6

"The movies don't impress me."

Adrian laughs. He pulls out his wallet to pay for the tickets. "I'm not trying to impress you, sweetheart. Wanna get to know you."

"How are we supposed to talk in the movies, then?" Mary Jane asks, huffing. "You made me leave my dad's business meeting early, you know."

The lady behind the counter hands them their tickets. Adrian takes them, and he glances at Mary Jane with a dashing smile. "Somehow, that makes me feel the tiniest bit special."

Mary Jane's lips twitch, but she doesn't let Adrian see it. She buys the popcorn and the drinks, and they go inside the movie theater.

The movie starts. Mary Jane half-watches the movie—she's aware of how close Adrian is. She can smell his cologne from here, and it's such a familiar scent that Mary Jane's feeling dazed, and there's a deep timbre to his voice whenever he laughed under his breath. Mary Jane shakes her head, closes her eyes, and focuses on the movie.

They go to a restaurant nearby for dinner afterwards.

"Do you like doing what your dad does?" Adrian asks as soon as they're seated and they've ordered. He crosses his arms on the table. "You said you were in a meeting earlier."

Mary Jane shrugs and sits back. "It's okay, I guess. A little boring and tiring, but I'll live. It's interesting to know how he runs his business."

Adrian nods and asks another question. Mary Jane answers.

Eventually, their food comes, but Adrian isn't done. He's asking about her childhood memories, her relationship with her mother and roommates, the books she loves to read, and the lowest grade she'd gotten in school, and Mary Jane answers them all, and she's laughing at some of her ridiculous stories—but Adrian's staring at her, and she catches herself mid-laugh and covers her face. "Sorry, sorry. I know that was loud."

"No," Adrian says, shaking his head. His lips curl into a small smile. "I like it. You should laugh more often."

Mary Jane clears her throat. "You said you were going to tell me about Seth."

His smile turns into a teasing one. "I didn't agree. I said I'll text you."

Mary Jane's eyebrows furrow. "Adrian."

"Okay," he says, pursing his lips to keep from laughing. "Why do you want to find this guy so badly? You like him?"

Mary Jane scoffs. "Come on. We were friends. Her sort of...helped me with something."

Adrian tilts his head. His eyes roam her face. "Why do you sound like a stalker?"

Her jaw drops in indignation. "I was not! If you really knew Seth, you'd know I was friends with him."

Adrian says nothing in response. He takes a sip from his glass.

Mary Jane exhales heavily. "Where are you from, then? How do you know him?"

He clicks his tongue. "Stalker."

"I'm asking valid questions!"

"Tell you what," he says, leaning forward. There's a glint in his eyes that makes Mary Jane both nervous and excited. "I'll tell you one fact about Seth for every date we go to."

Her eyebrows shoot up and she scoffs. "I know enough about business to know that that's a bad deal. I'm on the least of the receiving end, that's not fair."

Adrian's mouth curves into a wide grin as he shrugs. "Okay, then. Back to our conversation. When was your first—"

Mary Jane sighs loudly. "You don't like to lose, do you?"

He pauses for a moment, but he doesn't lose his composure. Adrian's fingers tap the table expectantly, and his eyes stare at hers. Like he's challenging her. "Neither do you," he murmurs.

"Why do you want to go on a date with me so badly?" Mary Jane whines, frowning. "Is it because I'm a Chaucer? Is that it?"

Adrian throws his head back and laughs. The sound is rich and warm and low and feels as if it's all-consuming. "I wish that was the reason, beautiful. I really do. But I don't care about that. I don't care whether you have money or not. I like you enough to spend time with you—isn't that reason enough?"

Mary Jane stares at him, and there's nothing but sincerity in his expression as he waits for her response.

She fights the flush rising to her cheeks. Okay, Mary Jane decides. I'll bite.

"Alright," she finally says, sitting straighter. "Deal."

"Fact number one. Seth should be twenty-one by now," Adrian says immediately in response, one eyebrow arching as he reaches for his glass of water.

Mary Jane's mouth opens. Then closes. Then opens again to say, "I-I knew that! We were both nineteen two years ago!"

Adrian's grin is wicked. "Sorry, babe."

Mary Jane huffs and crosses her arms, and Adrian only laughs at her. He asks her another question, and she reluctantly answers him, and they fall again into easy conversation.

They don't talk about Seth again—even after he walked her home and kissed her cheek in goodnight.

And then their next date is at the dog park, and as much as Mary Jane hates to admit it, the boy knows what he's doing.

For starters, he's a complete gentleman. They've hooked up, yes, but the fact doesn't make Adrian an asshole who's jumping for another chance with her in bed. Today, he picked her up again in his Subaru at exactly five o'clock, just a few hours after Mary Jane's last class ended. Their first date was almost a week ago, and as much as Mary Jane's trying to hide it, she's glad to see him again even though they've been texting every day.

His company almost makes Mary Jane forget about Seth. Almost.

"Pictures," Mary Jane blurts out, keeping her hand resting atop the golden retriever, Milton's head. Milton's chin raises up, and she pets him carefully.

It's been two hours since they've been on the date, and they've talked about everything and anything—Adrian is easygoing. Although he doesn't talk about himself much, he knows how to talk to Mary Jane, and not a lot of people can do that. She already feels comfortable with him, and that's...that's a little dangerous. "Can I have pictures at least?"

Adrian's busy playing fetch with Nacho, the beagle. He throws the toy, and Nacho runs off. Adrian turns to her with a huge smile. "What?"

"Seth," Mary Jane clarifies, ignoring the way her heart jumps. Adrian's dressed simple in a pale blue button-down and shorts, and his hair is a mess, but he looks handsome. He always does.

His smile falters a little as he looks away and crouches down with open arms. Nacho's running back to him with the toy in between his teeth. "So you do like him."

The ginger resists the urge to sigh loudly. "I was—am looking for this guy for about two years. I go back to Station Twelve once in a while, Adrian. Come on."

"...in other words, you like him."

Mary Jane grits her teeth. "Shut up—okay, so what if I do? Do you have a problem with that?"

Adrian raises his eyebrows and looks at her again while rubbing Nacho's belly, who's lying on his back. "You don't even know what he looks like."

Mary Jane opens her mouth. Then closes it again. She crosses her arms and sputters, "You don't know that."

"I think I do," teases Adrian. There's amusement again in his eyes. "You never met him."

"Okay, you know what, I just...I just need to find him. I told you. He helped me with something."

"Would this something have anything to do with why you took a gap year before college?" Adrian asks, standing up and taking a step towards her. "You mentioned it the last time."

She bites her lip. "Yeah. I, uh, I was in a really tough place."

Adrian stares at her. "Fact number two. He was an asshole."

Mary Jane blinks. "He wasn't."

"That's a fact, darling," Adrian says, and there's something in his eyes that sends a chill run down Mary Jane's spine. "I'm sorry you had to go through something, and I'm glad Seth helped you out. But trust me when I say he was an asshole. You ready to go?"

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