Jabez's POV
"So, is she always that difficult?" I asked, looking over at Tommy from the passenger seat. He looked over briefly and scrunched his eyebrows, "Why you so curious?"
"She's...intriguing," I said laughing and looking back out onto the open road.
"And bad as hell right?" Tommy said smirking at me.
"Riiiiight!" I said holding my hand to dap him up.
"WRONG! We are not doing that," Tommy said shaking his head and pulling into the In-N-Out parking lot.
"Doing what?' I asked in between laughs.
"Rose. You're not doing Rose," Tommy glared at me before continuing, "Toying with my girlfriend's best friend's emotions is not the move," he responded.
"Who said anything about toying with Rose?" I said innocently.
"Jay, I love you, but you have some real fuck boy tendencies and Rose is not the one." Tommy said as he shifted the gear into park.
"Wow, I feel personally attacked," I said placing my hand on my heart.
"Good, because I am attacking you personally! Screw around with whoever you want, but it better not be Rose." Tommy said in an oddly stern tone of voice.
"Okayyyy, chill. I'm only asking because I'm going to be dealing with her and her difficult-ness for the rest of the year." I said, attempting to defend my character.
"Fine. Rose is—how do I say this nicely?" he paused for a moment then finished his sentence, "an acquired taste."
"Meaning?"
"Well for starters, she literally hates everybody. It took her 9 months to warm up to me after I got with lovey—I mean Tiffany," Tommy stated moving on quickly, in attempts to stop me from making fun of their pet names for each other. "Not only that, Rose is unbelievably strong willed—actually, obstinate might be a better word for her--"
"So she is always this difficult," I said cutting him off, simply trying to get the answer to the question I'd originally asked him.
"Yeah, but to be honest she's usually right so you can't even be mad about it." Tommy said shrugging, "Plus she makes up for it by being funny as fu--"
"She's not hard on the eyes either," I mumbled to myself, unbuckling my seatbelt and hopping out of the car.
"Let me reiterate, since obviously it didn't stick the first time--YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO TOY WITH ROSE'S EMOTIONS," Tommy said, clapping for emphasis after every couple of words, "She's kind of like a little sister to me, so I'm obligated to rip your balls off if you screw with her."
"Okay! I get it! I won't toy with her feelings, don't get your panties in a twist," I said jokingly, opening the door to In-N-Out and scanning the booths for Don, Dre, and Tiff.
"Over here!" I heard Tiffany yell from the other side of the diner. I looked in her direction and saw her, Don, and Dre sitting at our usual booth. I nudged Tommy and he followed me as I walked over to the group.
I dapped Dre and Don up and gave Tiffany a hug. Tommy saw an extra milkshake on the table next to Tiffany and raised it to his lips to take a sip. "Wait— lovey that's not yours it's Rose's."
He paused, with the straw just barely touching his lips, "Rose? She never comes to these." I tried my hardest not to be conceited, but I did find it pretty ironic that the ONLY time she shows up to our Friday Dinners is after she finds out I am friends with Tommy.
"I was brought here against my will," Rose said from behind me, groaning and handing Tommy his drink and wiping her straw before she sipped from it. She noticed Don and Dre's slightly offended facial expressions and continued, "No offense...I just hate— "
"Being social?" I said smiling in her direction.
"No." she said glaring at me, "I just hate In-N-Out."
Everyone at the table, but Tiffany and Tommy gasped in unison.
"You know that's like ten times worse than just saying you hate us, right?" Don said jokingly.
"Hey! I don't hate you guys! Honestly, I didn't even know that Dre and Jabez existed until today." She said glancing my direction for a millisecond.
"Who the fuck hates In-N-Out?" I said as I sitting down next to Don at the table.
"A person who doesn't eat beef," she responded in a snappy tone of voice.
"Settle down, piranha." Tiffany said, causing Rose to deeply inhale than exhale.
She smiled in my direction and said,"Sorry, It's been a long day. I had this annoying lab partner earlier today. He really drained the life out of me." She said squinting and cocking her head to the side.
"Don't worry, I totally get it. Mine was a complete bitch," I said with a smirk.
Rose bit the inner corner of her mouth in attempts to keep herself from smiling.
"What are you? Vegetarian?" Dre asked, taking a large bite of his burger.
"Oh fuck no." Rose said causing me to chuckle,"No offense to the vegetarian community, but I personally LOVE meat—just not red meat."
I looked at her and realized she was the only one who hadn't ordered any type of food yet, "Well, have you tried In-N-Out's animal fries?" I asked, slightly lifting one eyebrow.
"Nope," she responded, squinting slightly. Looking as if she was trying to crack my code.
"Well you will today," I said standing up and grabbing her arm, "My treat."
For a moment, I looked back at Tommy and he gave me simple warning look. I nodded and proceeded to take my hand off of her forearm. I gestured towards the register and smiled, "After you."
Hesitantly, she walked towards to register and I followed suit. As I walked behind her I couldn't help, but glance down at her butt. A smile crept it's way onto my face and I couldn't help but softly bite my lower lip.
"Jabez?" Rose said innocently, turning around and looking me in the eyes. I could tell she'd asked me a question I just wasn't sure what the question was. "Sorry, say that again?"
"What am I ordering?" She said looking slightly annoyed with my delayed response. I smiled and walked towards the counter, "Two orders of animal fries please."
Rose held her hand out to stop me and looked towards the cashier, "Make that one order of animal fries."
I furrowed my brows and looked back at her.
"I'll just have a couple of yours," She said quickly and then smiled back at the cashier.
"Nah, 'cause you're gonna end up liking them and eating all of mine. Two please." I said grabbing my wallet out of my back pocket and looking over at Rose, who was mean mugging me.
"What if I don't like them?" She said crossing her arms and cocking her head to the side.
"Trust me, you will. And if you don't I'll finish yours," I looked back at the cashier and handed her my card, "Sorry. She's a handful." I said laughing and nodding towards Rose.
"He may be cute, but the cuteness washes away after the first five minutes--after that he's just obnoxious," Rose said smirking as she looked at the cashier.
The cashier awkwardly smiled at us and then proceeded to go get our fries.
"I knew it," I said smiling and continuing to look forward.
"Knew what?" Rose she scrunching her eyebrows and grabbing some napkins from the dispenser in front of us.
"You think I'm cute," I said looking at her, waiting for her to respond. It was the first time I'd ever seen her at a loss of words. She opened her mouth to speak, but was conveniently interrupted by the cashier handing us our fries and forks.
"Try 'em." I said gesturing my fork towards her. She reluctantly brought a fork of fries to her mouth and began to chew. "You can say it, I was right."
"Yeah, whatever." She said continuing to eat them as she walked past me and joined our friends at the table.
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sooooo, what do y'all think so far? Is Jabez growing on Rose? How do you think Tommy is gonna react to Jabez's mini-crush on Rose?
Vote, Comment, and Share! Much Love <3