Sorry this chapter is a bit short! I have big plans for the next couple chapters, so this chapter is leads into that. Enjoy!
"At least let me buy you dinner first," A deep, dead-sexy voice said, his voice hinting of a southern drawl. I spun around. The first thing I noticed about him was his scars, obvious against a background of pale skin. They were so many of them, probably obtained over many, many encounters with God knows who. The scars criss-crossed his arms like figure skate laces. He had a tiny one marring his left cheek, right under his eye. The scars should've screamed Danger to me, but he didn't seem very scary to me at all. If anything about him was dangerous, it was probably his eyes, they looked far too persuasive to be fair to anyone. But again, he really wasn't very threatening at all. He had this messy honey blond hair and sleepy smile, like a puppy that just woke up. I chuckled, trying to hide the fact that I was impressed by the joke.
"I already had one unpleasant dinner tonight," I replied. He clutched his heart. I rolled my eyes and laughed, what a drama queen.
He sighed. "Ah cruelty, thy name is-"His arm extended toward me, urging me to finish. I waited a couple moments, letting him stay in his ridiculous pose while people milled past us.
"Alice," I finally finished. His eyebrows raised for half a second in pleasant surprise before he regained his composure. His grin grew as if he knew something I didn't. "And what are you doing here tonight, Alice? Besides having unpleasant dinners and swearing at footwear?" I looked past him toward the entrance of the mall, and spotted a bright yellow taxicab.
"Catching on a cab," I said, looping my fingers around my fallen, useless heels and picking them up. His grin disappeared. He suddenly had this very serious look on his face, and nodded.
"In that case, you better come with me right away," He turned and started to walk away, the direction I was going to go anyway, mind you, without looking behind to see if I would follow. The thing is, if you tell me to do something I was already going to do, the chances of me doing the thing drop to zero.
"And why," I asked. "-would I do that?" He stopped and turned to me, a puzzled look crossing his face. "Because you ordered a cab," He said glibly, and then gestured to an empty yellow taxi idling just outside the entrance of the mall.
"You're the taxicab driver?" I blurted.
"At your service ma'am," He bowed, his accent ever so prominent. He straightened quickly and gestured to me. "C'mon, before I get towed. They're quite strict about that kind of thing, you know," I was about to hit him when I remembered he had no way of knowing what had happened to my car earlier. I jogged a bit to match his walking pace- he probably had several inches on me. He opened the passenger side door for me to get in, not the one in the back, I noticed, the seat right next to the drivers. I paused for a second, and pretended to think about something.
"Before I get into a stranger's car-" I began.
"Taxi company car," He interjected.
"Before I get into a stranger's car," I ignored him. "Shouldn't I know his name first?" A corner of his mouth turned up, as he got into the driver's seat.
"Jasper Whitlock,"
"Right at this next intersection, Jasper" I told him and leaned back in my seat. I drummed my fingers against the car door. The scars on his arms and the single one under his eye were even more obvious from the light glow from the dashboard. I couldn't even begin to imagine the story behind those scars. They were flat, and just slightly paler than his already pale skin. Without thinking, I traced the crescent-shaped one on his cheekbone with my ring finger. The scar felt more human than the skin around it. It was rougher; it was warmer. He stiffened immediately at the unexpected touch.
"Sorry," I mumbled, jerking my hand back. The line between bold and tactless is one I tread often.
"It's fine," He sounded, flustered, almost. He stared straight ahead, not in a cold way, but more like he was trying to not look at me.
"Turn right next," I mentioned. He smoothly turned right. He chuckled and looked at me from the corner of his eye.
"What?" I asked, finally, raising my eyebrows.
"That's the fourth right turn you've had me go on,"
"I suck at directions," I mentioned nonchalantly. Actually I'm great with directions, I suck at lying. I could tell Jasper was holding back a smile.
"It might be easier if you just gave me the home address," He offered.
"Oh, I have no intention of having you take me home, Jasper," I looked out the window. I didn't have to look at his face to see the surprise.
"Well, where else would a disgruntled, barefoot person want to go at this time of the night?" He sounded half exasperated, half amused. I gasped in mock horror.
"Places to see, people to do, my dear Jasper! Don't forget the world is our playground!" I stretched my arms out wide- well at least as wide as they can get in a tiny cab car. Jasper shook his head, but he couldn't hide his smile.
"Seriously, what are you doing?"
"Professionally, Mr. Whitlock, you need to know that as much as a pig needs to know how tall the mayor is," I drawled in my best southern accent. He rolled his eyes so hard I was afraid they were going to fall out of his head.
"Frankly my dear, I don't give a-"He began to say before I punched him in the arm.
"Stop," I beamed. "That is my favorite book I've never read. Straight here, and then get on the highway," I looked out the window again. The trees on the side of the road seemed to pass by incredibly slowly. I checked the speedometer, and noticed that Jasper was driving at about 10 miles under.
"If you're going that slow to rack up the cost of the cab ride…" I teased. He suddenly looked flustered again, and sped up. It became suddenly obvious the cab rate had nothing to do with his lack of speed. A couple moments of silence passed.
"Favorite book you never read?" He asked curiously.
"Yeah, like I'd like to read it, but it seems so long and convoluted I don't know if I'd ever get myself to get through it," I've read many of the classics but I never had the patience for anything over a couple hundred pages. Jasper mulled that over for a couple of seconds.
"The favorite book I've never read is Les Miserables, for the same reason-it is very, very long. Also it's originally in French, so a lot of the meaning would be lost in translation. But the music…wow." His eyes sort of glazed over. I love moments like this. I love those honest moments where people seem to disappear into themselves, when they think about something that truly amazes them. At this moment, I wondered what Jasper must've been like as a child. It was strange thinking about the possible past, considering how much time I've spent thinking about the future.
"I hate to interrupt you while you're zoning out on a highway, but we need to take the next exit," I smirked as he broke out of his reverie.
"Speaking of which, where am I taking you?" He wondered aloud. I was about to tell him, I really was, when my phone rang. I placed my finger on my lip and shushed him. It was Jessica. I chuckled darkly, and answered the phone. She wondered about how the date went and I answered her honestly, and to Jasper's amusement, I did not leaving out a single detail of the disastrous event. I conveniently did not tell her about my car getting towed, or her favorite heels getting broken.
"Mike had a crush on me the whole time?" Jessica sighed dramatically. "Oh, bother. I had no idea, honestly." Honestly is what Jessica said when she was being quite dishonest.
"Mmmhmmm," I answered. She sighed again. I gestured for Jasper to get into the left lane, and then to turn left at the second intersection.
"But wait," She said, sounding more suspicious than concerned. "If the date ended over an hour ago, where are you?" I bit my lip and looked at Jasper.
"Ummm. Just hanging out at the mall, you know,"
"Ohhh," Jessica said understandingly. "I told you therapeutic shopping is a thing," She teased. I heard her tense up over the phone again. "Wait, the mall's closed, what are you-"
"Well, got to go, Jessica, bye!" I said and hung up. I pointed to lot and we turned in. As I helped Jasper find a good place for him to park, I checked the meter and tossed money on the dash.
"What-" Jasper began to say. I reached over his lap and opened his door before opening mine.
"Here we are!" I beamed.