It made Jade laugh, “Just because I have the looks to be a model, doesn’t mean I am.”
She sure looked it though. Even after running eight kilometres in some pretty warm morning weather, Jade managed to still look as sexy as ever. Her cheeks were a little more rosy and her hair that was done up in a bun was a bit messy but it didn’t matter at all.
“But if you have to know, I’m not very good at strategic games… things like Chess.”
He laughed, “Really? That’s your only flaw?”
“Yeah and no, I’m not playing chess with you.”
“You don’t have to worry, I wouldn’t be much better.”
Mark could swear that he was falling in love with the way she laughed and smiled. Those pearly whites staring back at him.
“Soo uhh anyways, how’s Justin?” he asked her, still unsure of what happened after he stormed away from the swimming pool.
“He’s fine,” she replied.
“Did I do anything to upset him? He seemed pretty annoyed when he walked off.”
She sighed, not knowing what to tell Mark. Her boyfriend had virtually warned her not invite him around again. Although she hadn’t had him over since Friday, Jade knew just by going out to a local café with him would make Justin’s blood boil.
Not wanting to give him the bad news that he couldn’t invite him around as much, Jade played it off as if nothing was wrong, “No you’re good. Like I said before, he’s just complicated, I wouldn’t worry if I were you.”
He nodded, still under the belief that something was not quite right there.
“Speaking about Friday…” she then said with a great big smirk on her face, “You and Katie sure put on a show after we had left.”
Mark gulped, his cheeks were still bright red from the run but he could feel them getting even redder, “Oh you uhhh were watching that huh?”
Jade nodded slowly, still smirking,
“All of it??” he asked.
“Enough of it to get the idea..”
The idea of Jade watching her sister blow him was on one hand a great turn on but also a touch embarrassing. The cheeky grin on her face helped him believe that she wasn’t concerned about any of this whatsoever, in fact, maybe it turned her on as much as it did him.
“Well…” he spoke.
“Well what?”
“Well what did you think?” he bravely asked.
Before Jade could even open her mouth, the waiter had returned to the table with their food.
“The smoked salmon and scrambled eggs,” the man said, holding out one plate.
Jade raised her hand, not taking her eyes off Mark, still staring into his eyes.
“And the big breakfast with extra bacon, extra mushrooms,” the waiter said while placing the other plate in front of Mark.”
“Thanks very much,” he replied politely, more excited about the brunette’s response than the actual food on his plate.
She took a sip of her drink before answering, “It was a nice show but it sure didn’t look like you could last too long out there, had to start wondering about how long it would take me to finish you off.”
Underneath the table, Mark was now hiding a giant erection in his running shorts. He took a bite of his breakfast, feeling a lot more uncomfortable than he was a couple of minutes, in a good way of course.
“Don’t be shy then, how long would it take you?”
She paused, twisting up her lips, “I wouldn’t even need a minute.”
It was almost as if his heart rate was as fast as it was just earlier on their run. Jade played it off as if it was no big deal, starting to use her knife and fork to cut up her salmon.
To Mark, it still didn’t add up. Girls with boyfriends were never this openly flirty with other guys. Was there something about Mark that made her this way or did she do this with a lot of guys?
Watching her dig into her meal, Mark felt sexually frustrated. If he could, he’d jump this table and have his way with her. The fact that part of her attitude made him believe that she wanted it while her relationship held her back, was very hard for him to deal with.
“You all good?” she asked him, noticing he hadn’t eaten much.
“Yeah. All good.”
Mark forced a smile before cutting into his eggs.
After finishing their meals and paying for them, Jade had her mother come pick them up so they didn’t have to make the long trek back home by foot. Just like her daughters, she was an attractive woman who took care of her body. Also like her daughter, she was a nurse at a North Brisbane hospital, one of the reasons why Jade was leaning towards that kind of career pathway.
“Thanks again for the lift Diane,” Mark said as he hopped out the back of her car.
“Anytime honey, you’re always welcome to come round and enjoy our pool any time you like!” she told him.
Immediately he thought about how Katie told him that her parents didn’t get along with Justin. He couldn’t work out how, Diane was lovely and it didn’t make a whole lot of sense on how you could get that far on her bad side without being a total asshole.
“So what’s your plans for the rest of the week?” Mark asked, hoping to hear she was free and willing to catch up again.
“Uhh I’m not entirely sure yet… Justin and I were meant to be going down to the Gold Coast for a few nights and run into my little sis while we’re there. But he hasn’t exactly committed to anything yet so I’m just waiting to hear.”
Mark nodded. He wanted to change her mind on this guy, at least get her to ditch the idea of going away with him for a few days, maybe even take himself instead of her boyfriend.
Instead he stayed quiet, letting her decide what to do herself, “Either way, I’ll see you before Christmas. Maybe you can invite me over for a change.”
Mark chuckled, “My house is hot sweaty mess in the summer with no pool and my parents are a nightmare… but that still sounds like a good idea. Just keep me updated on what happens with your trip.”
“You got it stud,” she winked before starting to make a move, “I’ll text you later!”
“I’ll be waiting.”
***
Friday Night
The waiting was a lot longer than he expected. For whatever reason, Jade didn’t send him that text. A couple of days later, Mark tried contacting her himself but didn’t receive anything back.
It became a very dull week where he constantly checked his phone every ten minutes to see if he had a message from her.With just a week out from Christmas, Mark was also struggling to avoid his parents who were still on his case about figuring out what to do with his life.
A chance to get away from them came on Friday when Mark was invited out for drinks with his close friend Alex. He made himself look as nice as he could before grabbing his wallet and phone and heading downstairs.
Moving quickly, he was stopped by his father before he could get off the staircase.
“You’re going out?” he asked calmly.
Mark nodded, not wanting to be stuck listening to any form of lecture.
“Are you sleeping here?”
“Uhh yeah, probably… why?”
“Good. Your mother needs a lift tomorrow morning to her eye appointment,” he explained, “She’s not allowed to drive home from it and I’m having to work tomorrow so I need you to drive her there and back, have you got that?”
He didn’t see an issue with it, he nodded in response, “Sure, that’s fine.”
“Good. It’s at 8:30am, don’t forget.”
Mark shrugged it off, he was sure to be hungover but as long as someone woke him up in the morning, all would be fine.
They hit a local bar before committing moving onto a busy club in the heart of Brisbane. It seemed like a good idea at first, Mark wanted to stop thinking about Jade by diving head first into the middle of some random girl’s legs.
“We should have brought Macca with us!” Alex told Mark, needing to speak up so he could hear over the loud thumping club music, “He always pulls here.”
“Nah ya kidding, fuck that! He would just take away all our options!” Mark replied loudly.
Alex shook his head, “Options?!? We’ve been standing here for an hour and haven’t had a single girl look at us except for more than five seconds.”
“Except for that redhead who was only staring to check if you had stopped looking at her tits,” Mark laughed.
“Oh fuck this! Let’s just get out of here, we’re not getting lucky here tonight!” Alex said, ready to throw in the towel.
At that exact moment, he noticed a rack that he sure would never forget. Katie was across the other side of the dance floor, shaking her hips in a tight white dress. Mark instantly recognised her, dancing besides two other female friends.
He tapped Alex on the chest while looking directly across the dance floor, “Come with me, our luck just changed.”
Mark led the way, walking very quickly to get across to the other side of the dance floor. Katie who was facing his direction, didn’t realise until he was standing almost right next to her that it was him. She let out a gasp, wrapping her arms around his neck, “What the fuck? Mark!”
“What are the chances!” he said in her ear.
Katie was more than thrilled to see him which made his night instantly better than it was just seconds ago.
“Meet my friends! This is Cara and Talia!” she said introducing him to a blonde girl and a tall skinny brunette.
They exchanged smiles and Mark did the same, introducing Alex to Katie and her friends. Being so close to the DJ was not helping anyone, nothing they were saying could be really heard by the others. After a bit of a dance, Mark made the move to go and find a seat that was away from the loud music.
Once away from the dance floor, the now group of five were able to speak a little more easily without the music drowning their voices out.