Extra Credit Romance (A student/teacher romance)

Chapter 4- The Date

I tossed and turned most of the night and was in and out of sleep. Finally at about ten I decided to get up have some breakfast and hit the shower.  I tried my hardest to relax.  Watched some T.V. and took a nice long hot shower.  I couldn't stop thinking about Jace and our date.  I stood in front of my closet for what seemed like an hour trying to decide what to wear.  Finally I chose a nice pair of dark blue jeans, and a white and dark blue striped Hollister button up shirt.  Brown belt and brown shoes.  I threw on some cologne and then grabbed my gray pea coat and headed out the door.  My heart was beating a thousand beats per minute as I drove down the road.

I found her house easily with the help of my GPS and pulled into her driveway at exactly 12:00.  'Ok this is it Noah, no turning back now.'  I got out of the car and walked up the porch to the front door and rang the doorbell.  I heard footsteps coming from the inside.  My mouth felt, dry and my hands shaky.  I could hear the doorknob turn.

"Hey." She said.  She was gorgeous.  She had on a nice pair dark colored jeans (like my own) that fit perfectly in all the right places,  a yellow tank top covered by a red and white striped sweater that was low cut showing just the right amount of cleavage.  Her voice shook me out of my daze.  "Is this ok?  I wasn't sure since I don't know where we are going."  She asked looking down at her clothes.

"Ye....yeah...its...your...good."  I stammered sounding like a complete fool.  She laughed out loud and smiled. 

"Ok let me just grab my coat and we can go."  She began reaching for her coat.  Thinking I needed to salvage some of my pride I reached for her coat too, but stepped on her cat's tail which in turn made an awful screaming noise that made me jump quick almost knocking Jace over.  She stumbled towards the wall. 

"I am so sorry Jace.  Are you ok?" 

"Yeah I'm fine, stupid cat its my room mates anyway."  She grabbed her coat and put it on. 'Wow could I possibly do anything else to ruin the start of our date?'  I wondered to myself. I am such an idiot.  I opened the door for her and we walked out.

I walked over to her side of the car, ready to open the door for her.  I pulled the handle, but the door was locked.  I reached into my pocket to pull out my car keys only to realize they weren't there.  I looked inside the car. Oh no! I had locked my keys in the car!

"Ummm...are those your keys hanging from the ignition?"  She asked me.  Right at that moment I wanted to crawl into a hole.  She looked at me.  I was at a loss for words.  "No problem we can take my car."  She said reaching into her purse and pulling out the keys. 

"Jace, I am so sorry. I am such an idiot."  Was all I could say.

"Its not a big deal and no you aren't."  She smiled sweetly.  Wow she really was amazing.   We got into her car which smelled strongly of strawberries.  The scent would have been nice, but it was so overpowering it almost made me gag.

" So where are we headed?"  She asked.

"Well lets go over to my brothers house really quick, he has my extra set of keys."

"Ok you lead the way."  She started driving.  Once the heat kicked on it seemed like the smell was intensifying.  I felt my stomach turn a little so I decided to roll down the window.

"Are you ok?"  She asked looking over at me.  "Are you hot?" 

"Just a little bit.  Its ok."  I lied

"You can do whatever you want with the thermostat I don't mind.  Make yourself comfortable."  She kept looking over at me.  Even with the cold air blowing into the car my stomach was turning.  I felt sweat build up on my forehead and tried to dab it away nonchalantly.  I don't know if it was my nerves, the smell of the strawberries, or the heat, probably a combination of the three, but I started to feel like I was going to throw up.  I tried hard to breath in the crisp fall air through the window, but it wasn't working.

"Are you ok?  You don't look very good?  Do you want me to pull over?"  She seemed concerned.  All could do was nod for fear of blowing chunks in her car.  She pulled her car over to the side of the road in just enough time for me to open the door and throw up.  I felt her place her hand on my back.  I was hoping she would just push me out of the car and leave me on the side of the road to die.  I had never been more embarrassed in my life.  I sat up, wiping my mouth and breathing heavily.

"Jace, I am so sorry"  I repeated again.  That seemed to be my catch phrase for the night.

"Its ok.  Are we close to your brothers house?"  I nodded.  "Are you ok to keep going?"  She asked.  I had to admit I didn't feel better at all, I could only hope I could make it to Ben's house without Jace having to pull over again.

"Yeah, take a left on Elm, a right on Oak the house number is 3321, its a yellow house."  I managed to tell her.

"Ok just let me know if you need me to pull over again.  You poor thing."  She rolled my window down further.  It didn't seem to help.  Jace had to pull over 3 more times for me to upchuck before we finally reached Ben's house.  At this point I was fairly certain I had ruined my chances of ever getting another date and I didn't blame her one bit.  She walked me to the door and rang the doorbell.  Jen opened up the door.  Her eyes almost fell out of her head.

"Noah?  Whats up?"  She asked looking from Jace to me and then back to Jace again.  Ben walked up to the door.

"Dude you don't look so hot."  I heard Ben say as I dashed from the front door to the nearest bathroom to throw up again.  I wished somebody would just flush me down the toilet too.  What a nightmare this date had become.  And Jace, she looked so beautiful and was taking everything in stride, I couldn't help but like her even more.  I walked out of the bathroom and flopped down on the sofa. I could hear Jace talking.

"I'm Jace."  She said reaching her hand out to Jen.

"Jen and this is my husband Ben."  She answered back.

"Its nice to meet you guys."  Jace smiled.

"Where's Noah's car?"  Ben asked

"Ummmm, he locked his keys in it, we were headed over here to get his spare set when he got sick on the way."  She looked over at me.  "Think he may have a stomach bug or maybe food poisoning.  Poor guy." 

"C'mon in Jace, its too cold to stand outside."  Ben took her coat off of her.  She walked into the living room and sat down beside me.  She reached over and took my coat off.  I couldn't believe she was being so nice to me.

"Do you want anything to drink Noah?"  Jen asked me.  The thought of water alone made me want to vomit.  I shook my head.

"Well I think I am going to get going."  Jace stood up.

"No you don't have to leave Jace."  Jen piped in

"Thanks, but I know that when I am sick I don't want a lot of people around so, I think its better if I let him rest up."  She looked down at me.  I didn't want her to leave, but I definitely didn't want her to stay.

"What about your car Noah?"  Jen asked me.

"We can arrange to have one of us pick it up tomorrow."  Ben added.  Jace stood up.

"That sounds good."  Jace knelt down beside me. 

"Jace I am so..."

"Do NOT say sorry."  She stopped me.  "I just want you to feel better."  She rubbed her hand gently across my forehead and stood up.  "It was nice meeting you both."  She looked over at Ben and Jen.

"You too Jace."  Jen replied

"Come back again when you can stay longer."  Ben added.

"Will do."  She looked over at me and then closed the door.

Also closing the door on our relationship.