Friday
Lauren's POV
After a long day at work, I went straight home to relax. I had just changed out of my work clothes and was sitting on the couch trying to find something on TV to watch when the doorbell rung. I got up and looked out the door to see Jacob. I shook my head before opening the door.
"For you." He said handing me a dozen red roses.
"Thanks." I said taking them.
"So are you ready for our second date?" He asked as I smelled of the roses.
"Right now?" I asked looking down at what I was wearing.
"You are dressed fine and yes right now." He said looking over my outfit and smiling at me.
"Ok let me go put these in a vase and grab my purse." I said.
"Ok; I'll stay out here and wait for you." He said smiling.
I nodded my head before walking towards my kitchen.
I grabbed a vase and put some water in it before putting the roses in it. Then I went to my room to grab my purse plus my phone. I made a quick stop in the bathroom to check on my hair and outfit. I was just wearing a plain dark pink skirt and black dress shirt with my hair up loosely in a ponytail. Jacob on the other hand had on a pair of dark colored pants and a button down dark blue shirt so he came dressed for a date with his hair even perfectly styled.
"Everything okay?" Jacob asked in a loud voice.
I shook my head before walking out of the bathroom.
"Yeah." I said walking back into the living room and turning off the TV then he smiled at me.
"So where are we going?" I asked as I stepped outside then turned around and locked the door behind me.
"It's a surprise." He said as I turned around to face him and he held his right hand out towards me.
"What? Don't trust me that much?" He asked when I just looked at his hand for a little bit.
"Just don't like surprises that much." I said before slowly putting my hand in his.
"Well, we are just going to have to fix that." He said before interlacing his fingers with mine.
We started walking away from my house after that. I couldn't help but stare at our hands and how my hand seemed to fit so perfectly in his and how his hand felt great around mine.
"You okay? You are awfully quiet?" He asked looking at me after 5 minutes.
I quickly looked up from staring at our hands and looked at him.
"Yeah just been a long day." I said and he nodded his head.
"How's the church project coming?" I asked.
"Good." He said.
"Your dad has already gotten me another job helping someone else in town building something else once this job is complete." He said.
"That sounds like my dad." I said.
"And like you." He said smiling at me.
"Uh are we just heading to the motel?" I asked when I saw we were heading towards the Coates Motel.
He just shrugged his shoulders smiling before looking away from me.
"Lauren Thomas." Mrs. Willington( a woman that goes to our church) said.
I looked to see her as I came to a stop and Jacob stopped too. Mrs. Willington was looking at Jacob and me more specifically at the fact we were holding hands and she didn't look happy.
"Hey Mrs. Willington." I said smiling at her.
"Can I have a word with you please?" She asked forcing a smile on her face as she looked at me.
She gave Jacob a look before looking back at our hands being connected before looking at my face.
"Can it wait until tomorrow?" I asked and Jacob smiled a little bit.
"No it can't." She said.
"It's fine." Jacob said letting go of my hand.
"I'll give you two a minute." Jacob said smiling at me before walking away from me.
Mrs. Willington walked towards me after that and stopped in front of me.
"What are you doing associating with someone like that?" She whispered in a mad voice.
"Mrs. Willington, you don't know him." I whispered.
"He has tattoos and rumor has it he has been in prison." She whispered pointing at Jacob.
"Shouldn't we not judge someone until we get to know them?" I whispered.
"You are getting too friendly with him." She whispered in a mad voice.
"Mrs. Willington, I'm just giving him a chance like everyone deserves." I whispered.
"He's going to lead you down the wrong path Laruen." She whispered.
"You don't know that." I whispered.
"I know he's type; he has danger and trouble written all over him." She whispered.
"Cut your ties with him now and save your reputation Lauren." She whispered then she walked away.
When I got to where Jacob was at, he was looking at his feet and shifting back and forth. When I stopped beside him, he looked up at me.
"Let me guess, she told you to run away as fast as possible." He said looking at me.
"Were you in jail?" I asked.
He looked away and ran his left hand through his hair.
"You don't have to lie to me Jacob." I said then he looked at me.
He nodded his head.
"It's not something I want to talk about right now." He said.
"Is that why…" I started to say.
"All my stuff was in a garbage bag when you met me, yeah I just got out not long ago." He said shaking his head.
I held my left hand out towards him and he smiled at me.
"You still want to go through with the date after you just heard I was in jail." He said.
"We all have pasts Jacob." I said.
"I'm pretty sure yours is nothing like mine princess." He said before interlacing his fingers with mine.
"But thanks for not running away." He said as we started walking again.
"We are going to the motel." I said when we got to the motel and he smiled at me.
"So what are we doing; dinner and a movie?" I asked.
"Pizza and a movie of your choosing." He said as he opened the door to his room.
I laughed as I walked inside and saw he had already ordered pizza and it was on the small table. He let go of my hand as I walked towards the bed to see the collection of movies he had out.
"What type of pizza did you get?" I asked as I looked at the movies.
"Pepperoni." He said and I nodded my head.
"I so did not peg you for a Lord of the Rings Fan." I said and he laughed.
"Only some of the best films ever." He said sitting down on the bed.
"So under the tattoos is a geek." I said and he laughed.
"I prefer nerd." He said and I laughed.
"Ok nerd, we'll watch Back to the Future." I said picking up the movie and holding it out towards him then he smiled.
"Do you mind if we sit on the floor?" I asked.
"No not a problem." He said getting off of the bed.
He grabbed the pizza then walked towards the front of the bed. I sat down in front of the bed as he got some drinks then he sat the pizza and drinks down before putting in the movie. Afterwards he sat down on my left side since he sat everything else down in front of us.
"Is this okay?" He asked halfway through the movie as he put his right arm around me.
I nodded my head and he smiled at me.
When the movie was over, I stood up and gathered up my trash to throw it away.
"I'll walk you back home." He said before I opened the door.
"No, it's fine. You shouldn't have to walk away from here then back." I said shaking my head at him.
"But it's late and you shouldn't walk by yourself." He said stopping close to me.
"I've done it plenty of times before Jacob. I'll be fine." I said looking at him.
"I am not going to win this am I?" He asked leaning in closer to me.
I shook my head and he smiled at me.
"Alright; well good night Lauren." He said before kissing my right cheek.
"Good night Jacob." I said then I opened the door and walked away.
September 9th(Friday; 2 weeks later)
Joe's Cavern
"So you two have been on 6 dates now and yet you still haven't kissed him yet." Olivia said as we were sitting at a table listening to Greg singing karaoke.
"I don't want to rush it." I said.
"Girl, rushing it is kissing him on the first or second date. You two have had 6 dates now. Don't you want to know if there's chemistry there?" She asked smiling at me.
"People still give us looks." I said.
"Who cares? Jacob is a nice guy even I can see that who cares about his past I don't." She said.
"I care about how he treats you and he treats you like a princess." She said smiling at me as I drunk some of my Coke.
I nodded my head.
"Is there a reason why you haven't kissed him?" She asked.
"Are you afraid?" She asked.
I didn't have time to respond because Jacob sat down beside me on my left side.
"Hey, I didn't expect to see you here." He said smiling at me before kissing me on my cheek.
"Oh I dragged her here. I couldn't listen to Greg butcher karaoke songs without her."Olivia said and Jacob laughed before drinking some of his beer.
"He doesn't sound that bad." He said after Greg finished a song.
"Now who's being nice?" Olivia asked as I just drunk some of my Coke.
"Hey baby, I think you are up next." Greg said before kissing Olivia on the lips.
"No thanks all you baby." Olivia said smiling at him.
"Is everything okay?" Jacob whispered as he put his arm around me.
"Yeah." I whispered nodding my head before drinking more of my drink.
He just looked at me before nodding his head.
I spent most of the time there listening to them talk and after Jacob got finished with the beer he had he switched to Dr. Pepper. When it came time to leave, he asked to walk me home and I said sure.
"So is this where you tell me you don't want to see me anymore?" He asked when we got to my house and was standing on the porch.
I was looking for my keys when he asked that and I looked up at him.
"You've been quiet all night Lauren and distant. If you don't want to date anymore just tell me because we never put a label to this anyways so no harm done really." He said looking at me.
"It's not that Jacob. I like hanging out with you and going on dates with you." I said and he smiled.
"Good because I like being around you too." He said reaching for my right hand.
"So what's going on?" He asked as he interlaced his fingers with mine on my right hand.
"It's like you said; what are we?" I asked looking at him.
"It's simple Lauren; if you want to be my girlfriend then that's what you are." He said squeezing my right hand.
I nodded my head.
"So is that what you want?" He asked smiling.
"Yes." I said.
"Ok." He said.
"Alright it's getting late. I should go so goodnight Lauren." He said before kissing my left cheek.
I bit the bottom of my lip and he looked at me.
"What is it Lauren?" He asked shaking his head at me.
"Nothing; goodnight Jacob." I said before kissing his right cheek then I let go of his hand before unlocking my door.
After I got inside, I shook my head and just leaned against the door for a little bit. I know Jacob would never rush me to do anything but I really do want to kiss him; you know a real kiss but yet for some reason I keep chickening out of it.