20:Of Dangerous Ideas
1442 Words
The 'date' ended when Timothy, Ruby's assistant arrived to drag—take her back to the hotel where there were several important calls waiting.
Jared managed to convince Ryan to go to a nearby cafe to have a coffee since they had spent most of the afternoon at the shooting range. The sky was painted with red hues as the sun began to set. Ryan excused himself to go to the bathroom and Jared watched him go.
He would be an i***t if he missed the way Ryan squirmed when they were alone. It was almost like he expected Jared to jump him the moment there was no one around. It hurt.
But then it was all his fault.
If he was truthful, then Ruby's treatment towards him was somewhat justified. No mother would like their children to be harassed by anyone. And that was exactly what Jared had been doing even during the 'Ice Cream Incident'. He was an i***t.
Ten minutes passed with Jared repeatedly glancing at his watch waiting for Ryan to return. When his patience ran out, Jared rose from his seat just as he saw Ryan emerge from the hallway the bathrooms were located.
With a parasite attached to his arm, chatting up a storm happily.
Cynthia Johnson.
Well, f**k.
Samantha Rockford was in tow, looking half miserable and half upset. Cynthia grinned and waved at him as soon as she caught sight of him. "Yoohoo! Jared!" she called out, tugging Ryan along quicker. Ryan looked like he wanted to die with embarrassment.
"What a funny coincidence, Winston! To meet you and your hot property here." Ryan's lip twitched but he said nothing.
Jared glared at her. "Yes. It is. Please leave. We're on a private date."
Cynthia merely laughed and sat down next to Ryan, across the table. "Nonsense. We're all friends here. I'd like to get to know your lover just a little better too," Cynthia purred, snuggling right up next to Ryan—who sighed tiredly. "Never know just what might happen in the future, right?"
She winked at him.
Jared felt irritated. "Cynthia."
She grinned. "Oh, come on, Jared! We barely spend any time together anymore you workaholic! And now that you've found yourself a man—"
"Cynthia Johnson."
It silenced her on the spot, but didn't stop the pouting look of irritation from settling on her face. And then Ryan laughed. "Why not, Jared? It'll only be for a little bit. You can sit down too," he added, looking at Samantha.
They all turned to Samantha, who was still standing—fiddling with her skirt a little and looking nervous. When she realized everyone was staring at her, she turned red. With a reassuring look from Jared, she sat down next to him.
For the rest of their time at the cafe, Jared was more than just a little miserable.
Cynthia continued to paw at Ryan. Samantha followed the action up by scolding her about decency. Cynthia ignored the chastise. Ryan acted the perfect ladies man, showering attention evenly on them both—making an attempt at including Jared once or twice. Jared had to admit he did seem in his element. No wonder he was so confident about duping money out of him. If that was indeed the case.
Jared rebuffed every attempt and continued to sigh and stare out the window. He wasn't stupid. He knew why Ryan had invited the girls. He was scared. He didn't want to be alone with Jared. When Cynthia stood up, looking quite determined, Jared had the worst kind of feeling settle in his stomach. She had a resolved, determined kind of look in her eyes. It was the kind of look that should be a criminal offence on her personality types.
"I think it's time to split this into a double date!"
Jared's eyes widened. Samantha gaped. Ryan choked on his soda water. And with that declaration, a little bit of manhandling of Ryan and a few protests from both boys, Cynthia Johnson had gone, taking Ryan with her.
As soon as they left, Jared had moved around Samantha to chase after them so Cynthia couldn't corrupt—
"Jared." He paused. Samantha sounded rather... conflicted. He swivelled around to look at her. She was red.
"C-Can I talk to you?"

"Jared only likes this kind of chocolate. You'll remember won't you?"
Ryan sighed. "I'll remember."
Cynthia beamed and tugged on his arm in another direction.
Since being separated from Jared and Samantha, Ryan had been given a free lesson on his boyfriend. Cynthia, Samantha, Myra, and a few others had, apparently schooled together for a majority of their lives. In the time Ryan had spent with Cynthia Johnson, he learned more than he ever wanted to know about Jared Winston.
Cynthia Johnson was a weird girl.
Ryan couldn't really describe it, but she was a weird sort of weird. And since she knew he was taken—by a boy—it was difficult to use his usual charm and sweep her off her feet without arousing some suspicion. And, even if the situation allowed for it, for the first time in his life, Ryan doubted his skills to do so.
It was a little unnerving.
As they wandered into an antique shop by sheer curiosity, Ryan watched as she inspected something rather old while—
"So have you two done it yet?"
—asking some rather personal questions.
Ryan was horrified.
Cierra's misleading s*x-ed fluttered across the forefront of his mind. He turned an amazing shade of scarlet that matched his complexion wonderfully.
Cynthia giggled. "A yes?"
"N-No! We haven't done anything like that! Don't get the wrong idea!" Ryan turned away from her.
She giggled again. "But it's bound to happen sooner or later don't you think?"
There was a clink of glass on glass as she put down whatever item she was looking at and wound her arms tight around him. "I bet he'd be real gentle with you," she whispered with her breath fluttering on his ear. "He loves you so much after all. First he'd kiss your—"
______________________________________________
"You really think so?"
Samantha nodded determinedly. "I know so! It's every girl's dream to get married someday to the person they love! You need to just go out and—"
While Samantha was on a power trip, Jared had finally found the little iWin button over Ruby. Not so much found it as it had been given to him by Samantha over the expanse of ten minutes of preaching on the proper etiquette of relationships.
Jared had learnt that Ryan was not an old friend of Samantha and they had met previously on the day on the business mixer. She had been taken in by Ryan but he had never called her back.
After getting over with the interrogation of whether Jared's feelings for Ryan were genuine Samantha had accepted Jared's well-played answer and commenced doing everything in her power to get them hitched as soon as possible—even offering wedding information. Her philosophy was that two people who love each other should obviously get married.
And have children.
Or, in their case, adopt.
"Do you love him?" She asked, her hands on her hips.
"Of course I do!" Jared nodded.
"Then you absolutely must marry him!" She beamed.
"Right! Wait—what?"
And while he was protesting that marriage was taking it a little too fast, Jared was really thinking that marriage would be taking a stupid little joke a little too far.
Marriage was permanent and legally binding.
And then Samantha mentioned how Ryan's mother would be thrilled about it and that was where Jared decided to cross just a few lines to win the little competition between himself and Ryan's mother.
Reason was promptly thrown out the window. Jared Winston would do anything to win.
"—with the biggest rock you can find!" Samantha paused, and then blinked. "Oh, but I wonder if Ryan would like diamonds…" Her face fell. "He's… well… he's a boy after all. So maybe a simple—"
"No, no, I'll get him the traditional diamond." Jared grinned, imagining Ryan's face after presenting him a diamond ring that was more than just a little too feminine for a boy to be wearing on his finger.
Hence they found themselves in a big jewellery shop looking over the huge collection of engagement rings.
"Jared! Jared! How about this one?"
Jared looked over at the gem-studded band escorting more than just a few carats of A Girl's Best Friend.
It was elegant.
It was pristine.
It was beautiful.
And it was amazingly girly.
"Miss, I'll take this one."
- Writer
