Page 75 of Dirty Like Jude
He smiled as he thumbed through a row of CDs on thebookcase.
“Hey. You have any WhiteStripes?”
“How do they make you feel?” heasked.
“Incredibly warm and fuzzy, actually. Especially if you’ve got ‘Little CreamSoda’.”
He glanced at me and I grinned. He popped in a CD and “Little Cream Soda” started thumping through thespeakers.
“Love this album,” I gushed. “Best album of last year.” I sank back into the futon. It was folded up like a couch and I leaned against the back, pulling my knees up in front ofme.
Jude was looking around, poking through some stuff on the bookcase. “We have candlessomewhere…”
I smiled at him. “Are you trying to romanceme?”
I could’ve sworn he looked kinda self-conscious as his eyes met mine. “I mightbe.”
“I like candles,” I saidquickly.
He dug through a closet in the front hall while I enjoyed the music. Eventually, he produced some little green votives that had obviously never been used. “Christmas gift from Dolly,” he explained. “Pretty sure it was a hint after Zane brought her over and she saw his mountain of dirty laundry. They’re scented. ‘Key LimePie.’”
“Yum.” I watched him light a few and put them out on the coffee table. Then he turned off the lamp and we were left in the flickering light of the tinyflames.
He sat down next to me on his futon, just as the song switched. The CD must’ve been on random, because “Conquest” started playing next. I looked at him. He looked at me as Jack White sang the opening lines about, well, a conquest. Of the sexualvariety.
“Jesus,” he said, his dark eyes widening abit.
I almost laughed, he looked sostricken.
“Is this over the top? I’m not tryin’ to get in your pants, Roni. I just wanted to hangout.”
I was grinning. “Okay.”
He chuckled again. I loved that guarded, reluctant laugh of his. I’d rarely heard him laugh out loud, and only around the guys. It was a tiny, delicious thrill to me that I could make him chuckle. “Want me to change thesong?”
“I really don’t care. I’m not here for themusic.”
He stared at me. He picked up the remote and turned the music down. Then an awkward silence stretched betweenus.
I’d been in guys’ apartments before, in their bedrooms. When I wanted to be. I knew when they were making moves on me, and I was pretty comfortable withit.
I was far more uncomfortable with Jude’s lack of making amove.
“You really missed me?” heasked.
“Yup. You missedme?”
“Yeah. Don’t go diggin’ for compliments,though.”
I rolled my eyes. “I figured there’d be so many girls on your rock star tour, by the time you got back, you wouldn’t even remember myname.”
“I’m not a rock star,” hesaid.
“You look like a rockstar.”
He stared at me a bit more, as my heart drummed in mychest.
Then he leaned back against the futon, right next to me. He was still wearing Dylan’sPearl DrumsT-shirt and his bare arm pressed to mine. He had tattoos all down his arm and he felt warm and firm, muscular. And his skin was so, sosoft.
