Dandelion

“Listen-” no “Listen,” hell no. Get straight to the point. “Look, Jack. Prom is coming up soon, and I want you to take me,” that sounded perfect, only if I had the courage to ask him out loud. I knew he would say no. but what if he doesn’t? He would, and I knew it for a fact. But I didn’t want to go with anyone else. Just him.

“Stop looking at me, you weirdo,” how in the hell did he know I was looking at him? Maybe because these days I wasn’t shuttle when it came to looking at him, but if you saw him you’d understand why. Dirty blonde hair, killer green eyes, and a sick bod, but that wasn’t all there was to him. Far, far, far beyond his tough exterior, there was a good guy. I had seen it once before. “Don’t you have more important things to do than stare at me? Like your homework?”

“You’re far more interesting than my homework, Jack Arsen,” I mutter, he looks up at me, seeming irritated. “I don’t understand it. Can you help me?”

“Figure it out yourself,” he stands, and then places his dish in the sink. “And then after you can make yourself useful, and clean the dirty dishes.” he was clearly in a bad mood, so I would find him later, and ask him the question that had been on my mind since forever. I just hope he says yes.

“Are you done with your homework?” Ian asks.

“Hi, Ian. I’m good, thanks for asking. I’m glad to see you’re alive and you’re asking me about my homework?” I loved everyone that lived in this house, they were the only family I had ever known, but I hated my brother’s job. Mostly because I didn’t know if he’d ever come back every time he walked out the door. He thought I was stupid, but I knew exactly what he did for a living. A drug lord, amongst other things, and the people that lived in this house were his dealers. I didn’t quite know what Jack did. I never saw him doing it, then again you’d never know with Jack.

“Hi, Isabella. I’m OK. Have you done your homework?” he asks.

“Yes,” I say.

“Then why aren’t you in your room?” he asks.

“Because I don’t feel like being in my room,” That was all my life consists of. School and homework. I never went out, and I could never have friends because Ian was suspicious of everyone. The friends I did have were scared to come over because of all the drug dealing bikers.

“You know the rules, Isabella,” he says. “Go to your room.”

“Fine, but can I ask you a question?” I ask. He nods. He knew I liked Jack, hell everyone in the house knew I liked Jack, including Jack, but I could see the conversation going nowhere. “......Never mind” I didn’t have time for his snarky comments. I’d just have to wait and see....or not. As soon as I make my way upstairs I spot Jack making his way towards his room. “Jack-”

“Not now, Dandelion.” god I hated that nickname.

“It’ll be quick,” I say. Here goes nothing. I take a deep breath “I’m going to get straight to the point, and ask you.... Will you-” before I could finish my sentence a blonde headed bimbo appears behind him cutting me off.

“Come on, babe.” babe? Who the fuck was this bitch?

“I-I see y-your busy. I-I’ll talk to you later.” I mutter, I couldn’t have gotten to my room sooner. Maybe it was better this way, I wish my heart felt the same way. It hurt. Why the hell did it hurt? No matter how much I liked him, I knew that he would never like me in that why. I was too young, and he was way too old...

At six A.M. I am awoken by my alarm clock, and thank god I won’t have to wake up at this time for much longer, then I hop out of the bed, and take a shower. After I’m dressed and ready to go I head downstairs. The house was silent. If I didn’t live here, I wouldn't believe that the house was a raging bar/ whore house at night. Looking through our lowly filled refrigerator I grab an apple before heading for the door. ”Dandelion, wait,” Jack says, I can tell just by his voice that he had just woken up. “What did you want last night?” I didn’t have to turn around to know that he didn't have a shirt on, I didn’t want to turn, but I knew I had to.

“It’s not important,” I shutter, when I do eventually turn I get more then I barged for when I see him standing in the entrance way with only a towel wrapped around his waist. God help me. “It was stupid.”

“Just tell me,” he says.

“I was- I was.... Going to ask you if you wanted to go to prom.... With me.” the ground suddenly looked interesting. I didn’t want to see his face, not right now, but he wanted to see mine. An unpleasant shiver travels down my spine when he lifts my chin up so that I’m looking at him.

“Why me?” he asks.

“You know how Ian is... I don’t want him doing the interrogations, and background checks...” he gives me a sly smile. Out of the corner of my eye I see the blonde headed bimbo, he took up to his room last night enter the kitchen.

“I’ll think about it,” he finally says, after what seemed like forever of him staring into my soul. I breathed easier when his fingers left my chin. “Have a great day at school, Dandelion.”

JACK

I look over at my alarm clock it read 1:45 P.M. I also noticed the blonde headed lady who's name I didn't bother to learn was still in my bed. I shake her awake. “What the fuck, are you still doing here?” I ask, she rolls her eyes before turning back over. “If your ass isn’t out of here in the next five seconds-”

“I’m going, I’m going,” she mutters taking her precious time getting out of my bed. “I give a guy explosive pussy, and this is how he treats me.” I huff it’s wasn’t all that great, and far from explosive, but I wouldn’t say. The sooner I got her out my room, the better. When she’s gone and out the door, I go to the kitchen to get a snack.

“You were up pretty late last night,” Ian says.

“Yeah, remind me to never fuck with blondes again.” I murmur, he chuckles.

“You mind making Isabella something to eat. I have to head down to the docks, and she’ll be home any minute from school,” he says.

“No. I Don’t.” I say. “Speaking of your sister... She asked me to go to prom with her.” he lets out a loud laugh “What?”

“Jack Arsen at a high school prom? Now that’s a sight to see,” he says clenching his stomach laughing his brains out. It takes a few minutes for him to calm down, but eventually he does. “Well, what did you say?”

“I said I’d think about it,” I say. “I’ll look like a pervert. A twenty-six-year-old taking a seventeen-year-old girl to prom.”

“It’ll save me from owing Trisha a favor for a background check, and you know how Debra hates her,” he says. “Plus that little girl fucking worships the ground you walk on. At least-”

“I’m home!” Dandelions voice roared through the whole house, and her footsteps echoed through the hallways as she made her way to the kitchen. “What are you two talking about?”

“Jack here...” Ian begins, slapping his hand on my shoulder. “Is taking you to prom.” He looks me over giving me a sly smile before he leaves me in the kitchen alone with her. It was no secret Dandelion liked me, she was the only one I could tolerate in this house. I didn’t want to give her mixed signals by taking her to prom.

“Y-you don’t have to take. I could just-”

“I’ll take you, but Dandelion this doesn't mean anything. I don’t want you getting more obsessed with me than you already are.” I say, her face instantly lights up.

“Thank you, thank you!” she shouts. “Oh my god, we have so much to do. I have to get my dress, and of course, you have to get a tux, and-”

“Slow down, and breath.”

“I’m breathing; I’m breathing,” she exhales grabbing my hand. “Come on. We have a lot of shopping to do.” I was already starting to regret this.

“What about this one?” Dandelion asks. I didn’t know why she was asking me, it wasn’t like I knew anything about dresses, except how to take them off. Unwarranted thoughts entered my mind, and immediately I stand to my feet at the thought of ripping that very dress clean off of her.

“P-pick whatever, just hurry up,” I say. It took me thirty minutes to pick out a suit, and we had been here for two hours now... Girls. “I’ll be in the car.”

“Wait!” she squeals. “I have one more I want to show you.” I groan before reluctantly sitting back down, she squeals once more before going back into the dressing room.

“I ain't got all day Dandelion,” she had been in there forever, just as I was about to stand the dressing room door opens. My eyes widen. The dress was..... Black, and sheer. It clung to her body like a second skin and highlighted the breast, and the ass I never knew she had. “Y-you are not getting that.”

“Why not?” she asks, looking herself over in the mirror. “I like it.”

“Put it back.”

ISABELLA

“I like it. Why do I have to put it back?” I ask. I couldn’t tell if the way he was looking at me was a good or bad thing, but I wouldn’t read too much into it, I would write it off as Jack being Jack. Difficult. I liked the dress, no I loved the dress.

“I’m not going to sit here and argue with you, about why you can’t get that slutty dress,” Jack says grabbing me by my wrist and pulls me into the dressing room.

“Jack!”

“Take it off!” he says, his expression told me he’s not to be tested, but I was annoyed, and I felt like getting on his nerves. “Dandelion-”

“Do you want me to take it off in front of you?” I ask. Something unknown resides in his eyes but before I can decipher its meaning, it was gone. “Or are you going to get out?” he rolls his eyes before opening the door and leaving. Once the dress is off, and my regular clothes are on, I grab the first dress I had tried on, and exit the dressing room, as soon as I do I spot Jack at the front desk flirting with the cash year, an unsettling defiant anger bubbles deep inside me, and I switched the blue dress I had in my hand with the black one, then make my way to the register to pay for it. After I’m done I make my way over to Jack where he’s still flirting with the cash year. “I’m ready to go.”

“Just a second!” he says through clenched teeth, then turns back to the cash year. “Kids.”

“I’m ready to go, now!”

“In a minute.” I instantly notice the keys hanging out of his pocket and quickly grab them.

“Fine,” I mutter, before making my way out the door, and to his car....

“Isabelle James, open the fucking door!” Jack yells. “NOW!”

“Not until you apologize...” I say.

“Apologize?” he asks. “APOLOGIZE FOR WHAT!”

“For flirting with that girl in front of me, and ignoring my request to go home,” Crossing my hands over my chest I give him a stern look. “I won’t open the door until you do.” he pulls on the handle once more, before staring daggers at me “I’m waiting...”

“I’m sorry for flirting with her in front you,” he growls, rolling his eyes. “Now can you please open the door?” he didn’t say it like he meant it, but I knew if I made him any angrier he’d probably break the window in, so I unlocked the door, he angrily gets in and hold his hand out for his keys. I give them to him. “Don’t ever fucking do that again.”

“Don’t flirt with another girl in front of me, again.” after that the car was silent the whole way back to the house, and I was ok with that. I knew we weren’t together and I shouldn’t have been mad, but he knew I liked him; he could have had the decency to flirt when I wasn’t around.

“You’re seventeen years old, and I’m twenty- six, Dandelion. I hope you know that nothing can happen between us. Like ever. “he says, I look over at him, and it seems he’s calmed down.

“That’s yet to be determined. I’ll be turning eighteen in a couple of weeks.” I say. “One day you might wake up and realize you’ve changed your mind.” the car comes to a stop, and I notice that we’re home, but before I could get out the car, Jack reaches over me and closes the door.

“Why me?” he asks. “I drink too much, I smoke too much, and I have anger issues.” he really wanted to know. I find myself asking this question all the time and it was brought me back two years ago when he first moved in...

“I have no privacy; I’m late almost every day to school because someone’s always passed out drunk in my bathroom, there are too many people living in this house!” I groan, but of course, Ian wasn’t listening. He was too busy doing something on his computer.

“Yeah, uh-huh.” he murmurs.

“Ian!” I exclaim. “I’m being serious, one of your crew members flirted with me, and another offered me a drink.” this has his attention. “I know you have a lot on your plate, but at least say something.”

“I’ll talk to them, and don’t be surprised when Jack moves in here.” he says.

“Who the hell is Jack?”

“Isabel-la, language!” he says. “Jack is a friend of mine. He’s going to be staying here for awhile, just until he gets back on his feet.” that’s what he said when I first moved in here after our father died, and here we were eight years later, and the same people he promised would be staying for a little while were still stinking up the house, and eating all of our food. Just then I heard the front door open. “That must be him.” I wasn’t in the welcoming mood so I went upstairs to my room.

**

“Isabel-la, dinner!” Ian yelled from the bottom of the stairs. He didn’t have to tell me twice, I made my way downstairs quickly. I learned the hard way. Run when you’re called down to dinner or you’d be starving the whole night. “Spaghetti for my Isabellie.”

“Thanks,” I mutter, looking up at Ian, next to him I notice a new face, and I automatically assume it’s Jack. He looked nothing over twenty year’s old, blonde hair, killer green eyes. I quickly averted my gazing when he noticed me staring. He was sexy as hell, and for once I’d enjoy the sight of someone in this house.

“Oh, Isabelle this is Jack and Jack this is my little sister Isabella,” Ian says, I couldn’t help but notice when he grumbles something under his breath. That was the first and the last interaction I had with him until one afternoon when I came from school everyone was crowded in the living room.

“What’s going on?” I ask.

“Nothing for you to worry about Isabelle. Go upstairs, and do your homework.” Ian says.

“Fine,” I say, but my curiosity got the best of me. Every once in awhile I’d listen in on their meetings without Ian noticing, and I could tell by Ian’s tone that something was wrong, and I wanted to know what.

“Like I was saying, we’re going to raid the place. We need to send a message. No one steals from me, no one. Do whatever you have to.” Ian says, this fucking idiot! Before I could even think about changing my mind, I marched into the living room and gave Ian the biggest scowl I could muster up.

“What?!”

“I thought I told you to go upstairs!” he yells.

“I’m glad I didn’t. Are you crazy? You could get hurt, or worst!” I yell back. I kind of got the memo of what Ian did when he came through the door bleeding, with a bullet wound. I had never been so scared in my whole entire life, he was the only family I had left, and the thought of losing him scared the hell out of me. “You’re making this discussion without thinking straight.”

“ISABELLE I’M NOT GOING TO TELL YOU AGAIN. GO TO YOUR ROOM, AND DON’T COME OUT UNTIL I TELL YOU TO!”

“FINE!” I let my footsteps be heard as I stomp up the stairs and then slam my bedroom door.

**

Thirty minutes later there was a knock on my door. “GO AWAY, IAN.”

“It’s Jack.” That sure as hell made me sit up on my bed.

“Come in,” I say, when the door opens I’m greeted with his good smelling cologne. It was silent for a moment.

“I’ve never seen anyone yell at Ian before. It certainly was a sight to see.” he chuckles, sitting down on my bed. I felt like a stupid fangirl, all giddy because Jack- fucking- Arsen was sitting on my bed. “You don’t have to worry. I’ll make sure nothing happens to him. I promise.”

“Thank you,” I say, looking over at him. He looked back at me. His green eyes were sincere; I look down at his outstretched hand there lied a small Dandelion. I chuckled because I knew it was from the flowers I had picked. It was a thing that my dad and I use to do. He loved Dandelion. “T-thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Dandelion" he smirks.

“You’re not as bad as you make yourself out to be,” I mutter. “I like you, and that’s something you’re going to have to deal with.” his eyes meet mine, a ghost of a smile appears on his face, and he nods.

"I get it, I'm irresistible but you have to stop with the cock blocking. A man has needs."

"You could always-"

"Fuck, no!"