As soon as I left Evie's house, I began to go for a walk before I head home. I fought the urge to run back to her and tell her she's enough for me. Tell her that there isn't anyone better than her and that she's it for me. I was tired of being let down though. How much more was I willing to put myself through all for one girl? Deciding against it, I pull out my iPhone and look for the one number I thought i'd never have to dial.
"Hey you, it took you long enough to call me," Jenny said, "what's up?"
"Well I was just wondering if i'm too late to take you up on that offer for a date?" I ask.
"It's never too late for you David. You had me waiting long enough"she said.
"Meet me at Oscar's coffeeshop in 10 minutes?"
"Okay. And David, don't stand me up" she says right before the line went dead. Before I could convince myself that I was wrong for this, if the girl I want doesn't want me, at least there's a girl out there who does. I turned the corner onto Adam's Street and continued my way down. I passed this old couple who were unloading groceries from their Sienna minivan and their three grandkids helping them. I wondered what their story was as I watched them help each other walking into their house. Could it be that I was the relentless romantic? I continued to make my way to the coffee shop and saw Jenny's purple Mini Cooper parked in the nearest parking stall. Jenny was inside sitting near the front of the window at the coffee shop. When I entered the shop, she waved me over.
"Hey!" Jenny said as I sat across her on the wooden stall. "I was beginning to think you wouldn't show" she adds.
"I was just a little caught up with something but can I offer to buy you a coffee?" I ask.
"Well I ordered me a venti no whip, soy milk latte and I ordered you a green tea frappè. I figured with all your running, a caffeine crash should be the least of your worries" she responds.
"Order for Jenny" the barista calls out right one cue. I stand to get the order and pay for it. Jenny didn't even put up a fight to who foot the bill. What a difference? No, don't start comparing them David. She doesn't want you, Jenny does I remind myself. I bring the order back and hand Jenny her drink while I take a sip of mine. It tastes like grass. I am drinking grass. In conclusion that green tea wasn't my thing, I smile at Jenny and thank her for the thought.
"Oooh i'm so glad you like your drink. I'll be sure to bring you some green tea bags at your next meet" she beams.
Shit.
"No you don't have to, that's too much trouble" I interject.
"Nonsense, if my man likes green tea then i'll even make him green tea before school!" she says excitedly while clapping her hands. Her man? This was barely even a first date I thought to myself. Jenny grabs me and turns her head before I can realize what she's doing, " CHEESE" she shouts leaving my right ear ringing. She snapped a picture of us on her Instagram page.
"Look at how cute we are! Everyone is going to be so jealous. We're like the IT couple David. The head cheerleader and the school's track star" she said while clapping her hands again.
After about thirty minutes of making small talk and carrying on a dry conversation on what would look better a mid riff or a crop top on her for Kalen Kavinski's party Sunday night, which she in fact decided on by herself not letting me get a word in, I stand up to leave. "I have to head home. I have practice at 6:30 and Sander is picking me up there"I say.
"Where's your truck?" She asks.
"Sander used it for the day"
"Well it's settled, i'll take you to practice. I'm not letting you walk home all alone" she remarks.
Seeing that it was a losing battle to reject Jenny's offer whilst insisting I could run home, I relcutantly climbed into the small dinky car and we headed off to grab my clothes for practice at my house. "Act Up" by City girls illuminates the car immediately. Jenny never missing a beat and throwing her hands up in the air while belting the lyrics," badass bitch bad attitude. Nails done. Hair done. Ass too". I sink into my seat and run my hand over my face. What have I done? We arrive at my house 1 City girl and 3 Cardi B songs later to find Sander waiting on my front steps.
"Yo man, where have you been? It's already 6:15. We're going to be late. Where's Evie?" Sander demands as he looks around. Immediately he spots the Mini Cooper and the girl seated in it.
"YO THAT'S THAT'S JENNY MY MAN. DAMN SON YOU DON'T HAVE TO APOLOGIZE FOR BEING LATE NOW. MY BOY FINALLY GETTING SOME" he yells a little too loud.
"Sands, just go ahead to practice. Jenny's going to drop me off, i'll tell you about it later" I say quickly.
"Nah dawg, don't sweat it. I knew all along you were a dirty motherfucker" he smirks before patting me on the back and glancing back at Jenny before he hops into my truck.
I make my way into the house and up the steps. The house is empty and quiet. Mom and Dad must've still been down at the coffeeshop working. My parents refused to hire more than six workers so they wouldn't have to rely on someone running their business. Mostly mom's idea since it was her dream to run a coffee shop in St. Thomas. Dad had taken initiative to offer me a job once I turned 16 which clearly I declined. Living with your parents was one thing but working with them too only would cause more of an expectation to take over the family business, I had other plans. I'd get into Penn State and study forensics. Since my grandfather was murdered without a trace of who did it, I always swore that i'd get into the field to understand more and maybe figure it out on my own one day.
I stop in my tracks when I realized I was wearing my track clothes underneath this whole time. "What a dumbass!" I can hear Ava's voice saying in my head. I leave my room running down the steps and out the front door back to Jenny's car. She's still blasting her music and mean mugging while she rapped out the lyrics.,
"Okay we're all set to go!" I scream out so she can hear me through the music.
"Alright. We only have 10 minutes to get there. Buckle up babe, we're going to blow this bitch wide open!" she assures.
Not knowing what Jenny meant by this, I didn't think twice to buckle up. Whatever bitch that's going to be blown wide open wasn't in my definition of safe. Jenny was flying past all the stop signs and even ran a red light. I gripped the bottom of my seat for dear life. The girl was a speed maniac, we had to be at least going 70 mph but I didn't have the strength to tell her to slow down fearing that'll only make her go faster.
We reached the track and i'm still trying to get ahold of myself. We nearly hit Coach Jared as we pulled into the entrace earlier. Looking back at him, he gave me a death glare and I turned back around. I already knew he was going to have me running for a longer period tonight. Grabbing what was left of my dignity, I hop out of the passenger side and thank Jenny for the ride.
"I'll see you later loverboy" she says before pulling out and drifting off again at the speed of light. I take a moment to admire that I was touching concrete instead of in that blasted car. I walked over to the bleachers and I can hear my friends hollering
"YO THAT'S WHATS UP! ALEXANDER FINALLY DROPPED HIS BALLS" Landon Artero yelled.
"BRO WHEN YOU DONE WITH HER, YOU MIND IF I GET A SHOT" Keith Landers fires back.
More of my friends proceeded to yell profanities that are not worth mentioning for you, the reader. Some things said shouldn't be repeated twice. I see Sander making his way to the bleachers coming out of the locker room.
"Everyone, everyone settle down. We gotta stop busting David's chops now" he paused, "because Jenny is already busting them for him. Bust down Jenniana."
"Fuck all of you fools man" I protest. "It ain't even like that!"
"All I know is if you're hanging around with Jenny, we all know she giving out her lil penny" Keith winks. All the guys burst into a fit of laughter. Seeing that I couldn't change their minds about Jenny, I put my earphones on not wanting to be apart of their sexual escapades conversation. Coach Jared breaks us out of our little circle that has formed on the bleachers and tells us to get a partner and warm up. Immediately I motion to Sander to be my partner and we head down to the track to run a few laps.
"So man, are you going to tell me what happened today or are you going to sit and pout like a little girl?" He asked.
"Evie. Evie asked me to leave and I called Jenny. That's it"
"That can't be it bro, you look like you were punched right in the gut"
"I'm just done chasing after the girl Sands. She clearly doesn't want to accept what I have to offer so why try? Besides, i'm giving it a shot with Jenny. Look I don't really want to talk about it man, i'd like just to run for a little and clear my head" I say to end the conversation.
I continue the rest of practice not really stopping to talk to any of the guys. I managed to crunch in a few more goes at the 400 meter dash before heading to take a shower. It's a good thing I keep a towel and some spare clothes in the locker since the last time I forgot my duffle at home. When I come out of the shower, I see a text from Jenny to come over to her house. I readily agree to it and informed Sander i'll drop him home.
It's 8:45pm and i'm sitting outside Jenny's house with a pizza from Giolo's. The morale compass in me is screaming to turn back and go home but the voice in my head is telling me I want to go inside. Every ounce of thought against this onto vanished once I knocked on the door and saw Jenny. She was wearing the shortest pair of black shorts that anyone's daughter shouldn't be allowed to wear and a red crop top that shower her core on display. Well, it's too late to walk away now.
"Pizza?" I ask while I clear my throat.
"Mmmm sure" she says guiding my hand into the living room.
"I hope you like Italian sausage!" I said.
"From the looks of it, i'd love a bite of Italian sausage" she stares at me lustfully. Damn, I really set myself up for that one.
Trying not to give her any implication that I wanted anything more than just dinner, I pull my hand away from her grasp and settle myself on her couch. I opened the pizza up and grabbed a slice offering her one as well. She took a slice also and shoved the tip of the pizza down her mouth before biting a piece off. Her eyes were seductive but mine were reclusive. Did she just deep throat a pizza? Was I supposed to find that sexy? You have been talking to yourself too much today David my brain said.
"Giolo's makes the best pizza in town" adverting to change the point of conversation she was trying to make.
"Yeah but I heard David Alexander has the best sausage in town" she says placing a hand on my lap. She starts to rub up my thigh while placing her pizza on a plate. When did that get there? I thought to myself. She never even went to the kitchen. A travel near my zipper snaps me out of my trance and I jump up immediately. She then pulls me to sit back down and starts kissing on my ear," relax babe. I'll take care of you" she says while leaving kisses down my neck. I'm unable to move as Jenny is straddling me now and roaming her hands down my shirt while sucking on my face. Literally sucking on my face, I don't know if eye kisses were a thing but she was definitely into kissing eye lids. She grabs both my hands to run it down her body.
"I'll show you what to do David. Just free your mind and let me relieve some of your stress" she says.
"I think we're moving a little too fast" as I grab her hands and lift her off me,"don't get me wrong Jenny. I think you're hot, like insanely hot but I don't think I want to do this tonight" I finish off.
Clearly offended at my outburst,"Wow so you are gay" she states while glaring at me," it makes sense now why you only dated one girl through high school and reject the rest. I mean you dress too fashionable to be straight and you're always with Sand-"
I cut her off before she could even end that sentence, " No, i'm not gay. I just think that sex should be consensual between two people and I think this is your first time to hear a guy say no to you. Look Jenny, I think you're great but i'm not looking for a quick fix. I think you should have more respect for yourself than just giving your body to every guy who shows interest. You worked hard to build your body and guys should work hard to view your temple".
"Totally gay!" she adds.
"Not gay!" I said shaking my head. "I just respect you enough to know that you deserve to be looked at better. You aren't just a piece of meat okay? I didn't come here because I knew i'd get sex, I came here for your company" I say before I could regret acting on my thoughts. Stupid moral compass. Stupid slide show about STD'S.
"Wow, you are a good guy" Jenny finally says after maybe contemplating if she was right about me being gay.
"I'm really not. I just had my eye on one girl for a long time but i'm over it now. So if you'd like to give another shot at our pizza night, i'm willing to restart." I ask her.
"Sure. Hands off this time, I swear!" she says crossing her heart.
We continued the night eating our pizza. She told me how her parents split up when she was young and she was being raised by her mother. Her dad is a wealthy guy who lives in Florida hence how she got a Mini Cooper and would send gifts to make up for his absence in her life. I was beginning to understand why Jenny acts out the way she does. When it was time for me to leave, she walked me out to the door and pecked my cheek. We agreed to ride together to Kellan's party. As I was about to start my truck, I get a text from Evie.
In love you say? Attached Image.
I click on the image, it's a picture of Jenny and I from the coffee shop earlier. Fuck. I throw my phone across my truck and slam my steering wheel. I felt like the douche bag I swore never to be yet here I am, I started the day with one girl and ending it with another. Great.