Who You Say I Am (A Jai Courtney Fanfic)

Chapter 78-Jai

Jai

Mikey drives us out in his UTE.  I can't help but be moved by Megan's expression earlier.  She looked so incredibly sad... and adorable.
"I know what you're thinking," Mikey states pulling out of the subdivision.
"What's that?" I question.
"How did I not cave at that face?" he says.
I nod. "Yeah, that's pretty much what I was thinking," I divulge.
"That's why I had to practically run out of there. My parents know. She makes that face and she gets anything she wants," he tells me.
"So she uses it to her advantage?" I ask grinning.
"That's the thing. She doesn't. She just does it when she's really sad. She doesn't use it for anything. She's not the type to be deceptive like that. She just shows her emotions on her sleeve," he tells me.
That's so sweet and incredibly heartbreaking.
"I feel like I should tell you something," Mikey says.
"Shoot," I reply.
"My sister is... incredibly innocent and naïve. If you told her you want to be friends, she will be absolutely convinced that's all you want from her. You have to be direct or she'll never understand," he tells me.
"How do you..." I start but he interrupts.
"How do I know this?" he questions glancing at me. I nod. "Because I just know her. She's not very experienced with relationships—not that I have any room to talk—but Spencer was her only boyfriend. She's never even kissed anyone else as far as I know. And even with Spencer, he had to ask me what to do with her because she's just... inexperienced."
"I can't believe she's only dated him. There's no way nobody else has ever shown interest in her before," I say disbelievingly. I've seen her childhood pictures. She's always been a knockout. She must've had a queue of blokes just waiting to talk to her.
"I didn't say that. Our parents didn't allow us to date until we were eighteen. We both agreed with it—especially her," he divulges.
"Why not?" I question thinking that's kind of strange.
"Because they had some trouble with Arthur. They just figured certain activities needed to stay between married couples and we agreed. Megan was all for it and relieved, actually," he says.
"Why?" I question confused.
"She's had a lot of guys interested in her. It just gave her a real reason—not of her own making—to deny them without backlash," he explains.
"That makes sense," I reply. I've had difficulty with sheilas, too. So many are interested that I'm constantly rejecting them.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're interested in my sister, aren't you?" he asks boldly.
"I'm not going to deny it," I reply.
I see him nod pursing his lips. "Can I give you a word of advice?" he offers.
"Absolutely," I say appreciatively.
"Pay serious attention in church and whatever she tells you about Christianity," he advises.
"Why?" I ask confused.
"Because you won't get anywhere with her otherwise," he states. "Spencer was a clear mistake. He lied to her and deceived her—deceived us all. She's not going to be duped again."
"I'm nothing like him," I tell him seriously.
"You'd be surprised," he says softly and leaves it at that.
We take the freeway and drive further than I've been this way before. I see the freeway separate into two different roads and I notice that the other direction takes you to the CBD. We go in the opposite direction. "Was that a loop?" I ask.
"Yeah, the highway circles around town," he tells me.
I nod recalling Megan requesting her dad to drive us near the CBD after our arrival. I'm fairly certain she asked since I've never been here. That was thoughtful of her.
We get off the freeway at the next exit and he pulls into one of the first shopping centers. We climb out and I see four other blokes walk up to meet us just outside of the entrance.
"Did you bring your dad?" A light brown haired bloke teases. He's got a decent build, he's taller and clearly the oldest of the bunch.
"Dude, my dad is sixty," Mikey says laughing. "Sorry," Megan's brother apologizes to me. "That's Kyle," he points out the larrikin.
"Jai," I say shaking Kyle's hand. He smiles in response, though.
"Kyle can't say anything serious," a fast talking Indian bloke says. "I'm Kiaan," he introduces himself. He's got kind of a wiry build but a friendly face.
"No worries," I laugh shaking Kiaan's hand.
"Australian?" an Asian bloke asks me. He's kind of tall.
"Yeah, nice to meet you," I say shaking his hand.
"I'm Jian. We're from the same hemisphere," he smiles. I grin in response.
"And this is Rick," Mikey introduces the last bloke. He's a bit overweight with brown, shaggy hair and glasses. He waves to me. He seems much more reserved than the rest.
"Hey, how are ya?" I nod to him.
"So, we're all in engineering together," Mikey says. "Kiaan is from India, Jian—China, Jai—Australia, and the three of us are from the area. Kyle is the only one out of us who's traveled much since he was in the military. Rick and I have never left the area."
"Hey, I've been to Texas," Rick says quietly.
"True, I've been within the country too but never out," Mikey shrugs.
"So how are we doing this?" Kyle says rubbing his hands together. "Two teams or three?"
"Why don't we start with two," Mikey recommends.
"Western Hemisphere versus Eastern Hemisphere?" Jian suggests.
I laugh at that and nod.
"Alright," Mikey agrees. "But this is Jai's first time."
"We'll help him out," Kiaan says.
We enter the building and it looks like a place someone would have an ankle biter's birthday party. The carpet is dark in color and busy with patterns of stars and other space-like imagery. We all pay separately at the reception and the six of us step inside a doorway that has Vesting listed above the door. I see three areas set up with guns and vests all of various colors.
"You've got to get the ones at the end," Kyle tells me. "These ones are baby sized," he teases Mikey pinching his cheek.
"Cut it out," he laughs slapping his hand away.
The options are red, green, and blue but everyone is choosing from the latter two. I follow Kyle's advice and put on the blue vest at the end. Mikey is on the green team.
"Alright, so it looks like your vest is secure," Kiaan says quickly. "We'll work as a team to take the three of them out. It's like playing halo where you can re-spawn." I nod in understanding since Mikey and I played that together. "We'll continue until our time is up."
"Got it," I reply. I grab my laser gun and this is pretty gnarly. I'm defo psyched about this.
"Once the time is up, we have to leave the arena. We can change it up if we want to split off into three teams or just come out and go back again," Jian explains.
"Unless there's another group going out," Kiaan adds quickly.
"Unless that," Jian shrugs.
"Sounds like a blast," I comment.
"Yeah, there's a reason why we come every week," Mikey smiles at me and pats me on the back.
"It's nice having even teams this time," Rick comments quietly.
"Yeah, I'm with you on that my man," Kyle says messing up Rick's hair. He pats it down in an attempt to fix it.
"Are we ready?" Mikey asks everyone.
We all nod and it looks like everyone is geared up. Mikey's team goes to one door while Kiaan, Jian, and I go to another. They step inside first and I hear some upbeat techno music playing. It looks like the room is lit with black lights and everything is glowing. It appears to be a massive obstacle course. I follow my team into the arena and they look excited about this. They make a plan to split up and I honestly can't help but think about my time on the Divergent set with capture the flag. This is pretty much the same but we're out to eliminate the other team rather than retrieve a flag. I take the closer right side since the skinnier guys are probably faster than me. I encounter Rick almost instantly and before he's had a chance to even lift his weapon, I've shot him three times and he has to re-spawn. I move on without a hit. I see Mikey and Kyle talking together. They're debating on a plan. I observe Jian peek his head out and he sees them. I wave behind a wall to grab his attention. I make a signal like we'll take them from either side. He nods in understanding and we progress to the next row of walls blocking our movement. We step out together and I get hit once but nail Kyle three times. I get one shot on Mikey and Jian got the other two. We disappear quickly before they re-spawn. I see Kiaan take out Rick and I laugh. The poor kid can't win. I find a hiding space and wait for the green team to show their faces. I see Mikey peeking around a wall at a close proximity to me. I shoot him once but he gets a hit on me as well. I try to shoot again but I'm hit by Kyle.
"Dang," I whisper.
I wait a minute until my laser gun turns back on. I see the poor bloke and I take my shots, hitting Rick three times but he gets one on me. I observe someone rounding a wall and I hold my fire when I notice it's Kiaan. He signals that there's two after him. I nod and we separate. I get two shots on Mikey and I've taken him out. Kiaan must've got the other. He hits Kyle once but I see Kiaan's lights go out. While he's distracted, I hit Kyle once and he's re-spawning.
We continue on like this for a while until I'm out. I notice the overhead lights turn on.
"Time's up. I'm guessing blue dominated," Kiaan says excitedly.
We step out and hang up our gear. We walk out of the vesting room to see our scores. Kiaan was right—blue was victorious. We had over 18,000 points and green had 12,000.
"Okay, we need to split up that Eastern Hemisphere team," Kyle complains. "Three teams, Jai's on my team."
"Heck no," Rick actually complains. "We'll all be dead."
"How about Jai and me, Kyle and Jian, and Rick with Kiaan?" Mikey suggests.
"I'm good with that," Kyle nods.
"He just doesn't want me on his team," Rick mumbles.
"Next time you're on mine," I tell him.
"Seriously?" he questions surprised.
"Sure," I shrug. "We'll work on strategy. Keep your gun ready."
He smiles at me and nods. We go in again and this time I'm red. Mikey and I work well together. I even observe Rick take out Kyle. When this round is over, I see that we were in second and Kyle's team was first. Kiaan and Rick were last but their scores weren't too bad.
The next time in, I help Rick out. We hide together and take out the other four players together consecutively. He's already improving so fast. I notice a big smile on his face when we step out to see that we annihilated our competition.
"Man, where the heck did that come from, Rick?" Kyle asks. "Next time you're on my team."
Rick turns to me. "Thanks, man," he says high-fiving me.
"No worries, mate," I respond with a grin.
"Are we going out?" Mikey asks.
"I'm up for it," Kyle nods.
"Only for a little while," Kiaan says. "I've got a ten o'clock class tomorrow."
"Alright. We're not staying out past midnight then," Mikey responds.
"Where are we going?" I ask him as we walk out to his utility vehicle.
"The Waffle House," he says.
"I don't think we have that in California," I comment. I've heard of it though.
We climb into his vehicle and buckle up.
"I'll admit it's not the best restaurant but it's cheap, quick, and open late. Although, the one we went to in Myrtle Beach was the best," he explains as we drive off.
We get to the restaurant and it's kind of a dive-like diner. I order a meal because the blokes are telling me all about the waffles and hash browns—I think they mean potato cakes, though. I get them all-the-way since that's what most of them are getting. When it arrives I'm surprised at the massive amount of tucker I ordered. The potato cakes by themselves look like a whole meal. It's actually decent and I wasn't expecting much with Mikey's review. We're all laughing and joking. By the end of the night, I'd actually call these blokes my mates.
Mikey drives me back to his house and it's close to midnight.  I look up at Megan's window. 
"Do you think she's up?" I ask.
"She'd normally be in bed by now but it looks like her desk lamp is on," he replies.  "I won't object if you come in and check."
I smile and follow him in. 
Hannah is in the kitchen sipping a cup of tea.  "There you are.  I've just had the best night shopping with your sister," she tells Mikey rising and hugging him. 
"Really?" he laughs.  "Megan hates shopping."
"We went to the fabric store," she says.  "Oh, hi Jai," she says noticing me for the first time. 
"Hey," I smile. 
"I think she's still awake up there.  She's been drawing most of the evening," she tells me. 
"Alright," I reply.  I thank Mikey for taking me out and excuse myself.  I climb the stairs and notice her door is open.  She's drawing with her head laying on her left arm.  I knock gently on her opened door and she sits up smiling. 
"Hi," she grins. 
"Hey," I reply. 
"Did you have a good time?" she asks. 
"Yeah, it was a bloody screama of a good time," I tell her. 
She smiles at me. 
"What are you drawing?" I ask. 
She bites her lip and shows me the image.  I'd say it's on par with haute couture fashion. 
"You drew this?" I question disbelievingly. 
She nods.  "We're making that," she says softly. 
I laugh in surprise.  "Are you serious?" I question in awe. 
"Do you want to see the fabric?" she offers. 
I shake out of my dazed reverie.  "Can I?"
"Come on," she says grabbing my hand.  She leads me across the hallway and opens the door.  There are sheets of tissue paper with measurements on them.  A few of them are already cut into pieces.  Megan picks up a large folded black material.  It has a delicate, almost unnoticeable floral pattern to it. 
"What do you think?" she shrugs. 
I take the book from her other hand once more and study the dress she's drawn.  It shows the front and back of it.  There are detailed views of the back collar, front, and even the sleeves.  "I can't believe you drew this.  It's definitely red carpet appropriate.  You'll probably be the best dressed at the event," I say. 
"If we can pull it off," she laughs rolling her eyes.  "My prom dress came out okay, though."
"Can I see that one?" I ask. 
"Sure.  It's in my room," she says. 
I set the black fabric down and notice a blue one beneath it.  "What's this for?" I ask. 
"I saw it and had an idea for another," she shrugs.  "Come on," she says grabbing my hand again. 
She leads me back to her bedroom.  She opens her closet and pulls out something hanging in a garment bag.  She removes the bag and I can see it's a black dress.  It has a sheer overlay with what looks to be a floral design in raised clusters of the skirt from the waist to the middle of the skirt growing closer in proximity as the pattern rises.  The top is covered in that same floral patterned clusters very close together and it's sleeveless.  I reach out and touch it thinking it's transparent but there's a lining or something so it's not. 
"You could wear this," I suggest.  It's definitely appropriate. 
"Are you taking me to prom?" she teases. 
"I'd like to take you out," I tell her seriously. 
She smiles at me and hangs the dress back up straightening the cover. 
"We're going to the symphony tomorrow," she replies. 
"Yeah, I need to pick up my dinner suits for that," I mention.  "What are you wearing so I can match?"
"Um... I don't know," she shrugs.  She pulls out a few dressy outfits.  "Maybe this one," she says holding a black dress up to herself.  It has capped sleeves and a delicate ruffle down one side.  The skirt seems to have that same type of ruffle to it—very subtle and lovely. 
"I like that one," I tell her staring at the dress and I can't wait to see it on her. 
"We'll stop at the cleaners after the gym," she says.  She yawns and I turn my attention to her. 
"Tired?" I ask pushing her hair out of her face. 
"Yeah," she replies hanging the dress back up. 
"Alright," I say reaching out for her.  I hold her to my chest and I can't help but want this—what we have between us to never end.  I kiss her head and I feel her snake her arms beneath mine.  I hold her for a minute until I hear another yawn.  I let her go and she insists on walking me to the door.  I hold her hand down the stairs.  I kiss her forehead and hug her once more at the door. 
"Goodnight, love," I whisper. 
"Goodnight, Jai," she replies as I release her.