Who Am I Dating?

"So, what's the catch?"

"Hm?"

"You asked me to come to the party on Saturday to, your words, not mine, 'have an old cuppa with my mate.' You never do that." Jean said accusingly. “You don’t even have ‘old cuppas’ at a party, Jason.”

Jean’s Hispanic friend, Jason, rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. Looks like he had been caught. “Oh, come on, sweetie,” he pleaded with her. “It’s just an old party. Besides, it’s one of the first ones of the semester. And with the Entomology kids conducting it, you can be sure it’ll be all tame.”

Jean shuddered. “Ew, stop. Don’t say it like that, prat.” She stood up from their table when the buzzer trembled in her cupped palms, signalling that their order was ready.

“Please try to think of a convincing reason by the time I return,” the brunette glared at her best friend before stalking away to the counter.

Jean really had no problem with whatever he got up to, as long as he kept his endeavours to himself. She supposed she had to be grateful he stuck around at all; despite being popular, he was the only one still willing to be friends with a Forensics freak like her from the very first day of the first semester. Now it was the third semester. A long time had passed, indeed.

“Two lattes for Jean Taylor?” the man behind the counter asked, his hand placed protectively around the two drinks. Jean chuckled. “Yes, that’s me,” she grinned. His features relaxed, and he pushed the tray towards her with a soft, “Enjoy.”

He looked cute, with his puppy-like face and adorable pale blonde hair flopping over his silver eyes. Jean made a mental note to visit this café more before she would ask for his number. Maybe they would hit it off. Then become a couple. Oh, that’d be her first relationship! They’d sit by the river and get ice-cream-

“…ean. Jean!” Jason was snapping his fingers in front of her. She was tugged back to reality as he rolled his eyes. “I’ve got Women’s Poetry class in a few minutes, Jean. As much as I despise poetry, I need to get the credits.”

She ignored him. “You decided on your rock-solid reason yet? For me to accompany you to the tame, peaceful party by the Entomology kids this Saturday?”

Jason cocked an eyebrow and smirk. She backed away. That look meant trouble.

He jerked his chin towards the cute barista. “That guy you’ve been crushing over for the last twelve seconds? He’s in Zoology.”

“And?”

“And?” Jason scoffed. “Use your brains, idiot. The Ento and Zoo students are basically family. He’s invited.”

Jean’s eyes widened. She slurped a bit too hard on her coffee and ended up choking on it. She looked up to her dear best friend for help and support…

Jason was cackling, the devil.

Never mind, then.

“I take it you are coming, after all?” he wiped his eyes of the tears of mirth.

Jean nodded, still recovering from her burning throat. She was so going to get back at him for that. Later. Soon. Maybe.

****

Saturday was quick to arrive. Jean had continued visiting the café for the remaining three days of the week, exchanging shy looks with the cute barista. She didn’t care that he smiled the same smile for other customers too. Her attention was focused on The Spark^TM that she swore had occurred in their first meeting. The flop of his hair. The sparkle in his eyes. The grace in his fingers. The elegance of his frame. Ah, heaven.

Jason had hit the maximum record for eye rolls in those very days.

He had strangely gone quiet, and Jean couldn’t place her finger on what was wrong. Part of her was screaming and yelling at her that it had something to do with his invitation, but she pushed it down. It was alright. It had to be. He was her friend. He wouldn’t pull off something mean, or- or crazy.

Now, on this fine Saturday evening, she surveyed herself in the small mirror attached to her cupboard door in her dormitory. Hm. Brown hair curled to gentle waves, touch of eyeliner with perfect wings at the tips, all traces of leg or arm hair gone, so that it complemented her dress. Her choice of clothing had been carefully selected too- by Jason, of all people.

“Wear this,” he had handed her a small shopping bag. She had promptly upturned it in her dorm to gasp at the exquisite velvety green knee-length dress with a cowl neck which now hugged her frame. She turned to check on the fit. 

This had been a very generous gift. Jason hadn’t even let her see the price tag, let alone pay him back. This very fact was what was very, very suspicious.

Slipping on the black heels, she sighed. Should she really be doing this? All for the sake of a common crush?

But before she could back out, her phone pinged with Jason’s text.

I’m in front of your building. The security lady’s scary, gal. Come out fast.

She rolled her eyes. His impeccable grammar seeped into his texts. It irritated her to no end. She huffily typed a reply.

Shut up >:(

Dwnstrs in min

Slinging her handbag on, she locked the door and left.

****

“Hey, Jason!”

“How are you, man?”

“Hi Jason!”

“Long time, Jay!”

Jean looked around, nervously digging her thumb into the strap of the bag. It was as Jason had promised: a silent, peaceful party. The disco lights were scattered, but the area was lit enough to make out where you were walking without bunting your nose into someone’s back… or head.

And as expected, she was being completely ignored. Oh, the perks of being friends with the popular guy.

“Who’s the chick behind you?” someone asked. About time someone did. Although Jean didn’t quite appreciate the term. What was so wrong with ‘girl’?

Jason smirked. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her flush beside him. “Say hi to my girlfriend, Jean.”

What.

The.

Actual.

Hell.

She whirled her head to bore holes into Jason’s head with the fieriest stare possible.

Girlfriend?

And then everything clicked into place. Why Jason had been so aloof, so vague with the details, and had skirted around the question. 

There was a catch. She had been too blind to notice it.

She smiled in the most sickeningly saccharine manner and dragged him away to the balcony of the floor by his upper arm. Safe to say, Jason looked terrified, though he did a good job of masking it.

She let go of his arm once they were safe out in the open, the door locked shut behind them. He had scalded her tonight.

“Explain,” she crossed her arms. “Explain yourself, Jason Rodríguez, before I karate-chop you out of existence.”

“Whoa, cool down!” Jason held up his hands in mock surrender. “I know, it was mean of me to not tell you of this-” Jean scoffed- “and I’m really sorry about that. But can you please, please, please, go along with it for now and let me explain to you after the party’s over?”

Jean huffed and a growl escaped her throat which suspiciously sounded like, “Men.”

“No.” She crossed her arms in defiance.

“No?”

“You betcha.”

Jason ran a hand through his wild locks. “You’re not making this any easier, sweetheart,” he sighed. And his best friend of three semesters finally snapped. 

“Stop with the ‘sweetheart’ nonsense!” she yelled. “I decide to trust you for one night, for one night only, and you go ahead to muck up my life! Do you have any idea how popular you are? Do you have any idea what a living hell you made my life? This… this explanation is the LEAST you owe me!”

Jason gulped. Then hung his head. “I’m sorry, Prima. I know how popular I am. It’s just… the guys the other day pressed on that I had to have a girlfriend, seeing my so-called ‘social status’ and insisted I was hiding her. I folded and took the first name that came to mind. I swear, I didn’t intend for you to be a scapegoat.”

Jean was still glaring at him, but at least she had her reason now. She rubbed her temples. A mild headache was brewing. Urgh. She needed to get home. “Fine. One glass of beer. A couple smiles at your ‘guys’. Then I’m out.”

Jason nodded, relieved that she wasn’t all yells anymore. 

She jabbed a finger into his chest.

Ow. Spoke too soon.

“On no account are you to spread the word, though, Jason,” she hissed, getting close to his ear. “Tell your friends that you’ve been keeping it quiet for personal reasons, and make them keep quiet about it. I don’t care how you do it. Beg if you have to.”

The man nodded. She was clearly in charge.

****

Jean had been a genius at statistics as a kid. That’s what had set her ahead of her peers in her Mathematics exams. 

Running through the campus grounds, she was cursing this very ability right now.

“Damn it… damn it all!!” she roared, cruising on her feet as they burned a trail on the ground which was nearly extinguished by a crowd of furious fangirls yelling and chasing after her. She had expected this to happen, predicted it even, but she wasn’t prepared in the slightest for each of her meticulous calculations to come true.

Jason’s friends would blabber: true.

Jason’s friends would blabber to their girlfriends: also true.

Those girlfriends would chatter to their friends: destined.

Her eyes scanned her surroundings for some form of escape, searching each and every nook and cranny and lane and door and window to hop into. 

What she didn’t account for was a pair of pale arms to grab her and pull her into one of those doors. She was startled, to say in the least, but when she saw her kidnapper’s face, her tense form relaxed.

“I hope you’re okay,” the cute Zoology barista enquired softly. Her heart melted again. She lowered her gaze and tucked a stray hair behind her ear. “Yeah, thanks for the save.”

“It was no problem,” he grinned cheerily. She lifted her eyes and looked around. “Where are we?”

“Oh,” he exclaimed. “Welcome to the lab.” He gestured with a flourish of his arms, then awkwardly retracted them and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. Maybe it was out of character for him to do that. Jean could only think of how cute that little action was.

The boy’s cheeks burned a bright pink as he ducked his head. “E- Excuse me?”

Oh, dear god, had she said that aloud?

“Uh… I haven’t told you my name yet,” Jean sought a distraction. “I’m Jean Taylor.”

“Ah… Romeo Agosti,” he held out his hand. She shook it for a couple of seconds but pulled away as if burnt. Aw, it was a name as adorable as his personality. Soft and fluffy.

“I didn’t see you at the party the other day,” she blurted and mentally kicked herself. Why, Jean, why? Did you not get a good dose of embarrassment already?

“I was there,” he mumbled, interested in the floor. “To be honest… Jason had said that you’d be there, so I went to the party. But I heard him announcing you as his girlfriend and then you didn’t stick around for long… I’m sorry.”

Jean blinked.

Then blinked again.

He knew Jason?!

“Jason invited you?” she practically screamed, disbelief rolling off her in waves. Romeo’s eyebrows shot up. “Yes,” he answered carefully. 

“Wait up a second,” she lifted her hand. If Jason invited him, it was to clearly get her to meet him. But then he made a loud and clear announcement, which he knew would be heard by Romeo… and make him… jealous? 

No way.

Jason was playing matchmaker.

Jean threw her head back and laughed. Her hair grew tangled and wild as her shoulders shook. Her backpack slipped off one of her arms. 

Romeo wisely took a step back. “W- What happened?” he asked.

“Oh, sweet cupcakes,” she wiped her eyes, remnants of her outrageous, unladylike laugh still gracing her lips. “Jason, you absolute scamp.”

She took a couple of steps forward towards her crush. It was time to be bold and help Jason finish his mission.

“Do you like me?” she asked, hitting bullseye as she noticed Romeo flinch. He gulped, contemplating his choices. “What about you?” he counter-questioned. She crossed her arms behind her back and looked him in the eye. Her knees were shaking, but she couldn’t back out. “I do, I like you a lot.”

She didn’t think it was possible for his cheeks to get redder, but they did, the shade travelling down his neck. He nodded, not trusting his voice.

“Will you… go out with me?” she asked.

Eek! The deed was done.

Romeo gulped again. “If that’s okay with you?” it came out more like a question.

Okay, Jane’s heart was officially a molten puddle now.

She rushed forward and squeezed him in a hug. “Aw, of course! Why would I have asked you otherwise?”

Romeo laughed. It was then and there that she decided that it was her favourite sound in the world.

From somewhere behind the stations in the lab, a faint shutter sound went off. The photographer cursed loudly and both the new couple’s heads whipped around.

“Who’s there?” Jean demanded. 

Her eyes nearly popped out of her skull.

It was Jason. Again.

“You-!” Jean roared, her voice going hoarse and squeaky. “You scheming, conniving, self-absorbed, dumb-”

“Jean, wait,” Romeo protested weakly.

“- raving mad, absolute nutter-”

“We can talk this out, woman!” Jason had started running.

“- idiooooooot!” Jean’s voice echoed throughout the campus.

Romeo shrugged. At least he was dating her now. “It was nice knowing you, Jay,” he murmured to himself and chuckled.