Author's Note: These are the final stages of Respite. Following this, there will be two further updates. After that, Respite is concluded. I'd apologize for the delay if any were warranted. Afghanistan was a little more important than updating this. Enjoy the date.
Happy Endings 2
I get to Maddie's house early, dressed in an ensemble that tries to put casual and formal together in the same space without really being either. It's smart jeans, a white cotton polo shirt that might be Ralph Lauren or something similar and brown loafers. I thought long and hard about what to wear, got Al's perspective on my choices and then just decided to go for it. It feels constricting and kind of showy, but like Bruce said, I've got my foot in the door already: the only thing Maddie is expecting me to wear is clothes. I got that right at the very least. I knock on the door and find myself confronted with a tall, weathered man with a thick moustache I kind of recognize from the old neighbourhood and who I assume is Maddie's father. He regards me with a little surprise.
"My god, it is Willis Todd's boy, isn't it? Jason right?" He asks sticking his big paw out for a handshake. I nod and shake his hand. This is pretty awkward.
"Sorry, I don't really remember you."
"That's not a problem, son: I hardly recognise you. You used to be a lot shorter and skinny than you are now, pretty sure you had a different hair colour too. I used to see you goofing around in the apartment building a lot when I finished my shift. You looked like you were left on your own quite a bit back then. But, you know I shouldn't say anything about that now: none of my business. Please come in, come in." The guy says ushering me inside and closing the door. "I'm Harry by the way, Harry Prince." He informs me as I'm led into the living room. Maddie's mom does an eerily similar routine to her husband in feigning surprise, checking who my daddy is and then introducing herself as Laura Prince.
"Where's Maddie?" I ask as I'm strongly invited to take a seat in front of them.
"She's still getting ready. You don't mind talking to us until she comes down, do you?" Laura says, obviously trying to strong-arm me into small talk. I don't like being forced into a corner, even if I want to get in good with her folks. I know an interrogation when I see one. My mouth starts before I can stop it.
"Actually, you're kind of creeping me out with this thinly veiled attempt to get my balls in a vice before I even get to first base with your daughter." I say like I'm somewhere else with someone else instead of in their house as their guest. I don't say anything else even though I'm dying to apologize for a typical example of Jason Todd charm. They both look at me in perfect silence for almost a minute before Harry nods at me in something that just might be understanding.
"Maddie said you were smart. She forgot to mention you had a quick tongue too. Did you literally just think of that or did you prepare a few lines beforehand?" Okay, they're just like Maddie. This is good. I can run with this. I shrug.
"Sometimes my mouth just goes on without me."
"Hey, we don't want her going out with a kiss-ass, Jason, but we hadn't even started the awkward questions before you cut us off. At least let my wife get a couple down before you flare up again." Harry says with a grin that immediately helps put me at ease. I'm still nervous as hell though as I turn my attentions to Laura and offer her a sporting smile.
"Yeah, sure thing. Go ahead Mrs. Prince."
"How many girls have you slept with?" She says straight away. I don't know whether she's thinking because of my perceived wealth and good looks that it's a lot. Regardless, it's time to dispel myths about me being any kind of Casanova.
"One." I fire back.
"Who…"
"She broke up with me." Score one in beating her to the punch.
"Where…"
"Ice-rink, followed by a meal at one of the restaurants downtown. Back by eleven." Two-nil and counting. She looks at her husband after the shutout. Harry smirks at me.
"This isn't your first parental beat-down, is it boy?"
"I've had my share. Bruce makes sure I'm prepared for flak. I smoke too, just so you know. Maybe five a day if I'm stressed." I say with total openness to make sure we all get off on the right foot. Still, I can guess where my vice is going to steer the conversation now.
"So how many have you had today?" Laura asks.
"Twelve. Can you smell it?" I say briefly smelling my shirt. I don't know for sure but I think I've won them over by being myself. That's got to be a first. I like these people, really like them.
"No but I think we're starting to see why Maddie likes you so much. Do you never feel like lying, Jason?"
"I've got nothing to hide and I pretty much have no shame either."
I spend the next ten minutes fielding questions about my home life, my hobbies and my driving ability. I tell them I'm home-schooled by Al, that I like MMA and boxing and that I drive better than any other teenager on the planet. I can't really get away with my last remark, but thankfully before they can test me on the Highway Code, Maddie rescues me from the inquisition. She's wearing jeans, pumps, a Led Zeppelin T-shirt and a leather jacket and looks so hot I struggle to remember how to speak. It lasts about two seconds, which is a lifetime for a guy as mouthy as me. When I do, I forget to convert my compliment into anything tasteful.
"You look like a model I had a dream about the other night…" I begin before her widening eyes tell me to trail off.
"Let's go before you horrify my parents anymore, Mr. Billionaire, huh?" She says to save my ass again. I'm on my feet in a flash and we're out the door a less than a minute later. She holds my hand as we walk to my car. "What did you say to them? Not to sound like a skank, but I've brought a few guys back before and they've never looked as shocked as I saw them just now." She tells me with an amused grin. I return the smile and go straight into my usual material for her.
"I should've told you before, but I'm addicted to flashing. Having an audience compelled me to drop my pants." She strokes her chin and pretends to consider what I've said carefully. She shakes her head.
"That wouldn't be enough for my parents. Is it a funny shape or something?" She asks with the same kind of tactless grace I've made my trademark. She'll like this response though…
"Oddly enough it looks just like Abe Lincoln standing on his head." She stifles a giggle and nods in understanding.
"You were just yourself, weren't you? A guy like you would definitely shock them."
"Why? Are they not used to real people or something?" I say opening the passenger door for her. She shakes her head.
"No, you're just unique is all. Unique scares the crap of them."
We get to the ice-rink without any melodrama, collect our skates and hit the ice less than half-an-hour after leaving her house. She's good, I'll give her that. Not only can she do the basics required to stay upright, but also amazingly skim around with total control. Being a natural athlete, I can skate to a decent standard as well, but she looks more comfortable with her surroundings than me. I don't think I even want to do this. Why did I let Bruce talk me into going ice-skating like ten-year-olds do? I probably look like a dick as well, wearing this stupid shit. Fuck. Total disaster already and I haven't even started. It takes her all of six minutes to notice I'm not quite fully committed to the activity I suggested we do for the date I wanted to have. She takes hold of my hand and steers me into a secluded corner of the rink.
"This isn't your kind of thing, is it?" Maddie says with a sympathetic smile. I shrug my shoulders.
"I'm sorry. I know this is what twelve-year-olds tend to consider a highbrow location for a first date, but it's all I could think of. I'm not great with this stuff." I say honestly. She shrugs too.
"How about we take a tour of the old neighbourhood instead? It's only a couple of subway stops away from here." That sounds like something I'd actually enjoy, but I'm worried about straying away from the conventional date I planned.
"What about dinner?"
"Is that your chance to show-off those deep pockets of yours, Mr. Billionaire?" She inquires whilst patting my jean pockets down. I give her a lop-sided grin.
"I was kind of hoping it would be."
"Restaurants are nice, but I don't think you like them much either. Am I right? Wouldn't you prefer a burger and fries from Eddie's?" Oh yeah, she remembers that cholesterol-riddled joint deep in the pits of Gotham too. My old man used to take me there as a treat. When my mom was croaking her last, their Burger Deluxe Meal was my favourite thing to drown my sorrows with. I'd love to go there, definitely, but they operate a strict no knives or forks policy for their slop.
"Yeah, but I eat like a pig." She scoffs at what she must think is a dumb excuse.
"And I'm such a lady?"
"I'd need to change out of this crap to make sure we don't end up in ER at the end of the night." I'd definitely get mugged in the old neighbourhood dressed like this. She pulls on my collar with a nod of agreement at my appraisal of the situation.
"I bet you've got something more suitable in that car of yours."
"Like a cape and tights?" I say to make her roll her eyes.
"You've definitely got a good body, but you're not quite Don Juan yet. I was thinking better jeans and an uglier T-shirt." This is turning into my kind of night. I'm with a girl who doesn't give a shit about frills of any kind and would even let a bad wardrobe slide. I got lucky, no doubt about that. I nod.
"I got so many ugly T-shirts I could be a poster boy for the Salvation Army."
"I thought you were."
"Funny, really droll."
I change into loose jeans, a lime-green T-shirt advertising Star City, black sneakers and my street urchin coat after fetching them from the trunk of Brat in the parking lot. I'm not crazy about leaving my car here to go on a subway train, but Maddie convinces me it's the best thing to do. I suppose if someone does jack it, it'll be a cinch for Bruce and me to track them down. So I follow her lead and we catch the subway car to the Narrows.
We get off at the stop just outside one of my favourite hustling grounds, the Nine-Ball Limit pool hall, and walk hand-in-hand down the street towards Eddie's. It's still early so there's hardly anybody about, but give it another hour or two and the place will be crawling with lowlifes and degenerates going to gin joints and gambling dens by the dozen. But this was a good idea and I'm really happy Maddie suggested it. It feels natural doing this instead of feeling forced like it was before with the ice-rink and the rich guy clothes. I didn't do this because I thought she'd expect more of me, being the ward of a billionaire, but I guess I really don't know girls that well. Her hand feels warm and comforting in mine and it makes me relax entirely.
From here, it's about half-a-mile to the place and gives us a chance to get all nostalgic about the past. During the journey, we point out the various landmarks of our shared childhood growing up in this area. We talk about the hot summers, the kids we used to know at elementary school and in the apartment building and how many days went by on average before we saw some kind of crime being committed. We work it out at roughly three-and-a-half days during the summer and maybe as long as five days in winter. She tells me a little about what I missed during middle school with the kids I might have remembered, but mainly she keeps it to events we both know well. We talk about the hit-and-run we saw when we were eight for the last ten minutes of the trip until we reach Eddie's.
Once we're there, I re-enact some of my lowest moments in buying another Burger Deluxe Meal, the first thing I ate after my mom died, my dad got killed and after being taken advantage of by my first pervert. She gets a Triple-Stack Chilli Cheeseburger Meal, a foodstuff that is one slice of cheese short of a heart attack, and makes me cough up a whole ten bucks to pay for it. We don't eat inside the place and instead take our romantic dinner to what's left of the outer wall of our former apartment block, which is now nothing but a mountain of broken bricks and mortar looming over tall grass that has managed to grow through the cracks in the pavement. In a weird way, I find it kind of pretty in the fading light.
"So, is our date living up to your expectations?" I ask her as I'm halfway through devouring my burger: she's already polished hers off and is picking up a generous fistful of fries when replying.
"This is probably the best first date I've ever been on." She says without any kind of sarcasm. I literally can't believe she's being serious.
"Are you fucking with me?"
"Not even a little. All the other guys I've taken a chance on would never have the stones to come down here. And you know, they're all from the other side of Gotham: they've never even seen the Narrows or Crime Alley except on TV. They don't understand what it's like to grow up here…or why that makes coming here so special. But you do. Other people wouldn't think of sitting out here, eating this slop, as romantic but I do. And I can by the way you're looking at that hill of building debris that you think it's beautiful too." She says with a smile that tells me we're more alike than I ever thought possible. I've never met anyone quite like her and I think I'd be hard-pressed to find a girl even remotely close to her character and temperament. I smile back and nod.
"I get it. Even though some of my worst memories are on these street corners and even though this place is depressing as hell, this place is home. It just feels like home." She hooks an arm around mine and rests her head against my shoulder. I don't think I've ever felt so close to another human being as I am now. When she speaks, I'm almost convinced she feels the same way about me.
"And that's why I wanted to come here with you: because you appreciate it too. You get it." She emits a sigh before adding, "I wish you could've stayed back when we were growing up. We could've done this all the time." Yeah, I know I would've liked that a hell of a lot, but it was never an option. It was either foster care or the streets. I'd take the jungle any day.
"I couldn't stay. I had to leave before they made me." I tell her to earn a rub on my arm in support. That's different.
"I'm sorry about your folks. You must've been really lonely after your dad."
"It was tough, but nothing new to anybody who's been there before." I say. It's old news now, everything is. Right here and now it's completely irrelevant.
"No regrets?" She asks. I shake my head.
"No point. It's done now. No point thinking about it anymore."
"You're as tough as they come, aren't you Mr. Billionaire?" She says now stroking up and down the length of my arm. I smirk.
"No tougher than you, Ms. Prince."
"That's sweet, but I think you're a little bit tougher than me."
"Nothing you can't handle though, right?" I check. She lifts her head to offer me a smirk of her own.
"I've chewed up tougher gobstoppers than you, big guy." I lean down until our lips are less than an inch apart. She looks at me expectantly. This is it, Jay. This is where you complicate things to the furthest point you can go. Nervous? I smile at her and feel entirely calm.
"That's good to know." I say before kissing her.
We get back to the parking lot after twenty minutes of making out and another five minutes on the subway car. It's just after ten and my car is the only one left. Thankfully, it's not up on bricks and looks entirely intact. I take a quick glance around the area and find we're completely alone, no nasty surprises waiting. That's got to qualify as the second biggest miracle tonight. The first is obviously that I actually have a girlfriend. Jason Todd has another girlfriend. I literally struggle to understand how or why despite being there every step of the way. Under a blanket of banter about how my car is compensation for my short comings and Maddie pushing the issue for all its worth, I drive her back home.
"Do you want me to walk you to your door?" I ask once we're outside. She scoffs.
"What? Like I can't find it or something?" I grin and roll my eyes. She's off again.
"Isn't that what guys are supposed to do?"
"Like you said, this isn't the 1950s anymore. How about you tuck me in and read me a bedtime story too while you're treating me like a delicate little flower?" She offers sticking her face close to mine. I narrow my eyes.
"If you want to compare yourself to any kind of plant, go with something credible, like a thistle or a rose with the biggest fucking thorns on the planet." She pouts and acts like she's hurt by my barb.
"Does that mean you don't want a kiss goodnight?"
"Do I have to steal it?" I ask. She grins.
"Not this time, Mr. Billionaire." She says kissing me on the lips before getting out the car. "You know the drill, right? Wait three days and then call me: that way you don't look too needy." I wave appreciatively at her as she walks backwards towards her front door.
"Thanks for the tip, Ms. Princess." She gives me the finger, smiles and then turns her back on me. Yep, that's my girlfriend alright. I watch her open the door and go inside. Then I drive off into the night.