A little bit dangerous

Chapter 62 : Country music

Jane and Max managed to see each other this week, spending some time outside, giving Jane a break with all the talking groups, the therapists, and all those things; she really needed to think about something else. But now she was going to Jim's cabin for a father-daughter night. She was a bit stressed; it was always awkward when there were just them.

- "Hey," told Hopper, opening the door.

- "Um, hey," answered Jane.

Awkward. Jane entered in the cabin with slow steps, feeling anxious. She didn't know if it was a good idea to force things like that, but he seemed to want to create a bond with her, it can't be bad. The man invited her to sit at the table while he was bringing the food on the table. He apparently tried to cook a chicken, but it burnt in the oven.

- "Sorry, I'm not a cook," said Hopper.

- "I see. I should eat a piece a carbon instead, I've less risk to die!" joked Jane with a serious tone.

- "Yeah, sorry."

- "It's fine, I'll cook next time."

- "Why not. Look I know you're not a big fan of spending a night with just me, but Joyce thinks it's a good thing for both of us to learn more about each other."

- "I understand, at least I'm not here because I was walking drunk in the street!"

- "Yeah," chuckled Hopper.

The man grabbed a fork and a long knife before cutting the chicken. Well, he tried, he was more lost into a fight with the dead animal than cutting it. Jane silently watched the duel, wondering which one would win. She was sure the chicken would. A few minutes later, the chicken was in pieces. Jim put some in Jane's plate before serving himself. The meal was quiet, the two persons were embarrassed, not knowing if they should talk or not. They were in the silence for so many times that none of them dared to break it, too scared to create another awkward moment where they would say two sentences before going back in their silence.

- "How is it with Max?" asked Hopper, already regretting.

- "Um, it's good, I guess."

- "Is it...serious?"

- "I, I don't know. We're having fun, I guess. But I like her, and I think she likes me too so, let's see how it'll go."

- "Don't play with her feelings, ok?"

- "I'm not," frowned Jane. "I mean, that's not the point, I just don't know if it's serious, that's all. We'll see when we're ready, I guess."

- "Ok."

Here was the awkward silence back. Jane was sure he didn't really care about her relationship with Max, he tried to make the conversation, it was touching. The brunette finished her plate and began to look around when she noticed an ajar door giving on a closet with lots of boxes.

- "Oh, wow! Is that vinyl records!?" asked Jane, standing and going to the door.

- "Um, yeah," answered Hopper with an amused expression.

Hopper opened the door and let his daughter look inside. The young girl looked at the different boxes, seeing that all the records were classed by styles.

- "My god, there are so much country music in this!"

- "I love country music."

- "Really? Not very surprising, you're a cowboy," stated Jane.

- "Oh, a cowboy, really?"

- "Yeah, but a nice cowboy, you're fair, that's a great thing."

- "But you don't like country music, right?"

- "Well, um, I'm sure there are some good songs. I mean, this guy, Jason Aldean, I know one of his songs!"

- "Which one?" smiled Hopper.

- "When the lights come on? There is a title like that?"

- "Yeah, sure, there is the record with this song."

- "It's all yours?"

- "In fact, they were my father's."

- "Lucky you for loving country music too!" joked Jane. "How was he?"

- "Absent."

- "Ew, too bad."

- "It's better like that."

- "Maybe. Ray Charles!? It's country music!?" frowned Jane.

- "Well, yeah, he did country music, he is more famous for his jazz music or rhythm and blues, but he did country music too," explained Hopper.

- "Oh, ok, I learnt something today! Wait, Elvis Presley too?"

- "Rockabilly is a mix between country music and rhythm and blues."

- "You're good at music!"

- "Only country music."

- "It's still music, not the best style, but I respect."

Hopper playfully rolled his eyes which made laugh Jane. The two kept talking about music a long moment. Jane wanted to listen to the records, but Hopper didn't have a record player, so Jane looked for the CDs on the Internet. It wasn't as awkward as Jane thought, they had lots of things in common, especially in music, and it was interesting to talk about it with him, he had lots of anecdotes about the records. After two CDs listened, Hopper and Jane decided to watch a movie to finish the night. None of them saw the end, both falling asleep on the couch. At least they both spent a good night, beginning to create a father-daughter bond between them. They were on the right track.