True Romance... on the side - chapter 1

[roguemouse]

NOTES
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Los Angeles, July

Jared wished he could kick his own ass. Unfortunately, his physical strength manifested itself through prowess in basketball and football, rather than yoga. So even though he wanted to kick himself-hard- he couldn’t really bend that way. Another option he considered was an earthquake. Alas, even though he was smack-dab in the middle of Los Angeles, the earth didn’t open up and swallow him whole. He sighed in frustration. He couldn’t imagine anything being hotter than he was now. Even Hell.

90 degrees outside and he was sitting in an old, cherry-red Toyota Corolla with no AC, forced to watch a couple, kissing right in front of his windshield.

Of course, he had only himself to blame. No one made him say "yes", when his best friend's ex, Sophia, asked him for a favor. However, if he’d known what that favor entitled, he would have politely declined. Meaning, he’d run away, screaming. How was he supposed to know he had just agreed to drive Sophia’s newest - and “hottest yet” - boyfriend to Vancouver?

Truth be told, it's not like Jared could've refused. He was going there anyway: he'd been invited to audition for an upcoming TV show. But since being a struggling actor didn't exactly cash into cheap plane flights, he decided to take a small road trip and drive to Canada in his trusty Toyota. More so, he had a free seat, a half empty trunk and the common sense to know that he would never get there in time if he was driving by himself. He needed someone to ride shotgun with him. And Sophia knew that.

She also knew about Jared’s biggest vice: he was an incorrigible sweetheart. All a girl had to do was flash a sad face at him, occasionally combined with a pout of the lips or a pleading look, and he was done for. He would do anything; from running to Starbucks to get a Mint-Raspberry Latte with whipped cream, to moving furniture or even bungee-jumping into the Grand Canyon. Unfortunately for him, Sophia utilized not only the sad face, the lip pout and the pleading look - she also cried a bit. Not to mention, she came to him wearing a shirt so low cut and jeans so short, Daisy Dukes would turn brick-red at the mere thought of such an outfit. The combination was deadly. It was bound to work.

Even if Jared was gay.

At the time - with Sophia's breasts pressed hard against Jared, as she sobbed into his chest - having a second driver seemed like a good idea. He could surely use the company. He didn't do well alone and having someone to talk to on the road was always a plus... After all, no matter how entertaining classic rock music could be, listening to it 24/7 was a bit much. Even for Jared.

So now all he could do was sit in an overheated car, his irritation growing by the second, waiting for Sophia to say goodbye to her boyfriend.

"I love you."

"No, I love you."

"But I love you more."

"I love you to infinity and beyond."

After 5 minutes of nauseatingly-sweet affirmations like that, Jared couldn't help but cough. Loudly.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't notice you Jared," Sophie exclaimed, startled and adorably flushed, as she tore herself away from her boyfriend's lips. Sure, - Jared thought - don't mind me. I've only been sitting here for the past millennium.

"’S okay Sophia. It's not like we don't have a day-long drive ahead of us," Jared smirked bitterly, nonetheless happy that the lewd sucking noises had finally stopped.

Sophia blushed, her complexion turning an even darker shade of pink. "Right. Sorry."

Jared nodded, accepting the apology, then turned his slightly impatient gaze to the guy Sophia was just snogging. He was well built, a bit short - but then again, who compared to Jared wasn't? - and probably older than he appeared to be. His sun-bleached hair, dark green eyes and freckled face gave off a pleasant feel. Jared titled his head to the side and shot a questioning look at Sophia. If it was possible, the girl blushed even more. Covering her uneasiness with a soft giggle and a girly flutter of mascara-covered lashes, Sophia made the introductions.

"Jared, this is Jensen Ackles, my boyfriend." She turned to look at the man beside her and snaking an arm around his back, pointed at the car. "And this is Jared Padalecki, my..."

"...friend." Jared quickly finished the sentence with a smile. He didn't want to put Sophia in an uncomfortable position, quite sure that explaining exactly who he was, was the last thing she wanted to do.

"Nice to meet you."

Jared heard a familiar accent as Jensen approached the car to greet him. "You're from Texas," he stated more than asked.

"Dallas. Born and bread," Jensen gave a light nod and shook his hand firmly.

"San Antonio. Go Lone-Star state!"

Jensen’s smile was wide and bright, presenting a set of stunningly white teeth. Apparently he was glad he'd be traveling with a fellow Texan.

Jared answered with a similar smile. "The trunk's open and there's some room in the back seat if you have a lot of stuff. You wanna drive the first shift?"

"Nah, it's okay. I'll take the next one."

Jared shrugged, kissing Sophia goodbye through the car window, as Jensen put his bags into the Toyota.

"Call me as soon as you arrive," she murmured, throwing her arms around Jensen and kissing him softly when he finished packing.

"I'll call you even sooner," he smiled and hugged her tightly, nuzzling at her hair.

Decency told him to look away, but Jared couldn't help and glance in his rearview mirror. He watched as Sophia and Jensen made their final goodbyes. He was beginning to wonder how long they could manage without air - Sophia's hands petting across Jensen's back, going lower and lower and grabbing his firm, tight…

"Sorry!" he shouted, as the pair jumped up, startled by the car horn. “My hand slipped!”. He tried to hide his mischievous grin behind poorly-faked innocence, but Sophia saw right through his act and flipped him off with surprisingly un-feminine skill.

"I miss you already," Jensen said, getting into the car and leaning through the window to give Sophia one final kiss.

"Miss you too," she murmured with a smile that made Jared wish he was straight.

He winked at Sophia. "Don't worry, Soph. I'll take good care of him."

And with a goodbye wave, they were off.

Sophia stood on the curb with a wistful expression, watching as the car disappeared in the distance. "That's what I'm afraid off," she whispered thoughtfully.




They left the outskirts of L.A. over two hours ago, heading north down I-5 and they still hadn't spoken a word to each other. Jensen was beginning to feel uneasy, the silence between them unnerving and itchy like a new, uncomfortable sweater. It was slowly driving him crazy.

He had nothing against listening to the radio or looking out his window, at the constantly changing scenery, but according to Sophia, Jared was quite the chatter-mouth. "Frankly, he rarely shuts up," she said one day, when persistently enquired.

In spite of this, the only sound Jared made so far was when he tapped his fingers on the steering wheel and hummed to Rascal Flatts’ "Life Is A Highway". Rather falsely, if anyone asked Jensen.

He kept glancing at his co-driver, wondering what he should say and if in fact he should say anything at all. Jared was younger - Jensen could see that much - and seemed like a nice guy. He had warm eyes, that changed color from blue-green to brown, depending on how the sun shone; and a mop of shaggy hair that constantly fell into his view, making Jared shake his head like a wet dog trying to get dry. What’s worse, his tanned skin and the unique way in which he accented certain words while singing gave off a strong Texan feel. The familiarity of that made the whole sitting-quiet deal much harder to bear.

"Um... Listen, I forgot to thank you for giving me a ride," Jensen finally gathered his strength and chose the most neutral intro to a conversation that he could think of. "God knows, I could never afford a plane ticket to Canada."

Jared gave a disregarding smile. "No problem, man. I was going there anyway," he said with a glance at Jensen, then returned to watching the road.

Okay, that went well - Jensen thought sarcastically.

“Listen,” he tried again “I hope you don’t mind, but I took the liberty of taking a map and marking places where we could change shifts. The trip should take 21 hours and 20 to 25 minutes, depending on the traffic. I know we’ll probably wanna stop and eat at some point, so I rounded it up to 22 hours. I also doubt you’d want to drive 11hrs straight, so I split those 22 hours into fours shifts, five or six hours each. You took the first shift, so that means we’re gonna switch in 6 hours, around here.” Jensen pointed to an area marked first shift change in bright green marker.

He looked up from the map to find Jared staring at him with an amused grin.

“Is that okay?” He asked, puzzled.

Jared nodded. “Sure.”

Stifling an exasperated sigh, Jensen gave up talking all together. Instead he turned to stare through the passenger window.

And hour and a half later, they still hadn’t spoken.

"Grape?"

Jensen snapped out of his thoughts at Jared’s question. He glanced at the other man, his upper lip curling in a barely contained smirk of disdain.

"No, thanks. I’m trying to stay in shape. I don’t eat between meals," he answered, looking rather meaningfully at his driver's knees, where a large bag of grapes was placed.

"Oh well. Your call," Jared shrugged and spat out the grape seeds through the window. Or at least he tried to, because the window was closed.

The younger man gave Jensen an uneasy glance. "I'll roll down the window."

"Yeah, you do that," Jensen's voice dripped with sarcasm. Jared blushed and his eyes fell back onto the road, the old Toyota skillfully avoiding rush hour traffic.

"So…" Jensen paused, his voice hanging in the air like a big question mark in comic books. "…why don't you tell me the story of your life."

"The story of my life?" Jared repeated his words, obviously surprised.

"It's a long ride to Vancouver. We might as well make the best of it," green eyes flickered over to Jared with amusement.

Shoving two more grapes into his mouth and throwing one empty stem out the window, Jared sighed. "Believe me - the story of my life isn’t that interesting. It won't even get us to the California border."

"Is that why you decided to become an actor?" Jensen asked. And before the other man could nod, he added, "So you could live someone else’s interesting life instead?"

The horrified expression on Jared’s face made Jensen feel guilty. He shouldn’t have said that. He was never very good at talking to strangers. But as soon as Jared started coughing, Jensen realized the horror on the younger man’s face wasn’t caused by his comment. Jared was simply choking on a grape. Jensen laughed silently, reaching out his hand and lightly patting Jared’s back. "Watch it, kiddo. I’m really good at CPR, but I’ve never done it in a moving car before. I wouldn’t want to try it now.”

"How d-did you know I’m an actor?” Jared wheezed, his throat still sore from the gag reflex. He could feel himself turning a bright shade of pink. He wasn’t sure if it was the grape or the idea of Jensen actually performing mouth-to-mouth on him.

“Sophie told me.”

“Oh. Right,” Jared said, dumbly. He felt like smacking his forehead. “Just so you know,” he said, after a moment of silence “the lack of excitement in my own life wasn’t the reason I chose acting.”

"But you’ve thought about it," Jensen replied knowingly, his hand giving a few last slaps at Jared's back. "I mean, imagine that you never do anything important, you never meet anyone worth mentioning, you never accomplish any of your goals, and finally, you die alone, sitting in your underwear in front of the TV, surrounded only by your twelve cats. Which, sooner or later will start to nibble on your rotting corpse. Being an actor, you'll at least get to pretend you’re doing something worthwhile. You get to be someone important. Someone who’s not just a waste of air.”

It took Jared a couple of long minutes before he coughed up all the seeds he swallowed. "I’m much more of a dog person,” he muttered finally. It sounded even dumber out loud, than it did in his head. Snappy comebacks where never really his thing. “So what is it that you do, that keeps you so stable on your oh-so-high horse?"

"I'm an actor," Jensen answered with a slightly disregardful smile.

Jared looked at him, dumbfounded, not sure if it was a joke or if the other man was serious. They fell silent again, Jared’s brow furrowed under his shaggy hair.

"Man… you have a weird sense of humor,” he said. “And you’re really fucking cynical. I mean, you’re riding me about being an actor? How are you any better?” Jared scoffed. The double meaning of the word “ride” thankfully escaped him. Otherwise he would’ve blushed again. “Sophia never mentioned you were so… Dark Side."

"Who to the what now?" Jensen looked up with a puzzled expression on his face, eyes wide and questioning.

"Dark Side. Y'know, ‘Luke, I am your father’… ‘Come to the Dark Side, we have cookies’. Darth Vader, Anakin Skywalker, Sith Lord, Star Wars… any of those things ring a bell?" Jared let his voice hang in the air and made a meaningful, 'sweeping' hand gesture. “Think about it, man. You have a huge dark side. You’re self-deprecating, sarcastic, pessimistic…”

Jensen leaned back in his seat, a little taken aback. He didn't think Jared had it in him to be so condescending.

"And what are you?" He asked cynically. "One of those extremely cheerful people that smile all the time, bounce around like a ADHD puppy when they’re happy and dot their I's with little stars?"

"Actually, they're hearts," Jared smiled.

And Jensen just had to smile back. Even though he didn’t want to. Even though he thought this guy was kind of a douche. It was… like an involuntary reflex; like Jared had some sort of weird power over him. Maybe he was the one with the Jedi mind tricks? It might’ve been the way Jared's eyes sparkled as he smiled, or the two dimples that appeared in his cheeks... anyway, Jensen just had to reciprocate with a similar expression.

Maybe he’s half human, half Labrador?, he thought to himself.

"Besides," Jared's eyes returned to observing the road, after giving Jensen a quick glance, "I have just as much of a dark side as the next person."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, really."

Jensen gave Jared a look-over. Somehow, he didn’t believe that.

"I read detailed episode descriptions, in case I die before I’m finished watching my favorite TV show,” he said. “I also read movie spoilers before I go to the cinema. That, my friend, is a dark side.”

"Y’know, that doesn't necessarily mean you're deep or something," Jared spoke at the windshield, turning on the wipers since it started to drizzle outside. He hit the breaks when the car in front of them started to skid on the slippery tarmac. It caused Jensen's "I beg to differ," comment to come out a bit muffled and rushed, as he braced himself against the dashboard.

"I mean... yeah, okay. Generally, I'm a ‘shiny, happy people’ person," Jared admitted. "But I don't feel the need to apologize for it, cause I don’t think it’s something I should be ashamed of.”

"Of course you’re not ashamed," Jensen dead-panned. "You're to busy being happy."

Jared glared at his passenger, but smiled to himself, as soon as his eyes were back on the road. Even now, he couldn't help being cheerful. It was his thing.

Besides, looking at Jensen - the twinkle of hidden laughter in dark green eyes - Jared had a sudden thought: Maybe the ride to Canada wouldn’t be a bouncing, joy-ride of fun.

But it sure wasn’t going to be boring either.




"You're wrong."

"I'm not wrong!"

"You're so wrong!” Jared accentuated his words, smacking a hand on the steering wheel.

“Clarence is drop-dead gorgeous, cute as a button, he has a suitcase full of money and he loves Alabama, mind, body and soul. Who wouldn't want to spend the rest of their life with a guy like?"

"Who would want to spend their life with a guy like that? Are you kidding me?! Alabama almost got killed because of him. And for God's sake, he lost an eye. Who in their right mind would want to be with someone who's partially blind?... Not to mention a complete moron! I mean, a relationship with a prostitute? Clarence was crazy to begin with. The minute he met Alabama, things went downhill.”

They had been arguing for the last thirty or so miles.

Apparently, they had a very similar taste in cinema, but two completely different points of view. The movie under current discussion was Jared's all-time favorite: "True Romance". Coincidentally, it was also one of the single not-entirely-chick-flick-y movies Jared felt comfortable discussing with Jensen, without seeming like a total wuss. Or, better yet, gay.

Which he was, but that wasn’t the point.

"So you’d want to be in a passionless, but safe relationship, rather than living your life on the edge, experiencing one adventure after another, with the person you’ve had the best sex ever, and who you love beyond life itself?" Jared asked. Utter bewilderment rang in his voice, as they pulled up for a stop in the parking lot of a small petrol station.

"Of course!" Jensen exclaimed. "Any normal, sane, practical person would do that." At that, Jared titled his head and grinned; it made Jensen twitch nervously. "What?!" He asked, trying to keep his voice from sounding accusatory.

"Nothing," Jared continued grinning, as they walked to the petrol diner.

“Tell me.”

“Forget about it.”

“Come on, tell me.”

“It’s not important.”

“Jared, just tell me already!”

“Fine!” Jared lifted his hands in defeat. "I've just figured it out."

"Excuse me, but figured what out?"

Jared opened the door, then turned to Jensen. "Vous êtes fri-gi-de,” he said in his best French accent.

“…what does that even mean?!” Jensen snapped.

“It means that you're cold. Like an icebox,” Jared smirked. “And you’ve obviously never had great sex before," he whispered in a conspirational manner. Then he spun around towards the waitress that came to greet them. "Table for two, please."

Jensen lost it. "It just so happens that I've had plenty of good sex!" he practically shouted at Jared's back.

The entire diner fell silent. Jensen wished he could put his foot in his mouth. Or at least that everyone would stop staring at him. He hastily joined Jared in their booth - which, thankfully, was located at the back of the diner - and tried not to notice the buzz of curious voices that followed his somewhat random outburst.

"With whom?"

Jensen was busy trying to hide behind his menu. "What?"

"With whom have you had this great sex?" Jared’s blue-green eyes flickered up from looking through the specials.

"I'm not going to tell you," Jensen muttered under his breath, praying to God Almighty for the blush on his cheeks to fade.

Jared watched the freckles on the other man's face become more visible. He gulped quietly, as his brain produced an unwanted image of where else his co-driver might have them. "Fine. Don't tell me," he said casually, returning to his menu-browsing.

Jensen looked at the man sitting opposite him with prejudice, putting all his will power in closing his half open mouth. He couldn’t decide if he was relieved or disappointed. Failing at his inner struggle, he decided to counter-attack. "Fine. If you must know, it was Joanna Krupa," he said condescendingly, waiting for Jared to show his surprise. Instead, the younger man gave a heart-felt laugh.

"Next time you want to brag about your sex life, stud, pick someone I don't know," Jared half-giggled into his fist. Jensen's expression clearly spoke for him, because Jared continued. "Listen, I’ve known Joanna for quite a while now, and she’s not the type of girl you have wild, passionate sex with. Sure, she was in Playboy and she looks and acts like a primetime slut. But all in all she's a sweet, cuddly, innocent girl. The ‘no sex before marriage’, shirt on, light's off kinda girl," he explained amusedly. And before Jensen could shoot him a glare or bark back a sarcastic comment, he was ordering his food.

"I'll take a #14," he smiled at the redhead waitress, then looked at Jensen, waiting for him to place his order.

For a moment Jensen couldn't speak, but the girl's flurried cough made him return to reality. "I'll have the #3, fries on the side and the chef's salad," he made his decision in a second, handing the waitress his menu card.

"Okay... a BLT, fries and a salad," the girl bit her lip, as she noted down his order.

However, Jensen wasn't finished. "But I'd like the oil and vinegar to the salad on the side and for my fries, mayonnaise and real tomato sauce instead of ketchup, if you have any. If not, then no sauce or mayo, just tomatoes with salt, on the side. But only if the tomatoes are fresh, cause if they're out of a can, then nothing."

"Not even the BLT?" the waitress asked, her eyes wide in shock.

"No, I'd like the BLT, but then with cheese and a milkshake instead of the fries."

The redhead stared right through Jensen for a while, then glanced at Jared and did an eye-roll. "Uh-huh," she huffed sarcastically and left their table.

Jensen watched her leave with a wondering expression, apparently not understanding why she was so rude. Jared sighed.

"What?" Jensen snapped, red rising up on his cheeks again.

"Nothing, nothing...” Jared chuckled into his curled fist. “So, how come you got a job in 'Couver?"

"How do you know I got a job?" Jensen's voice hid his surprise much better than his face.

The younger man shrugged. "Because I can't think of any other reason for you to leave a girl like Sophia and be here with me."

Jensen glared. "First of all, I'm not here with you. And second... it's none of your damn business," he hissed.

"You're right. I don't wanna know," Jared shrugged again and began looking around the diner, hoping Jensen wouldn't notice the guy at the bar that’d just winked at Jared and smiled lewdly.

"Well if you must know, I got a very lucrative job offer and decided to take it," Jensen huffed in annoyance, folding his arms across his chest.

"And left Sophia in L.A.?" Jared had trouble believing that. "Smart move."

"Oh come on! You'd have done the exact same thing, if you had the chance!"

"Maybe. But if I had to choose between a new job and someone like Sophia, I'd stick with the latter," Jared shook his head, still disbelieving. At the same time he tried to ignore the guy at the bar and the way his perfectly shaped legs were perched on the bar stool. He pinched himself under the table and reluctantly returned to looking at Jensen.

The older man's face turned morbid. "Don’t get me wrong - I love Sophia. But trust me, if you were in my shoes, you’d wanna leave too.”

Jared’s face was puzzled. “God, man… where the hell do you work?”

“Day-time TV," Jensen muttered.

"Like...?"

"Like “The Brave and the Brilliant”.”

"Oh... well, then I rest my case," Jared spoke quietly, making his voice sound as apologetic as possible, without having to actually say he was sorry.




Fifteen percent out of my half of the meal is exactly... four dollars and eighty cents, Jensen counted in his head. I'll make that five bucks, even though she clearly didn't deserve it...

While Jared was at the bar, chatting to some random guy, Jensen paid for his share of their dinner. He gave the tip to the grumpy redhead waitress and was about to join Jared, telling him they're ready to leave, when he noticed the other guy slip Jared a piece of paper with his phone number on it. That got him thinking.

"You're gay, aren't you?" Jensen asked, as soon as they left the diner.

Since they were changing driving shifts, Jared froze in his attempt to open the passenger door. "What?!"

"You are gay."

This time it wasn’t a question - it was a statement. This made it that much harder to deny.

"I'm not gay!" Jared's voice reached a peek so high, he was sure even the dogs in the neighboring county heard him.

Jensen glanced at him, crooked half-smile on his lips as he opened the driver door. "Of course you're not."

"What? Just because you saw a guy giving me his phone number you assume I'm gay? Can't two guys exchange numbers without there being a sexual subtext?". Jared was being too defensive. He knew that, and yet he couldn’t help himself.

"I never said I saw you with that guy," Jensen grinned and winked, to Jared’s utter horror. "You assumed I did."

It took a while for Jared to gather his jaw from the gravel of the parking lot. He figured Jensen was intelligent, but the way he played him… the way he let Jared walk right into practically admitting to his sexual orientation… It wasn’t just wicked-smart. It was satanic.

"Okay... for the sake of argument, let's say I'm gay. Then what?" he asked, leaning over the roof of the car, searching Jensen's face for an answer. He also might or might not have been looking for devil horns amongst Jensen’s hair.

"Then… nothing,” Jensen shrugged. “We'll just leave it out there."

This surprised Jared. "Leave it out there?"

"Yeah. You're Sophia's friend. She trusts you. And as long as you don't come on to me, I don't see why we can't be friends," Jensen's logical and calm voice came to Jared as if from a distance. "So... are you getting in the car or should I tell that guy in the diner that you need a ride?"

Jared slipped into his seat with hesitation. For some reason he was sure he'd soon regret it.

Very soon.




"I hope you realize that we can never be friends?"

Jensen looked away from the road and glanced at Jared.

"Why not?"

"What I'm saying is - and this isn't a come-on in any way, shape or form -, straight men and gay men can never be friends, because the sex part always gets in the way," Jared explained. He was desperately trying to clear whatever false first impression Jensen might've gotten from his general cheeriness. And his homosexuality. Sure, Jensen was attractive in more ways than one, but Jared was a big boy. He knew when to keep it in his pants. Even though he’d been keeping “it” there for quite a while now. But Jensen was straight and Jared had to deal with that.

"That is so not true. I have a number of gay friends and there is no sex involved," Jensen stated, a little offended by the very idea he might not 'get' the rules of the gay community. Thanks to Mike, I know even more than I should, Jensen thought quietly to himself, remembering his bisexual roommate and the incomprehensible number of booty calls - both female and male - he used to bring to their apartment.

"You don’t have gay friends."

"Yes, I do."

"You only think you do," Jared persisted.

"So what? You're saying they’re not gay? Or that they’re not my friends and therefore I'm having sex with them without my knowledge?" Jensen almost drove into another car, while staring at Jared with questioning eyes.

"No. I'm just saying they all want to have sex with you," the younger man pointed out.

"They do not."

"Do too."

"Do not!"

"Of course they do," Jared emphasizing his words with an eye-roll, oblivious to the fact that Jensen couldn't see it. "I mean, who wouldn't want to sleep with you? You're attractive as hell," he added after a thought, preparing himself for the punch in the stomach he was sure he'd get.

Jensen pondered his words for a while, unaware of Jared's suddenly tense behavior. "So... you're saying a gay guy can be friends with another man, if he finds him unattractive?"

Jared sighed internally in relief and chuckled. "Nah. You pretty much wanna nail the fugly ones too."

Thankful it was already dark outside, Jensen picked up his jaw from the steering wheel. "What if the straight guy doesn't want to have sex and clearly states it?" Jensen asked, shooting a sideways look at Jared.

The younger man smiled knowingly. "It doesn't really matter - the sex thing is already out there, so the friendship is doomed. And that's all he wrote.”

"I guess were not going to be friends then," Jensen broke the silence that fell between them.

"Guess not," came Jared's slightly sleepy answer. He was leaning back into his seat, about to take a nap.

"Too bad," said the other man, looking onto the dark, shiny tarmac. "You're the only person I know in Vancouver."




Vancouver

"Well... thanks for the ride." Jensen said sheepishly. He finally managed to get all of his stuff out of the trunk and turned to say goodbye to Jared.

"No problem, man. It was an interesting trip," Jared smiled politely and stretched out his hand. Jensen shook it lightly.

"Yeah. It was nice to meet you, Jared."

"Likewise."

Jared got into the car and was just about to drive away, when he heard Jensen's voice again.

"If you..." The older man stammered, as he re-approached the car, two duffel bags hanging from his shoulder. "If you're ever in the neighborhood, give me a call. Maybe we could grab a beer or something."

Smiling sadly, Jared shook his head. "I don't think so, Jensen. But, y’know… have a great life anyway."

"You too," Jensen murmured, as he watched the cherry Toyota take a turn right and disappear behind a corner. "You too, Jared."

NOTES
MASTER POST
NEXT