Chapter Thirteen

I decide on a pair of ripped jeans with a striped oversized sweater tucked in slightly at the front, along with a pair of white converse. I brush my fingers slowly but quickly through my hair, patting it down so it doesn't look like a forest at the top of my head, noticing I have barely two minutes left before he comes to pick me up and I know I cannot do one of those oh so awesome thirty second hairstyles. I quickly put on some mascara and a bit of lipgloss. I grab my purse with some money and my debit card, as I grab my teddy jacket as it's kinda chilly outside for a November afternoon.

I rush down the stairs, my feet padding quickly as I scan the mess I've made in the living room. There are bags of chips and cookies crumbs all over the couch, with my fuzzy blanket draped over the floor for some weird reason. I quickly run around cleaning up my mess, just in case someone gets home before I do.

Just as I'm putting away all the snacks, the doorbell rings. I quickly shove everything into the cupboard and stand in front of the mirror for a few seconds, checking my appearance one last time before, opening the door.

"Hey, babygirl." He says, causing my face to scrunch up in annoyance. He's wearing a black zipup overtop of a thrasher shirt and black ripped jeans. His hair is in a man bun and he's wearing all black converse on his feet.

"Hey, I don't know what your name is." I say back with the same enthusiasm.

"Nice casual outfit." He trails off, eyeing me up and down one too many times.

"Why, is it too casual or too fancy? I mean it's just the mall right. I could go change really quickly. I happen to change quickly. Just tell me what I should wear. Jeans? Sweats? Oh I look so lazy in those! How about a hoodie? A tee? Or what abou-" he shuts me up from continuing to ramble by placing two fingers on my lips, causing me to jolt back instantly from the surprising contact. My eyes widen as do his before his lips curve into a smile.

"You're cute when you ramble you know, Erin." He whispers, looking deep into my eyes and smiling. I pull off his fingers from my lips and say,

"So the outfit is good right?" Looking down at my choice of clothes. I tuck in the front of the sweater properly, before shifting on my feet.

"Yeah, it's nice. The teddy jacket adds a nice fall touch to it. You could be a great fashion designer." He comments with a nod.

"Um, no thank you, I can't do this all my life." I refer to my outfit. Hell no. Not choosing outfits for the rest of my life.

"Let me a guess, your room is currently trashed with all your clothes because it took you forever to pick out an outfit?" I nod sheepishly causing him to smirk. There was no point in hiding it.

Girls have lots of clothes.

Girls never know what to wear.

Girls try to give off a good impression.

Girls complain they have no cute clothes.

Girls are always insecure or unsure.

I am girls.

"You don't need to wear super nice clothes when you're with me." He says, tilting his head slightly, causing his boyish smile I come out.

"Why is that?"

"Because either way, I'm the hot one." He says smirking. Oh sure...

"That was not at all offensive." I say grabbing my keys, turning away from him.

"Don't worry babygirl, you'll get used to it." He pops me a dramatic wink.

"Uh, well thanks a lot then for the self esteem boost." I say, shutting the door behind us and struggling to get the key out of the keyhole after locking it.

"You tend to humiliate yourself a lot don't you." He notes, looking down at me struggling to pull the key out. I tug on it with four fingers and it just seems to be stuck.

Would it be a good idea to leave it here and wait for the next person to deal with it?

No, because with my luck, the next person would be a robber.

"Shut up, you're bad luck." I choke out, still struggling.

"Come on, we both know that's not true." He turns and looks at me from the side of my face, leaning in slightly.

"You wish." I say, forcefully pulling out the key, hoping I didn't jam the lock. I turn around quickly, only to walk straight into his rock hard chest.

"Ow!" I say rubbing my nose after the hard impact. It's probably turning bright red right now. Like the rest of my face.

"How much do you work out? You've tainted my nose for life!" I scream, slightly angry from the pain, while rubbing my smooth nose.

"Let's say a few hours a day and I workout every day." He says as if it was the most normal thing ever.

"Ugh, my nose!" I scream, but not so loudly.

"Don't worry it'll be fine. Sit right here, I'll be right back." I plop down on the steps as he says, and he jogs over to the back of his jeep. After some shuffling, he jogs back up the steps with a bag.

"Inside is an ice pack. Hold it on your nose." I grab the ice pack from him and rest it on my nose. Not even thirty seconds later, my hand starts to freeze. I try not to show the cold and uncomfortable feeling as I continue to hold the ice to my nose. He notices and says,

"Here, let me do it." I gladly give him the ice and he sits down beside me and slowly and carefully, uses one hand to hold the ice to my nose while the other hand rests gently around the little of my lower back. The pain fades away and he notices too.

"Are you okay now?" He says getting up, removing his hand from my back, allowing some of the chilly wind to go up my sweater. I shift slightly.

I may miss his touch. But, never will I admit that to anyone but myself.

"Yeah, thanks." I say, also awkwardly getting up.

He walks over to the passenger seat and holds the door open for me, chucking the ice into the cooler in the back of his car.

"For you, babygirl." He bows down slightly, smiling when I smile too.

"Call me Erin, please and thank you." I say, as the huge seats engulfs me. He walks over to the driver seat and gets in himself. He quickly reaches over me, his face dangerously close to mine as he snaps in the seatbelt and says,

"Even Jay, knows how to put on his seatbelt." He chuckles, laughs ripping through his throat and I can feel the rumbling against his chest.

"Shut up, I know too. I just kinda forgot." I admit with a small smile.

"When you saw this?" He says motioning to himself.

"Oh puh-lease, don't be so flattered. Just zoned out." I shrug it off, looking out the window to see my familiar neighbour's house.

"Yeah right. Babygirl, you and I both know I'm good looking. You don't have to hide your likings." He says, as he speeds out of the driveway and onto the street.

"I am not and I do not like your body. Your hard chest just bruised my nose!" I remind him, pointing to it.

"Oh true, but I know you can't resist this."

He's so cocky.

"Oh yes I can." I argue.

"We'll see for how long." He smirks and I already know he's got something up his sleeve.

"Okay then, challenge accepted."

"You know I'm gonna win again like the ring toss." I remember that day.

I don't know how I felt about that anymore. Did I like meeting him? Yes? No? Maybe?

"That wasn't fair I wasn't concentrating and you also have longer arms." I look down at his rippling muscles through the tight sleeves of his zipup.

"Well, this challenge is fair. If I see you eye raping me, I win. I know you're broke so you won't owe me any money." He smiles, showing me his pearly whites as I shoot him a glare in response.

"Who said I was gonna owe you money?" Sis, who?

"Me, of course."

I look over to see him smiling a huge smile like a little kid. I smile back like an idiot.

"I know, I'm hot and cute." He smiles, once more.