The road is slightly bumpy, and the top of the bright red convertable is down, making it a struggle for Jade Harley to keep her old Pikachu beanie on her head. The adolescent tugged at the strings on her hat, hoping it wouldn't abandon her on the Golden Gate Bridge and fly into the huge San Francisco Bay. Jade loved this hat, mainly because it was given to her as a birthday present many years ago by her best friend since kindergarten, Dave Strider, and back then it was a bit large for her, but over the years it has turned to fit her perfectly. She looked over at the driver's side of the car, where Dave was bobbing his head to the music blasting through the stereo. Jade glanced in the back of the automobile, smirking as she saw three of her other friends, Karkat, Gamzee and Karkat's girlfriend Terezi passed out and all leaning against each other. She returned her attention to the choppy waters of the San Francisco Bay.
They arrived at the port which would take them by boat to Alcatraz island. Dave woke up the sleeping trio in the back. After they met the final three members that would be joing their group (Tavros, Feferi and Feferi's boyfriend Sollux) they all waited in the long lines together. After they got on the boat, Jade immediately broke away from the group and walked to the first floor's front deck, where she stood in solitude and waited for the boat to start. After 10 minutes of thinking to herself, she heard the captain speaking over the intercom, telling the passengers what to do in case of emergencies and all that crap...Jade's thoughts drifted to Dave, who she had had a crush on since 5th grade. Her thoughts were cut off by the sound of a voice.
"Well what are you doing out here all by yourself?" It was Dave. Jade couldn't help but notice his slight Texan accent which he tried to hide most of the time. She also couldn't help but notice how cute it made him sound. Dave walked over and stood next to her, placing his arm around her like he did so often although they were just friends, and like always her heart soared at his touch.
"I just...I wanted to be alone for a while, I guess." She replied, looking at him, and noticing the slight traces of his eyes that she could see through the glasses that he wore all the time. This particular pair was one that she gave to him on his birthday a few months ago. She was slightly suprised that he didn't lose or break them, considering the mess that his whole house is.
"Well if you want to be alone, i can leave if thats wh-"
"No, no, you can stay...I don't mind..."
"Well in that case, why don't we just sit down, hm?" Dave sat down on the bench, beckoning her to sit with him. Jade went to sit, and was caught by suprise when he swiftly grabbed her and placed her on his lap, holding her as one might hold a baby. She warily placed her arms around his neck to keep from falling, although judging by how close he already held her and how suprisingly strong he was, falling off was virtually impossible.
"Well, well, Mr. Strider, whats all this about?" Jade asked him playfully.
"Oh, nothing...actually, I wanted to ask you something."
"And that is?"
"Well, I-" Dave was cut off by Terezi and Karkat's distinct voices coming from the top deck,
"Stop it, Karkles, you're gonna make me fall off or something! Stop pushing me!"
"Its not my fucking fault, Terezi, the damned boat won't stop swaying!"
Dave sighed, carefully put Jade next to him, and stood up.
"I better go make them shut up I guess. I'll just...I'll ask you the question later, okay?"
Jade sighed. "Oh, sure..." But she barely finished her sentence when Dave walked away from her. There was some commotion on the top deck, but she didn't pay any attention to it. Her mind was soaring at the possibilities of what Dave could have wanted to ask her.
It is now 5 hours later. They all toured the island of Alcatraz and, after getting lost a couple of times, arrived at a hotel to rest for the night.
"Ok guyth, Feferii and II are thtayiing iin the thame room, KK and Terezii wiill be iin a room wiith each other, then Gamzee and Tavroth, and then Jade and Thtriider. II athume you can all handle thiith." Sollux was explaining to the 7 other teenagers the room arrangements. Jade could feel a slight blush on her cheeks when Sollux said she and Dave would be sharing a room. But she dealt with it and just followed Dave to their assigned room.
"Well this is just fucking great." Jade snapped out of her daze and looked up when Dave spoke. She felt her stomach flop when she saw what he was talking about. There was only one bed.
"Oh, well I could just sleep on the floor or someth-"
"Nah, Harley, it's fine, are you embarrassed to sleep in the same bed with me? I will try my hardest to not annoy the shit out of you at night. And I will try to stay on my side." Dave interrupted her.
"Well, I mean...okay I guess." Jade now had a deep blush, which unfortunately Dave noticed. He walked over and hugged her, much to Jade's suprise.
"Christ, Jade, with all that blushing, people might think you really are embarassed. You aren't, are you?"
"Um, no..."
"Well, ok then, I'm gonna go get changed in the bathroom, so you can change out here, and when I'm done I'll ask if you're fully clothed and if I can come out." Dave walked to his bag, picked what seemed like pajamas out of it, and got into the bathroom. Jade quickly got her PJ bottoms and an old shirt out of her bag and changed.
"Is it safe to come out now?" Dave inquired from the bathroom.
Jade flopped onto the bed and picked up the TV remote, pressing the ON button. "Yeah, you're fine now."
Dave walked out in dark green pajama bottoms...and he was also shirtless which made Jade's stomach flip-flop like earlier. He slid under the covers next to her.
"What, um, do you want to watch?"
"I don't really mind. Maybe if there's something good on Comedy Central or something." Dave took off his sunglasses and set them on the nightstand.
Jade looked at the channel guide and pressed the appropriate numbers. There was some movie on, but she didn't watch it. She took off her glasses and placed them on the nightstand next to her and got under the covers.
After 20 minutes, she was freezing and it was apparently very evident to Dave.
"Jade, you're shaking so hard I can feel it over here. I can feel your radiating coldness."
"Oh, jeez, sorry, I-"
Dave cut her sentence off as he rolled over and took her in his arms. She was suprised he would do that, and also suprised at how warm he was. She buried her head in his bare chest and felt her face get warm, not sure if it was from her blushing or just the warmth of Dave.
"Eep! Um Dave...what are you doing...I'm not complaining, but..."
"Well obviously I'm keeping you warm." Dave said with a slight chuckle, and kissed the top of Jade's head, which made her sure that warmth was not the sole purpose. Nonetheless, she leaned into him, hoping that there was maybe some spark, maybe he felt it too, or maybe her hopes were in vain...
Her thoughts were interrupted as Dave hugged her even closer than before and kissed her forehead, lingering for a second, then kissed her lips. It was all more than Jade had expected. His lips were so soft, and he was suprisingly quite a gentle kisser...Jade's mind went blank except for thoughts of Dave. He leaned out of the kiss and took her cold hands in his almost supernaturally warm ones.
"About that thing I was gonna ask you earlier..."
"Oh, yeah, what exactly was it?" Jade pondered, looking into his eyes, which always took her breath away no matter how many times she saw the red irises.
"Well, Harley, I was thinking, we've been friends for a long time, but lately, its been...different between us. I've felt like there was more."
"Dave Strider, that is one of the least ironic things I have ever heard you say. But if you're asking me to take this friendship to another level, I accept." She smiled at him and kissed him, much like before, but this time it was different, not as gentle, and she liked that. It seemed like he did too, because after some time, he went deeper, (not going into much detail) taking the kiss to the next level. Jade placed her hands on Dave's chest and rolled over to lay on top of him. When they needed to take a breath, they leaned out of the kiss and Jade layed her head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat as he held her close to him and stroked her hair.
"So I guess we're a couple now huh?" Dave whispered in her ear. Jade nodded.
"Alright, you fuckasses, lets get this show on the road." Karkat said as the whole group was eating breakfast at the hotel. Jade leaned against Dave as he put his arm around her like he always did, although now it had a different meaning.