Chapter 5- Perks and Flirts

Welcome to the new dark ages
I hope you're living right
These are the new dark ages
And the world might end tonight

Bad Religion- New Dark Ages

Suze's POV

"Ah, I'm so full," Jack comments as he pushes away his plate. And full we were. We each had three dishes. I chose sea scallops, halibut, and parmesan-crusted chicken. It was delicious. And expensive. About ninety-five dollars expensive.

"You guys enjoy it?" Monica asks as she takes all of our plates with one hand. Impressive. We all nod in agreement as we lean back in our seats. Lindsay was hovering behind Alex, whispering things in his ear that we couldn't hear. But she kept shooting looks at me, so I wasn't sure that I wanted to.

"Check, please!" Jack calls out as he sees Monica passing our table. She nods with a smile (what's up with the smiles?!) and briskly walked away with three plates on her left arm.

"Did you enjoy your dinner, Suze?" Alex asks as he takes a sip of his water.

"It was excellent," I say as I look at Jesse out of the corner of my eye. He casually takes out my hand from under the table and puts on top of the table, our hands entwined. Alex and Jesse have been going off all night with Alex saying something to me, and then Jesse would do something that would show he was evidently with me.

"That's good. I'm glad you guys enjoyed it," Jack says as he puts his arm around Gina. When Monica comes back, Jack quickly swipes out his credit card and hands the bill back without even looking at it.

"Hey, Suze?" Gina asks as I take a sip of my Coke. This was my "stress ball" for the night: drinking Coke. Monica must have already refilled my glass at least four times. I nod in response since my mouth was filled.

"I'm getting married!" she blurts out as soon as I swallow my Coke. I then started to choke, all of the air escaping from my lungs. What?! Jesse immediately started to pat my back, encouraging to drink some water when my coughing fit died down. I looked up at Gina. She was smiling like a fool…laughing even.

"What did you say?" I dared to ask again. When I said this, Gina started laughing hysterically for a very long time. Her face was bright red and tears were streaming down her face. Good thing she wore waterproof mascara.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding! I just wanted to see what you would do!" Gina chokes out in fits of laughter. I settle back into my seat with a scowl on my face. I almost choked to death because of a joke? Jesse started to whisper words of comfort into my hair and as I looked back up to glare at Gina, I saw that Jack wasn't laughing. He had a distant look in his eye, that was aimed at the direction of the door. I looked over to see what he was looking at, but my view was blocked by Monica who was returning Jack's credit card.

"Here you go," Monica says pleasantly. "Have a good night!" she adds as she walks away. By that time, Jack had stopped looking at the door and we were up and on our way.

/=|=\

"That wasn't too bad, was it?" Gina asks me as we both walk into our room. When we left the restaurant, we all said our good-byes and as Alex leaned in to hug me, Jesse appeared behind me, resting his hands on my shoulder. Alex then smoothly dropped his other hand and shook my hand with his. The rest was kind of a blur since Jesse kissed me immediately after that, enough to make me swoon.

I nodded my head in agreement. All in all, the night was livable. Jack and Alex went to their apartment complex while Jesse, Gina, and I went back to Gina's house. Before we left for the restaurant, I told her what happened with Lindsay on the plane, so she freaked out a little when I told her that she was in the restaurant with us.

"What do you mean she was there?" Gina panicked. After several minutes of assurances on my part that she did nothing harmful, she relaxed. "How did you keep up with this for all these years? I can barely make it a day. Anyway, you know what we should do tomorrow?" Gina says all in one breath. Before I have time to voice my answer, she yells out "SHOPPING!" I saw Jesse out of the corner of my eye shake his head and head into his bedroom.

"Sounds great," I said, with as much enthusiasm I could muster. For the next few hours, Gina and I watched movies, gossiped, did our nails, and hung out like we used to. It was only until Gina started to yawn that I realized that I gained a couple of hours from California time.

"Hey, I'm gonna get to bed, okay?" I say as I stand up from the floor and stretch. Gina just pushed her hand as if she were dismissing me as I walked into Jesse's bedroom. It was only ten in California time, but Jesse was already fast asleep. I laughed quietly as I pushed Jesse's hair back and kissed him on the forehead.

=O0O=

"Wake up…wake up….WAKE UP!" someone yelled in my ear. I woke up with a start. I looked around my room to see who was interrupting my sleep in the middle of the night. But as my eyes focused, I realized that it wasn't night. Sunshine—though dim—was shining through my window. I scanned my room, looking for the culprit who disturbed my sleep. Gina was standing in the door way with a coffee mug in her hand, fully dressed.

Again, a new addition to her closet. She wore a blue, gray, and white tie-dye print tank top that, of course, was probably designer. With it, she wore black skinny jeans, some expensive-looking black flats, and an unmistakable, black Juicy shoulder bag. Compliments of Jack, obviously.

I ran my hands through my hair, still groggy from sleep. "What?" I asked grumpily. Gina took a sip of her coffee before responding.

"I thought you said we were going to go shopping," Gina said as I groaned and pressed my face into my pillow. Me and my promises. Come on, Suze! Shopping! A voice inside me cried. With a sigh, I threw the covers off me and sat up. "Yay!" Gina squealed as she ran out of the room to give me some privacy.

I slowly got up and out of my bed as I thought about what to wear. I plucked out my Rock and Republic jeans that my mom bought me for my birthday and some Vince sequined tank top that I bought on sale. I slipped on my Tory Burch flats that I bought with my Pebble Beach money this summer and my new, white Marc Jacobs hobo bag. For someone who just woke up, I could dress well. As I put my stash of shopping money inside my wallet, I saw something begin to shimmer out of the corner of my eye.

"What do you want, Lindsay?" I asked absently as I put my wallet back into my bag. I had a feeling that I would be shopping for quite a while.

"How did you know it was me?" Lindsay asked. I shrugged as I headed out the door. But before I could, she put out her hand to stop me. "What?" I asked.

"Where are you going?" she asked me suspiciously. She eyed over my outfit, then met my eyes.

"Shopping," I responded simply as I tried again to go through the door. Lindsay nodded as she followed me out. "New outfit?" I asked Gina as I went to pour myself a cup of coffee. She waved her hand as if to dismiss the whole concept.

"You know, just a little of this and a little of that," she responded as I raised an eyebrow. "Oh all right! It's a little bit of 32 flavors, Alexander McQueen, Gucci, and Prada. Jack, again. I just love him," Gina sighed as I took another sip of my coffee. To my right, I saw Lindsay roll her eyes.

"So…where are we headed today?" I asked Gina as leaned against the kitchen counter. Gina thought about this for a moment.

"Well, I was wondering about that…but, I decided. And I think that when we go back to school, we should have a kick-ass wardrobe. So, I decided, why not Saks?" Gina said.

"I'm up for it," I responded as I finished the remaining drops of my coffee. At that, Jesse walked into the room in his pajamas and robe. "Nice hair," I laughed as he yawned.

Jesse chose to ignore that as he asked, "Where are you guys going?"

"Out," Gina said hurriedly as she shoved me through the door. "There's coffee if you want it!"

And at that, we were on our way shopping.

A/N: So?! How did you guys like it? I tried to make it long…but, please rate and review. I was so tired when I made this one, but I pulled through for you guys! But I'm not totally sure if it all made sense…ANYWAY! Please, please, please, please, rate and review! Oh! And, about the links for the outfits! Go on my profile to find them. If you want me to show you any other outfits from this story, PM or review to tell me.

-Daisy