"So, who's gonna drive? Me or you?" Asked Chris as both he and Jill walk to her car.
"I am. I already told you that I was…"
"Why? You don't know the way there."
"You can guide me, can't you?"
"Yeah, but…"
"Besides, it my car."
"Fine. Anyway, where is your car?" Chris looks around at all of the cars in the parking stalls. As he looks around, a particular car strikes his interest. It is a 2000 model Integra GS-R coupe…that's in red. To his surprise, Jill starts to head toward that very same car that he was just staring at. "Hey Jill? Do you know who owns that Integra?"
"Of course I do. It's mine."
Chris' eyes widen in shock and amusement. "No way. Your just saying shit to throw me off guard…"
Jill grins at his expression and replies, "No, I assure you that I'm telling you the truth."
She holds up her car keys and hands them to Chris. He takes them and slowly nods his head. "Alright, I believe you. Each car has a specially made key for each car that is manufactured and no one can steal it…even with a special skeleton key."
"Yeah. I lose both keys, I have to go back to the dealership so that they can order another set of keys."
"Manual transmission, right?"
"Yup. How'd you know?"
Chris gave her a wry grin. "I do my homework."
"Yeah, whatever." Jill presses the button on the keychain to unlock the doors. Both climb in and Jill starts the engine. As soon as the engine is warm enough, the pair head toward Claim Jumpers.
Chris thoughtfully gazes at Jill as a plan begins to form in his head. He starts to chuckle to himself as he begins to tease her about the hidden meaning behind the color of her car. "So…you picked red. Any particular reason why?"
Jill stops at the light and turns to face him. "Well…I picked red because it was the only color available at the time and I didn't want to go to another dealer or wait for them to get a new shipment of cars."
Chris rolled his eyes in amusement. "Right…sure…and I'm the Emperor of Japan…"
Jill was about to hit him when the light turned green. Out of the corner of eye, she could see him smirking at her. "Chris…you are very lucky that the light turned green…"
"I know. So really, why red? Is it because of me?" He asked sweetly.
"Actually yes…"
"Ah ha! I knew it…"
"But only because every time I think of you…I end up turning red in the face from being angry with you…You little bastard." Jill was forced to stop again at an intersection and she promptly hit him in the stomach.
"Okay, okay. I'll buy that answer…for now. Besides, it's obvious that you love me if you're constantly thinking about me…"
Jill reached under his shirt and pinched his left external oblique muscle. Hard. "Just shut the fuck up Kid…or I stop the car and kick your ass. Here and now. Got it?"
Chris gave her a lopsided grin. "Yes Ma'am."
Shaking her head, Jill stepped on the gas and they continued on their way. As she busied herself with watching the traffic, Chris was fiddling with her stereo and her CDs.
Thumbing through the CD case, he smiled as he found what he was looking for. Making sure that she was not watching, Chris inserted the disc, selected the track he wanted, and pressed 'play'. The introduction to 'N Sync's, This I Promise You, began to play as Jill was forced to stop again. Looking over at Chris, who was directing a thoughtful gaze at her, she began to blush slightly.
"What's the idea Chris?"
"Well…I guess that this my way of kinda apologizing to you and…well, how much you mean to me…"
Jill arched an eyebrow at him before he quickly added, "as my best friend."
He gave her a nervous smile and sheepishly ran a hand through his hair. Jill smiled back at him and asked, "Thanks Sweetie. You're a great best friend…even though you're annoying as hell…"
"I do it because I care. You're gonna wanna turn left at the next light."
"Okay, thanks. You know, you're the only person I know who can do that…"
"Do what?"
"Change the subject without any awkward silences or words…"
"It's a gift. I'm always being grilled about you from Claire and…I've learned how to…escape from having to answer her questions."
Jill stepped on the gas again and asked, "What kind of questions?"
"Stuff like why she thinks we're perfect for one another, if I've ever kissed you, or even considered going out with you."
"Oh really?"
"Yeah. She wants me to settle down or something…guess she wants me to tone down the amount of time I spend going surfing at Mavericks' or snowboarding at Tahoe."
"How sweet." Jill turned left at the light and quickly looked over at Chris, who had a wistful smile across his lips. "What are you thinking about?"
"Oh, I just wanna go surfing tomorrow. Hey, how about we go to Monterey tomorrow? We'll make a day outta it."
"How so?"
"I could teach you how to surf, we can go to the aquarium, and eat at Bubba Gump's. What do you think?"
"…Sounds like an idea…"
"Cool. Let's stop at my place later. I need to get a few things…"
"Like?"
"Clothes, my toothbrush, my wetsuit, and…my board obviously."
"Alright. So…where to now?"
"Take the first right and take another right when you see a shopping center."
"Okay. Hey, how's you muscle?"
Chris lifted up his shirt to examine where Jill had pinched him. "Umm…it's okay, but I think it's gonna leave a bruise because it's kinda red right now."
"You deserved it, but I'm sorry about that. You mind hitting 'repeat' for the track?"
Chris let go of his shirt, reached over, and pressed the repeat button. "All done. No prob."
"Thanks. You gonna tell Claire about today?"
"No…why should I?"
"Because she gonna try to find out what her brother's been up to during his vacation."
"Hey, she may be my younger sister, but she treats me like I'm the younger sibling. She can pry all she wants, I ain't gonna tell her nothing."
"Anything."
"Whatever. I don't really care for perfect English grammar right now…besides, I speak Californian as well as English."
Jill laughed at that remark and added, "Yeah, and I've taught you how to speak like a true New Yorker."
"Oh yeah. She gets mad when I start using slang from other states, as well as countries."
They both continued to laugh as Jill pulled into the shopping center and parked the car. Chris struggles with his seat belt for a second and then gets it loose. He opens the door and hopes Jill didn't see him struggling. He stands up and stretches a little bit. Jill, who did see him struggling, opens the door and gets out with a grin on her face. Chris looks over to her across the top of the car and sees the grin on her face and he knows she saw him. He closes the door and walks around the front of the car to Jill.
"It was stuck…it wasn't my fault."
"I know it wasn't…that thing sticks a little."
"Heh. Oh really? And who were you having sex with in your car for it to be sticky like that?"
Jill quickly shoots a pissed off look to Chris. "You have a really sick mind, Christopher David Redfield, I should smack you…but instead you have to be polite for the whole rest of the day, and tomorrow as well. Or else." (Enter Dramatic Music here)
"Oh God woman, don't give me one of those 'Or else' things. You wouldn't do anything anyway."
"Oh really?" Jill grabs her handcuffs out of her purse. "Remember these?"
A sweat drop forms on Chris' forehead. "Uhh…yeah, but PLEASE don't make me watch those fucking mutant Muppet-rejects again. I'm begging you."
"Well, if you are polite for the next few days, including today, I promise I will never put you through that again." Jill crosses her fingers behind her back.
"Agreed," Chris replies quite quickly.
They start walking through the parking lot towards the restaurant. Chris looks over to Jill.
"I have a question?" Chris asks.
"Yeah?"
"How the hell do you know my middle name? I never told you it."
Jill gets a little smile on her face. "Oh, I have my sources."
"C'mon Jill, I wanna know."
"I already told you, I have my sources."
Chris gives her a stern face "Jill…"
"Ok, ok. I saw it on your Driver's license."
"When did you see my Driver's license? I never showed you it"
"When I was washing your clothes, I took your wallet out of you pocket. And I looked through it."
Chris starts to sweat a little bit more. He absently reaches into his back pocket and touches his wallet to make sure that it was still there. Chris then rakes a hand through his hair in a rather nervous fashion. "You looked through my wallet?"
"Yup."
"Uhh…and what did you see in there?"
Jill starts to smile a little bit more. "Well, I saw a bunch of credit cards, which I plan on using tomorrow, some business cards for stupid card and comic shops, and some pictures."
"That's all?"
"Yeah."
"Ok…and card shops aren't stupid."
They get to the door of the restaurant. Jill stops in front of the door. And waits for Chris to open the door. He stands next to her looking at her for a minute. When Jill says something to him.
"Ahem…."
"Ahem what?"
"You cannot be that dense can you? Open the damn door for me."
"Oh, yeah. I guess, I…uhh…forgot." He quickly opens the door and holds it open for her.
Jill walks in. "Thank you. Oh and by the way, don't expect to get lucky anytime soon."
Chris walks in behind her and ponders what she just meant by that. He thinks for a second and then it hits him. His wallet! Chris thinks to himself. So she did see it. I knew having it in there was dangerous. But oh well. It is better to be safe than sorry. Chris innocently looks at Jill.
"Uhh…what did you mean by that?"
"Oh, you know perfectly well what I mean."
Chris just gives her a nervous laugh as they walk over to their table and sit down. A few moments after they get settled in their seats, the waiter arrives with their menus. As she hands them their menus, she politely asks, "And would you like anything to drink or an appetizer?"
"No appetizers today, but I'll have a Sprite. Jill?"
"Umm…I think I'll have an iced tea with the lemon on the side."
"Okay…so that's a Sprite and an iced tea with lemon on the side. Alright, I'll be back with your drinks and take your orders when I return." She gave them both a smile, but kept a slightly lingering gaze on Chris before she left. Jill caught the look and began to laugh as the waitress left.
"God, I can't take you anywhere, can I?"
Chris blinked before asking, "Huh?"
"The waitress was staring at you."
He bowed his head in slight embarrassment. "Aw man…"
"Hey, you're cute. That's why they stare at you. I thought you'd be used to it by now…"
Chris begins to play with his silverware as he answers, "No, not really. It's not something that you can really get used to." He looks up at her with his cheeks flushed slightly. "You think I'm cute?"
Jill gave him an exasperated sigh before replying, "Well…yeah, I do think that you're cute…" She started to turn red as well as a dreamy smile played across her lips.
He caught her expression and arched an eyebrow at her. "Just cute?"
"No…you're…really handsome…Hey-waitaminute! You set me up!!" Jill lightly kicked him in the shins.
Chris gave her a lopsided grin. "Maybe I did. Hey, if you wanted to play footsies under the table, you could have warned me beforehand."
She began to smile, in spite of herself, as she punched his shoulder. "Just shut up." Jill looked over at Chris' silverware pyramid and asked, "Bored?"
"Very." He then took her forks and spoon to reinforce his own structure, tested the weight with his knife, and then placed his water glass atop the pyramid. "Ta-Da! What do you think?"
"Are you always gonna act like this?" Asked Jill with a smile.
"Nope. I only do it to you and Claire."
"Why?"
"Because I enjoy your company and making you smile."
"You're definitely a charmer, Christopher David Redfield…"
"That's why you like me so much."
Jill playfully stuck her tongue out at him as the waitress returned with their drinks.
"Are you ready to order?"
Chris handed Jill her silverware back and looked over his menu again. "Yeah. I'll have the Chicken Fried Steak."
"And what type of bread do you want with that?"
Chris gave Jill a wry grin before answering, "Umm…garlic bread. Please."
"Alright. And how about you, miss?"
"I'll have the Chicken Primavera with garlic bread as well."
"Okay. That's a Chicken Fried Steak, a Chicken Primavera, and two garlic breads." The pair nodded at her as she looked over her list again. "Alright. I'll just take you menus and if you need any refills on your drinks, just ask any of the waiters. And my name is Jennifer."
Chris took Jill's menu and handed both of their menus to Jennifer. "Thanks a lot, Jennifer." He gave her a smile that just seemed to melt her heart.
"You're…um, welcome," she stuttered as she walked away.
Jill turned to Chris and gave him a stern look. "You did that on purpose…"
Chris, in his little innocent kid voice, "What?"
"You were flirting with her."
"I was not…well, maybe a little."
Jill reaches over the table and smacks him. "Why do you do that?"
While Jill is scolding Chris, an elderly couple who are sitting next to them, just sit there and stare at them.
"Can you believe how he is acting?" says the elderly lady to her husband. "And did you see how she hit him? My God…they are acting like little children."
The elderly man sits there thinking to himself. Well, they aren't TOO much unlike how my wife and I acted when we were that age, but they are kind of acting immature. Or even if they did like each other, they are probably too nervous to get involved with one another. He stops thinking and answers his wife "Yes hon."
Jennifer walks back over to the table with their food in her hands. She sets Jill's platter in front of Jill. She then picks up Chris' platter and as she is setting it in front of him, she knocks his glass of water right into his lap. He quickly stands up.
"What the-?!?!"
"Oh my God, I'm SO sorry…please let me help you with that." She grabs a few napkins and sticks her hand right onto the wet spot, which also happens to be his manhood.
Chris moves her hand. "It's okay…I can do it myself. Jill, I'll be in the bathroom for a minute to get dried." He walks into the bathroom.
Jennifer sets the food down and walks back into the kitchen where all of the waitresses are crowded together.
"Oh my God! Jennifer, I didn't think you would have enough guts to do that," said on of the waitresses.
"Yeah, I know…so what was it like?" asks another.
In a day-dreamy state she replies, "Well, I wasn't going to do it, but I saw an opportunity and I took it. Oh and he is not only cute, but he is loaded as well."
All of the waitresses start to laugh and then one by one file out of the kitchen with big smiles on their faces. Chris walks out of the bathroom and walks right by one of the waitresses. She is in a shocked state just standing in front of him. She looks him over a few times.
"Excuse me, please." He gets around her. "Thanks," he says as he gives her that melting smile. Avoiding the rest of the grins plastered on the other waitresses' faces, Chris quickly makes his way back to the table and sits down.
Looking over at Jill and then to the rest of the on-lookers, he gives them a sheepish smile before returning his gaze to Jill.
Jill, who was trying not to laugh, kept a pretty straight face until she saw the sheepish look on Chris' face. He looks just like a little boy, she silently mused as she quietly chuckled to herself. "Well…you appear to be recovering from the shock rather well. Anything damaged?"
"Just my pride…and the fact that the water did seep into my shorts. Now, I really feel cold. Other than that, I feel just great."
She gave him a sympathetic smile as she reached over and placed her hand over his own, which was holding his soda. The same couple, which had been watching them earlier, was amazed at the sudden change in attitude between the younger pair.
"Oh Harold, do you think we were ever that young? They go from at each others throats to being totally in love with one another."
Harold smiled to himself as he began to think quietly to himself again. No, I don't think that anyone was ever that young. Those two have the uncanny ability to adapt to the other's outburst. "No, Charlotte, I don't think that we were ever that young."
As the couple continued to chat, Chris and Jill began to eat their lunch. The on-lookers decided to get back to their own realities and business returned to the normal hustle-and bustle.
During the time it took them to eat, the pair were acting just like a young couple in love. In between their playful banter, they would share their food with one another, feed one another, and just stare at one another with thoughtful gazes across their faces. Some of the other couples began to wonder why their boyfriend/girlfriend did not act the same way as both Chris and Jill did with one another.
When they finally finished their main courses, Chris ordered a slice of the Mile High Mud Pie cake. Both he and Jill split it evenly and when they finished, Chris motioned for Jennifer to bring the check. As she arrived, she still wore a mask of shock on her face, but it was subdued quite a lot from earlier.
"Thanks Jennifer." He looked the bill over and got up from his chair. "I'll go take care of this Jill, so just relax."
"Are you sure? Because I could help cover some of the costs."
"Hey, I said don't worry about it. Lunch was my treat, remember?" He gave her his trademark crooked grin and went to the main register. Both Jill and Jennifer stared at him in amazement.
"Umm, Jill? Could I ask you a question?"
"Sure."
"Is he…attached?"
"Who? Chris?"
"Is that your date's name?"
Jill began to smile at that. Hmm, Chris is my date? Well, this lunch certainly had date-like qualities…mainly that this is something that I will never forget. She looked at the expression across Jennifer's face and then at the wistful longing that adorned practically all of the waitresses and some of the female on-lookers. A slightly devilish smile began to play across her lips. Jeez, I was right. I can't take Chris anywhere without some girl staring at him… Hmm, I wonder what will happen if I say that Chris is my boyfriend? "Yes, that is the name of my boyfriend."
"Oh," Jennifer quietly replied as disappointment began to seep into her voice. "Well, you are very lucky to have such a great guy. I wish I had a boyfriend who would make me laugh, make me smile, and who had the ability to take whatever crosses his path in stride. I mean, a guy who could calmly handle having ice cold water spilled onto his lap, having some total stranger accidentally touch a very…sensitive area while attempting to wipe up the water, walk away to dry himself off without so much as a muttered word of profanity, and then return to eating his lunch as if nothing happened, would be any girl's dream."
"Well, maybe someday. Chris isn't perfect, but he can come close…when he wants to be."
Jennifer began to smile at that comment. "Guys aren't meant to be perfect…that's what girls are for."
The two began to laugh at the comment as Chris returned. He saw that the two girls were laughing, and began to grow slightly nervous. "Did I do something that amuses you two so greatly?"
Jill stood up from her chair and gave Chris a kiss on the cheek. "Not at all, hon."
Chris warily stared at her for a moment. "If you say so. Oh Jennifer," he handed her a $10 bill, "this is for you. I just hope that the next time we come in her, we don't have a repeat performance."
Jennifer looked at the tip and then at Chris. He smiled at her good-naturedly, to show that he was joking. She returned his smile. "Well, maybe I can find some other ways of accidentally touching you again."
The three of them began to laugh. Chris held out his hand, which Jennifer took, and shook it. "Maybe next time I'll just wear pants that are waterproof. Till we meet again." Chris then wrapped an arm around Jill's shoulder and the pair headed towards the exit.
As she watched them go, Jennifer was surprised to find that everyone was staring after the pair as well. When they were finally out of sight, everyone in the room restaurant had bemused expressions on their face until the manager came out of the kitchen and began to tell his staff to get back to work.
Once outside, Jill moved out from under Chris' arm and just stared at him for a moment. "I'm guessing that we are in a good mood right now?"
He smiled as he slowly nodded at her. "Yeah, we are."
"Why?"
"Because we just got a free lunch. Can I have the keys?"
She eyed him suspiciously. "Why?"
"Because I want to do something special for you."
"Like what?"
"It's a surprise. Why, don't you like surprises?"
"Normally,
I do for the most part. But with you…"
He gave her a disarming
smile. "Relax. I promised you that I'd behave for the next
couple of days, remember? I would never
do anything to hurt you. Trust me."
Jill continued to stare at him suspiciously, but found herself unconsciously handing the keys over to him. "You had better not pull anything stupid…"
Chris gave her a kiss on the cheek. "I won't. I promise. Come on, we better go before the traffic gets bad." He quickly unlocked the car, got in, and started the engine. Jill silently got in as she began to wonder about his statement.
"Traffic?"
Chris just
winked at her as he put the car in gear and headed for the exit out of the
shopping center. He then took the
freeway entrance that lead to San Francisco. Jill just smiled as she began to realize what Chris had planned for her
today. Grabbing her CD case, she looked
through it until she found what she was looking for. She then ejected the other CD and placed in the new choice. Before pressing the 'play' button, Jill
gazed at Chris' relaxed expression and began to think to herself.
Well, I wonder what he's got planned…I am kinda scared to find out and yet, yet he is so charming when he actually tries.
"So… Chris where we going anyway?"
"I dunno…for a drive?" Chris replies with a smirk.
"I know we're going on a drive…but where to?"
"Can't tell ya…just because that'll ruin the surprise. And you don't want that to happen do ya?"
"You are SO evil you know that…" She says as she ejects the Matrix Soundtrack from the CD player and puts in a burned CD that she burned with a bunch of different stuff on it.
"Yep." He says with a grin
Chris,
being the bad driver he is gets into an accident and totals Jill's Integra…She
hates him for life. The end… Naw, We're kidding…can't leave the story hanging
like that…that's the cheap way out. Ok, so really what happens, they have a few
instances where Jill is holding on for dear life and praying for her car. Chris, who now has a black and blue right
arm, is looking for a place to park in the busy city of San Francisco.