We're Only Young And Naive Still, We Require Certain Skills
Chapter: 1/?
Song: Young Blood- The Naked And Famous
Word Count: 9,007
"The mood it changes like the wind, hard to control when it begins."
“Come on vacation with me.”
Anna stops typing on her laptop and almost drops her phone that’s nestled between her ear and shoulder. She’d recognize that voice anywhere, that slow southern drawl, but she decides to play really, really, stupidly-dumb anyways.
“Who is this?”
“Shut up, you know who I am.”
She scowls and groans. “I thought you weren’t talking to me Jared?”
It’s been almost two months since they have spoken. Not that she’s counting or cares.
“I changed my mind.”
“Hmmm.”
“Because I want you to go on vacation with me.”
She laughs so hard she snorts and covers her mouth with her hand hoping that he didn’t hear.
“That was attractive. Why are you laughing?”
“Because it’s funny. You are funny. I’ll give you that.”
“Why is it so funny?”
“Because it’s not something that should be taken seriously. It’s funny.”
“Well I don’t think it is.”
“Jared. We don’t even know each other.”
“You know about me. You’ve kissed me. Multiple times.”
“Hey, no, you kissed me two times and then the third time I was saving your life so…”
The first time he kissed her was also the first time they met.
Anna works for a gossip magazine so her job mainly consists of her going to clubs, parties, grand openings, and premieres, basically any place that celebrities flock to in New York City, and taking pictures of the boring and mundane parts then discrete ones of anything scandalous. Then she goes home and usually still wearing her black pumps types up an article based on the picture and what she saw.
She’s not necessarily proud of what she does. It’s not what she went to college for but it’s all she has at the moment and for the foreseeable future so she tries to do her best at it; taking down celebrities caught in the wrong without a second thought.
What she has photographed and written have caused breakups and various other relationship issues and proven that some flimsy little actresses aren’t as innocent as they want people to believe. But most importantly and remarkably, it caused a great deal of embarrassment for Jared Followill.
He wasn’t even supposed to be at that party that night.
It was the launch of some brand of vodka, the third launch party Anna had been to that week so she was bored and sitting at the bar with her iPhone ready to take a picture of anything and trying to blend into the crowd while casually sipping the vodka of honor. It took her twenty minutes to get through one shot glass.
Every celebrity was behaving. No one was sloppy drunk or dancing with someone they shouldn’t have been dancing with and Anna was ready to call it a night when Jared came stumbling in followed by a group consisting or mainly male friends and obviously slutty women.
He made her settle back into her barstool and order another drink.
He was loud. He shifted the whole attitude of the party with a single high pitched almost girly laugh that made Anna laugh with him. And at him. He was obviously drunk from a previous club and was doing anything to get anyone’s attention. He worked the room, stopping to flirt with pretty girls that already had boyfriend’s hanging on their arms.
Anna knew only vague details of his life. She knew who he was but she knew more about the band as a whole than him personally. He was relatively new to New York so she didn’t have a need to know anymore. But at that moment he was her story.
She knew that he would do something to cross a line and she would be there to capture it. He got closer and closer to the bar and with every foot she shifted on her stool so she turned away from him. Her jeans were tight and her shirt was low cut and her hair was styled and shiny and she thought that she might be pretty enough to be noticed by him and that was not that point. It’s an unwritten rule she’s not to actively socialize with the stars. But she wouldn’t have been offended if she caught his eye.
By the time he was at the bar next to her she was facing a full one hundred and eighty degrees from where she started and he was too close for her to turn anymore. It was awkward as he stood their waiting for his drinks and she sat there completely alone and they said nothing to each other. Even as his arm brushed against her back accidentally and her breath caught in her throat at the contact he still said nothing.
He grabbed his drinks and walked away and left Anna feeling like she’d just gotten ditched on prom night. He didn’t even give her one look.
Now she had to get something on him. It turned into dangerous payback.
She watched him like a hawk with her finger poised over her phones camera just waiting for him to slip up. But he had calmed down and gotten real cozy with some red head in a corner booth and there was nothing she could with something like that. Chatting it up and making out with a beautiful girl wasn’t something she could work with. People would expect that.
The hours wore on and Anna grew restless and Jared stayed dull and stuck to that woman. The other celebrities had started to drift out around 2am until finally it was just Jared and a room full of ‘regular’ people at 2:30.
But then Jared and his girl were pushing their way out of the booth and Anna threw some money on the bar and followed them out. They got into a cab a few yards down the sidewalk and Anna snapped a picture of it because it was better than nothing and they drove off.
Anna was left alone by him for the second time with no story. Her boss was going to be pissed.
She sighed into the night air. Getting a cab on that section of sidewalk would be impossible. Drunks had started to flood onto the streets crowding together to get a ride home and Anna was not in the mood to stand on the sidewalk with her back arched, not so subtly sticking out her chest to hail one.
She started to walk to the next block hoping that one would be easier when a couple practically slammed into her, unable to see because they were intensely making out and groping each other.
“Watch where you’re going.” They guy yelled then crushed his lips back to the unfortunate looking girl who was wearing a short and tight black skirt and high heels and a cleavage bearing tank top.
“You bumped into me douchebag.” Anna snapped back. “Get a room.”
But they were already back to kissing and Anna rolled her eyes and took a picture of them. She planned on sending it to a friend telling her how awful her evening went and how that was the icing on the cake.
Just as she was about to hit ‘send’ on her phone her finger touched the wrong button accidentally and it sent her back to the photo’s from that evening, the one of Jared stuck out.
She skipped back to the one of the kissing couple and then back again. The guy and Jared were dressed similarly; dark wash jeans and a dark grey t-shirt. They both had brown hair that was styled in a similar way. Jared looked more expensive but when they guy was turned sideways with the girls hand over the side of his face they looked exactly the same.
That’s when the idea hit her. She could call this guy Jared. No one would know. Except for her and Jared and that girl Jared left with. And the couple in the photo. But what would they care? They were nobody’s. And so was Anna and that was the deciding factor in her decision to do it.
She ran up the four flights of stairs to her apartment, uploaded the photo, and typed up a somewhat scathing paragraph entitled ‘King of Desperation’. She sat back and proofread it and hovered the cursor over ‘send’ before taking a deep breath and clicking. It was out there and she couldn’t get it back. It would be printed.
She bit her lip and rocked back and forth gently with nerves. That was the first time she ever lied in an article. She thought it could be bad. But she quickly convinced herself that it would be okay. The only other people on the street were drunks. No one could disprove her. But still… What if she was found out? Could lawyers be involved? Could she be sued? Jared could surly afford the best while Anna went through weeks where she struggled to pay rent. She had talked herself out of her own calm. She felt sick and wanted to take it back. To write her editor and tell him there had been some kind of mix up. She could do that without exposing herself as a fraud. So she deleted all the pictures of Jared off her phone and went to bed.
The article ran without any uproar. There was no mention of it anywhere outside the magazine except for a few love struck girls on twitter that swore it wasn’t him but thankfully nobody took them seriously.
Anna had made her through her own personal scandal without a scratch. She vowed never to do it again. She didn’t need that kind of thrill.
Anna found out five days later that the only person that did pay attention to it was Jared. And she found out in a very big and monumental way.
She was on her first date since her boyfriend broke up with her six months earlier and it wasn’t going great. The shoes she was wearing were pinching her feet even though she was sitting down and the music at the bar was offensively loud and techno and her drink wasn’t what she ordered but she lacked the guts and care to go do something about it. And the guy was not a prince. His name was Andy, a slick investment banker from Wall Street who was as dull as he was confident and he was very confident. He talked endlessly on about himself and his boring job and he turned everything in a sexual innuendo like he was dying to get her into bed and Anna was positive that was never going to happen.
“So, what do you do?” Andy finally shut up about himself and asked her a question.
“I’m a reporter.” That was the glamorous and non pathetic explanation of her job.
“Oh.” Andy sat up straighter and his eyes darted around nervously like she was going to investigate his ass and report him to the authorities.
She sighed and took a sip of her wrong drink. “Don’t worry. I’m not that kind of reporter.”
He looked relieved and then his eyes darkened as Anna felt a hand on her back and one on her arm turning her around. She was suddenly face to face with Jared Followill and she had no idea what to do.
“You’re Anna Becket aren’t you?”
Her eyes were wide and her mouth dropped open but she managed a nod.
“You wrote this then?” He shoved the magazine towards her face, the picture and the article right under her nose. This was going to be a thing and she had to own it.
“Yeah.” Her voice was strong as she squared her shoulders towards him. “Yeah I wrote it.”
“Take it back.”
“What?”
“Redact it or take it back or whatever you have to do.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Because this whole thing is wrong and stupid and horribly written.”
“Horribly written? Excuse me?” She was genuinely offended at that.
“It’s all a lie. This is not me.”
“You can’t prove that.”
Then his jaw dropped. He didn’t expect her fight back. “You can obviously tell.”
“I can’t.”
“The jeans that guy is wearing are like, thirty dollars. I’d never buy something so cheap.”
She groaned. “How vain are you? It’s disgusting.”
He ignored her dig. “His hair is shorter and this girl.”
“Careful what you say Jared. You know I could write about this and you couldn’t claim that it’s false.”
“I’m not claiming this is false. I’m telling you. I would never make out with some hooker. I don’t need to.”
“She was a hooker? I didn’t know about that? Did she tell you that?”
“She didn’t tell me that because this isn’t me.”
“No way to prove it. I stand by what I wrote.”
He deflated, his shoulders dropping like he was giving up. “But.” He pouted and might as well have stamped his foot and thrown a fit like a child. “Just look at that guy. It’s so not me. I would never do that?”
“You mean you’d never make out with a girl?”
“I wouldn’t make out with a girl like that. Look how he’s doing it. It’s all wrong.”
She stared at him. “Are you serious? Are you actually saying these words? You don’t want people to think this is you because you’re worried that people won’t what? Think you’re a good kisser.”
“Yes.”
“Oh my god.” She laughed loudly and his eyes clouded over. “How big is your ego?”
“I have a reputation.”
“A reputation? Of being a good kisser? Is that all that’s important to you?”
“No but right now at this moment it’s what I’m worried about. I’m a good kisser and this photo is just bringing that down.”
“You say that you are but again, there’s no way to prove it so there’s nothing that I can do.”
She had just finished her sentence when he moved. He put his hands on the side of her face and brought her lips to his. She gasped, unable to breathe, forgetting how to. His lips moved roughly yet smoothly against her own and she had no idea what to do or think until she stopped trying to do any of that and just let herself feel. Her hands that had been up and curled into fists almost defensively flattened out and found their way to his shoulders then up to the sides of his face and her lips started to respond under his. They were standing in the same pose as the couple in the article.
When he pulled away he kept his hands on her hips and her body close to his and a slow smile spread over his face as he watched her stunned reaction.
“Can I buy you a drink?”
She was nodding yes when she heard Andy clear his throat behind her.
“I’m on a date.” She said softly and then again with a stronger date. “I’m on a date. God.” Her defensive hands came back and she pushed his chest. “You think you can just kiss me and that’s okay? What is wrong with you?”
“You seemed into it.”
“You wish.” She sat back down with Andy.
“Get out of here.”
He held up the article again. “Take this back.”
“Never you…hooker kisser.”
Jared rolled his eyes but finally gave up and Anna was left alone with Andy once again not exactly where she wanted to be but she had to take it.
Andy’s eyes were wide. He didn’t understand what just happened and he took another drink.
“What kind of reporter are you exactly?”
Anna just frowned at him and took a sip of her crappy drink.
Their next kiss was very different.
He found her sitting on a bench down the street from a bar that she was supposed to be in, taking pictures and notes and planning her next write up. Things had been going well. She was keeping her eye on one of the Olsen twins and Taylor Lautner and thinking about how she could spin that, waiting for one of them to accidentally touch the other so she could snap a picture when Anna’s ex walked in. On the arm of some low rent model whose name wasn’t even important enough to be on the celebrity list that Anna’s editor emailed her.
Anna felt all the air leave her lungs in that moment and before she knew it and before he could see her she had grabbed her bag off the table and bolted out the door.
It took her two minutes of walking on the sidewalk to find his white Range Rover parked on the street. She sat down on the bench across from it and stared at it for she doesn’t even know how long.
“What are you doing out here?”
She jumped when she heard his voice. His name wasn’t on the list either and she was sick of him doing what he wanted whenever he wanted not thinking about anyone else. There were rules.
“Nothing.” She mumbled. She was still supposed to be mad at him for kissing her but that angry had already faded inside of her but she still had to put on a show for him.
“Nothing is the reason why you’re sitting outside alone in a sketchy part of the city.”
“It’s not that sketchy and I’ve got pepper spray in my bag.”
He looked at her with an amused raised eyebrow and she looked back.
“This isn’t my first year in the city. I know what I’m doing. I’m fine out here.”
“You’re fine just sitting here.”
She narrowed her eyes. He was a persistent little bastard.
“I’m staring at a car.” She nodded towards the range rover.
“Do you know this car?”
“Yeah.”
“And….has this car hurt you in the past.”
She cracked a small smile. “It’s my ex’s.”
“Ah.” He nodded and walked towards it, made a motion like he was going to kick the tire but Anna half stood and reached for him, a barely audible ‘no’ escaped her lips and he turns back to her. “I’m going to go ahead and guess that he’s a dick.”
She shrugged. “He’s stupid. I mean, really stupid. Who the hell brings a car into the city anyways? Idiot.”
“It’s a nice car. Predictable but still…”
“It’s his pride and joy. He’s had it since he was a sophomore in high school but it still looks exactly the same as the day he got it.”
“You knew him in high school?” Jared’s interest was piqued and Anna just could not shut up around him.
“Yup. Since elementary school.”
“Where are you from?”
“Just outside the city. Greenwich.”
“Oh. Richey rich.” He said smoothly and she frowned. “Things didn’t end well between you two?”
She shook her head. “Nope.” She scooted further down the bench when he sat down next to her.
“You want to elaborate.”
“Nope.”
He poked her side. “C’mon. I’m a good listener.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“It’s true. Ask anyone.”
“I wouldn’t even know which girl to ask.”
“Any of them.”
“Alright. Give me a number. Oh wait, you probably don’t have theirs.”
“Why are you so mean to me?”
“Why are you even out here? Go back inside.” She crossed her arms over her chest and stared straight ahead.
“I’m out here because I wanted to apologize.”
“Oh really?”
“Yes. I was out of line the other night. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have kissed you.”
“You shouldn’t have. You’re lucky I didn’t pepper spray your ass.”
He laughs. “Now tell me why you’re upset.”
“This was not tit for tat.”
“In my head it is definitely that. You know you want to.”
“I…” She sighed and shook her head. “You think you know what I want?”
“I have a vague idea.”
She didn’t even know what that meant but he sold it to her with an easy smile that she had to take seriously.
“Fine. Whatever. I don’t even care if you know. He broke up with me. I thought he was going to propose because we had been together forever and he broke up with me. There.” She looked over at him and he was frowning with narrowed eyes like he was expecting more and she sighed. “And then he showed up tonight…”
“He’s in there?” Jared nodded his head back towards the bar.
“Yup. With some girl, I don’t know.”
“So you’re still not over it?”
“I don’t know. It was almost seven months ago. No. I’m over it.” She said it at the same time as shaking her head.
“You’re not over it.”
“Oh Jesus, could you stop doing that?
“I’m trying to help you.”
“You don’t even know me.”
“Well I’m trying to. I’m trying to get you to talk to me.”
“Why do you even want to?”
“Because I like to have a conversation or two with the girls I make out with.”
“We did not make out.”
“We could.” He touched the tip of his finger to her arm as a joke and she stood up with a huff.
“That is not going to happen.”
“Why did he break up with you?”
“You’re relentless.”
“I know what I want.”
“To make me cry?”
His face softened. “I don’t want that.”
She nodded slowly. “Truth is I don’t know why he broke up with me. Why does anyone break up with anyone?” She shrugged her shoulders. “Guess he was sick of me.”
She spilled secret feelings to him like she was drunk. She didn’t even remember drinking that much; that should have been a sign.
“He sounds like a dick. I’m sure that’s the only reason. It probably had nothing to do with you.”
“Maybe.” She swayed on her heels. “But he was always nice to me. He was the only boyfriend I ever had and I was supposed to marry him because when you’re with someone for that long it’s because it’s going somewhere right? Right?” She sat down on the bench again, perched on the edge and he draped his arm over the back trying to relax. “I wonder if he knew the whole time he wasn’t going to marry me and he strung me along for all that time. Bet you’re sorry for asking me about myself now, huh?”
“I think you’re fascinating.”
“Ugh.” She groaned and leaned back against the bench but then she was touching his arm and she straightened back up. “I’m pathetic. Do you know what I did when he said he was breaking up with me? I said ‘okay’. Nothing else. I didn’t get mad or anything. I should have gotten mad.”
She stood up. Her anger at her lack of anger was growing as she looked over the prefect car. All these years and not a scratch on it but he managed to leave her totaled.
Anna opened her bag and dug through it, taking out her phone and her wallet and handing them to Jared with a soft ‘hold this for a sec’ as her hand was scraping along the bottom of the bag. She stopped when her fingers touched the cool metal of her apartment key.
“What are you doing” He asked when he saw the reflection of the streetlight against the metal.
She glanced over her shoulder to look at him. He was lounging casually on the bench; lazy smile on his face, legs stretched out, ankle over ankle and one arm disappearing around the back of it.
She took a deep breath and traced the ridges of the key with the pad of her index finger then nodded.
“I’m gonna key it.”
The smile dropped from his face and his legs uncrossed. His cool demeanor drifted away as the seriousness of her words washed over him.
“You’re kidding.”
“I promise you that I’m not.”
She took a step towards the car and he sprung up to get in front of her with his hand on her arms to stop her.
“You can’t do that?”
“Why not? I deserve to. It’s my fuck you to him, the one that I should have said when he dumped me.”
“But there are people just walking around out here.”
“So what? No one cares what anyone does around here. They keep their heads down and mind their own business. It’s the best for committing a crime.”
“It is a crime.”
“I know. That’s why I want to do it.”
“What if someone reports you?”
“Report me? I just told you that no one will give a shit.”
“I was watching 60 Minutes one time and they said that there are cameras all over New York running constantly looking for shit like this.”
“I saw that too and they’re watching for terrorist activity not something stupid and minor like this. And you watch 60 Minutes?”
“Sometimes I like background noise while I’m doing other things and that’s not the point.”
“I’ll be fine.” She pushed his arm down. “I’m not asking you to be a part of this. It would probably be easier if you left. Go back to the bar and have nothing to do with me.”
“Is that why you’re doing this? You’re trying to out crazy me so I leave you alone?”
“Would that work?”
“No. Because any crazy you do I could out do.”
Her mouth formed a thin line. “I’m doing this with or without you standing here.” She pushed on and he moved with her.
“Oh god fine. But hold on.” He juggled the items he was still holding of hers awkwardly until she opened her bag and he dumped them back in then he dug through his pockets. He pulled out his own key a moment later. “At least use mine. That way if your ex goes crazy and somehow figures out it was you and they need evidence and they scrape your keys for paint residue they won’t find it.
“You are so paranoid.” She put her key back in her bag and grabbed his. “Paint residue tests? You learn that on 60 Minutes too?”
He pushed her shoulder. “Hurry up and get this over with.”
She smiled and started to walk from the front of the car to the back then back again, trying to figure out where to start.
“It doesn’t matter which way you go.” Jared commented like her read her mind.
She met him with a frown and put the key down by her side and stood with it touching the car. Then, after glancing around to make sure no one was really starting she started to walk. The key bounced off the car after an inch and she had to apply more force making an awful screeching sound that made them both wince.
When she stopped in front of the car she looked back at what she had down and gasped. The mark was deep and noticeable, an intermittent dash line reaching from one end to the other just below the door handle. She laughed and covered her mouth with the back of her hand.
“Oh my god.”
“You proud of yourself now?”
She nodded and hopped off the curb to the very front of the car and looked down at the pristine hood. ‘I should fuck that up too’ she thought to herself and her fingers tightened around the key.
But Jared was a step ahead.
“You’ve done enough.” He held out his hand, palm up and fingers curling. “Give ‘em up.”
“I can never do enough.” She replied with one pointed index finger.
“Yes you can.”
“What’s that mean?” She wanted an explanation but as he leaned across the car to get the keys he set off the car alarm and they both jumped away from it.
“Oh shit.” Jared exclaimed.
“Oh my god.” Her voice was between a scream and a laugh and she threw his keys back to him. He wasn’t ready and missed so he had to scrape against the concrete with shaking, nervous fingers to grab them.
“Run.” Anna yelled before she took off at a full sprint. She wasn’t even sure if he was following her until she felt his hand on her back on the other side the street. Anna only slowed down slightly to grab his hand so he knew where to run instead of just following her blindly.
They pushed their way through the streets, cutting in front of people and almost running into them and nearly getting his by a taxi as they jay walked across the street. They didn’t have time for walk signals.
They only stopped running ten blocks away at Anna’s apartment building. She wasn’t able to catch her breath because she was laughing so hard at everything. The running, what she did to the car and mostly at Jared who was bent over with his hands on his knees trying to catch his breath.
“Oh my god.” She giggled with her hand pressed to her chest. “My god.”
“This.” He took a deep breath. “You.” He said as he shook his fist at her making her laugh even more.
“That was so awesome.”
“Awesome?” He stood straight and revealed a flushed face and she pointed.
“You’re all red. What’s the matter? Out of shape?”
“Hey.” Another deep breath. “I work out.”
“Sure ya do.” She laughed once more then took a strong breath through her nose because he had gotten close.
“You don’t look so great either.”
“Is that true?” She had backed against the wall and had nowhere to go but he still had about five inches to get to her and he swiftly closed them.
“No.” He said softly, looking from her lips to her eyes.
“Thank you.” She stammered. “For your keys and you know, not stopping me.”
“No problem. You deserved to do it.” He was softer still and the corners of her mouth tugged into a smile. He looked her over and when his tongue darted out to wet his lips he tipped his head to the side slightly and she nodded. Granted his silent request.
Her eyes fluttered shut as he pushed his lips to hers. Her shoulders were against the wall and she felt both his hands at her waist. Hers remained at her side but she kissed him back and if she were to take a picture of this, with other people in their place she’d write something about how they were young and in love in the city. She’d make those people have a happy story.
But it wasn’t a story. It was them and they were young and in the city but she wasn’t in love with him and he definitely wasn’t in love with her. She kissed back for a second more then pulled away.
“You should go.” She told him softly and one of his hands slipped off her waist to the wall behind her.
“Are you sure?”
She bit her lip and nodded.
“Alright.” He stepped away and she moved off the wall. “If you need to commit any other minor crimes just call me.”
“I don’t have your number.” She told him as he started to walk away.
“Check your phone.”
She looked through her bag for the second time that night and scrolled through her phone. His name was the tenth name down. He had put it in there while she was digging for her keys. So smooth.
She looked up and wanted to say something but he had already turned the corner.
Their third kiss she’ll admit to being 100% her fault but she’ll argue until she can’t speak anymore that she only did it to save his life.
She had waited for three weeks to contact him, something that he apparently found to be really offensive because when she did finally text him to ask him if he was going to be at a party he responded with ‘I’ll see if I can make it’ and nothing else. No flirting.
She thought about texting him back and asking what was wrong, to try and flush out some resentment but she shut her phone off instead. It would have been too much and she wasn’t even supposed to be talking to him. She had already crossed a line.
That night of the party she dressed to impress. Her job had taught her to blend in and go unnoticed, stay on the sidelines and keep her head down. But that night she broke rules.
She traded her skinny jeans and simple black heels for a form fitting and revealing deep blue cocktail dress and five inch platform silver heels. Her dark brown hair that was usually pulled back cascaded around her shoulders and back and her blue eyes were framed with black liner. She told herself it had nothing to do with him. She didn’t even know if he would shut up but then she also doubted that she’d go through all that work if she knew for sure he wasn’t showing.
She would be noticed and that made her very self conscious. ‘I don’t have the body or personality for this’ she thought to herself as she looked around the party at all the waif like girls strutting around like they were born in their heels and tight dresses. She sighed and tugged at the hem of her dress as she casually took another picture of Blake Lively and Leighton Meester sitting in the corner and dropped her phone back into her clutch. She was ready to call it a night. She had gotten what she needed and turned around only to stop dead because Jared was a table away smirking at her.
His white t-shirt stood out against his black jacket and she shook her head.
“I thought you weren’t coming.”
“I said I’d try and make it. Not that I wasn’t going to.”
“Ah.”
“You having fun?”
“Not particularly.”
“That’s a shame.”
“Isn’t it?”
They were formal, clipped like they knew that they were angry with each other but just didn’t know why.
“Are you here alone?” She asked.
“Not exactly.” He looked over her shoulder at a blond standing at the bar.
“Oh. You made her go get the drinks?”
“She wanted to.”
She laughed and rolled her eyes. “Sure she did.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Whatever you want it to mean.” She took a step towards the door. “I’ll leave you alone to enjoy your date.”
“Don’t you want a picture of us?”
She held up her bag with her phone in it. “I got enough.”
“What’s wrong? Too scared to write the truth.”
“Go to hell Jared.”
There wasn’t time for him to say anything else because she was already out the door.
The street was already full of people making the possibility of getting a cab extremely low so she started to walk. The whole night had been a bust. Only a few decent and newsworthy shots, her outfit made her feel like a tramp and her run in with Jared was still giving her a headache.
She had made it two blocks from the bar when she felt a hand on her arm. Her first instinct was to push back and the second was to run.
So she pushed but only came face to face with a startled Followill.
“Sorry, sorry! Don’t pepper spray me!” He yelled with his hands up in defense.
“Why would you sneak up on me??”
“I didn’t. I called your name but you didn’t turn around.”
“I didn’t even hear you. A lot on my mind I guess.”
“I thought you were ignoring me because you’re mad.”
“I probably would have done that.”
He laughed and she noticed the alcohol on his breath and the slur in his voice. He didn’t seem that drunk at the bar but now in the fresh air it was definitely coming through.
“Come on.” He took her hand. “I want to show you something.” He started to walk but she was at a standstill. “It’s nothing dirty or anything.”
“I have to get home. It’s late and I have work to do.”
“You’re never gonna get a cab now. Come on, I know a way to get you home.” Another tug and she frowned and broke her hand free. She’d follow him but she wouldn’t hold his hand at the same time.
“What about your date?”
“Don’t worry about her.”
“Well one of us has to.”
“Just don’t worry about it, okay?”
“Fine. Let’s go.”
She struggled to walk step for step with him and she noticed him start to slow down but neither of them mentioned it. They were supposed to still be mad at each other.
He took a turn into a parking garage three blocks in the other direction of the bar.
“What is this?”
“What I wanted to show you.”
“A parking garage? I see it. It’s beautiful. Can I go home now?”
“It’s what’s inside the garage that’s beautiful.” He started to walk inside and she groaned.
“Jared my feet hurt.”
“Almost there.”
She stayed ten feet behind him all the way to the third level. He was basking in front of a black GTO.
“Is this it?” She pointed to it, sounding less than impressed.
“Is this is?” He mocked her tone. “How can you say it like that? This is everything.”
“Jesus, you’re one of those guys.”
“Maybe I am. Maybe I want to be.”
“It is pretty.”
“Pretty? It’s gorgeous.” He was staring wistfully at the car.
“Why the hell is it in the city?”
“I drove it up from Tennessee. Had to put some miles on it or else it would just be a show piece.”
“So you parked it in a public garage? That’s not a good idea. Were you drunk when you thought of that too?”
“It’s fine. I left it here this whole time and its fine.”
“You’re asking for something bad to happen to it.”
“Your boyfriend’s car was fine.”
“He’s my ex boyfriend and yeah, his car was fine until I got a hold of it.”
“Exactly. I don’t have any crazy ex’s.” He said and she opened her mouth to refute that but he cut her off. “That live in New York.”
They admired it for a moment longer then she took out her phone.
“Do you mind if I take a picture of it?”
“You’ve never asked permission before.”
“That’s because I try and refrain from taking pictures of people’s children.
He rolled her eyes as she got a picture.
“There. The last picture of it ever taken before it’s stripped for parts by New York City thugs. That could be the headline.”
“You might want to shorten it a bit and that’s not going to happen because we’re leaving now.” He took his car keys from his pocket.
“Where?”
“Back to the hotel parking garage. It’s more secure there. Well, that’s where I’ll go after I take you home.”
“You think I’m getting into a car with you?”
“Why not?”
“Because you’re drunk.”
“It’s not that bad.”
“Yes it is. No way. Not happening.”
“Suit yourself then, find your own way home.” He moved to get in the car but she stepped in front of him.
“You’re not getting in their either.”
“I have to. I have to get home.”
“You want to get home alive?”
“I will be fine. I’m not even that drunk.”
“That’s what every drunken person says before they get into an accident.”
“It’s only a few blocks.”
“That’s the second thing they say.”
“I’m not leaving this car here.”
“I thought you said it would be safe?”
“And I thought you said thugs would steal it or something.”
“I’d rather have somebody fuck it up than to have you die. Or worse, you kill someone else. Give me the keys, I’ll drive.”
He held them out of reach. “You are not driving my car.”
“It’s the only option.”
“Can you even drive a stick?”
She turned and peered into the window. “Fuck. It’s like you planned that.”
“Yeah right, like I thought of you when I bought it.”
“Then we’ll both take a cab.”
“I told you I am not leaving this here.”
“I’m not letting you get in it.”
“You can’t stop me.” He reached for the door handle and she did the only thing she could think of. In one quick motion she grasped his wrist in one hand and knotted her fingers through his hair with the other and kissed him. She crashed her lips to his in a desperate act to save lives. He responded fast, drunk enough to forget the motives behind it and he pressed her to the car. She kept kissing him as her hold on his wrist loosened and she worked her way down his hand to the keys. He let them go so he could hold the side of her face and she hadn’t been ready to fully hold them and they fell to the ground, making a metallic sound at their feet that he didn’t even notice. She sighed and broke the kiss and immediately dropped down to grab them then sprang back up. When she looked at him he was frowning like he was disappointed. Not from why she kissed him or that she had the keys but because she didn’t stay down.
She gasped when she figured it out and pushed him, horrified at the thought.
“Oh my god, are you serious? How could you think that? I would never do that here. Or with you.”
“I just thought.”
“I know what you thought and trust me that’s not going to happen. Now let’s go.”
“I’m not leaving it here.”
“We’ve been through this. You can’t drive it, I can’t drive it, and I’m assuming that your friends are too drunk to drive it so it stays here.”
“If anything happens to this car…”
“What? You’re going to hold me responsible? Like I have the money to fix anything on this car. You should’ve thought about that before you brought this car into this city. That was really stupid Jared.” She pushed past him with her hand stuck into the crook of his arm spinning him around with her. She hauled him down to the street and hailed a cab.
He was quiet, brooding and she didn’t care. The driver asked for an address and Anna jabbed him hard in the ribs to get him to speak.
When the cab stopped in front of his building he didn’t move so she had to jab him again.
“Can you come up with me?”
“No.”
“Come on.” He dragged his hand across his face. “I don’t know if I can make it up on my own.”
“Are you serious?”
He looked at her sheepishly like he was ashamed to be that drunk in front of her and she sighed.
“Let’s go then. Can you give us a minute?” She asked the driver.
“The meter is still running.”
“Whatever, I don’t care.” She mumbled and climbed out to meet Jared who was standing by the buildings door.
They didn’t speak all the way through the lobby or in the elevator or down the hall to his apartment. When he got the door open and stumbled inside she hesitated at the entrance.
“Are you good now? Can I go?”
His back was to her and he was retreating down the hall pulling his jacket from his shoulders as he went and just before he turned the corner he shook his head. Against her better judgment she followed after, stepping over his jacket and stood at his open bedroom door.
Her face burned as she looked at his bed and remembered the red head she saw him with that first night. Did she make it back here? Did she ever stand exactly where Anna was standing now?
“Are you alright now? The meter’s running you know? I’m getting charged for this.”
He turned and shook his head again and pulled his shirt over his head and her eyes naturally scanned his body before they landed back
on his face.
“You should stay.”
“I’m not doing that.”
“Why not?” He put his hand on her hips but she turned them out of the way. “The bed is big enough for two.”
“I’m not sleeping in that bed.”
“Then the couch. Just don’t go.”
“I have to. What time do you want to meet so I can give your keys back?”
He sighed and gave up on trying to touch her. “You’re not leaving me with the keys?”
“I don’t trust that you won’t go back out and get it yourself. I think its best that we meet at the garage since it’s pretty much in-between both of our places. It’s just practical.”
“As soon as possible.”
“First thing in the morning?”
“What time is your first thing?”
“Seven, what’s yours?”
“Eleven.”
“Let’s make it nine. I’ll see you at nine.”
He nodded then fell back against the bed. She lingered for a second then turned away just in time to hear him say “you know you kissed me.”
The last thing he heard was his apartment door closing.
In the morning she heard him before she saw him.
She was holding two cups of coffee in her hands, some kind of peace offering and she opened the heavy stairwell door with her elbow,
balancing the coffee her bag and attempting to keep her flip flops on her feet as she stumbled into the parking lot.
“Yeah I’ll hold but I’ve been holding for like, twenty fucking minutes and I’m just like, freaking out here.”
She rolled her eyes at his dramatics. “I’d hate to be the guy on the other end of that phone call.” She yelled to him. She was trying desperately to keep things light and playful. She didn’t need any more problems with him.
She finally saw him when she turned the corner. He looks frazzled, pale and sick. The phone was pressed hard to his ear and he was pacing.
“How’d you get here before me? Eleven o’clock my ass. I brought you a coffee and holy shit.” She caught a glimpse of his car and almost dropped the coffee.
The hub caps were gone and there were dents in the side and the side mirror was barely hanging on.
“This is exactly what I said would happen.”
His eyes burned as he stared at her.
“Oh my god Jared.”
“Shut up.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Just shut up.” He turned his back to her and she walked over to the car to get a better look. It was worse up close. The passenger’s side window had been smashed and one of the headlights kicked out. When she turned around Jared was watching her again. She felt helpless.
“Jared.” She had nothing else to say.
“I’ve been on the phone with my fucking, fucking, insurance agency for a half an hour and I haven’t gotten anywhere.”
She sighed and lowered herself down onto the curb next to his car. She pushed a piece of broken glass with her flip flop. “Have you called the cops?”
“Yes Anna, I’m not an idiot. Son of a bitch Anna, I fucking told you that I didn’t want to leave this here.”
“This is not my fault. I didn’t do this.”
“You’re the one that made me leave the car here. If I’d just taken it back to the hotel…”
“I didn’t have a choice. I wasn’t going to let you drive that car.”
“I was not that drunk and I could have made it without a problem.”
“I am so sick of you saying that. I was sober and you were drunk. There is no other argument there. That’s all there is. Do you even remember anything from last night?”
“I remember everything. I know how you talked me out of driving it and I know you kissed me.”
Her gaze dropped to the ground. She was really counting on him forgetting.
“That was a nice trick Anna because it fucking worked.”
“It wasn’t a trick.”
“That’s exactly what it was.”
“I was trying to save your life.”
“A life that’s not worth living without this car.”
“Stop being so dramatic, it’s just a car.”
“That’s not the point. Dammit Anna that’s not the fucking point the point is that you made me leave it here when I didn’t want to.”
“That doesn’t make any sense, it’s all about the car with you and I’m trying to tell you there are more important things.”
He opened his mouth to yell back but the insurance company took him off hold and he turned his back to her.
“Yeah I’m here. What the hell does that mean….are you fucking kidding me? No, I’m sorry but I can’t help it because this is an expensive car and this is just…” He was quiet for a long stretch of time. “You’re sure there’s nothing you guys can do?” He sounded sad and Anna stood up. He sounded like he needed a hug even though she knew she’d never give him one. “Fine, fine, whatever. It’s just whatever.” He hung up and slipped the phone into his pocket and rubbing his eyes with the heel of his hands. “They can’t do anything. They don’t cover me in a different state or some shit like that. Some loophole. Those assholes.”
“I’m sorry Jared.”
“Stop.” He faced her. “I don’t want to hear it. From you.”
“Don’t be mad at me. I told you I couldn’t do anything about it. You shouldn’t have brought the car here.”
“How many times do you have to say that? My god.”
“I’m gonna keep saying it until you understand it. This isn’t my fault.”
“You know what Anna?” He sighed and put his hands on her shoulders and applied enough presses to make her feel discomfort. “I just need to not hear you speak or see you or talk to you. Ever again.”
“What?”
“Whatever it is that we’re doing, whatever this is has got to end.”
She blinked. “Do you think we’re doing something?” That was news to her and she shook his arms off of her. “Because we’re not. Nothing is happening.”
His jaw set and he stared at her.
“There is and wasn’t anything going on.”
“Well fine. Good, I’m glad you didn’t get the wrong idea or anything because I didn’t want anything to happen with you. It’s good that we cleared that up. Let’s not even be friends.”
“I didn’t even think that we were.” She said hotly. “This whole thing was a huge mistake.”
“It was really my fault. I shouldn’t have talked to you after that stupid article. I should’ve had just let that dumbass lie go because no one even reads what you write. No one did care.”
“You wanna know why no one cared about that Jared?” She was angry with her hands on her hips. “Because nobody cares what you do. They don’t care that you’re making out with some slutty women because that’s what they expect from you. People’s opinions of you are so low that they read that and were just like, whatever, that’s no big deal.”
“You still won’t admit that whole thing was a lie will you?”
She ignored him. That was a whole separate argument that she wasn’t about to get into.
“You shouldn’t have even written it.”
“You know why I had to write it? Because I had nothing else. You weren’t my first choice, you weren’t even my tenth choice but everyone better at that bar was boring and you were all I had. I didn’t even know that much about you and I certainly didn’t care about you.”
“I never said that you cared about me. I wouldn’t want you to.”
“Then fine. I’m glad we’re all on the same page.” She didn’t even know what page that was. All she knew was that she had to be fighting with him. “I’ll leave you alone and you won’t have to talk to me or hear me talk or be friends with me. It can all go back to normal.”
“You can go back to having nobody know who you are.”
“And you can go back to making out with whores on the sidewalk.”
That was the last thing she said to him and that morning was the last time they spoke until now. He’s calling her out of the blue and asking her to go on vacation with him. That was the opposite of never seeing or talking to her. That was something that friends did.
“Why are you calling me?”
“Because I want you to go on vacation with me.”
“What changed your mind? I thought we decided to not be friends.”
“I changed my mind.”
“But what changed your mind?”
“I don’t know. I felt bad about what I said and I shouldn’t have been that harsh. I’ve gotten over the car issue. It’s all taken care of and I’m over it. I think we should start fresh. You were kind of fun when I wasn’t blaming you for ruining my brand new awesome car.”
“I was fun? I am not fun.”
“You’re tons of fun, now what do you say?”
She was suspicious. This wasn’t normal or right. But then again, when has Jared Followill ever been either of those things? Still, she should hang up or tell him to go to hell for how he treated her; for how they treated each other. They were confused and messed up and nothing had even happened between them. Not really or officially anyways. But she was drawn to him. Hanging up was out of the questions.
She sighs loudly into the phone trying to show that she wasn’t at all interested.
“Where are you planning on going?”
She took the bait and she knows that there’s no letting go.
Song: Young Blood- The Naked And Famous
Word Count: 9,007
"The mood it changes like the wind, hard to control when it begins."
“Come on vacation with me.”
Anna stops typing on her laptop and almost drops her phone that’s nestled between her ear and shoulder. She’d recognize that voice anywhere, that slow southern drawl, but she decides to play really, really, stupidly-dumb anyways.
“Who is this?”
“Shut up, you know who I am.”
She scowls and groans. “I thought you weren’t talking to me Jared?”
It’s been almost two months since they have spoken. Not that she’s counting or cares.
“I changed my mind.”
“Hmmm.”
“Because I want you to go on vacation with me.”
She laughs so hard she snorts and covers her mouth with her hand hoping that he didn’t hear.
“That was attractive. Why are you laughing?”
“Because it’s funny. You are funny. I’ll give you that.”
“Why is it so funny?”
“Because it’s not something that should be taken seriously. It’s funny.”
“Well I don’t think it is.”
“Jared. We don’t even know each other.”
“You know about me. You’ve kissed me. Multiple times.”
“Hey, no, you kissed me two times and then the third time I was saving your life so…”
The first time he kissed her was also the first time they met.
Anna works for a gossip magazine so her job mainly consists of her going to clubs, parties, grand openings, and premieres, basically any place that celebrities flock to in New York City, and taking pictures of the boring and mundane parts then discrete ones of anything scandalous. Then she goes home and usually still wearing her black pumps types up an article based on the picture and what she saw.
She’s not necessarily proud of what she does. It’s not what she went to college for but it’s all she has at the moment and for the foreseeable future so she tries to do her best at it; taking down celebrities caught in the wrong without a second thought.
What she has photographed and written have caused breakups and various other relationship issues and proven that some flimsy little actresses aren’t as innocent as they want people to believe. But most importantly and remarkably, it caused a great deal of embarrassment for Jared Followill.
He wasn’t even supposed to be at that party that night.
It was the launch of some brand of vodka, the third launch party Anna had been to that week so she was bored and sitting at the bar with her iPhone ready to take a picture of anything and trying to blend into the crowd while casually sipping the vodka of honor. It took her twenty minutes to get through one shot glass.
Every celebrity was behaving. No one was sloppy drunk or dancing with someone they shouldn’t have been dancing with and Anna was ready to call it a night when Jared came stumbling in followed by a group consisting or mainly male friends and obviously slutty women.
He made her settle back into her barstool and order another drink.
He was loud. He shifted the whole attitude of the party with a single high pitched almost girly laugh that made Anna laugh with him. And at him. He was obviously drunk from a previous club and was doing anything to get anyone’s attention. He worked the room, stopping to flirt with pretty girls that already had boyfriend’s hanging on their arms.
Anna knew only vague details of his life. She knew who he was but she knew more about the band as a whole than him personally. He was relatively new to New York so she didn’t have a need to know anymore. But at that moment he was her story.
She knew that he would do something to cross a line and she would be there to capture it. He got closer and closer to the bar and with every foot she shifted on her stool so she turned away from him. Her jeans were tight and her shirt was low cut and her hair was styled and shiny and she thought that she might be pretty enough to be noticed by him and that was not that point. It’s an unwritten rule she’s not to actively socialize with the stars. But she wouldn’t have been offended if she caught his eye.
By the time he was at the bar next to her she was facing a full one hundred and eighty degrees from where she started and he was too close for her to turn anymore. It was awkward as he stood their waiting for his drinks and she sat there completely alone and they said nothing to each other. Even as his arm brushed against her back accidentally and her breath caught in her throat at the contact he still said nothing.
He grabbed his drinks and walked away and left Anna feeling like she’d just gotten ditched on prom night. He didn’t even give her one look.
Now she had to get something on him. It turned into dangerous payback.
She watched him like a hawk with her finger poised over her phones camera just waiting for him to slip up. But he had calmed down and gotten real cozy with some red head in a corner booth and there was nothing she could with something like that. Chatting it up and making out with a beautiful girl wasn’t something she could work with. People would expect that.
The hours wore on and Anna grew restless and Jared stayed dull and stuck to that woman. The other celebrities had started to drift out around 2am until finally it was just Jared and a room full of ‘regular’ people at 2:30.
But then Jared and his girl were pushing their way out of the booth and Anna threw some money on the bar and followed them out. They got into a cab a few yards down the sidewalk and Anna snapped a picture of it because it was better than nothing and they drove off.
Anna was left alone by him for the second time with no story. Her boss was going to be pissed.
She sighed into the night air. Getting a cab on that section of sidewalk would be impossible. Drunks had started to flood onto the streets crowding together to get a ride home and Anna was not in the mood to stand on the sidewalk with her back arched, not so subtly sticking out her chest to hail one.
She started to walk to the next block hoping that one would be easier when a couple practically slammed into her, unable to see because they were intensely making out and groping each other.
“Watch where you’re going.” They guy yelled then crushed his lips back to the unfortunate looking girl who was wearing a short and tight black skirt and high heels and a cleavage bearing tank top.
“You bumped into me douchebag.” Anna snapped back. “Get a room.”
But they were already back to kissing and Anna rolled her eyes and took a picture of them. She planned on sending it to a friend telling her how awful her evening went and how that was the icing on the cake.
Just as she was about to hit ‘send’ on her phone her finger touched the wrong button accidentally and it sent her back to the photo’s from that evening, the one of Jared stuck out.
She skipped back to the one of the kissing couple and then back again. The guy and Jared were dressed similarly; dark wash jeans and a dark grey t-shirt. They both had brown hair that was styled in a similar way. Jared looked more expensive but when they guy was turned sideways with the girls hand over the side of his face they looked exactly the same.
That’s when the idea hit her. She could call this guy Jared. No one would know. Except for her and Jared and that girl Jared left with. And the couple in the photo. But what would they care? They were nobody’s. And so was Anna and that was the deciding factor in her decision to do it.
She ran up the four flights of stairs to her apartment, uploaded the photo, and typed up a somewhat scathing paragraph entitled ‘King of Desperation’. She sat back and proofread it and hovered the cursor over ‘send’ before taking a deep breath and clicking. It was out there and she couldn’t get it back. It would be printed.
She bit her lip and rocked back and forth gently with nerves. That was the first time she ever lied in an article. She thought it could be bad. But she quickly convinced herself that it would be okay. The only other people on the street were drunks. No one could disprove her. But still… What if she was found out? Could lawyers be involved? Could she be sued? Jared could surly afford the best while Anna went through weeks where she struggled to pay rent. She had talked herself out of her own calm. She felt sick and wanted to take it back. To write her editor and tell him there had been some kind of mix up. She could do that without exposing herself as a fraud. So she deleted all the pictures of Jared off her phone and went to bed.
The article ran without any uproar. There was no mention of it anywhere outside the magazine except for a few love struck girls on twitter that swore it wasn’t him but thankfully nobody took them seriously.
Anna had made her through her own personal scandal without a scratch. She vowed never to do it again. She didn’t need that kind of thrill.
Anna found out five days later that the only person that did pay attention to it was Jared. And she found out in a very big and monumental way.
She was on her first date since her boyfriend broke up with her six months earlier and it wasn’t going great. The shoes she was wearing were pinching her feet even though she was sitting down and the music at the bar was offensively loud and techno and her drink wasn’t what she ordered but she lacked the guts and care to go do something about it. And the guy was not a prince. His name was Andy, a slick investment banker from Wall Street who was as dull as he was confident and he was very confident. He talked endlessly on about himself and his boring job and he turned everything in a sexual innuendo like he was dying to get her into bed and Anna was positive that was never going to happen.
“So, what do you do?” Andy finally shut up about himself and asked her a question.
“I’m a reporter.” That was the glamorous and non pathetic explanation of her job.
“Oh.” Andy sat up straighter and his eyes darted around nervously like she was going to investigate his ass and report him to the authorities.
She sighed and took a sip of her wrong drink. “Don’t worry. I’m not that kind of reporter.”
He looked relieved and then his eyes darkened as Anna felt a hand on her back and one on her arm turning her around. She was suddenly face to face with Jared Followill and she had no idea what to do.
“You’re Anna Becket aren’t you?”
Her eyes were wide and her mouth dropped open but she managed a nod.
“You wrote this then?” He shoved the magazine towards her face, the picture and the article right under her nose. This was going to be a thing and she had to own it.
“Yeah.” Her voice was strong as she squared her shoulders towards him. “Yeah I wrote it.”
“Take it back.”
“What?”
“Redact it or take it back or whatever you have to do.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Because this whole thing is wrong and stupid and horribly written.”
“Horribly written? Excuse me?” She was genuinely offended at that.
“It’s all a lie. This is not me.”
“You can’t prove that.”
Then his jaw dropped. He didn’t expect her fight back. “You can obviously tell.”
“I can’t.”
“The jeans that guy is wearing are like, thirty dollars. I’d never buy something so cheap.”
She groaned. “How vain are you? It’s disgusting.”
He ignored her dig. “His hair is shorter and this girl.”
“Careful what you say Jared. You know I could write about this and you couldn’t claim that it’s false.”
“I’m not claiming this is false. I’m telling you. I would never make out with some hooker. I don’t need to.”
“She was a hooker? I didn’t know about that? Did she tell you that?”
“She didn’t tell me that because this isn’t me.”
“No way to prove it. I stand by what I wrote.”
He deflated, his shoulders dropping like he was giving up. “But.” He pouted and might as well have stamped his foot and thrown a fit like a child. “Just look at that guy. It’s so not me. I would never do that?”
“You mean you’d never make out with a girl?”
“I wouldn’t make out with a girl like that. Look how he’s doing it. It’s all wrong.”
She stared at him. “Are you serious? Are you actually saying these words? You don’t want people to think this is you because you’re worried that people won’t what? Think you’re a good kisser.”
“Yes.”
“Oh my god.” She laughed loudly and his eyes clouded over. “How big is your ego?”
“I have a reputation.”
“A reputation? Of being a good kisser? Is that all that’s important to you?”
“No but right now at this moment it’s what I’m worried about. I’m a good kisser and this photo is just bringing that down.”
“You say that you are but again, there’s no way to prove it so there’s nothing that I can do.”
She had just finished her sentence when he moved. He put his hands on the side of her face and brought her lips to his. She gasped, unable to breathe, forgetting how to. His lips moved roughly yet smoothly against her own and she had no idea what to do or think until she stopped trying to do any of that and just let herself feel. Her hands that had been up and curled into fists almost defensively flattened out and found their way to his shoulders then up to the sides of his face and her lips started to respond under his. They were standing in the same pose as the couple in the article.
When he pulled away he kept his hands on her hips and her body close to his and a slow smile spread over his face as he watched her stunned reaction.
“Can I buy you a drink?”
She was nodding yes when she heard Andy clear his throat behind her.
“I’m on a date.” She said softly and then again with a stronger date. “I’m on a date. God.” Her defensive hands came back and she pushed his chest. “You think you can just kiss me and that’s okay? What is wrong with you?”
“You seemed into it.”
“You wish.” She sat back down with Andy.
“Get out of here.”
He held up the article again. “Take this back.”
“Never you…hooker kisser.”
Jared rolled his eyes but finally gave up and Anna was left alone with Andy once again not exactly where she wanted to be but she had to take it.
Andy’s eyes were wide. He didn’t understand what just happened and he took another drink.
“What kind of reporter are you exactly?”
Anna just frowned at him and took a sip of her crappy drink.
Their next kiss was very different.
He found her sitting on a bench down the street from a bar that she was supposed to be in, taking pictures and notes and planning her next write up. Things had been going well. She was keeping her eye on one of the Olsen twins and Taylor Lautner and thinking about how she could spin that, waiting for one of them to accidentally touch the other so she could snap a picture when Anna’s ex walked in. On the arm of some low rent model whose name wasn’t even important enough to be on the celebrity list that Anna’s editor emailed her.
Anna felt all the air leave her lungs in that moment and before she knew it and before he could see her she had grabbed her bag off the table and bolted out the door.
It took her two minutes of walking on the sidewalk to find his white Range Rover parked on the street. She sat down on the bench across from it and stared at it for she doesn’t even know how long.
“What are you doing out here?”
She jumped when she heard his voice. His name wasn’t on the list either and she was sick of him doing what he wanted whenever he wanted not thinking about anyone else. There were rules.
“Nothing.” She mumbled. She was still supposed to be mad at him for kissing her but that angry had already faded inside of her but she still had to put on a show for him.
“Nothing is the reason why you’re sitting outside alone in a sketchy part of the city.”
“It’s not that sketchy and I’ve got pepper spray in my bag.”
He looked at her with an amused raised eyebrow and she looked back.
“This isn’t my first year in the city. I know what I’m doing. I’m fine out here.”
“You’re fine just sitting here.”
She narrowed her eyes. He was a persistent little bastard.
“I’m staring at a car.” She nodded towards the range rover.
“Do you know this car?”
“Yeah.”
“And….has this car hurt you in the past.”
She cracked a small smile. “It’s my ex’s.”
“Ah.” He nodded and walked towards it, made a motion like he was going to kick the tire but Anna half stood and reached for him, a barely audible ‘no’ escaped her lips and he turns back to her. “I’m going to go ahead and guess that he’s a dick.”
She shrugged. “He’s stupid. I mean, really stupid. Who the hell brings a car into the city anyways? Idiot.”
“It’s a nice car. Predictable but still…”
“It’s his pride and joy. He’s had it since he was a sophomore in high school but it still looks exactly the same as the day he got it.”
“You knew him in high school?” Jared’s interest was piqued and Anna just could not shut up around him.
“Yup. Since elementary school.”
“Where are you from?”
“Just outside the city. Greenwich.”
“Oh. Richey rich.” He said smoothly and she frowned. “Things didn’t end well between you two?”
She shook her head. “Nope.” She scooted further down the bench when he sat down next to her.
“You want to elaborate.”
“Nope.”
He poked her side. “C’mon. I’m a good listener.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“It’s true. Ask anyone.”
“I wouldn’t even know which girl to ask.”
“Any of them.”
“Alright. Give me a number. Oh wait, you probably don’t have theirs.”
“Why are you so mean to me?”
“Why are you even out here? Go back inside.” She crossed her arms over her chest and stared straight ahead.
“I’m out here because I wanted to apologize.”
“Oh really?”
“Yes. I was out of line the other night. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have kissed you.”
“You shouldn’t have. You’re lucky I didn’t pepper spray your ass.”
He laughs. “Now tell me why you’re upset.”
“This was not tit for tat.”
“In my head it is definitely that. You know you want to.”
“I…” She sighed and shook her head. “You think you know what I want?”
“I have a vague idea.”
She didn’t even know what that meant but he sold it to her with an easy smile that she had to take seriously.
“Fine. Whatever. I don’t even care if you know. He broke up with me. I thought he was going to propose because we had been together forever and he broke up with me. There.” She looked over at him and he was frowning with narrowed eyes like he was expecting more and she sighed. “And then he showed up tonight…”
“He’s in there?” Jared nodded his head back towards the bar.
“Yup. With some girl, I don’t know.”
“So you’re still not over it?”
“I don’t know. It was almost seven months ago. No. I’m over it.” She said it at the same time as shaking her head.
“You’re not over it.”
“Oh Jesus, could you stop doing that?
“I’m trying to help you.”
“You don’t even know me.”
“Well I’m trying to. I’m trying to get you to talk to me.”
“Why do you even want to?”
“Because I like to have a conversation or two with the girls I make out with.”
“We did not make out.”
“We could.” He touched the tip of his finger to her arm as a joke and she stood up with a huff.
“That is not going to happen.”
“Why did he break up with you?”
“You’re relentless.”
“I know what I want.”
“To make me cry?”
His face softened. “I don’t want that.”
She nodded slowly. “Truth is I don’t know why he broke up with me. Why does anyone break up with anyone?” She shrugged her shoulders. “Guess he was sick of me.”
She spilled secret feelings to him like she was drunk. She didn’t even remember drinking that much; that should have been a sign.
“He sounds like a dick. I’m sure that’s the only reason. It probably had nothing to do with you.”
“Maybe.” She swayed on her heels. “But he was always nice to me. He was the only boyfriend I ever had and I was supposed to marry him because when you’re with someone for that long it’s because it’s going somewhere right? Right?” She sat down on the bench again, perched on the edge and he draped his arm over the back trying to relax. “I wonder if he knew the whole time he wasn’t going to marry me and he strung me along for all that time. Bet you’re sorry for asking me about myself now, huh?”
“I think you’re fascinating.”
“Ugh.” She groaned and leaned back against the bench but then she was touching his arm and she straightened back up. “I’m pathetic. Do you know what I did when he said he was breaking up with me? I said ‘okay’. Nothing else. I didn’t get mad or anything. I should have gotten mad.”
She stood up. Her anger at her lack of anger was growing as she looked over the prefect car. All these years and not a scratch on it but he managed to leave her totaled.
Anna opened her bag and dug through it, taking out her phone and her wallet and handing them to Jared with a soft ‘hold this for a sec’ as her hand was scraping along the bottom of the bag. She stopped when her fingers touched the cool metal of her apartment key.
“What are you doing” He asked when he saw the reflection of the streetlight against the metal.
She glanced over her shoulder to look at him. He was lounging casually on the bench; lazy smile on his face, legs stretched out, ankle over ankle and one arm disappearing around the back of it.
She took a deep breath and traced the ridges of the key with the pad of her index finger then nodded.
“I’m gonna key it.”
The smile dropped from his face and his legs uncrossed. His cool demeanor drifted away as the seriousness of her words washed over him.
“You’re kidding.”
“I promise you that I’m not.”
She took a step towards the car and he sprung up to get in front of her with his hand on her arms to stop her.
“You can’t do that?”
“Why not? I deserve to. It’s my fuck you to him, the one that I should have said when he dumped me.”
“But there are people just walking around out here.”
“So what? No one cares what anyone does around here. They keep their heads down and mind their own business. It’s the best for committing a crime.”
“It is a crime.”
“I know. That’s why I want to do it.”
“What if someone reports you?”
“Report me? I just told you that no one will give a shit.”
“I was watching 60 Minutes one time and they said that there are cameras all over New York running constantly looking for shit like this.”
“I saw that too and they’re watching for terrorist activity not something stupid and minor like this. And you watch 60 Minutes?”
“Sometimes I like background noise while I’m doing other things and that’s not the point.”
“I’ll be fine.” She pushed his arm down. “I’m not asking you to be a part of this. It would probably be easier if you left. Go back to the bar and have nothing to do with me.”
“Is that why you’re doing this? You’re trying to out crazy me so I leave you alone?”
“Would that work?”
“No. Because any crazy you do I could out do.”
Her mouth formed a thin line. “I’m doing this with or without you standing here.” She pushed on and he moved with her.
“Oh god fine. But hold on.” He juggled the items he was still holding of hers awkwardly until she opened her bag and he dumped them back in then he dug through his pockets. He pulled out his own key a moment later. “At least use mine. That way if your ex goes crazy and somehow figures out it was you and they need evidence and they scrape your keys for paint residue they won’t find it.
“You are so paranoid.” She put her key back in her bag and grabbed his. “Paint residue tests? You learn that on 60 Minutes too?”
He pushed her shoulder. “Hurry up and get this over with.”
She smiled and started to walk from the front of the car to the back then back again, trying to figure out where to start.
“It doesn’t matter which way you go.” Jared commented like her read her mind.
She met him with a frown and put the key down by her side and stood with it touching the car. Then, after glancing around to make sure no one was really starting she started to walk. The key bounced off the car after an inch and she had to apply more force making an awful screeching sound that made them both wince.
When she stopped in front of the car she looked back at what she had down and gasped. The mark was deep and noticeable, an intermittent dash line reaching from one end to the other just below the door handle. She laughed and covered her mouth with the back of her hand.
“Oh my god.”
“You proud of yourself now?”
She nodded and hopped off the curb to the very front of the car and looked down at the pristine hood. ‘I should fuck that up too’ she thought to herself and her fingers tightened around the key.
But Jared was a step ahead.
“You’ve done enough.” He held out his hand, palm up and fingers curling. “Give ‘em up.”
“I can never do enough.” She replied with one pointed index finger.
“Yes you can.”
“What’s that mean?” She wanted an explanation but as he leaned across the car to get the keys he set off the car alarm and they both jumped away from it.
“Oh shit.” Jared exclaimed.
“Oh my god.” Her voice was between a scream and a laugh and she threw his keys back to him. He wasn’t ready and missed so he had to scrape against the concrete with shaking, nervous fingers to grab them.
“Run.” Anna yelled before she took off at a full sprint. She wasn’t even sure if he was following her until she felt his hand on her back on the other side the street. Anna only slowed down slightly to grab his hand so he knew where to run instead of just following her blindly.
They pushed their way through the streets, cutting in front of people and almost running into them and nearly getting his by a taxi as they jay walked across the street. They didn’t have time for walk signals.
They only stopped running ten blocks away at Anna’s apartment building. She wasn’t able to catch her breath because she was laughing so hard at everything. The running, what she did to the car and mostly at Jared who was bent over with his hands on his knees trying to catch his breath.
“Oh my god.” She giggled with her hand pressed to her chest. “My god.”
“This.” He took a deep breath. “You.” He said as he shook his fist at her making her laugh even more.
“That was so awesome.”
“Awesome?” He stood straight and revealed a flushed face and she pointed.
“You’re all red. What’s the matter? Out of shape?”
“Hey.” Another deep breath. “I work out.”
“Sure ya do.” She laughed once more then took a strong breath through her nose because he had gotten close.
“You don’t look so great either.”
“Is that true?” She had backed against the wall and had nowhere to go but he still had about five inches to get to her and he swiftly closed them.
“No.” He said softly, looking from her lips to her eyes.
“Thank you.” She stammered. “For your keys and you know, not stopping me.”
“No problem. You deserved to do it.” He was softer still and the corners of her mouth tugged into a smile. He looked her over and when his tongue darted out to wet his lips he tipped his head to the side slightly and she nodded. Granted his silent request.
Her eyes fluttered shut as he pushed his lips to hers. Her shoulders were against the wall and she felt both his hands at her waist. Hers remained at her side but she kissed him back and if she were to take a picture of this, with other people in their place she’d write something about how they were young and in love in the city. She’d make those people have a happy story.
But it wasn’t a story. It was them and they were young and in the city but she wasn’t in love with him and he definitely wasn’t in love with her. She kissed back for a second more then pulled away.
“You should go.” She told him softly and one of his hands slipped off her waist to the wall behind her.
“Are you sure?”
She bit her lip and nodded.
“Alright.” He stepped away and she moved off the wall. “If you need to commit any other minor crimes just call me.”
“I don’t have your number.” She told him as he started to walk away.
“Check your phone.”
She looked through her bag for the second time that night and scrolled through her phone. His name was the tenth name down. He had put it in there while she was digging for her keys. So smooth.
She looked up and wanted to say something but he had already turned the corner.
Their third kiss she’ll admit to being 100% her fault but she’ll argue until she can’t speak anymore that she only did it to save his life.
She had waited for three weeks to contact him, something that he apparently found to be really offensive because when she did finally text him to ask him if he was going to be at a party he responded with ‘I’ll see if I can make it’ and nothing else. No flirting.
She thought about texting him back and asking what was wrong, to try and flush out some resentment but she shut her phone off instead. It would have been too much and she wasn’t even supposed to be talking to him. She had already crossed a line.
That night of the party she dressed to impress. Her job had taught her to blend in and go unnoticed, stay on the sidelines and keep her head down. But that night she broke rules.
She traded her skinny jeans and simple black heels for a form fitting and revealing deep blue cocktail dress and five inch platform silver heels. Her dark brown hair that was usually pulled back cascaded around her shoulders and back and her blue eyes were framed with black liner. She told herself it had nothing to do with him. She didn’t even know if he would shut up but then she also doubted that she’d go through all that work if she knew for sure he wasn’t showing.
She would be noticed and that made her very self conscious. ‘I don’t have the body or personality for this’ she thought to herself as she looked around the party at all the waif like girls strutting around like they were born in their heels and tight dresses. She sighed and tugged at the hem of her dress as she casually took another picture of Blake Lively and Leighton Meester sitting in the corner and dropped her phone back into her clutch. She was ready to call it a night. She had gotten what she needed and turned around only to stop dead because Jared was a table away smirking at her.
His white t-shirt stood out against his black jacket and she shook her head.
“I thought you weren’t coming.”
“I said I’d try and make it. Not that I wasn’t going to.”
“Ah.”
“You having fun?”
“Not particularly.”
“That’s a shame.”
“Isn’t it?”
They were formal, clipped like they knew that they were angry with each other but just didn’t know why.
“Are you here alone?” She asked.
“Not exactly.” He looked over her shoulder at a blond standing at the bar.
“Oh. You made her go get the drinks?”
“She wanted to.”
She laughed and rolled her eyes. “Sure she did.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Whatever you want it to mean.” She took a step towards the door. “I’ll leave you alone to enjoy your date.”
“Don’t you want a picture of us?”
She held up her bag with her phone in it. “I got enough.”
“What’s wrong? Too scared to write the truth.”
“Go to hell Jared.”
There wasn’t time for him to say anything else because she was already out the door.
The street was already full of people making the possibility of getting a cab extremely low so she started to walk. The whole night had been a bust. Only a few decent and newsworthy shots, her outfit made her feel like a tramp and her run in with Jared was still giving her a headache.
She had made it two blocks from the bar when she felt a hand on her arm. Her first instinct was to push back and the second was to run.
So she pushed but only came face to face with a startled Followill.
“Sorry, sorry! Don’t pepper spray me!” He yelled with his hands up in defense.
“Why would you sneak up on me??”
“I didn’t. I called your name but you didn’t turn around.”
“I didn’t even hear you. A lot on my mind I guess.”
“I thought you were ignoring me because you’re mad.”
“I probably would have done that.”
He laughed and she noticed the alcohol on his breath and the slur in his voice. He didn’t seem that drunk at the bar but now in the fresh air it was definitely coming through.
“Come on.” He took her hand. “I want to show you something.” He started to walk but she was at a standstill. “It’s nothing dirty or anything.”
“I have to get home. It’s late and I have work to do.”
“You’re never gonna get a cab now. Come on, I know a way to get you home.” Another tug and she frowned and broke her hand free. She’d follow him but she wouldn’t hold his hand at the same time.
“What about your date?”
“Don’t worry about her.”
“Well one of us has to.”
“Just don’t worry about it, okay?”
“Fine. Let’s go.”
She struggled to walk step for step with him and she noticed him start to slow down but neither of them mentioned it. They were supposed to still be mad at each other.
He took a turn into a parking garage three blocks in the other direction of the bar.
“What is this?”
“What I wanted to show you.”
“A parking garage? I see it. It’s beautiful. Can I go home now?”
“It’s what’s inside the garage that’s beautiful.” He started to walk inside and she groaned.
“Jared my feet hurt.”
“Almost there.”
She stayed ten feet behind him all the way to the third level. He was basking in front of a black GTO.
“Is this it?” She pointed to it, sounding less than impressed.
“Is this is?” He mocked her tone. “How can you say it like that? This is everything.”
“Jesus, you’re one of those guys.”
“Maybe I am. Maybe I want to be.”
“It is pretty.”
“Pretty? It’s gorgeous.” He was staring wistfully at the car.
“Why the hell is it in the city?”
“I drove it up from Tennessee. Had to put some miles on it or else it would just be a show piece.”
“So you parked it in a public garage? That’s not a good idea. Were you drunk when you thought of that too?”
“It’s fine. I left it here this whole time and its fine.”
“You’re asking for something bad to happen to it.”
“Your boyfriend’s car was fine.”
“He’s my ex boyfriend and yeah, his car was fine until I got a hold of it.”
“Exactly. I don’t have any crazy ex’s.” He said and she opened her mouth to refute that but he cut her off. “That live in New York.”
They admired it for a moment longer then she took out her phone.
“Do you mind if I take a picture of it?”
“You’ve never asked permission before.”
“That’s because I try and refrain from taking pictures of people’s children.
He rolled her eyes as she got a picture.
“There. The last picture of it ever taken before it’s stripped for parts by New York City thugs. That could be the headline.”
“You might want to shorten it a bit and that’s not going to happen because we’re leaving now.” He took his car keys from his pocket.
“Where?”
“Back to the hotel parking garage. It’s more secure there. Well, that’s where I’ll go after I take you home.”
“You think I’m getting into a car with you?”
“Why not?”
“Because you’re drunk.”
“It’s not that bad.”
“Yes it is. No way. Not happening.”
“Suit yourself then, find your own way home.” He moved to get in the car but she stepped in front of him.
“You’re not getting in their either.”
“I have to. I have to get home.”
“You want to get home alive?”
“I will be fine. I’m not even that drunk.”
“That’s what every drunken person says before they get into an accident.”
“It’s only a few blocks.”
“That’s the second thing they say.”
“I’m not leaving this car here.”
“I thought you said it would be safe?”
“And I thought you said thugs would steal it or something.”
“I’d rather have somebody fuck it up than to have you die. Or worse, you kill someone else. Give me the keys, I’ll drive.”
He held them out of reach. “You are not driving my car.”
“It’s the only option.”
“Can you even drive a stick?”
She turned and peered into the window. “Fuck. It’s like you planned that.”
“Yeah right, like I thought of you when I bought it.”
“Then we’ll both take a cab.”
“I told you I am not leaving this here.”
“I’m not letting you get in it.”
“You can’t stop me.” He reached for the door handle and she did the only thing she could think of. In one quick motion she grasped his wrist in one hand and knotted her fingers through his hair with the other and kissed him. She crashed her lips to his in a desperate act to save lives. He responded fast, drunk enough to forget the motives behind it and he pressed her to the car. She kept kissing him as her hold on his wrist loosened and she worked her way down his hand to the keys. He let them go so he could hold the side of her face and she hadn’t been ready to fully hold them and they fell to the ground, making a metallic sound at their feet that he didn’t even notice. She sighed and broke the kiss and immediately dropped down to grab them then sprang back up. When she looked at him he was frowning like he was disappointed. Not from why she kissed him or that she had the keys but because she didn’t stay down.
She gasped when she figured it out and pushed him, horrified at the thought.
“Oh my god, are you serious? How could you think that? I would never do that here. Or with you.”
“I just thought.”
“I know what you thought and trust me that’s not going to happen. Now let’s go.”
“I’m not leaving it here.”
“We’ve been through this. You can’t drive it, I can’t drive it, and I’m assuming that your friends are too drunk to drive it so it stays here.”
“If anything happens to this car…”
“What? You’re going to hold me responsible? Like I have the money to fix anything on this car. You should’ve thought about that before you brought this car into this city. That was really stupid Jared.” She pushed past him with her hand stuck into the crook of his arm spinning him around with her. She hauled him down to the street and hailed a cab.
He was quiet, brooding and she didn’t care. The driver asked for an address and Anna jabbed him hard in the ribs to get him to speak.
When the cab stopped in front of his building he didn’t move so she had to jab him again.
“Can you come up with me?”
“No.”
“Come on.” He dragged his hand across his face. “I don’t know if I can make it up on my own.”
“Are you serious?”
He looked at her sheepishly like he was ashamed to be that drunk in front of her and she sighed.
“Let’s go then. Can you give us a minute?” She asked the driver.
“The meter is still running.”
“Whatever, I don’t care.” She mumbled and climbed out to meet Jared who was standing by the buildings door.
They didn’t speak all the way through the lobby or in the elevator or down the hall to his apartment. When he got the door open and stumbled inside she hesitated at the entrance.
“Are you good now? Can I go?”
His back was to her and he was retreating down the hall pulling his jacket from his shoulders as he went and just before he turned the corner he shook his head. Against her better judgment she followed after, stepping over his jacket and stood at his open bedroom door.
Her face burned as she looked at his bed and remembered the red head she saw him with that first night. Did she make it back here? Did she ever stand exactly where Anna was standing now?
“Are you alright now? The meter’s running you know? I’m getting charged for this.”
He turned and shook his head again and pulled his shirt over his head and her eyes naturally scanned his body before they landed back
on his face.
“You should stay.”
“I’m not doing that.”
“Why not?” He put his hand on her hips but she turned them out of the way. “The bed is big enough for two.”
“I’m not sleeping in that bed.”
“Then the couch. Just don’t go.”
“I have to. What time do you want to meet so I can give your keys back?”
He sighed and gave up on trying to touch her. “You’re not leaving me with the keys?”
“I don’t trust that you won’t go back out and get it yourself. I think its best that we meet at the garage since it’s pretty much in-between both of our places. It’s just practical.”
“As soon as possible.”
“First thing in the morning?”
“What time is your first thing?”
“Seven, what’s yours?”
“Eleven.”
“Let’s make it nine. I’ll see you at nine.”
He nodded then fell back against the bed. She lingered for a second then turned away just in time to hear him say “you know you kissed me.”
The last thing he heard was his apartment door closing.
In the morning she heard him before she saw him.
She was holding two cups of coffee in her hands, some kind of peace offering and she opened the heavy stairwell door with her elbow,
balancing the coffee her bag and attempting to keep her flip flops on her feet as she stumbled into the parking lot.
“Yeah I’ll hold but I’ve been holding for like, twenty fucking minutes and I’m just like, freaking out here.”
She rolled her eyes at his dramatics. “I’d hate to be the guy on the other end of that phone call.” She yelled to him. She was trying desperately to keep things light and playful. She didn’t need any more problems with him.
She finally saw him when she turned the corner. He looks frazzled, pale and sick. The phone was pressed hard to his ear and he was pacing.
“How’d you get here before me? Eleven o’clock my ass. I brought you a coffee and holy shit.” She caught a glimpse of his car and almost dropped the coffee.
The hub caps were gone and there were dents in the side and the side mirror was barely hanging on.
“This is exactly what I said would happen.”
His eyes burned as he stared at her.
“Oh my god Jared.”
“Shut up.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Just shut up.” He turned his back to her and she walked over to the car to get a better look. It was worse up close. The passenger’s side window had been smashed and one of the headlights kicked out. When she turned around Jared was watching her again. She felt helpless.
“Jared.” She had nothing else to say.
“I’ve been on the phone with my fucking, fucking, insurance agency for a half an hour and I haven’t gotten anywhere.”
She sighed and lowered herself down onto the curb next to his car. She pushed a piece of broken glass with her flip flop. “Have you called the cops?”
“Yes Anna, I’m not an idiot. Son of a bitch Anna, I fucking told you that I didn’t want to leave this here.”
“This is not my fault. I didn’t do this.”
“You’re the one that made me leave the car here. If I’d just taken it back to the hotel…”
“I didn’t have a choice. I wasn’t going to let you drive that car.”
“I was not that drunk and I could have made it without a problem.”
“I am so sick of you saying that. I was sober and you were drunk. There is no other argument there. That’s all there is. Do you even remember anything from last night?”
“I remember everything. I know how you talked me out of driving it and I know you kissed me.”
Her gaze dropped to the ground. She was really counting on him forgetting.
“That was a nice trick Anna because it fucking worked.”
“It wasn’t a trick.”
“That’s exactly what it was.”
“I was trying to save your life.”
“A life that’s not worth living without this car.”
“Stop being so dramatic, it’s just a car.”
“That’s not the point. Dammit Anna that’s not the fucking point the point is that you made me leave it here when I didn’t want to.”
“That doesn’t make any sense, it’s all about the car with you and I’m trying to tell you there are more important things.”
He opened his mouth to yell back but the insurance company took him off hold and he turned his back to her.
“Yeah I’m here. What the hell does that mean….are you fucking kidding me? No, I’m sorry but I can’t help it because this is an expensive car and this is just…” He was quiet for a long stretch of time. “You’re sure there’s nothing you guys can do?” He sounded sad and Anna stood up. He sounded like he needed a hug even though she knew she’d never give him one. “Fine, fine, whatever. It’s just whatever.” He hung up and slipped the phone into his pocket and rubbing his eyes with the heel of his hands. “They can’t do anything. They don’t cover me in a different state or some shit like that. Some loophole. Those assholes.”
“I’m sorry Jared.”
“Stop.” He faced her. “I don’t want to hear it. From you.”
“Don’t be mad at me. I told you I couldn’t do anything about it. You shouldn’t have brought the car here.”
“How many times do you have to say that? My god.”
“I’m gonna keep saying it until you understand it. This isn’t my fault.”
“You know what Anna?” He sighed and put his hands on her shoulders and applied enough presses to make her feel discomfort. “I just need to not hear you speak or see you or talk to you. Ever again.”
“What?”
“Whatever it is that we’re doing, whatever this is has got to end.”
She blinked. “Do you think we’re doing something?” That was news to her and she shook his arms off of her. “Because we’re not. Nothing is happening.”
His jaw set and he stared at her.
“There is and wasn’t anything going on.”
“Well fine. Good, I’m glad you didn’t get the wrong idea or anything because I didn’t want anything to happen with you. It’s good that we cleared that up. Let’s not even be friends.”
“I didn’t even think that we were.” She said hotly. “This whole thing was a huge mistake.”
“It was really my fault. I shouldn’t have talked to you after that stupid article. I should’ve had just let that dumbass lie go because no one even reads what you write. No one did care.”
“You wanna know why no one cared about that Jared?” She was angry with her hands on her hips. “Because nobody cares what you do. They don’t care that you’re making out with some slutty women because that’s what they expect from you. People’s opinions of you are so low that they read that and were just like, whatever, that’s no big deal.”
“You still won’t admit that whole thing was a lie will you?”
She ignored him. That was a whole separate argument that she wasn’t about to get into.
“You shouldn’t have even written it.”
“You know why I had to write it? Because I had nothing else. You weren’t my first choice, you weren’t even my tenth choice but everyone better at that bar was boring and you were all I had. I didn’t even know that much about you and I certainly didn’t care about you.”
“I never said that you cared about me. I wouldn’t want you to.”
“Then fine. I’m glad we’re all on the same page.” She didn’t even know what page that was. All she knew was that she had to be fighting with him. “I’ll leave you alone and you won’t have to talk to me or hear me talk or be friends with me. It can all go back to normal.”
“You can go back to having nobody know who you are.”
“And you can go back to making out with whores on the sidewalk.”
That was the last thing she said to him and that morning was the last time they spoke until now. He’s calling her out of the blue and asking her to go on vacation with him. That was the opposite of never seeing or talking to her. That was something that friends did.
“Why are you calling me?”
“Because I want you to go on vacation with me.”
“What changed your mind? I thought we decided to not be friends.”
“I changed my mind.”
“But what changed your mind?”
“I don’t know. I felt bad about what I said and I shouldn’t have been that harsh. I’ve gotten over the car issue. It’s all taken care of and I’m over it. I think we should start fresh. You were kind of fun when I wasn’t blaming you for ruining my brand new awesome car.”
“I was fun? I am not fun.”
“You’re tons of fun, now what do you say?”
She was suspicious. This wasn’t normal or right. But then again, when has Jared Followill ever been either of those things? Still, she should hang up or tell him to go to hell for how he treated her; for how they treated each other. They were confused and messed up and nothing had even happened between them. Not really or officially anyways. But she was drawn to him. Hanging up was out of the questions.
She sighs loudly into the phone trying to show that she wasn’t at all interested.
“Where are you planning on going?”
She took the bait and she knows that there’s no letting go.