[11:57am Wednesday, The Shoreline]
I've never felt more awkward then I do right now. It's been a little under two hours since Jade's lips touched mine, and I can't tear the grin from my lips. I know it's beginning to outstay it's welcome, because Jade's contented little smirk has wavered. Now as the sea breeze licks at our faces, she's begun to shoot disapproving glances in my direction.
"Are you planning on saying anything today, Shapiro?" Jade asks, turning over her shoulder and swinging her palms out in frustration. Thousands of words come to life all at once on my tongue, and my lips quiver with the energy brewing behind them.
"I just, my head is all loopy because there were lips, and my lips! And then they touched, and I'm just…you're you, and I'm me. This is a lot to handle!" I babble, eyes rattling around in any direction but Jade. When she lets out a rough exhale, my eyes have fallen in the direction of an old Mexican man playing guitar with his toes.
"Yes, I have lips. Yes, they touched yours. Can we move on now?" Jade asks, well demands, as she takes step towards me. When I'm slow in replying, Jade decides to answer for me. Her arms shoot out and cup my cheeks, and emerald eyes meet mine. Soon the world blurs at the edges, and my head is rocking up and down in agreement with Jade.
Satisfied that her will has been imparted on me, Jade steps away. I follow wordlessly, with the feeling of her palms still burning my skin. The harder I try to focus on something else, the more I wish I'd packed some kind of SPF Jade sunscreen. She's never more than a flick of her eyes away from my thoughts. We beat a path along the boardwalk, breathing in the sights and sounds.
Time spirals away from us, and the sun comes to rest right above Jade and I. Just when I think my skin is going to blister, she yanks me into a dingy little café that's emitting a toxic noise. At the back of the establishment, there's a small stage that's the source of the sounds invading my ears. Stomping across its battered surface is a motley crew of misfits. They're all tattoos and ripped clothes as Jade bobs her head in time with their racket. I'm not sure how long they play for, but by the time the lead singer utters a quick thank you to their smattering of die-hard supporters, I feel like I'm in stuck at the center of a Mexican nightmare.
"What are you staring at?" Jade hisses, turning to me and making a face when the applause dies out. From the way her eyebrows have arrowed downward, I guess I've kind of been staring at her since we got here. I swallow hard, and Jade's index finger raps against the table we're seated at in irritation. Even under the dirty haze of these lights, she's still so beautiful. Loose ringlets of raven hair spill onto Jade's shoulders, and it's entrancing. I'm way too wrapped up in my thoughts to notice when the last of Jade's patience withers away. Then all of a sudden, I'm tumbling into the real world and my collarbone aches as Jade retracts her finger.
"You kissed me!" Three words fly loose in the wake of Jade's abuse. She snorts in amusement, and I blush like the fool that I am. The crimson staining my cheeks only deepens as Jade leans towards me. Her breath rustles against my skin, and somehow it's calming.
"Maybe I'll even tell you why, if you buy me a drink?" Jade tells me, sitting back on the edge of her seat and smirking. A tense moment flickers between us. I swallow hard, finding my resolve. But then Jade whips her hair, and the raw emotion bubbling behind my lips spills over.
"That's how this whole thing got started!" I yelp, eyes widening. The panic that's blown my irises wide open also plucks a genuine smile from Jade though. That's something, at least.
Jade flies out of her seat and coils and arm around mine. Her fingers rest on by bicep, and the eight steps across the room seem to last for an eternity. By the time we're lingering in front of a disinterested look barista, I think my heart is about to cave in. Chewing on the inside of my cheek, I shift through an increasingly thick file in my mind marked Jade. Eventually I turn up what I'm looking for.
"Uh, an Iced Tea with three lemon wedges and a black straw." I say, tapping my fingers against the counter in front of me. Beside me, Jade's eyes almost zip out of her head with those words. Catching it from the corner of my eye, panic constricts my throat, and I think she's about to disembowel me. A moment ticks past, and then Jade's lips split into a smirk again.
"Negro de paja?" The barrister asks, eyebrows linking together in suspicion. When I incline my chin with a vague sense of understanding, the girl shakes her head and whirls away from us. Jade's drink clatters onto the counter between us a few seconds later. While I rummage through my pockets for some change, Jade's fingers coil around her drink.
"And there it is." Jade says, looking pleased as she raises her drink away from the counter. She plucks the words from her throat so casually that all I can do for a moment is offer a weak, scared little smile. Patience already worn thin from earlier, Jade rolls her eyes and resumes looking unimpressed. With a huff, she's spiralling away from me and marching towards the door. When I'm slow to follow, Jade whistles at me like I'm some kind of pet.
"There what is, exactly?" I ask belatedly, as I fall into step with Jade. Caught off guard, she blinks once, and then takes a lingering drag from her straw. There's silence for a few moments, and for once it's Jade that's lost for words.
"So you pick now to drop the mute act? Ugh. Shapiro…you have a knack for…I don't know. Listening to me and junk. It's kind of nice." Jade's dismissive facade lays shattered amid her words. Her eyebrows scrunch together, and green eyes dart in the direction of the ocean. Something inside of me shatters. The realization that Jade's actually nervous reverberates through my skull. It pushes away thoughts of anything that's not directly related to the girl currently doing everything in her power to avoid my gaze.
"W-wait…you actually like me?" When I speak, a muscle flickers in Jade's jaw. Suddenly I'm peering directly into her eyes again. When Jade's lips twist in displeasure, my lungs begin to ache. When her lips part a moment later, my breaths begin to come in stuttering gasps.
Then Jade's knuckles bounce away from me, and my shoulder just aches.
"No, of course not Shapiro. You're just so desirable that my hormones are all out of whack, and I couldn't control myself. Oh baby…oh baby." Jade says, quick to douse her words in sarcasm. Just like that, the fleeting moment where we'd been lost in each other's eyes is resigned to the past. Hesitating, I bite down on the words brewing on my tongue.
"You are so clueless…" Jade growls, grabbing me by the shirt and dragging me toward an uncertain fate.
[11:31pm Wednesday, Acapulco]
By the time the horizon has swallowed the sun, I'm starting to feel a little dizzy. Jade's found a club that's all blinding lights and blaring music. Even though I've only downed two drinks, the edges of reality have begun to blur. Jade writhes against me, and melts against my chest. The bass bounces around in my head, and I'm sure it's knocked something loose. Girls like Jade don't just dance with me. They don't ignore the multitude of much better looking guys that offer to rescue her. It's all a little much, and that's without even paying attention to what she's wearing.
The shimmering material of Jade's top just barely clings to her body, and her jeans look painted on. All of Jade's back is on display. Several flimsy strings are the only thing marring her porcelain skin. Once in a while, Jade even contorts her body in my direction and the lines in her face take my breath away all over again. Her green eyes are bigger, more vibrant than ever. She actually looks like a real girl, and not just a collection of scowls.
Just after 1am, there's a break in the music. Casting a discerning eye over the room, Jade decides that she's had enough of this neon existence. Her fingers slink through mine, and soon I'm hurtling into the street alongside her.
"How come you haven't tried to ditch me?" Jade's arm is hooked loosely through mine, with those words I feel her muscles constrict. The kaleidoscope of colors in Jade's eyes stills for a moment, and she makes a loud clicking sound with her tongue.
"Have you seen the guys around here?" Jade finally decides, crinkling her nose in disgust. I don't know whether it's because that look is directed somewhere other than me, but Jade's eyes still dazzle me. Still lost in her eyes, I'm vaguely aware that Jade's statement has been accompanied by a derisive flick of her thumb. She's jabbing it towards a random pack of jocks across the street. They're the exact kind of guys that have been trying to pry her away from me all night.
"Oh." I answer lamely, tongue sticking to the bottom of my mouth. Jade's eyes fly towards the sky, and with a disapproving grunt, she's coiling an arm around me again. I swallow uneasily as Jade leads me along the sidewalk. I'm not totally convinced she knows where we're going, but I'm not even sure if it matters. I can feel Jade's body against mine, and it's enough to silence any protests that might be forming on my tongue.
When the familiar sign that heralds our hotel jumps over the horizon, the corners of my lips lift. Following her lead, I stumble up the stairs. We rattle to a halt outside of the chipped paint of our door, and fumble through my pocket for the key. Jade's lips twist when the chore drags out, but the hail of abuse that I'm half expecting never arrives. Instead, she just slips between myself and the door. When my lips quirk with a question, Jade simply dips her fingers into my pocket. Electricity sparks my veins, and what's really just a fleeting second feels like forever. When Jade's fingers rise from my pocket, grasping the keys triumphantly, my heart begins to thunder in my chest. The electrical storm in my chest only grows worse, when Jade shoves the door open and marches straight through the room.
"You're weird. You know that, right?" Jade calls from the bathroom. Her voice seeps under it, and a sigh rips through me. I'm aware of my oddities, painfully so. I really don't need Jade to tell me about them in any more depth.
"What's new?" I mumble, almost choking on my tongue when Jade bursts back into the room a second later. The moonlight pouring through the window beside me catches in Jade's eyes, and bounces off her ivory skin. With the shimmer in her eyes, and the glow of her skin, Jade looks more than human. I draw my limbs close, as she saunters across the room. The silver shirt and jeans that had given me heart palpitations are gone now, which is the good news. The bad news is that their replacements do little to calm my hummingbird heartbeat.
"Nothing. Just…A normal person probably would have tried to kiss me tonight." Ordinarily, I'm sure those words alone would have hurled me into the throes of a coronary episode. Right now though, they're nothing. A drop in the ocean. Jade's ducked into the fridge, and the lacy black underwear she's wearing are what's got the words caught in my throat this time.
"Y-yeah, but you were avoiding normal people like the plague..." I choke out belatedly, when Jade spirals around, fingers encircling her bottled water. At least when she's facing me, I can trick my eyes into locking with hers.
Jade doesn't really answer me. Her eyebrow piercing glints in the moonlight when an eyebrow cocks, but that's about it. Her hips swing as she slinks across the room, and I feel like there's a boulder lodged in my throat. Jade walks past me purposefully, and lowers herself onto the bed next to me. Jade's raven hair spills over porcelain shoulders, and I'm lost again. My eyes follow its silky tendrils down to the expanse of her breasts.
"Seriously, why haven't you tried anything? I've been sleeping right beside you all week. I kissed you this morning, for Christ sake!" I'm almost thankful when Jade's voice clatters into the air. It finally rips my gaze away from the deadly curves that have been holding my eyes prisoner. My brief bout of relief flies into the distance with the realization that I have to actually answer her. As Jade rolls over, and her cleavage deepens, the words on my tongue get all jumbled up as the blood in my head flies south.
"You're uh, my friend and…still getting over B-my other friend. I didn't want to complicate things…" I fumble out, dragging my lips into a hopeful smile. Jade's eyes narrow, and the sparking green in her eyes is replaced with something entirely more melancholy.
"What if I am over him? What if normal things bore me?" Jade asks, lips parting just enough to let her words scratch the air. Fear coils around my throat with their arrival. Green eyes lock with mine, and Jade's lips cock when she notices the bob in my throat. Jade's words are vague, so I take another moment to consider my answer. Laying a hand on my sternum, I suck in another hollow breath. I don't think I've filled my lungs properly since we got home.
"Uh, I…Well you'd probably break my nose or something if I asked you out anyway…" I say, flicking my eyes over Jade's shoulder and trying to still my heart by watching the moon. All it does is remind me of the pale skin that I'm so desperately trying to avoid.
"And what if I said I wouldn't?" The light wave of warm air that sweeps over my skin pulls my eyes back to Jade. She's leaning forward, and her lips are so close that I can almost taste them.
I'm breathless, but even still, I steal away the distance between us and press my lips to Jade's. I keep expecting her to spring away from me, and scream pervert. She doesn't. Jade's lips melt against mine, and it's quite possibly the best thing ever. They're soft and pink, warm and inviting. Her hands rake through my hair, and she drags me in even further. A moan slips her lips, and rattles against me teeth. Jade's tongue darts into my mouth, and that's when it all falls apart as realisation hurls me against the ground.
She's drunk.
"Y-you're drunk, we shouldn't." I mumble dejectedly, pulling away from the softness of Jade's mouth. It's not that I want to, it's that I have to. I can't be that guy. Jade's fingers linger in my hair as she blinks. Shock carves its way across her features, and her eyebrows begin to crash over her eyes. I feel like my heart is going to hammer its way through my chest when Jade retracts her fingers.
"You're a lightweight, Shapiro. If anybody is drunk here, it's you." Jade tells me, the harsh lines in her face beginning to soften. A slight crinkle at the edges of her eyes confirms her amusement, and then suddenly more of Jade's porcelain skin is spilling into view as she throws a leg over my waist. Jade tucks a lock of hair behind her ear, and in spite of her earlier barb, my heart flutters.
"Fortunately for me, my morals are a little more skewed." Jade announces, letting her palms rest on my sternum, and her hips grind against me. A rush of air escapes my lips, and I'm peering up at perfection. Jade's flushed too, but compared to the aggressive shade of red that I've gone, it's nothing. I can feel the heat burning through our underwear, and all I can do is swallow nervously.
Jade West wants me…
Part II of III because it felt unfinished. The next part will be up soonish. Let me know what you want from it in the reviews. I'm debating on skipping ahead to when they're home, or just writing the rest of their trip. :)