Chapter Four: Superstitious Secrets and Old Wives Tales

(Jessica POV!!!)

So, I waited for soon...and I waited...waited...fifteen minutes later, we still hadn't arrived. I'm not the most patient person, as you can plainly see. But Ryan was such a slow driver...honestly, I'd seen dead bodies move faster.

"Ryan...I hate to sound like a kid, but are we nearly there?"

"Nearly..." He took a left and suddenly, we parked. I frowned. I looked around, but I couldn't see any buildings. He rolled the windows down twice, which I found a bit odd.

"What was that?"

"What?"

"That window thing."

"Oh, nothing. Making sure they're closed." He brushed my comment off. I sighed, grinning. Ryan came round to my side of the car and opened the door for me. I thanked him and almost fell off his step. Jeeps were not the most practical of tall cars. Thankfully, Ryan caught hold of me.

"Whoa!" I yelled. He laughed.

"Watch where you're going."

"I was. Your car tried to kill me." I laughed, my face going slightly red. My legs were way too short. Hell, I was too short. Then, to my surprise, Ryan took hold of my hand and started guiding me along to a dark, wooded area. I swallowed. Woods tended to terrify me. I stopped myself from walking any farther. Ryan shot me a confused and concerned look and then stopped walking, also.

"What's wrong?"

"Um...nothing." I was an awful liar! Everytime I even thought about lying, my voice shot right up in the air. Ryan raised his eyebrow. "I have a fear of woods. They're dark, they've got owls, trees..." I shuddered.

"What? Woods are great!" He sauntered on ahead, but I kept stopping. He sighed. "Look, I'm here. I have a torch...nothing's going to happen." He stopped and looked me squarely in the eye. I nodded and let him walk along. I stayed close but couldn't help my eyes roaming along the river that was very, very close. Then, behind us, a giant SNAP! I gasped and turned round. Ryan quickly put his hand on my back. I sighed, seeing there was nothing. Man, I sounded like an idiot.

"So, tell me...am I going to enjoy this?"

"Yes." He said, confidently. I laughed.

"You're so cocksure about everything, aren't you?"

"I try." He smiled and suddenly stopped. He pulled his jacket off and handed it to me.

"What's this?"

"My jacket. Put it on..."

"Oh-kay." I did as I was told and before I knew it, Ryan had lifted me up in his arms. I squeaked. "Ryan Wolfe, what are you doing?!"

"Lifting you! What does it look like?!"

"Well...why?!?"

"Because...it's bad luck to let your lady walk across this bridge by herself. You know, unassisted."

Oh...so many words in that statement that I wanted to question. "I see."

"So, my dad said, if you lift them, that counts as assisting. Thus bringing good luck to us both. Wise, huh?" He put me down. I smoothed my skirt down and cleared my throat.

"Well, uh, thanks. I guess." Then I frowned. "I don't mean to, um...what did you mean by 'your lady'?"

"I meant, if you have a female companion-"

"Okay, what do you mean by 'female companion'?"

"Friend, girlfriend, wife."

"Oh." I assumed I was under the category of friend. I hoped, anyway. "My Mom always said superstition was a force to be reckoned with."

"Your mom sounds wise."

"She is." I smiled. "She didn't want to move to Miami, but Horatio instructed us that he'd be able to look after us if we did."

"I see...aha!" Ryan continued to hold my hand. He had lovely hands, I noted. Really soft and warm. Just nice. "Here we are."

I followed his gaze and saw this beautiful, large hotel-type building. There were the most lovely little fairy lights hanging over all the decking, the chairs...everything. It was amazing! Ryan glanced down at me. He was a lot taller than me. "Nice, isn't it?"

"Nice? It's beautiful!"

"You think this is good, wait until you've had the steak."

I laughed. "You come here often?"

"Yeah, every week."

"With a lady?"

"I have actually never been here with a lady!" Ryan laughed, unfortunately letting go of my hand.

"Good to hear it." A part of me actually hoped he wasn't lying. We walked through the door and my amazement tripled. The place was huge, fancy and so lovely. It was painted a nice shade of red, fairy lights oozing over absolutely everything! My mouth must have dropped to the floor because I felt Ryan's hand under my chin, pushing upwards. I glared. "It's lovely, Ryan."

"Yeah. Not too bad. Hey! Friedrich?!" He yelled over to the waiter ho pointed to a table in the corner. "Thanks, man."

"You booked this place?"

"I always do. I don't need to, because nobody knows about it. Sneaky, huh?"

"Yes, very." So, we sat down and ordered the food. I was having a steak sandwich and fries, while Ryan opted for some chicken-based product.

"You never finished telling me about yourself..." Ryan blinked, stretching out. I sighed, putting my menu down.

"Okay, you know I know Horatio, I'm half Texan, half Chicagoan...I had a dog called Poncho, once. My mom's a florist. I adore shoes!" I threw my hands up, making Ryan grin. "I love books...walking...um...Moulin Rouge is my all-time favourite film. If I could, then I would be a pilot. Maybe a doctor. Still quite unsure. I don't like the dark, I hate it when I get soaked. My pet peeve is bad grammar. At most, I only ever carry fifty dollars around. I'm paranoid, but generally always happy. I don't like looking at dead people. My middle name is Ann. Like my grandma from Texas. Yee-ha!" I smirked. One thing I had noticed about Ryan; it wasn't hard to make him laugh...or even crack a tiny smile. He was a lot more fun than people said he was. "I love Chicago more than anywhere else I've ever been. I used to have a horse, but. You know how it goes. Oh, also, I once won a t-shirt for a story I wrote. First place."

"Nice."

"Tell me about yourself, Ryan."

"Okay, but I have to warn you, I'm not all that interesting."

"Go ahead..."

"I lived with my mom and dad til I was twenty-two...I have a sister, Josie, I was in a rock band in college, but..." He shrugged, smiling. "We didn't work out." I laughed at this comment. "I like to succeed. I have...OCD. Slight OCD."

"Oh!" I smiled. "That's why you fidget so damn much!"

"Yeah, yeah. I like creme brulee...actually, I just like sweet things. My favourite movie has to be...um...maybe...I think...Old School. Or Daredevil, maybe. X-men was great, too. Elektra-"

"Oh, my God! I really wanted to be Elektra!"

"It...only came out a couple of years ago."

"So? I still wanted to be her."

"I see..."

"What kind of music do you like?"

"All kinds. Mostly rock, country and 60s pop era stuff. I like a bit of salsa music, too. You?"

"Seems to be the same as yours, freakily enough."

"Movies?"

"No way. You like action things and I...like musicals."

"You a good singer?"

"I'm okay. Not Patsy Cline, but there we have it."

"You like Patsy?"

"I love Patsy!"

"When I say, I like country...I meant Patsy." He shrugged. I nodded. The dinner came...it was amazing! I was seriously falling in love with this place! We chatted comfortably throughout the dinner. Ryan was a very cool guy...but I still didn't know why I liked him. He was cocky, so reason tells me I shouldn't like him. He liked teasing me, so again...reason was telling me otherwise. Try as I might, I couldn't understand why I admired him so much. He was good-looking. He was dapper. He was funny, whenever someone gave him a chance. "I'm scared of cats." Ryan stated after a few moments of silence.

"Cats? Cats aren't scary."

"When I was twelve, our cat jumped on my head and clawed me on the eyelid. I have the scar, to prove."

"Where?"

He leaned across the table right up close to me. It was the tiniest scar I had ever seen. Like a small white line. "That is why I dislike cats so much." Then we finished, the waiter cleared up and then we left. It was a cold enough night. I frowned, shivering slightly. Ryan seemed to notice and handed me his blazer. I raised my eyebrow at him.

"Thank you." I smiled. He nodded. I had hoped he would lift me up again, but no such luck. "Hey, hey, hey...what do you think you're doing?"

"Walking...?" He looked at me, confused.

"Aren't you supposed to, what was it, 'assist' your lady over the bridge."

"Yes. On your way in."

"Is it bad luck to assist them out?"

"Maybe." He smirked and continued on ahead. I frowned and walked after him.

"Well...you've obviously just jinxed yourself!" I stomped along.

"You really believe in all of this?"

"Well..." Not really. "Possibly."

"It's all a big lie, if you ask me. Old people conning little kids into being nice, reserved." he shook his head. "Old wives tales. Ridiculous."

"You mean you don't believe in walking under ladders?"

"Nope."

"Wow."

"I bet you do."

"Actually...I don't do ladders."

"You're scared of heights now, too?"

"No! I am not scared of heights." I actually wasn't scared of heights per se. It was ladders.

"Yeah, right." He came round of my side of the car again and opened my door for me. I thanked him and got in. "Where do you live?"

"Ah, yes...the eternal question." I sighed and plugged my seat-belt in.

Where, indeed?

A/N: Yes, Jessica...where? Even I don't know. I should, but I don't! Hope ya'll liked. I have to update my real CSI story now...oh, man!

See ya!

JauntyChick

xox