Page 16 of Not Your Enemy
“When was your last relationship?” I asked, trying to move the conversation along from being so me-focused.
“It’s been a few years now. She cheated on me; it was toxic from the jump, honestly.” She let out a huff before taking another bite of her food.
“That’s messed up. I hate that happened to you,” I said genuinely. I’d never understood the whole cheating thing.
“It’s all good. I’ve long since moved on from that situation.” She wiped her mouth with a napkin and then stood to take her dish to the sink. “I have a question now that I know you’re single and not pining after any exes.”
“Oh?” I asked, unsure where this was going.
“Will you go on a date with me tonight?” My heart melted at her sweet words. She was always taking my breath away somehow.
“What’d you have in mind?”
“If you’re down, there’s a show in Riley tonight that I’d like to see. It’s my friend’s band, and it will be more of an acoustic set. We could get dinner and then head over. Totally up to you.”
It was weird that last Friday all I could think about was getting this entire ordeal over with as quickly as possible. Now, taking a night off to spend time alone with Jade and in turn extend my stay here sounded good. God, why didn’t I feel worse about spending all this time with my best friend’s sister? Maybe because Jade was not at all what I'd expected her to be.
“Sounds good,” I responded with a light smile, hoping that she couldn’t see the internal struggle on my face.
We decided to start on the upstairs rooms tomorrow since we’d have a full day. Work seemed to drag by like it always did on Fridays. Using an old curling iron I found in Jana’s bathroom; I curled my hair during my lunch break. I was kicking myself that I hadn’t brought cuter clothes with me here, but I never would have thought in a million years I’d be in this situation.
When work ended, I touched up my makeup, adding a brighter lip and darker eyeshadow. Settling on a pair of dark-wash jeans and an emerald green blouse, nowhere near as pretty as Jade’s eye color, I slid back into my wedged sandals and headed downstairs. Jade had never said what time we needed to leave, but considering we had to drive to Riley, I figured the sooner the better. I found her in the kitchen grabbing a soda from the fridge.
“Ready?” I asked, admiring her outfit. She wore a distressed jean skirt over fishnet stockings and a tight-fitting band tee.
“Yep, want a drink for the road?” She asked before closing the fridge.
“I’m good.”
“Well, you can have some of mine if you change your mind.” She walked over to me, giving me a full-body scan on her way. “That color is so pretty on you; it makes your hair look even redder,” she said, running a strand through her fingers.
Leaning forward, she gave me a slow kiss on the lips, bending down slightly since she was a bit taller than I was.
Jade drove like a bat out of hell, which, for some reason, made sense. She seemed to be the kind of person who didn’t think too hard about things, lived in the moment, and took chances. It was so different from my semi-sheltered life of well thought out choices, strategies, and all that. But it was just another thing that I found appealing about her. Everything she did made me want her more. In a lot of ways, she was this forbidden, bad girl that I definitely should not want, and fuck, did that make me crazy with need for her.
“Wanna listen to anything?” she asked as we flew down the highway.
“Whatever you want to play is fine. My music tastes are a lot less refined than yours,” I stated, remembering her list of genres from the other night. She browsed channels for a minute before landing on one. Her hand dropped from the radio and down to my lap, entwining her fingers with mine.
“Where would you like to eat tonight?” She asked. I knew Riley pretty well since I’d grown up there. Mentally, I thought through some options that sounded good.
“Hmm, maybe Warner’s or that Italian place downtown?” I offered.
“Italian sounds good. My friend’s playing at The Mix downtown, so that’s perfect!” She exclaimed, giving my hand a squeeze. Before I could think better of it, I pried.
“So, how did you meet this friend of yours?”
“Sam? He,” she emphasized teasingly, “came in to get a tattoo a few years ago. We’ve kept in touch ever since. This band of his is new though, so no clue how good they’ll be. If they suck, don’t hold it against me.” I laughed lightly at her words.
“I’m sure they’ll be good; it’s kind of you to want to supportthem, regardless.”
“Yeah, yeah,” she said teasingly.
We sat in a corner booth of the restaurant, enjoying a glass of wine while we waited for our food. I’d ordered the alfredo, and just like with the wine, Jade just said, “Same.”
“So, are you an only child?” she asked.
Caught off guard, I shifted in my seat before responding. “I am. They wanted more, but I don’t think they could get pregnant again. I don’t know all the details.” I shrugged.