Leaving (Lauren Cimorelli Fanfic)

Tail Gate

Jaiden's POV

Lauren pulled into my driveway and I sat in the car for a second, still wanting to talk. She was taking my mind off of the argument I just had with Lexi. Lauren was different then I thought she would be. She's more caring then I originally thought she was.
I think I made a mistake by not giving her a chance when I met her. I immediately wrote her off because she reminded me so much of Lexi.
I looked over at her still sitting in the drivers seat and saw a cute smile forming on her face. Her cheeks were slightly red when I talked to her about the football game.

Lauren- "I thought you just said that you didn't like the cute girl in the stands?"
Jaiden- "Well I didn't at first. But I was wrong. She changed my mind."

I smiled at her as I saw her biting her bottom lip. I was just about to close the passenger door when I stopped myself.

Jaiden- "Hey do you want to go to the tail gate tonight? Amanda, Megan and Dawson will be there too."
Lauren- "A tail gate?"
Jaiden- "Yeah we do them the night before big home games. We just eat and hang out."
Lauren- "I've never been to one before."
Jaiden- "Come tonight, you can bring Dani so if you get sick of hanging out with me then you'll have her."
She looked at me for a second with a shy smile and I spoke up.
Jaiden- "Come on. It will be fun I promise you! And if it's not fun then I'll make it up to you."
Lauren- "Alright I'll talk to Dani and we'll go."
Jaiden- "Alright I can pick you guys up if you want?"
Lauren- "Yeah sure that would be great! I don't know if I will have the car tonight."

We exchanged numbers before she left and I headed inside to change. The tail gate was in about 2 hours and I told her that I would pick them up in an hour and a half.

She was so nice to me today even after I was a jerk so I wanted to invite her tonight. If she could still be that friendly with me then the least I could do was be nice to her.

And talking to her for just that short time today made me curious about who she really is. She just seemed so real. I want to know her. I feel like if I don't, I'll regret it.

Later that day...

Lauren's POV

Me and Dani are going to the tail gate to hang out with some of our friends. Jaiden is at our house since he is the one giving us a ride there. My dad was sitting in the living room watching tv. When Jaiden got here he came in and shook my dad's hand right away.

He was really confident. He seemed so comfortable talking to my dad. Most of the time when guys meet my dad they are shy and intimidated, even if they are just friends with me or one of my sisters. But Jaiden looked more comfortable talking to my dad than he did when we first talked. They sat and talked about sports and how Jaiden plays football. Then that somehow turned into my dad wanting to go see him play. Dani finally cut them off when she came down the stairs.

Dani- "I'm ready! Let's go!"

We all walked out of the house and got into Jaiden's car. As we were on our way, Dani turned on the 1975 and blasted the music while she sang the lyrics loudly.

We pulled into the giant school parking lot where the tail gate was. Every tail gate that the football team had was in the school parking lot by the football field. As soon as we got there we were greeted by Amanda and Megan.

Even though Amanda and Megan came up and started talking to us, I really only wanted to hang out with Jaiden. I wanted to figure him out.

The first opportunity that I got, I was going to try to hang out with just Jaiden. But then he found an opportunity before me.

Jaiden- "Hey do you want to go sit over there where it's not so loud?" He said pointing at the bench that was on the sideline of the football field.
I smiled and shook my head yes. I walked beside him with my arms crossed, trying to stay warm. I don't know why I was feeling so shy. It's like I was getting nervous. But I tried my hardest to ignore that feeling.

Lauren- "You know guys don't normally just come in my house and make friends with my dad that quick." I said smiling at him as we sat down on the metal bench that faced the football field. I was glad that I was finally able to get away from everyone else and just hang out with him.
Jaiden- "He's awesome! I was thinking about leaving you and going back to hang out with him." He said giving me a joking smile.
Lauren- "Ohhh really?!"
Jaiden- "Yeah that's right princess."
Lauren- "I thought we agreed you wouldn't call me that."
Jaiden- "I kind of like it though. So I think I'm gonna stick with it!" He flirtatiously smirked at me.
Lauren- "So now that you think your best friends with my family, tell me about yours."
Jaiden- "Well I have a super small family. I have one older brother and my mom and dad. It's not quiet as exciting as your family."
Lauren- "How much older is your brother?"
Jaiden- "He's 24 so like 7 years older."
Lauren- "Is your family close?"
Jaiden- "I mean I'm closest with my brother probably. My parents both travel a lot for work and they aren't around much."
Lauren- "So when did you start playing football?"
Jaiden- "When I was like 7. My brother started playing football in high school and I went to all of his games. He was really good and I always wanted to do everything that he did. So I started playing and I loved it."

I could see his eyes light up and his smile grow as he spoke. He looked over at me and I could see his deep dimples that curved on the sides of his smile.

Jaiden- "But enough about me. Tell me something about you."
Lauren- "Like what?"
Jaiden- "Anything. Why are you homeschooled?"
Lauren- "Well partially because my mom just thought it would be good for us and so then we could be productive when doing other things."
Jaiden- "So what's the other part?"
Lauren- "Me and my sisters are in a band and we spend most of our time working on stuff for that."
Jaiden- "That's really cool! Why do you sound so shy when you say it?"
Lauren- "Well some people think it's dumb and then I feel stupid for telling them."
Jaiden- "No don't. I don't care what other people say. Tell people proudly, that's so cool."

I tried not to smile as widely as I knew that I was. I didn't want to look like that pathetic girl that can't stop smiling when she's around a cute guy. I don't want to look like the girl who likes him, when I'm just content with getting to know him. I just want to know him.