pairing. summerboy!jess mariano x ( gn ) reader
summary. you meet an out-of-place, sarcastic, leather jacket wearing boy on your way to the beach. he doesn't seem like the best guy, but what's summer without some fun? inspired by summerboy by lady gaga
author's note. i wrote this in the summer, never finished it, got motivated today, here it is!
you knew something important was happening this week. for starters, you'd been seeing your lucky number everywhere, your face hadn't broken out in weeks, and the uv index was finally at ten. you didn't take yourself for superstitious, but these weren't things that could be easily ignored, at least not by you. your mind constantly told yourself that it's not like you're just gonna bump into some hot, interesting, one-of-a-kind guy because of all these things. at least, you thought that until the hot, interesting, one-of-a-kind guy bumped into you.
it was just gonna be a quick errand to a small bookstore to get a new book to read by the water.
you'd pick up your book, and walk to the beach to find a good spot before the shore started looking like it was straight out of an mtv spring break. after exiting the bookstore, though, you were greeted with a rough shove of the shoulder, almost knocking you down, and making you drop your bag. you turn around, and are surprised when you see someone who looks just as inconvenienced as you. as soon as he sees you, though, his angry demeanor vanishes, and is replaced with a surprised one.
"crap, uh...sorry." he says, somehow sounding genuine.
you bend over to pick up your bag and scoff. "yeah, thanks." you look up and get a good glimpse of him before standing straight up. he looked out of place. he was definitely gorgeous, but he also definitely did not look like he belonged in venice, california.
"sorry about your bag." he curtly says. you give him a confused look, not so much listening to what he said but to him, his hair, his face, his expression, before finally realizing what he had said. you shrug, "it's okay, i can give a pass to a hemingway reader," you say, and motion to the book in his hand, as it was probably what caused him to run into you in the first place.
the corner of his mouth turns up at your words, and his head motions to the book that you're holding. "whatcha got there?" he asks, amused.
you hold up your book, deciding to humor the random boy you ran into--or that ran into you--on the street.
he nods his head, raising an eyebrow. "jane austen." he remarks.
you look down and smile. "what? not a jane austen guy?"
he shakes his head and smiles at the ground, almost unintentionally mimicking your movements, "not exactly, but that book you're holding isn't half bad."
you raise an eyebrow. "oh yeah?" maybe he isn't as rude and prestigious as he tries to seem, you think to yourself.
"well, i'll have to come back to you when I finish it, then."
his eyes widen ever so slightly in surprise. He thought you wouldn't notice, but nothing gets past you. "sure." he says, his short words not properly conveying his want to see you again after this.
you smile again. why is a stranger making you smile so much? this question rings throughout your head for the rest of the day. "i've never seen you around here before, are you new to town?" you ask him.
he shrugs, and out of playful annoyance, you contemplate telling him that if he does that one more time his shoulders are gonna stay like that. "it's a big place, i wouldn't expect you to memorize all the locals' faces." he says with his smartass attitude. god, does he have a switch or something?
"true, but i've never seen a local wear a black leather jacket to the pier in eighty degree heat." you reply, smirking.
he surprisingly and quickly accepts defeat and even laughs a bit. you didn't even know he could do that, at least not by looking at him.
"okay, so maybe i don't live here. i'm just here for summer vacation, crashing at my dad's place." he hopes that his lie is convincing enough, as he couldn't take being called out twice in two minutes. "oh yeah? was the ocean just calling to you as soon as you grabbed that diploma?" you tease. although you didn't mean for it to happen, your words stung him a little bit, serving as a reminder of why he's really here. but he couldn't tell you that. he couldn't let another person--especially someone he just met make him feel like the screw-up he thinks he is. although, he couldn't tell why your opinion mattered so much to him. he had no reason to keep up appearances with you, but something told him this wouldn't be the last time you would see each other. he answers your question with a white lie. "yeah, just couldn't wait to get out here."
you stare at this boy, a boy who had possibly told you a blatant lie, but a boy who also had a reason to. you stare at him a little longer, taking him in. his dark hair, his dark eyes--his eyes. you swore you'd never seen eyes with so much behind them. not just anger, not just turmoil, but an emotion that you can't quite place. obviously, he wasn't here to spend quality time and build sand castles at the beach with his family, but you could let it slide. for now, at least. something told you this wouldn't be the last time you'd see him. "okay, then. well, i'd love to stay and chat but i do have to get to the beach." you say with almost a tone of disappointment in your voice. his mouth moves and almost resembles something of a smile. "i'm as much of a victim to it as you are." he says, and as you wave goodbye and walk away, you think you could get used to that tone.
you'll still have the summer, after all...
