Fic: This Lane Closed (Part 2)
Title: This Lane Closed (Or Why Sometimes You Really Should Listen To Your Horoscope)
Fandom: RPS, J2 AU
Pairing: Jared/Jensen, mentions of Tom/Mike
Rating: PG13
Word Count: 10,488
Summary: Jensen hates his job at the LoBill's grocery store. The only highlight is that every Wednesday the same guy comes in to buy candy and laugh with Jensen at the tabloids. Now if only Jensen could get up the courage to ask the guy his name...and possibly his number.
Warnings: Schmoop, bad tabloid articles, LOTS of candy.
A/N: Part 2 posted here, because of LJ's stupid word limit. *grumbles*
When he saw Jared the next week, Jensen intended to have absolutely no reaction. Really. He’d be aloof, but polite, as if the man was any other customer Jensen had to deal with every day. But then he’d wandered up to Jensen’s line, all smiles and dimples and with two bags of sour gummy worms and a lollipop for Christ’s sake, and Jensen couldn’t help the smile--big and full and in no way just polite--he gave in return.
“Hey, Jensen,” was his greeting as Jared unceremoniously tossed his candy and drink on the counter. “How’s it going?”
“Fine.” He wanted to ask How’s Sandy? But he thought that would probably be weird, like he thought seeing Sandy with Jared was significant, like he thought seeing Jared was significant. And anyway, Jared was already reaching for the little horoscope book by the register anyway.
“Let’s see what our horoscopes this week are, huh?” He flashed Jensen a quick grin and brushed his bangs out of his eyes with one big hand. His brows furrowed in a little line of concentration as he read.
“‘The start of the week may be quite intense as Mercury moves to trine Pluto with Capricorn. This may coincide with a period of research and in-depth conversation. You can use your very powerful focus generated at this time to resolve any outstanding issues.’ Hmm.” His lips pursed a little as he hummed and Jensen tried not to stare. “That’s boring. Let’s see what yours says. ‘You get a chance to retry an opportunity that you thought you had lost. On Wednesday, the Lunar Eclipse encourages you to ring in changes where your current relationship is concerned. It is a good time to let go and to forget and forgive issues that may be causing you problems.’ Man, that‘s boring too,” he complained.
His lips had frowned just a little bit more, but just when Jensen had decided to just give up and quit resisting the urge to stare, they were pulled back into their usual grin, bright and mischievous as Jared slanted a glance at Jensen over the top of the book. “Why don’t we check out the love section instead?”
“No! Uh…” he blushed. “No. Let’s not.” Because the only thing worse than reading about his chances at love from a horoscope would be having it read by Jared. He quickly rang up the rest of Jared’s candy and told him the total.
Jared shrugged as he pulled out his wallet. “Alright. But it’s your loss, man.”
He didn’t say anything as the machine printed out the receipt. Jared had paid by Debit card this time, so he grabbed a pen and slid it to him, patiently waiting while Jared signed his name. He grabbed the bag with the candy in it and held it out, polite smile firmly in place this time, and usually this was the part where Jared would grab it, flash him another too-big, too-bright smile, say “See ya, Jensen,” and head out the door.
Only he didn’t.
Instead he just stood there, fidgeting slightly and staring at Jensen in a way that made him really self conscious, and looked for all the world as he bounced up and down on the heels of his feet as if he were preparing himself for some kind of courageous feat.
“Hey, uh, listen, Jensen…” He ducked his head and gave a small cough before continuing. “I was wondering if you might want to, uh…” he trailed off. “Jensen?” he asked, concerned.
Because Jensen wasn’t listening anymore. His eyes had slid past Jared to the tall, dark haired guy standing in the next aisle over. His stomach clenched. Shit. Tom.
He hadn’t seen him in over a year, and really he was just beginning to think that he might never have to see him again.
Guess I’m not that lucky, he thought bitterly.
“Jensen? Hey, Jensen, you alright?”
A hand waved in front of his face and Jensen blinked, focus abruptly brought back to Jared. “Huh…what? Oh.”
Jared was leaning over the counter, brows furrowed as he stared at Jensen. He craned his neck to look over his shoulder at where Jensen had been staring. “Who is that guy?”
“He’s uh….he’s…” Tom had seen Jensen and was heading over to the register. “He’s Tom. My…my ex.” And he couldn’t even focus on the fact that he just outed himself to Jared, because Tom was standing right there, hands in his pockets and blue eyes focused on Jensen.
“Hey, Jen.”
Jensen swallowed. “Hey.”
Jared looked back and forth between the two of them. “I think… I’ll just go.” Jensen didn’t move. “Jensen?”
He looked back at Jared, who was gesturing at something in Jensen’s hands. He looked down to where he was still holding the plastic bag with Jared’s candy. Oh. He extended his arm over the counter, giving Jared a stiff smile. “Here you go.”
“Yeah.” Jared’s eyes flickered from Jensen back to Tom, an uncomfortable look on his face. “Well, I guess I’ll see you later, Jensen.”
Jensen nodded. Jared stood there for one more awkward moment, shifting back and forth on his feet before giving a small smile and walking to the door. Jensen watched him go with a sinking feeling.
“Jen?”
With a sigh, Jensen turned away. “Hey, Tom.”
Tom smile tentatively. “I uh, didn’t know you were working here now.”
“Yeah, just until the fall, when I start grad school. Just some extra cash to help me pay off those student loans. You know.” Jensen shrugged and fiddled with edge of a plastic bag, looking everywhere except the man in front of him.
The thing was, Tom wasn’t exactly his ex. They had a thing once: a few impulsive moments in college, after they’d seen each other around on campus and a few parties. But they hadn’t gotten further than a few drunken encounters before Tom had called a stop to everything, on account of his wife. Jensen of course, being Jensen, would never consider coming in between someone’s relationship, but he was also a fool who was already half in love with Tom--Tom who had bright blue eyes, dark hair and an easy smile--and so he agreed that they could still hang out and try to be friends.
For a while, it had been fine. Jensen had introduced him to most of his friends and he had fit right in with them. Chris and Steve had liked him and Mike all but raved about him whenever his name came up. It wasn’t long until every night out with guys included Tom, nor was it a surprise when Tom himself would call to make plans with everybody. It was easy and it was fun and if Jensen sometimes caught himself staring at Tom’s profile and wishing that things could be a little different than just friends, well, he could deal with it.
That was until one night, at a party after one of Chris and Steve’s gigs, a party where Tom’s wife had been noticeably absent (something that had been happening with more and more frequency), Jensen had walked into what he had thought was an unoccupied bathroom to see Tom and Mike, half in, half out of the shower, arms and legs tangled together and mouths pressed together, open and moving like they were trying to devour one another.
And that wasn’t just a drunken encounter. Their relationship had apparently been going on for a quite a while, and even though Jensen really wasn’t someone to get between a marriage, the fact that Tom had been willing to risk everything for Mike and not Jensen had hurt.
His friendship with both Mike and Tom had dwindled after that. He avoided going to parties and functions that they were at, made it a point to hang out with Chris and Steve separately. And though no one really mentioned it, the fact that it was because of what Mike and Tom had was no secret. After a while he’d stopped seeing Mike and Tom altogether.
A few months after that Jensen had got news that Tom and Jamie had gotten a divorce, and Jensen only prayed that he wouldn’t have to face either of them for a really long time.
And now here he was.
Neither one of them had said anything for a few minutes, and it was starting to get uncomfortable so Jensen cleared his throat. “So, how have you been?”
“Good. Uh, good.” Tom shoved his hands further in his pockets and hunched his shoulders. It was a habit that Jensen had always found endearing and his gut clenched at how familiar the gesture was.
“And uh,” Jensen swallowed, “how’s Mike?”
He didn‘t quite look Jensen in the eye. “Mikes good. We uh, we just moved into a new apartment a month ago.”
“Oh.” Jensen looked down, something ugly twisting in the pit of his stomach. “That’s great. Really. Really, great.” And it should have been. Jensen should have been happy that Mike, who had been his friend since his sophomore year in high school, was doing so well, was so happy. And it wasn’t like he was still hung up on Tom. It had been months since he had even given the man a thought. So why did he still have trouble begrudging him happiness?
“Yeah.”
There was another awkward beat or two between them before Tom suddenly took a step forward, eyes fixed earnestly on Jensen’s face. “Listen, Jen, I just wanted you know, I really didn’t mean for things to turn out the way they did. I mean, I didn’t plan for what happened with me and Mike, it just, just did. And I can’t say I would change what happened, because what I have with Mike…” he paused, swallowing. “Well, I just know I’m lucky to have him. I just wish I hadn’t hurt you in the process, you know?”
Jensen did know. He could see it, the remorse and apology in his face, and suddenly the idea of just letting it all go wasn’t as foreign as it had seemed. He forced out a gruff, “Yeah,” but didn’t look up from the plastic bags on the counter.
Tom was quiet for a moment. Then he said softly, “Mike really misses you, you know.”
Jensen was surprised at the sudden burst of longing that went through him, because he really did miss Mike. Missed his easy going manner and the practical jokes he liked to play, and the way he always had Jensen’s back whenever Chris and Steve decided to go all honest and “for your own good” on him. They’d been friends since before either of them could drive, before they both had worked a whole summer just to buy an old, but serviceable car to share between them, and suddenly the whole thing with Tom just didn’t seem...worth it.
“Yeah, well, maybe I’ll give him a call.” He didn’t have to look up to see the huge grin that took over Tom’s face, he practically radiated it. But he looked up anyway, finally meeting Tom’s eyes.
“That’d be great. He’d be thrilled.”
“Yeah.” Jensen blushed a little, and really, he wished that he would just stop doing that. It was getting out of control.
“Well,” Tom took a step back. “I’ve got some shopping to do, and I’m sure you’ve got to work so, I’ll just let you get to it.”
Jensen abruptly looked around because, yeah, work, and it was surprising that he hadn’t had any customers at his register. At this time of day he normally had a steady flow to check out, and he hadn’t had a single person since Tom showed up. He saw Danneel working the cash register next to his, dealing with a longer than normal line and looked at the end of his own register, where a “Lane Closed” sign had appeared at some point. He caught Danneel’s eye and mouthed a silent “Thank you.” She nodded and smiled in return.
Tom was still standing there, hands in his pockets, fixed, hopeful smile on his face. Jensen tried his best to return it. “I’ll see you around, maybe. And tell Mike I said ‘hi.’”
Tom’s smile brightened just enough to be genuine. “I’ll do that,” he said, and with a small wave he started walking further into the store.
Jensen took a few minutes to process what had just happened before he took down the sign. Tom had shown up and apologized. Tom had shown up. At his store, where he didn’t even let either Tom or Mike know he worked, right when he was talking to Jared.
And that’s where all thought processing came to a halt. Jared.
“He’s uh… he’s…Tom. My…my ex.”
He’d just accidentally came out to Jared, and for all he knew the guy was completely freaked out. He might even be talking to his girlfriend now, complaining about how the cashier at LoBill’s he’d just tried to have friendly conversations with had been flirting with him, and wasn’t that just disgusting, or maybe talking about poor Jensen with a crush on a straight guy and he’d have to come back and let him down easily or something and--
Another memory suddenly popped into his head.
“Hey, uh, Jensen… I was wondering if you might want to--”
What had he been getting ready to ask before Tom had shown up and Jensen had completely zoned out? It had almost sounded like he was getting ready to ask Jensen out. He’d been shifting awkwardly from side to side, bouncing and fidgeting, almost like he was nervous about something.
Jensen groaned inwardly. So the guy he’d practically been in love with a year and a half ago shows up unannounced at his work and he’d either freaked out the guy he was interested in now, or just convinced him that he still wasn’t over his ex.
What a Great. Fucking. Day.
---
The next week Jared didn't show up.
Jensen watched the clock as he worked, tensing with anticipation as it neared eleven and the time Jared usually came into the store in search of candy and pop.
Only he didn't.
At eleven thirty, Jensen thought he just might be late. At five till noon he amended that to very late. Jared had been caught up with something at whatever job he had in town, and had to put off satisfying his sugar craving until later, perhaps. Jensen would probably see him any moment, ten pounds of candy in one hand, horoscope or tabloid in the other.
By two o'clock he'd given up. Jared wasn't coming.
---
When Jared didn't show up the week after that Jensen figured he really had scared the guy off. It was better, he told himself. This way, he knew it wasn't going to work out before he got emotionally invested in the guy. More emotionally invested, his mind whispered. He told himself to shut up and started bagging the sixteen frozen dinners the customer in front of him was buying.
Next Friday, he decided, when it came time to re-do schedule's, he wouldn't ask for the following Wednesday.
---
He was, unfortunately, already scheduled to work the Wednesday before that. But he didn't watch the clock, or peer out the store's glass doors to see who was coming in, or even look around to see if he could spot a head of shaggy brown hair, at least a foot higher than all the others.
Which was why, when he heard Jared's loud, and slightly high pitched chuckle coming from the end of the line Jensen was so surprised that he snapped his head up hard enough to hurt.
There he was, leaning against a cart at the end of the line, nose buried in some flashy tabloid magazine and laughing to himself at whatever he was reading in it.
Jensen hadn't managed to scare him off after all.
He was so relieved that he barely even noticed what he was doing as he checked the other customers out. He messed up a few things--put the bread with the frozen dinners, charged them less for the vegetables than what he should, called that woman "sir," as she left, but he couldn't care. Jared had put the tabloid back on the magazine rack and was pushing his cart up to the front, and his smile as he caught Jensen's eye wasn't fake, wasn't dimmed with disgust, and really it had been three weeks since Jensen had last seen him and that was just Too. Long.
"Hey," was all Jared said as he reached the register.
"Hey. Haven't seen you around her in a while." He was too relieved to see Jared at all to worry about seeming pathetic and desperate and the way Jared's face just sort of lit up when he said that made it worth it.
"Yeah. I went home for spring break. I go to SU and I usually try to take all my midterms early so I can leave a few days a head of time. My sister's birthday is the week before and well, birthdays are kind of a big deal in my family." He gave a sort of embarrassed half grin and started pulling things out of the cart. "I was going to tell you I was leaving a few weeks ago, but that guy showed up and well..." he shrugged.
Jensen nodded, caught between wanting to explain away the incident with Tom and wondering at the fact that Jared had even thought to tell Jensen that he was leaving for spring break, that he thought he was important enough to tell him. A pleased grin made its way to his mouth and a giddy feeling fluttered in his stomach, and he was only distracted from this by the food items Jared kept piling on the counter.
They weren't candy.
Instead Jared was buying two very large steaks, a bag of potatoes, along with shredded cheese, sour cream and bacon bits, three different types of lettuce, an array of vegetables clearly meant for a salad, and four different bottles of salad dressing.
And a frozen dutch apple pie.
Jensen raised his eyebrows. "Planning on cooking dinner for someone tonight?" he asked, and tried not to imagine Jared and Sandy eating together at a cozy table set for two.
He imagined it anyway.
Jared shuffled back and forth and ran a hand through his hair. "Maybe."
Jensen squinted at him in confusion. "Maybe? How can you not know if you're having dinner or not?"
"Well, it all depends." He was fidgeting again, bouncing on the heels of his feet and tapping an erratic beat of the counter.
"Depends on what?"
At Jensen's question Jared stopped moving altogether. His hands clenched on the counter top, fingers going white from the pressure as he took a deep breath and said, very carefully, "You."
Jensen blinked. "Me?"
"Yeah." Jared cleared his throat.. "Will you have dinner with me?"
Jensen didn't say anything. A slow blush was working its way up Jared's neck and Jensen was holding a bottle of Thousand Island's dressing in his hand and he distantly thought that maybe he should put the Lane Closed sign up because this conversation was going a little long, and all these thoughts were wrong and shouldn't be what he was focusing on because--
Jared. Just asked. Jensen. Out.
--and maybe he should actually say something because Jared was starting to look a little worried and was blushing even more now as he ducked his head and let go of the counter, stepping back and Jensen did not want him to go, so he opened his mouth and--
"What about Sandy?"
That was not what he wanted to say. He'd wanted to say Yes, definitely, but somehow, on it's journey from his brain to his mouth the message got jumbled and that was what came out.
Jared looked confused. "Sandy? What about her?"
This time it was Jensen's turn to blush. He thought maybe he should just wave the question off altogether, but really, he had to know. He just couldn't go through something like that again, so he ducked his head and coughed a little and then he looked Jared straight in the eye and said, "Well, when she was here you guys seemed awfully...close."
And Jared laughed. "Me and Sandy? No, we're just best friends. I mean, we had a thing, once, but that was like, four years ago." He waved a hand in the air to emphasize how unimportant it was. "Nah, there's nothing between Sandy and me."
Jensen grinned, relief flooding through him. "Oh. Good."
"Yeah." Jared grinned back at him. "What about you though? I mean, you said that guy Tom was your ex. You guys aren't--?" He let the question hang, pulling in the corner of his lip to bite as he waited on Jensen's answer.
He shook his head. "No. Tom and I were over years ago. Before we'd even begun really. Seeing him here was just a shock, you know?"
Jared nodded, eyes understanding. "Yeah." There was a small pause where they just stared at each other before Jared suddenly leaned forward, expression earnest. "So you will? Have dinner with me?"
Jensen nodded, smiling. "Yeah."
"Oh." Jared let out a breath. "Good."
"Yeah."
They stood just like that, grinning stupidly at one another until an announcement for a price check went over the speakers and Jensen was abruptly brought back down to earth. Oh yeah, he was at work. He gave Jared an apologetic glance and went back to ringing up the food.
Jared didn't seem to mind. In fact, he was back to bouncing up and down again, all energy and excitement and dimples as he continued to just grin at Jensen. "So, tonight, yeah? When do you get off work?" he asked at Jensen's nod.
He put the steaks in a bag. "Five."
"Great. Um, my apartment is a ways from here, just off university campus really, so maybe it would be easier if I just come back and pick you up here?"
Jensen hesitated. If Jared picked him up here then Jensen wouldn't have time to go home and change out of his work clothes. But really, it wasn't like Jared hadn't already seen him every week in the dull blue polo shirt with the Hello! My name is Jensen tag pinned to it for months now, and Jared was looking so hopefully at him that he knew he was going to say yes anyway. Besides, he had an extra shirt in the car. "Yeah. Sounds good."
He was rewarded with one of Jared's biggest smiles, with bright, delighted eyes, big white teeth and wow, those dimples. "Great. I'll see you at five then."
Jensen nodded and bagged the rest of the vegetables.
He finished ringing up the rest of food up and gave him his total, smiling this time as their fingers touched and lingered over the receipt. Jared turned to leave with a warm "See you tonight," but just as Jensen reached to put the receipt in the cash drawer, he'd turned right back around. "Hey, what kind of dressing do you like?"
Jensen looked over at him in confusion. "Huh?"
"For your salad. I already bought four kinds, but I figured I'd ask in case it wasn't one of those."
Jensen chuckled. "You'd totally go back through the store and buy another one if you didn't already have it, wouldn't you?" Jared just shrugged, unrepentant, and Jensen chuckled again. "Don't worry, you've got it." When Jared didn't move but just stood there expectantly Jensen gave an exaggerated sigh and rolled his eyes. "Italian. I told you: you're good." He waved a hand dismissively in the air and Jared just gave a short "Good," before disappearing out the door.
Jensen watched him go with a smile. He had a feeling that tonight was going to be a great night.
He just couldn't tell Danneel about it. She'd never let him live it down that she was right.
---
Jensen managed to clock out at 4:45. That was, mostly, thanks to Danneel, who took up more than her fair share of work in the duties list that shift. But he wasn't sure if the knowing looks and smug smiles and pure gloating he had to put up with was worth it. When he walked outside however, and saw that Jared was already there waiting, parked (illegally) in the handicap parking space so that he was easily visible--all long limbs and messy hair as he leaned casually against the car, cheeks flushed and pink from the chilly March winds--Jensen had to change his mind.
It was totally worth it.
He changed out of his work shirt, quickly pulling off the blue polo ("Aw, I liked that color on you," Jared had said.) and pulling on the dark button up that was in his car over the T-shirt he'd had on underneath. ("But that one looks good too." Jensen could feel Jared's eyes on him as he did up the buttons, heavy and dark and he cursed the flush that traveled up his neck and onto his face, turning, he was sure, even his ears pink.)
The drive to Jared's apartment took twenty minutes. It was an easy drive, mostly down one road, and they filled the time chatting, moving away from the horoscope and tabloid comments that usually filled their conversations and into more personal things. He'd been surprised to learn that Jared was also from Texas and he let out the drawl that had been buried under years of living in places where people spoke without it, pleased when Jared's eyes lit up and the next words he spoke were slower, deeper and brought forth a surge of memories and longing for home even as the lazy way Jared's mouth formed the words made something heat and burn in the pit of Jensen's stomach.
At one point during the ride Jensen asked if Jared had a job somewhere near the grocery store.
"No," he'd answered, brows furrowing slightly as he looked over at Jensen. "Why do you ask?"
"It's just... you always came to the store on the same day, same time even. I just figured you were coming in on a lunch break or something."
Jared looked back at the road, hands tightening on the wheel. "No, uh, the first time I ever went into that store some friends and I were just driving through the town. I was hungry so I made them pull into the store so I could run in and grab some food and a drink."
Jensen didn't mention that he didn't think gummy bears really qualified as food. "Yeah, okay. But what about all the rest of the times you were there?"
"Well," Jared didn't look at Jensen. "Wednesday at eleven was the only time I knew you worked."
Jensen just gaped at him for a moment. Jared flushed and sent him an embarrassed glance before going back to avoiding his eyes by staring at the road.
Months. Jared had been coming to the store every week just to see Jensen for months. Damn that... made him feel good. He grinned at Jared, bright and happy and suddenly feeling much more confident than he had since the fiasco with Tom a year and a half ago. "Man, I hope you didn't make yourself sick, buying all that candy just to see me."
Jared relaxed, chuckling. "Nah, I usually eat that much candy anyway. I've got an enormous sweet tooth, my friends tease me about it all the time. I just usually buy my candy some place a little closer to home." They shared a grin as Jared turned off the highway and onto a small back road.
Later that night, they were sitting on the floor of Jared's apartment, beers in hand. The remains of their meal--steaks that had been grilled, because it was the only way Jared knew how to cook them, loaded potatoes baked in the microwave, and a salad with, of course, Italian dressing--were on the table in the kitchen and the apple pie was cooling off on the counter. They were sitting side by side, shoulders touching as they leaned against the couch, legs spread out in front of them and Jared's two massive dogs curled up at their feet.
It was, without a doubt, the best date Jensen had ever been on.
"So, you said you're a student here?" Jensen asked over the rim of his beer. (A Corona, and if that didn't prove that Jared was perfect and this was meant to be he didn't know what did.)
Jared nodded and slouched further down on the floor, tipping his head back against the cushions of the couch. It pushed him further into Jensen so his shoulder wasn't so much touching Jensen's as it was leaning on it.
Jensen didn't mind.
"Yeah. I'm a junior."
"What's your major?"
Jared grimaced and took a swig from his beer. It jostled Jensen's arm a bit, knocking Jared even further into Jensen, so that his head was right at Jensen's shoulder, dark, curly strands of hair brushing up against and tickling his neck. "I'm undeclared," Jared muttered.
Jensen took a moment to a moment to process that. "Wait, you're an undeclared junior? Is that even possible?"
"Yeah, you just end up taking a lot of core classes." Jared made an expression of disgust. "I'm driving my advisor insane though. He's been trying to get me to claim a major for forever now. Says if I don't I'm just going to end up with a General Studies degree."
"Is that what you want?"
Jared shrugged. "I don't know what I want. I do know that I don't want to settle for something. I don't want to wind up doing something I hate just because someone pressured me into making a decision, you know?"
Jensen did know. "I get it. I mean, I changed my major at the end of my junior year. My friends thought I was crazy, and man, my parents were not happy about the amount of debt I was racking up with student loans and all, but I had to go with what made me happy."
"Yeah. Exactly." Jared grinned up at him. His face was less than six inches from Jensen's and his eyes caught on the dimples of Jared's cheeks. He could just lean down, he thought. Just a few inches and he could lean down and lick them. "So what'd you change your major to?"
"Huh?" He blinked, dragging his eyes back to Jared's curious ones. "Oh. Uh, literature. I was an English education major, but I figured out after my first assistant teaching gig that, while I did want to teach, I didn't want to teach kids. So I changed my major and planned on going to grad school so I could teach at the collegiate level." He grinned down at Jared. "I start grad school in the fall."
"Really? Where?" Jared sat up a little so he could look fully at Jensen without craning his neck.
Jensen's grin grew. "Guess."
"Here?" he asked and Jensen nodded. "That's great! So," his smile this time wasn't the bright, happy grin that Jensen usually associated with him, but a slow one, curling at his lips and crinkling the corners of his eyes as he drawled, "I guess this means I'll be seeing you around campus, huh?"
That slow, Texas accent that had caused heat to flare up and curl inside Jensen during the car ride was back and he was suddenly aware of just close they were now that Jared had sat up. Barely three inches apart, really. "Yeah," he croaked out and licked his lips. Jared's eyes followed the motion of his tongue and Jensen leaned forward just a little bit more. "Yeah," he said again, softly, breath ghosting across Jared's skin. "I guess you will."
Jared's lips were chapped, but warm, and they pressed back eagerly against Jensen's. One of Jared's hands reached up to curl along the nape of Jensen's neck, thumb stroking the tiny hairs behind his ear. Jared's lips parted as he puffed out a breath against Jensen's lips and Jensen took that as an invitation, slipping his tongue between his lips, and Jared opened his mouth with a small, groan, letting him in.
He tasted like the beer they were drinking, with just a hint of the lime they had put in it and Jensen chased that taste, tongue twisting around Jared's and lapping at the roof of his mouth, tracing his teeth, searching for any hint of lime, mind suddenly remembering how Jared's lips had puckered around an extra wedge as he sucked on it in the kitchen earlier. Jensen had wanted to lick off the juice from his lips, and now he had the chance.
Jared pulled back, gasping and leaned his forehead against Jensen's. He'd put his beer down at some point and his other hand was instead smashed in between Jensen's side and the couch, fingers tracing at the skin under his shirt. He pressed one more brief, intense kiss to Jensen's lips before he pulled back, a question in his eyes.
Jensen nodded. God, yes.
Jared smiled--and at some point Jensen really would devote plenty of time to those dimples of his--and kissed him again. Then he stood up, pulling Jensen to his feet as well. Jensen reached for his beer bottle, intending to throw it away, or at least place it on the coffee table they had pushed out of the way, but Jared shook his head, tugging at Jensen's hand. "Leave it." His voice was low and hoarse with want and Jensen shivered at the sound of it. He nodded wordlessly and didn't let go of Jared's hand even as he led him to the bedroom.
They ate the apple pie for breakfast the next day.
---
Jared had class at nine in the morning, so he dropped Jensen off at the store at eight. The drive back to campus, however, didn't take too long so they spent several minutes leaning against the car in the empty back parking lot, making out. When Jensen had finally pulled away, told Jared to get to class and walked to his own car, Jared followed him. And so it was that they spent several more minutes making out against Jensen's car.
"Seriously," he said between kisses. "You need. To get. To class." He pulled back. "You're already an undeclared junior, we shouldn't add missing all your classes to that."
"Shut up," Jared muttered. And kissed him again. Finally, he pulled back with a sigh. "So, I'm gonna see you again soon, right?"
Jensen smiled and leaned up to mouth at the line of Jared's jaw. "Yeah."
"Tonight? Do you work again today? Maybe I could pick you up again."
Jensen chuckled against the skin of Jared's neck and smiled when he felt him shiver. "I have to go back to my apartment at some point you know. Besides, I work the evening shift today. Won't be off till ten." Jared pouted. Honest to god pouted, with pursed lips and big sad dopey eyes and all. Jensen couldn't resist nipping at Jared's bottom lip. "I guess you could meet me here and we could go back to my place. If you're willing to come that late, that is."
Jared grinned, full out, with dimples and all, and really that was just as irresistible as the pout. "I'll be there," he told him.
Jensen kissed him. "Good." He gave him a little shove. "Now get to class. Don't want you to drop out of college, 'cause then I'd be too ashamed to be seen with you."
Jared stumbled, laughing. "Whatever, I'll just come and take your job while you're out teaching college students. At least the crazy tabloid stories would keep me occupied."
Jensen rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Get."
Jared laughed again and walked to his own car, giving Jensen a little wave. "I'll see you tonight." Jensen nodded and smiled, watching him go. He was rewarded with a smile and a goofy wink from the window as Jared drove by.
Despite the fact that he didn't have to work until five, he headed for the store once Jared's car disappeared. Inside, he picked up condoms, three supersize bags of assorted candies, a case of Mountain Dew and a few limes.
He already had the Corona.
As he waited in line with his purchases he browsed the magazine rack in curiosity. He grinned as his eyes caught on the tabloid that Jared had been reading yesterday (It declared that there was a whole cult dedicated to convincing people that Paris Hilton was, in fact, a demon masquerading as a human being--no wonder Jared had laughed.) but he reached for the horoscope book instead. Flipping to his sign, he read what it had written for this week.
You've been stressing out over things for a long time now--decisions you've made, relationships that didn't go the way you wanted them to--and you might be tempted to let your worry and fears stop you from seizing some opportunities that have come up in the past few months. But don't let them. If you let things happen, everything should start going your way. So stop worrying, Pisces! You're life is going exactly as it should at the moment.
Jensen put the book back with a little grin.
Yeah. That sounded about right.
Fandom: RPS, J2 AU
Pairing: Jared/Jensen, mentions of Tom/Mike
Rating: PG13
Word Count: 10,488
Summary: Jensen hates his job at the LoBill's grocery store. The only highlight is that every Wednesday the same guy comes in to buy candy and laugh with Jensen at the tabloids. Now if only Jensen could get up the courage to ask the guy his name...and possibly his number.
Warnings: Schmoop, bad tabloid articles, LOTS of candy.
A/N: Part 2 posted here, because of LJ's stupid word limit. *grumbles*
When he saw Jared the next week, Jensen intended to have absolutely no reaction. Really. He’d be aloof, but polite, as if the man was any other customer Jensen had to deal with every day. But then he’d wandered up to Jensen’s line, all smiles and dimples and with two bags of sour gummy worms and a lollipop for Christ’s sake, and Jensen couldn’t help the smile--big and full and in no way just polite--he gave in return.
“Hey, Jensen,” was his greeting as Jared unceremoniously tossed his candy and drink on the counter. “How’s it going?”
“Fine.” He wanted to ask How’s Sandy? But he thought that would probably be weird, like he thought seeing Sandy with Jared was significant, like he thought seeing Jared was significant. And anyway, Jared was already reaching for the little horoscope book by the register anyway.
“Let’s see what our horoscopes this week are, huh?” He flashed Jensen a quick grin and brushed his bangs out of his eyes with one big hand. His brows furrowed in a little line of concentration as he read.
“‘The start of the week may be quite intense as Mercury moves to trine Pluto with Capricorn. This may coincide with a period of research and in-depth conversation. You can use your very powerful focus generated at this time to resolve any outstanding issues.’ Hmm.” His lips pursed a little as he hummed and Jensen tried not to stare. “That’s boring. Let’s see what yours says. ‘You get a chance to retry an opportunity that you thought you had lost. On Wednesday, the Lunar Eclipse encourages you to ring in changes where your current relationship is concerned. It is a good time to let go and to forget and forgive issues that may be causing you problems.’ Man, that‘s boring too,” he complained.
His lips had frowned just a little bit more, but just when Jensen had decided to just give up and quit resisting the urge to stare, they were pulled back into their usual grin, bright and mischievous as Jared slanted a glance at Jensen over the top of the book. “Why don’t we check out the love section instead?”
“No! Uh…” he blushed. “No. Let’s not.” Because the only thing worse than reading about his chances at love from a horoscope would be having it read by Jared. He quickly rang up the rest of Jared’s candy and told him the total.
Jared shrugged as he pulled out his wallet. “Alright. But it’s your loss, man.”
He didn’t say anything as the machine printed out the receipt. Jared had paid by Debit card this time, so he grabbed a pen and slid it to him, patiently waiting while Jared signed his name. He grabbed the bag with the candy in it and held it out, polite smile firmly in place this time, and usually this was the part where Jared would grab it, flash him another too-big, too-bright smile, say “See ya, Jensen,” and head out the door.
Only he didn’t.
Instead he just stood there, fidgeting slightly and staring at Jensen in a way that made him really self conscious, and looked for all the world as he bounced up and down on the heels of his feet as if he were preparing himself for some kind of courageous feat.
“Hey, uh, listen, Jensen…” He ducked his head and gave a small cough before continuing. “I was wondering if you might want to, uh…” he trailed off. “Jensen?” he asked, concerned.
Because Jensen wasn’t listening anymore. His eyes had slid past Jared to the tall, dark haired guy standing in the next aisle over. His stomach clenched. Shit. Tom.
He hadn’t seen him in over a year, and really he was just beginning to think that he might never have to see him again.
Guess I’m not that lucky, he thought bitterly.
“Jensen? Hey, Jensen, you alright?”
A hand waved in front of his face and Jensen blinked, focus abruptly brought back to Jared. “Huh…what? Oh.”
Jared was leaning over the counter, brows furrowed as he stared at Jensen. He craned his neck to look over his shoulder at where Jensen had been staring. “Who is that guy?”
“He’s uh….he’s…” Tom had seen Jensen and was heading over to the register. “He’s Tom. My…my ex.” And he couldn’t even focus on the fact that he just outed himself to Jared, because Tom was standing right there, hands in his pockets and blue eyes focused on Jensen.
“Hey, Jen.”
Jensen swallowed. “Hey.”
Jared looked back and forth between the two of them. “I think… I’ll just go.” Jensen didn’t move. “Jensen?”
He looked back at Jared, who was gesturing at something in Jensen’s hands. He looked down to where he was still holding the plastic bag with Jared’s candy. Oh. He extended his arm over the counter, giving Jared a stiff smile. “Here you go.”
“Yeah.” Jared’s eyes flickered from Jensen back to Tom, an uncomfortable look on his face. “Well, I guess I’ll see you later, Jensen.”
Jensen nodded. Jared stood there for one more awkward moment, shifting back and forth on his feet before giving a small smile and walking to the door. Jensen watched him go with a sinking feeling.
“Jen?”
With a sigh, Jensen turned away. “Hey, Tom.”
Tom smile tentatively. “I uh, didn’t know you were working here now.”
“Yeah, just until the fall, when I start grad school. Just some extra cash to help me pay off those student loans. You know.” Jensen shrugged and fiddled with edge of a plastic bag, looking everywhere except the man in front of him.
The thing was, Tom wasn’t exactly his ex. They had a thing once: a few impulsive moments in college, after they’d seen each other around on campus and a few parties. But they hadn’t gotten further than a few drunken encounters before Tom had called a stop to everything, on account of his wife. Jensen of course, being Jensen, would never consider coming in between someone’s relationship, but he was also a fool who was already half in love with Tom--Tom who had bright blue eyes, dark hair and an easy smile--and so he agreed that they could still hang out and try to be friends.
For a while, it had been fine. Jensen had introduced him to most of his friends and he had fit right in with them. Chris and Steve had liked him and Mike all but raved about him whenever his name came up. It wasn’t long until every night out with guys included Tom, nor was it a surprise when Tom himself would call to make plans with everybody. It was easy and it was fun and if Jensen sometimes caught himself staring at Tom’s profile and wishing that things could be a little different than just friends, well, he could deal with it.
That was until one night, at a party after one of Chris and Steve’s gigs, a party where Tom’s wife had been noticeably absent (something that had been happening with more and more frequency), Jensen had walked into what he had thought was an unoccupied bathroom to see Tom and Mike, half in, half out of the shower, arms and legs tangled together and mouths pressed together, open and moving like they were trying to devour one another.
And that wasn’t just a drunken encounter. Their relationship had apparently been going on for a quite a while, and even though Jensen really wasn’t someone to get between a marriage, the fact that Tom had been willing to risk everything for Mike and not Jensen had hurt.
His friendship with both Mike and Tom had dwindled after that. He avoided going to parties and functions that they were at, made it a point to hang out with Chris and Steve separately. And though no one really mentioned it, the fact that it was because of what Mike and Tom had was no secret. After a while he’d stopped seeing Mike and Tom altogether.
A few months after that Jensen had got news that Tom and Jamie had gotten a divorce, and Jensen only prayed that he wouldn’t have to face either of them for a really long time.
And now here he was.
Neither one of them had said anything for a few minutes, and it was starting to get uncomfortable so Jensen cleared his throat. “So, how have you been?”
“Good. Uh, good.” Tom shoved his hands further in his pockets and hunched his shoulders. It was a habit that Jensen had always found endearing and his gut clenched at how familiar the gesture was.
“And uh,” Jensen swallowed, “how’s Mike?”
He didn‘t quite look Jensen in the eye. “Mikes good. We uh, we just moved into a new apartment a month ago.”
“Oh.” Jensen looked down, something ugly twisting in the pit of his stomach. “That’s great. Really. Really, great.” And it should have been. Jensen should have been happy that Mike, who had been his friend since his sophomore year in high school, was doing so well, was so happy. And it wasn’t like he was still hung up on Tom. It had been months since he had even given the man a thought. So why did he still have trouble begrudging him happiness?
“Yeah.”
There was another awkward beat or two between them before Tom suddenly took a step forward, eyes fixed earnestly on Jensen’s face. “Listen, Jen, I just wanted you know, I really didn’t mean for things to turn out the way they did. I mean, I didn’t plan for what happened with me and Mike, it just, just did. And I can’t say I would change what happened, because what I have with Mike…” he paused, swallowing. “Well, I just know I’m lucky to have him. I just wish I hadn’t hurt you in the process, you know?”
Jensen did know. He could see it, the remorse and apology in his face, and suddenly the idea of just letting it all go wasn’t as foreign as it had seemed. He forced out a gruff, “Yeah,” but didn’t look up from the plastic bags on the counter.
Tom was quiet for a moment. Then he said softly, “Mike really misses you, you know.”
Jensen was surprised at the sudden burst of longing that went through him, because he really did miss Mike. Missed his easy going manner and the practical jokes he liked to play, and the way he always had Jensen’s back whenever Chris and Steve decided to go all honest and “for your own good” on him. They’d been friends since before either of them could drive, before they both had worked a whole summer just to buy an old, but serviceable car to share between them, and suddenly the whole thing with Tom just didn’t seem...worth it.
“Yeah, well, maybe I’ll give him a call.” He didn’t have to look up to see the huge grin that took over Tom’s face, he practically radiated it. But he looked up anyway, finally meeting Tom’s eyes.
“That’d be great. He’d be thrilled.”
“Yeah.” Jensen blushed a little, and really, he wished that he would just stop doing that. It was getting out of control.
“Well,” Tom took a step back. “I’ve got some shopping to do, and I’m sure you’ve got to work so, I’ll just let you get to it.”
Jensen abruptly looked around because, yeah, work, and it was surprising that he hadn’t had any customers at his register. At this time of day he normally had a steady flow to check out, and he hadn’t had a single person since Tom showed up. He saw Danneel working the cash register next to his, dealing with a longer than normal line and looked at the end of his own register, where a “Lane Closed” sign had appeared at some point. He caught Danneel’s eye and mouthed a silent “Thank you.” She nodded and smiled in return.
Tom was still standing there, hands in his pockets, fixed, hopeful smile on his face. Jensen tried his best to return it. “I’ll see you around, maybe. And tell Mike I said ‘hi.’”
Tom’s smile brightened just enough to be genuine. “I’ll do that,” he said, and with a small wave he started walking further into the store.
Jensen took a few minutes to process what had just happened before he took down the sign. Tom had shown up and apologized. Tom had shown up. At his store, where he didn’t even let either Tom or Mike know he worked, right when he was talking to Jared.
And that’s where all thought processing came to a halt. Jared.
“He’s uh… he’s…Tom. My…my ex.”
He’d just accidentally came out to Jared, and for all he knew the guy was completely freaked out. He might even be talking to his girlfriend now, complaining about how the cashier at LoBill’s he’d just tried to have friendly conversations with had been flirting with him, and wasn’t that just disgusting, or maybe talking about poor Jensen with a crush on a straight guy and he’d have to come back and let him down easily or something and--
Another memory suddenly popped into his head.
“Hey, uh, Jensen… I was wondering if you might want to--”
What had he been getting ready to ask before Tom had shown up and Jensen had completely zoned out? It had almost sounded like he was getting ready to ask Jensen out. He’d been shifting awkwardly from side to side, bouncing and fidgeting, almost like he was nervous about something.
Jensen groaned inwardly. So the guy he’d practically been in love with a year and a half ago shows up unannounced at his work and he’d either freaked out the guy he was interested in now, or just convinced him that he still wasn’t over his ex.
What a Great. Fucking. Day.
---
The next week Jared didn't show up.
Jensen watched the clock as he worked, tensing with anticipation as it neared eleven and the time Jared usually came into the store in search of candy and pop.
Only he didn't.
At eleven thirty, Jensen thought he just might be late. At five till noon he amended that to very late. Jared had been caught up with something at whatever job he had in town, and had to put off satisfying his sugar craving until later, perhaps. Jensen would probably see him any moment, ten pounds of candy in one hand, horoscope or tabloid in the other.
By two o'clock he'd given up. Jared wasn't coming.
---
When Jared didn't show up the week after that Jensen figured he really had scared the guy off. It was better, he told himself. This way, he knew it wasn't going to work out before he got emotionally invested in the guy. More emotionally invested, his mind whispered. He told himself to shut up and started bagging the sixteen frozen dinners the customer in front of him was buying.
Next Friday, he decided, when it came time to re-do schedule's, he wouldn't ask for the following Wednesday.
---
He was, unfortunately, already scheduled to work the Wednesday before that. But he didn't watch the clock, or peer out the store's glass doors to see who was coming in, or even look around to see if he could spot a head of shaggy brown hair, at least a foot higher than all the others.
Which was why, when he heard Jared's loud, and slightly high pitched chuckle coming from the end of the line Jensen was so surprised that he snapped his head up hard enough to hurt.
There he was, leaning against a cart at the end of the line, nose buried in some flashy tabloid magazine and laughing to himself at whatever he was reading in it.
Jensen hadn't managed to scare him off after all.
He was so relieved that he barely even noticed what he was doing as he checked the other customers out. He messed up a few things--put the bread with the frozen dinners, charged them less for the vegetables than what he should, called that woman "sir," as she left, but he couldn't care. Jared had put the tabloid back on the magazine rack and was pushing his cart up to the front, and his smile as he caught Jensen's eye wasn't fake, wasn't dimmed with disgust, and really it had been three weeks since Jensen had last seen him and that was just Too. Long.
"Hey," was all Jared said as he reached the register.
"Hey. Haven't seen you around her in a while." He was too relieved to see Jared at all to worry about seeming pathetic and desperate and the way Jared's face just sort of lit up when he said that made it worth it.
"Yeah. I went home for spring break. I go to SU and I usually try to take all my midterms early so I can leave a few days a head of time. My sister's birthday is the week before and well, birthdays are kind of a big deal in my family." He gave a sort of embarrassed half grin and started pulling things out of the cart. "I was going to tell you I was leaving a few weeks ago, but that guy showed up and well..." he shrugged.
Jensen nodded, caught between wanting to explain away the incident with Tom and wondering at the fact that Jared had even thought to tell Jensen that he was leaving for spring break, that he thought he was important enough to tell him. A pleased grin made its way to his mouth and a giddy feeling fluttered in his stomach, and he was only distracted from this by the food items Jared kept piling on the counter.
They weren't candy.
Instead Jared was buying two very large steaks, a bag of potatoes, along with shredded cheese, sour cream and bacon bits, three different types of lettuce, an array of vegetables clearly meant for a salad, and four different bottles of salad dressing.
And a frozen dutch apple pie.
Jensen raised his eyebrows. "Planning on cooking dinner for someone tonight?" he asked, and tried not to imagine Jared and Sandy eating together at a cozy table set for two.
He imagined it anyway.
Jared shuffled back and forth and ran a hand through his hair. "Maybe."
Jensen squinted at him in confusion. "Maybe? How can you not know if you're having dinner or not?"
"Well, it all depends." He was fidgeting again, bouncing on the heels of his feet and tapping an erratic beat of the counter.
"Depends on what?"
At Jensen's question Jared stopped moving altogether. His hands clenched on the counter top, fingers going white from the pressure as he took a deep breath and said, very carefully, "You."
Jensen blinked. "Me?"
"Yeah." Jared cleared his throat.. "Will you have dinner with me?"
Jensen didn't say anything. A slow blush was working its way up Jared's neck and Jensen was holding a bottle of Thousand Island's dressing in his hand and he distantly thought that maybe he should put the Lane Closed sign up because this conversation was going a little long, and all these thoughts were wrong and shouldn't be what he was focusing on because--
Jared. Just asked. Jensen. Out.
--and maybe he should actually say something because Jared was starting to look a little worried and was blushing even more now as he ducked his head and let go of the counter, stepping back and Jensen did not want him to go, so he opened his mouth and--
"What about Sandy?"
That was not what he wanted to say. He'd wanted to say Yes, definitely, but somehow, on it's journey from his brain to his mouth the message got jumbled and that was what came out.
Jared looked confused. "Sandy? What about her?"
This time it was Jensen's turn to blush. He thought maybe he should just wave the question off altogether, but really, he had to know. He just couldn't go through something like that again, so he ducked his head and coughed a little and then he looked Jared straight in the eye and said, "Well, when she was here you guys seemed awfully...close."
And Jared laughed. "Me and Sandy? No, we're just best friends. I mean, we had a thing, once, but that was like, four years ago." He waved a hand in the air to emphasize how unimportant it was. "Nah, there's nothing between Sandy and me."
Jensen grinned, relief flooding through him. "Oh. Good."
"Yeah." Jared grinned back at him. "What about you though? I mean, you said that guy Tom was your ex. You guys aren't--?" He let the question hang, pulling in the corner of his lip to bite as he waited on Jensen's answer.
He shook his head. "No. Tom and I were over years ago. Before we'd even begun really. Seeing him here was just a shock, you know?"
Jared nodded, eyes understanding. "Yeah." There was a small pause where they just stared at each other before Jared suddenly leaned forward, expression earnest. "So you will? Have dinner with me?"
Jensen nodded, smiling. "Yeah."
"Oh." Jared let out a breath. "Good."
"Yeah."
They stood just like that, grinning stupidly at one another until an announcement for a price check went over the speakers and Jensen was abruptly brought back down to earth. Oh yeah, he was at work. He gave Jared an apologetic glance and went back to ringing up the food.
Jared didn't seem to mind. In fact, he was back to bouncing up and down again, all energy and excitement and dimples as he continued to just grin at Jensen. "So, tonight, yeah? When do you get off work?" he asked at Jensen's nod.
He put the steaks in a bag. "Five."
"Great. Um, my apartment is a ways from here, just off university campus really, so maybe it would be easier if I just come back and pick you up here?"
Jensen hesitated. If Jared picked him up here then Jensen wouldn't have time to go home and change out of his work clothes. But really, it wasn't like Jared hadn't already seen him every week in the dull blue polo shirt with the Hello! My name is Jensen tag pinned to it for months now, and Jared was looking so hopefully at him that he knew he was going to say yes anyway. Besides, he had an extra shirt in the car. "Yeah. Sounds good."
He was rewarded with one of Jared's biggest smiles, with bright, delighted eyes, big white teeth and wow, those dimples. "Great. I'll see you at five then."
Jensen nodded and bagged the rest of the vegetables.
He finished ringing up the rest of food up and gave him his total, smiling this time as their fingers touched and lingered over the receipt. Jared turned to leave with a warm "See you tonight," but just as Jensen reached to put the receipt in the cash drawer, he'd turned right back around. "Hey, what kind of dressing do you like?"
Jensen looked over at him in confusion. "Huh?"
"For your salad. I already bought four kinds, but I figured I'd ask in case it wasn't one of those."
Jensen chuckled. "You'd totally go back through the store and buy another one if you didn't already have it, wouldn't you?" Jared just shrugged, unrepentant, and Jensen chuckled again. "Don't worry, you've got it." When Jared didn't move but just stood there expectantly Jensen gave an exaggerated sigh and rolled his eyes. "Italian. I told you: you're good." He waved a hand dismissively in the air and Jared just gave a short "Good," before disappearing out the door.
Jensen watched him go with a smile. He had a feeling that tonight was going to be a great night.
He just couldn't tell Danneel about it. She'd never let him live it down that she was right.
---
Jensen managed to clock out at 4:45. That was, mostly, thanks to Danneel, who took up more than her fair share of work in the duties list that shift. But he wasn't sure if the knowing looks and smug smiles and pure gloating he had to put up with was worth it. When he walked outside however, and saw that Jared was already there waiting, parked (illegally) in the handicap parking space so that he was easily visible--all long limbs and messy hair as he leaned casually against the car, cheeks flushed and pink from the chilly March winds--Jensen had to change his mind.
It was totally worth it.
He changed out of his work shirt, quickly pulling off the blue polo ("Aw, I liked that color on you," Jared had said.) and pulling on the dark button up that was in his car over the T-shirt he'd had on underneath. ("But that one looks good too." Jensen could feel Jared's eyes on him as he did up the buttons, heavy and dark and he cursed the flush that traveled up his neck and onto his face, turning, he was sure, even his ears pink.)
The drive to Jared's apartment took twenty minutes. It was an easy drive, mostly down one road, and they filled the time chatting, moving away from the horoscope and tabloid comments that usually filled their conversations and into more personal things. He'd been surprised to learn that Jared was also from Texas and he let out the drawl that had been buried under years of living in places where people spoke without it, pleased when Jared's eyes lit up and the next words he spoke were slower, deeper and brought forth a surge of memories and longing for home even as the lazy way Jared's mouth formed the words made something heat and burn in the pit of Jensen's stomach.
At one point during the ride Jensen asked if Jared had a job somewhere near the grocery store.
"No," he'd answered, brows furrowing slightly as he looked over at Jensen. "Why do you ask?"
"It's just... you always came to the store on the same day, same time even. I just figured you were coming in on a lunch break or something."
Jared looked back at the road, hands tightening on the wheel. "No, uh, the first time I ever went into that store some friends and I were just driving through the town. I was hungry so I made them pull into the store so I could run in and grab some food and a drink."
Jensen didn't mention that he didn't think gummy bears really qualified as food. "Yeah, okay. But what about all the rest of the times you were there?"
"Well," Jared didn't look at Jensen. "Wednesday at eleven was the only time I knew you worked."
Jensen just gaped at him for a moment. Jared flushed and sent him an embarrassed glance before going back to avoiding his eyes by staring at the road.
Months. Jared had been coming to the store every week just to see Jensen for months. Damn that... made him feel good. He grinned at Jared, bright and happy and suddenly feeling much more confident than he had since the fiasco with Tom a year and a half ago. "Man, I hope you didn't make yourself sick, buying all that candy just to see me."
Jared relaxed, chuckling. "Nah, I usually eat that much candy anyway. I've got an enormous sweet tooth, my friends tease me about it all the time. I just usually buy my candy some place a little closer to home." They shared a grin as Jared turned off the highway and onto a small back road.
Later that night, they were sitting on the floor of Jared's apartment, beers in hand. The remains of their meal--steaks that had been grilled, because it was the only way Jared knew how to cook them, loaded potatoes baked in the microwave, and a salad with, of course, Italian dressing--were on the table in the kitchen and the apple pie was cooling off on the counter. They were sitting side by side, shoulders touching as they leaned against the couch, legs spread out in front of them and Jared's two massive dogs curled up at their feet.
It was, without a doubt, the best date Jensen had ever been on.
"So, you said you're a student here?" Jensen asked over the rim of his beer. (A Corona, and if that didn't prove that Jared was perfect and this was meant to be he didn't know what did.)
Jared nodded and slouched further down on the floor, tipping his head back against the cushions of the couch. It pushed him further into Jensen so his shoulder wasn't so much touching Jensen's as it was leaning on it.
Jensen didn't mind.
"Yeah. I'm a junior."
"What's your major?"
Jared grimaced and took a swig from his beer. It jostled Jensen's arm a bit, knocking Jared even further into Jensen, so that his head was right at Jensen's shoulder, dark, curly strands of hair brushing up against and tickling his neck. "I'm undeclared," Jared muttered.
Jensen took a moment to a moment to process that. "Wait, you're an undeclared junior? Is that even possible?"
"Yeah, you just end up taking a lot of core classes." Jared made an expression of disgust. "I'm driving my advisor insane though. He's been trying to get me to claim a major for forever now. Says if I don't I'm just going to end up with a General Studies degree."
"Is that what you want?"
Jared shrugged. "I don't know what I want. I do know that I don't want to settle for something. I don't want to wind up doing something I hate just because someone pressured me into making a decision, you know?"
Jensen did know. "I get it. I mean, I changed my major at the end of my junior year. My friends thought I was crazy, and man, my parents were not happy about the amount of debt I was racking up with student loans and all, but I had to go with what made me happy."
"Yeah. Exactly." Jared grinned up at him. His face was less than six inches from Jensen's and his eyes caught on the dimples of Jared's cheeks. He could just lean down, he thought. Just a few inches and he could lean down and lick them. "So what'd you change your major to?"
"Huh?" He blinked, dragging his eyes back to Jared's curious ones. "Oh. Uh, literature. I was an English education major, but I figured out after my first assistant teaching gig that, while I did want to teach, I didn't want to teach kids. So I changed my major and planned on going to grad school so I could teach at the collegiate level." He grinned down at Jared. "I start grad school in the fall."
"Really? Where?" Jared sat up a little so he could look fully at Jensen without craning his neck.
Jensen's grin grew. "Guess."
"Here?" he asked and Jensen nodded. "That's great! So," his smile this time wasn't the bright, happy grin that Jensen usually associated with him, but a slow one, curling at his lips and crinkling the corners of his eyes as he drawled, "I guess this means I'll be seeing you around campus, huh?"
That slow, Texas accent that had caused heat to flare up and curl inside Jensen during the car ride was back and he was suddenly aware of just close they were now that Jared had sat up. Barely three inches apart, really. "Yeah," he croaked out and licked his lips. Jared's eyes followed the motion of his tongue and Jensen leaned forward just a little bit more. "Yeah," he said again, softly, breath ghosting across Jared's skin. "I guess you will."
Jared's lips were chapped, but warm, and they pressed back eagerly against Jensen's. One of Jared's hands reached up to curl along the nape of Jensen's neck, thumb stroking the tiny hairs behind his ear. Jared's lips parted as he puffed out a breath against Jensen's lips and Jensen took that as an invitation, slipping his tongue between his lips, and Jared opened his mouth with a small, groan, letting him in.
He tasted like the beer they were drinking, with just a hint of the lime they had put in it and Jensen chased that taste, tongue twisting around Jared's and lapping at the roof of his mouth, tracing his teeth, searching for any hint of lime, mind suddenly remembering how Jared's lips had puckered around an extra wedge as he sucked on it in the kitchen earlier. Jensen had wanted to lick off the juice from his lips, and now he had the chance.
Jared pulled back, gasping and leaned his forehead against Jensen's. He'd put his beer down at some point and his other hand was instead smashed in between Jensen's side and the couch, fingers tracing at the skin under his shirt. He pressed one more brief, intense kiss to Jensen's lips before he pulled back, a question in his eyes.
Jensen nodded. God, yes.
Jared smiled--and at some point Jensen really would devote plenty of time to those dimples of his--and kissed him again. Then he stood up, pulling Jensen to his feet as well. Jensen reached for his beer bottle, intending to throw it away, or at least place it on the coffee table they had pushed out of the way, but Jared shook his head, tugging at Jensen's hand. "Leave it." His voice was low and hoarse with want and Jensen shivered at the sound of it. He nodded wordlessly and didn't let go of Jared's hand even as he led him to the bedroom.
They ate the apple pie for breakfast the next day.
---
Jared had class at nine in the morning, so he dropped Jensen off at the store at eight. The drive back to campus, however, didn't take too long so they spent several minutes leaning against the car in the empty back parking lot, making out. When Jensen had finally pulled away, told Jared to get to class and walked to his own car, Jared followed him. And so it was that they spent several more minutes making out against Jensen's car.
"Seriously," he said between kisses. "You need. To get. To class." He pulled back. "You're already an undeclared junior, we shouldn't add missing all your classes to that."
"Shut up," Jared muttered. And kissed him again. Finally, he pulled back with a sigh. "So, I'm gonna see you again soon, right?"
Jensen smiled and leaned up to mouth at the line of Jared's jaw. "Yeah."
"Tonight? Do you work again today? Maybe I could pick you up again."
Jensen chuckled against the skin of Jared's neck and smiled when he felt him shiver. "I have to go back to my apartment at some point you know. Besides, I work the evening shift today. Won't be off till ten." Jared pouted. Honest to god pouted, with pursed lips and big sad dopey eyes and all. Jensen couldn't resist nipping at Jared's bottom lip. "I guess you could meet me here and we could go back to my place. If you're willing to come that late, that is."
Jared grinned, full out, with dimples and all, and really that was just as irresistible as the pout. "I'll be there," he told him.
Jensen kissed him. "Good." He gave him a little shove. "Now get to class. Don't want you to drop out of college, 'cause then I'd be too ashamed to be seen with you."
Jared stumbled, laughing. "Whatever, I'll just come and take your job while you're out teaching college students. At least the crazy tabloid stories would keep me occupied."
Jensen rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Get."
Jared laughed again and walked to his own car, giving Jensen a little wave. "I'll see you tonight." Jensen nodded and smiled, watching him go. He was rewarded with a smile and a goofy wink from the window as Jared drove by.
Despite the fact that he didn't have to work until five, he headed for the store once Jared's car disappeared. Inside, he picked up condoms, three supersize bags of assorted candies, a case of Mountain Dew and a few limes.
He already had the Corona.
As he waited in line with his purchases he browsed the magazine rack in curiosity. He grinned as his eyes caught on the tabloid that Jared had been reading yesterday (It declared that there was a whole cult dedicated to convincing people that Paris Hilton was, in fact, a demon masquerading as a human being--no wonder Jared had laughed.) but he reached for the horoscope book instead. Flipping to his sign, he read what it had written for this week.
You've been stressing out over things for a long time now--decisions you've made, relationships that didn't go the way you wanted them to--and you might be tempted to let your worry and fears stop you from seizing some opportunities that have come up in the past few months. But don't let them. If you let things happen, everything should start going your way. So stop worrying, Pisces! You're life is going exactly as it should at the moment.
Jensen put the book back with a little grin.
Yeah. That sounded about right.