I wasn't sure why I even had a single care to dress up decently for Jade, but I did anyway. I forgo dresses at this point and instead found myself donned in a semi-formal attire, not wanting to look too underdressed or overdressed as I assume Jade would just take me out and feed me in a not-so-fancy-but-nice beanery.

I was finished doing my usual routine when Jade texted me that she's already waiting downstairs — all thanks to Jesy, although I knew that she was here when I heard her voice greeting my roommate and best friend downstairs by the living room. I perused myself through the mirror once again, and then I confidently careened out the door to meet her.

"So what are you guys going to do on the date?" I heard Jesy's lilting voice. I halted my steps just by the bottom of the stairs and immediately ensconced behind the wall to stave off the evidence that I was listening.

"Date?" I muttered lowly to myself, astonished. "She thought this was a date?"

It was silent for a few moments, until I heard Jade's familiar chuckle. "I'm a tad bit surprised Perrie even agreed to hang out with me tonight. And I'm not sure if I could call this a 'date', seeing as though your best friend never officially attested to this. But if it was, I'd be stoked. And to answer your question, I'll take her to —"

Silence occured once again, but I knew Jade was just whispering in Jesy's ear in case I'd found out (somehow now ironic considering I still don't know where Jade is taking me). And then Jesy cuts the silence, "That's so sweet, Jade!"

"Yeah . . . ," Jade drawled out. After a few moments, she spoke up. "Listen, Jesy. I know that my reputation precedes me, be it a disrepute. I . . . Although it's very embarassing and I hate to admit this, but I used to have a penchant for polygamous relationships. You knew that. And I detest the fact that Perrie was a witness to that as well. But I can assure you that there's nothing in my life that I wanted more than your beautiful roommate."

There was lump in my throat as I heard this. And it burgeoned when I hear no response from my best friend. A part of me wanted to step out and materialize myself from my lurking spot when I heard silence accompanying them, knowing that this typically brings about awkwardness. And the other part of me wanted to just stay for awhile in case of crucial information that would be divulged in a few minutes.

But I went with the former as I cleared my throat, announcing my presence to both women. As I turned up in front of the both of them, their cackles had promptly died down. Both eyes scrutinized my appearance carefully and I awkwardly stood straight for them.

Feeling restive as I always am, I flailed my arms up. "Well? Instead of being leered at, I would rather prefer a compliment thrown my way."

"You look stunning as always," Jade didn't dither to let me know, and I could honestly feel myself progressively blushing just from the mere remark.

Jesy finds herself nodding in concurrence. "I vouch for that."

I shook my head and smiled at them. "Thanks." I then locked eyes with the ombré haired woman and nodded. "I think we should go."

Jade opened her mouth when Jesy chimed in, "You go outside for a second." She glanced at Jade with a small smile and reached for her hand. "I'll talk to Jade for a bit."

I glowered at the brunette. "Jesy, don't."

Undettered by her best friend's warning, Jesy shooed me with a flick of her wrist, her other hand hauling Jade as she propelled the both of them to the kitchen. "It'll last for a few moments. You guys have all night and probably the next day, anyway."

I remained my stance though in disapproval by her remark, but Jade's silent reassurance had compelled me to go out and wait for her in her car anyway. After a few minutes that frankly lasted forever, Jade materialized from my apartment complex and rounded her car to embark.

I watched her carefully as she fastens her seatbelt and installed the key to bring the engine to life. I saw her smile slowly fading as she looked at me with raised eyebrows, silently questioning me.

I shrugged. "Mind telling me what Jes told you?"

And then her smile reappeared. "Nope."

I frowned. "Why not?"

She cackled. "Because you're endearing when you frown."

The twenty-minute (and still counting . . .) car ride to God knows where Jade is taking me has frankly been a tedious one so far. I feel like we were reenacting the first time we went out on a date, when Jade insisted on picking me up. I couldn't count how many times I've been continually fiddling with my fingers, dubious with what was going to transpire tonight. I blew out a breath silently, and then I blew out another, and another as if it wasn't enough. I was mentally and physically restless, and I certainly hope Jade wasn't cognizant of my doings.

But when I took a gander at the corner of my eyes, her head was facing toward me, prompting me to look back at the window. To say it was awkward was an understatement. I was acting like a gauche woman as of this moment. I then heard Jade cleared her throat, and for some reason I cleared my throat, too. I didn't want to look at her yet, because I know her face has amusement written all over it by how awkward I was being.

"I don't know if I should worry about your mental battle, seeing as though your facial expression has been mercurial," Jade spoke out of the blue, completely startling me as I quickly looked at her.

I furrowed my eyebrows. "Excuse me?"

She giggled, her shoulders bouncing her wavy hair as she did so. She spoke up, "You were frowning awhile ago, and then you suddenly smiled a little. And then now that I'm addressing your disposition, you're suddenly sulking." Her long and spellbinding fingernails tapping lightly against the wheel before she gripped it and spun it around as to make a brief turn. She glanced at me. "You seem tense and feeling all jittery even from awhile ago when I picked you up. Why is that?"

"I don't know," I lied. "Motion sickness?"

An impish smile tugged at the corners of her lovely lips. She hummed amusedly. "Interesting. I've never seen someone experiencing pre-riding motion sickness before."

"It's called anticipation."

"I'm all ears. Tell me more." And even from her serious tone, I knew she was poking fun at me.

I rolled my eyes at that one. "I forgot how abrasive you are."

"And I forgot how you always beat around the bush when you're with me." As if on cue, Jade stopped the car at the red light, then turned her head to look at me with no sign of mirth but a worried expression. She breathed out, "What's really going on, Perrie? What are you all het up about?"

I puffed out my cheeks as if the question was the most difficult question I've ever stumbled upon, before I blew out an exasperated breath. "It's not like I'm upset or anything — I'm sorry, you're not even asking about that but I . . . This . . . It just feels like our first date all over again."

I watched as a crease formed between Jade's eyebrows, making me wonder if I was just overdramatizing because it certainly feels like she doesn't give a damn about this. Her thumb and pointer were glomming onto her beautifully shaped chin as she jutted her chin out, mulling over something as she hums before nodding. "You know what? It kinda looked like we were going out on a date. I mean — all that's missing is probably the giving of the flowers."

I raised my eyebrow in disbelief. "If only you were a romantic. You never give me flowers when we were dating."

"Patently untrue." She shook her head vigorously. "Remember I gave you flowers when I came back for you? But you didn't feel like accepting it. I'm adverse to giving flowers because, believe it or not, it's hackneyed. But I guess if I feel impelled to do so, I'd do it."

If she feels impelled to do so; that's the thing. I have absolutely no idea why this even bugged me in the first place. Maybe it was because of the fact that Jade dislikes cliché, or maybe because I've never received flowers by someone just for no reason and instead received them out of pity or out of coercion. I was — still am, no doubt — a sucker for romantic gestures, and I genuinely hate to think that someone gives me flowers because he or she feels pressured because of it.

"Of course . . . ," I tutted at the window.

We fell silent, and then Jade spoke up, "Why do I feel like I said something wrong?"

I took a glimpse of her, smiled at her, and then looked back at the outside. "Don't worry. You didn't."

"Is it because of that flowers thing?"

"Yes." I then ruefully shook my head. "I mean no! I mean —"

"So it is about the flowers thing," she spoke up, obviously entertained. Even when I'm not looking at her, I knew she was keeping her composure just so I wouldn't burst. The spotlight turned green again and Jade pressed her foot on the gas as she began driving with one hand this time whilst the other was on the armrest of her car's door. She clicked her tongue thrice before chuckling. "Should I buy you flowers next time?"

"No."

"Perrie, stay calm."

"I am calm!" I proclaimed, albeit defensively, as I whipped my head to face her. But I swore I wasn't even remotely close to being calm at all — the antithesis of that in all honesty, and the woman staring at me knows that pretty well. I swallowed the lump in my throat as I looked at her. I can't help but feel remorseful when I saw a modicum of hurt and dolefulness flash across Jade's facial features.

Her lips formed a thin line as she bobbed her head. "Okay, then," I swore I heard her voice cracked, which only made me feel worse, too much that I literally averted my gaze because of it. She cleared her throat and added, "Look, if it irks you that much, I'll give you flowers later. I just wanted to make sure you're alright because, as I said before, Jesy told me you were all pissed off last night."

"Don't. I don't want to compel you or anything."

"Compel me?"

"Yeah," I nodded, still a tad bit bothered by that one. "Isn't that the sad truth? Guys give their girlfriends flowers because if not, their girlfriends would get angry and they would obviously be dragooned into giving them flowers at the end of the day. Am I right or am I right?"

"But there are guys who give flowers to their girlfriends because they want to, right?" She challenged me, glancing at me at the corner of her eyes before facing the road.

I nodded. "Yes, that's true."

She hummed, obviously thinking. After a moment, she said, "So, let's say our world divides guys into two types wherein one is for guys who give flowers because they want to, and the other for guys who feel coerced. Which do you categorize me as?"

"Definitely the latter," I teased.

She chortled. "And why is that?"

"You just said so yourself awhile ago. You don't do cliché, remember? Which means you dislike the notion of offering flowers."

Jade scoffed. "You make me sound like a bad person who doesn't give flowers at all. Not even as an offering at church masses."

I tried not to laugh. "You know that's not what I meant."

"And besides, I don't remember fessing up about that a few minutes ago," Jade defended, her hands taking a turn of the wheel at the corner of a street.

"That's because it's implied, Jade." I bit my lip to stave off a laugh, but Jade's adorably furrowed eyebrows when she faced me was probably the cutest thing I've seen today. I decided to take up my teasing a few notches as I blew out a playful frustrated breath, "Jeez. Talking about slowness here . . ."

"I hate you now," Jade said, attempting to sound serious. But then she shook her head. "Oh, no. I take that back. You know I love you."

I hesitated when I heard this. I didn't know how to respond to that one, knowing we've never really negotiated about where we stand officially. But I opted for a terse nod before looking back the window.

Jade must have noticed the quick transition of uneasiness because I heard a clearing of throat afterwards. "Uhm. Sorry about that. I take that back."

I smiled at her. "It's fine."

"No. Let's not let this get in our heads, okay?" Jade waved her hand dismissively as she looked at me expectantly. I nodded, and I was glad I agreed because her smile widened. She looked back at the road before glancing at me. "Anyways, I was thinking maybe we could hit the movies, yeah? We can watch any action movie so that you could, like, live vicariously through the characters as they hit each other — pretend that you're the one punching Michelle because I figured you'd like that —"

"Jade!" I laughed at her.

She threw her head back and guffawed. "I'm not taking anything back this time."

I rolled my eyes, still laughing. "Of course not."

Our cackling had soon died down, leaving nothing but comfortable silence coinciding with us. And this time, nobody was talking anymore, and I was okay with it.