Ch.4 - Pour Me A Drink, Call Me A Lover
His hands clenched around the steering wheel as he drove the last stretch of road before the Stryder farm. His sleep had been restless, the water in his shower had never hit the right temperature and nowhere seemed to satisfy him. Not his bed. Not the shores of the lake. Not the bench on the sidewalk. Nowhere. And now he was back at the scene of the crime, bracing himself for the first day in awhile he didn’t know if he was ready for.
There was a picture of ice lemonade sitting out on the wicker table on the front porch when he pulled into the drive. Maggie was nowhere to be seen, but he assumed she’d left it for him, as she tended to do. He turned off his truck, made his way up the porch and had just filled a glass of the sweet stuff when Jeb walked out of the house and greeted him.
“Good morning, Jared. You’re here bright and early.”
Was it earlier than usual? He glanced at his watch and realized he was a whole hour and a half early. Damn.
“Couldn’t sleep,” he admitted.
Jeb nodded once in understanding.
“Last night was a rough one,” he said. Jared decided not to respond to that. He didn’t know how much Jeb knew.
“Listen,” he continued. “I’m worried about Melanie.” Jared hesitantly looked up at him. “Maggie is not taking to her like I’d been hoping she would and Melanie is just burned out.” He sighed, and those words made Jared’s guilt from last night revive itself.
“I want her to be able to…really enjoy herself. I don’t want another day like yesterday.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Jared asked, truly mystified.
“There’s a carnival down by the lake started tonight, isn’t there? A festival of some sort? They do it every year. It’s called the…”
“Lakeland Valley Summer Fair,” Jared finished. “What about it?” he asked, his brows furrowed in confusion.
“Well…” he began, slipping his hands into his pockets. “Maybe it’d be a good idea if you took her there. Take the day off. You can come inside, eat breakfast while Melanie gets ready and then just bring her back before sunrise.”
Jared gawked, unable to help himself.
“Like a…a date?”
Jeb’s brows narrowed.
“Hell. No.”
Jared swallowed hard. Jeb’s expression relaxed suddenly and he put what was probably supposed to be a stress-relieving hand on his shoulder. There was very little relief in it at all.
“Just show her around town. Maybe easing her into the backland country by showing her small town life is the way to go. At the very least it’ll get her some distance between her and Maggie.” Jared’s lips parted, unsure of what his answer should be. “I’m asking this of you because I trust you,” Jeb said. “Do it for me. I want Melanie to enjoy her time here, not to hate it.”
If he only he knew… Jared thought. He probably wasn’t the most capable person for this job, given last night’s events.
“Besides, your buddy, Kyle, has a sister around her age, doesn’t he?” Jared nodded numbly at that observation. “ I bet those two would hit it off and that would be a guaranteed highlight of her summer,” Jeb said encouragingly.
“Ok…” Jared heard himself saying. It made Jeb smile and he told himself that was at least one good thing that had come out of it, but when he sat down for breakfast and heard Melanie’s ‘What?! No way. I am not doing that. Horrible idea’ from upstairs he knew it was a small victory. It probably wouldn’t even matter before they made it out the door.
“She’s agreed,” Jeb announced when he re-entered the kitchen, a pleasant smile on his face.
Neither Maggie nor Jared said a word.
…………
Deep down she knew - she knew - that the road was no bumpier now than it was when her Uncle Jeb had driven her to the farm two days earlier. But so help her, in Jared’s truck she felt like she was riding a skipping camel. A really fast skipping camel. The sad thing was every time she looked over at the speedometer it said a steady 35. That was not fast and shouldn’t have involved too much bumpiness, especially when they got to the pavement and were off the dirt road.
Of course this could all be a mental thing.
Despite herself, she put an outfit and accessories together that made her feel as pretty and ready-to-go/shop as she would have if she’d been about to go out with friends the city. Back when she had friends in the city, since all of them had conveniently disappeared when she’d gone off to London.
British people had appeared just as unreliable as Americans. They didn’t like when she sounded smarter than them, and they didn’t like it even more when she didn’t. People in general seemed disappointed in her at one point or another. It had brought her to the conclusion that all she’d ever really be able to rely on was her family. Even her Aunt Maggie could be relied on to be consistent.
Which was what made Jared confusing, since she didn’t want to trust him but the glimpses she’d caught the day before – the ones that told her maybe he had a heart after all – she saw some of today. Mostly she ignored them. The guy thought so little of her, it was beyond her why he’d even agreed to it. She was sure he would grow bored of her within the hour and find an excuse to take her back to the farm. Which was fine as far as she was concerned. Maggie was difficult, but at least she didn’t leave her on the verge of tears and very confused, guarded.
“I’ve got a friend, Kyle,” Jared said, breaking her out of her reverie. “He lives two blocks from me and he’s got a sister that I think you’d like.” He paused and glanced over at Melanie. She didn’t return his gaze. “It’s up to you if you want to wait at my place for me to change clothes quick or if you want me to take you to her first.”
She rolled her eyes, but managed to make her scoff soundless. She could only imagine which option he preferred.
“Either way, we’ll see them soon,” he said.
She continued to look out the window, saying nothing.
He sighed and tightened his one-handed grip ever so slightly on the steering wheel.
“Look, about last night-”
She tensed.
“-I’m sorry if I hurt you.”
If?
That pissed her off.
“I’d rather not talk about it,” she said quickly. He opened his mouth to say something more, though he didn’t know what, but she beat him to it. “Why don’t you drop me off with your friend. If his sister is as wonderful as you say she is, I’m sure the next time you’ll see me will be the end of the night when you’re required to take me home for curfew.”
He clenched his jaw but only nodded in response. After ten minutes of strained silence, during which his eyes remained on the road and hers on the side view, they entered downtown Lakeland Valley. Two blocks past the farmer’s market, Jared turned his truck into a parking lot and parked in the nearest spot.
A handicapped spot, she noticed.
He saw her frown and explained how he wouldn’t be parked there long anyway.
As if that made it okay, Melanie thought, annoyed.
The door to 7B opened after one knock and Jared greeted his friend in some weird guy hug/fist-pump that she thought was supposed to have died after sixth grade. Apparently not.
The friend, who called himself Kyle, invited them in and called to his sister – Sunny. She introduced herself as Summer, but said that everyone called her Sunny for short, which was somewhat odd to Melanie because she had midnight black hair and her brother, Kyle, was the one with bleach blonde locks. She buried that peculiarity, and what she thought of it, down deep though, since in all reality it didn’t matter, and Sunny was very well put together.
Melanie instantly envied her clothes, and her heart beat a little bit faster when the dark-haired beauty confessed to an addiction to shopping downtown and long walks in the park.
Yes, they would definitely be friends.
Jared said goodbye to all of them, but the girls were so immersed in conversation they didn’t even notice he was leaving. Kyle followed him to the door and leaned against the jamb to interrogate him before he left.
“Who’s the girl?” he asked, glancing back at Melanie sitting on the couch with his sister.
“Jeb’s niece.”
“Huh.” He leered over her from his distance, her unaware. Jared smacked his chest.
“And as young as your sister.”
Kyle turned back to him, smiling.
“Alright, alright, point taken. She’s all yours, bro.”
“She’s not—” Jared stopped himself, refusing to cave to Kyle’s pushing.
“You coming to the fair tonight?” Kyle asked, dropping the topic completely as if it had never been started. “I’ll be at the bar. Maybe even give you a free drink.” He winked.
Jared tried to be annoyed but he ended up laughing a little.
“Yeah, I’ll probably show up at some point.” He gestured to the girls across the room. “Got to take her home for—”
“Curfew?” Kyle raised his eyebrows, amused. “How old is she, 16?”
Jared winced slightly. “17.”
Kyle chuckled. “Dude, my sister is nineteen.”
Jared scrunched his face, annoyed.
“Close enough. Look, Maggie is driving both Jeb and Mel a little crazy.” Kyle raised his eyebrows at the sudden nickname Jared had given to Jeb’s niece. Jared ignored the reaction. “Just let her tag along today, okay? Consider it a favor to me.”
Kyle laughed. “Take it easy, man. I won’t dump her on the street. Besides, from the looks of it…” He glanced over his shoulder again. “Those two are already inseparable. You’ll be lucky to get her arm looped out of Sunny’s and into your jeep by the time night comes.”
“Right.” Jared nodded, satisfied but somehow not. “Well, I’ll see you later then.”
“See you.” He waved him off and shut the door. Then he returned to his sister and Melanie. “Well, ladies, where shall we begin?” he asked, trying to look as devilishly handsome as ever.
Sunny stopped speaking for a moment and looked up at her brother, her expression somewhere between disgust and amusement. She stood to her feet and Melanie followed suit.
“We’re going to Chocolate Java for breakfast,” she informed him. “Then we’ll likely do some shopping and probably end up at the fair tonight, where I’m sure you’ll be more than happy to give us a drink.”
He smiled knowingly. “Club soda. Of course.”
Sunny’s eyes twinkled as she took two dangerous steps toward him, bent down for a moment to retrieve her purse and then drew herself back up again.
“I was thinking something a little…stronger.”
“You’re nineteen,” he said.
“That’s right,” she chirped. “All grown up now.”
“Still underage,” he said. Then he switched his gaze to Melanie. “Definitely underage.”
Sunny set her manicured fingernails on her brother’s shoulder.
“But we have a great connection, don’t we? Familial infact. I hear those are important.” She smiled warmly and brushed past him before he could respond. Melanie practically skipped after her.
The girls were almost out the door before Kyle could function enough to turn around and begin to call out to them. It was no use. He stood there for awhile wondering what had just happened and then gave up. Sunny had a way of putting a spell on people, no matter how smart or ruggedly sexy they were.
He should know.
……………
He was brooding.
He was brooding.
He was brooding over a girl that he shouldn’t be brooding over and he hadn’t been able to stop brooding since about this time the night before. He sat at the bar on his third beer, still far from being drunk – holding his liquor was a well known talent of his – and watched Melanie as she rode the bumper cars with Summer. He turned back around to find Kyle looking at him.
“What?”
Kyle raised his brows, nodding distractedly when a customer slid some bills across the counter.
“You have to ask?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He took another long swallow of his beer.
Kyle sighed and shook his head, laughing.
“You know Stacy’s still available.”
Jared didn’t so much as scan the bar or the fairgrounds for the pretty blonde he’d dated two years prior. Didn’t respond to the question either.
“She’s still into you,” Kyle offered.
“You didn’t satisfy her, huh?” He met his gaze.
Kyle gave a wounded expression.
“Ouch. That hurts, man. Truly.”
Jared said nothing more, just drank.
“I waited two weeks before I did anything,” he protested.
Jared raised his eyebrows, amused.
“That long, huh?”
Kyle glared. “She turned me down anyways. You know the break up wasn’t her idea anyway.” Jared said nothing. Kyle leaned forward across the bar. “Why don’t you make another try for it?”
“Because I lost interest,” he said, turning back around to scan the crowd for Melanie. “I didn’t get it back in any of the time since then.”
“Uh huh.” Kyle watched him and then shook his head. “She’s at the basketball game in the corner. Rick is trying to pry more money out of her, and failing I might add.”
“Who are you talking about?” Jared asked, having finally spotted her and so turning back around before drinking her in.
“The minor you’re crushing on.”
“What?” Jared’s eyes widened and he focused fully on his friend.
Kyle raised his brows in amusement.
“Melanie. The minor you want to bang.”
Jared scoffed, offended now but also on the verge of blushing. And strangling his best friend.
“Don’t. I wouldn’t do that.” He shook his head, annoyed. “And it’s not even like that.”
“Dude, I’ve known you your whole life – my whole life,” he amended, since he was two years younger. “I know you better than you know yourself.”
“Get to the point.”
“And the way you’re looking at her…tonight, a girl from what you’ve told me, you’ve known less than twenty-four hours? You never even looked at Stacy that way, and at the beginning you thought she was your soulmate.”
Jared grimaced. “Don’t remind me.”
Kyle laughed. “I’m just saying-”
“Well, don’t,” he cut in. “It’s not like that. I’m not into Melanie.” Kyle’s lips twisted in amusement with the innuendo his friend had inspired. Jared ignored it. “She’s just…different, that’s all. I judged her too quickly, brushed her off when I shouldn’t have.” He picked up his beer again. “Turns out I shouldn’t have.”
“Because she’s hot,” Kyle concluded.
Without turning around again, Jared’s mind showed her to him. Short white shorts, displaying long legs and strappy black sandals that glittered with rhinestones. A red-and-white polka-dot tank with large silver hoops at her ears and a white headband perched on top of her head. Somewhere along the line the rest of her hair had been braided down her back.
“You’re fantasizing,” Kyle remarked.
“No, I’m not.” He snapped back to reality. “And she’s not. I mean, she is – no, not. She’s, I mean, she’s seventeen. I don’t think of her like that.”
Kyle laughed and sighed happily, pouring a new customer the drink they requested.
“Enlighten me then, how do you think of her?” He passed the drink over to the waiting customer and took his money in return, stashing it in his one of the pockets on his vest that he absolutely refused to call an apron.
“I…”
“Exactly.” He smirked.
“She’s seventeen,” Jared deadpanned, staring at him.
“The dick wants what it wants…” Kyle all but sang.
Jared glared at him.
“This is not about sex. I don’t…I can’t even imagine-”
“I bet you could if you let yourself.” He winked.
Jared shook his head. “Oh, I don’t know why I bother.” He sighed and took another drink.
“You really shouldn’t.” Kyle poured himself his own drink and took a sip, exhaling deeply, satisfied. “You’re in so much denial you can’t even explain it to yourself. How in the world are you supposed to come up with good enough lies to convince me? Assuming of course, I could be convinced.”
“You’ve got it all wrong,” he said. Kyle just smiled. “Look, I don’t know how I feel about her. I don’t. Like you said, I haven’t known her that long.”
“But…?” Kyle egged him on.
Jared shook his head, trying to figure it out himself.
“I have this…fierce need to protect her…” He sounded flabbergasted by the possibility.
“From yourself probably,” Kyle concluded, mocking seriousness in his voice.
“No, it’s…well maybe. I don’t know.” He sighed. “She figured me out. She figured everything out. She’s smart…and beautiful…”
Now Kyle laughed.
“Man, do you even hear yourself?”
Jared looked up at him.
“You. Are. Into. Her.” Kyle poked him with each emphasized word.
“You can think someone is smart and beautiful and not be into them.” He all but rolled his eyes.
Kyle smirked. “Some people maybe; not you.”
“That’s not true.”
Kyle shrugged.
Jared turned around, found Melanie immediately. He held her gaze for three seconds too long, because his heart skipped a beat. Quickly he turned back around to find Kyle looking at him with raised brows.
“More,” Jared said, pushing his glass across the counter.
Wordlessly Kyle pulled out the bottle of club soda and filled his friend’s drink. Jared drank.
There was a picture of ice lemonade sitting out on the wicker table on the front porch when he pulled into the drive. Maggie was nowhere to be seen, but he assumed she’d left it for him, as she tended to do. He turned off his truck, made his way up the porch and had just filled a glass of the sweet stuff when Jeb walked out of the house and greeted him.
“Good morning, Jared. You’re here bright and early.”
Was it earlier than usual? He glanced at his watch and realized he was a whole hour and a half early. Damn.
“Couldn’t sleep,” he admitted.
Jeb nodded once in understanding.
“Last night was a rough one,” he said. Jared decided not to respond to that. He didn’t know how much Jeb knew.
“Listen,” he continued. “I’m worried about Melanie.” Jared hesitantly looked up at him. “Maggie is not taking to her like I’d been hoping she would and Melanie is just burned out.” He sighed, and those words made Jared’s guilt from last night revive itself.
“I want her to be able to…really enjoy herself. I don’t want another day like yesterday.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Jared asked, truly mystified.
“There’s a carnival down by the lake started tonight, isn’t there? A festival of some sort? They do it every year. It’s called the…”
“Lakeland Valley Summer Fair,” Jared finished. “What about it?” he asked, his brows furrowed in confusion.
“Well…” he began, slipping his hands into his pockets. “Maybe it’d be a good idea if you took her there. Take the day off. You can come inside, eat breakfast while Melanie gets ready and then just bring her back before sunrise.”
Jared gawked, unable to help himself.
“Like a…a date?”
Jeb’s brows narrowed.
“Hell. No.”
Jared swallowed hard. Jeb’s expression relaxed suddenly and he put what was probably supposed to be a stress-relieving hand on his shoulder. There was very little relief in it at all.
“Just show her around town. Maybe easing her into the backland country by showing her small town life is the way to go. At the very least it’ll get her some distance between her and Maggie.” Jared’s lips parted, unsure of what his answer should be. “I’m asking this of you because I trust you,” Jeb said. “Do it for me. I want Melanie to enjoy her time here, not to hate it.”
If he only he knew… Jared thought. He probably wasn’t the most capable person for this job, given last night’s events.
“Besides, your buddy, Kyle, has a sister around her age, doesn’t he?” Jared nodded numbly at that observation. “ I bet those two would hit it off and that would be a guaranteed highlight of her summer,” Jeb said encouragingly.
“Ok…” Jared heard himself saying. It made Jeb smile and he told himself that was at least one good thing that had come out of it, but when he sat down for breakfast and heard Melanie’s ‘What?! No way. I am not doing that. Horrible idea’ from upstairs he knew it was a small victory. It probably wouldn’t even matter before they made it out the door.
“She’s agreed,” Jeb announced when he re-entered the kitchen, a pleasant smile on his face.
Neither Maggie nor Jared said a word.
…………
Deep down she knew - she knew - that the road was no bumpier now than it was when her Uncle Jeb had driven her to the farm two days earlier. But so help her, in Jared’s truck she felt like she was riding a skipping camel. A really fast skipping camel. The sad thing was every time she looked over at the speedometer it said a steady 35. That was not fast and shouldn’t have involved too much bumpiness, especially when they got to the pavement and were off the dirt road.
Of course this could all be a mental thing.
Despite herself, she put an outfit and accessories together that made her feel as pretty and ready-to-go/shop as she would have if she’d been about to go out with friends the city. Back when she had friends in the city, since all of them had conveniently disappeared when she’d gone off to London.
British people had appeared just as unreliable as Americans. They didn’t like when she sounded smarter than them, and they didn’t like it even more when she didn’t. People in general seemed disappointed in her at one point or another. It had brought her to the conclusion that all she’d ever really be able to rely on was her family. Even her Aunt Maggie could be relied on to be consistent.
Which was what made Jared confusing, since she didn’t want to trust him but the glimpses she’d caught the day before – the ones that told her maybe he had a heart after all – she saw some of today. Mostly she ignored them. The guy thought so little of her, it was beyond her why he’d even agreed to it. She was sure he would grow bored of her within the hour and find an excuse to take her back to the farm. Which was fine as far as she was concerned. Maggie was difficult, but at least she didn’t leave her on the verge of tears and very confused, guarded.
“I’ve got a friend, Kyle,” Jared said, breaking her out of her reverie. “He lives two blocks from me and he’s got a sister that I think you’d like.” He paused and glanced over at Melanie. She didn’t return his gaze. “It’s up to you if you want to wait at my place for me to change clothes quick or if you want me to take you to her first.”
She rolled her eyes, but managed to make her scoff soundless. She could only imagine which option he preferred.
“Either way, we’ll see them soon,” he said.
She continued to look out the window, saying nothing.
He sighed and tightened his one-handed grip ever so slightly on the steering wheel.
“Look, about last night-”
She tensed.
“-I’m sorry if I hurt you.”
If?
That pissed her off.
“I’d rather not talk about it,” she said quickly. He opened his mouth to say something more, though he didn’t know what, but she beat him to it. “Why don’t you drop me off with your friend. If his sister is as wonderful as you say she is, I’m sure the next time you’ll see me will be the end of the night when you’re required to take me home for curfew.”
He clenched his jaw but only nodded in response. After ten minutes of strained silence, during which his eyes remained on the road and hers on the side view, they entered downtown Lakeland Valley. Two blocks past the farmer’s market, Jared turned his truck into a parking lot and parked in the nearest spot.
A handicapped spot, she noticed.
He saw her frown and explained how he wouldn’t be parked there long anyway.
As if that made it okay, Melanie thought, annoyed.
The door to 7B opened after one knock and Jared greeted his friend in some weird guy hug/fist-pump that she thought was supposed to have died after sixth grade. Apparently not.
The friend, who called himself Kyle, invited them in and called to his sister – Sunny. She introduced herself as Summer, but said that everyone called her Sunny for short, which was somewhat odd to Melanie because she had midnight black hair and her brother, Kyle, was the one with bleach blonde locks. She buried that peculiarity, and what she thought of it, down deep though, since in all reality it didn’t matter, and Sunny was very well put together.
Melanie instantly envied her clothes, and her heart beat a little bit faster when the dark-haired beauty confessed to an addiction to shopping downtown and long walks in the park.
Yes, they would definitely be friends.
Jared said goodbye to all of them, but the girls were so immersed in conversation they didn’t even notice he was leaving. Kyle followed him to the door and leaned against the jamb to interrogate him before he left.
“Who’s the girl?” he asked, glancing back at Melanie sitting on the couch with his sister.
“Jeb’s niece.”
“Huh.” He leered over her from his distance, her unaware. Jared smacked his chest.
“And as young as your sister.”
Kyle turned back to him, smiling.
“Alright, alright, point taken. She’s all yours, bro.”
“She’s not—” Jared stopped himself, refusing to cave to Kyle’s pushing.
“You coming to the fair tonight?” Kyle asked, dropping the topic completely as if it had never been started. “I’ll be at the bar. Maybe even give you a free drink.” He winked.
Jared tried to be annoyed but he ended up laughing a little.
“Yeah, I’ll probably show up at some point.” He gestured to the girls across the room. “Got to take her home for—”
“Curfew?” Kyle raised his eyebrows, amused. “How old is she, 16?”
Jared winced slightly. “17.”
Kyle chuckled. “Dude, my sister is nineteen.”
Jared scrunched his face, annoyed.
“Close enough. Look, Maggie is driving both Jeb and Mel a little crazy.” Kyle raised his eyebrows at the sudden nickname Jared had given to Jeb’s niece. Jared ignored the reaction. “Just let her tag along today, okay? Consider it a favor to me.”
Kyle laughed. “Take it easy, man. I won’t dump her on the street. Besides, from the looks of it…” He glanced over his shoulder again. “Those two are already inseparable. You’ll be lucky to get her arm looped out of Sunny’s and into your jeep by the time night comes.”
“Right.” Jared nodded, satisfied but somehow not. “Well, I’ll see you later then.”
“See you.” He waved him off and shut the door. Then he returned to his sister and Melanie. “Well, ladies, where shall we begin?” he asked, trying to look as devilishly handsome as ever.
Sunny stopped speaking for a moment and looked up at her brother, her expression somewhere between disgust and amusement. She stood to her feet and Melanie followed suit.
“We’re going to Chocolate Java for breakfast,” she informed him. “Then we’ll likely do some shopping and probably end up at the fair tonight, where I’m sure you’ll be more than happy to give us a drink.”
He smiled knowingly. “Club soda. Of course.”
Sunny’s eyes twinkled as she took two dangerous steps toward him, bent down for a moment to retrieve her purse and then drew herself back up again.
“I was thinking something a little…stronger.”
“You’re nineteen,” he said.
“That’s right,” she chirped. “All grown up now.”
“Still underage,” he said. Then he switched his gaze to Melanie. “Definitely underage.”
Sunny set her manicured fingernails on her brother’s shoulder.
“But we have a great connection, don’t we? Familial infact. I hear those are important.” She smiled warmly and brushed past him before he could respond. Melanie practically skipped after her.
The girls were almost out the door before Kyle could function enough to turn around and begin to call out to them. It was no use. He stood there for awhile wondering what had just happened and then gave up. Sunny had a way of putting a spell on people, no matter how smart or ruggedly sexy they were.
He should know.
……………
He was brooding.
He was brooding.
He was brooding over a girl that he shouldn’t be brooding over and he hadn’t been able to stop brooding since about this time the night before. He sat at the bar on his third beer, still far from being drunk – holding his liquor was a well known talent of his – and watched Melanie as she rode the bumper cars with Summer. He turned back around to find Kyle looking at him.
“What?”
Kyle raised his brows, nodding distractedly when a customer slid some bills across the counter.
“You have to ask?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He took another long swallow of his beer.
Kyle sighed and shook his head, laughing.
“You know Stacy’s still available.”
Jared didn’t so much as scan the bar or the fairgrounds for the pretty blonde he’d dated two years prior. Didn’t respond to the question either.
“She’s still into you,” Kyle offered.
“You didn’t satisfy her, huh?” He met his gaze.
Kyle gave a wounded expression.
“Ouch. That hurts, man. Truly.”
Jared said nothing more, just drank.
“I waited two weeks before I did anything,” he protested.
Jared raised his eyebrows, amused.
“That long, huh?”
Kyle glared. “She turned me down anyways. You know the break up wasn’t her idea anyway.” Jared said nothing. Kyle leaned forward across the bar. “Why don’t you make another try for it?”
“Because I lost interest,” he said, turning back around to scan the crowd for Melanie. “I didn’t get it back in any of the time since then.”
“Uh huh.” Kyle watched him and then shook his head. “She’s at the basketball game in the corner. Rick is trying to pry more money out of her, and failing I might add.”
“Who are you talking about?” Jared asked, having finally spotted her and so turning back around before drinking her in.
“The minor you’re crushing on.”
“What?” Jared’s eyes widened and he focused fully on his friend.
Kyle raised his brows in amusement.
“Melanie. The minor you want to bang.”
Jared scoffed, offended now but also on the verge of blushing. And strangling his best friend.
“Don’t. I wouldn’t do that.” He shook his head, annoyed. “And it’s not even like that.”
“Dude, I’ve known you your whole life – my whole life,” he amended, since he was two years younger. “I know you better than you know yourself.”
“Get to the point.”
“And the way you’re looking at her…tonight, a girl from what you’ve told me, you’ve known less than twenty-four hours? You never even looked at Stacy that way, and at the beginning you thought she was your soulmate.”
Jared grimaced. “Don’t remind me.”
Kyle laughed. “I’m just saying-”
“Well, don’t,” he cut in. “It’s not like that. I’m not into Melanie.” Kyle’s lips twisted in amusement with the innuendo his friend had inspired. Jared ignored it. “She’s just…different, that’s all. I judged her too quickly, brushed her off when I shouldn’t have.” He picked up his beer again. “Turns out I shouldn’t have.”
“Because she’s hot,” Kyle concluded.
Without turning around again, Jared’s mind showed her to him. Short white shorts, displaying long legs and strappy black sandals that glittered with rhinestones. A red-and-white polka-dot tank with large silver hoops at her ears and a white headband perched on top of her head. Somewhere along the line the rest of her hair had been braided down her back.
“You’re fantasizing,” Kyle remarked.
“No, I’m not.” He snapped back to reality. “And she’s not. I mean, she is – no, not. She’s, I mean, she’s seventeen. I don’t think of her like that.”
Kyle laughed and sighed happily, pouring a new customer the drink they requested.
“Enlighten me then, how do you think of her?” He passed the drink over to the waiting customer and took his money in return, stashing it in his one of the pockets on his vest that he absolutely refused to call an apron.
“I…”
“Exactly.” He smirked.
“She’s seventeen,” Jared deadpanned, staring at him.
“The dick wants what it wants…” Kyle all but sang.
Jared glared at him.
“This is not about sex. I don’t…I can’t even imagine-”
“I bet you could if you let yourself.” He winked.
Jared shook his head. “Oh, I don’t know why I bother.” He sighed and took another drink.
“You really shouldn’t.” Kyle poured himself his own drink and took a sip, exhaling deeply, satisfied. “You’re in so much denial you can’t even explain it to yourself. How in the world are you supposed to come up with good enough lies to convince me? Assuming of course, I could be convinced.”
“You’ve got it all wrong,” he said. Kyle just smiled. “Look, I don’t know how I feel about her. I don’t. Like you said, I haven’t known her that long.”
“But…?” Kyle egged him on.
Jared shook his head, trying to figure it out himself.
“I have this…fierce need to protect her…” He sounded flabbergasted by the possibility.
“From yourself probably,” Kyle concluded, mocking seriousness in his voice.
“No, it’s…well maybe. I don’t know.” He sighed. “She figured me out. She figured everything out. She’s smart…and beautiful…”
Now Kyle laughed.
“Man, do you even hear yourself?”
Jared looked up at him.
“You. Are. Into. Her.” Kyle poked him with each emphasized word.
“You can think someone is smart and beautiful and not be into them.” He all but rolled his eyes.
Kyle smirked. “Some people maybe; not you.”
“That’s not true.”
Kyle shrugged.
Jared turned around, found Melanie immediately. He held her gaze for three seconds too long, because his heart skipped a beat. Quickly he turned back around to find Kyle looking at him with raised brows.
“More,” Jared said, pushing his glass across the counter.
Wordlessly Kyle pulled out the bottle of club soda and filled his friend’s drink. Jared drank.
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