Chapter 5
chapter five
Andros was truly having the time of his life making fun of me, and I didn’t know how to feel about that. “So, your whole plan is to basically annoy the dude until he either tells you off or you get a date?”
I mean-mugged him before dragging a box along the floor. “I’m telling you, I think he likes me. He just needs to warm up to me.”
“Yeah, ‘cause that’ll go well. You’re a bit hopeless, aren’t you?”
“That’s rude. You hurt my feelings. You should apologize.”
He shook his head, hoisting the box and setting it on top of the other one I’d dragged over there. “I will not. Is it your gut instinct that’s telling you that?”
“Well, yeah.”
“There’s your issue. Are you sure you should be listening to that thing?”
I grabbed the clipboard off the shelf and turned the page. “It hasn’t steered me wrong before. I may be a tad impulsive, but all my gut instincts have been right so far. I mean, Pride and Pages exists, doesn’t it?”
Andros threw his hands up. “Hey, you know him a lot better than I do. Just don’t come crawling to me when you get your heart broken when he eventually shuts you down.”
“I won’t. Like I said, he needs some warming up.”
“That sex really was life-changing, huh? Maybe you should send him my way.”
I scowled at him, holding the clipboard out for him to take. “Hell no. Just for that, you can handle this part. I’ll man the counter until close.”
He groaned and whined and complained, but I simply shut the door behind me and made my way to the front desk. We didn’t have long before it was time to lock the doors, but sometimes we had a couple of late stragglers.
Afterward, I’d be going to Driftwood again to see Jack and get my shirt. Honestly, I was kind of hoping he’d forget so I’d have another reason to show up and talk to him again. Did that make me a bad person? I’d like to think it didn’t, but the way Andros was talking, maybe I was being a bit much.
Regardless, I was excited to see his face again. I wondered if he was secretly excited to see mine, too, despite what he said. I stood by my assessment that he needed to get used to seeing me, and then he’d warm up to the idea of my presence.
I wasn’t really sure what my full plan was. All I knew was that I wanted more time with him. I still didn’t really know why. It wasn’t the sex—although that was a definite plus—but what else could it be?
We made it to closing without any more customers, thankfully.
I was able to get Andros to close out the register, and I took all the trash out in record time, promising that I’d come in early tomorrow to do the rest of the cleaning and inventory.
That way, Andros wouldn’t have to deal with it.
I was supposed to be off tomorrow, but I didn’t mind coming in.
Our part-timer, Camila, would be starting her rotations soon, which would give us a break throughout the rest of the week.
Traffic wasn’t too bad on the way to Driftwood, which was great but also awful. It didn’t give me enough time to hype myself up, though if I’d gotten stuck in traffic, I’d have only gotten more worked up. Double-edged sword, or something?
I sat in my car outside the front entrance for far too long. There were quite a few cars in the parking lot this time around, which only made the urgency stronger in my chest. It took a few deep breaths and a whole lot of courage, but I finally made it into the outside air.
When I walked in, I couldn’t immediately see Jack, which was also different from every other time. I glanced over the whole room, taking stock of the few people at tables on either side. They weren’t super busy, but they weren’t as dead as they usually were when I’d come in before.
I walked up to the bar and sat in front of the other guy who worked there. He greeted me with a slight grin. “Hey, what can I get for you?”
“I was actually wondering if I could talk to Jack. If he’s around.”
He looked over my shoulder before nodding. “Yeah, you’re that Forrest guy, aren’t you? You came in the other night, too.”
I huffed a short laugh. “That’s me.”
“Oh, yeah. Jack will be delighted to see you. Let me go get him. He’s out smoking.”
Jack smoked? Huh. I never would’ve guessed that. I hadn’t smelled it on him yet. Well, I’d not really spent enough time around him to, really.
I waited patiently, glancing at the girl who was catering to all the customers every now and then. It didn’t take long before Jack was sliding down the bar, stopping right in front of me.
He raised an eyebrow at me, grinning. “Mav told me the hot young dude was here. Let me go get your shirt real quick.”
“Oh, can you also grab that rain check? I could have our table booked super quick if you let me know where you want to go.”
“Not this again.”
I shrugged. “How could it not be this again? I told you, I want to go to dinner with you. Or, if you don’t like that idea, we could go on a walk. Or even go sit at one of these empty tables when you get a break and talk.”
He sighed, but the sides of his mouth were tugging. He was fighting back a smile. “Talk? What if I don’t want to talk?”
“I guess bedroom talk could count if you want it to.”
“I don’t. Because I don’t do repeats.”
“Okay, then don’t repeat.” I gave him a quick, toothy smile.
“Turn us from one-night stand to first date. Let me show you how good a date I can be. No sex. No nothing. Just talking and getting to know each other. You won’t even have to return a piece of my clothing, because none will be shed or borrowed.
Unless you get cold and I offer you a jacket. ”
He leaned in closer to me. “You’d offer me a jacket if I was cold?”
I could smell the cigarette smoke on him now. “Duh. I may be young, but chivalry is not lost on me. What’s the harm in getting to know more than each other’s bodies? Or getting to know more about our bodies? Hm?”
“Well, let’s see.” He started counting on his fingers. “Commitment, attachment, dating… All things I didn’t exactly try to seek out in the beginning of all this.”
“I’ve learned that unexpected blessings tend to show up when you need them most. So, what kind of blessing did you need, Jack?”
I watched his eyes slowly trail down until he was looking away from me entirely. “I said a lot of prayers for a lot of things growing up. I’ve even said some recently, despite not really believing in the whole God thing anymore. I never asked for a relationship in them. Sorry, Forrest.”
Mamá had raised me Catholic, but she understood when I strayed from the faith. I’d said enough Hail Marys for the rest of my life, I was convinced. “Prayers aren’t always answered in the way we expect them to be.”
“I’m going to go get your shirt. I’ll be back.”
Avoidance. Completely understandable, honestly. Maybe I was going about things a bit strong, but what could I say? I liked him.
The other guy—Mav—slid back down with a smile on his face. “You’re a pest.”
I scoffed, putting a hand over my heart dramatically. “You barely even know me.”
“Jack needs a pest in his life. Every time I mention you, he smiles, and then he scowls, and it’s obvious as hell that he kinda likes you. Keep being who you are, and he’ll come around.” He gave me a wink.
“You mention me to him?”
One of his eyebrows rose as he tilted his head to the side. “Can you blame me? I teased him because you’re so young, and his reaction was too good to pass up on. I’ve made a million comments and jokes at your expense. I’m not even sorry about it.”
Hm. Well, that didn’t sound too bad, honestly. “No worries. I guess I’ll keep showing up, then.”
Mav looked over his shoulder before whispering. “Wear him down. It won’t take much.”
He turned around, fiddling with a bottle on the wall behind him right as Jack walked back down the bar. He set my shirt on the bar, neatly folded. “Here. You’re free to go now.”
Be cool, Forrest. I placed my hand on top of it, looking up at him with a slight smirk. “I was always free to go, sweetie. I just don’t want to.”
Jack rolled his eyes and scoffed.
“Can you blame me?” I countered. “My dreams are full of you. But I guess I’ll go home and sleep to get another taste. Thanks for returning the shirt, but I’ll be back for that rain check.”
“Yeah, keep dreaming. You don’t have an excuse to show up here anymore.” He pushed away from the bar. “Goodbye, Forrest.”
I stood, taking the shirt with me. “See you later, baby.”
The entire way out of Driftwood and to my car, I was panicking on the inside. Had I really said all that shit? Thank God I was such a flirt. Hopefully, my fake confidence came across the way I’d wanted it to, and he didn’t think I was a total loser.
Mav seemed to think I had a chance. Andros wasn’t too sure about that.
Me? I wasn’t ready to give up yet. For now, I’d stop looking for fun with other people and mute the apps I normally used to find meaningless hookups.
At least until I could deactivate them and say I was in a committed relationship for the reasoning.