Jakoby

David turns away, a small smile on his face. I definitely did not hear him come in.  I was obviously too busy kissing Ruby to hear anything. Now I reach for her shirt and pass it to her. She slips it over her head right after climbing off my lap. I miss her there already. I'm still hard. Still shirtless, I address David.

   "Sorry," I say to him. "It's all good."

He doesn't look at us again but he says, "Next time... send me a text?"   

I'm not embarrassed to be caught making out with Ruby. I mean, we just established that we want to be together. So, she's my girlfriend, right? Maybe we should have kept our clothes on, but I couldn't help it. At least we weren't mid-fuck when David walked in.

"Sorry, yeah," I say to him and then look at Ruby again. She's sitting next to me, looking down at her hands. "Uh, David, this is... my girl, Ruby."

"The infamous Ruby," David says quickly, now walking through the room to get to the tiny kitchen. "Nice to meet you."

Ruby looks up and gives him a smile. "You too. Sorry about... that."

David lets out a laugh. "No need for apologies. We're all human."

He reaches into the fridge for a bottle of water and then turns back towards us, smiling again.

The shitty thing about this apartment is there's no where to go, unless you're Topher or Johnny. David and I have to spend our time in the living room when we're home. I can't bare the thought of Ruby and I now just hanging out with David, so I turn to her.

    "You want to... go?" I ask her, because I'm very unsure about what to do next.     

Ruby nods and it seems like she's waiting for me to make the first move, so I wave at David and tell him I'll be back later. He nods and watches us go, as I take Ruby's hand and lead her back towards the door.

In the hallway, we walk hand in hand down towards the elevator. In the elevator, she squeezes my hand and smiles, as if she's suddenly shy about what just happened between us.

"So... what should we do?" I ask her, just as the doors open and we step out into the lobby.

"I have the car," she says and I doesn't slip past me that she doesn't say Garrett's car. Just the car. I know it's his.

"Oh, nice."

    "We could get milkshakes," she suggests.

"That's random," I tell her as I push open the outside door.

The cool air hits us suddenly. She pulls at my hand and we slip along the side of the building to where she parked. She was only in my apartment for an hour at the most. I don't know what my plan was besides talking to her about us and introducing her to my roommates.

   "I like milkshakes. Don't you? There's this ice cream place by the museum called Mel's and they have amazing milkshakes."

"I like milkshakes," I tell her.

   "Good."

She grins and unlocks the car with the thing on the keychain and a minute later I slip into the passenger seat next to her. The strong smell of the air freshener and cologne hits me. I'm reminded this is Garrett's car but I have to shake it off. He's her roommate. They've been friends for a long time.

A few minutes later we are driving off down the street towards downtown. She has driven carefully each time I'm in the car with her but this time she drops one hand from the steering wheel and  wraps it around mine, and squeezes. I wonder if she's thinking about the same thing I am. Her in my lap. Our shirts off. I know what she wanted to do because I wanted that, too. Would we have had sex right there if we weren't interrupted?

When she pulls into Mel's parking lot, she pulls around and goes through the drive-thru. There's only one car ahead of us, so she glances at me and asks what kind I want.

   "Chocolate?" I answer right away.

   "That's boring. They have caramel, cookies and cream, strawberry vanilla-" She's reading off the sign out the window.

   "Chocolate," I say again, and stick my tongue out at her.

She nods and then looks at the sign again. "Ooh. Orange Creamsicle, yes."

   "You're very excited about milkshakes," I tell her, hoping she knows I'm teasing.

   "Milkshakes are my jam," she says and then laughs and turns the radio down.

After she orders, I hand her a twenty dollar bill, to pay. She looks at it and then back up to me. "Thanks."

    "Of course. I will always pay for your milkshakes," I tell her.

   "My hero," she jokes.

Milkshakes in hand, she pulls the car further down the parking lot and turns it off. Then she unbuckles and turns towards me in her seat. She's waiting for me to try it, I know it. But I'm more interested in her.

   "Can we play my game again? I tell you on3 thing about me,   and-"

She's sucking on the straw of her very orange milkshakes when she nods at me. Happy with that answer, I go on.

   "So... I didn't tell you yet, but... your song might get some radio play."

    "My song?" she asks, as if she's forgotten about it entirely. It's only been a week and a half since she came to the bar with her brother and his girlfriend to watch me play. Since that night that she kissed me in the alley.

   "We finished recording and Doc is really happy with it. Gabe's putting in in rotation at the club during non-live music times, too."

   "Jakoby, that's amazing. I still can't believe you wrote me a song." She sips her milkshake again, keeping her eyes on me. "Maybe you will be famous one day. Maybe everyone will actually know your name."

I smile at her and then nod. "Your turn."

She grins. "I really like kissing you."

   "You keep telling me things I already know," I tease her.

   "Fine. Um... I lived in, like, six different places from when I was twelve to eighteen. Different families, different foster homes, one shelter. Sometimes when I'm laying in bed I think about those years, and how completely uprooted my life was and I feel like this life that I have now... it's too good to be true."

Damn. I wasn't expecting that. This girl hasn't really given me much in terms of her backstory, so this is not only surprising but it feels so important.  She's sharing. She's opening up. I have to give her something back.

I could tell her my mom died a year ago and I came here to try to get my life together. I could tell her that I'm a musician because my dad is a musician, but he abandoned me a kid. But I want to hold onto those things for now. I don't want tonight to be about sad things.

   "I want to have at least three kids and spoil them rotten," I say, because at least it's something true. "Obviously, when I grow up and get married."

    "Grow up?" she asks with a laugh.

    "I don't feel very grown up at the moment. But I want to give my kids everything they could ever want and also just be there for them, every day."

   "That's really sweet," she says, and squeezes my hand again. "I don't know if I want kids."

My heart sinks for a second, but I know she must have a reason for this, so I wait.

   "I mean, maybe I do when I'm grown up, too. But it feels like such a big responsibility and it should be something you commit to for eighteen years, right? My parents were not able to do that."

I almost say "Mine either", but I stop myself at the last second. I don't know why I'm not wanting to share about my childhood tonight, but I don't.

   "I want to kiss you," I tell her, because it's all I can think about and it will stop me from feeling guilty for not sharing my past with her.

   "You have barely had any of your milkshake." She smiles and sips her, and keeps her eyes on me as I takes a big sip of mine.

Almost immediately I get a brain freeze and have to squeeze my eyes shut. She giggles and covers her mouth.

   "Sorry, I didn't mean for that to happen," she tells me, but then reaches across and takes my milkshake out of my hand.

A moment later she puts both of them into the cup holders between us and leans over so she's close to me. I can smell her hair product - shampoo, I assume. It's fruity. She doesn't always smell the same but she smells so good, it's intoxicating to me. God, I want to take her into my arms and tell her she's mine. I want to hear the words roll off her tongue. But instead of making this moment awkward with questions, I pull her onto my lap in the passenger seat. She squeaks and then laughs before she settles in and presses her chest against mine.

   "Hi." Her voice is a whisper but it's like music to my ears.

   "Hey."

   "I thought you wanted to kiss me?"

    "Oh, I do. But I want to admire you first," I say, really, truly looking at her.

    "Admire me? We're not in the 1940s." She laughs and it fills the car for a second. "Kiss me, Jakoby."

So I do. I twist my fingers through her hair and I pull her even closer, and I taste her. There's so much sweetness on her tongue, from her milkshake, and I kiss her so hard that her lips are swollen and red when I pull away for air. Every part of me wants her in this moment that my brain shuts off again. My hands go up the back of her shirt and I'm fumbling with her bra. She pulls my hair and moans into my mouth. But then suddenly she sits back and looks at me, too serious. She can't catch her breath and I am scared that I hurt her or something.

   "A car just pulled in beside us," she says, looking over.

I glance over and she's right. Literally three feet outside my window there's a family getting out of an SUV. It's the middle of the day in an ice cream parlour parking lot. Jesus, Jakoby, get it together.

I sigh as she climbs back into her seat and picks up her milkshake again.

   "Rain check?" she asks me, a moment later.

I nod. I'm embarrassed and I'm rock hard and I should have known better. I pick up my milkshake and take a sip, just for something to do.  I'm so into this girl that I almost just tried to take off her bra in public, in daylight. It's like I'm trying to mark her, tell her she's mine. I just want her to know it.

A few minutes later, she starts the car and starts driving. I don't know where she's going but I don't really care. I'm just glad I'm still with her.