|
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******************************************************************
Jason took several twenties out of the brown vinyl bank
bag and removed
two panels of wood from the floor of the boxcar.
He examined the space
and, when satisfied with its size and security, shoved
the bag of cash
inside. He replaced the wooden planks, pounding
them securely into
place with his fist. He placed the cash in his
pocket and thought about
Carly. A smile crossed his face. Now that
he had some money, he would
be able to do something nice for her. What, he
didn’t know. But there
had to be something. Jason put his jacket on and
stepped out of the
boxcar.
********************************************************************
Carly perched herself on a barstool and glanced around
at the patrons in
Luke’s. She’d never been here, but there was a
familiarity about it she
couldn’t quite shake. She ordered a beer from the
bartender and tried
to ignore the two women on the opposite end of the bar
who were
obviously making her appearance the topic of their conversation.
So her
dress was a tad bit short. Carly knew she looked
good in it. She shot
them a nasty look, deciding they were just jealous.
Giving the
bartender a wide grin as he placed her beer on the counter
in front of
her, Carly tipped her head back and let the ice cold
alcohol flow into
her mouth.
A voice startled her, nearly causing her to choke.
“Why would such a
stunning woman be drinking alone?”
Carly regarded the man who took the barstool next to her.
He was
handsome, well dressed in a business suit and tie, and
frankly, he was
interested. Carly smiled at him, deciding this
may be worth her while.
“Do you mind if I join you?” he was asking as he waved
the bartender
over. He ordered a gin and tonic, returning Carly’s
smile. ‘He’s
polite too,’ Carly thought. This was getting better
and better.
“I’m Carly,” she said, offering her hand.
The stranger took it and placed a kiss on the back
of her hand. Carly
looked down shyly. She tried to gain her wits about
her.
“You got a name?” she asked, taking another large swallow of her beer.
“Does it matter?” the man asked, getting a strange glint in his eye.
Carly narrowed her eyes. “Not to me,” she retorted,
turning to face the
bar.
“I apologize if I’ve offended you, Carly,” the stranger
said, putting a
hand on her knee.
Carly rolled her eyes, pushing his hand off her knee and
taking an
uninterested glance around the room.
“Look, let’s start over,” he said, replacing his hand
on her knee. “I’m
David. I think we’d get along really well.
I have a room at the Port
Charles Hotel if you want to…”
Carly whirled around to face him, cutting him off with
a burst of anger.
“Excuse me?!” she interjected, her eyes flashing anger.
“I am not a
hooker so get your greasy paws off of me and go buy it
somewhere else!”
David just grinned, finishing his drink and slamming the
glass onto the
bar. He moved his hand from her knee up her thigh
until it was skimming
the hem of her dress. He placed his other hand
around her shoulders,
brushing her neck with his fingers. “Come on honey,”
he sneered,
leaning in toward her and gazing down at her chest.
“Let’s keep this
friendly shall we?”
“I said,” Carly began, trying to keep her voice steady.
“Get your hands
off me!” She picked his hand up off her thigh and placed
it on his own
lap.
Without hesitation, David replaced his hand on her thigh,
this time
moving it up underneath her dress. He squeezed
her leg roughly, while
he dropped his other hand down to her collarbone, caressing
her chest.
Carly felt herself begin to shake with anger. She
hated to have to ask
for help or cause a scene but this guy was rapidly crossing
the line.
She tipped her beer back, taking a large amount of the
liquid into her
mouth. She heard David’s slimy voice say “That’s
more like it baby,”
and before she could think twice about it, she tipped
her head forward
again and spit the beer out all over his face.
It worked. His hands vanished from her body and
made their way up to
his face. “You little b*tch!” he shouted, finally
bringing the
bartenders attention to them.
Carly smirked. “Serves you right, you bastard.”
David’s expression turned form shock to anger in a matter
of seconds.
He grabbed Carly by the arms, swiveling her around to
face him. His
grasp was so tight it caused Carly to gasp. David
stared at her, his
eyes only registering fury. “I’ll show you how
you can serve me right,”
he growled.
Carly’s expression quickly turned to panic. She
prayed for the
bartender. Where the hell was he anyway?
All of a sudden, a hand
appeared on David’s shoulder, pulling him backwards and
practically off
his barstool. Carly breathed an audible sigh of
relief when she saw it
was Jason.
“Get your hands off of her,” he said, his voice calm but
his eyes were
cold and blank as slates. David didn’t move.
He was still holding on
to Carly as though he’d fall if he let go.
“I said, get your hands off of her or I will break them
both,” Jason
repeated.
David slowly released his hands, standing up to face Jason.
They
squared off, neither saying a word, both exacting the
same amount of
rage from their eyes.
The bartender approached and Carly cursed his lateness
under her breath.
“Let’s take it outside guys,” he said.
Carly shook her head. “Oh here you are!” she exclaimed
sarcastically.
“It’s about time you showed up to this party.”
The bartender ignored her, still glaring at the two men
engaged in their
staring contest. “Why don’t you mind your own business,
hoodlum?” David
said, shoving Jason backwards. Jason recovered
quickly and lunged at
David.
“She is my business!” he shouted, landing a punch square
in David’s jaw.
David reeled back, but was able to land a return in Jason’s
chest. The
wind knocked out of him, Jason tackled David, bringing
them both
crashing to the ground.
Carly jumped back and glared at the bartender. “Do
something!” she
commanded. The bartender jumped at this, coming around
from the other
side of the bar and grabbing Jason by the collar of his
jacket, trying
to yank him off his opponent. Jason was in his
own world, seemingly
possessed, raining blow after blow on David’s face and
chest.
Another man appeared behind the bartender and took hold
of one of
Jason’s arms as he was rearing it back for another punch.
Carly
recognized him as someone who knew Bobbie. She’d
seen him at the
hospital talking to her on occasion. Together,
he and the bartender
pulled Jason up and held him back. David struggled
to his feet.
“Alright,” the man who looked familiar was saying.
“Let’s take it
outside.” He pushed Jason toward the door, Carly
following closely
behind.
Once the three were outside, them and turned on Jason.
“What’s wrong
with you Jason?”
Jason glanced at Carly then stared at the man speaking
his name. “Do I
know you?” he asked, the anger still evident in his voice.
The man feigned a hurt expression. “Luke Spencer,
kid,” he said,
running his hand over his short hair and heaving a sigh.
Carly’s breath caught in her throat. Spencer.
This guy was probably
her uncle. All of a sudden she wished she wasn’t
wearing her short red
dress. She wished she wasn’t standing in a dark
alley with a guy who
she happened to be sleeping with who had just beat up
another guy for
trying to sleep with her. She wanted to disappear.
“Do I know you?” Jason was saying, placing his hands in
his pockets. He
glanced back again at Carly. For some reason he
had to keep making sure
she was safe.
Luke grinned at Jason’s question. “Not anymore,”
he drawled, pulling
out a cigar and lighting up. “And since we’re strangers,”
he added, “I
can tell you this and not feel one bit bad about hurting
your little
feelings. Don’t ever fight in my bar, you got that?
I’ve got a
reputation to uphold you know.”
Jason stared at him, no emotion in his eyes whatsoever.
“I really don’t
give a damn about your reputation, Spencer,” he said
coldly. “That guy
was hurting her and your bartender wasn’t doing anything
about it.”
Jason gestured toward Carly and Carly silently wished
he hadn’t done
anything to bring attention to her.
“You need to get a bouncer,” Jason added, looking back at the club.
“You need to not tell me what I need,” Luke said, his
eyes narrowing.
He turned toward Carly, a hint of recognition coming
across his face.
Carly tried not to panic. She tried to convince
herself he recognized
her from the hospital, that was all. “Nice dress,”
Luke muttered,
sauntering away.
“Are you okay?” Jason asked, turning to face Carly once
they were alone
in the alleyway.
Carly nodded, looking down, ashamed. “Thanks,” she
whispered. She
didn’t like having to be saved. She’d always prided
herself on being
independent and strong. The last person she wanted
saving her was
Jason. She didn’t know why, but she felt embarrassed.
Like she’d let
him down somehow. Maybe she was just being ridiculous.
She decided to
try to play it off, make like it was no big deal.
She looked up,
flashing Jason a wide nothin-wrong-with-this-girl grin.
Jason shook his head. He was definitely upset at
what he’d seen in the
bar. He couldn’t be sure, but thought maybe he’d
felt fear. He did
know that when he saw that guy with his hands on her,
he only knew one
thing and that was that he had to get that guys hands
off her. He
wanted to ask Carly about all of this, about his feelings
and why he was
having them. But for some reason he didn’t.
He couldn’t. Not right
now. Instead, he held his hand out to her.
“You ready to get out of
here?”Carly nodded, gratefully. She put her hand
in his and let him
lead her out of the alleyway to his motorcycle.
****************************************************************
Carly could hardly see a thing as they barreled through
the woods. When
they arrived at the boxcar, her eyes had just barely
become adjusted to
the dark. “What are we doing here?” she asked,
cautiously dismounting
the bike and glancing around.
Jason disappeared into the boxcar as he answered.
“I stay here…most of
the time.”
Carly grinned at this, and followed him inside.
It was small but not
too small, sort of cozy really. Jason had a bunch
of blankets lying on
the floor that served, presumably, as a bed. That
was the extent of the
décor, unless you counted the lantern that he
was now busy trying to
light.
“You live here?” Carly asked, wrinkling her nose.
“And I thought I
lived in a lunchbox,” she muttered.
Jason nodded, finally successful in bringing a flame to
the lantern. He
placed it on an overturned wooden crate in a corner and
it served its
purpose well, lighting the room in a dim glow.
He turned to her, the
reflection of the flame dancing in his eyes. “Guess
what?” he asked.
He sounded excited, almost like a child.
Carly grinned as she watched him retrieve a vinyl bank
bag hidden in the
floorboards. Her smile quickly faded as she saw
it was filled with
cash. She looked at Jason incredulously.
“Do not tell me you ripped
off a bank!” she exclaimed.
Jason laughed out loud at this. “Carly,” he said
calmly, seeing the
rising panic overcoming her face. “First of all,
I have no idea how to
rob a bank.” Carly grinned, looking sheepish.
How easy it was to
forget. “Secondly,” Jason continued. “I still
have Jason
Quartermaine’s face and his identification, right?” Carly
nodded,
beginning to realize what he’d done. “I emptied
out his bank account!”
Jason exclaimed, looking triumphant.
Carly jumped up and scurried closer to peer into the bag.
“Shut up!”
she exclaimed in disbelief. “How much is in there?”
“Around five thousand dollars I think,” Jason said, gazing
at her face
which was lit up by the lantern, casting a beautiful
shadow. “I want to
get you something.”
The two rummaged through the bag like kids in a candy
store. Neither
one had seen so much money before.
Carly didn’t even register what he’d said until a few
seconds later.
“You want to get me something?” she asked, sure she hadn’t
heard him
right. Maybe his instinct to spend frivolously
was still there from his
days as the spoiled rich kid she was beginning to picture
as Jason
Quartermaine. Carly looked around at her surroundings
and at his
wardrobe, and decided that could not be it. “Why?”
she asked.
Jason nodded, looking at her earnestly. “You have
done so much for me,
and *someone* told me it’s polite to give back when someone
gives you
something.”
Carly laughed, delighted. “Okay,” she said, settling
next to him, still
entranced with the bag of cash in front of them.
“I think, and this is
only my opinion, it’s up to you what you do with this
money. But I
think you should think about getting yourself an apartment.
Maybe use
this cash as a way to hold you over until you can get
a job…”
“A job?” Jason interrupted. “Everybody thinks I’m
stupid, remember? I
don’t think I’m qualified for a job.”
Carly shrugged. “So? What can you do?
What do you like to do?” she
asked, looking straight into his eyes. She could
already think of a few
jobs he could do, and not *all* of them were sexual in
nature. Carly
giggled a bit at the thought.
“I’m pretty good at fixing up my bike,” Jason mused.
“I like to do
that.”
Carly clapped her hands together excitedly. “Perfect!”
she announced.
“You can probably get a job as a mechanic or something…I
mean, if that’s
what you want,” she added, smiling slightly.
“Will you help me?” Jason asked, suddenly sounding vulnerable.
Carly leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. “I
would *love* to,” she
whispered seductively. Jason moved toward her to
kiss her again, but
Carly leaned back. “And,” she said, looking pointedly
at him. “You can
take me to a nice dinner, since we’ve been spending so
much time
together.”
“I’ll do whatever you want, Carly,” Jason said huskily,
suddenly feeling
overcome by emotion. “As long as you promise me
one thing,” he added,
remembering the guy at Luke’s.
Carly looked at him skeptically. ‘Promises?’
‘I’ll do whatever you
want?’ He was sounding dangerously possessive.
“What?” she asked,
unsure of his motives.
“That you won’t wear that dress out unless you’re with
me,” Jason said,
smiling as he ran his hands over the neckline.
He was mesmerized by the milky skin of her neck.
It was one of his
favorite parts of her. Okay, well, among his other
favorite parts of
her. Which was pretty much all of her. Whenever
he was with her, he
felt an overwhelming desire to know everything about
her. Not just
physically, but mentally too.
Carly laughed her glorious laugh again, throwing her head
back in a way
that drove Jason crazy.
“I’m not ready to make clothing commitments to you just
yet, Jason,” she
said, a hint of teasing in her voice.
The truth was, she’d do almost anything he asked her to.
But she was
never going to let him know that. It bothered her
that she admitted it
to *herself*, much less admitting it to anyone else.
There were so many
questions she wanted to ask him, so much she wanted to
know about how he
felt and what he thought. But she didn’t know how
to ask. He was so
open, unabashedly so, but somehow, he came off as so
closed off at the
same time. He really was a jerk, she’d noticed
that several times
before and that very night the way he acted toward Luke.
He was that
way to everyone but her. Carly could not figure
out why. She tried to
convince herself to ask. Ask, dammit! Right
here, right now, not after
sex, or the next morning. Now.
Carly opened her mouth and somehow the words came out.
“Why are you so
nice to me and so mean to everyone else?”
She couldn’t believe she’d asked. But instead of
being embarrassed,
somehow, when said out loud, the question didn’t seem
so abnormal. In
fact, she was kind of proud for asking.
Jason stared at her for a moment, his hand dropping from
the hemline of
her dress where he’d been absently caressing her shoulders
and neck. He
thought deep and hard about this question, wanting desperately
to give
the right answer. Not that he knew what it was.
Somehow, his instinct
told him the right answer was the truth. But experience,
especially with
the Quartermaine’s, told him the right answer was what
the other person
wanted to hear. Jason decided to go with the truth.
He knew Carly
would appreciate it. He could barely gather a list
together in his mind
of how much he liked about her. Not that she was
asking for one. But
it was all those things together that made him nice to
her.
“I um,” Jason began, not sure he quite had the words yet.
“I like lots
of things about you that I don’t see in other people.”
Carly didn’t say anything for a while, then, when she
realized she
wasn’t getting any more than that, she rolled her eyes.
“Could you
elaborate *please*?” she said, enunciating the
“please” so he knew she
meant it.
Jason picked at the edge of the blanket he was sitting
on. “You tell
the truth, for one.”
Carly snorted at this. Oh, the humanity. This
guy really had *no*
clue.
Jason picked up on her resistance and clarified.
“You told the truth to
*me*,” he said, eyeing her. “I don’t care if you
lie to everyone else
in the world. That’s not my concern. But I like that
you tell the truth
to *me*, even if it might hurt my feelings.”
Carly nodded. This was true. She’d felt no reason
to lie to him. She
knew he had no reason to betray her. Carly really
only lied to protect
herself and Jason was the only person she really didn’t
need protecting
from. In fact, in light of recent events, it looked
as though Jason was
fine doing the protecting in this duo.
“So I don’t lie…to you,” Carly said, repeating his statement.
"That
can’t be the *only* reason you’re nice to me. Luke
didn’t lie to you
outside his club and you were mean to him."
Jason looked down. “He was being a jerk to me too
you know. Anyway, I
don’t know him, what do I care what he thinks?”
Carly digested this. He had a point. Jason
wasn’t all that nice to her
the first time they’d met either. Maybe because
he didn’t know her.
But then, he had found her again and they came dangerously
close to
having sex, and it was only the second time they’d met!
Lust. Carly
put this word into her mind and knew it was true.
A lot, if not all, of
the reason Jason kept coming back, at least the first
couple of times,
was lust. It had to be. She offered him nothing
else at first. Carly
could convince herself that *now* there was some sort
of a bond forging,
even a friendship in a weird way. But at first…Carly
pushed these
thoughts out of her mind. It was depressing.
What kind of
relationships were built on pure lust? Complete
and utter animal
attraction? She almost laughed when she answered her
own question.
Jason’s relationships were. Okay, Jason’s relationship,
singular thank
you very much, was.
“Well,” Jason continued, obviously having pieced more
thoughts about
Carly together. “You’re really fun to be around,
and you make me laugh.
The Quartermaine’s have never made me laugh. I
want to punch them all
the time. And they probably want to punch me.
Compared to Saint Jason
I’m the devil incarnate.*”
Carly smiled at this. She’d felt the exact same
way many times in her
life.
“When I woke up a month ago, I didn’t have anything.
Now I have
everything,*” Jason admitted. He suddenly felt
vulnerable to her, but
didn’t really care. It was silent for a long time
in the small boxcar.
Only the sounds of the crickets outside could be heard.
Jason continued
to examine the blanket he was sitting on. He noticed
patterns in it he
hadn’t noticed before. He decided he kind of liked
it, the way the
colors mixed and blended. It was sort of like a
sunset. He knew he was
thinking about anything to avoid the silence in the room.
Usually he
was comfortable, but this was one of the most uncomfortable
times in his
short life. And he had plenty to compare to.
All of his run-ins with
Monica and Alan were uncomfortable. In fact, he
was uncomfortable
anytime he was with the Quartermaine’s, or anyone else
that wasn’t Carly
for that matter. But now he was uncomfortable with
her too. He was
suddenly mad at himself for saying anything. He
got up, without looking
at Carly, and went outside.
Carly looked up. There were tears streaming down
her face. She’d been
thinking about what he’d said for what seemed like an
eternity. There
were some times in everyone’s life when someone said
or did something
that you knew you’d never forget, and Jason had just
given her one of
those times. It was something she’d remember when
times were darkest
and she needed a smile. It was something she’d
tell her kids. It was
the most important thing he’d ever said and he didn’t
even know it.
All of a sudden, as Carly got up to see where Jason had
gone, her
insecurities pushed their way into her conscious.
First of all, she
told herself, Jason didn’t know what ‘everything’ was.
To him it was
probably physical, it was probably sex, and yeah, he’d
gotten that from
her. But what else? What else could he possibly
like about her? So
she made him laugh. Yeah, she could be funny, in a neurotic
sort of way.
But so could lots of people. He just didn’t know
enough of them to know
that she was nothing special. By the time Carly
got outside and saw
Jason standing, looking up at the sky, she’d convinced
herself that the
reason he thought she was so great was because he had
nothing to compare
her to. And as soon as he did, she’d be dumped
like a bad habit. Life
as usual.
“What do you mean you have everything now?” Carly asked,
coming up
behind him and wrapping her arms around herself.
There was a chill in the air. She was, after all,
wearing her most
sexy, revealing dress. She rolled her eyes, realizing
how little this
meant to anyone. It just made her cold.
Jason turned to her, his eyes glinting in the moonlight.
She could just
make out the features of his face, but not well enough
to understand the
expression he wore. If he wore one at all.
He could obviously see her
better than she could see him. He reached out and
touched her face, and
Carly realized she’d forgotten to wipe her tears away.
“I did something wrong, didn’t I?” he asked, sounding genuinely guilty.
These words made Carly want to cry again. Why did
she always manage to
screw things up? “God,” she breathed, looking skyward.
“No.” She gave
Jason a smile, a genuine friendly smile.
This made him feel a little better. “I just…what
did you mean by what
you said?”She kept asking cause she had to know.
She resolved not to
let herself fall any farther if he had no concept of
what she was in his
life for. Not that she knew exactly, but if it
didn’t fall along the
lines of friendship, Carly decided right then and there,
she was out of
there. It was getting too emotional, she was finding
herself getting
too close. It scared her.
Jason was staring at her as though she may disappear at
any moment. He
was, again, trying to find the right words. It
was ironic: the one
person who he could be the most himself with, he was
the most worried
about being himself with. He only wanted to please
her, to be accepted
by her. Jason never thought he’d feel that way
about anyone. It was so
true. He did not give a damn about what anyone
thought. Except Carly
Roberts.
“I feel like I don’t need any more in my life,” he began,
his voice
quiet and unsure but steady. “I, um, I’m happy,
I think.” Jason said
this with a small laugh of disbelief at his own words.
Carly shifted her feet, looking at the leaves beneath
them. “But why?”
she muttered. “What is making you happy?”
“Well, I like to ride my bike, right? But I like
it better when you’re
on the back of it. You teach me things that I don’t
know without making
me feel stupid about it. You’re the only person
I know who didn’t know
Jason Quartermaine, and you don’t care who he was.
You like Jason
Morgan, and trust me, Carly, you’re the *only* one.
All of those things
make you my friend. Why should I need any more
than that?” Jason was
still staring at her as he said this. He meant
it with everything he
was.
Carly swallowed hard. He’d said he was her friend.
Not one mention
about sex, or anything physical at all. She had
a hard time believing
him. Not that she didn’t want to. Not that
it wasn’t almost impossible
not to. But she had a very hard time with trust.
“I was worried it was all about sex,” she admitted, a
blush creeping up
her cheeks.
Jason smiled in the dark. “I love having sex with
you Carly,” he said.
“It’s one of the funnest things we do.”
Carly couldn’t help but grin, looking up at him.
“Yeah but…” Carly
sighed. She didn’t want to talk about it anymore.
She was tired. She
moved closer to him, letting his arms wrap her in a hug.
She was
shivering and was grateful for the warmth.
Knowing she was cold, Jason shuffled her inside.
Carly stood there and
watched Jason smooth out the blankets, then settle himself
on one, his
head propped up with a pillow. He opened his arms
up to her, feeling
like he needed to be close to her all of a sudden.
“Can you come here, *please*?” he asked, emphasizing the
‘please’ as she
had done so earlier.
Carly stood there for a minute more, then relented.
She took off her
heels and padded over to the blankets, pulling one around
her as she
settled into his arms. She rested her head on his
chest like she had so
many times before, and closed her eyes. Carly was
haunted by thoughts
of the creep at the bar. What was his name?
David. When it came to
her, she shivered again.
“I’m sorry about tonight at the bar,” she said quietly,
trying to
assuage her conscience of Jason’s involvement.
Jason nodded, his eyes also closed, his head leaning against
the pillow
behind him.
“Mmmm, I know, you already apologized,” he said.
“And you didn’t do
anything wrong so I don’t know why you feel sorry.”
Carly smiled at this. Of course. It was so
simple in Jason Morgan’s
world.
“You wouldn’t have had to fight if I didn’t get myself
in that mess in
the first place,” she explained. Then added, “Can
I tell you something
someone told me once?”
Without waiting for an answer, Carly continued.
“There is no such thing as black and white, only shades of gray.”
Jason opened his eyes and turned his head to look down
at her. “What
the hell does that mean?” he asked, confusion crossing
his face.
Carly tried to explain as best she could. It was
such a vague
statement, gray if you will.
“Things aren’t always right or wrong. Like how you said
I didn’t have
anything to be sorry about cause I didn’t do anything
tonight. Well,
technically that’s true, but there could be so many interpretations
of
tonight’s events. Like, I think it’s my fault you
got involved,
therefore, I am sorry about that. So, you think
I don’t have anything
to be sorry for, I think I do. It doesn’t mean
you’re right and I’m
wrong, or I’m right and you’re wrong. That’s
what I mean by shades of
gray.”
Jason stared down at her. He thought for a moment,
then finally spoke.
“That was the most confusing explanation to the most
confusing statement
I’ve ever heard.”
Carly laughed. “Never mind,” she said, rolling her eyes disdainfully.
Jason’s voice dropped into a low whisper. “Can I
tell you something
someone said to me once?”
Carly nodded. He actually listened to someone else
once? This one had
to be good.
“Sometimes you just need to fight,” Jason said, as though
telling a
giant secret.
Carly hesitated, then hit him playfully. “No one
told you that, you
liar!” she exclaimed, laughing. “You just made
that up!”
Jason was laughing too. “Hey!” he said, rubbing
his chest where she’d
hit him. “I told myself that tonight.” It
was true. It *had* felt
good to be physical. It was a release for him,
a way to let off steam.
He’d done it a few weeks ago before he left the mansion.
He tore apart
his room. It was all he knew to do. Now he
knew he could also talk
about things that bugged him, at least with Carly.
But fighting worked
too.
He suddenly pulled Carly all the way on top of him, catching
her face in
his hands and holding it over his own face.“I don’t lie,”
he said
seriously.
Carly laughed, nodding at him. “Me neither,” she
said in mock
seriousness.
Jason laughed at this too. “Liar,” he whispered, before
kissing her
softly on the lips.
When they pulled out of the kiss, Jason wanted to share
something with
her.
“I felt…I think I felt fear tonight,” he said, his eyes steady on hers.
Carly widened her eyes. “When?” she asked.
She was glad he’d
identified his own emotion. She’d tried to explain
them all to him but
it was so hard. Everyone felt everything in different
ways.
“When I saw that guy pawing you…I was mad, yeah, but afterwards,
I felt
like I needed to keep you safe. Like when we were
in the alley
afterwards, I wanted to just get you out of there.
When that guy…Luke,
was talking to me, I wanted to keep making sure you were
there, that you
were okay. Like you might disappear or something.
Isn’t that dumb?”
Carly shook her head, gazing at him in adoration.
“No,” she whispered,
kissing his cheek. “It’s not dumb. When you care
about something a lot,
sometimes it’s natural to feel like you might lose it.
It’s instinct to
try to protect it.”
Jason nodded, smiling at Carly. “I guess I care
about you a lot, huh?”
he said.
Carly was embarrassed that she’d insinuated that in her
explanation.
She laughed it off. “Who wouldn’t?” she scoffed,
flipping her hair
back. She gave him a winning smile, hoping he’d
catch the joke.
Jason smiled slightly, but his face turned serious.
“I really do,” he
said huskily, pulling her face down to his for a kiss.
They fell together, each placing soft kisses on the others
mouth, cheeks
and neck. Jason’s hands roamed her body, enjoying
the feel of each
curve under the silky material of her dress. Carly
felt herself giving
into Jason as he reached down to her thighs in effort
to pull her dress
over her head. She stopped him before he
did so.
“Jase,” she murmured. “I don’t…” she hesitated.
Was she sure? Carly
nearly slapped herself in the face at her lack of sensibility
when it
came to attraction to this guy. Of course she was
sure. It wouldn’t
kill either of them for one night together without sex
would it? She
continued speaking, her voice strong and sure now. “I
don’t want to do
this tonight.”
Jason stopped his roaming hands, but kept them where they
were on her
body. “You don’t?” he asked, obviously confused.
“Why not?”
Carly rolled off of him, sitting up and fixing her dress.
“I um, I just
thought it would be nice to spend a night together without
having had
sex, you know?” She smiled at him, hoping he’d
understand.
“Why would you not want to have sex?” Jason asked.
He was serious, and
Carly knew it, but laughed anyway.
“Jason, believe it or not, not *everyone* wants to have
sex *all* the
time,” she admonished.
“I do,” Jason said, his expression grave. “Carly,
you’re the most
beautiful, sexy woman I’ve ever seen, why *wouldn’t*
I want to have sex
with you?”
It was all Carly could do to keep from jumping back on
him. For someone
so unsure of himself, he sure managed to say the right
thing at the
right time, always. It would be annoying, if it
wasn’t so damn
charming.
“Well I appreciate that, Jase, I really do, but I just
don’t want to
tonight okay?” Carly said, averting her eyes.
She couldn’t believe she
felt bad about turning him down. That was a slap in the
face to
feminists everywhere, and Carly knew that her old friend
Carly, the real
Carly, would scoff at this whole conversation.
“Okay,” Jason said shrugging. “You want to come
back though? I can
still hold you can’t I?”
Next
Part
Innocence
Lost Menu
Main
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Carly was shocked. It was that saying-the-right-thing-at-the-right-
time habit again. She lay back down, snuggling
underneath a blanket and
as close to him as she could get.
“You’re not mad?” she asked quietly.
Jason shook his head. Carly confused him. She always
thought she’d done
something wrong and it made no sense to him. Why
would he be mad?
Disappointed, maybe. But not even in her. In the
fact that he wasn’t
going to have sex. But who wouldn’t be disappointed
in that? He
sighed, thinking before he answered. “I have no
reason to be mad,
Carly. In fact, I’m kind of happy right now.
You’re here with me, I’m
not alone.” Jason said, breathing in the smell
of her hair. It smelled
like peaches this time, it was always some type of fruit.
It made him
know he liked fruit, that was for sure. Of course,
Jason was beginning
to realize that he liked *anything* that had to do with
Carly.
“Do you mean that?” Carly was asking.
“Mean what? That I’m not mad? Or that I’m happy?”
Jason asked,
wondering why she always questioned what he said.
“All of it. People say things all the time that
they really don’t
mean,” Carly said.
“People do a lot of things all the time I don’t get,*”
Jason replied,
kissing the top of her head. “Stop worrying so
much, will ya? I’m glad
you’re here Carly, even if you don’t want to have sex.
I want you here
anyway.”
Carly felt a surge of emotion for Jason just then.
She leaned up and
placed a sweet kiss on his lips. “Thank you,” she
whispered. “Thank
you for being my friend.”