Chapter 9: Gentleman Skills

Chapter 9: Gentleman Skills

A Chapter by ZEE.

   
- - - - - - - - - - - - -  JC POV - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The classes before lunch went by really quick. My mind always went into a daze whenever I looked at the crazy posters in my art class, but today was different. They made me dizzy and I was losing energy as each second passed. I was pretty sure I was knocked out.
"Make sure you guys don't get the oil pastels on the tables," Mrs. Hoffman squealed, as she walked by. I lifted my head up, which took a lot more energy than I thought it would.
"Hoffman, I'm not feeling too great," I whispered.
"I heard what happened, honey. Do you want to head to the nurse's office?" she asked, worry coming over her. I nodded and walked to the front of the room, grabbed my pass, and headed off.

"Mom? Hey, Mom. Can you do me a favor?" I asked.
"What is it? Is everything all right?!" she screamed.
"I'm fine, I'm fine. Can you bring me some medication? I feel like I'm going to fall asleep in class," I sighed into the phone.
"Of course, honey, I'll be there as soon as I can. What time's lunch?"
"In 10 minutes, I think."
"Give me 20," she said hesitantly. I assumed she was handling something at work. A few seconds later I heard typing sounds and a "I'll see you in the meeting tomorrow," after. Mom was so predictable. I laughed and shook my head.
"See you then, Mommy," I whined in a little kid's voice.

I heard the lunch bell sound off as I left the nurse's office. I rushed back to Hoffman's room, grabbed my bag, and made my way to the student parking lot. I watcged the entangled web of cars trying to leave the lot, hoping to find my Mother's.
"JC!" I heard from an unknown direction. I turned my head in many directions, eventually seeing Tyler walking up to me. I smiled and waved, pulling my bag onto to my shoulder and clutching my books.
"Where to?" he asked, grinning, while twirling his car keys around his index finger.
"Where to what?" I asked, confused. He laughed and looked down at me. There was something about the way he did that..look down at me, that always got to me.
"Did you forget our lunch rendevouz?" he asked, moving his hands to his pockets.
"OH!" I said, slapping my forehead, "I'm sorry, I've been blanking out all day." He shifted eyes from me to my arms, and his eyes softened. "No, no, no," I began, "not because of you, really, it's fine," I rambled, getting nervous. He shook his head and moved a little closer.
"I'll make you a deal," he began, a crooked smile appearing at the corners of his mouth. He grabbed my books from me and held onto them. "From here on out, I do all the heavy lifting."
I laughed and looked at him, "Will that make you feel more manly?"
"Most definitely," he chimed.
"Well that's very nice of you, thank you so much," I said in the politest way I could, "Really."
He moved the books down by his side and smiled, "Anytime."
"JC! Over here!" I heard a voice yell behind me. I turned around to see my Mom waving her hand from her car, getting ready to pull in front of us.
"Ahh, thanks, Mom. You're the best!" I said as I grabbed the tiny paper bag she handed to me through the window." I put the meds in my bag and looked up to see her secretly shifting her eyes back to Tyler and mouthing out the words "Introduce. NOW."
"Oh! That's right," I began, turning around, motioning Tyler to come over.
"Mom, meet Tyler. Tyler, meet Mom," I said quickly. Tyler smiled and put forth his hand and shook Mom's.
"It's a pleasure to meet you," he began, "how are you liking the town so far?"
"It's a beautiful place!" Mom exclaimed, "I'm glad we made the move."
"I know, I can't see myself living anywhere else," Tyler added enthusiastically. I stood there and watched them converse; watched Tyler's arms leaning against her car, his smooth skin, his built figure; watched my Mom have a genuine conversation and smile the entire time. The kid had a way with words with parents too, it was really different. Most guys couldn't talk to parents even if their life depended on it. I got lost in their conversation and was brought back down to earth when Mom repeated my name louder.
"You need to take 2 of those right after you eat. And you better have lunch or else. If you don't want to go back to school, I'll call in and excuse you. I need to go, have a good day, honey," she said extremely fast, "It was nice meeting you, Tyler!" and with that, she drove off. I snapped out of it and looked at him.
"There's my mom for ya," I said, shaking my head.
"She's really chill! Be happy," he said, putting his hand on my back, leading me to his car, "My mom is always on my case."
"This is a good point. She likes you though!" I added, "Where are we going?" We eventually stopped in front of a black SUV.
"Say hello to the big daddy," he started off cooly, only to end in laughter.
"The big daddy? Are you serious?" I asked, crossing my arms.
"Dad's car. Long story," he said, changing to a serious tone, "Really."
I laughed and walked over to the passenger side and hopped in.
"Hey, hey, hey!" he exclaimed, as he climbed in.
"Did I break something?!" I asked, startled, almost jumping in my seat.
He shook his head and laughed. "No, relax. You didn't allow me to show my divine gentlemen skills by letting me get the passenger door."
I smiled and sighed, "You scared me! Don't do that." He laughed, put on his sunglasses, and drove off.
"You can show off your 'divine gentleman skills'," I used air quotes, "next time. I promise."

We stopped in front of a restaurant with giant palm trees lining the front, gorgeous tables with umbrellas in the center surrounding the building, and a cursive sign making out the words "Daisycreek Cafe." It was beautiful, a cafe much different than the others I had been to. I was too busy staring to notice that Tyler, being the sly one that he is, made his way to the passenger side and opened the door.
"Who knew I'd get to show those skills sooner rather than later," he said, holding his hand out. I looked down. The SUV was a lot higher than it seemed. I put my hand in his and stepped down, almost losing my balance.
"Careful!" he exclaimed, balancing me out. I held onto my bag and followed him inside.
"Robbie told me you were a vegetarian, so I figured you'd love this place," he said, smiling. I tuned out everyone's words and thought about what he just said. Who would've made an effort to get to know what kind of food I liked? The answer was simple: no one but him. It was the nicest gesture any guy had ever made for me. The words repeated in my head.
"Are you okay?" he whispered as we moved along in line.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," I started, "I was just thinking about something."
"Care to share?" he asked, moving his hand on my back again, moving me forward.
"Maybe later," I smiled. I ordered a vegetable pita and raspberry green tea and Tyler had a toasted turkey sandwich. I looked down and pulled out my wallet, only to look up and see Tyler swipe his card and grab the receipt. "I got it covered," he said, nodding his head to the booth in the right side.
"But, Tyler," I began, only to be cut off.
"No buts, I'm not going to ask you to lunch and then make you pay, end of discussion," he added, as we walked to our table. I couldn't believe I had associated the words "stuck up jock" in a sentence with his name.
"I'll pay you back," I interrupted, "Now, it's the end of the discussion." I had to change topics, before he said no. "So how's the weather?" I added quickly. "We're having some nice weather, aren't we? We sure are!"
He laughed and thanked the waiter who brought our orders.

We bit into our lunch and conversed for a little bit about basketball, my move, our school, how I was liking it, all of that.
"So..," he trailed off, putting his drink down, "spill what you were thinking about earlier." He flashed a smile and rubbed his swiped his brown hair with one hand. He was trying to get me to crack, by looking good and it was definitely working.
"All right, all right, cut the prettyboy act," I said laughing, "I'll tell you."
His face lit up at the joke and he busted into laughter, "I have a prettyboy act?" I rolled my eyes and wiped my mouth with a napkin.
"Well?" he asked, resting his elbows on the table.
"Well," I started, "I was just thinking about how wrong I was about you..you're so-so, nice, and I feel awful."
His face went blank and he looked at me hard in the eyes. "I'm glad you think I'm nice, but there's nothing to feel awful about."
I returned the gaze into his green eyes. He smiled and took a sip of his drink. "Let's just enjoy this 'nice weather'," he air quoted," all right?" I laughed and nodded.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - TYLER POV - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I couldn't help but stare, she was gorgeous. I knew I had it in the bag this time. I wanted to be nice, because she was nice. I wanted to open car doors, pay for lunch, just sit and talk. She sipped on her green tea slowly and looked down at her plate while she ate.
"Hey, you can't air quote my weather talk," she added, giggling. She pushed aside her hair and looked back at me. She rested her chin on her knuckles and stared back. My eyes slowly went down the features of her amazing figure. Her golden-green eyes, her light tan, her soft lips, her petite figure, her pretty hair. Something was just so different about this girl, I didn't understand how anyone could feel this great. I broke my gaze and laughed a little bit, leaning back into the seat. She pushed her plate in front of her and groaned.
"I'm sooo full!" she exclaimed, looking down at her stomach.
"What?!" I questioned, "you had like one bite!" I added jokingly. She was pretty petite, it surprised me because I ate like a horse most of the time.
"I did not!" she refuted, sitting back up and checking the time on her phone. "Okay, we're good, we still have time." she unzipped her jacket, to take it off, but stopped once the bandaging was revealed. She looked around, making sure no one had seen, and suddenly pulled her jacket back up. I could feel my stomach replace the lunch I just had with remorse. I felt like s**t looking at them.
"No..no," I whispered, "Don't worry, it doesn't look bad, you're fine, just, don't," I was stuttering, my thoughts jumbling up together. I stopped and breathed out. "JC, you can take your jacket off, don't worry.." I trailed off, I didn't know what to say. She tapped my arm and smiled and I knew it'd be okay.
"It won't bother you, will it?" she asked. I shook my head and she pulled her jacket off. I eyed the bandaging and tried to block the thoughts from my head.
"Does it, um..does it," I tried to ask, but couldn't.
"Does it, what?"
"Does it hurt?" I finally managed to ask. "I hope not, I don't want it to, I mean."
"Oh no, it definitely doesn't! Don't worry, I'm fine," she said, smiling at me, reaching for her drink. I watched her lips curve around the straw as she sipped. I couldn't help myself, I just had to have her. It had been a few weeks, but I knew I had a long way to go. I checked the clock on the wall and got up as she did.
"Ready to go?" she asked, grabbing all of her things.
"Wait," I said, stopping dead in my tracks. I moved her back into her seat gently. "You thought I'd forget?" I asked, smiling and crossing my arms. A look of confusion enveloped her face. "You need to take your medicine," I added, pointing to her bag.
"AH!" she exclaimed, covering her mouth right after. "I'll take them when we get to school," she said, calming down.
"You better," I said, nudging her out of her seat and walking outside. She ran as soon as we got out and I didn't know why until I realized what direction she was headed in: the passenger side. She was going to beat me to it. I darted as fast as I could and reached the door seconds before she did.
"Hey, no fair!" she shouted, covering the door so I couldn't open it. She was just so different..so much fun. Any other girl would have made a walk back to the car a boring occasion. But not JC.
"Fair? You had the head start!" I whined, trying to move her out of the way.
"Fine, fine, you win, but hold on," she said, moving out of the way.
"What is it?" I asked, getting anxious. She looked up at me, into my eyes, for a few quick seconds.
"Thank you," she said softly, "for lunch. For earlier today. For all of this." I relaxed and smiled the biggest smile, opening the car door.
"You're absolutely welcome. Gentleman skills, remember?"



© 2010 ZEE.


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Added on March 31, 2010
Last Updated on March 31, 2010


Author

ZEE.
ZEE.

HOLLYHOOD, CA



About
i'm zee. i'm loud, outgoing, random, and hella weird(= bye! ask or tell me anything, anything at all. http://www.formspring.com/forms/?702899-NQ71nioL38 http://www.formspring.com/forms/?702899-.. more..

Writing
Chapter 2: Bad Idea Chapter 2: Bad Idea

A Chapter by ZEE.