A/N: This chapter gave me quite a bit of trouble but I enjoyed writing it anyway. Hope you enjoy reading it. :)
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Whew.
It had been a tiring day. We had visited the City of Arts and Sciences, the Cathedral of Valencia and various other cultural sites for which the city was famous.
And now it was starting to take a toll on me. Let me tell you, sight-seeing with a two-and-a-half month pregnant woman and a stepbrother who's so dumb that he has to have some kind of brain disorder, is not what you'll want to go through twice. Seriously. When people back home ask what I did over the summer I would have said "Oh, I was employed as my pregnant mother's walking, talking pack of Kleenex." Minus the salary, of course.
So it was no wonder that as soon as we reached the hotel in the evening, I headed straight for the bathroom. David would have to wait. I was going to have my much needed hot bath first. Thank god Andy had the sense to book a hotel with Jacuzzis in it.
As I let myself submerge in the soothing hot water, I closed my eyes and thought about – who else? – Jesse. It had been two days since I had met him. And he still hadn't called. I always asked the receptionist if anyone had left a message for me after coming back from our excursions, but none had come so far.
'Oh well' I thought. 'Looks like I'll just have to be patient.'
I didn't have to wait for long. I had just stepped out of the tub and was drying myself off when David knocked on the bathroom door.
"Suze? There's someone on the phone for you," came his confused voice. Well, of course he was confused. In all the excitement with Mom's pregnancy, I had forgotten to mention to my family that I had made a new friend.
My heart skipped. Yippee! He had called. Took him long enough.
After hurriedly donning one of the hotel's snow white bathrobes, I walked into the room. David gave me a questioning look but nevertheless, he stepped out of the room. I am proud to say that at least one of my stepbrothers has brushed up on his manners.
I picked up the phone and said, "Hello?"
"Susannah," came Jesse's deep voice. Not to seem boastful, but I thought he sounded as happy as I felt.
Not wanting to waste time on exchanging sentiments, I dived straight in. "So you decided to call at last, did you?"
I heard him sigh guiltily on the other end. "I'm sorry, querida. I was busy with family matters."
I looked down at the phone set curiously, as if I might see him through it. He had called me that Spanish thing again. I was dying to know what it meant.
"Anyway, Susannah, are you free tonight?" Jesse asked.
Tonight? I looked at the clock hanging above the TV. It was already seven o' clock. What the hell would he want tonight?
"Ummm… yeah, I'm free. Why?" I replied.
"Have you forgotten that we're going out? Meet me at nine in your lobby, ok?"
"Nine? Are your crazy?" I said incredulously.
Jesse's chuckle reached my ears. "No, querida, I assure you I am perfectly sane. Just meet me at nine, ok?"
Dumbly, I nodded. Then, realizing he couldn't see me, I weakly said "Yeah, I'll meet you at…nine."
I could almost see his smile from the other end. "Well, I'll see you then, Susannah. Oh, and its nothing formal, ok?" he said before cutting off the line.
Placing the handset back in its cradle, I slowly processed what he had said. Nine o' clock. That left me with only two hours to get ready. One, if I counted dinner downstairs with my family.
Damn! And here I was, hoping to have him see me this time not in my old leather jacket – reminiscent of my old 'troubled teen' days – and ratty, faded jeans. I would have to work fast.
After dinner – which I finished even before Brad – I rushed up to my room. Hmm. What to wear. Nothing formal, he had said. Yeah well, that didn't stop me from trying to look good.
After a few minutes of contemplation, I decided to go for the sleek, chic look. I pulled out a cute white tank with a jewelled Cleopatra neckline and paired it with dark blue skinny jeans. Throw in a pair of black knee-length boots and the look was complete.
After half an hour, as I was straightening my hair in front of the bathroom mirror, I heard David enter the room. He came and stood at the bathroom doorway, his arms folded across his skinny chest.
"Where are you going, Suze?" he asked abruptly.
I sighed. I should've known I couldn't keep it a secret from him. "I-I'm meeting a new friend" I half-lied.
David raised his eyebrows. "It's a guy isn't it?"
Oh well, the cat was out of the bag. I might as well tell him the whole truth. "Yeah, David. It's a guy." I smiled at him sheepishly. "I guess I should've told you before."
The little guy looked worried. "But Suze, what if he's a bad guy? Are you sure he won't harm you? Would you like me to come down with you and see him for you?" he asked anxiously.
I was touched. He really did care for me. And I was sure he knew that he was no match for whatever guy I was going out with, but still he had offered his protection. It was times like this that made me actually think of him as my own little brother.
I smiled fondly at him. "Its ok, David. He's not a bad guy. I'll be perfectly fine."
"How do you know? You haven't known him for long" replied David.
Hmm. How did I know? Jesse could be a serial killer waiting to chop me into a million pieces for all I knew. But I knew from something in his eyes, that he would keep me safe. Yeah. I trusted him.
But I very well couldn't give my stepbrother all this softy stuff. So instead I said, "He's meeting me in the lobby. In front of everyone. Don't you think if he wanted to do something to me, he'd have met me in secret?"
This struck a chord in David's logical mind. He sighed. "Yeah…I guess. So…I'm guessing you don't want everyone else to know? Don't worry. Your secret is safe with me."
I felt a huge rush of affection for the dorky-looking redhead standing in front of me. I reached out and took hold of his head between my hands and placed a huge kiss on his forehead. When I drew back, the poor kid was beet red.
I beamed at him. "You're the greatest, Doc!" I said, using my personal nickname for him.
I quickly finished straightening my hair and added some finishing touches. Then, making sure the rest of my family was safely in bed, I hurried down to the lobby.
Jesse was waiting there, leaning against a pillar and looking coolly handsome. Wearing a white wife beater with a black unbuttoned half-sleeved button down on top and his hair messily gorgeous, he had the whole alluring I-don't-care-about-a-thing look down pat. Ok, that was confusing. In short, Jesse looked hot.
"Waiting for someone?" I asked, walking up behind him.
He looked around and grinned. "Not anymore," he said.
Then, he surprised me by putting his arm around my waist and starting to walk out of the hotel. I could just see the girl at the front desk turning green with jealousy.
"Ummm… Jesse? Where are we going so late?" I asked, looking up at him. I really was confused. All the dates I had gone to had started at around six or seven. Never nine.
Jesse smiled secretively. "You'll know soon."
I was about to protest when I caught sight of the gleaming sports motorcycle he had led me to. And now he was taking the keys out of his pocket and inserting it into the keyhole of the bike.
I felt my jaw drop. "Jesse? Where the hell did you get that?"
He looked at me, his eyebrows raised. "I sneaked it out of my neighbor's garage" he replied casually.
My eyes widened. "Wha--" I caught the way he was pursing his lips to keep himself from bursting out laughing.
"Jesse! That wasn't funny!" I said, smacking him on the shoulder.
He burst out laughing. It seemed as if he would never stop. I pouted and made to move away from him but he caught hold of my wrist.
"Come on, Susannah," he said in a silky persuasive voice. I just couldn't resist giving in to that voice. Well, who could?
I rolled my eyes and moved towards the bike. "The names Suze" I grumbled at a last attempt to remain annoyed.
"I like Susannah" he said simply, climbing onto the bike and patting the seat behind him. I got on behind him and he turned his head to look at me with a challenging smile.
"Hold on."
The next second we were zooming down the honeycombed Valencian streets. My untied hair was flying as we raced on and the vibrant Valencian nightlife was just a blur of colors. I held on to Jesse's waist and started laughing. This was the first time I was having so much excitement in a long time.
Before I knew it, we had arrived in front of a building at the beach. Reluctantly, I let go of Jesse's waist and climbed down. It took me a second to realize, from the sounds of music coming from inside the building, that it was a nightclub.
A seaside nightclub too. Talk about originality. This guy was a master at it. Or maybe it was just me and my limited knowledge of dating.
Jesse came up beside me with a smile on his face.
"Uh, Jesse, are you sure that I'm legal here? I am only sixteen after all" I said nervously.
He chuckled. "Don't worry querida. I made sure to choose a totally PG-13 rated club" he said with a twinkle in his eye.
He slipped his large hands into my small ones and, and giving it a reassuring squeeze, he led me into the nightclub.
The club was pumped full of yellow and red lights and boldly colored murals. It was playing salsa music at the moment. And the people…don't even get me started on the people. It was the most diverse mix of people I had ever seen. From scantily dressed college girls to grey haired old men in Walmart-y sweaters, this club had it all. I realized why Jesse had chosen this as the place to hold our date. There was this delicious air of unpretentiousness in it that matched his (and my) personality perfectly.
"You dance?" I shouted over the music to Jesse.
"Of course. Don't you?" he asked curiously.
I reddened. Again.
"No. I'm not much of a dancer" I muttered.
"Come on. I'll teach you" said Jesse, tugging me towards the dance floor. He showed me some of the salsa steps and I shyly followed. Sometimes, I would do such weird moves that he couldn't help but burst into laughter. And this time, I gave a grudging smile, knowing how bad I must look.
Slowly, but surely, I got into the flow of the music and the both of us were soon smoothly moving through the steps.
Jesse twirled me around and then held me close to his chest. I breathed in the smell of his cologne and sighed contentedly. The feeling of Jesse's muscular arms trapping me in his embrace gave me a feeling of security and tranquil that I had never felt in the arms of anyone else. It was a foreign feeling to me, but not unwelcome.
After dancing for a while, my feet began to hurt so I started to make my way to one of the tables around the dance floor. Jesse stopped me.
"This way," he whispered, leaning down close to my ear.
He put his hand on the small of my back and began to stir me away from the dance floor. He led me up a flight of stairs and soon we were in a terrace looking out onto the sea.
"Wow," I breathed, walking to the railing and taking in the view.
It was a rare sight, a Valencian beach completely deserted. There was only the water, the sand and the palms. The only sounds were that of the waves washing rhythmically onto the beach and the distant sounds of the music from downstairs.
Jesse came and stood behind me. He encircled my waist with his arms and pulled me into his chest.
"Its one of my favourite places in the world" he said quietly.
I twisted my head to look at his face. He was gazing down at the sea affectionately and with a look of total peace. It was a new side of Jesse that I was seeing. The sensitive, caring, quiet side of him.
He eyes turned from the water and locked themselves on me. "It's the first time I've brought someone here with me" he continued just as quietly as before.
I stared up at him just as intensely as he was staring at me. It was like we were suddenly isolated in a bubble of our own. A highly electrically charged bubble.
His eyes moved to my lips and, slowly, he leaned down and caught them in a soft kiss. Our lips were like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that fitted together perfectly.
I turned around in his embrace to face him and brought my hands up to his face, cupping it. I could feel the beginnings of a stubble under my hands. He tightened his grip around my waist, pressing me closer to him.
Without breaking contact, Jesse led the both of us to one of the leather stretchers. We didn't even notice the disapproving looks that the middle-aged couple in the corner were giving us.
Jesse's kiss was…so different to the ones that I had had before. It was not a greedy, lustful kiss. Instead, we poured out something to the each other in this kiss. Something like…love. I knew we were going too fast – c'mon it was our first date! – but… there was just this feeling in me that pushed me on and told me it was going to be ok.
I don't know how long we lay on the stretcher, kissing. Soon afterwards, I pulled out of our lip-lock and settled my head on his chest. He put his arm around me and quietly, we started talking of our lives and learning about each other.
He was in his second year in university and was studying business. His father, he said, was a businessman. Jesse had five younger sisters all of whom lived with his parents while he lived in an apartment of his own.
Jesse then proceeded to tell me about his fight with his aunt's dog when he was ten, earning him the little white scar in his right eyebrow.
Half the night passed on with us exchanging anecdotes and laughing and joking (and kissing).
"Did I tell you how beautiful you're looking tonight, querida?" said Jesse as he twisted a strand of my hair around his finger.
I giggled. "I think you forgot to mention it. But I'll let it slide this time. Next time though…" My voice trailed of playfully.
Jesse's chuckle rumbled through my body.
"Jesse?" I asked, playing with the buttons of his button down.
"Yes, querida?" came his reply.
"You never did tell me where you got that bike, you know."
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