“Not really,” he admitted.
“See, you should probably talk to someone, too. You know she still likes you. That’s kind of cold to use those feelings against her.”
“I didn’t lie to her,” he swore. “I didn’t tell her I was there because I wanted to see her again. I told her I needed her help. That was true. I thought she’d be more invested, considering she’s in some of those pictures.”
The topless ones? Yeah, I’d guessed. Had they had some kind of an orgy in the hot tub?
There was an image that wouldn’t go away.
“Frankie, you believe me, right?”
“You don’t usually lie to me, so yeah. I believe you. I just don’t get why you thought she’d want to help when… you dumped her.”
“She’s your friend.”
“Hmm…” I made a so-so motion. “A lot of my friends have fallen off the last year or so, I think that might be my fault.” As uncomfortable a truth as that might be to swallow. “And even if she was, I broke girl code.”
“Girl code?”
“You guys have a bro code, technically girls have a girl code. You don’t go after your friend’s boyfriend.”
There was a beat of silence.
“You didn’t.”
“Doesn’t look that way right now, does it?” I slid a glance at him sideways and he sighed.
“Fuck, I hate high school. When we graduate, we don’t have to do this crap anymore. I don’t care what they think. I care what you think.”
“Then I think they’re hurt, and they’re going to lash out at what they think hurt them. In this case—you guys and me.”
“But you didn’t do anything to them.”
“I’m dating you, Jake, and Maria wants to still be dating you. Ian made a big production of inviting me to Homecoming…” It had been so sweet. Tilting my head against the window, I laughed. “Everyone saw it, and I don’t think I’ve been more embarrassed or flattered in my life.” He sang in public for me. Ian, who kept his passion for music very quiet from the majority and rarely even performed in front of our friends, had done that so I would have an ask to remember.
“He didn’t do so bad,” Jake admitted. “But that doesn’t excuse Sharon.”
“Didn’t say it did, but two weeks ago, you guys were all with other girls—in one form or another. Whether you were ‘dating’ them or not. Right or wrong?”
“Frankie…”
“Right or wrong?” Really, if I had to live with this crap, then so did they.
“You’re talking about the end of the summer bash.” It wasn’t a question, and we were definitely going somewhere farther out. We’d left town behind and were heading north.
“I’m talking about the topless pics in the hot tub… and the fact that Sharon told me if I’d been at the end of the summer party, then I’d realize just how new all of this is. Not like I didn’t already know that.”
Jake flinched. “Truth? Even if it’s painful?”
“Better than lies.” Or secrets.
“Then yeah, a couple of weeks ago, at the bash, we all got out of hand. It was—end of the summer, senior year, craziness ensued.”
Pretty much what I thought.
“I don’t know about the others, we didn’t really discuss it,” Jake continued. “But yeah, Maria and I hooked up, and it wasn’t anything. But Sharon and Bubba might have. I don’t know. Don’t know about Archie and Patty or Coop and Laura, though I can guess.”
So could I.
“Okay.”
He blew out a breath. “That’s it?”
“What do you want me to do? Yell?” I slipped my shoes off and propped my feet against the dashboard, since apparently, we were driving hell and gone. The sun was dipping on the horizon, but it wasn’t dark yet. I could have put on my sunglasses, if I wanted to dig them out of my backpack. Instead, I just looped the end of my ponytail around one finger. The hair had mostly dried.
He didn’t say anything for a couple of minutes. “Fuck, it feels like we’re not okay again.”
“I’m sorry, maybe… maybe going out was a bad idea. I was fine while we were all talking and I was doing homework.”
“Would yelling help?”
“I can’t yell at you guys for having lives before. Not only would that be dumb, it would be hypocritical. I knew you were dating.”
“Yeah, but most of that wasn’t dating, at least not by that party.”
He didn’t have to tell me that, I’d gotten it already.
“I can tell you about baking a cake with Mathieu, but I’m afraid there really aren’t any topless pictures.”
His expression turned incredulous as he shot a look at me. “Good.”
I couldn’t help it, I laughed, and he shook his head.
“Seriously, Frankie…”
“Well, I’ve got nothing else to compare it too—except Archie, and I don’t want to talk about that. Mathieu’s the only guy I even pseudo dated outside of you guys.”
“We can keep it that way,” Jake said firmly. “Just like I’m not dating Maria or anyone else.”
“Still seems hypocritical to expect that when I’m…” dating everyone else?
“You’re not expecting or demanding it,” he reminded me. “This is me making a promise.” When he put his hand on my leg, I covered it. “I want to make this okay again, Friday you were… you were happy, and then the next time I see you…”
The world had crashed in.
“I was happy Friday. I was happy for a little while earlier, too.”
“Yeah?”
“When we were going over the dating list… that was fun. Speaking of which—where are we going?”
“Took you long enough to ask. I’m kidnapping you.”
Rolling my head to stare at him, I raised my brows. “Explain?”
“Taking you away from the crazy for a little while. You remember when we were kids, and we wanted to go to the Gemini?”
“The drive-in, but no one ever wanted to take us, and it’s closed now. Most drive-in theaters are.”
“Most,” Jake agreed. “Not all. When we were doing homework, I did a little research. Movie dates were on that list, and so was weird, so I thought I’d combine the two with a little nostalgia. There’s a drive-in Lynchgate and they have a double-feature tonight.”
A double feature. “Lynchgate is like ninety minutes away.”
“Worth it,” he said, switching his grip so he was holding my hand. “Miles away from home, the crap at school, your mom, all of it. Just you and me and a couple of movies.”
“At a drive-in?”
He nodded.
“It’s not the robot movie, is it?”
Snorting, he said, “If it is, I promise to make out with you in all the boring parts.”
“I’m going to guess it’s the whole movie.”
His grin grew. “Maybe.” Sobering, he added, “But if you don’t want to go, I’ll turn us around. We’ll be late.”
I hoped Mom had still been home to feed the cats, and it wasn’t like I had a curfew.
“Okay,” I told him. “I’d love to go to the drive-in with you, but I want Twizzlers and popcorn—and a soda…”
“And a hot dog and nachos. Yes, your bottomless pit will be fed, I promise.”
I smacked his arm, but he just grinned.
“You are a bottomless pit. I’ve taken you to movies before and tried to share popcorn.”
“I am not that bad,” I complained.
“No, you’re adorably the worst, but it’s why I like taking you.”
Nose wrinkled, I stuck my tongue out at him, and he chuckled. The bubble of tension pressing in on us just—evaporated, and I could take a deep breath. “Adorably the worst… I think I need that on a t-shirt.”
“And on a coffee mug.”
We shared a grin, and it was my turn to squeeze his hand. “What were we going to do before? Since you looked it up while we were doing homework?”
He cast me a sheepi
sh look. “Well, I was kind of hoping we’d do a movie night at your place, but that was kind of shot to hell.”
Translation, he’d hoped we’d have sex. Yeah, not commenting on that seemed to be prudent. “I like the idea of a drive-in,” I said. “Actually, I kind of love it. It’s a first, and we need more of those, things we’ve never done.”
“Yeah?” He glanced at me, the tilt of his lips curving toward a hopeful smile.
“Yeah.” On impulse, I ran my knuckles over his cheek. “I even kind of like you scruffy. But if you get sleepy on the way back, let me drive, okay?”
Catching my hand, he kissed my palm, and the bristles scraping against it tickled. “Scruffy I can also do.”
“It suits you.”
“What does that mean?”
I grinned. “I don’t know…but there’s something about a rumpled Jake, who’s scruffy, that I like.”
“Noted.” He winked. “And I’ll be fine for the drive. We can always get coffee on the way back.”
We spent the rest of the ride like that, trading idle comments, teasing, and relaxing. The tension bled out of the car, and it wasn’t awkward—at least, not stilted anymore. By the time we got to the drive-in, I’d actually gotten excited, and we had a bet on what we were going to see.
It was fully dark when we got there, and the first showings began in twenty minutes, so we’d made good time. We only had to pay one fee for the car, which was cool, and our options were a double-feature of horror movies or a double-feature of murder mystery and a psychological thriller.
Jake grimaced and looked at me. “Definitely not the horror.”
“Nope. But the other two sound cool.”
“You sure?” The tense little worried frown he wore was adorable. “We can skip out on the thriller if it’s too much.”
“Or make out,” I pointed out to him. “I promise to not try and break your arm.”
“You can break anything you want, if we’re gonna make out.” The playful grin softened his frown. He drove us in and got a good spot in front of our screen. It was a mostly wide open field, devoid of grass and a little dusty. The picture screen was huge, and we were the only people here so far. Maybe Sunday nights weren’t busy.
I went with Jake to get concessions and to use the bathroom. When I came out, he had a pizza, nachos, hot dogs, popcorn, Twizzlers, and a pretzel. My stomach growled at the sight. He told me to wait while he ran and used the restroom, then he came back for the food, and I took the sodas. A few more cars had trickled in, but no one parked right next to us. He got the radio tuned to the station for the sound, and then we started divvying up the food. It was a feast, and I was starving for the first time that day.
Every other meal had been punctuated by discomfort or grief. Jake laughed when I even shared some of the pretzel.
“Well now, I really feel special.”
“I share,” I reminded him.
“I know, but it’s still fun to tease you.” Then he leaned over and kissed me. It was a light brush, that sparked hotter the second our lips touched. He put a hand on the pizza box to keep it still as he tilted his head and teased at my lips with his tongue. My hands were full or I’d have been touching him too, then he leaned back slowly, a grin pulling at his lips. “Definitely fun to tease you.”
A shiver raced up my spine, and I took another bite of the pretzel before I said something dumb. Still, my system hummed from the kiss, and my lips tingled. When he offered me a bite of pizza, I took it, and then we started feeding each other… even after the movie started. When he sucked my fingers against his lips, another shudder went through me.
The murder mystery was good—though I think I missed more than a few clues between stolen kisses and Jake making sure he sucked on each of my fingers. He was making me a little crazy. Course, the fact I got him to shudder when I grazed my teeth then my tongue over the tips of his finger was definitely something I never wanted to forget.
Eventually, he leaned back in his seat, but he kept ahold of my hand, and I tried to desperately follow who had done what to whom—thankfully, this one was something of a comedy, so they laid it all out at the end. When the movie was over, I went from my seat to Jake’s as he shoved his seat away from the steering wheel. There wasn’t a lot of room until he pulled the lever, and his seat went back to lay nearly flat.
Sprawling on his lap and chest, I studied him. “Hi…”
“Hey, we have ten minutes before the next one starts. Need a bathroom break?”
“Nope.”
“Awesome.” Hand around my nape, he pulled me to him, and then he was all lips, teeth, and tongue. The bristle on his face stung mine, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. I had my hands in his hair, and he had a hand on my ass. I was still achy from earlier, but the tension winding through my body promised me we’d get over it.
When the sound of the movie kicked up announcing the second one, Jake groaned. I lifted my head and stared down at him in the dark with only the flickering light from the movie screen beyond to highlight him. We were a thousand miles away here.
“Not in the car,” he whispered. “I want to—but not here. I don’t want to be squirming to find an angle, and I definitely don’t want anyone else looking at your ass.”
I nuzzled another kiss and then climbed off him carefully to slide back into my seat. He lay there for a moment, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t notice the erection pressing at the front of his shorts. Finally, he sat up and adjusted himself, then grinned at me.
“I could always—you know…” I held up my hand. “I have some practice from before.”
“Fuck,” he groaned. “You’re killing me. I’m going to be good.” He caught my hand and about all we’d missed were previews. Jake liked to hold my hand. He did it all the time, and while it had been weird at first, as with all the hugs earlier, I liked it.
I liked the constant contact.
The making out was good, too.
The second movie captured our attention far more effectively than the first. The murder mystery might have been quirky and funny, but the psychological thriller strung me tense. I couldn’t look away from the screen. Even when Jake unpeeled my hand from his arm and covered it with both of his hands.
At the end, I was so wound up that when Jake tugged me in for another kiss, I didn’t hesitate. Panting by the time we broke apart, I said, “That was insane.”
“Yeah. Thrillers go off the list with horrors.”
“Awww… I meant insane in a good way.”
He grinned. “You were taking out my throwing arm.”
Dipping my head, I kissed the nail indentions I’d left on his skin. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay… c’mon, let’s clean out the trash and hit the bathrooms before we head back.” It was late, the first film started at eight-thirty, and it was well after midnight. We wouldn’t be home until two, maybe a little earlier.
A few more cars had come in while we watched, but we still had plenty of space. Jake was waiting for me when I came out though and walked me back to the car, despite the fact most of the others had left and the staff was closing up.
“You good to drive?” I checked. I’d been exhausted earlier in the day, but after the movie and the making out—and maybe all the sugar I consumed when I killed the Twizzlers—I was wide-awake.
“I’m good,” he promised.
Getting back took longer than we planned though. There was some big accident on the highway, and they’d shut it down. The GPS alternate routes were going to take us hell and gone. Jake scowled as he drummed his hands on the steering wheel. “We can try this, but—it’s gonna add another hour, or we can try to wait this out, once we get past, we’re still an hour away, but I can make up time.”
“Give it fifteen minutes? If this isn’t moving, we try to get off?” We weren’t the only ones stuck here, the traffic behind us had begun to back up, and it didn’t matter that it was late.
“Sorry, Frankie.” He checked his phone. �
�Oh, yeah—let me tell the guys. I told them we were going to the movies, but I didn’t say where.” He grinned.
Oh, crap. My phone was in my backpack, so I wiggled to reach into the backseat and snagged my phone out of the side pocket. It was deader than a doornail.
Pfft.
“I’m no help.”
He chuckled. “You’re all the help in the world. Soon as mine’s charged back up, you can plug in.” His was at ten percent.
We got lucky, at thirteen minutes, the traffic started to trickle past the cop cars and fire trucks with their flashing lights. It gave me a good view of the accident. Truck versus car versus—oh, it had been a motorcycle. There were ambulances pulling away earlier, someone had been hurt. The car was totaled, and the truck looked like it had hit the side rails as well as the car, but the bike… it was a disaster. There was some big wet stain the flashing lights kept catching, and it took a second for the fact that it was blood to register.
My heart hurt for those people.
“I hope nobody died,” I whispered.
“Yeah,” Jake said as he took hold of my hand again. Tired began to ease into my bones, and I was half-asleep when we pulled into my apartments. Jake pulled up behind my mom’s car, and we both stared at it a minute. Twisting, I leaned over and kissed him.
“Thank you for tonight, Jake.”
“Even if it took forever to get back?”
“Even if.” Another kiss as I cupped his cheek. “You okay to drive home?”
“If I’m exhausted, can I come sleep with you?” It was a tease, but I was pretty sure if I said yes, he’d park in a heartbeat.
“Mom’s here.”
“Yeah.” He gave me another kiss. “Okay, get your stuff and go in, I’m staying until I see you inside. Don’t forget to charge your phone.”
“I won’t.” Another kiss stolen before I stripped off my seatbelt. As I slid out of the car, he pulled my backpack up and held it out to me.
“Night, Frankie.”
“Night… text me when you’re home?”
“I will.”
I was exhausted as I walked up the steps. My feet were lead weights and added a hundred pounds. But I got the key in the lock and the door opened. I waved back toward the car and then slid inside and locked up behind me.
Changes and Chocolates: Untouchable Book Two Page 13