Biker Class (35 page)

She supposed that since she'd admitted to herself how she felt about
him, she was suddenly paranoid to look her best. Just to make sure that he felt
the same way.

But how would the way she looked make a difference in his answer? It
wouldn't.

But it made her feel better about herself. So... why not?

Jake met her with a huge smile, his eyes shining. Admittedly, she
hadn't planned on dressing up this much... but she had. And apparently, she had
an excuse now, because Jake was dressed nicely, too. The restaurant was a nice
one. She decided that could be her cushion if he wondered why she was wearing a
dress.

Jake's eyes gazed at her up and down, ecstatic. Her dress was a light
blue, complimenting her skin tone. It was shining with a small
white,
button up sweater over her shoulders. Her hair was
curled lightly, her make up natural but making her smile and eyes shine. She
wore silver heels.

"You, uh... you look really nice," was all he could make
himself say. He internally punched himself. He sounded so boyish! He was a man!
He cleared his throat and tried to make his voice deeper, but not make it sound
ridiculous. "I mean, um..." cough-cough "...you look
awesome."
Awesome
? Where did that come from? Was that really the
best thing that he could come up with?

Little did he know, Melanie was finding this completely adorable. And
she was still trying to take in the fact that, for the first time since she'd
met him, he
wasn't
wearing the leather jacket. He was clad in khaki
pants that looked brand new and a blue collared shirt, making his eyes even
more blue
. She blushed as she realized that she was staring
too long... and that they matched. Can you say cheesy?

He smirked as she cleared her throat and looked down to the ground,
cheeks a little pink. "Um, well, you look really nice, too. I see you
ditched the leather."

He shrugged, still smiling smugly. "I figured that the jacket
didn't really go with the pants. Just bought them today."

"They look really good," she grinned. "I like the
preppy Jake."

"Preppy?" he repeated, scowling. Oh no, he looked like a
total sissy!

"No! Not like that!" she said quickly. "I meant...
like, clean!"

"So I'm dirty now?" he teased, watching her squirm. But Melanie
didn't pick up on the joking tone.

"No! No! You're always clean! Very clean! Um..."

"Relax, Melanie, I'm joking," he laughed, putting an arm
around her shoulders. She laughed uneasily as he led her into the restaurant.
What was up with her tonight? She normally always had something to say around
him. She told herself repeatedly to calm down as they were led to their table.
It was nice, clean, with a white tablecloth and intricate silverware settings.

As they sat down to eat, Melanie fiddled with her hands awkwardly.
What should she say? Why was her mind blank? Why did it have to go blank
now
,
of all moments?

"I'm serious, though," Jake suddenly said, smiling softly,
"you do look really nice." She giggled uncomfortably, flattered. The
candle light at their table cast a very attractive shadow on Jake's face.
Groan.
That
definitely didn't make things any easier. He smirked that
signature smirk of his... which was hot and made things worse... and spoke.
"You okay?"

"Oh, yeah! Yeah, I'm cool." Her blush graced her cheeks yet
again. Jake noticed her odd amount of flushing and blushing lately. She always
did it around him, but tonight it was more than usual. What was up?

"So, didn't have any nightmares last night, did you?"

"Ha ha, no. Why?"

"Those movies seemed to scar you and Rachel for life," he
joked.

"Naw," she shooed. "We're fine. Or at least I am."
She grinned. "I appreciate your little present for me on my windowsill.
That was really sweet."

"Well," he popped his collar, smirking, "that's
me." Melanie laughed.

"Hello, sir, miss," a man came up to
the table, grinning.
He looked as if he was in college. His brushed
his brown hair out of his eyes as he saw Melanie. "May I get you two
anything?"

"I'll just have a coke," Jake said nonchalantly, sitting
back in his chair. The waiter nodded and turned to Melanie, his smile just a
little
bigger.

"And for you, miss?"

"Um... I think I'll just have a water," she nodded, smiling
politely.

"So, is this your first time here?" he asked her.

"Yeah, it is. It's really nice," she grinned.

"Awesome," he grinned. Jake suddenly looked up from his
phone that he had pulled out while Melanie ordered, aware. There was no way. It
couldn't be. "I'm glad you like it, Miss
..
.?"

"Uh, Melanie," she said quickly, trying to be polite, but
she really just wished she could get her drink.

Jake cleared his throat loudly, sitting up straighter in his chair and
eying the waiter. The man turned around with his brows raised innocently.

"Yes, sir?" he asked. "Are you ready to order?"

"Not quite," Jake replied, a little icily. "I'd just
like my drink as soon as possible. I'm
really
thirsty." He narrowed
his eyes. The waiter took the hint and rushed off to the kitchen. Jake sighed
and sat back in his chair, watching Melanie as if she was a gold necklace in a
room full of burglars. His possessive stare made her a little uncomfortable.

"What was that?" she tried to ask lightly.

He shook his head, holding back the angry thoughts that wanted to
flood from his mouth like a river. "Could you not tell?"

"Tell what?"

Jake ran his hand through his hair, laughing disbelievingly. "He
was all over you!"

Melanie's brows pulled together and a few seconds passed before she
said anything. "Really?" She almost sounded thoughtful...
flattered
,
even. That struck a sour chord with Jake.

"Yes,
really
," he replied, scowling. "God, you
really
are
bad at telling when guys are interested."

Melanie sat back in her chair a little more, brows knitted.
"Well," she said a little indifferently, "he was cute."

Unfortunately, Jake didn't catch the sarcasm. "Huh?" It was
a ticked off tone.

Melanie looked offended that he didn't pick up that she didn't mean
it. Did he not know that she loved him? Of course he didn't! She didn't tell
him yet! Ugh, this seriously sucked.

"I'm kidding!" she said a little sharply. "I mean, he
was
,
but I'm not interested. You didn't take me seriously, did you?"

He was a little embarrassed. "You were smiling back, so..."

"I was not!" she exclaimed defensively.

"Okay," he said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

Melanie opened her mouth to retort, but back came the waiter with
their drinks. He sat Jake's coke and Melanie's water down in front of them.

"Are you two ready to order?" he asked a little oddly,
instantly sensing the tense atmosphere. Jake's face was enough to make him want
to go ask another waiter to take their table.

"Yes," Jake said suddenly, a sickeningly sweet tone to his
voice. "I'll have a nice, big plate of your finest spaghetti with a side
of stay away from my girlfriend!"

"Jake!" Melanie cried incredulously. The waiter looked
shaken, eyes wide. Melanie turned to him, looking terribly apologetic. "I
am
so sorry
. I don't
what's
gotten into him."

"Don't apologize for me!" he demanded to her. His angry eyes
zoned in on their waiter. "You were making eyes at my girl, weren't
you?"

"I—I—"

"Don't apologize," Melanie told him. "You didn't do
anything wrong." She glared at Jake in a 'stop-talking-this-instant' way.

"Sir, I didn't intend to start up anything," the boy said
quickly, glancing around to make sure his manager wasn't within earshot.
"I'm sorry. You—you can just not give me a tip!"

"You think a
tip
is anything compared to my
girlfriend?"

"Of course not—"

"Jake,
stop talking
," Melanie told him in the most
poisonous tone she could muster. He glanced back and forth between the two of
them,
then
finally sat back in his chair in defeat,
arms crossed with eyes cast on the ground. "I am SO sorry. I'll uh... I'll
just have the gourmet chicken pizza." He nodded quickly and wrote it down,
rushing away to the kitchen. "I'm sorry!" she cried after him. It was
only a few second before she rounded on Jake. "
What
is
wrong
with you?"

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about," he
shrugged.

"Why did you have to make a scene like that?" she demanded,
keeping her voice low but angry. "That... that was
so embarrassing
!"

"What am I supposed to do, Melanie?" he almost yelled, but
quieted down when he received looks from some people next to them. "When
other guys hit on you am I just supposed to sit here and watch?"

"No! But you don't have to act like you're about to go outside
and beat him up!"

"Well, I'm sorry that I care about you!" he exclaimed
furiously. "I'll try not to next time!"

Melanie hid how much that hurt. "I'm not asking you not to care
about me," she said slowly, running a hand through her wavy hair, trying
to stay calm, "but you can't do that, Jake! Not in public, anyway. You
were overreacting and it was humiliating!"

Jake just shook his head and held his tongue, pretending to be doing
something on his phone so he wouldn't say something to her that he would regret
later. He still had a temper problem.
Especially
when someone tried to
make a move on his girl—and what made it worse was the fact that he had
been
right there
when it happened. Could the waiter not see him? Was he
suddenly invisible? The thought made him shake with fury. That waiter could
just go screw himself.

They were silent for the next ten minutes as they waited on their
food, not saying anything to the other. Not even looking at each other. Just
sitting there. Melanie was staring at her lap sadly, angry and upset all at
once. She wished Jake didn't have such a temper on him. Not to mention that
this first date was now worse than their
actual
first one.

A woman came out and sat down the plates in front of them, Melanie
instantly upon hers for an excuse for something to do. She couldn't talk if she
was eating, which would justify her silence somewhat. Jake just stuck a fork
into his large meatball on the top of his spaghetti, pretending it was the
waiter's head. And the dude didn't even have the balls to bring out their food
to them. What did that tell you?

That he was a chicken shit, that's what.

Both of them were about halfway through with their meal before one of
them spoke. Of course, it was Melanie. She was always the first to forgive and
forget.

"So... um, how is your food?" she asked quietly, glancing up
at him for only a second before her gaze returned to her delicious pizza.

He sighed, deciding to answer. They couldn't go on like this all
night. "It's pretty good." It was about five seconds before he
continued. "Yours?"

"...Yummy," she smiled smally after taking a bite of her
pizza, some tomato sauce on her mouth. Jake couldn't help but smile a little at
that.

"Good. Glad you like it," he said softly, not glancing up
from his food.

More silence.

Melanie took a deep breath, barely able to believe that she was about
to do this. She had nothing to apologize for, but she knew Jake. He wouldn't
say anything until she did. "Hey, um... I'm sorry."

Jake finally looked up at her. "Yeah... yeah, me too.
Sorry."

"I shouldn't have yelled at you," she sighed. "I'm...
not really a yeller."

"Yeah," he laughed to himself. "That was weird, seeing
you mad." He took a deep breath. "I
did
overreact. My bad, Hart."

Ugh. Curse his cuteness!
Melanie thought in defeat, unable to say
no to that expression on his face.

"It's okay," she smiled. "Hey, do you wanna try a piece
of my pizza?"

He shrugged. "Sure." He took a piece and took a bite,
grinning. "Wow, that's awesome. You want to try some of mine?"

"Why not?" Melanie grinned that 1
,000 watt
smile, handing him her fork. He wrapped some of his spaghetti on it and reached
across the table, holding it out to her. She leaned forward to take a bite, but
just as her mouth was closing in on it, he moved the fork upwards. The food
collided with her nose and red sauce was all over her nose as a result. Jake
laughed, but stopped himself when she glared. She wiped her nose off with her
napkin. "Thanks for that."

"Anytime," he grinned. He held out the fork for her again.
"Okay, seriously this time. Come on, it's really good."