I roll my lips and she moves her pretty blue eyes over my form, awkwardly tugging on the hem of her dress while I follow her down to my car to open the passenger side door for her.
She’s wearing a little black dress similar to the first one she was wearing at her birthday party that night. It’s skin tight with a low neck line, sitting mid thigh with two thin spaghetti straps meeting at the back of her neck. Her skin is darker than usual and practically glowing thanks to her time in the sun at Kian’s house today, her shiny blonde hair straightened over her shoulders in a way that makes it look even longer if that’s possible.
She’s so fucking beautiful.
And mean.
And a little hesitant, I think.
“Are you getting in?”
She clears her throat and climbs inside, avoiding my eyes while she pulls her seatbelt on over her chest. I shut the door for her and round the front of the car, jumping in beside her to start the ignition.
“What’s wrong, princess?”
“Nothing,” she mutters, sighing when I lean back and raise a brow at her, refusing to move until she speaks up about whatever it is that’s bothering her. “It’s just.. do you want me to go change into something more.. I don’t know, less? Or more? You didn’t tell me what to wear and now I feel a little overdressed.”
“Do you wanna change?”
“I don’t–”
I cock my head and she shuts her mouth, somehow reading my mind without me having to say it.
Speak your words, Jordyn James.
“Uh, no,” she admits, her cheeks heating the way I know they do when she’s embarrassed. “I like this one.”
“Then no, I don’t want you to change,” I say simply, pulling away to drive towards the gate at the end of her driveway. “You’re perfect just the way you are, Jordyn. Don’t let any fucker tell you different.”
She says nothing and I look her way, slowing to a stop when I catch her staring at me with her mouth parted. I lean over to crowd her space and she swallows what looks like fear, but she doesn’t pull away from me.
“Do you trust me?” I ask, lifting my hand to brush my thumb over her bottom lip.
She narrows her eyes and I laugh before I can stop it, lightly kissing the tip of her nose before I pull back to put the car in first. I hit the gas and she squeals, quickly grabbing on to the door handle to brace herself.
“What the hell are you doing?!”
“Driving,” I chuckle, easily maneuvering my way through the streets the same way I’ve been doing since I was tall enough to reach the pedals.
She mutters something I don’t catch and squeezes her eyes shut at every turn, only releasing the breath she’s been holding when I hit the highway, probably because she can’t feel how fast I’m going on a straight road like this. She looks ready to scream at me, or hit me, or both, but of course she doesn’t do either of those things.
“You’re taking me to the city?” she asks, pulling her sun visor down to reapply the lip gloss I must have ruined when I touched it just now.
“Is that okay?”
Her brows dip but she nods, visibly relaxing like she’s relieved she won’t have to worry about being seen with me in Lakewood where everybody knows her. I’m not offended, though, partly because her animosity towards me makes me laugh but mostly because something tells me she’ll be more herself away from that stupid town she rules with a fake personality and a smile to match.
A little while later, I pull up in the parking lot by the beach and kill the ignition, climbing out and rounding the car to open her door. She looks up at me and I hold my hand out for her, purposely making a show of placing hers in mine when she continues to stare at me like I’ve grown two heads.
“What are y–”
“You need to relax,” I tell her, pulling her out to lead her over to the strip of well lit restaurants and bars across the street. “You’re makin’ me nervous.”
“You get nervous?” she asks, clearly not buying it. “I call bullshit.”
“Did you just say bullshit?”
“I can say bullshit if I want.”