Spitfire ━ Jasper Hale

06 ━ PREDICTABILITY

Shadow had to bite her lip to keep from grinning. "You know, if I knew you were going to take me out on a movie date, I would have dressed a little nicer." She felt her cheeks warm as she pushed back stringy, wet hair from her face.

  She tried not to notice his careful eyes on her, the way they studied her slowly. Honey-gold traced her features, then met her gaze when she finally looked at him. Her breath caught in her throat. 

"Shadow, the last place I'd take you on our first date is a movie theatre," he told her, his voice low and serious. Shadow's heart stuttered in her chest. He wasn't joking.

  She wanted to tease him, for having jumped ahead of himself so quickly, for assuming she would even agree to a date in the first place. But, she could do neither, with her cheeks flushing under his gaze. The truth was, if Jasper Hale asked her on a date right here, right now, Shadow would say 'yes.'

  Her willingness was almost scary. 

  The spell was broken when his eyes returned to the road. "I just thought we should get to know each other more," he explained, but the words did little for any kind of meaningfully deflection.

  Shadow mustered a hesitant smile, still a little lost in his charm. "I'm pretty sure that's what they call a date, Jasper." She was trying to tease, but couldn't control her heart's unsteady rhythm. 

  Jasper gave Shadow a look, one that said, 'You know what I mean, stop teasing me.' Though, she wasn't feeling particularly relenting. Eventually, she sighed, giving in.

  "Fine, but do you really think a movie is the best place to get to know a person?" Shadow kicked off her shoes, getting comfortable. "I mean, you can't really start chatting it up in the middle of a theatre, unless you like getting popcorn thrown at the back of your head."

Shadow brought her feet onto her seat so that the Jasper's coat covered her entire body. She could feel herself becoming warmer as the heating in the car finally kicked in. She exhaled a slow breath of content. She was perfectly at ease, sitting here with this boy she barely knew.

Jasper rolled his eyes, "Well, it's either that or I take you out for coffee— which will actually constitute as one of the most cliche dates in the book."

  Shadow felt herself brimming with shock. "Jasper Hale, you do not read cliches about people falling in love and meeting in coffee shops," she said with disbelief, unable to believe that anyone except hopeless romantics could enjoy such things.

There was no way that this enigmatic person next to her could possibly be into those overused plots and mushy love stories.

Jasper was struggling against an embarrassed smile, "I never said I enjoyed them, but you know, they are entertaining. Trust me, I'm completely ashamed of it."

Shadow couldn't help but laugh, with Jasper quickly joining in. When they had both settled down, she looked back at the boy next to her. With every new discovery, he was starting to feel less like a stranger, and more like a friend.

  "So, if you're so ashamed of it, why tell me?" She asked, not that she was complaining about this new secret.

Jasper shrugged, "I wanted you to get to know me." Despite his words, there wasn't much conviction to his voice.

  Which, likely meant that he believed it just as much as Shadow did— and that wasn't very much. But, she let it slide. What he'd said was the most reasonable explanation anyways.

  They were just friends getting to know each other, that was all.

"Right," she agreed, gaze turning to stare out the window. It was silent after that, but it wasn't uncomfortable or awkward. Laughter had that effect on people, providing a sense of kinship in shared delight.