Monster

~5~

Winter ties the laces to her boots.
She grabs her car keys and wallet and places her brimmed hat on her head.

She locks up her apartment and walks down the stairs leading to the first floor.

When she gets outside she runs to her car and hops inside.
With her phone in her hands she starts the engine.

She looks down at the direction that Jack sent her.
Winter turns on her GPS and starts driving down the busy Los Angeles road.

She's excited about having coffee with Jack, she's hoping she'll make a friend out of him.

Winter turns down a nice looking neighborhood and she can feel herself get a little nervous.

"You have arrived," the GPS says.

Winter looks at the little shop and smiles, it's cute.

She drives down the road in hopes of finding a parking space.
Parking in L.A. is nearly impossible.

"Make a U-turn," the annoying robotic voice says as she turns down the road.

"Shut up," Winter huffs as she quickly turns the GPS off.

Winter almost scream from excitement when she finds a parking space.
She quickly pulls into it before anyone can snag it.

Winter's voice buzzes, catching her attention.
She looks down at it and smiles as she sees it's a text from Jack.

Jack: I'm at a table towards the back.

Winter grabs her phone and quickly turns off the engine as she steps out of her car and locks it.
She walks quickly down the block and towards the restaurant.

When she finally makes it into the building she spots Jack and heads towards him.

"Hi Winter," Jack says as he looks her up and down with a grin on his face.

"Hi Jack. Sorry, I was a little late," Winter says as she sits down.

"Don't worry about it," Jack smiles as he stares at her.

"You look nice," Jack complements with a mischievous grin on his face.

"Thank you," Winter says, oblivious to his demeanor.

"I'm going to go get something I'll be right back," Winter tells Jack as she grabs her wallet and heads towards the register.

Jack watches the way her hips sway when she walks towards the front.

"Hi, what can I get you," the barista asks as she waits patiently for Winter to respond.

"Hmm, I'll have a Rooibos Chai and a scone," Winter says as she pulls out her credit card.

The lady nods and types her order into the machine.

"11.50," The barista says.

Winter giver her, her card and the lady swipes it.

"There you go. We'll bring it to your table," The barista says as she gives Winter her card back.

"Thanks," Winter smiles as she puts her card away.

She walks back over to where Jack is.

"So Winter, where are you from?" Jack asks.

"Minnesota," Winter smiles as she gets comfortable the chair.

"You?" She questions.

"I'm from San Francisco," Jack smiles as he ticks a piece of his hair behind his ear.

"That's cool. Did you like it there?" Winter asks him. She's heard San Francisco is a cool place to visit.

"Yeah, it's nice there. It's a little cooler than here which is nice," Jack informs her as he takes a sip off his coffee, his eyes never leaving her.

Winter nods and takes in Jack's appearance.

He's wearing a chain with a skull on it, a black shirt with a shredded coat over it, black jeans, combat boots, and dark makeup.

Winter plays nervously with her rings as Jack stares her down.

"So how have you been enjoying L.A?" He questions as he brushes back his extremely long black hair.

"It's been pretty good. It's really pretty here," Winter tells him.

"I'm glad," Jack says in a flirtatious tone.

Winter still doesn't pick up on his suspicious demeanor as she continues to talk about her home town and how it's so different than here.

"So how long have you been an editor?" Winter asks.

"Five years at least," Jack says as he thinks back.

"Wow, so you have experience," Winter comments.

"Yup, lots of experience," Jack says with a mischievous grin.

"You know we don't get a lot of new photographers. Especially ones like you," Jack says as she smiles.

Winter scrunches her eyebrows together.

"What do you mean like me?" Winter questions. She doesn't think of herself as anything unique or special.

"You know. People as pretty as you," Jack says as he runs his foot up Winter's leg.

Winter's face goes red and she pushes his legs off of her.
Jack just smirks.

"You know. Now that I think about it I actually have another assignment I need to do. And it's due soon, so I should go do that. I'll see you around," Winter says as she stands up.

"Leaving so soon. We where just starting to have fun," Jack pouts with that same grin on his face that he's been wearing all night.

"Yeah, I really should go. Thanks for showing me this place though," Winter says as she grabs the remains of her scone.

She grabs her wallet and walks quickly out the door.

She can feel Jack's eyes on her as she exits the building.

She dash down the corner and to her car.

She unlocks the door and gets inside.

She locks herself in and lets out a breath.

"Creep," Winter mutters as she shivers.
She brushes her legs off with a look of disgust on her face.

She starts the engine to her car and speeds off down the road and back to her apartment.

Winter sighs, she was hoping Jack would have been a nice dude that she could be friends with.
It would have been nice to have someone at her work who wanted to be her friend.

Winter rolls her eyes as she thinks back. The whole time with Jack he had been making dirty jokes and staring at her.

"Why didn't I catch those," Winter groans as she shakes her head.

She pouts as she gets stuck in traffic.
Traffic in L.A. is the worst.

Winter brushes her hair out of her face as she wishes she had coffee with Wednesday instead.