The Brown Eyed Boy

Chapter 6

In Mariah's shaking hands was her phone. Jesse grabbed it from her tight grasp and scanned the glowing screen. He mumbled something that I made out to be "oh shit."

Looking up from the screen, his glowing face looked for mine in the dark. Once his eyes locked mine, he cleared his throat and managed to speak up.

"Kat and Raine got in an accident..." he trailed off. Mariah was in some sort of shock. From what I could see, she was staring at the ground, eyes wide, and still shaking.

I scooted over to Mariah and pulled her into my arms, rubbing her back comfortingly.

"It's okay, Mariah, they're probably fine." I felt her nod into my shoulder. "Jesse and I can drive you home, alright?" Again, I felt her nod. Glancing up at Jesse, who nodded in approval towards me, I mouthed a "thank you" to him. I stood up slowly, helping up Mariah, who had finally stopped trembling, though she did sob every now and again.

As we made our way to Jesse's car, I had my right arm still hooked around Mariah's waist. Jesse matched his pace with mine and stayed by Mariah's other side. He glanced over at me occasionally with worry pooled in his eyes.

Once we'd gotten in the car, I offered to sit with Mariah in the back, but she urged me to sit up by Jesse. I smiled sympathetically at her and did as she'd asked.

Once we got to Mariah's house, explaining to her mom what was wrong, we left quickly and headed to Starbucks.

Jesse had parked down the street so we had to walk, and I have to admit, it was a beautiful night for walking-even after what had just happened.

Again, matching my pace, we walked slowly down the short pier and back onto the road. My hands were stuffed into the front pocket of my hoodie, as usual. Well, it was Jesse's hoodie, since I didn't bring my own to the beach and he had a few in the trunk of his range rover. Jesse slipped his hand into the pocket and pulled one of my hands out, interlocking our fingers. I shot my eyes up at him to see him smiling with a smug look on his face.

"Deal with it," he grinned, knowing my expression without even looking down at me. I rolled my eyes and let him hold my hand, without a single complaint.

Once we got to Starbucks, we made our way to my newfound favourite table: the booth at the back. It was fairly quiet back there, and the baristas never came to kick you out if you've been sitting there for two hours. I guess you could say I spent a lot of time there.

I waited at the back of the cafe while Jesse brought over two coffees for us. It was probably around 10pm, but I didn't care enough to check. Jesse sat down next to me as opposed to across the table, but I didn't bother to question why. I just grabbed my coffee eagerly and sipped at it. I nearly dropped it on the table when it burnt my tongue.

"Jesus, Desi, slow down!" Jesse laughed almost nervously. "I don't know if you know this," he said calmly as he grabbed my chin and turned my head to face him, "but coffee is hot." His tone sounded as if he were talking to a five year old, which resulted in me sticking out my tongue at him... like a five year old. I couldn't help but laugh. A huge grin spread across his face, revealing his perfect teeth.

I couldn't stop laughing, and I turned to him and buried my face into his shoulder. I felt him laughing too, probably at how weird I was acting.

We were starting to get weird looks from the people doing late-night work on their laptops, and middle-aged people who seemed like they'd just come from a dinner date. But we honestly didn't care. that was until an elderly woman approached our booth, and we stopped laughing immediately, straightening up, as if she was going to yell at us. I peaked over Jesse's shoulder, scared that she'd do just that.

"I remember back when I was your age," she smiled, "me and my husband, or, boyfriend at the time, used to go to diners late at night and cause a ruckus at the back."

"Have a good night, ma'am," Jesse grinned to her.

"You two lovebirds have fun," she winked, and then left through the back door.

"Lovebirds," I giggled, repeating the woman. Jesse craned his neck and looked down at whatever fraction of my face wasn't buried into his shoulder.

"I dunno," he grinned, nuzzling my hair with his nose, "I think we'd make a damn good couple." I couldn't help but smile, but then it hit me: Would we actually be a good couple?

"Yeah, the hot popular guy who's dating the loser with no friends. Sounds so romantic," I replied sarcastically.

"You're not a loser," he frowned. It was adorable when he got frustrated. It was adorable when he did anything, really.

"Well, I'm your loser," I grinned.

"I'll take that," he returned my grin and managed to grab my chin once again, tilting it up. He proceeded to kiss me.

This time, I wasn't shocked. This time, I wasn't worried about barely knowing him. This time, I liked it. This time, I let it happen. And this time, I realized that I have a huge crush on Jesse Quinn.