Bubblegum

Part 2

When the car arrived to Eden's home that evening, she was surprised to see Jake waiting outside. She had thought for sure they would've sent a car, instead of having him pick her up. He leaned against the black vehicle, almost blending in with it, had it not been for the pop of white from his half-buttoned shirt under his slightly baggy suit jacket. The sleeves of which were rolled up to the elbows. Eden had to admit, he looked good. She walked down the steps from her front door and down the walkway, heels clacking on the pavement. Tugging at the hem of the silky silver dress that was sent over, she felt self-conscious as Jake's eyes looked her up and down, then promptly rolled as he opened the car door.

"Thank you." Eden tried to give him a small smile as she slid into your seat, but he just shrugged as closed the door. Getting into the drivers seat, he immediately buckled in and turned the car back on, the GPS popping up on the screen between the seats. The destination was already punched in, and Jake wordlessly began to drive. The tension between both of them was palpable at this point, neither wanting to acknowledge that they were going along with this ridiculous plan.

The restaurant the managers had sent them to was dimly lit, the single slim candle on the table barely flickering enough light to have even read the menu, had the waiter given Eden a chance. He took the menu from her hands as she opened it.

"Your meal has already been ordered in for you, Miss." he said. Jake glanced up from across the table, raising his eyebrow. Eden just gave the waiter a small smile and nod, thanking him. "And for you, sir?

"Uh, I'll have the filet mignon, medium-rare, with roasted asparagus, and the broiled red skin potatoes." Jake answered, closing the small book and handing to back to the waiter. The waiter left and Eden picked up her glass, taking a sip of chilled white wine. Jake was staring to his left, taking in the painting on the wall of a sunset on a vast field of wheat. As she set down her glass again, Eden cleared her throat. His big brown eyes darted over to her.

"Sooo, have any thing fun happen to you today?" Eden couldn't help but feel proud as the young man in front of her huffed out a small laugh. The lines that crinkled at the outer corners of his eyes softened his face.

"Wouldn't say it was fun, but something did happen." he rolled his eyes. "I've already contacted a lawyer, to try and see if there's a way out of this."

"Good luck," Eden shook her head, already weary from her past conflicts with her manager. "Bryans' contracts are usually loophole-proof. One way in, one way out." she stared down at her hands, thinking of all the ways she'd tried to get out of contracts before.

"This is fucking stupid." Jake shook his head, leaning back in his chair. "I can't believe you didn't read the shit you were signing." Eden's head snapped up, green eyes glowering at Jake.

"There was nothing on the paper when I signed it but an 'X' meant for an autograph." she defended herself angrily. "He said it was for his niece who was a big fan. Why didn't you read what you signed, asshole?"

"Asshole?" Jake smirked. "Alright, I may be an asshole, but at least I've got actual musical talent. I went through your most recent album after our little meeting today. A lot of computer generated noise in there. Tell me princess, do you actually sing into the microphone, or is it all text to speech technology now?" Eden's blood boiled at Jake's comments, and his smirk grew bigger as her face grew redder.

"Funny," she mused after she took a moment to gather her thoughts. Eden took her silverware out of her napkin and focused on gently placing the fabric on her lap. "I tried to look up your music, but there were no results for a hack wannabe rock star named Jake anywhere on the internet." she smiled, faux sweetness nearly dripping off her tongue. Jake's eyebrows furrowed and he was about to say something, but was cut off by the waiter bringing their meals.