tongue tied - jake kiszka

34.

   When we finally pulled apart he looked at me breathlessly, his cheeks tinged pink. I shifted a little under his gaze, feeling very shy all of a sudden. "What?" I finally asked as he continued to watch me.

   A cheeky grin slowly filled his face as he took a step back. "I've wanted to do that for so long."  I couldn't help but smile, my body still warm from his touch. "But," He continued, "You still have a date inside. Might want to take care of that."

   Shame suddenly erupted inside of me and I looked down at the ground quickly. "Fuck." I muttered.

   Fuck.

   "Hey." Jake said and my eyes snapped up to his. "Just talk to him. It'll be okay." His voice was soft as he tried to ease my worries. It almost worked. "How do you know?"

   He gave me a look- Dawn. Shit yeah, but we saw how that had turned out in the moment. I wrung my hands together, attempting to calm myself down. I felt like a piece of shit.

   More so than usual.

   "Okay. I'll talk to him." I gave Jake a quick nod and headed for the door. I could hear his footsteps behind me growing closer as he tried to keep up. "So about the-" He began to say and I turned quickly on my heels to face him.

   "We'll talk about it later okay?"

   A smile tugged at his lips, but he didn't say anything. He nodded respectfully and I took that as an okay. We headed back in, moving between the many tables of couples as we made our way to the bar.

   Josh saw us first, his eyebrows raising immediately. "Don't worry Jake. I took care of everything." He announced loudly, trying to ease the evident tension. Jake smiled sheepishly, patting their older business partner on the back as he took his seat on the other side of Josh.

   "Sorry about that. Little too much to drink." Jake apologized to the man who merely waved it off, grinning over at him. Those boys had a way with people I'd never be able to understand.

   Lee looked up at me expectantly and I offered a meek smile that came out more of a grimace. "We need to talk." I said, my voice low. I didn't have to see Jake to know he was looking in our direction. Lee nodded, his eyebrows knitted close together.

   "I can't do this. I'm sorry, I really thought I could. Tonight just didn't go the way I expected it." I knew I was bullshitting him, but there was more truth behind it than he knew. Lee took a deep breath in and I prepared myself for whatever was going to come out of his mouth.

   "You don't have to apologize. I'm not your boyfriend Charlie." He smiled at me as he said this before continuing, "I knew you weren't looking for anything serious."

   I nodded, feeling relieved by his understanding nature. "I'm not looking for anything serious either." His voice had gone to a whisper. "We can get out of here if you want?"

   Clearly we both misread the situation.

   "Oh Lee, no that's what I meant. I-" I stammered, trying to find the right words. His eyebrows rose. "But I thought you weren't looking for anything serious..." His voice trailed off.

   "With you." I finished for him, trying to make my words as gentle as possible. Lee's eyes suddenly trailed off behind me and I had a feeling I already knew what he was looking at. "Him? Seriously?" He spat and I was taken back by how different he sounded all of a sudden.

   I turned my head slightly only to catch Jake still looking our way. His eyes averted quickly and Lee scoffed. "I should've known by the way he acted around me. He obviously feels the same as you do."

   "Lee-" I started to say but he abruptly stood up. "I really thought you were a nice girl, you know that?"

   I felt miserable. I wished I was anywhere but here. Lee let out a bitter laugh and I looked up at his standing figure. "It's funny, I guess. I just never thought you were such a bitch."

At least he now knew what everyone else did.

   Jake suddenly stood up, clearly listening in our conversation. Josh turned in his seat as well, not wanting to miss the action. I thanked God silently in my head that the gentleman they were doing business with had gotten up at some point to go to somewhere.

   Maybe the bathroom, hell I don't know.

Jake moved towards Lee, opening his mouth to say something, but I cut him off. "You were just offering to sleep with me." I reminded him coolly, "I really thought you were a nice guy. But looks like you're just a bitch too. Funny."

Lee stood there silently, unsure of what to say. But he did look sorry. I knew that his words were just out of anger, but they still surprised me. I suppose I shouldn't have expected anything else from a man I hardly knew.

"Good luck with her man." Lee finally spoke as he turned to go, his words directed towards Jake. As he began to walk away, I heard him mutter something under his breath.

"And your shitty ass band too."

I guess Josh must've heard it too because he suddenly laughed loudly, causing Lee to turn back around. He raised an eyebrow at Josh who gave him the biggest grin.

"Weren't you like second row at our concert? Get the fuck out of here man."