a raised eyebrow “classy.”

“Glad you think so,” he replies with a cheesy grin. I slide into my seat and he closes the door after me before walking around to the driver’s side. When he turns on his car music starts blasting, and I can honestly say it scared the shit out of me. He rushes to turn the music down to a normal level, sheepishly saying “sorry! I listen to my music loud and always forget to turn it down before someone else gets in with me,” but by then I am done listening to him and more focused on the music. It was Danger Wildman by The Devil Wears Prada.

“It’s cool, at least the song is good. I didn’t strike you as a more metal and hard rock kind of guy.” I tell him honestly.

“What did you take me as?”

“Country. Especially with all those plaid shirts you wear,” he bursts out laughing again, the car swerving for a second before he straightens it out. “Watch it! I don’t want you killing me because you are laughing too hard to avoid a collision.”

“Sorry. I hate country, it’s like music from hell. I usually just play mix CD’s.” He tells me, still chuckling some.

“That’s cool. So, what, Devil Wears Prada, Justin Beiber and Ke$ha?” I say, actually teasing him.

“Oh fuck no. Devil Wears Prada, Asking Alexandria, We Came as Romans is okay, stuff like that. Don’t make me list them all.” He smirks, letting out a small chuckle.

“Okay.” It was weird. He had become one of my ‘closest’ friends in the time I’ve been here, but I had never taken the time to actually get to know him personally. We were actually kind of similar from what I have seen so far. Same music taste, complimentary senses of humor, conversation flowed fairly well. If there wasn’t an awkward pause yet then that was good, especially considering how little I usually spoke. That was another thing, I was speaking quite a bit, but I was enjoying it. After a minute or two of companionable silence filled with music I asked “where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise. Just hold tight. Anyway, why didn’t you back out of the date after Jake said yes for you?” He asks, suddenly going into a deeper meaning conversation topic than most wouldn’t ask about for a while into a relationship on the chance that the answer isn’t one they want to hear.

“Because if I had said no while still at the coffee shop it would be one thing, but if we went home, you thinking that I was cool with going, then I call you and say ‘oh, by the way, my answer is no’ that would be a bitch thing to do. I didn’t say no at the coffee shop and I wasn’t going to be a total bitch about it.” I answered him, saying more than I would even on a topic I am passionate about.

“You’re really talkative tonight. It’s a good thing, though. Makes me think you might be having an okay time. But, basically, you are here because you didn’t want me to get my hopes crushed after a false start and now you can say you gave it a try and it didn’t work out before crushing my hopes?” He sounded serious, but with a miniscule smirk adorning his lips I couldn’t be sure if he was.

“Eh, yeah, I guess. I mean, if it goes right then who knows, if I don’t like it then I did honestly try. Thanks, though, I had never thought of it that way.” He groans.

“So I just gave you an excuse to turn me down.”

“Yes sir, you sure did.” He grins, assuming that I am joking and briefly turned his gaze from the road to me. “What, you think I am joking?”

“Psh, of course you are. Who in their right mind would turn me down?” He asks, glancing at me once again, this time with his eyebrow raised and a slightly cocky attitude.

“I didn’t say yes, that was all Jake.” I say, smiling a little when he scoffed.

“At least I can get anyone,” stopping the car at what I assume is our destination he turns to me and winks as he says that. It’s then my turn to scoff, earning a faux shocked look from Jace. “Anyway, ready to get this date started?”

No way in hell “Sure.”