Chapter 11

I had did my blonde hair already, curly, done my makeup, a neutral smokey eye with soft pink glossed lips, and gotten dressed in; a light yellow breezy top with ruffles on the neck line and a light white cardigan with light washed skinny jeans and white laced Oxford flats. I was ready and it was only seven forty five. With fifteen minutes to spare, I hung out with my cat. Of course. I was one crazy cat lady. Oliver purred as his grey fur seemed to be shedding all over the place. I groaned as I tried to push him away, but he was so darn lovable. I got up as soon as there was a knock on the door. It was seven fifty five, he was five minutes early? Really? When all I needed was five more to get the cat hair off me. I hobbled over to the door to see a bouquet of white roses and a very handsome face. My heart skipped a beat seeing him. My heart had never skipped a beat seeing Kendall, had it? James's scruff was almost as hot as his biceps that he was hiding under the leather jacket he wore. I smiled as I saw his gorgeous smile. It was blinding and amazing.

"Awe! Oh my gosh." I cooed looking at the flowers. James smirked and took a step into my apartment offering me the flowers. "Thank you so much, they're gorgeous." I said taking a whiff of their sweet scent as I grasped them. James smiled down at me, his hazel eyes glimmering to life, as he was coming in for a hug. "Oh! I have cat hair on me." I exclaimed pulling away.

"It's all good." James said before he was looking at my furry mess of an outfit. "Wow, he got you good." He teased pulling back too. I nodded.

"Life of a cat lover. Come on in, I'll only be a minute. I'll put these in water and then de-hair myself and then we can go." I informed him as he nodded.

"Alright, cool. I'll just go say hi to Oliver." He smiled. I nodded and followed him into the living room. He sat on the couch playing with Oliver as I grabbed a vase from under the sink in the kitchen and filled it up.

"Those are gorgeous, thank you so much." I told him as I walked out of the kitchen and into the bathroom. I grabbed the lint roller and got to work.

"Eh, can't not be a gentleman to the perfect lady. And a lady deserves flowers every chance she gets." James informed me. I blushed at myself in the mirror as I finished up. "Blushing, I see." James said suddenly at the doorway holding Oliver in his arms. I giggled.

"Don't get used to it. You have to work for it." I winked at him as he smirked seductively. I caught my breath and moved onto putting the lint roller away. "Okay, we can go now." I smiled at him who kissed the top of Oliver's head and set him on the floor. I grabbed my purse and followed James out the door. We walked down the stairs together as I saw his car sitting next to mine. I needed a better car, especially if I was going to be hanging out with people with brand new Jeeps and whatever it was James was driving.

James took my hand and opened my door leading me inside. I giggled as he shut my door and then waited for him to get in. He had such a swagger about him that it was hard to ignore. The way he held himself was breathtaking. He was confident, and not at the same time.

"Alright, so the movie starts at nine fifteen. That gives us an hour and fifteen minutes for breakfast. Seem long enough?" James asked sarcastically. I laughed.

"Yeah, pretty sure, it'll be more than enough time." I said playing along. We pulled out of my building's parking lot as James then started talking about LA and how every time his parents come in from San Diego, that his dad is usually cussing about the traffic. He was very funny, but heart felt when speaking about his family. I couldn't help myself from enjoying his stories and losing my mind for the rest of the day.

"He rear ended me backing out of my driveway once. And my driveway is about fifty feet long in diameter." James said making me genuinely laugh.

"Oh my God, really? Were you okay?" I asked worried then. He snickered shaking his head as he watched the road.

"My car had been parked there the whole time they were visiting." James said making me giggle even more.

"Ah gosh." I sighed after laughing so much. We pulled into a little Cafe James liked and got out. James opened doors for me and I felt like a true lady as he had said earlier. We got a sat at a booth, but James hesitated.

"You don't mind if we share a side, right?" James asked. I blushed again, I could feel it. I shook my head and scooted over. He sat next to me and took off his leather jacket, revealing a tshirt that fit his muscular physique quite well. I looked away before he could notice me staring. We stared at the menu in comfortable silence.

"What are you thinking of getting?" I asked James since I didn't know myself. He groaned.

"I have no idea." He said. He then pointed at a few options. "These sound good though." He said. I couldn't quite read them from my distance, so I leaned a little closer squinting at the words on the page. What I hadn't noticed though was my chin resting on his shoulder which James smiled at for a second before hiding it.

"I forgot how comfortable your arm was as a pillow." I said looking at the profile of his face while leaning my cheek on his shoulder now. James's other hand reached across his torso and cupped my cheek and ran his thumb across my jawline.

"I forgot how nice you smelled being so close." James whispered with his head turned where his lips were even with my ear on his shoulder. He then pressed his lips to the top of my head making me close my eyes at the endearing gesture. A million butterflies flew through my stomach. I breathed a sigh as the waiter came back with orange juice for me and coffee for James. I sat up, much to mine and James's dismay. James ordered the French toast which I thought was odd for someone so into muscle definition.

"I'll have the cinnamon roll with a side of fruit." I smiled at the waiter. He took our menus and then we were alone again. I craved to kiss him which I couldn't say was the case with all men I was this close to, but I with held the temptation.

"Did I mention how thankful I was for having you the other night?" I asked him leaning back into the booths cushion. James poured a few packets of sugar into his coffee with cream and started to stir.

"I was just trying to help you out. I mean, Logan always has to go around kissing girls when he's drunk. He always kisses the ones you'd never expect him to. Like, he kissed my cousin once when he barely met her and she had had too much to drink as did he." He said. So that confirmed what Kendall said about Logan.

"Yeah, not my best moment." I whispered embarrassed now that I was just another girl in a cycle of mistakes. "That was my first kiss too." I admitted then, filling in the last person to know. Well, Logan didn't know he took my first kiss experience from me, and I hoped he never found out either. It wasn't suppose to be such a big deal.

"What? How can that be?" James asked surprised as I looked at the cafe table in front of us awkwardly.

"Well, I've never really had a real boyfriend. Never been kissed. Boys were intimidated by me growing up, I had the no bullshit attitude that I have now, and besides, they all were related in my hometown, so if you kissed more than one, you were kissing cousins, so it was just weird." I shook my head, trying to offer an excuse. James stared at me for a second, which made me not look at him. It made me worry that if I looked at him, I would cry or something. I don't know why, it was weird. Why would I cry?

"Huh, so Logan is more of a pig than I thought." James nodded looking away as that's all he said. He didn't ask me about my virginity like Kendall had? Wouldn't every man's mind go there then? Apparently not.

"Still, not my best moment." I admitted letting out a heavy breath that had filled my lungs and held them down inside me.

"Hey, everyone makes mistakes." James said then moving his arm around my shoulders and taking a sip of coffee at the same time. "You weren't in your right mind state, besides you didn't know he did that. You hadn't ever met before." James said comforting me once again. I laughed shaking my head, realizing he could literally make me feel better anytime I was down. How was that possible? I was self-loathing over my kiss with Kendall, and my kiss with Logan, and yet, James' words for my kiss for Logan were healing for both of those kisses. What was it about him that was causing me to feel so drawn to him?

"Yeah, I hadn't met you either and here you are. My knight in shining armor who saved me Friday night. But in a way you're also my babysitter." I said feeling better about the whole situation, as I was making him chuckle.

"Don't forget I was your pillow too. Also, life size pony tail holder." He winked at me. I rolled my eyes.

"That's so embarrassing." I groaned. His hand rubbed my shoulder comfortingly.

"It happens, you can't fix what has already happened. No point in dwelling in the past." James said as his hand stopped rubbing and now only his thumb drew little lines on my upper arm. I then felt a sudden shiver shoot up my spine and goosebumps rise on my arms. He was speaking words into my very core it felt like. My eyes drifted to his as I almost craved to kiss this man.

"Are you cold?" James asked protectively after noticing my shiver. I shook my head.

"No, not really. I'm fine." I smiled looking to him as he finally looked back to me. Our eyes met and I instantly felt like I wanted to grab his face and plant one on him, but I couldn't. Not yet. This wasn't our moment. I wanted his and mine to be meaningful, even if it was just a simple kiss, not even my first kiss. Thankfully, the waiter appeared with our breakfast and James took his arm off of my shoulders, but rather rested his knee under the table against mine. This was far from like when Logan's and mines knees touched. We ate making small talk and then it was time to go to the movies. James insisted on paying for breakfast so I let him. We got back in his car and drove to the movie theater. Once again, James opened doors for me and I felt butterflies every time he did it too. James once again insisted on paying for everything at the movies too.

"Are you sure?" I asked him feeling bad for letting him pay for everything. James rolled his eyes.

"Allow me to be a gentleman to a deserving lady." James said, holding a small bucket of popcorn and his drink in one arm. He then grabbed for my free hand as I had my drink and a box of Almond Joy in one hand. My stomach tingled even more just by his hand. How strange. We walked through an unusually busy lobby for how early in the morning it was for most LA folks. We talked for a little outside the theater since we were a little early. Soon though, what seemed like a perfect day was quickly descending. A tall thin blonde guy and his two shorter, just as thin, brunette friends, probably about my age were smiling, visibly laughing, and pointing in my direction and I couldn't help, but feel a little insecure.

"Liz? You alright?" James asked oblivious to what what happening. He was standing in front of me where they were behind him, not in view. Usually, I would have dropped everything and made it a point to say something very witty in their direction to shut them up, but my self esteem wasn't up to par at this moment. I nodded. Lie. "You sure?" James asked looking at where I had looked. He knew now. Oh, how he knew. His face fell even more than before and his eyes seemed to fill with disgust and anger. The guys continued, and even added a few gestures mimicking that I was in fact bigger than them in width with their arms in a circular fashion around their bodies. James suddenly sat his stuff down on the actual ground and let go of my hand. I felt my stomach drop.

"James, no. It's okay. I'm fine." I said as James looked at me. His hazel eyes burned with such an intensity that I felt like I was watching him about to take on his worst enemy.

"You're perfect." He said definitively, his finger pointing at me, making my heart drop as well. He then walked over, back to me, confidence in his stride. He was much more muscular than any of the guys, and much more handsome as well. The tall blonde one must've been a good two inches taller than James and the leader of the assholes. The two shorter ones were about a foot shorter than James and looked as if they were going to shit their pants when James confronted them. The blonde must've mouthed off somehow, because although I couldn't hear what was being said, the blonde had lifted a hand as if to hit James and James grabbed it. I gasped as I could see the back muscles from under his shirt flex as he started, to what it looked like, squeeze the kids hand and the kid learned just how strong James was.

The kids then were yelled at my James, I didn't know exactly what was being said as he was booming his voice towards the kids and one by one they walked over to me and stood in front of me. The tall one was first to speak.

"We are sorry for offending you." He said not meeting my gaze. I raised an eyebrow.

"We are just young assholes who don't know how to treat a woman with respect." The next one said almost making me giggle a little as I put a hand over my mouth in awe.

"We also apologize to you for the public indecency we are about to do, so we get kicked out of this movie theater for good." The third one said. James then walked back, having watched the whole apology the entire time closely, and came to stand next to me with his arms across his chest. Obviously, he was flexing and trying to look tougher than usual.

"Goodbye now." James said in a deeper tone than what I'm used to. He was pretty intimidating at the moment. Then, all three of them, as if on cue all pulled down their pants, boxers and all, and started running through the crowd of people chanting 'We are cowards. Come join our flower powers'. I couldn't help but stare wide eyed as the manager and a few employees eventually chased after the three kids and they ran out the the front entrance.

"Oh my God!" I exclaimed turning to James who had a look of satisfaction on his face. "You made them do that?" I asked stunned. James smirked.

"They needed to learn the lesson eventually." James said with a shrug, bending to pick up his stuff from the floor. I shook my head amazed.

"You make me question everything, James." I said with a smile that wouldn't go away, he truly did. He made me question if this was real life. He was handsome, like unobtainable handsome, funny, very intelligent, and a genuinely sweet person. He made me wonder if he was real before me. James then grabbed my hand again, squeezing it tightly as he let a small smile spread over his lips.

"I hope that's a good questioning, not the 'the hell is wrong with this guy' kind of questioning." James teased peering at me from the corner of his eye. I gave him a flirtatious smile and got closer to him.

"Thank you for being so kind." I whispered in his ear and kissed his very smooth cheek. James chuckled and leaned his forehead to mine as he guided my face with his hand to rest forehead to forehead against each other.

"I'd be anything for you." He assured me making my heart skip a beat once again. I took a shaky breath as I pulled away from his closeness. Then the lights flickered around the entrance of the theater we needed to enter and that meant we were allowed in now. James handed the tickets over to the man as he ripped them, giving us the stubs, and then we found a seat in the middle of the theater and to the right. The movie was actually pretty good, although was kind of upsetting when one of the main characters die. Even out of the corner of my eye I had seen James tear up a little bit staring at the screen.

"You were crying, Oh mighty one." I teased James walking back to his car, as we swung our hands back and forth between us. James rolled his eyes with a smile.

"I wasn't crying. Tearing up sure, but not a full on water show. I thought you would've been crying more than you did though, to be honest." James said opening my car door for me. I stood in the way of the door being able to shut with James leaning on the door.

"I guess you underestimated my ability to save my tears for when I'm alone with only my cat to see me ugly cry." I smiled as if that were something to be proud of. James was very close to me then. His nose was practically touching mine. For some reason, I tensed. I didn't know why, I wanted to kiss James all morning, and suddenly, I was too shy to kiss him? James must've sensed I didn't want to be kissed, and then pulled away. I don't think it was our moment yet.

"If you wanted to, I would've held you while you ugly cried during the movie." James said as if that was comforting. I rolled my eyes and got in the car with a smirk.