Thick eyebrows shoot up when, in their embrace, there’s a warm coffee shoved into his hands. “Thank you,” he breathes out, taking a sip of the diner coffee and humming in content when it’s flavored just how he likes. Jonas leans back a bit and admires Rachel, taking note of how she has already memorized his coffee. It goes down warm, much appreciated as the clock draws near six p.m and the sun is already beginning to set. “I’m shocked the Two Whales is even still standing after that group,” he smiles, cut off by Rachel’s grip of his chin. Immediately, Jonas breaks into an even bigger smile, sucking in his cheeks in an effort to define his cheekbones and jawline.
The cheeks burn soft and red. “I know, right? I’m nearly Greek god status at this point.” To that he snorts at his own joke, tightening his arm around Rachel’s shoulder and bringing her closer so he can press a kiss against her temple, the two of them watching as Victoria scurries across the parking lot trying to get everybody to listen to her as she shouts the address of the haunted house.
“That’s our cue to leave, isn’t it?” Jonas smirks, arm leaving Rachel’s shoulders. With one hand bringing the coffee to his lips, the other works on tangling its fingers in his mother’s ring, hanging from his necklace. This was a date, their first official one, and he was understandably nervous. If he wanted to, he could count Two Whales and stargazing, but this just felt more… legit. Rachel asked him on it, and she’s ditching friends to go through the haunted house with him. And when they slip into her Subaru, buckle themselves in, Jonas watches her type the address into her Maps app and his heart stammers in his chest.
Hand moves up to tuck the ring into his sweater. The night has just started and he’s thinking way too much. Jonas takes a hefty swig of the warm coffee and places it in her cupholder, taking her unlocked phone and tapping on her Music app. “I won’t get scared. It’s just dudes with makeup on,” he says it with a smirk, only half-believing the sentiment. “That’s me upping my tough guy game ‘cause this is a date. Is it working?” Jonas snickers, tapping over to the playlists screen and scrolling to find the Halloween one she mentioned. Eyes blow wide at what he finds. “Hmm. There’s one named Chloe, one named smoke sesh, and another one… just titled with a devil emoji.” A glance over to her as they begin driving, following the other Vortex kids in their cars. “Kinda scared to know what’s in that one, considering you have Monster Mash in this Halloween one… and the Phantom of the Opera soundtrack?”
Jonas makes a face at Rachel, shaking his head. “Jesus, I see why they put Victoria in charge for the party playlists. Let’s just start with Thriller,” he teases her, putting her phone where she can see the directions and going back to nursing his coffee, warming his hands in his lap, already swaying to the song in anticipation for their second crappy karaoke session.
rachel chuckles at jonas’ confidence, already making a mental note to look out for even a jump out of him that the entire night. hazel eyes peak at the other, admittedly a bit happy to see him sipping at the coffee she had brought him with no complaints. she remembered it right. she hums, admiring the sun setting in the distance as she follows after the others. “it’s totally working, i now expect you to shield me from these scary dudes with makeup on and hold me in those big strong arms,” she teases, smirking a bit to herself, “should be easy for a greek god such as yourself, hope you don’t disappoint.”
she scoffs at his comment though, quickly glancing back at him with her eyebrows raised as if she had taken offense to him. “first of all victoria isn’t in charge of the party playlists,” she scoffs again, “we all have a say. she just... overrides our contributions a lot of the time.”
“but more importantly you’re going to judge a halloween playlist poorly because it has monster mash and the phantom of the opera soundtrack?” she fakes shock, shaking her head in disbelief. “it’s a halloween playlist, jonas. what halloween playlist doesn’t have the monster mash.”
a moment passes and rachel makes another face, “and phantom of the opera is classic for spooky vibes. what could be more horrifying than dreaming that your dead dad has angels watching over you and instead finding out it’s just a deformed and murderous man who is obsessed with you?”
rachel’s face grows warm, realizing that she was ranting a bit and has to force herself from continuing her explanation of the horror behind broadways longest running musicals. she clears her throat, playful smirk still on her lips despite realizing how dorky and embarrassing she was being.
“... anyways, you can roast me for my halloween playlist but i’ll have you know my devil emoji playlist is on point. maybe someday you’ll get the opportunity to hear it,” she speaks carefully, a small mischievous glint in her eyes. her comment rolls off the tongue easy, comfortably falling back onto the conversation of sex even if it was just playful teasing. “depends how well this date goes.”