The three of us stood on my driveway, just embracing the awkward silence while we waited for Evan to come over. "Where the hell is this guy?" I asked, scratching my head out of irritation.
Kelsey swayed with the wind, humming a melody as she shrugged and nodded her head in the direction behind me. "Right there. Come on," a smile made its way onto her face as she scurried towards her boyfriend.
I threw a look over at Jason who was following her. "I'll introduce you two." he nodded and looked back at Evan. I watched as he got out of his silver Honda and held his arms open for Kelsey.
Evan was dressed casually in a light grey polo and a pair of khaki's. His sunglasses were propped up on his head and he smiled at me before looking over at Jason with confusion on his face. I took hold of Jason's arm and pulled him towards Evan.
"Okay, Jason this is Evan - Kelso's boyfriend - and Evan, this is Jason." Evan had no problem in showing his shock. His eyes practically popped out of their sockets.
"Hey, man. I didn't know Charlotte was seeing someone. Nice to meet you." Evan greeted, holding his hand out for a shake.
The guys began to make some small talk and I was glad that Jason and Evan were able to find things they shared in common. "Evan, are we gonna stand here all day, or are we actually going to the beach?" Kelsey asked, pulled Evan towards the driver's side of the car, looking at him expectantly.
He finally snapped out of his conversation with Jason and nodded at Kelsey, "Yeah, and Sam's going to meet us there." he answered, getting into the car. Jason and I retreated back to his jeep and I slid into the passenger seat as we began our trip.
Jason's car was so clean I wondered if he just bought it. It smelled of fresh wild berries and everything was completely organized. "Nice jeep." I commented, putting on my seatbelt. Jason shook his head when he opened the glove compartment, and I watched in surprise as about ten billion cd's fell out. Random sunglasses, colognes and maps were chucked into the little storage compartment.
"Yeah... I know." he said before I could speak.
I couldn't help myself, so I broke out into a fit of giggles. "Okay you ruined it. Wait, are those CD's? You don't have an AUX?" I asked, shocked.
"Okay it's not that cool. It's an older model so you're going to have to suck it up." He chuckled.
The silence than came between us really annoyed me but there wasn't anything I could do about it. I turned to face Jason with my eyebrows knitted together. "So you know how this is going to go down, right?" I asked him, crossing my arms.
He spared a glance at me and shook his head. "Am I meant to?" he inquired.
I raised my eyebrow. "So Sam's my other best friend. He'll question you about our 'relationship'," I made little air quotes earning a small laugh from him. "so just go with it. I just really need you to be a good almost-boyfriend. So long as you do that, I'll throw it down for you." I shrugged, brushing away stray strands of hair that came undone from my ponytail.
Jason held the brakes at the red light and took that moment to look at me, "Alright and how long exactly is this going to go on for?" he asked, putting on his sunglasses.
I looked at him thoughtfully. "Not sure. We just keep going till we get tired and then have some sort of tragic break up." he laughed and nodded, looking satisfied with my response.
"Alright then, let the interrogation begin. What's your favourite color?" He asked, and the car began to move again.
"Huh?" I asked. Why would he want to know what I liked and disliked?
He sighed and ran a hand through his silky hair. "If we're going to be a couple then I need to know what you like." he said in an obvious tone.
I felt stupid then, "Oh right. My favorite colors green." I began. He scrunched his nose,
"Yeah not a fan of green." I gasped, "Mine's red." he said proudly.
"I like more of a pastel green. Not the nauseated kind. And red scares me. Ugh," I shuddered. Red always reminded me of blood. Nasty stuff.
He rolled his eyes, "What food do you like?" he asked, turning the radio down so he could hear me better.
"Jason Momoa." I replied in a heartbeat. Jason nearly choked.
"I'm sorry, what? He's a person. I asked you what you like to eat." he restated, looking rather bothered by my quick response.
I shrugged, popping a gum into my mouth. "I'd eat him. But, I love Chinese food."
He smirked, "Me too. Like Hakka Chinese. That's some good stuff." I nodded in agreement, smiling at him. Gosh his smirk was almost as sexy as the guy from Vampire Diaries. Almost.
"I love Art, I think I have a pretty good appreciation for all types of art. I like that it's always up for interpretation, you know? Nothing is ever one thing – it can be anything." I told him.
"That's great, I'm majoring in Art. I want to be an Architect." he told me, and I nodded in response. Actually, I was damn fascinated. He was sexy and artistic. I patted myself on the back for smacking him in the face. "And I like to read... anything, really."
I frowned. "Even newspapers?" I asked, slightly appalled.
He looked at me slyly and a small smirk danced on his lips. "Especially newspapers."
It wasn't until the car stopped completely that I looked around and frowned. I hadn't noticed that we had arrived at the beach. We had probably been sitting inside for a good few minutes now. I looked out to see Evan pointing at Kelsey who was setting up the towels and other things in a shady area on the sand. I unbuckled my belt and hopped out with Jason following suit.
Just then, Sam noticed me and jogged towards Jason and I. "Hey, stranger!" he cheered, pulling me into a warm hug.
"Hey Sam," I ruffled his hair. I hadn't noticed that Jason slipped an arm around my waist as he earned a dirty look from Sam. "Oh right, Sam this is Jason. We're kind of seeing each other."
Sam looked at Jason. And then at me. "Are you kidding me?" he asked incredulously. I shook my head, so he looked at Jason. "Is she paying you or something?" he asked in disbelief.
"Nope, we met last night and when I saw her... Everything changed. It was like love at first sight, right baby?" he asked gently, looking into my eyes. For a second my heart stopped beating – damn, if he kept acting like that I might as well hand him the Oscar now.
I smiled, but it faltered a bit. "Yeah, definitely." he grinned and leaned down to plant a soft kiss on my cheek. Oh, God.
Sam laughed awkwardly, but his face showed anything but happiness. "How old are you? Because I've never seen you around the neighborhood..." he trailed suspiciously.
"I'm 21," he answered.
Sam raised an eyebrow, "What are you studying then?" he questioned further.
Jason didn't seem to mind, though. "Well I'm majoring in the Arts." he said proudly. Well that really was something to be proud of, I couldn't hide the fact that I was impressed.
"Huh." Sam nodded, still looking at me suspiciously. "Well then, have fun. Nice meeting you, Johnny." he said purposely.
"It's Jason." I corrected, irritated.
Sam shrugged, "Same thing." I narrowed my eyes at him but ignored it nonetheless.
"Come on, Jason." I decided on setting up a bit farther away from where Kelsey was for the sole purpose of avoiding the awkward kisses she and Evan would randomly share. I could definitely do without those.
Kelso and Evan had been dating for a year, and I could tell they were deeply in love. She didn't have to tell me for me to know that Evan was the first guy she slept with. As gorgeous as Kelsey was, I was definitely more adventurous than she would ever be.
I had slept with a handful of guys in the past year. In a weird fucked up way, I thought that if I let them get what they wanted, I would have been lucky enough for at least one of them to fall in love with me. Then, I gave up.
Stupid love, who needed it anyways.
Jason had left my side to go play a game of soccer with Evan, Sam and a few other guys they met at the beach. So Kelsey and I were taking a stroll alongside the shore.
"Jason seems wonderful." she said sincerely.
"What?" I asked unsure of what she was talking about.
She smiled softly, splashing the water a bit. "Evan came to get a drink between the break and he said that he liked Jason. And from what I gathered when we were briefly introduced, he's a sweetheart. And he's sexy." she laughed.
I shoved her slightly, causing her to gasp and then laugh some more. "He really is." I, however, was talking about his looks. I didn't really care what kind of a person he was so long as he pretended to be a good 'boyfriend'.
Kelsey and I talked aimlessly for a while and splashed each other in the water for an hour after. The day had started to just go by, we joined the boys in their game of soccer and I made sure to take tons of photos on my phone. I also happened to get a dozen sexy shots of Jason, but he didn't need to know... At least not anytime soon. Eventually, It had begun to get dark and the guys were getting tired. Kelsey and I got the food ready while Sam started a little fire. For summer, it was still a bit chilly in the evenings so it was a good thing we had prepared ahead of time and brought plenty of blankets.
Evan had made sure to get all the food; pizza, corn, chicken kebabs and a few other things. We managed to buy drinks from the little corner store through the afternoon. Because it was getting dark, we had all decided on putting our towels next to each other so we were sitting in a circle around the small fire. Kelsey was munching on some corn, with her head resting on Evan's shoulder.
I knew questions would be asked if Jason and I sat a mile apart, so I sat between his legs, feeling cozy and warm from his body heat. It was weird and felt a little foreign, but I liked it. The chatter began to slow down as we got tired, and I hadn't noticed my eyes beginning to flutter shut with exhaustion. A small yawn emitted from my mouth, but I stopped halfway when I felt Jason's lips at my ear. In fact, my breath caught in my throat and I was unable to respond.
"Wanna go swimming?" I looked over at the tempting waters. I had always loved the beach, but I would never ever go anything past the shore. To be quite honest, I was deathly scared of the water. Well, more of the things inside the water rather than the water itself. The idea of the fish eating me alive... It scared me to the core. There was no way I would get in the water, no matter how tempting it looked.
"Uh, it's a long story." I replied nervously. Whenever I told someone about my unusual fear, they'd laugh. No one took it seriously, but if Jason was going to be a good boyfriend I had to tell him. It was hard, but I managed to explain how thoroughly I hated the fish. Almost as much as I hated love. Jason kept quiet the entire time, only making sounds of agreement so when I was done, I turned to look at him.
"Why aren't you laughing?" I asked blatantly.
Jason shrugged, pulling me closer. "It's not funny. But come on, just dip your feet in. I promise fish won't eat you if I'm here." he said convincingly. I looked around at my friends. They were all relaxing, chatting peacefully, and I looked back at Jason. His eyes, so electrifying - I couldn't say no.
"Alright." I gave in, sighing as I stood up. He grinned and stood up as well, wiggling out of his jeans. Underneath was his - you guessed it- red swim trunks. I shook my head and laughed, moving away slightly so I had room to change.
I pulled my t-shirt over my head and tossed it to the side, revealing my favorite yellow bikini. As I stood up, my friends shot me a look of confusion, but I shrugged and shook my head; I couldn't believe Jason made me get in the water. I followed him up to the shore before I started panicking.
Jason turned around and gave me a dazzling smile, "Come on, take my hand. I'll guide you in." he whispered genuinely. I bit my lip as I placed my small hand in his large one. I squealed slightly when my foot grazed against a few shells. Jason held me pretty close, and didn't let go of my hand until we were in far enough. I could feel the smooth sand against my toes and the warm waves colliding into me every so often. I was still on full alert for anything in the water that felt unusual. We didn't talk, and I think he knew I was on edge and bubbling with anxiety, but the silence was comforting. Jason was staring up into the sky and admired the stars.
And then I felt something brush against my ankle. That was all it took for my calm and collected self to vanish. I jumped six feet into the air and clung onto Jason, wrapping my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist. I buried my face into the crook of his neck, breathing in his scent.
"Holy shit, I felt something. I felt something. The fish is going to eat me. It's going to kill me." My heart was thundering against my chest, threatening to pop out of my ribcage.
Jason laughed loudly, and I felt the sound reverberate through his chest. "Relax, Charlotte. It's just another rock. See?" he kicked it up with his foot, and a dark round rock popped out of the salty water.
I shook my head, "No. No. It was a fish and I know it." I said stubbornly.
He rubbed my back and pulled away slightly so we were eye to eye. "I wouldn't lie to you. It was a rock. I swear." his blue eyes glistened in the moonlight. I wasn't sure if I was caught up in his gaze, but I felt like he could tell me to drown in these waters and I would obey his soothing voice.
We looked at each other for what felt like ages. I dragged my eyes away and fixated my gaze on his perfectly kissable lips. My eyes flickered back to his, and a soft smile made its way onto his lips. He leaned in, and tilted his head ever so slightly. My heart was beating so fast I was sure he could feel it beat against his bare chest. Before I could register what happened, his cool lips were pressed against mine and then I really felt like I was drowning.