by B. A. Wolfe
I leaned in closer to him, pushing myself into the table. “What’s the catch, Sweetheart?” I asked, because knowing Jason, there was a catch to this game; he wasn’t about to start giving me information that easily.
“We only have until our food comes out,” he whispered in a deep voice.
“Well then I guess we better hurry,” I whispered back, making his lips curl up.
“Guess we better,” he said, leaning back in the booth seat resting his arm again on the edge.
Eleven
I WASN’T SURE WHAT I was getting myself into, but getting the chance to ask Jase five questions of my choice was all too tempting to not at least give his Diner Trivia a chance. I just had to get through his five questions first. Lord help me.
“Do you have a boyfriend and is he the reason you’re going to Alamosa?”
That wasn’t too bad to start with. Maybe these questions wouldn’t be too deep. I mean we were in a diner, not a private home. “That’s two questions, by the way,” I smirked. “No, no boyfriend, so I guess that implies I’m not going to Alamosa to see him either.”
His face was slightly amused as he relaxed his body even more into the booth.
“How long since your last boyfriend?”
I wasn’t sure what I was expecting him to ask, but definitely not these. “Two years ago,” I responded, very confused why this was important to him.
“What happened?” he asked.
I looked down at my hands; this question was going to be uncomfortable to answer and although I was expecting difficult questions, it still was not something I was eager to discuss.
“You’re going to take it the wrong way.”
“I’m not judging at all, Cassie, but if you don’t want your turn, then you don’t have to answer.” He shrugged.
Ugh, fine. “He wasn’t physical enough, okay?” And if I wasn’t blushing earlier, I was full-on firecracker red right now.
He took his arm off the booth and immediately leaned in closer, his body almost covering the table. “You are going to have to elaborate on that or as much as I don’t want to, I’ll probably take it wrong.”
“I knew you would. It’s not what you’re thinking, Jase,” I said, staring out the window as I answered. “It was the little things. The affection, he just never showed it, and I wanted it.” I stopped, returning my gaze to Jase, waiting for a response from him. But he sat there with his eyes fixed on mine, listening as if I was telling him some amazing story. So I continued with the truth of what I wanted.
“He never held my hand in his; he never kissed me just because. It was like he was afraid to touch me, like I was going to break or something,” I told him, picturing my ex in my head as I spoke of the memories.
“He was a good guy, but I wanted someone who couldn’t keep his hands off me. Not in the perverted sense, but in the ‘I want to show everyone in the world that you’re my girl, that I want to hold your hand in mine because it fits so perfectly, and I want to steal all the kisses I can from you because my lips can’t get enough of yours’. That kind of way.” I finished and I couldn’t help but feel my heart tug at the thought of how bad I desired that from a guy.
I felt his warm hand on top of mine as I looked up to meet his eyes. “You did the right thing because a girl like you deserves all of that and more,” he said, keeping our hands touching.
How was it that a guy I met only a couple of days ago doesn’t have a single problem showing me contact but a boyfriend of one year couldn’t even muster up the desire to show me once?
He took his hand off of mine rather hastily, leaving the feeling of loneliness in its place.
“What’s the story with Mel?” he asked, shifting in his seat.
This question was the easiest to answer yet; unfortunately, I could talk about Mel all day if he let me. “She also goes by Melanie, she’s my best friend,” I answered, trying not to tear up at the thought of how much I missed her. Being away from her was getting harder the older we got.
“You said she’s in Alamosa, I’m assuming at college, so why didn’t you two go to the same one?”
“You know, assuming is never good,” I told him with a teasing look. My parents had said ‘assuming’ never got anyone anywhere; you would almost always assume the wrong thing. I learned early on to leave it out of my vocabulary.
He laughed quietly. “Just answer the question,” he said. “Or are you going to forfeit?” he asked with a mischievous grin.
“Never,” I sassed back. “My parents. The answer is my parents,” I told him, short and sweet.
“Your parents what?”
“They didn’t give me that college as an option. I was given a handful of in state colleges and the one Mel wanted to attend, wasn’t on my list,” I said with a sigh, remembering the day that Mel and I had to go our separate ways, vowing to never give up on our friendship.
“You always have a choice, Cassie,” he said, his eyes steady on mine.
“Yeah well, it’s a void subject these days anyway, and would you look at that, our food’s here!” I was saved by the waitress.
She set our plates down, serving me first. I glanced down at the plate with a huge hamburger on it instead of a chicken Caesar Salad, and then brought my eyes up to the waitress ready to let her know she got my order wrong when she scurried off. I glanced over to Jase who had a burger on his plate as well.
“I presume this is the ‘usual’ you ordered?” I asked, forgetting that he had ordered for me. Not that a burger was the worst thing he could have ordered, but I was more than looking forward to my usual.
“Now who’s assuming?” he asked, giving me a sarcastic glance. “In case school didn’t teach you, assume and presume are the same. So don’t try and fancy it up okay?”
I hadn’t even noticed I said presume. I let out a soft chuckle.
“I’m glad I humor you,” he said. “Now humor me and just try your burger, best in town.”
“The only in town, and I’m not assuming on this one. I’m pretty confident with my conclusion,” I told him as our hands met the mustard bottle at the same time.
He snatched the bottle of mustard up before I even had the chance to grab it first, putting the bottle upside down ready to pour, right over my burger.
“No, no, no.” I panicked.
His eyes got wide and he retracted the bottle immediately.
I felt ridiculous as I realized how panicked I was over a condiment. “I don’t like anything on my burger, the mustard is for my fries,” I revealed.
He returned the bottle to my plate, squeezing the yellow goodness right next to my fries. “Ah…so I finally get to meet another fan of mustard and fries,” he said quietly. “I can’t stand ketchup.”
“Seriously ketchup is awful, I can’t stand the stuff either,” I said, amused to meet another mustard fanatic. When Mel and I were kids and I dunked my fry in mustard, she would cringe telling me how weird I was. Looks like I was no longer the only one I knew who was weird too.
“Tomatoes?” he asked with a lifted brow.
“Love them,” I confessed. “I know what you’re thinking...”
“Nope, you probably have no clue,” he said. “Because I love them too.”
“Not many of us around, we have to stick together,” I said, getting another chuckle out of him. We were definitely a strange pair, but one that felt awkwardly normal.
He put the bottle down between us and lifted his burger up to his mouth before taking a huge bite. As much as I wanted my salad, the burger dripping with juice and cheese sitting on my plate was now brushing its grilled smell against my nose and I was ready to dig in like Jase. I put it up to my mouth and as the hunger was now taking over, I took an oversized bite. I enjoyed every second of it, not caring at all how un-lady like my appetite was.
“Well?” he asked after finishing off another bite.
“Surprisingly delicious,” I admitted, enjoying my burger too much.
“There’s just somet
hing wonderful about greasy diner food,” he said.
“Well, when it’s the only place there is to eat at, then yes,” I replied. “But it is wonderful. It’s greasy and comforting, two words I never thought I’d say in the same sentence together.”
I got a loud laugh out of him as he dunked his fries into his mustard.
“Are you feeling generous tonight?” I asked him with a smirk. I knew our game was over, but I wasn’t ready for it to be done.
He put his fry back on his plate as he glared at me with one eye. “Whoa, Cassandra. I didn’t peg you for that kind of girl!” he exclaimed.
I should have expected that answer. “Generous as in, maybe letting me ask you a few questions, since my turn was cut short? And don’t think I didn’t notice you asked me more than five questions.” I peered at him.
He sat there not saying a word as he twirled a fry in the mustard piled on his plate. “Well, I did make up the game so I can change the rules when necessary,” he said playfully.
“Figures.” I shook my head at him. “So how about that turn? Please?”
“Only because you’re begging and it’s pathetically cute,” he said.
“Thanks,” I replied. “So how old are you?”
“I’m 22,” he said.
“Do you have any siblings?”
“Just me, myself, and I in the house,” he answered.
Which brought me to my next question. “Why are you still living at home?” I asked, hoping the brunt nature of my question didn’t turn him away.
“Do you still live at home?” he answered with a question.
“You are so breaking the rules,” I said, giving him a teasing evil eye.
“Yes, but I get to learn just a little bit more about you this way too.”
“No, I moved out when I left for college. I live in an apartment in Boulder,” I answered, giving him a look that told him I expected an answer in return.
“I haven’t found a reason to leave yet. That’s my home and it’s the only place I’ve ever known,” he finally answered as he quietly took in a few more fries.
“Thanks for answering. I kind of like this game,” I told him.
He looked up and smiled at me, not answering, but he didn’t have to. I could tell, even though the game was probably made up, he wanted to know about me too.
I started to finish what I could of my meal as I sat and absorbed his answers. I could feel deep down there was more to him than he was letting me see. Normally I would veer far away from guys that were hiding something, but what he was hiding seemed to go very deep, if he was in fact hiding something from me. I could have been totally off base for all I knew, but something inside me was screaming that he was.
I put my napkin on the table when I finished and immediately regretted eating as much as I did, but also felt extremely satisfied.
“Shall we?” he asked, standing up from the booth.
“Yes, I’m now full and tired,” I replied, unsure if it was because of the pregnancy or eating way too much.
“That makes two of us, again,” he said before slipping the waitress some cash and leading us back to his truck.
Twelve
I PUT A HAND OVER MY STOMACH, feeling slightly ill from the grease pit I ingested last night. And the thought of it all was not settling well with my stomach. I needed to find some sort of a clear soda or some water to help ease my upset stomach. I put on a pair of cotton shorts and left my room.
The house was eerily quiet and empty. I walked over to the front window to check and see if Jase’s truck was still there. He hadn’t mentioned last night when we got home that he had something going on this morning. I pulled back the drapes and could still see his red pickup in the gravel drive. I let out a sigh and walked toward the kitchen. Jason wasn’t in the kitchen, if he was in fact here, he was in his room. This was unusual for Jason, even in the couple of days that I’ve known him he seemed like a very early riser. I decided to go to his room to check on him and make sure everything was okay.
I tiptoed to the back door where he said his room was and opened the door to the basement. The door creaked a little as I tried to quietly make my way down to his room.
It was dark, making it hard to venture down all of the stairs without either falling or making too much noise, but I managed. I looked around to my left, which was full of boxes, and then to my right where there was a door a few steps away. I was hoping I found Jason’s room. I was now thinking how I wished I would have taken directions from him; I was worse than I thought. Thinking that to myself made me chuckle, and perhaps a little too loud. Jason’s voice radiated through the white wooden door I was standing in front of.
“Cassie, is that you?” he asked, sounding amused.
So much for being quiet. “Yeah,” I answered. “Can I come in?”
“Of course. It’s unlocked,” he shouted.
I slowly turned the round knob and gently pushed the door open to what was an equally dark room.
“You can turn the light on; the switch is just on your right side,” he said quietly, his voice coming from somewhere in front of me.
I blindly stretched my hand to the side of me, reaching around for the feel of a switch to hit my hand. Bingo.
The room became illuminated, hurting both of our eyes as we screamed at the same time. I slowly lifted my lids, adjusting my eyes to the lights and saw Jason across from me in his large bed, doing the same.
“You could have pre-warned me,” I muttered to him, finally opening my eyes fully.
“You could have pre-warned me,” he said back.
I gave him a sarcastic glare before touring my eyes around his room. It was surprisingly large down here, and not at all what I had expected. His bed was in the center and a dresser was to the left. A small two-seat sofa was to the right with a television on a stand facing it. There was nothing resembling the house upstairs in his room. It was all his own. Two racks to the right of his bed held six cowboy hats, each a different color. I turned my gaze back to Jase who was lying on his bed wearing a sexy grin as he kept his focus on me. His arms tucked behind his head full of perfectly messy hair left his toned chest fully exposed to my appreciative eyes. I definitely wanted to walk into his room in the mornings more often.
“Not what I expected Jason,” I said. Steering my eyes away from him, I continued my tour of his room. The walls were a light brown that went perfect with his red comforter that was covering up half of his body.
“Yeah I like it down here. It’s like my own little retreat from the world,” he said.
I walked over to the left side of his room, focusing on a framed picture that was standing on his dresser. The picture was of three young boys; one looked older than the rest, and all appeared very similar in their little cowboy hats and cowboy boots sitting on a haystack with straw hanging out of their mouths as they smiled. It was adorable. “Is this you?” I asked him.
I shifted my gaze over to him as he moved his arm out from underneath his head and rubbed his eyes before sitting up in his bed.
“Yeah it is. I was only about seven in that picture,” he replied as he started pushing the rest of the covers off of him.
“Easy there, I didn’t come down here to see Jase junior,” I told him.
He shook his head and finished pulling the covers off the rest of the way until he was out of the bed completely only wearing a pair of boxer shorts. I must have been staring at his bare chest again. It was by all means more captivating than the picture I was so interested in earlier. It had just enough definition that made me want to whimper, until Jase cleared his throat, bringing me back to the picture.
“Um, so the picture.” I tried to recover my embarrassment.
He took another look at me, letting a quiet chuckle escape before standing right next to me.
“We were so young,” he said, as though he was picturing the day in his mind. “It was at our friends’ farm. They had horses, we went riding that day, and it was our first time. Our
moms had us sit down on the hay to take a picture, but before we did I put a piece of hay in my mouth so I could be like my dad,” he said, still staring at the picture. “And then the others followed suit.”
“You were an adorable child, just look at the wild curly hair peeking out of that hat,” I said, picking up the picture to look at it closer. “Looks like a fun day for you three.”
“It was,” he said, smiling over my shoulder at the picture in my hands.
“So who are the other two kids with you?” I asked him.
“My brother and a friend,” he answered quietly.
“You said you didn’t have any siblings.” I questioned him, confused by what I thought I knew.
“No. I said it was just me in the house.” He let out a long, deep breath. “Cassie… we just don’t talk about him much, that’s all.”
“Why is it such a big secret?” I asked, concerned there was something deeper going on.
“It’s not a big secret.” He shrugged. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him though; I would need a better answer than that.
“Listen, families have problems. It seems normal nowadays. There are just some things better left unsaid, okay?” he asked gently.
“Yeah, I guess.” I didn’t think I would be getting any other answers than the one he just gave me. Not to mention, I completely and whole-heartedly understood about families having problems because I was used to them too.
“Thank you,” he said.
I took my focus from the picture to the other side of the dresser. Another picture showed an older version of him standing with his mom, smiling at the camera, and giving a big thumbs-up. His mom wore scrubs, and it looked like they were at the hospital where she worked now. “Did you go to work with your mom a lot?”
He walked behind me, his chest almost touching my back, causing a small shiver to run down my spine. He looked closer at the picture. “Yeah, on summer break especially. It was fun as a kid to roam the halls of a hospital, it lost its entertainment the older I got,” he said, walking back to his bed, sitting down on the edge of it.
