As soon as they were gone Sharon asked Jake if he minded her calling Kate. It wasn’t that she wanted to abandon him immediately, but they both knew that if she didn’t call Kate now then her bestie would be hearing it through the grapevine. He’d just smiled and waved her back to his bedroom while he took care of the pizza boxes and plates.

Unlike Lexie, she gave Kate all the dirty details about the coat closet - and some of the hotel room stuff. Kate pretended to be upset about Lexie and Patrick getting the first double date until Sharon promised that of course she and Jake would go out with her and Andrew sometime this week. Jake walked into the bedroom just in time to overhear that part of the conversation and suggested they go on either Friday or Saturday before heading to Stronghold.

Worked for her.

They both knew that once they got to Stronghold they were going to be under siege by their friends.

The rest of the week passed by in a bit of a blur. Most of her day-to-day interactions with Jake didn’t change at all, except that on Tuesday he took her out to dinner for their first official date. They almost had another argument over who was going to pay, but she ended up conceding and letting him spring for the whole meal as long as she got to pay next time. Sharon always considered it an important test whether a guy was too eager to have her pay or wouldn’t allow it at all. She had expected a fight from Jake on it, he wasn’t the type to be too eager, but she was glad they’d come to a compromise.

She honestly hadn’t been sure whether or not he’d be the type that would take it as an insult that she wanted to pay, but he didn’t seem bothered by it overall. Just that he wanted to pay for the date that he’d asked her out on.

Setting up that they would switch back and forth made her feel better.

Finally, Friday night and dinner with Kate and Andrew rolled around. Sharon wore a little black dress with no panties, garters and stockings, and no bra. She figured if they were going to Stronghold afterwards, Jake would appreciate the easy access.

At least, she hoped something would happen at Stronghold. They hadn’t talked explicitly about it, she realized.

Dinner was a little awkward, because Andrew kept glaring at Jake. Eventually she started kicking him under the table every time she caught him at it and he turned his glare to her.

“Stop kicking me,” he ordered, making Kate look up in surprise. Although she was seated next to Andrew, she obviously hadn’t realized what Sharon was doing. Jake turned his head to stare at Sharon too. She smirked. What? She had good aim.