Luckily for my growling stomach, there was a pizza place right across the parking lot. We were immediately hit with the air-conditioned interior and open seating. The friendly hostess brought us back to a booth as the scent of fresh pizza filled my nostrils. It didn't take long before we were seated across from each other and scanning the menu.
"I could really go for a drink right now," I sighed as I viewed the selection of soft drinks. "Why did they have to make me 19?"
Jax shrugged, "We both are 19."
I looked around, making sure nobody was in ear shot. "No offense, but you look like you're 25."
"I am 25," he chuckled.
My mouth popped open for a second. "Really?"
He nodded, "How old did you think I was?"
Now it was my turn to shrug. "I guess I hadn't really thought about it, but I would have thought 21ish. Technically, I turn 21 in 4 months."
"That explains why you can't handle your alcohol."
I rolled my eyes, preparing to shoot him a comeback when the server came over. Since I was starving, we placed an order for a deep dish pepperoni pizza and 2 diet cokes right away.
I was quick to return to the conversation once he left to place our order. "Does it bother you that you can't drink now that you're 19?"
He shook his head, "I couldn't anyway."
"Couldn't? Or wouldn't?" I questioned. It wasn't like he had anything to drink at the dorms or house parties either.
"Couldn't," he reiterated. "I like to drink when I'm not on duty, but technically, I'm working."
"And you couldn't have just one? Even if we were back at the dorms?"
"Would you drink on the job?" He questioned.
I shrugged, watching as our server dropped off our diet cokes. "Depends on the job."
"Well, I need to always be diligent. I can't do anything that would even have the slightest potential to put you at risk."
I sighed. "You know, hanging out with you feels so normal now. Is it bad that sometimes I forget that our relationship is... complicated? I mean, sometimes I feel like you're just my friend."
"I get it," he shrugged. "We've been here for a while now without incident. Knock on wood. This campus, and hanging out with you every day, is starting to feel normal."
I finally lifted the cool soda to my lips, sloshing some over the rim with my still-shaking hands. I set it back down, putting my hands in my lap to still them.
"How are you still shaking?" Jax questioned.
I shrugged, "I don't know; I guess the adrenaline is taking forever to fade."
I leaned forward, putting my lips onto the rim and slurping the brown, fizzy liquid so that there was less in the cup.
"How ladylike of you," Jax chuckled. "But seriously, did you enjoy today? Or did you at least think it was helpful?"
I nodded a little too aggressively. "Yeah, it was definitely helpful. I'm not gonna lie to you, I think that guns will forever freak me out, but I do feel better about them now; at least a little bit."
"That's good. But again, you won't need to use one. That's my job."
I sat back in the booth, rolling the sleeves of my flannel down to block some of the air conditioning from hitting my skin. I was feeling cold all of a sudden. "Normally, I'd argue that I can do anything a man can do and that you're being sexist," I teased, "But, in this circumstance, I'm more than happy to let you take the reigns."
Jax shook his head in amusement. "It's not sexist, it's just a fact. I'm here to protect you. I wouldn't be doing my job if I even let you come close to needing to shoot someone."
"Yeah... make sure you never leave me, okay?" I asked, taking another sip of my soda.
"Don't ditch me then," Jax teased, a hint of a smile forming on his handsome face. I loved when Jax smiled, even slightly. It softened all of his hard features.
"Oh my god, that was just one time!" I defended.
Just then, the server came over and set our pizza in front of us. It smelled amazing, and my mouth started salivating already. "Anything else I can get you?"
"Do you have any pineapple?" I asked. I loved the combination of pepperoni and pineapple; Mel always thought I was weird for that.
Jax cocked an eyebrow at me as the server left again.
"What?" I asked.
"Pineapple? It's pepperoni, not ham."
"So?" I asked, picking up a slice and setting it onto my plate. "It's delicious. It's sweet and salty. And then I add red pepper flakes to it so that I get spicy as well."
"You're weird," he said, taking a large bite.
I waited for my pineapple. "Will you try it when the server comes back?"
"No way."
"Really? Big, bad, bodyguard scared of a little pineapple chunk ruining his pizza?"
He chuckled, wiping his face with a napkin. "Not scared, I just know I won't like it."
"Wimp," I said, crossing my arms over my chest. The air conditioner was blasting me. Just then, the server came over and placed a ramekin of pineapple on our table.
I was quick to add a few pieces to my slice, reaching over and plopping one onto Jax's piece as well. "You can thank me later," I teased.
He shook his head, smiling as he picked up the pizza again. He raised it to his full lips, taking a bite while his ice blue eyes remained focused on me. I knew that, generally, eating pizza isn't sexy, but holy shit, for some reason it was hot.
"So...?" I asked.
He shrugged, "It's good. I just wouldn't order it for myself."
"Fair enough," I grinned, "thank you for trying it."
I took another sip of my soda, shivering as the cool liquid ran through my body. I noticed that Jax had his sweatshirt sitting beside him on the bench. I couldn't help but look at his arms again as the material of his black t-shirt clung tightly to them.
"What are you looking at?" He asked.
"Oh, um... are you using your sweatshirt?"
"Oh, no," he said, grabbing the sweatshirt and passing it over to me, "you can wear it. You cold?"
I nodded, gratefully taking it from him and slipping it on over my flannel. "Thank you," I offered.
"No problem."
After a moment, a quiet fell over the two of us, and I suddenly found myself dying to know more about him. "Is it hard for you?" I blurted, "I mean, you need to stay away from your friends and family too. I forget that it's not just me who needs to."
He shook his head. "Nah. I'm used to it. I don't have tons of friends anyway because my job is so unpredictable."
"Tell me about some of the other people you've protected," I prodded.
"That's a breach of privacy," he smirked.
"Oh, come on. Just give me some little details."
He took a sip of his soda. "Alright. Well, I am only 25, so I don't have a ton of experience. Most people want someone a little older. They think because I'm younger than them that I don't know what I'm doing."
I scoffed, "as if they know better?"
Jax shrugged his broad shoulders. "I mean, I kind of get it, but it's definitely annoying. Usually I'm hired to protect older, wealthy men and women who have received some sort of threat. Those types of people generally think they know everything, and they definitely don't like to take orders from someone so much younger than them."
"Wow," I sighed, "no wonder I'm your favorite."
He chuckled, "I never said that."
I leaned back in my seat. "Fine, I'll bite. Who was your favorite then?"
"I can't tell you that. You know, client privacy at all that," he teased.
"Whatever. So have you ever protected someone in the WPP?"
He shook his head, "No. This is a first, but I know what I'm doing."
"I'm not doubting you," I said, "even right away when I met you; I didn't love your personality, but I never doubted your skills as a bodyguard."
He smothered a smile by taking another bite of pizza. "Thank you."
I took another bite as well. We were lucky nobody was seated near us; I really liked learning more about Jax. "Am I the youngest person you've had to protect? Or have you been assigned to others our age."
"I've had a few," he said, "but the longest I've spent on a single case was only a few months."
"Do you still talk to any of them?" I asked, fearing the answer a little.
He shook his head. "No I don't. When an assignment is up I move to another, and I'm not exactly allowed to follow up."
"Hmmm," I said, deep in thought. My heart clenched a little when he said this. I was just getting to know Jax, and I cared about him. I didn't want him to just disappear at the end of everything. I couldn't stop myself from thinking, where does that leave us?
Just then, my phone lit up with a text from Hannah.
Hannah: Drayden's being a dick. Can we please go out? I'll be back at the dorm in an hour.
Skyler: Absolutely. I'll meet you there.
"Looks like you and I are going out tonight," I said, turning my phone around so that Jax could see it.
He stared at it for a second before rubbing a hand across the back of his neck, "oh goodie."
______________________________________________
Hiiii guys!
Sorry, I know it's Friday. I'll be trying to return to my normal Wednesday schedule next week! This was sort of a filler chapter, but I hope you like it anyway!
-Haley