Jovie & Bash

Six || Indubitably

[dedicated to ally for the most adorable banners that she made me]

|CHAPTER SIX|

“So, tell me Jovial. Was yesterday a dream, or did you truly accept my proposal to take you out on a date?”

Hearing Bash’s voice sent a wrench flying into the machinery of my brain. It got stuck somewhere between yesterday and this morning, causing a gate to jam and a flood of memories to unlock and drown my mind in an endless waterfall of yesterday’s events. All I could feel were his fingers sliding down my arms and tangling with mine as he brought them soaring into the air while we swayed to a new rendition of an old love song. I felt the burn of the bright yellow sun on my face and heard his scratchy singing voice in my ear.

No, it couldn’t have been a dream.

“I can’t believe we actually did that,” I marveled.

This morning when I woke, I laid still for several moments staring up at the ceiling in complete awe. Nothing felt real. How could it have been me that did all of that? I almost felt foolish, even turned to bury my face in the nearest pillow at the tingling in my gut. Then, I realized something. I didn’t feel the slightest bit sorry for what I’d done. It was a strange sense of relief, but also frantic worry at the thought of the consequences. I was too far out of my norm to even begin to predict what would happen next—and really, I needed a plan or else everything would fall apart.

Bash abandoned the book cart and seated himself across from me. Again, he had managed to appear without a sound.

 I blushed when his eyes met mine and then glanced down at the book in my lap as I smoothed the page.

“So, listen,” he began, “if you were genuine about that date, I think you should know that I’m not a traditional dater.”

A sigh of relief left my lips. I wasn’t a traditional dater either—in fact, I’d never been on a date before. The thought of a lousy dinner or awkward cinema encounter made me nauseated. Those are things I spent most of my life avoiding. Besides, I had news of my own that would make those kinds of dates unnecessary.

“I don’t think we should waste our time on tradition anyway,” I told him. “I can only do this for the remainder of the summer. It’ll be too hard after that. I’ll be different.”

He pressed his knuckles under his chin and studied the stress lines that formed between my eyebrows. “You’ll be different?”

I sighed. “I have a friend that likes to describe me as an algorithm machine—and she’s right. I take the easiest route. Distractions, setting aside time, everything that goes with dating...I’ll just disappear. I have laser focus, and I’m lazy on the social front. I’m sorry.”

He turned to stare out the window and pensively rub his hands together at the news. I thought I’d receive more of a reaction. If I would have said this to Quinn or anybody else, they would have immediately burst into hysterics about how selfish and unfair I was being. I was so used to everyone backing out that receiving such a calm response only made my heart beat faster in anticipation.

“That is so much kinder than just dropping off the face of the earth,” he muttered with a small smile. “If other girls had given me a deadline, I would have done so many things differently.”

I snapped the book in my lap shut, gaining his attention. His eyes flicked in my direction, waiting for my response.

“I don’t understand you,” I told him squarely.

He leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms up over his head before scooping his blonde hair into a rubber band. I watched him with a waiting expression, but he just smiled.