Something Good

“So what’s bugging you?” Jan asked as she leaned on her stick.

“I don’t know. I just feel off. Everything is just different since school started.” I took a swig of my beer and shrugged.

“You mean since that girl.” She raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t know what you’re talking about.” I lied.

“That girl you talked to a couple weeks ago. The last one you slept with until the horrible quickie you just went through. Holy shit, did it finally get you? Was I right? Are you in love with one of your one night stands?” Jan’s eyes widened and she took a drink, watching me closely.

“I’m not in love. Seriously, you can’t love someone you don’t know.”

“You have class with her.”

“We don’t talk.”

“Don’t you believe in soul mates or love at first sight or anything?”

“I don’t believe in love at all.” I took another drink.

She threw her hands up, “It’s love! It’s not the Easter Bunny! Are you honestly saying you don’t believe in love?”

“Janice,” I teased, “Are you finally starting to listen to me?”

“Don’t call me Janice and I don’t believe that you don’t think love is possible. It’s going to happen to you, and you’ll be shocked. You’re not going to understand it. I cannot wait until it happens.” She had this grin.

The door opened and, out of habit, I looked over to see if there were any attractive women. As luck would have it, there was. Sara. No scarf or anything, and my mark was still there on her neck. I just smiled as I watched her cross the room. Her eyes found mine and she blushed deeply before looking back to her friends, making my smile broaden.

“That would be the girl.” Jan said, watching her with me. She was smiling too, but I couldn’t figure out why, she didn’t fuck her. “That your handiwork?”

“Is what my handiwork?” Sara and her friends all sat down and ordered drinks, a few of them cast glances over here and said something with smirks. Sara didn’t look up though, but she had that deep red blush that let me know I was on her mind.

“That giant ass hickey.”

“I don’t sleep with the same girl twice.”

“But you did. And it was her. And you gave her a hickey.” I wished I could’ve hidden the smile, but I couldn’t.

“Yeah, I did.” I finally admit.

“She’s what’s been fucking you up man. It’s her, and you can’t get her out of your head. You finally fell for a girl.” She shook her head.

“Fell into lust maybe. Look at her, don’t tell me that if you weren’t ‘in love’ with Lace that you wouldn’t be over there right now trying to get in her pants.”

“I’ll admit, she’s hot, but you’ve screwed hot chicks before and not been like this. Come on, tell me that you haven’t seen her do something or heard her say something and thought about something other than sex.”

That blush. Her skin. How soft she is. Puzzle pieces. How I woke up that morning tangled in her.

Vanilla and lavender.

“Sex.”

“Liar.”

“Look at her! There’s not much else to think of other than sex!” She finally looked up at me, but looked away just as quickly.

“Well I think she’s got more than sex on her mind.” Jan said.

“No way, not after today.” I finally turned back to the table and bent over to take my shot.

“Yeah, whatever. Hey, I’m going to get a drink, alright. Want one?”

I shrugged, “Sure. It’ll be a while before your turn anyways.” I smirk up at her and she walks away.

A minute or so later I hear a voice say, “Hey stranger.”

I look over to see Sara standing there with a playful, nervous smile. I raised an eyebrow at her, “What’s up?”

“Just thought I’d stop by and say hi.” She shrugged.

“We’re not dating or anything, you know that right?”

She laughed, “I’m well aware. Actually, your friend told me to talk to you, and my friends then backed her up. So here I am.”

“What are we supposed to talk about?” I wasn’t used to this. I wasn’t sure how to talk to girls that you occasionally have or have had sex with.

“I don’t know. Want to talk about this?” She tilted her head so I could see my mark again and I just grinned in response. “My friends saw it and all of a sudden all they wanted to talk about was you. You weren’t too discreet when you asked to talk to me and then we disappeared for the entire day.”

“You didn’t mind then.” I said with a grin, bringing back our last conversation.

She laughed. “No, no I didn’t. You know, next time you want to sleep with me, you’ll have to take me to dinner.” She joked.

“I don’t take girls to dinner, so I guess that’s your loss.” I was leaning against the pool table.

“Or your loss when you realize that your still thinking of me and not these other girls.” She winked at me.

“Too late, I already had sex with another girl tonight.” I don’t know why I regretted telling her, but I did.

I guess she wasn’t thrilled hearing it either because I saw her face start to fall, but she covered it up. I still noticed though. “I guess that’s a good thing. Since I can’t get laid until this goes away, one of us should be able to.” She laughed again, but it didn’t sound like her real laugh…

“Well, I mean…” I didn’t know what else to say, so I just said what popped into my mind first. “It’s not like no one will have sex with you. That’s my hickey, so I wouldn’t mind it.” Wow, you sounded like an idiot. Why did I care if I sounded like an idiot? You don’t want her to think you’re an idiot because you have class with her.

“I told you that you need to take me to dinner first.” She smiled again, and this time it was more like how I remembered it.

“I don’t take women to dinner.”

“You also don’t sleep with them twice.”

She had a point.

“Alright, one dinner. One. And it’s not a date, it’s like a friend thing. And then we can go back to my place if you still feel upset about the hickey thing. I bet I can make it all better.” I watched as she bit her lip in thought. God that was sexy. Kind of cute, but mostly extremely sexy.

“Alright. When do you want to take me to this friendly dinner with a possibility of sex at the end?” She asked.

“How about two nights from now. I’ll pick you up and take you somewhere and then I can take you back home or to my place to help you out with that problem you’ve got.”

“Sounds like a plan. I’ll give you my address in class tomorrow.” She smiled and started walking back to her friends.

When I turned back around I saw Jan standing there. I don’t know when she showed up, but there she was, with some stupid grin on her face. “How’d it go?”

“Friendly dinner and some sex afterwards.” I took my second shot that was interrupted by Sara.

“Dev! You got a date!”

“Friendly dinner.”

“You’re a dumbass. You’re going on a date.”

“I am not.” Am I?

“Yes you are. You’re going on a date with a hot girl. You’re first date in years. You just are too stupid to realize it’s a date.”

Is it a date? I mean…dinner seems like a date thing. What’s wrong if it is a date? I mean…it’s not love. It’s a date. I can tolerate her for a little while I think. Sex. Dinner. How she blushes when she gets nervous. Maybe it is a date…and…maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing… Everyone goes on dates…if everyone else can tolerate people for a bit, why can’t I? My thoughts kept rambling on and on and I finally said, “It’s not a date.”

“Sure it is, and I’m going to help you. When is it?”

“Two nights from now.”

“Call me an hour before you go to get her.”

“It’s not a big deal.”

“Sure it is. I was hanging out with her friends for a bit, they said that she likes you. So, now that you’ve agreed to go on a date, you have to do it right. I’ll have everything planned out for you, don’t worry about anything.” She had this grin. Jan was always a control freak, but I had no idea why she was doing this.

“Jan, why are you so interested in this. It’s just one friendly dinner and sex. I don’t know why you’re doing all this.”

“Because when I saw you and Sara together, you looked happy. I know you and Carrie—”

“Let’s not talk about her.” I growled, instantly feeling my mood grow darker.

Jan just ignored me though and kept talking, “didn’t end well and she did some pretty shit stuff, but not every relationship has to be like that. I haven’t seen you genuinely happy in a while, and I know you get these brief moments of happiness every now and then and that you’re kind of happy most of the time, but dammit Dev, this girl could be something good for you. I’m not letting you fuck up something that can be good for you because you’re too goddamned stupid to realize it. Now go home before you make another bad decision tonight.” She pointed to the door, and for some reason I felt a lot like a puppy that got in trouble or a little kid whose mom just yelled at her.

So I did as she asked and went home where I sat on my bed and stayed up all night thinking about whether or not I wanted to go on a date.

I still didn’t have an answer when I woke up from the little sleep I had managed to get.

Whether I wanted it or not though, Jan was making this a date for me. My first date since my first and only girlfriend decided to fuck me over and teach me what the real world is like.

But Jan’s words kept rolling through my head as I got dressed that morning.

This girl could be something good for me…