Two hours go by of Jared and me hanging out at Benos bar. We spent our time talking about pointless but important things, like the fact that he believes in aliens, and he thinks a lot of colleges are primarily just business savvy now; I agree with the college notion, but aliens? No way.

But, in all, it was nice to hang out in this, kind of, secret happy place of mine with someone other than myself. Not to mention, I loved hanging out with others when I was buzzed; I hated parties, because it can get extremely dangerous there, but a drinking companion was always nice to have; even if Jared barely drank, and I was the only one buzzed.

"Alright, wanna start heading back?" Jared said, after he looked at the time: 11:00pm.

"Nooooo, let's hang out some more." I exclaimed. I felt excited and limitless; I knew I wasn't drunk, or at least I didn't feel drunk, but I felt the adrenaline rush that ran through my body whenever I drank.

"But they're closing, we have to go." Jared said, staring at the restaurant, which had now become an empty restaurant, with just the two of us left at the bar.

"Finnnnnnnnnneeeeee." I prolonged the word on purpose. I stood up out of my chair and felt a little woozy. The bartender offered me a glass of water that I chugged before we left the restaurant. As we walked out of the restaurant, I could feel Jared's eye on me as he watched carefully to make sure I wouldn't fall.

"Can I just say something?" I uttered to Jared. "I love this car. I mean, seriously love it." I went up to the side of his car and hugged it, which was extremely weird, but I didn't care. I closed my eyes to embrace the inanimate object. Jared looked at me from the other side of the car with a smile on his face.

"I bought myself this car. I love BMWs. The parts are expensive but totally worth it. But you know what's better?" He asked as he sat down into the car seat. "A Lambo!"

"Ohh, I would love a Lambo. Or one of those crazy, fancy cars. As if I could afford it though. My ass is about to be in loan for years," I laughed. This was true. Even though I loved the experience of college, it was ridiculous how much loans I and many others would be stuck with.

"Hold up," Jared said, dramatically. "Are you secretly a gold digger?"

"I might just be," I winked at him and laughed.

"Yo, I'd be a gold digger for a Lambo," Jared added. I bursted out in laughter imagining Jared approaching rich women just to get a Lambo. He'd probably have to doll himself up; it would be such a sight to see. 

He started the car, and I turned on his radio, without his permission. I found a song that I liked, it was by one of my favorite artists, and turned the volume up fully. I could tell that the volume slightly annoyed Jared at first, but I didn't care. My buzzed self usually didn't care for anyone's opinions, which was something I loved feeling. I sang aloud to the song at full volume, and Jared chuckled.

"Do you wanna go home?" Jared asked, as he began to drive.

"Nah, I don't want to go home. Take me to your house."

"What?" He asked.

"Take me to your house. I wanna hang out with you some more, if that's okay." I pleaded.

"Yeah, that's fine," he said. I could see him smiling as he stared down the road and drove. 

After about ten minutes of driving, we pulled up to the one of the largest houses on the block. It was two stories high with, no exaggeration, a crap-ton of windows. How many rooms did this house have? The outside of the house was modern with a light baby blue exterior. This kid lived in a freaking mansion? How is this possible?

"You live here?" I asked, almost in a accusing tone. Did he really live here? Or was this some kind of joke?

"Yeah, but I don't live here by myself. Remember I mentioned my roomie, Brandon? Well, him and Joey, another friend of mine, are my roommates." He explained. "I could never afford this house by myself, so we decided to get this house together."

My face was in complete shock. "Are y'all rich as fuck or something? This is such a big house, in Cali! This place could not be cheap," I uttered, quickly covering my mouth after realizing I had said the f-word. I normally avoided cursing, well at least when it came to the f-word, but this was an insane house. Jared giggled at my reaction to the f-bomb.

"Oh, so you really are a gold digger then," Jared fake-gasped as he teased.

"Hold up, so, you're telling me, we've been hanging at my two-roomed house, when we could have been hanging at your mansion?" 

"Pretty much, yeah," Jared said with a smile on his face. We both exited the car and walked towards the front door. When we went inside, we were greeted by a lovely white tiled kitchen on the left; spacious, large, and breathtakingly beautiful. There was an island in the middle of the kitchen. On the left were stairs up to the bedrooms, I assumed. Or probably stairs to the fifty-thousand rooms Jared apparently owned. Behind the staircase, there appeared to be another section of the house I didn't get to see; most likely the living room.

"There's not much we can do here, except hang." Jared exclaimed.

"That's fine," I smiled towards him as I started going through the cabinets. Normally, this is not something I would do, since it is extremely rude and unmannered. But, I don't know, with Jared, I felt like I could be myself; apparently, this was the "myself" who was rummaging through his cabinets to find chips.

I could tell Jared was probably looking at me, looking like an idiot. 

"Do you have any chips?" I turned around to ask.

"Yeah, the top left shelf." He answered, as I reached towards the shelf. I had to go on my tippy toes to even reach the shelf.

When I got to the chips, I was excited. "Yay, I found the chips," I said, sticking my tongue out to Jared. For a minute, I forgot I still felt a little buzzed; which is probably why I was acting so ridiculous.

"I'm gonna go shower real quick, you stay here, okay?" Jared said, gesturing me to sit on a chair in front of the island.

"No problem, dude," I said, with a handful of chips in my mouth. I watched Jared walk up the stairs in a fast-pace. Damn, that ass looked good. He was actually an extremely handsome guy. But he's just a friend. Just. a. friend. Valerie. I reminded myself. And he's going to stay my friend because I can't afford to have another Zeke incident. I lost a good friend because we took our relationship to that next level. Maybe you can't be friends with someone first and then date them? I don't know. Relationships are too complicated.

"Yo," I heard a voice coming from the staircase. I looked over to find an fair-skinned cutie with cameral hair. He had a square-shaped face with dimple indents on both his cheeks; he was cute.

"Hi." I answered.

"Are you Isabelle?"

"Do I look like an Isabelle?" I said, with a bigger attitude than I intended to give him.

"I don't know. That's why I'm asking, obviously." He answered back, playfully. He didn't even acknowledge my tone, which was good, since I didn't mean to be so rude.

"Nah, I'm Valerie." I answered.

"Oh. Cleo's Valerie?" He asked, taking a handful of chips out of the bag I held in my hand.

"Cleo doesn't own me, but yeah, she's my roommate."

"Yeah, Jared mentioned you." He said, nonchalantly. Almost as though it didn't matter, but it mattered enough for him to bring it up.

"What did he say... about me?" I asked, extremely curious as to what he could have possibly told his roommate. Would he have mentioned me flashing him? That didn't really give me a good look, especially since I barely knew him when I did that... But, at the same time, it is what it is. I don't regret what I did, because I enjoyed my time with Jared.

"Nah," he said, smirking. Even though Joey was messing around and smiling, something in his eyes looked...lost. It seemed like something was missing inside of him; like his eyes were crying for help.

"Come on, tell me," I pleaded. He shook his head, refusing to budge. As a cheap shot, I leaned in closer to him in order to get his attention. I batted my eyelashes as though I was begging him for the answer.

"Fine, but you can't say a word to him." Joey answered. 

"Promise," I smiled.

"He said you were hot," Joey answered, casually. Hot? Me? Hot? Impossible. Jared couldn't think I was hot; he was hot and way out of my league. And my new friend; a relationship I don't really want to mess up, right now or ever for that matter.

"Hot?" I practically whispered the question to myself.

"Like he thought you were sexy as hell. And frankly," Joey said as he eyed me from head to toe and looking me in my eyes, "I can see it." 

I don't know what frazzled me more: Jared's comment or Joey's attempt to compliment me. Hot? No, that can't be right.

Moments later, Jared came down the stairs. He was wearing a red robe that seemed too extravagant to wear. Part of me wanted to laugh, because wearing a robe felt ridiculous, but the other half of me kind-of hoped the robe would "accidental" slip off...

"Hey. Great you've met Joey. I hope he hasn't bothered you too much," he laughed as he nodded towards Joey.

"Oh no, we were just talking about...," I looked towards Joey to find him lightly shaking his head as a way to tell me to shut up and not mention what we were just talking about. Instead of the truth, I said, "the stock market?" 

"The stock market? That's random." Jared said as he ate some of the chips from the bag. 

"No, you know. Stocks and stuff." Joey answered tagging along to my little lie. I should have said the weather or women or something more believable.

"Okay, whatever." Jared snickered. 

"Hey, is Isabelle dropping by?" Joey asked Jared, looking towards him across the island as Jared continued to eat the chips.

"No, why would she?" Jared answered, honestly.

"Because she's been texting you," Joey explained.

"Who's Isabelle?" I asked, curiously. 

"Jared's little fuck buddy," Joey as he took another handful of chips from the bag and plopped one into his mouth.

"No. No. An old friend," Jared corrected.

"Same difference," Joey smirked as he playfully nudged my shoulder, almost as though I was going to laugh at his comment. F-buddy? That sounds...I don't know; it just doesn't seem like the Jared I know. As I contemplated this, I remembered what he said to me in his car a few days ago: "I just wanted to let you know, my reputation isn't, you know, good." Is this part of what he meant by his reputation not being good?

"Why aren't you trying to hit that?" Joey asked Jared. This conversation was talking a turn; I really didn't want to hear this.

"I'm not interested in her," Jared said, shooting Joey an almost hazardous look for him to drop the conversation.

"Why not?" Joey uttered. "She's hot! Isn't that enough?"

"No." Jared answered, bluntly. I admired his honestly. For some people, looks were everything.

"Really?" Joey teased. "So you're telling me, if someone hot wanted to screw you, you'd reject them?"

"Where are you going with this, Joey?" Jared asked, almost annoyed at Joey's constant pestering. 

Joey laughed as he stood up and walked behind me. He took a handful of my hair, playfully my hair into his hands, harmlessly playing with the strands. 

"So, you're telling me." He boasted, confidently. "If Valerie here, someone who's hot, wanted to sleep with you, you'd reject her because looks don't matter?" 

When the question dropped, an uncomfortable silence hit the room. Did he really just ask such a personal question about me with me right here?

"Um, should I leave?" I asked. I kind of didn't want to hear his answer. But another part of me did. Did Jared see me as more than a friend?

"No, don't leave. Joey, get out," Jared pointed towards the stairs, almost as though he was an angry parent who was dismissing their child. 

"Okay, okay." Joey laughed. "But you didn't exactly say no," Joey teased, raising his eyebrows, almost as though he had uncovered some vast secret.

"Out!" Jared yelled. Joey chuckled as he walked through the front door and left.

"Sorry about him." Jared said. "I laid some comfy clothes out for you, if you want to change, in one of the guest bedrooms. Come with me." 

He took me by the hand and directed me towards the stairs.