“Yeah,” I answered, not really wanting to dwell on anything that brought down the evening, even if I already was. “Just tired.” It was almost ten. “But I had a really good time.”
His grin warmed me right up. “Good, I’m glad. You deserved to have a good time.”
I laughed. “Is it weird that having fun felt weird?”
“Yes,” he said. “But it also felt a little bit like old times out there tonight. I hadn’t realized how much I missed all of us being us, even if Ian’s being a dick.”
“He’s not a being a dick,” I argued, even if I kind of agreed. I’d braided my hair when I went to get dressed, and it was mostly dry now after the evening, but I still needed to actually wash it when I got home.
“Yeah, he is,” Jake said, then rubbed my thigh. “But I’ll shut up about it.”
“Sorry,” I told him, covering his hand. “You don’t have to. I mean, it’s not like you aren’t entitled to an opinion.”
“Cool, then in my opinion, he’s being a dick.”
Laughing, I shook my head.
“What about you?” he asked quietly when we had to stop for a light.
“What about me what?”
“What do you think about him?”
“I don’t know what to think,” I admitted. “I’m not going to twist anyone’s arm, and he has a right to his opinions, too. I just…”
“You just?”
“I just don’t know what I did wrong.”
“You didn’t do a damn thing wrong, baby girl,” Jake assured me as he gave my thigh a squeeze. “This is him. He’ll figure it out. Even if I have to drop kick him.”
“Don’t fight, okay? You guys were scowling at each other off and on all night.”
“He’s pissing me off,” Jake said, then sighed. “But I’ll try, okay?”
That was a lot for Jake. “Thank you. Try to remember he’s your friend, too. This can’t be easy for anyone, and I’m being pretty selfish…”
“First,” Jake said, holding up a finger. “No, you’re not. Not a single one of us didn’t know the score when we asked you out.”
Technically…
“And second, anything worth it is never easy. We’ve had easy, Frankie. We had skating by and doing whatever we wanted. I wouldn’t trade this with you now for anything.”
Heat crawled over my face. I didn’t want to think about what having easy meant, or at least, not think about it too closely. “You know, technically, Ian asked me out first.”
“I know he did, baby girl. He slipped in there ahead of all of us…”
“He kissed me first, too.”
Jake pursed his lips but said nothing until he pulled into the apartment complex and parked. Mom’s car wasn’t in her slot, and relief sagged through me. ‘Course, it hadn’t been there before… Worried, I searched the lot, but I didn’t see any fancy cars like the BMW.
“Frankie…” Jake pulled my attention back to him, and I met his steady gaze. “Whether Bubba was your first kiss, or Coop met you first, or Archie got you in bed first—”
“Well…technically…”
He grinned. “Fine, technically that was me, but he was the first full intercourse you had.”
“Yes.” My face had to be on fire, yet at the same time, I didn’t look away from him.