I don't know if it was the inspirational 2 hour lecture or just pure skill, but, by the time 2:00 PM rolls around, Sadie and I are walking out of the board office with 4 combined wins under our belts. And it feels pretty fucking good. Felix lost his second debate and Mariana has been hounding him about it for the past fifteen minutes. He's already sent me a series of texts saying "please kill me now" in one way or another. Sadie was beaming as she rushed to meet me outside of the conference hall. I was coming down from my own winning high, yet all I could think about was how fucking beautiful her smile is. Her eyes crinkled in the corners and you could see a flash of her crooked tooth that didn't fall in place with the rest, half covered by her plump lips. God, that smile. That smile is going to kill me.
We took our free meals to-go, but decided on not returning to the hotel right away. The weather has let up a bit, so we're able to walk around in just our button ups without having to worry about freezing. Sadie recommended stopping to eat lunch at a park and I obliged. So, a five minute walk later, we're sitting at a partially-rotting wooden picnic table with our two styrofoam boxes of food resting in front of us. The ground is hard–still partially frozen–but kids litter the playground, screaming for their parents to push them on the swings and catch them at the bottom of the slides.
I peel open my container and find the salad wrap I asked for. After the morning, I didn't want anymore fries, so I settled on no side. Our hotel provides drinks all-day long, so I skipped on getting a juice or coffee. Sadie got another iced tea and got the same wrap as me. The sun is shining down on her today, making her coloured hair sparkle along with the piercings in her ears. She's all gold. Her earrings. Her hair. Her eyes. Shining brighter than any trophy ever could.
There's a forest to our right, so I'm glad that the coolness in the air is managing to keep the bugs at bay. I take a bite of my wrap, indulging in the fresh vegetables wrapped up in a spinach tortilla. At the diner, we have an array of salad wraps that have romaine and grilled veggies. They're not very popular with the customers, but I used to eat them all the time for my lunch break. This one compares nicely. Sadie seems to agree.
"So," I begin. "How should we spend the rest of the day?"
She looks up. "We? Who said anything about we? I was planning on ditching your ass."
I roll my eyes, taking another bite of the wrap. "Shut up, Jones. Unless you plan on roaming the city alone, you're stuck with my ass."
She huffs, "It appears so."
I almost excepted her to say that she was going out alone, but I'm relived to find that she isn't. I have a strange urge to spend time with her and I don't know where that came from.
"We can go to the movies with Felix. Mariana's still pissed at him for losing, so she won't be coming, but the three of us can go."
She thinks about it for a second. "I guess. We don't have anything better to do."
"Aw c'mon, Jones. Where's your sense of adventure? You don't want to explore the city?"
"If you're offering, you could've just said that," she says.
I groan. "Fine. Do you want to spend the rest of the day exploring the city?"
She smiles and it lights her up more than the sun ever could. "I'd love to."
I didn't realize how close downtown was to Lux Inn until we walked right into it. There are stores all around, lining smooth sidewalks. Lines of cars are parked along curbs and in larger parking spots that cost like $5 per hour. I don't quite know what we're looking for, but we've been making random turns, hoping to spot places we want to stop in. Sadie insisted on stopping in a small bookshop cluttered with fresh flowers and wooden signs. We left with a stack of three books that she bought for Anastasia and a notebook set for Angie. I got a book for myself, as well, about some sort of fantasy adventure. I'm trying to work my way back into reading for fun because it used to be my favourite hobby.
A few stores over from the bookshop is a bakery that I recommend we check out. When I first started helping at the diner, dad would let me bake all of the chocolate chip cookies we sell because they were my favourite to make. I would even spend my free time trying different combinations of white and brown sugar, different types of vanilla, and even different proportions of flour to make sure the recipe was just right. I stopped baking when dad ruined it by insisting the diner would go out of business if I wasn't there to do the baking. I was tired of hearing how my dreams were going to kill his.
The bakery is very small. There's only enough room for you to enter and look through the glass displays. No tables or chairs in sight. The displays are full of decorated sugar cookies, colourful cupcakes, brownies, and a million more desserts seem to appear the further you look into the case. Behind the counter is a shelf that holds loaves of bread and croissants. I think I even spot a couple bagels, topped with cheese or seeds. Sadie is pressed as close to the glass as she can get without touching it, scanning her eyes over each sweet treat. I don't need to look to know what I want.
"Hi, what can I get for y'all?" A lady wearing an apron asks.
I look over at Sadie and she nods, signalling she's ready. "Hi. Can I please get a caramel brownie?"
"Of course," she exclaims, already opening up a small paper bag. "And for you, dear?"
"A red velvet cookie, please," Sadie says. I applaud her for her choice.
The woman nods and gathers our food into one bag. When she rings us up I can see Sadie reaching for her wallet, but I put my hand over hers and shake my head. I hear her groan out a protest, but I'm already tapping my card on the machine and taking our bag. The door chimes behind us as we exit the store. Sadie wastes no time before diving into the bag and taking a bite of her cookie. I do the same with my brownie, letting out a quiet moan when I taste the rich caramel and sweet chocolate.
"Good, huh?" Sadie asks.
"So fucking good," I exclaim. "Want some?"
She looks hesitant for a second, but then nods her head. I break off a piece and Sadie sticks out her hand, but I wave it away. "Open."
She looks at me with a confused expression before slowly opening her mouth. I reach over and pop the chunk of brownie in her mouth. She licks the crumbs off her lips before groaning, "Oh, wow, that's delicious. Want some of mine?"
I nod. She tells me to open my mouth before placing a piece of her cookie on my tongue. I shiver slightly when her fingers brush the corner of my mouth, and I hope she doesn't notice. "You have good taste," I tell her, savouring the sweetness of the soft cookie.
"I know," she says, the corner of her mouth pulling up into a smirk.
We walk around, finishing off our desserts. We head into a few more stores, but only peruse them for a few minutes before deeming that there's nothing we want to buy and walking out. After a while, I think we're about to call it a day until Sadie stops dead in her tracks in front of me, causing me to crash straight into her back.
"What the hell?" I say, regaining my balance.
Her mouth twists into a devious smirk and I follow her gaze to a small shop with a black chalkboard sign with "$10 Piercings Every Thursday" written on it in bold white letters. There's no way I'm misinterpreting what that smirk means. "No."
She looks at me innocently. "'No' what?"
"I know what you're thinking. So, no; we're not getting piercings."
"Aw, Conners, c'mon. Please," she pleads, walking closer toward the sign.
I follow after her, trying to avoid bumping shoulders with the crowd of people heading in the opposite direction. "No. Jones, you can't be serious. Where would you even pierce yourself? Your ears are pretty full."
"My belly button," she shrugs. Fuck, that's hot.
"And me?" I ask. I'm beginning to worry that I'm losing this argument.
"Your ears. First lobes, obviously," she says, and I swear she's one step away from yanking open the door of the shop. I would be lying if I've never thought about getting my ears pieced, but I never expected it to be during JW Debate with Sadie, who has never willingly stayed in my presence for this long.
Fuck it.
"Fine," I say.
She squeals in excitement and pulls open the door. Most of the shop is black; black counters, black shirts for sale, and a black carpet rolled out on the floor. A brightly lit case of jewelry sits atop the counter, with a man with stretched lobes and tattoo sleeves standing behind it. The shop is empty apart from Sadie and I.
"Hi," the man grunts, the simple word dripping in his southern accent.
Sadie is practically shaking with excitement. I've never seen someone so eager to get a part of their body pierced, but the large number of jewelry hanging from her ears clearly shows that she's experienced with this type of thing. "Hi, we're here to get pierced; I believe your sign said you do walk-ins. I'm looking to get my belly button pierced and he's going to get first lobes."
The man surveys the both of us before nodding. He slides over two paper waivers to fill out and gestures us to pick out our jewelry. We sign off on the papers quickly and begin scanning the multitude of jewelry available.
"Oh, this is pretty!" Sadie exclaims, pointing at a gold barbell with light pink gems. I hum in agreement.
Sadie goes over to the far end of the counter to pay for her jewelry and piercing while I continue to scan over the stud earring options. I consider going for a plain silver disk when a pair of studs in the far corner of the display catch my eyes. The studs are small, consisting mostly of silver except for a small black gem in the middle. Sadie comes up behind me and follows my gaze to the pair. "Oh, you are so getting those." And I do.
Only one person can be in the piercing room at a time and, while Sadie offers, I decide to go first. I sit comically still in the leather chair while the piercer, who told us his name's Gary, wipes my ears with alcohol wipes and uses a tattoo pen to draw two dots. He lets me look at them in the mirror and when I agree that they look perfect, he begins piercing my ears. The needle slides through my skin and I stiffen at the sharp pain, followed by a strong pressure as Gary slides in the earring. He repeats the same actions for the other ear. The pain goes away as soon as he moves away his hands and I get up to look in the mirror.
"Happy with it?" Gary grunts. He does that a lot.
"Very," I say. "Thank you."
"No problem," he replies and we step out of the room.
Sadie runs toward me immediately and looks at my ears. "How does it look?" I ask.
"Horrible," she winks and follows Gary into the room.
It feels like I've been pacing around for hours before Sadie finally comes out of the room. She's tied her button up shirt in a knot above her now-pierced belly button and I really fucking hope I'm not drooling because no rivalry would make me deny–in my head, of course–how fucking good she looks. The jewelry suits her perfectly and matches the rest hanging from her ears. She smiles as she gazes down at her stomach.
"Like it?" She asks.
I swallow, "Doesn't suit you at all." But the glint in my eye screams that I'm lying.
She smiles at my response and my God is it a sight. I feel like I'm losing my mind. This girl is driving me fucking crazy. She annoys the shit out of me, but I crave to be in her presence and hear her sweet, sultry voice. Fuck, even her calling me a fucking asshole is hot. Snap out of it, Carter. But I'm worried that I can't.
She's thanking Gary, complimenting him on the great job he did for both of us. She doesn't pull her shirt back down as we walk out of the shop and I'm mentally slapping my hand away every time I get the urge to wrap my arm around her bare waist and pull her close to me.
What are you doing to me, Sadie Jones?
...
A/N
And here we have another complete chapter. I'm on a little bit of a roll, but it's only because I love these characters so much.
I don't know how I feel about this chapter, but I'm giving it to y'all anyway.
Thanks for reading!