Not What it Seems

Chapter Eight

"Quit perving on my girl, Cash," he mocked, and Jane removed her arms from around me.

"Nine o'clock, guys I'm serious!" I called, as Alex pulled her through the door.

"Yeah, yeah, got it Grandpa!" Alex yelled back as he made his way across their scraggly lawn to get to his car.

This was going to be a long night for me.

~Jane~

"So," I said, once Alex had pulled out of my driveway and onto the road. "Where are we going?"

"I said dinner and a movie, right?" he asked, and I nodded. "So we'll head up to Thai Cafe and then we can go see... Anchorman 2?" He looked to me for conformation.

"Yeah, that sounds great," I said, looking out the window a the ramshackled houses passing us.

"Look," Alex said, looking at me seriously as we came to a stop at a traffic light. "I know Cash really likes you." I raised an eyebrow at him.

"Cash doesn't like me."

"Yeah," he stated, "he does. But his reputation means a lot to him, Jane. For reasons that you don't totally know."

I frowned at him as we took off down the road. "What do you mean?"

"It doesn't matter. I'm sure he'll tell you soon enough. But what I'm getting at is that you shouldn't hold it against him, alright? He's a lot more real than a lot of people at our school."

I held back a grin. "I thought you and Cash were enemies. I thought you stopped being friends a long time ago?"

"Just because he stopped doesn't mean I did," he admitted, and his honesty was very endearing.

"You don't actually like me, do you Alex?" I blurted, and Alex puffed out his cheeks.

"Not at all - romantically. I think you're great, and I really would love to be friends."

I smiled. "Good, because there is no way in hell I'm dating you." He pretended to cry, and I laughed, punching his arm lightly.

"Promise me something?" he asked a little while later when we pulled up to the Thai Cafe.

"What?"

"Give Cash a chance?"

I nodded. "I would have done that anyway."

»»»»

"Oh, God!" I shrieked, as Alex and I walked out of the movie theater, leaning on each other to keep from collapsing from too much laughter. I quoted Anchorman 2, "Couldn't you taste the nails you were eating?"

Alex responded easily, "I keep telling you, I'm blind!!!"

We burst into another fit of giggles, the people around us giving us strange looks as we walked back to his car. My phone starts ringing, playing Hot Chelle Rae's Downtown Girl.

Alex laughed, lacing our hands together and dancing with me. He twirled me out and in, grinning at me the whole time. I let go of him and reached into my back pocket, breathless from our laughter and our dancing.

"Hello?" I panted out, and Alex leaned back against the car.

"Jane? Why are you out of breath? What's going on??" Cash yelled, and Alex started chuckling. Cash was so loud you could hear him ten feet away from my phone. Alex leaned down into my ear and said into the phone.

"Hey, man! Why are you interrupting? I was just teaching Jane the art of Fornication!" I shrieked and shoved Alex, who was clutching his stomach laughing.

I heard Cash stammering in the background. "Please tell me he's joking, Jane."

"Of course he is, Cash." I heard his sigh of relief just as Alex leaned back down to the phone.

"Hey! Jane, I found the condoms, can you pass the weed, babe?"

I elbowed him in the gut. "Idiot!" I cried, trying once again to calm Cash down.

After repeatedly reassuring him, Cash said, "You should be home by now. It's almost nine. Where are you? Do you need a ride?"

"Cash," I pointed out,"You don't have a car." He chuckled uncomfortably.

"Hey, Cash," Alex said, and I prepared myself for another panic attack from Cash. "If you want to win her over you gotta stop acting like her grandfather! I don't think Jane has a Daddy complex, to be honest."

"Shut up, Alex!" I laughed, and he finally retreated, climbing into the car.

"I'll be home soon, I promise," I said, my breath puffing out into the night air.

"Promise?" Cash asked, hopeful like a little kid.

"Cross my heart, Cash."

~Cash~

The whole night I was worried about her. I worried about whether she was safe. I worried whether she was falling for Alex. I wondered whether she was thinking about me at all, or whether Alex was trying to pull the moves on her.

Jesus. I really did sound like her Grandfather.

I paced around her house, watching t.v, reading her books, using her computer to check Facebook. I busied myself until it was nearly nine. And then, I called. I coudn't stand not being with her. Not seeing her face, or hearing her voice, or having her snap sarcasms at me. I loved it.

When she told me she was coming home soon, my heart beat picked up. There was a reason I wanted her home by nine. Alex was right. I did have plans for her.