County Falls

Chapter 10: Going Steady

"Are you following me now, Jase? FYI stalking is illegal in the state of California."

"I wanted to make sure you got home safely. I knew your stubborn ass would walk home instead of calling for a ride. You should be thanking me."

I muttered some curse words under my breath before hopping in to his truck. "Have I mentioned how much I hate that you know me?"

"Once or twice." He sent a smug smile my way and I returned it with a middle finger. He was right but I wasn't going to tell him that.

"How'd you manage to escape Vanessa?"

"I told you she was clingy."

"You didn't seem to mine." He stayed quiet. "Do you do this at every party?"

"Do what?"

"Hook up."

"Kaia..."

"What? Im honestly interested. Is this an occasional thing? Are there multiple women a night?" I was still fired up after tonights "almost fight" and laid in to an undeserving Jase. "How many women have you slept with? 10?15?"

He kept his mouth shut, his face blank.

"Wow. More than 15."

"I didn't say that. Why are you trying to pick a fight with me?"

I shrugged. "I just want to know the truth about your secret life."

"Trust me, it's not as many as you think." I scoffed. "Really Kaia." He looked at me with sincerity and my fight was gone. We kept on driving in silence which gave me plenty of time to feel bad for attacking him. What he did was none of my business and the fact that it bothered me only left me confused.

"I'm sorry Jason. Thanks for the ride." I whispered to him. He acknowledge my apology which left me free to drift off in to a dreamless sleep.

***

The next two weeks flew by rather quickly. I stayed after school on my days off to help the photo students and when I wasn't in school, I was at work, serving greasy food to the masses. Because of our packed schedules, I hadn't seen much of Jase since the night of the party except for a few "hi's" in the hallway. He must have carried me upstairs after picking me up off the road because I found myself tucked in safely in my bed. He didn't stay, of course, but I made sure to thank him again.

I filled Aidan in on all of the party happenings that he missed, purposely skipping the anecdote about Jason and the blonde girl. I wasn't in the mood to relive that particular memory. While I explained what happened during the festivities, Lauren clued us in on everything afterwards. Apparently, Vanessa went on a drunken tirade after Jase left her and Brian and the others did what they could to diffuse her. I was intently listening until she went on about how Vanessa wasn't a bad person, then I tuned out.

Justin and I went out again. He took me to see a movie this time and I quickly found out that we did not share the same tastes in film. I campaigned for the latest super hero flick but he wanted to see a horror movie. I teased him about just wanting me to be scared in his arms and he did nothing to deny it. That night I engaged in my first make out session ever. We parked down the street from my house and he started kissing me. One kiss turned in to many and I found myself in a 30 minute long grope fest, which I didn't mind. He was a good kisser I just hoped that I was able to keep up with him. He never complained which was reinforcement enough for me.

Homecoming week was upon us which meant the first football game was this friday. The halls were littered with blue and gold everything, which if you asked me, wasn't the most flattering school colors. Glitter posters were on every wall and streamers hung from the ceilings. Our school may not have a lot of things but school spirit was definitely not one of them. The football team strutted around in their jerseys as everyone followed them around, pumping them up and kissing their asses. Vanessa and her minions were more arrogant then usual as they paraded around in their little uniforms and did cheer routines in the middle of the quad. I was never one for pep rallies, so I hid in the library during lunch.