The Sinful Obsession

Chapter 3

He was being stupid.

Beyond stupid. He knew that, but that still didn't stop him from being stupid.

Jake was acting like a prepubescent kid. Which was stupid because he was legally certified to teach them to be better adults, which meant that he was better than them.

So he shouldn't have what was basically a glorified crush.

It wasn't really a crush, cause she was cool and he actually liked her as a person and not all of those teenager-y reasons (really horniness was the only teenage reason). But his heart beat sped up when she laughed at him or smiled at him and he got nervous around her- and those were all definitely crush symptoms. He felt like an i***t whenever he thought about how much he liked her smile.

Amy had a smile that he was sure she didn't show the world enough of.

He was glad she suggested Friday for their next meet up because he would have died if he had to wait till Saturday without even work to distract him. He never was the patient type, and waiting for Friday was testing his patience.

Jake was positive that he left behind the stage that was capable of instant infatuation years ago, but apparently that was wrong. At least if how fast he rushed home Friday afternoon was any judge of it.

He really should have stayed at work as long as possible, because it would have lowered the amount of times he had to stop himself from going over and knocking on her door absurdly early.

Amy said she would come a bit before midnight when they parted last time, but he didn't know how much the vagueness of her statement was going to bother him then. It was like when you were a kid and your friend said they would be over in about an hour so you go and wait by the door 45 minutes later, and after an hour and 10 minutes you consider going off and doing something else until they get there, but you'd already waited this long and what if they were just down the street at that very moment. And when they finally get there an hour and a half later you have to pretend that you didn't just waste almost an hour waiting for them by the door doing nothing.

Jake realized that and refused to wait by the door and do nothing. What he did do was sit on the couch (a few feet away from the door) and watch TV with the volume on very, very low so there would be no chance of him missing the sound of a knock or the ring of the doorbell.

It was better than nothing.

The knock finally came at 11:45 PM and he wasted no time ushering her out the door to show her the best of the city.

The darkness was a blessing and a curse. The blessing: it stopped him from staring. The curse: it stopped him from staring.

A 5 year old knew that staring was rude, so even though she looked amazing it was ridiculous that he needed an external factor (hence the darkness) for him to resist.

She really did look amazing though. It wasn't just what she was wearing (though she looked good in her shorts and a plain t shirt too).She had a smile he had never seen before, and that might have even been a bit of a nervous one. But he wasn't even sure of that- he just hoped that smile meant something good. And if it was a nervous smile, he hoped it was the good type of nervous, like the one he was feeling- the anticipating and maybe a bit excited and 'please let this go well and not let me screw this up' type of nervous.

She wouldn't have come if it was the bad type of nervous, would she?

He was probably just projecting how he felt. Especially the begging the universe or whatever that he wouldn't screw it up, because he already knew that Amy never made mistakes.

"I used to do this all the time as a kid. Flashlight walks," she said while he was still stressing on the nervous aspect in his head.

While there was going to be enough light when they were close to the city center, and it wasn't too dark in their neighborhood lined with street lamps, it was going to get pretty dark in between. So Jake brought a flashlight and had it out since they had made it to the point where the light faded.

It wouldn't have been pitch without it, but it was nice to have a good view of the ground in front of you any time you were walking.

"We always went as a family. Of course it was more like 8 o' clock in the winter when it got dark earlier cause we all had bed times. After I moved out I guess I never really had anyone to go with. And I didn't want to go alone for safety reasons and all, even if my purse was overflowing with pepper spray canisters."

"Yeah, it's nice to have someone to go with," Jake agreed thoughtfully, before he realized how serious it sounded and had to correct that because he couldn't leave anything serious standing alone for more than a moment. "Especially when that someone is armed with pepper spray to protect the both of you."

But Amy chuckled at that, so he didn't spend too much time dwelling on his faults.

"Uh, are we supposed to be here? Is this like trespassing or something?" Amy asked warily when they got to their destination.

That was when Jake realized he should have thought this out at least a little bit more. They were back to the city center-ish and didn't need the flashlight anymore, but the alley they were in was a bit darker than along the main streets.

Okay, alley was the wrong word. It was a walk way between some rows of buildings and shops, and the only reason alley even remotely applied was because it was too small for a car to get through. But it was designed to be that small, so it wasn't as creepy as you'd think when hearing the words alley and midnight used in the same sentence.

But the metal rail gate with a chain used to keep it closed kinda did make it look like trespassing. The chain was just used to keep it from swinging open, there wasn't even a padlock on the end, it just lasted longer in the elements than rope would when wrapped around the post. Plus there was the keep out sign. That was probably what gave her the trespassing vibe.

Jake had been there a thousand times though, so he knew there was nothing to worry about.

"Nah, the gate is just to keep out the squares. Are you a square, Amy? Cause we can go somewhere else if you're too chicken," he taunted, because making a joke of something was his immediate reaction when he didn't actually know what to do or say.

He really should have considered beforehand how the whole gate thing and medium to large keep out sign would come off. He only thought beforehand about what was going to be fun. But he should have realized how it would look. Their first meeting was sketch, the second was pleasant and friendly, and now he had brought it back to sketch again.

And he made that stupid comment about squares when he should've just forgotten about it and worked out something else.

He should have said something along the lines of 'Hey, sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. This is how to get to my favorite place that I wanted to show you because I was trying to impress you. But I know lots of places that are still pretty awesome and almost as impressive that don't have big keep out signs.'

Instead he taunted her.

"I don't think that anyone has used the term square unironically since 1945," she retorted before pushing past him and the gate, leaving Jake with the responsibility of looping the chain back around the post so it wouldn't swing open in the wind.

"Seriously though. We're not trespassing, right? Are we going to get in trouble?" She whispered after they had been walking for 60 seconds tops, the gate they had just passed was still visible. Her whispering made it seem like she was afraid someone would overhear them any moment and call the cops on them.

"I promise I would not bring you anywhere where you had the chance of being arrested. Or I at least wouldn't bring you anywhere that would get you arrested just by being there. I'm not responsible for what you do after we get there. So we're fine unless you decide to commit a violent crime, then you will definitely be arrested. Seriously, I've been here 100 times, it's fine."

"Are you just saying it's fine cause you've been here 100 times and never been caught or arrested, or have you been here 100 times and actually had permission to do so?"

"Relax," Jake reassured her, though it didn't provide as much comfort as he meant it to. To be fair, he wasn't sure that much would be reassuring in this not-alley this late.

He felt guilty for the jolt that ran through him whenever Amy's hand brushed his. She was beside him the whole way, but after they passed the gate she was next to him. To the point that at all times there was at least some part of her right side pressed into his left. She had to be uncomfortable to say the least since she was sidled up so close to him, and there he was, just wishing he hadn't chosen to wear long sleeves because he was sure there would be more than a steady hum of an electric current on his arm if he had gone with short.

Basically, he felt guilty for enjoying the experience.

"I'm on good terms with everyone here who would even be able to charge us with trespassing so I've got no enemies on this block. And I only need permission from one person to be here, and I've got friends in high places so I've got permission from many people, even if one were to be revoked. So yes, while you're with me you will not be lumped in with the squares."

"So your friends were the first ones who showed you this place?"

"No, the first time I came here I was totally trespassing," Jake confirmed her misdemeanor suspicions of him without the slightest hesitation.

"So is this the whole thing? Just this creepy dark alley?"

"Now, if you think of this in the terms of mysterious pathway-"

"Is this whole thing just a mysterious pathway?"

"No, this mysterious pathway opens to the back of the best shops that have the front entrances on the main street. But they're just further in to deter the squares and that's why it's taking so long to get there."

"Jake, you've gotta stop saying squares. It's so tacky. I'm surprised one of your 3rd graders hasn't beaten you up and stolen your lunch money yet when you use terms like that. You should probably never say the word square again, and just go with equilateral rectangle if you're teaching. For your own safety," she advised.

"Why? Only squares have a problem with not-squares saying squares. So I'm pretty sure that makes you a square."

"You're a square," she shot back as she jabbed him with her elbow, and he fell away with a laugh.

The moment he straightened back up he saw the glass door he was expecting to, and held it open for her.

"You ready to see some weird stuff, Amy?"

"That's what I'm here for, isn't it?"

"I'm warning you, It's pretty creepy in here," Jake said as he led her through the hallway after they got through the door. It barely qualified as a hallway since it was only about 10 feet from the exit/entrance they had just used to the door frame with beads hanging down it, but she sped up like she had something to prove.

"Can't be any creepier than that alley," she reasoned.

"Amy, really, there's something-" he got out before she crossed through the beads and reached what he was going to tell her about. Right on the other side cloaked by the decoration was this creepy little cat thing that had a motion sensor attached to it and sliced it's paw down at average height level whenever anyone set it off and let out this terrifying yowl.

To her credit, Amy didn't even flinch. Or she kinda flinched. Flinched-ish. She didn't jump or make a sound, but her hand shot back and latched onto his arm (Jake had sped up too since he was expecting the cat attack). Her hand dropped an instant later and Jake shouldn't have felt disappointed at that. He shouldn't have, but he did.

"You knew that was coming, didn't you?" She accused him, and there was no point in denying it.

"I tried to warn you."

Really, they could have come here during the day. This wasn't the spontaneous weird stuff Jake usually went around at night to go see, but this was one of his favorite weird places. The spontaneous stuff usually had at least a slight element of danger, and he wasn't going to take Amy anywhere dangerous, so he took her here.

Because this place was definitely weird.

While it was named 'Uniques and Oddities' a more accurate name was 'freaky and creepy and weird and totally cool stuff that you didn't even know existed, much less were legal to purchase'.

And it helped that one of his friends in high places was Beth, AKA the owner of Uniques and Oddities, and he asked ahead if it would be cool of them to stop by since even cool stores didn't usually make a habit of staying open after midnight any old day of the week.

Beth knew they were coming, so she left the back door unlocked. If he had thought of it at the time when they were at the gate to the mysterious pathway they could have tried going around to the front entrance that opened to the very non threatening main street and try to knock on the door and see if she was there.

But he didn't even think of discussing it more than the date and basic time frame, so he wasn't even sure if Beth would be there. He didn't even know if she was going to leave a note with instructions on how to lock up or if he was supposed to just let it go when they left- and that was only if she hadn't stuck around.

Jake was sure she was still there when he saw that all of the lights were on in the front room and he heard the radio playing from that general direction, so it was good that he didn't have to worry about it anymore.

At first glance it was just one of those second hand or antique stores. But if you even took a second longer of closer inspection you would realize that wasn't it at all. It was an amalgamation of vintage stuff and new stuff that worked together to make the totally unnerving vibe, with black and white photographs placed next to Ouija boards that were in turn next to abstract art that was next to those scorpions encased in blue glass to be used as paperweights.

"We're not trespassing here, right? Cause this is like someone's actual property. Like you need a single person's permission, not all of your friends."

"The owner knows we're here and I do have her permission."

She sighed with relief and took a look around. It was clear that Amy thought this place was pretty awesome too.

He followed her though the aisles as she leaned in to get a good look at everything that caught her eye, which seemed to be almost everything, but he completely understood. Jake couldn't get enough of this place when he first discovered it, and he had been here so many times that he practically had the whole place memorized. He could always recognize when something was a new edition since it would be the only thing he didn't recognize that time around.

So that freed him to look at Amy while she looked at everything else. While Jake's favorite things in the store were all of the spookiest things, Amy seemed to like the more scientific stuff.

Not necessarily scientific, but the decidedly not scary or supernatural is what she paid the most attention to. Like globes and telescopes and compasses- and stuff that had constellations on them. Out of all the artistic pieces you could purchase, she seemed to like the antique map based ones the best (his favorites were the paintings that looked completely normal until you noticed some kind of demon was covertly placed so your eyes passed right over it the first time). The store really was unique, not just trying to be scary. It had stuff that you couldn't find anywhere else, so not all of it was creepy.

Not all of it was like the doll's head wax candle Amy was inspecting at the moment.

As if on cue Amy turned up to look at him and caught him staring.

"Hey, you should see-" Jake began in an attempt to recover and make it seem like he was just looking at her because he was about to try to get her attention, but when he spun to pick a random object out he inadvertently set off a motion sensor.

He wasn't expecting that one. It wasn't even a cat one, and he didn't know which it was since it didn't move, jut set off a quick and unnerving alarm that only played for two seconds, but it surprised him.

The sound Jake made may have technically been able to be classified as a shriek, but it was a very soft one. And he didn't jump back, but he did stumble back into Amy.

"That's new. That was definitely not here last time," he gave as an excuse, but she wasn't buying it.

"Aw, are you scared? Do you need to hold my hand?" She mocked him and Jake thought that was the end of it until she slipped something not human into his hand, which he dropped without even thinking as a shudder ran up his spine.

Luckily it was just one of those cheap novelty stress balls in the shape of a skull, so it didn't break when it hit the floor. And the Jake remembered that he had actually seen them two aisles back, and she had probably been planning to do it so it wasn't something expensive that he could possibly break.

He turned to glare at her, but she looked so amused that he couldn't help but smile.

"I'm gonna get you back for that, you know."

"Maybe we should leave before you try too hard, then," she suggested, and that just added to the list of jokes he shouldn't have said that night since it brought up the idea of heading back way before he wanted to. He wasn't sure if she was kidding or not, or even half kidding- but he wanted to prolong the night as much as possible.

"I need to introduce you to Beth first," Jake insisted in a blatant bid of procrastination and started walking to the front of the shop where he knew she would be waiting.

"You're the owner of this place?" Amy near gasped before she caught herself and apologized. "Sorry that probably sounded really rude."

"It's okay, I get that all the time," Beth waved her off with a slight chuckle. "Usually when I'm here I dress a little more for the part. But it's late and only you two, so I'm in my normal clothes."

Jake had been confused the first time he found out too. When Beth was in her normal clothes she looked just like a normal person, blonde hair and jeans and a shirt- just like anyone else walking down the street. And while she had kids now, it was obvious that she would have been a cheerleader in high school- one of the nice ones though.

Her daughter was in Jake's class the year before he first came in here, and when she recognized him she had to literally tell him who she was because even when she was staring him straight in the face he couldn't recognize her by voice either.

I wasn't that she dressed in all black when she was working, but she always wore something that you could immediately tell was not taken off the rack of a name brand department store of your choice (which made up all of her not-work ensemble).

Beth offered them some complimentary sodas that were stored in a glass fridge at the other side of the front room, and before Jake could ask Amy her preference, she asked him what he wanted and went to go pick out hers.

"Hey, I heard what happened. How are you doing?" Beth asked sympathetically as soon as Amy was out of earshot. He had been asked that question a lot lately, and really just the repetition was tiring him out.

"I'm fine," he immediately brushed her off before remembering that was an immature thing to do to a concerned and well meaning friend. "Really, I am. I'm doing good. And thanks for this."

"No problem," she nodded before Amy walked up and handed him his root beer.

"Ready to head back?" He asked Amy in the most upbeat tone he could manage when the question he was really asking was if she was ready to end the night.

"Yeah," she confirmed as she cracked open the cap on her bottle and let the carbonation hiss. "Let's go."

Jake was laughing. Actually laughing, and actually having fun. He hadn't laughed this hard in months. He hadn't felt this happy in months. Two months and five days, to be exact. Well, that date wasn't the last time he laughed this much (because this was a lot of laughing, even for him) but that was when pretty much all of the laughter stopped. Sometimes he felt like he was being a little melodramatic about it. It wasn't like it was completely unexpected. He knew it was understandable that he was upset by it, but sometimes he wondered...

It had been a while since he had fun like this.

And Jake could use some more fun in his life.

He didn't want the night to end. He would have liked to stay out till dawn with her just to push off the reality of the morning sun rise. But it was getting late, and though Amy seemed to be having just as good of a time as him, he wasn't going to make her ask for them to head back.

It was at least 2 AM. The time was just another thing he should have paid attention to, and another thing he only realized after the fact.

When Jake led them back though the mysterious pathway she didn't offer any arguments. She didn't try to stop him when he wrapped the chain around the post so the gate wouldn't swing open, nor did she say anything about it when they started on the same route that had brought them there, the same route that led back to their houses.

And even though she didn't mention it when they were past the point of no return, or at least the point of no doubt where the light faded and he had to pull the flashlight back out, she didn't seem to be in a rush either.

If neither of them were talking, that meant they were both laughing. Even if it was more like chuckling, or snickering, or doing those little huffy breaths because you couldn't manage to make a sound. Just happy noises.

They bumped shoulders every few seconds the whole walk home, and god was it nice.

"This is so weird. I don't think I've walked a girl to her doorstep since 10th grade," Jake joked as he did exactly that. It really wasn't that weird since they lived on the same street, and she probably didn't think it was weird at all until he mentioned it but if he was ever met with a silence he had to fill it.

It all felt 10th grade. Like he was dropping Amy off after he took her to the movies with his newly earned drivers license and he wasn't sure if he should kiss her goodbye or leave it for their next date.

And Jake had to remind himself that they didn't get back from the movies, and he'd had his driver's license for like 15 years, and that this was never even a date.

He probably should have just stayed at the sidewalk, or even crossed the street to his place earlier, but he didn't. No, Jake had to be all nervous highschooler and literally walk her to her doorstep and make it all awkward.

So he walked her to the doorstep of the blue house with the spiral-thingy.

To make it all worse her porch light was on and illuminated the darkness (as lights are wont to do) so there was nothing to stop him from staring at her but himself, and Jake never was good at self control.

Her hair was tied up with loose tendrils hanging to frame her face as if he needed any sort of indicator that that was exactly where he should be staring. While in the 10th grade scenario he would have been left deciding between three options: leaving with a smile, kissing her on the cheek, or kissing her on the lips. Adult Jake should have left with a smile, but he was only thinking about the third option.

"So, uh..." he started, because he knew he couldn't just leave without saying a word.

He realized that his was the part where he was supposed to say how he had a good time and wanted to hang out again in the near future (the nearer the better) or at least something, but he had no clue what to say or how to even broach the topic. He was working through what words to even speak, and was close to settling on just leaving with a goodbye and knocking on her door in the next few days when he had an idea of something to do so she might actually have a reason to say yes when all he wanted was to just see her again.

He was that close to leaving when Amy tucked the tendrils of hair behind both ears and bit her lip.

It probably didn't even count as a bite. She dragged her bottom lip in and scraped her teeth across it for probably less than a millisecond, but it was transfixing.

He didn't even think about kissing her, just did it. And definitely not on the cheek.

His hands were on her face and she was kissing back and it was beyond great. He could barely taste the flavor of lemon chapstick she was wearing and he wanted nothing more than to lick her lips and taste the inside of her mouth. Everything about her was pure indulgence.

And then Jake remembered why kissing her was the stupid option. They were right on her doorstep in a well lit neighborhood and even though he thought they were past the whole stranger danger thing, he was still some guy she'd only met three times kissing her at 2 AM.

Yup, Jake was the master of self control.

So when he pulled back he ran through his apology a mile a minute.

"Sorry. You barely know me. Usually it's get acquainted with someone and then try to kiss them. Got that the wrong way round. I've just been thinking about doing that ever since I first saw you. Well, not literally, like when I thought you were following me or when I actually got a good look at your face but after we started talking like- Sunday night. Definitely by the end of Sunday night. But, I mean, that was way- I didn't mean for that to- I promise I'll at least know your last name before I try that again. I mean- if you want me to try again. If you ever even want to look in my direction after-"

"Sanchez," she cut him off. She said it like it was the only answer to a question he hadn't even asked, but he was pretty sure whatever came out of her mouth wasn't even a real word unless he had a case of spontaneous hearing loss.

He hadn't even realized that he was looking basically anywhere but at her through that whole rushed apology until he had to force himself back to her eyes.

And she had another smile he had never seen before that night.

It would probably be better classified as a smirk- slight and cocky and totally provocative and he had no idea what it was doing on her face.

"Huh?"

"My last name. It's Sanchez."

"Oh, uh, Perry," he fumbled and had to resist the urge to hold out his hand for a shake.

Why the f**k did he want to shake her hand? The only reason he could think was that it was a conditioned response since usually you shook hands during introductions, and usually you learned last names during introductions. Still, it was stupid he had to fight the instinct to shake her f*****g hand. He wanted to f**k her with his hand.

Fuck, this train of thought was going nowhere fast.

"Can we go back to kissing now?" Amy asked impatiently like she had been waiting for him to initiate it instead of just standing there wide eyed and frozen.

"If you want," Jake shrugged. He should have been ecstatic, but his brain was still trying to keep up and process everything that had just happened, much less the last question she asked- how did they even get to there?

And while his brain was still lagging 10 minutes behind Amy shoved him against the blue panels of her house with the spiral-thingy and took his small gasp of surprise as opportunity to thrust her tongue in his mouth and f**k it was fantastic.

And maybe he was getting a bit carried away when he pulled out her hair tie and let it fall to god knows where just so he could tangle his fingers in all of it. And maybe he was going a bit too far when he tugged her lip with his teeth and groaned when she rolled her hips into his. And maybe he was getting a bit too into it when they were right on her doorstep in the middle of a well lit neighborhood at 2 AM.

He could admit that.

He could also admit that he could not care less about anything other than the sounds coming from the back of her throat and the hint of lemon chapstick and her taste on his tongue.

Jake couldn't say he'd ever had the experience of being pinned against a wall before, but he was very into it.

"I would invite you in, but roommate and all. Your place is empty, right?" She suggested, and he nodded numbly before she led them across the street to his house.

It wasn't like he did this everyday. Literally every single girl Jake had ever dated before he had been friends with first or set up by friends. None of the first time I hear your last name and third time I'd ever seen you stuff that they just went through.

He didn't even know her well enough to know if she was the casual type. He wasn't, at all, but she was so amazing. It was insane how much he liked her. Already. And he didn't want to give up Amy Sanchez for anything.

And the s*x was pretty awesome too.

At the moment they were lying in his bed and trying to catch their breath from a very fun time, and he was still trying to remember how to speak properly, and even after he rediscovered the ability he still had no idea what to say.

"I don't know how to ask this, so uh- do you have a boyfriend?" Jake would have held his breath in wait for her answer if he still wasn't trying to catch it in the first place.

"No. Do you have a girlfriend?"

"Nope," he began before a slight pause. "You wanna be mine?"

"I'd like that," Amy said softly and he let out a huge sigh of relief that was really a huge exhale of relief.

"God, you don't know how glad I am you said yes."

"Really?" Her voice sounded demure as she turned to face him. They'd both been lying on their backs staring at the ceiling until that moment, and now Jake was the only one staring at the ceiling. He wanted to stare at her, but he couldn't be looking at her if he was going to say what he was going to say, even though he didn't want to say what he was going to say cause he sucked at stuff like this, but he was also not the master of self control he had claimed to be.

"It is ridiculous how much I like you already. And I feel so stupid telling you this right now, but I just really need you to know. Like I'm not one of those people who's like open and stuff, about important crap, like emotions and all that jazz- but I am one of those people who ramble and it's mortifying in situations like this. And even if we counted all of our meetings as dates- which I don't think we can, especially not the first one- I don't even have a three date rule. I don't even have a dating rule before asking someone out. If anything I have a 'I've known you for months and think you're pretty cool and you wanna try something sometime' rule or a 'You're friends with my friends and they say you're pretty cool and you wanna try something sometime' rule. So I don't have anything prepared for a 'meet her once and can't stop thinking about her and feel my own heart beating before even knowing her a week' kind of girl."

"You broke my rules too," Amy informed him when he took a pause to breathe, and he was so f*****g grateful for a reason to shut up. "First and foremost, the most important rule I have: stay on a one word greeting basis with neighbors at all cost."

Jake laughed at that and turned to face her, and was surprised when he had done so and found out how close she was. Like really close. But a good close.

"There he is," she marveled when his eyes met hers, and she reached a hand up to his cheek. Jake almost flinched at the sudden contact, but he was so glad he didn't. Cause if he did she might have got the wrong idea and pulled her hand away. So instead of flinching he froze, and the longer her fingers rested on his skin the more he relaxed, until it felt like they had always been there.

Amy's eyes had a softness he knew he didn't deserve, and at the very least hadn't earned from the likes of someone like her.

"We really don't know all that much about each other, do we?" She mused and stroked his cheek with her thumb.

Jake didn't know where the sudden tenderness and affection was coming from, but he was rather fond of it. He'd never had this before, this closeness, and he didn't know how it had manifested in less than seven days. He wondered if he was doing something different. Would she still be this warm with him if he hadn't rambled? Cause the rambling was different and new- like he always rambled, but he'd never been in a romantic situation where he said horrifyingly relevant stuff when he couldn't stop talking. His rambles had never been as horrifyingly feeling-y as the last one was, and he wondered if this was what he was missing out on by being all closed up.

But Jake was pretty sure it had nothing to do with him, and he was as awful as always. It was all Amy.

"I always immediately discounted those people who said it felt like they've known each other their whole lives. And I'm still sure they're exaggerating. So I don't feel like I've known you my whole life, but I'd say we've got a two year relationship under our belt, wouldn't you?"

"Definitely," Jake grinned.

"Ice breakers?"

"I'm pretty sure s*x is the ultimate ice breaker."

"So you're saying you don't know any?" She taunted. As far as he was concerned, Amy could taunt him all she wanted. He wanted her to taunt him. Cause she got that cocky little smirk when she did it that he was looking forward to becoming more familiar with.

"I am the king of ice breakers."

"Ugh! That's where I was before I met you. It was the worst," Amy groaned without giving him any more information to go on what she meant. He wasn't even sure what he said that was met with this reaction. Jake tried running through what just came out of his mouth, but it was harder than he thought.

The conversation they were having hadn't been very linear, cause neither of their thoughts were linear at the time. So they were just flitting around from topic to topic and it was great, but every time they lost a train of thought it was no hope to even try to get it back since there was no guarantee you'd ever make it back to what inspired the thought you lost in the first place.

"Where?"

"Before my car broke down. And I had to not follow you home. Kylie signed me up for this awful speed dating thing, and I swear they get worse every time. I thought she had finally stopped doing that to me like she did in college, and I had the grace period after I moved in where I thought she finally got it out of her system until she drops it on me and guilts me into going last Sunday. And they're always so horrible and they think the quickness makes it more exciting, but nothing could change the fact that everyone who goes to one of those things is so boring."

"I'm sure you would have found another interesting person like you that was roped in by a well meaning friend too."

"You don't get it, Jake. I'm part of the problem. I'm one of those boring people. Only boring people go to those things, and I'm definitely a boring person either way," she told him, and he really didn't get it.

He understood that she wasn't one of those let loose types of people, and that her personality was more cautious than carefree, but that wasn't boring. That's the kind of thing a kid would say to insult someone who actually enjoyed school. That was the kind of thing he'd actually heard plenty of kids say to insult someone who enjoyed school. Really the only thing about her that would even deserve that description was her job. Accounting was a boring field to go into. But over their conversations that night (and the whole oreo thing she discovered, that was actually upsetting) it was clear that she liked numbers and patterns.

Jake started hating school as he got older. All the fun stuff was in elementary. They cut out recess in 6th grade, and it was all downhill from there. So he wasn't into math and to be honest, he still found numbers boring. But even he knew that didn't make her boring.

Everyone outgrew that whole judging people because they were 'nerdy' thing after they graduated high school, if not before then. Even so, he'd always found it hot when chicks were smarter than him.

"Why would you say that? You just said that it was your friend who made you go."

"Yeah, and I have a friend who forces me to go to them because I'm boring. Have your friends ever forced you to go speed dating?"

"I would've signed myself up if I knew I had the chance to meet you."

"Nice dodge. But seriously, you can't tell me you would even look twice at me if we didn't have one of the weirdest meetings in modern history."

And it was back to 10th grade again. She was talking about it like he was one of the cool kids and he'd just invited her to sit at the lunch table. He wasn't even one of the 'cool kids' back when he was in high school- he was telling the truth when he said he was the class clown the first night he met her. And while cool kid circles and funny kid circles did overlap often, if he stopped goofing off he wouldn't have fit into either.

Either way, that didn't matter. Cool, funny, and boring stopped mattering a long time ago. The only thing that mattered was that he really liked Amy and that she didn't get how ridiculous it was to describe herself as boring.

"Oh, but I would. I really would," he told her completely honest, and she smiled a bit and rolled her eyes, but he needed her to believe him. "I would walk over to you even if we weren't matched up. I would introduce myself cause you're pretty and I'd stay and talk cause you're interesting."

"Am I staying the night?" Amy asked like there was even a chance of him kicking her out. He may have felt a little bad that she thought she even had to ask, until he remembered they really had only known each other for six days. She was right about the whole years thing, but he would say it was like they'd known each other for three instead of two.

"Is your roommate going to think I murdered you?" Jake pulled her closer and tried to focus on how great it was and not how unusual it was.

There was always that awkward phase in a new relationship where you still weren't used to being together and it was just uncomfortable until you blew past it. Usually there was one person who would push past it and bring the other with them. There was always a line that a couple had to break.

But there wasn't one here, between him and Amy. And it wasn't like one of them had broken the line in record time, it was that there never was one.

Technically the clock didn't start until she said the words "I'd like that" but even before that he just wanted to be touching her. And not like inappropriately (though that was enjoyable too). Just, y'know, touching. Skin to skin contact was vastly underrated when not involved in a s****l context.

After she said the words "I'd like that" he had been afraid to touch her. Because he couldn't tell where the line was.

Jake was a very sociable person, and as one he was pretty great at picking up nonverbal signals. So he always knew where the line was, or at least the general area. And he was a contributing factor to wherever the line was for that relationship, just how comfortable they were together and how quick they were able to adjust.

But he didn't have anything to contribute to the barrier this time, and that was weird enough on it's own. But he couldn't tell where Amy's line was either.

Normally it would be Jake/So-and-so's line, and if the pattern continued it would have been Jake/Amy's line here. But he had absolutely no qualms about it (at least in terms of his own comfortableness), so all that was left was Amy's line. And from all of the social cues he could read subconsciously (if he had to actually think about it he didn't know how he picked up on most of that stuff, but just that he did) Amy didn't have a line either. So he couldn't tell where her line was and he was afraid of crossing it too quickly since he had no clue where it began and where it ended, and the last thing he wanted to do was make her uncomfortable.

So he didn't touch her.

Until she did the whole hand cheek thing. That made it abundantly clear that if Amy did in fact have a line, even she didn't know where it was.

"No, I texted her."

"When?"

If he remembered correctly her purse was dropped somewhere by the front door, and both of their clothes were still scattered across the floor between there and his bedroom, and he definitely would have noticed if she left the bed to look for her phone. It was hard to keep his hands off of her, much less his eyes.

"Back in town, when I was getting the drinks. I told her there was the possibility we'd end up back at your place," Amy murmured into his chest, and it felt really nice until he had to go and ruin it all with his reaction.

"Seriously?! You thought that back in town? Why didn't you do something about it?" He criticized her as he jolted up. Not straight up, but more like jolted halfway up because he realized what he was doing, but it was already too late. Jake had ruined their comfortable position. And now Amy was looking at him like he was crazy, which was probably a valid concern.

"I felt like such an awful person for the first 40 seconds after kissing you cause I thought that I freaked you out or something. And then I was completely confused for the next five minutes straight. To tell you the truth, I'm still a bit confused," he admitted with a sigh. "The guy doesn't always have to make the first move, y'know."

"I know that," she responded like she was insulted. "I just don't make a habit of spending time with people people, so I didn't know if you actually liked me or were just being all extroverted all over the place," Amy explained as she wiggled her fingers like a poor attempt at jazz hands that got mixed with itsy bitsy spider along the way, reaching a crescendo on the word 'extroverted'.

And she was so, so wrong about herself. Because she was interesting, and fascinating, and mesmerizing- and everything that's the opposite of boring. If anyone could see her right then like he could, they'd know in an instant that she was anything but boring (though hopefully she'd be dressed if other people were looking).

Her hair was in disarray as it spilled onto her shoulders with single strands sticking out at the oddest angles, and she kept having to blow the same thin strip out of her face every so often. Amy was definitely one of those people who made sure they looked perfect and presentable every time they left the house, including their hair. And while it had always looked nice before, Jake's favorite was the mess it was in now, so of course he was going to mess it up every chance he got.

Really, he could spend hours thinking about how great she looked. And even if it was far from presentable, she looked absolutely perfect in that moment. Because she was beautiful, crazy fingers and all. Every expression that crossed her face made her look more alive than anyone he had ever seen. Her eyes were the best part. They were wild and warm in her indictment of his personality, but faded into softness that was still just as warm when they met his.

That's when Jake realized another thing he should have been paying attention to was how long he was staring, but when he snapped out of it he still had no clue.

"You okay?" She questioned with the slightest twinge of trepidation.

"Yeah."

"Why do I not believe you," she formed it as a statement of doubt, not a question. Damn, he'd probably been making a weird face for a while then, if not completely blank.

He could have told her the truth right then. That he was thinking she was the most interesting person he'd ever met, and that she was the most gorgeous thing he'd ever laid eyes on even without the shirtless aspect.

But Jake wasn't someone who was open with jazzy emotions, and if he tried to say something meaningful he was sure to ramble but there was no guarantee that it would be relevant this time. And somehow he was sure Amy knew that, and that she didn't expect him to confess everything he had been thinking. And Jake knew that if he backed out with a smile and a joke she would know that whatever made him stop and stare wasn't something to worry about, and that he'd tell her about it sometime.

This was a three year/two year/six day/four hour relationship after all.

"Are you sure I'm not just extroverting all over the place right now?" He repeated her itsy bitsy spider hands with his sarcastic response, and he was right. She knew then that it was nothing to worry about.

"I'll show you extroverting all over the place," Amy threatened without moving.

"Do it," he taunted, but he didn't regret it that time. He regretted the first taunt he made that night (or was it technically last night when they were at the gate?) immediately after, and he regretted the comment he made that gave her the idea to leave Beth's store as soon as it was out of his mouth, and he regretted the first kiss while he was still kissing her. But he didn't regret any of that now, because it somehow led to this, and if it didn't happen they might not have gotten here, and even if they did he might not have received the sudden tenderness and affection that he easily returned. So he didn't regret a thing.

He was thankful for everything that happened because it led them to this moment when Amy pushed him down and his head hit the pillow to show him her idea of 'extroverting'. Though it didn't seem any different from how they had been most of the time, because they both started laughing that faded into stupid silly grins.

"So, are you gonna stay?" Jake asked earnestly with a touch more seriousness than what they had dropped down from. He pushed the same strip of hair she had been blowing out of her face for much of the night and instead of tucking it behind her ear, he held it back and steadied his hand on her.

"Are you offering?" She smirked. She already knew the answer anyway, but he didn't mind saying it out loud, especially if she wanted to hear his response.

"Amy Sanchez, I am definitely offering."