Young Adult Friction

Men in Black

Jade adjusts her sunglasses as she walks towards Charlie's place. Jade gleefully opens the fence gate, all the while humming a nonexistent tune she made up in her head. She looks into the backyard to see a clueless Charlie making notes. Jade secretly sneaks up behind Charlie to scare him. With one large sound, Charlie jumps up, dropping his notes to the ground.

"Hi Charlie." Jade greets him all the while laughing, a hint of sultry lacing her tone. Charlie doesn't say anything, instead he goes to pick up the notes he dropped. Jade pays no mind at first and goes to her workspace, attempting to start a conversation with him.

"So what's your progress so far? I for one have no idea what I'm doing..." Jade smiles at Charlie trying to get his attention. Charlie doesn't budge. Jade furrows her brows at Charlie's silence.

"Are you ignoring me?" No answer whatsoever. "Is it because I scared you?" Jade goes closer to Charlie, a sly look replaces her face as she pokes him endearingly.

"Come on, you gotta tell me sooner..." She whines as she pokes on his sides. Charlie slaps her hands away as he speaks up.

"Stop bothering me, just get to work Jade," Charlie says in a stern tone. Jade doesn't take this as a sign to stop.

"Nope," Poke. "Somethings bothering you and I can see it in your face." Poke. Charlie sighs, he is defeated. Charlie murmurs something under his breath.

"What was that?" Jade hangs her head in front of his face. Charlie continues murmuring, Jade is annoyed. She proceeds to grab Charlie's face and squeezes his cheeks, having them be face-to-face. "What was it that you were trying to say? Hm?"

"I'm just," Charlie says, still being squeezed by Jade's hands. "Weirded out by what you asked me yesterday." Jade takes a short minute to remember, letting go of his face when she did.

"Oh, the virgin thing." She looks down and grabs a patch of grass by the hand. "I'm sorry, I didn't think it would make you feel weird."

"It's alright, I was just taken aback."

"No it's not, it's just," Jade brings her knees closer to her chest, embracing them. "It's normal for me to bring up shit like that and I guess I just got carried away." Charlie brings his hand to Jade's chest, moving it in what you call a "comforting manner".

"Well that's just how you are." Charlie grins at her, she notices the dimple that appears near his mouth. "Just give me a warning next time, alright?"

This conversation was followed by a comforting silence. Jade, still hugging her knees, gives Charlie fleeting looks. His brown hair glistened more in the sun, she thought. Whenever Charlie would look at her, she'd quickly look away pretending to play with the grass. She felt him inch closer to her, she wonders what he's thinking about right now. Jade slowly adjusts herself to move closer to him. Just as she does she feels Charlie's weight on her sides, he gets heavier and heavier when Charlie's mom shouts from the kitchen. The two teens are flustered, quickly moving apart from each other. Charlie looks away from Jade calling back to his mom, waiting for an answer he has anticipated all summer.

"Charlie! Two men in suits would like to see you!"