Chapter 18: Preparations and Date the sequel 2 (Jason and Chloe)

Hey Guys, sorry again for the second half of the chapter being delayed. I will try to get both out wednesday next week, but given the last few chapters i wont promise that.

(Pov Jason)

Options, an infinity of them. So many that it boggled the mind. A wall of paper, yellow, and white. The air was suffused with that persistent warm, nutty, and, for some reason, slightly fluffy aroma. How something could smell fluffy, he had absolutely no idea, but it did nonetheless. In fact, it was almost a little terrifying how much variation a corporation could create to maximize profit. Not that the fear had anything to do with the things in front of him, but rather the feeling might have more to do with what stood next to him.

“Wanna share a bucket? We can take one of the really big ones… You know, to save money?” He half-stammered. Glancing over at Chloe, she was looking at him, eyes bright.

“Yeah, sure. We could save like thirteen dollars if we got the jumbo one. I applaud you, good sir; you have reduced the tyranny of popcorn prices in movie theaters by making it our popcorn bucket.” She giggled slightly, and Jason couldn't stop himself from scoffing.

Opening the door to the heated cabinet, Jason grabbed a jumbo bucket of popcorn. The thing was massive, feeling more like he was holding a toddler than just a paper bowl of popcorn.

He paid for their drinks, popcorn, chocolate, and ,hopefully unknown to Chloe, some other really sour candy. She loved those. Only god knew how many times he had seen her sneak some in class when the teacher told them to self-study. Jason was not a fan, which was fine; it meant they wouldn't compete over it.

It was still too early for the line to have formed, so they simply sat down in the lobby and waited in a slightly awkward, if amicable, silence. It didn't take long before the awkwardness got the better of them. Chloe broke first.

“So I know you said it was a surprise, but can you tell me what movie we are watching?” She tilted her head slightly to the side.

There wasn't really any point in keeping it a secret anymore; they were here after all, and he could just keep her busy so she didn't look into it.

He cleared his throat. “Well, I know you aren't the biggest fan of action movies and the like. So I picked a drama.”

“Which one?”

He picked up his phone and found their tickets in his inbox. “This one.” He pointed at the name. ”It's a drama-slash-romance, I think, or that's what it said at least. It's good, supposedly.”

She read the name and grinned. “Oh! I have been looking forward to this one. It got great reviews. I didn't read too much, though. I didn't want to spoil it.”

​

Jason felt his chest lift. He had gotten it right! He had spent days thinking about it, reading reviews, anything he could to find the right movie. It might not be perfect, but it was as close as he could get.

It turned out the movie was decent. It wasn't amazing, but Jason had never been the biggest fan of romance movies. Not that he disliked them, they simply weren't his first choice. No, he preferred action movies, dramas, or crime. Not horror, though, never horror.

He didn't catch some of the most emotional moments, though; that wasn't really where his attention was. Glancing over at Chloe, he saw her entirely absorbed by the movie, distractedly eating small amounts of popcorn. She missed on the first attempt more often than not.

The rain was pouring down as the main character, at least the man in the pair, poured his heart out to the woman. They mentioned the character's name at some point, but it didn't really matter.

He reached out for some popcorn, and as his fingers spread to grab a fistful, his pinky finger touched something soft and warm. It didn't flinch away; he didn't mind it either. It felt nice.

It took him a second to realize it was a finger belonging to a hand, one also reaching for some of the popcorn in the bucket. He didn't look, he didn't move his hand either, just as the other hand didn't move. It had to be Chloe's; they were sharing the popcorn after all. Still, for a split second, a single nerve-wracking thought settled in his subconscious. What if it's not?

He moved his head to the side, just the bare minimum needed to glance over at the hand he must now have been touching pinkies with for close to twenty seconds. A wave of heat flooded his chest as he saw that the hand was both a womans and wore the ring Chloe was wearing. He let out a breath he hadnt noticed he was holding. His eyes followed the arm, reaching the shoulder, then up the neck, before he saw Chloe's face. He had expected to see her side profile. He didn't.

Chloe was looking straight at him, giving him a shy smile. The hand stirred, her finger moving to slightly cover his, hooking ever so slightly around it. The smile on her face turned more doubtful, questioning. He hadn't really seen her this kind of vulnerable before. She had certainly talked about things, but nothing like this. This seemed different. It felt different.

He hadn't gotten over his crush on her, no matter how much he thought he had. The certainty of that had been growing since she confessed and they agreed to go out. Though he suspected it had started already when Jasmine opened the door for it.

A warm glow had spread itself through his chest. He was smiling too, his own smile equally as shy as hers had been. Twisting his hand slightly, he hooked his own finger ever so slightly around hers. It felt right. Reassuring in a way. Though his heart was still pounding in his ears. It was exciting, in a similar but different way than things did with Jasmine. With her things felt faster, she just went for it. It was, all things considered, a nice change of pace, at least right now.

The night air felt great; it filled his lungs and prickled his skin. It made a great contrast with how hot the air had gotten in the theater. Though the best part of the walk was definitely the company. He and Chloe had been holding hands since they first touched. While it was nice, it still made his hand feel gross. Not because he was holding her hand. Lying palm open down into a bucket of popcorn for ten minutes had a tendency to make hands feel dusty and greasy at the same time. Still, neither of them had any desire to let go.

“So I have been wondering something. Why did you ask Jasmine to borrow her car for this?” She swung their hands lazily, her tone curious.

The car was parked halfway between the restaurant they were headed to and the cinema. It was only about a ten-minute walk between them, and it was actually possible to walk between the two places. That had surprised him a little, as it wasn't always that simple.

Jason looked towards the sky, which was still awash with color, the sun having just recently passed below the horizon. Jasmine's car was fantastic; it was great to drive, even if he wasn't quite used to it. More importantly, though it wasn't his old pickup, it didn't smell like old motor oil and mildew. His car would probably leave mystery stains on their clothes from whatever grease or oil had dripped off of what had last been in the seats. Not that it ever had.

He had tried to clean it, of course, he had. Neither the stains nor the smell had gone away. Asking Jasmine hadn't exactly been easy. But needs must, and the car felt far more appropriate for something like this. It definitely left a better impression. As long as you don't know whose car it is.

He rubbed his neck with his free hand. “Well, it seemed like a better car to use than mine. You know, for a date date and all. Thinking about it, it might have been a little odd.”

She raised an eyebrow. “ A little odd? Jason, it's really odd. Still, I appreciate it.”

He almost faltered on his next step, hearing that. “You… do?” Jason tilted his head as he looked at her.

She nodded. “Yeah, I do. You don't really ask for things, well, not stuff like that. So I appreciate it.”

He could feel heat creeping up his cheeks. “Well, I figured it would be nice to do it properly, you know. So the car seemed to fit better.”

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(Pov Chloe)

It hadn't taken them long to reach the restaurant, a nicer Mexican place. She had always liked Mexican food, spicy food in general, actually. Anything that made it feel like her mouth was on fire. The place had not disappointed. Far too often, Mexican food this far north was watered down, not proper Mexican or Latin American food. Stuff like Taco Bell. Sure, it was decent, but it wasn't good.

She moaned as she took another bite of her Pollo a la Diabla. She had asked for it to be extra spicy, enough so that the waiter had insisted on giving her a glass of milk. She had to take a pauses between the bites just to breathe.

Looking up, she saw Jason looking at her, a light blush on his cheeks. However, unlike her own blush, she knew she was blushing, or her face was actually on fire; she doubted his had anything to do with the food.

“So I am guessing the uh… food was to your satisfaction then?” He was barely suppressing a chuckle.

Oh, so that's how it's gonna be. Go for it, that had been Jasmine's advice. It had been rather more long-winded, but that was the summary of it. A small amount of sauce was dripping down her chin. She could use that.

Tilting her head slightly down so she was looking at him slightly through her lashes, she took her thumb and slowly dragged the sauce onto it. She then slowly licked it off her thumb, making as much of a show as she could while still trying not to be noticed by the other guests.

She made her voice as husky as she could manage. “Yeah, it's absolutely delicious.”

It was stupid, far too over the top. Or at least that was what she would have been thinking if she hadn't seen the deep crimson color Jason's face had turned. She couldn't stop herself from laughing as he covered his mouth and tried to seemingly recover some composure.

“Well, that's… That's great to hear.“ He hesitated a bit before a small grin appeared on his face. “But you know if food's your thing, I am sure we can buy some hot sauce, and you can slather it on something else.”

It didn't sound like a great idea, hot sauce on something that sensitive. It might actually hurt a lot, depending on the hot sauce. It was also kinda cute, the way his voice almost faltered as he spoke. Trying to maintain the confidence he clearly didn't fully feel, but was dead set on acting out. Not that he should feel confident, but he clearly hadn't done this a lot. Then again, neither had she. Still, that wasn't a reason to stop.

“That sounds like a great idea. But I might have to… lick it up quickly."  She brought her drink up to her mouth and used her tongue to play with the straw. Or at least that's what she tried to do. The thing didn't want to cooperate and just flailed around like one of those blow-up figures outside car dealerships.

Jason apparently found it funny. He snorted, spewing some of his own coke down his shirt.

“Oh shit!” He grimaced and brought the napkin up to clean himself up.

Chloe laughed and handed him her largely unused napkin.

They ended up getting dessert. Jason got the churros and she got the ice cream, vanilla and chocolate. She really wanted the churros, but the glass of milk wasn't enough. The ice cream helped. Luckily Jason had never been a stingy man, and while he put on an act he didn't seem to actually mind her stealing some of his churros. Though he did return the favor, and stole a spoonful of vanilla.

“Hey Jason.”

“Yeah?” 

“How long… have you actually been interested in me?”

Jason stopped eating and looked up at her. His eyebrows furrowed slightly. 

“I think middle school, but I never pursued anything for it. You were always going to go to college and I wasn't. To be fair I didn't know what the feeling was at first, I still kind of don't, I think?”

“What do you mean?”

Jason leaned back, his eyes locking on the table in front of him. “I am not good with most of this. I like you, a lot. As more than a friend. But I wasn't really sure at the time what that meant, then by the time I was more sure…  Well you were gonna move on to bigger and better things, and you still are I hope. I was gonna stay here. I didn't feel it was worth the heartbreak to try something that wouldn't last. I also didn't want to ruin our friendship over it, if… if you didn't feel the same way."

She could understand that, she didn't have to accept it. Long distance relationships worked all the time, they failed all the time too but that wasn't important. She also didn't blame him, she hadn't exactly been too clear about how she felt.

“I can see that.” She nodded. Now wasn't the time to argue the point. 

“How about you?”

How long had she liked him? It had been years. It hadn't started out as intensely as it was now. Not love in the romantic sense, just attraction. Noticing him helping out more than he had to, the good company. How easy it was to laugh. Wanting to spend more time with him. The intensity had come with the years. 

“Remeber when we were doing the group project on different power sources in the last year of middle school?”

He shook his head. It wasn't surprising it hadn't been a big deal, not really. It had simply become memorable to her. 

“I figured. The rest of our group were a bunch of dead beats. They didn't help out with anything. But still just to, you know, improve the presentation, I wanted to add a bunch of demonstrations, for the ones where we could do that. They agree to help out, but the only one to actually do it was you. I kinda started to like you more after that, more than as just a friend.”

She did feel a little crest fallen that he didn't remember. But she hadn't really expected him to.  It would have been nice if he remembered though.

Jason shifted awkwardly. “Sorry Chloe.”

She gave him a small smile. “It's fine Jason, it was just a school project, one that happened years ago. No need to apologize."  

It was late when they got back to her place. Not that Jason was staying, not that she would mind if he did. Like a true gentleman, he had, of course, walked her to the door.

“Well, this is me then.” She bounced slightly on her toes.

“Yeah, I guess so.”

She smiled at him. “I had fun tonight, Jason. Thank you. I know there's a chance we won't do this again, but I had a really…”

“Chloe.” Jason interrupted her rambling, a soft smile on his face. “I wouldn't mind… I want us to do this again, it was fun. I am not sure how all of this is gonna work. I think we need to talk about it, you, me, and Jasmine, I mean.”

He was right about that; they would need to… He wants there to be next time? He wants there to be a next time! Her heart was hammering in her ears. “You… you want there to be a next time?”

“Yeah, I would actually really like that. Do you want… that?”

“Yes, I really want that. And yeah, we really should discuss that. All three of us I mean.”

Jason shifted nervously, rubbing his collarbone weakly. “Can I kiss you?”

Oh my god, Oh my god, Oh my god. “Yes!” She answered a little too quickly. “Yes, please, I mean.”

His hand brushed a lock of hair out of her face as he leaned in. She could feel his body heat radiating from him. Almost there. She could just imagine the numbing fireworks that would go off the second their lips touched, gentle at first, of course, then more determined. Hell, if he didnt follow up on that, SHE would.

His lips were less than half an inch from hers when the door behind them opened.

“Hey, you two.” The deeper voice of her father said, as polite as ever.