Chapter 9

He knew her favorite color: neon green, her favorite animal: dogs (duh), her birthday, the way she typed, what music she was into. What he didn't know was what to do next as she sat beside him on her couch. They were currently watching a movie and nearing the ending. He hadn't been paying much attention to what was going on, distracted by the constant countdown. As soon as it was over, what then?

Jade let out a laugh and Dave automatically smiled. It was such a nice sound. It was actually upsetting how many years he had gone without knowing that sound. It relaxed him, put butterflies in his stomach and warmed his body. He wanted to hear it as often as possible.

What next though? He never really hung out with people much. Call him a lone wolf, but socializing wasn't a thing he was ever that into. He could feel his heart beat in anticipation. Would they sleep after the movie? No, fuck. What the hell was he thinking? It was like three in the afternoon here, though about eight at night back home. He didn't have zappy-dog-jetlag or anything either, so there blows that excuse.

In a matter of minutes Dave heard the movie's closing song start up. Shit. The credits would start to roll any minute now, and he highly doubted Jade would be interested in any of the cast or crew names. Yup, there it goes.

Jade immediately turned around to face him.

"I liked it!" she states.

"Yeah, decent film I'd say."

"It was no Sweet Bro though," she says with a giggle.

"Well yeah, of course not. Jade, for all future reference, my movies are like, in their own category of filmography. There's movies, there's cinema, there's masterpieces, and then there are my movies, a complete skyrocket above all the rest. It's just unfair to compare any earthy films to the pure fucking gold that comes out of the Strider's godlike direction."

She rolled her eyes and went with it, humoring him. "Of course, Dave. It was nothing compared to anything by you. Obviously."

"Obviously Jade. This movie would beg and cry and plead to be in the previews that play before my glorious piece of work shows on the big screen."

"Oh, what an honor!"

The pair chuckled and let it settle between them.

Jade was the one who got up first. She stood up and stretched her back out as Dave remained on the couch, anxious about what he should do.

"You wanted to come here for film inspiration right?"

What.

...

Right.

Oh-fucking-yeah.

"That was the plan, Harley. Why else would I wanna come to butt fuck nowhere?"

She grinned, "Oh shut up Dave. Why don't you just admit it?"

Fuck. What. Admit what? Was it that obvious? Green eyes stared him down with a twinkle of confidence and mirth.

"W-What?" Did he just fucking stutter?

"You wanted a vacation!"

Oh that. Yeah that's all.

"You've been working too much lately. Don't think I can't tell that you're stressing out. I don't care what kind of poker face thing you've got going on mister, you like it here."

"Y-yeah." Dude, recover. "You caught me Harls. You've got quite the private island escape here. Besides, free travel, no paparazzi trying to take pictures of my super fine beach body."

"Using me for my prime real estate! How dare you!"

He shrugged and she let her sarcasm fizzle into laughter.

"Just try to relax, okay?"

"Can't help it. I'm one of those artists that lives their work. I feel all sorts of antsy when I'm not on the job. I'm like an ant farm over here. No, an ant hill. I am a hill of ants right now. Pick up that random ass brick on the ground and BAM. There I am. A shit ton of ants all scrambling around trying to gather food for the winter. Can't stop working."

"Oh no!" Jade put her hands to her face in mock concern. "What if we do some more island touring? Then you can get some inspiration and all that, so it'll feel like work?"

He took a few moments to think it over. "Yeah, sounds good," he said getting up. Thank you Jesus, they had a plan.

"Okay! Let me just go change."

"Change? Like, into hiking gear?"

"Yeah. Or actually, you said you wanted to go to the beach, right?"

Did he? When'd he say that?

"The whole beach body thing, remember? You said it like, twenty seconds ago."

Oh yeah. "I believe I said 'super fine beach body.' There's a difference."

"Whatever Dave! Can't go to the beach in these clothes!" She gestured to her outfit: lab coat and biker shorts. Before he made any comment she had already dashed off.

Dave stood in the living room, unsure of what to do. He should probably change too. Good thing he managed to pack swimming clothes just incase. He went up to his room and switched out of his business attire. It wasn't two seconds later that he heard Jade's voice.

"Dave! Are you ready?"

She sure sounded like she was roaring to go.

"Yeah, I'm ready," he said as he stepped out in swim trunks and a T-shirt and a fuck ton of sunblock. Nope. Not gonna deal with sunburn today. Fuck that shit. As he walked out he was greeted to the sight of a brightly smiling Jade Harley.

He'd never seen Jade in clothes like this. The times he saw her, she was wearing a lab coat or pajamas. For the first time he had a decent look- more than decent, really- at her body. It was more taut than he expected, tanner than he realized.

"Great! Let's go!"

More distracting than he ever anticipated.

As soon as they exited the house, Jade practically made a run for the beach. It was not until they hit the sand that Dave finally asked, "What's with you?"

She looked at him questioningly. "What do you mean?"

"You're just uh," man he was out of breath, "really excited. Or you seem, rather, really excited about this beach thing."

It took her a second to register what he said before she shrunk a bit in embarrassment.

"Oh, um... sorry. I haven't really been out here for a while. I love swimming. I haven't really had a reason to in a long time and I suppose I missed it more than I remembered?"

"Really?" he questioned with a raised brow. "Way to not take advantage of the area. Your home is basically forty percent beach, and you haven't gone swimming? What even is that?"

"I know, I know. You get kind of tired of the beach and the ocean and the sand and waves and blah blah blah when it's all you've got all the time though!"

"Okay I can see your point there, I guess."

"There's something about showing it to someone else that makes you rethink what you've got though, and man, do I have something to show you."

"Not going to lie, that sounded really sexual. Please keep your clothes on, Harley; I thought we settled that I'm here on vacation. God, I come here to get away from my millions of fangirls only to have you at it again, trying to seduce me and take advan-"

"Oh my god, Dave just shut up and follow me!"

She took out a pair of goggles and switched them with her glasses. She tossed Dave another pair as well before putting away the wrap around her waist and turning to wade into the ocean.

Goggles.

Dave stared at them hesitantly, not wanting to trade them for his shades.

"I uh," he looked up to tell Jade he rather not, but she was already far away and waving at him impatiently to come over. With a sigh he took off his shirt, put his sunglasses away, and adjusted the straps on the googles before putting them over his head and around his neck.

"Come on Mr. Hotshot!" Jade taunted as Dave waded unsurely into the water.

As soon as he got to her side he took a pause.

"Ready?"

"I'm not sure what I should be prepared for, but yeah. I'm about as ready as I'm going to get."

"Good. Take this," she said as she tossed him a weird looking mouth piece. "It lets you breathe under water. Cooler than a snorkel. You know how to use it?"

"I think I can assume that I breathe through it."

"Wow, charming and smart," she teased.

Dave took the opportunity to do his best hair flip while Jade put her own mouthpiece in. He followed suit and saw Jade give him two thumbs up before plunging right in to the water.

Welp here goes nothing, he thought as he unceremoniously dunked his head down.

His eyes closed instinctually, but he remembered soon that he could open them. He was greeted with infinite blue and bubbles being kicked around from Jade's feet. They swam a few yards forward with Dave trailing after jade, thankful that he actually knew how to swim. The sandy bottom soon turned into coral floors and colorful fish weaved through the ocean. They swam in schools around him, avoiding his path. He stopped looking straight down and decided to bring his head up. The sea floor continued to drop in a steady slope and Jade swam like she had lived in these waters her whole life. She gave him her best "tada" motion as he looked at her, the ocean that surrounded her, the corals that lie beneath her in colorful explosions, and the fish that glided through all around. Her black hair waved around in inky tendrils as the sun drew lines of light that danced across her skin.

He would've lost his breath if it weren't for the apparatus strapped to his face.

All his reservations about it were gone in that instant.

He'd never seen anything so beautiful in his life.

He wasn't sure how to act anymore. Not that he was doing that well before either.

Jade and he had been in the ocean for a good two hours before getting out. The sun was getting low in the sky as they walked home, the warmth enough to dry their skin.

He stood in the shower, stretching out the time under the hot water, replaying everything that happened in his head.

"That was great!" Jade said as they emerged. "Man, I haven't had a swim that good in ages! What'd you think?"

It blew his freaking mind. There was no room left to think. What were thoughts even? Geez.

"Gotta hand it to you, your wooing game has gotten stronger since the last time I was here."

Jade grinned, swapping her goggles for her regular glasses.

Dave took his off as well, but before he could manage to make the switch to his shades, Jade stopped him.

"Woah. Your eyes are red."

"Yeah well, they've been in those goggles for a while, lack of oxygen and all gets 'em misty I-"

"No Dave, the irises. Duh."

"Oh yeah. That's a thing. For me. That's a me thing." It wasn't like he was horrifically embarrassed about them, but whenever he looked in the mirror they struck him as freaky. Not to mention how "eyes are the window to the soul" or some shit, and he liked to look as stoic as possible at all times. The last thing he needed was some dead give away like red eyes and uncontrolled emotions showing.

"It's a very cool thing." He thought about saying thanks, but he took the chance to look at her instead. Green eyes. Bright, green eyes. He already knew that though. Maybe he could say something like 'Back at you. You've got some choice orbs there,' but he decided against it.

"I'm a cool guy, you know?" Dave retorted, putting his black lenses back onto his face where they belonged.

"I know, I know. Sooooo cool."

"Damn straight."

She laughed and began to walk ahead towards her place.

"The coolest!"

He shut off the water. He wasn't going to get much more out of this shower than he already had. The salt had been washed away a long time ago, and his fingers were starting to look like awkwardly pink raisins. Dave toweled off like usual, but took a second to check himself in the mirror. He studied his face, getting up close to examine exactly how red his eyes were. Yup, just as freaky as always.

He backed away feeling a little bitter. Then again, if Doc Harley diagnosed them as A-OK, then he guessed they weren't god awful. Still, he felt like part of his face was missing without his shades, so he put them on and continued his routine.

As soon as he was dressed, and he certainly took his time with that, he made his way back downstairs. He was greeted with the smell of food, reminding him of his last "visit" with Jade. As in the first time he met her.

"Look, I'm actually making food for you this time!"

Jade had previously explained her strange food making machine, which never went into the market because it would have attracted too much attention to herself. She called it her special refrigerator, but Dave had insisted it deserved a cooler name than that. They were at a loss at what exactly to call it, though, so it was never given another title.

"Did you get the meat from your freaky food machine?"

Except that. That would do nicely.

"Yep! How's steak sound? It's Bec's favorite."

"You're giving me your dog's favorite food?"

"Sort of! Bec's steaks are cooked special."

Dave looked over to her dog, who was preoccupied chewing on a neon green T-bone, just like what he'd been given last time he was there.

"I see..." he said cautiously as he sat at her counter. "How'd you learn to cook anyways? This seems a little too gourmet for a lone island woman."

"Well, growing up I knew how to bake from a really early age. I hated it, and instead of making cake and pies like my mother wanted me to, I decided to cook for myself and never touch a pinch of sugar or a mixer."

"So defiant. What a rebel."

Jade made a noise of agreement. "Totally. I am the badass."

"I can't cook to save my life," Dave admitted. "Take out and fast food. My specialty is dialing the number for pizza."

"Mmm, sounds good."

"Oh yeah, always. You come over to my place and I will order you the best pizza. No lie."

"Now who's trying to woo whom?"

"Ah man, sorry. That was a little too far. I didn't mean to get your hopes up. Strictly pizza Jade. It's hard, you know? Sometimes I forget to turn off my swag and these girls think I'm trying to give 'em a bone, but it's like, no man. I ain't giving any bones out today, no kibble or snausages either, Harley. I know you're probably into that, being a dog furry and all."

"Shame."

"Right?"

Jade then set a plate of steak right in front of his face.

"You liked the salad I made last time, right?"

Oh, the Veggie Tale murder dish, how could he forget?

"Yeah bring it on."

She set down a large bowl full of greens and other vegetables. New ones, if he remembered the last time correctly. Got some orange and red up in here.

"Help yourself," she said, sitting next to him.

"Thanks."

Dinner went by smoothly. They talked and ate, and talked so much that it took them over an hour to actually finish their plates, and another half an hour to move from the counter. They talked so much that Dave forgot why he was ever nervous about this in the first place. They fell into the smooth rhythm they had gotten into the first day they met. Talking and listening and it was starting to look almost exactly the same.

They wound up outside on the balcony again, this time with blankets and pillows. Jade said she didn't want to accidentally fall asleep on him again, after all.

Yup, it was basically turning out to be the same night all over again. Different words, different day, but the feelings came back.

He should've been tired, but he wasn't really. It was past midnight already, but he was fine. Fine wasn't really the right word though. He was happy. More than that. Calmer and more unnerved than just "happy" entailed. It was probably because Rose's words wouldn't leave his mind. She had done a good job of pounding the idea that he was more than just slightly attracted to Doctor Jade Harley into his brain. He'd done a valiant job of denying it ninety-nine percent of the time despite that.

"Well, I think it's probably a good idea to get into bed. I kept you up way too late last time, and you're probably exhausted!" Jade announced as she got up.

Dave watched her stretch out in the moonlight, his snarky comment caught in his throat. She made the same motions she did after they had finished watching that movie earlier. Stretched one arm, then the other.

He hadn't expected that to happen. With things going the way they were, he thought it'd play out the same as last time, talking away until the stars began to fade. Apparently not... he pushed aside the sinking feeling of disappointment in his gut.

"Yeah that's some sound logic."

She walked him to the teleportation pad thing- transportalizer- and waved him a sleepy good night. He raised his hand as he turned into static and was left on his own floor. It was almost robotic the way he walked back to his room and climbed into bed. He immediately shut his eyes to sleep, but it wasn't ten seconds later that he reopened them. He usually talked to Jade until he was tired, as Rose was usually asleep earlier than him or too caught up in magicland inspiration to pay him any attention.

He got out his phone and logged into pesterchum using the wifi just to check if that was the case. Jade must've left her computer on because she was signed in. Strange, she should've been idle though.

He opened up a tab for her and hesitated. Fuck it.

- turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering gardenGnostic [GG] -

TG: hey so

TG: sorry if this wakes you up or for the awkwardness that will ensue in the morning if you arent awake

TG: just forgot to say thanks for today

Well fuck him up the ass if that wasn't imperially lame. He wanted to sigh. This was stupid.

GG: thanks dave :)

GG: i had a lot of fun today

TG: oh youre actually up

TG: nice how we manage to end up doing what we do when were across the world

TG: when were like

TG: ten feet apart

TG: and saw each other three minutes ago

GG: yeah i know

GG: i wanted to check on something before i went to sleep

TG: same here

TG: got a ton of irons in the fire

TG: gotta check up on them

GG: is this a part of you being antsy all the time?

TG: yeah

TG: i am the ant king up in here

GG: i thought the ant queen was the most important

GG: are there ant kings

TG: like fuck if i know

TG: what do i look like

TG: an ant expert

GG: you do not look like an ant expert

GG: but i thought with you being sooooo antsy

GG: you would know better!

TG: youre right

TG: i do know better

TG: i know the best

TG: i majored in ant studied in the college i never went to

TG: i started the college

TG: UOA

TG: university of ants

TG: and i am the sole graduate

GG: oh so impressive dave

TG: ok this conversation has gone off the handle

GG: hehe it has

TG: better get off to dream land jade

GG: sounds good

TG: oh btw is there a call time for waking up

GG: a call time?

TG: like what time should i get up

GG: oh i dont know! whenever is fine

TG: yeah sounds good

GG: good night dave :)

TG: night

-x.x.x.x.x.x-

Hi. I sincerely apologize for how long it has taken me to update. My excuse? School, a boyfriend, finally entering the working world, and just an overall sense of being busy and tired! Thank you for the patience and all the reviews, and all the people from tumblr who are nice enough to ask me about updates (and I really just like hearing from people, so never feel nervous about talking to me there at justafewsmallsteps)! Reading those words really puts a fire in my heart that fuels me and warms me at the same time, so thank you very much. Hope you enjoyed!