Runaway – Ch 9

Pairing: Jared x Reader
Tags: teasing / flirting
WC: 2,859

Masterlist

“Morning, Mr. Padalecki.” A waft of coffee scented steam curled its way past Jared’s nose. He shook himself awake, confused as to why Y/N/N was bringing him coffee in his room when she’d never done that before. But looking around, Jared realised he wasn’t actually in his room; he was sprawled across the couch in his living room, laptop dead and perched on his chest. “Sleep well, sir?” Y/N/N asked with a wry smile, unable to resist teasing her boss. 

“Fuck,” Jared yawned, scrubbing at his day-old stubble. The haze of unconsciousness softened the edges of his carefully composed demeanor, just a little, and he was sweeter than usual. His expressions were more open, and his reactions more honest. And his language filter completely disintegrated. “Sorry,” Jared mumbled with an embarrassed smile, reaching for the mug of coffee Y/N/N had been offering him this whole time.

“Believe it or not, I have heard the F-word before,” Y/N/N rolled her eyes, mind unbiddenly drawing up an image of her stepfather. “Even used it a couple of times too.” 

“A girl with your manners?” Jared twisted his expression into something akin to horror, “Miss Y/N, I am shocked.” 

“Yeah, well,” Y/N/N laughed mirthlessly under her breath, taking a sip of her own coffee as she settled into the armchair, “you usually have to say ‘fuck off’ a couple times when you’re crashing at bus depots and truck stops.” 

Jared’s eyes flicked up from his coffee to Y/N/N, watching her stare into her own mug, fingers fidgeting on the rim. That was the most she had ever revealed to him about how she’d ended up in L.A. He wondered if he stayed quiet, would she keep talking? 

She didn’t. 

Jared turned on the TV to fill the silence, which was feeling uncharacteristically tense between them. But he realised after he’d turned it on that there wasn’t actually anything good on at this time in the morning and he was at a loss for what to put on. He flipped aimlessly through a few channels, landing on the news when nothing else caught his eye. Y/N/N’s gaze flicked sideways, watching the broadcast out of the corner of her eye, her expression growing more gloomy by the minute. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Jared let the offer hang between them, already sensing the answer. 

“What’s there to talk about?” Y/N/N shrugged, drinking her coffee to occupy her mouth. She turned towards the TV, suddenly interested in the report about a Hollywood couple who were facing bribery charges. Y/N/N wasn’t ready to talk about why she’d left home, and Jared took the hint, settling in and looking back to the story, where the broadcaster was now describing the possibility of a network of conspirators ostensibly connected to the criminal case. 

“People, huh?” Jared shook his head in exasperation, trying to change the topic and lighten the mood. 

“Can we change the channel?” 

“Uh, sure,” Jared hit the channel button and landed on a nature documentary instead. “Everything alright?” 

“I just like my morning coffee to pep me up, not bring me down,” Y/N/N gave Jared a tight smile, taking another drink. “The news is always so depressing these days, I just like to avoid it,” she shrugged. 

“Okay, no depressing news. Got it,” Jared smiled back. He reached for his phone, for something to do with his hands more than anything, and jumped up when he saw the time. “Shit, I’m gonna be late.” 

“Gym?” 

“Yeah, I gotta get going or Chris is gonna have my ass.” Jared ran to the front hall and came back with his sneakers in hand. Tying them on, he noticed Y/N/N grinning at him like she was trying to hold in a laugh. “What’s so funny?” he accused. 

“Are you really gonna wear the same clothes as yesterday back to the gym?” 

“Shit!” Jared ran up the stairs, only one shoe on. Y/N/N giggled to herself and went to grab one of Jared’s power bars from the kitchen, and filled up a bottle of water while she was at it. Jared rushed past her a minute later, in fresh clothes and both shoes on, frantically searching for his beanie. She reached out, food and water dangling from her hands as she cleared her throat. He looked up from his search for his beanie, a smile squishing up his cheeks as he caught sight of her offerings. 

“Your beanie is on the coffee table,” Y/N/N reminded him as he pocketed the power bar. 

“You’re a lifesaver!” Jared called, rushing next door to grab the hat and remembering his phone when he saw it sitting on the arm of the couch. When he returned to the front hall, Y/N/N was still there, leaning against the doorway to the kitchen. “I’m gonna be late tonight,” it occurred to him that he hadn’t told her about the new audition yet. 

“Oh?”

“Yeah, meeting a producer later, not sure how long I’ll be.” 

“New job?” Y/N/N perked up, excited at the prospect, and Jared was touched by how much she was rooting for him. 

“Maybe,” Jared hedged, pulling in his beanie. “I’ll tell you more about it tonight.” 

“I’ll be here,” she smiled, and although Jared could see the genuine enthusiasm in her face, he also thought he could see something else; something he probably wasn’t supposed to see. 

He put the thought out of his mind and saluted on his way out, leaving Y/N/N with a “see ya later, kiddo,” and Y/N/N shut the door quietly behind him. 

“Jared?” A reedy man who’d clearly drunk too much coffee that day poked his head through a door at the end of the hall, looking around for ‘Jared’. 

“Yeah, that’s me,” Jared raised his hand, a little unnecessarily considering there was only one other person in the waiting room, and she was a girl. 

“Well, come on then,” the man pushed his glasses up his nose aggressively and waved Jared into the room. Inside, three people were sitting at a card table, and reedy-glasses-man made a fourth. 

“Uh hi, nice to meet y’all,” Jared usually tried to keep the Texan accent to a minimum but he’d never been able to expunge ‘y’all’ from his vocabulary. He handed his resume to the woman on the end of the table who had a stack of other resumes in front of her. She glanced up and down the sheet, a look of acute boredom on her brow until one point piqued her interest. 

“Texas?” 

“Yes ma’am,” Jared answered politely, clasping his hands in front of himself to keep from sliding them into his pockets. 

“Do you still have the accent?” she asked blandly, like this whole proceeding was of no consequence to her. 

“Uh, yes ma’am. I usually tone it down a bit in these parts,” Jared let the drawl slip into his words, choosing  a phrase that he knew sounded more southern. If this was going to be his hook, he could work with that. 

“Could you read with your accent, please?” she motioned to a plump, balding man at the opposite end of the table, who was now holding out a sheet of paper for Jared to take. He scanned the page and flipped it over, reading through the lines quickly. He usually had time to prepare for an audition and cold reads weren’t exactly his strong suit, but this was in his wheelhouse. He could nail this.  It was a chemistry scene; charming, flirty, slightly heavy handed on the innuendo. 

Jared took a breath, nodding.“So I’m A?” he double checked, scanning through the lines again. 

“Yes. Phil will read out B for you.” The portly man who’d handed him the paper gave Jared a short wave. 

“Awesome,” Jared let out a short, breathy laugh, before quickly clearing his throat, hoping he’d disguised it with enough noise that it had gone unnoticed. He ran his hand through his hair, twisted his neck, shook out his arms, and then stilled. Glancing down at the sheet once more, he looked up to the panel at the table and gave a short nod. 

“Whenever you’re ready.” 

“Y/N/N?” Jared called quietly, locking the door behind him and kicking off his shoes in the front hall. He was home late, as he’d predicted, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if Y/N/N had already gone to bed. He crept down the hall, only to find his caution unnecessary – Y/N/N was awake, lounging against one arm of the couch, his laptop perched open in front of her and headphones trailing from the side. Curious, Jared snuck behind the couch to catch a glimpse of what she was watching, and was astonished to see himself on the screen. 

“Oh my god!” Y/N/N shrieked and jumped up, catching sight of Jared’s shadow across the computer screen. The laptop snapped shut as it fell off the arm of the couch against the cushions. “Sorry, sir. I didn’t hear you come home,” she panted, trying to calm herself down from the shock of no longer being alone in the house. 

“Sorry,” Jared tried not to laugh but it was difficult. Y/N/N always made the cutest faces when she was embarrassed. “Were, uh, were you watching Starchaser?” 

“Oh my god,” Y/N/N groaned, sinking dramatically onto the couch, and Jared was reminded with a sudden pang that this girl was still most definitely a teenager. 

“I know it’s a pretty embarrassing show to be into,” Jared laughed, hopping agilely over the couch and landing next to Y/N/N, “but don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me.” He held a finger to his lips and pouted ridiculously. 

“Sorry,” Y/N/N cringed, mortified that she’d been caught watching one of Jared’s TV shows in his own home, on his own laptop. The whole experience was just bizarre. 

“You don’t have anything to apologise for, kiddo,” Jared rolled his eyes. “I am surprised that you went for that one though. Figured something like Napoli would be more your style.” 

“Well I’d never seen it before, so I figured I should give it a try,” Y/N/N shrugged. “You’re right, the storyline isn’t entirely my kind of thing,” Y/N/N was being polite, the story wasn’t something she would pick to watch at all under normal circumstances. Space battles and things blowing up without explanation wasn’t particularly interesting to her. “But the effects are all really well done,” she fished for something she did like about the production so Jared didn’t think she was dissing his work.

“Yeah, we had a great team on that one.” Jared settled back into the couch, reminiscing. 

“But you’re right, Napoli was much more my speed.”

“That was a fun one to film too, everyone had a really good energy, you know?”

“I think that came across,” Y/N/N nodded, flashes of the rom-com playing through her head as she thought back to the last time she’d watched it. “And your scenes with Georgie were hot.” Y/N/N clapped a hand across her mouth a moment later, appalled she’d actually said that out loud. Jared was staring down at her, brow raised, eyes caught somewhere between skepticism and amusement, and maybe a hint of pride (though he would never admit to that). “I’m so sorry, I don’t know why I said that.” 

“Well, hopefully because you believe it,” Jared said with a teasing grin. 

“That was so inappropriate,” Y/N/N cringed, running her hands through her hair anxiously. 

“You mean people don’t usually tell their boss that they find them ‘hot’?” 

“I’m gonna go die of embarrassment now,” she gulped, heat surging into her cheeks. “I’ll hand in my resignation on my way out tomorrow morning.” It was a joke, but internally Y/N/N was also praying that she hadn’t stepped over the line and actually gotten herself into trouble. 

“Damn, that’s inconvenient,” Jared sighed wistfully. “I guess I’ll actually have to look at those agency resumes to pick out a PA.” Y/N/N stared at Jared, perplexed. 

“Wait, are you getting an actual PA, like, one for work? Wait, does this mean you got the job?!” Y/N/N asked excitedly, putting the pieces together. 

“Yeah, I got it,” Jared beamed. 

“That’s amazing!” Y/N/N leant forward, like she was going to hug him but then paused, reigning herself in. She’d already crossed one line with Jared today, she didn’t want to cross another. That is, if he still wanted to keep her around after he got a proper assistant. “And they’re even giving you a PA for the shoot? You must be the leading man!” 

“Yeah, it’s the title role.” 

Jared was still getting used to the idea. The contract had only been signed a few hours ago at Cassie’s office. After his audition they’d offered him the role in the room, which was amazing, but they’d still had to put all their people in a room with his agent to hammer out the details. Giving Jared a PA for the duration of the production was just one of the perks that they’d dangled to get Cassie to lighten up on some of her contractual demands. 

The role didn’t pay as much as he’d hoped but it was still work, so Jared was happy, and Cassie had managed to negotiate a bonus on the basis of profit percentages in the end, so she was happy with the deal too. She was not happy that the PA clause had made it into the final iteration of the contract. Cassie had even tried to convince Jared to take Charlie on as his PA, her persistent suspicion of Y/N/N still niggling at her, but Jared knew that if he was going to take anyone on to spend the next few months with him, it was absolutely going to be Y/N/N and he didn’t care what Cassie said. 

“When do you start shooting?” Y/N/N asked, wide-eyed. 

“Next week, actually. I’m coming on board pretty late because the last guy pulled out, so I’ve got to get my ass in gear and catch up with the rest of them now. I’ll have to pack, too, come to think of it,” Jared mused. 

“Pack?” 

“Yeah, we’re filming the whole thing on location in Napa. They’ve rented out this whole vineyard and the villa that owns it and everything,” he explained. 

“Napa? That’s like,” Y/N/N did a quick search of her memory of bus routes, trying to recall the distance. “Isn’t Napa like, eight hours away?” 

“Yeah,” Jared nodded. Y/N/N’s heart sank. If Jared was going to be living in Napa while he filmed this movie, would she be allowed to stay here? Jared read her question clearly on her face. “So, this is what I wanted to talk to you about, actually.” He swiveled himself on the couch to face Y/N/N more directly, and she did the same, curling into the corner of the couch. 

“You don’t really need a housekeeper slash chef when you’re gonna be living in Napa for the next–” she broke off, not knowing how long shooting a movie usually took. 

“Six months,” Jared filled in. “And no, I won’t really need anyone here while I’m away.” 

Y/N/N’s shoulders slumped helplessly. She berated herself silently, she should’ve known this arrangement wasn’t going to last, and should’ve made a back up plan, for when everything inevitably fell through. Y/N/N knew that eventually, she’d have to find somewhere else to run.

“But, I mean, if– if you wanted,” Jared fumbled through his words, which drew Y/N/N’s attention. “You could come with me?”

“To Napa?” Y/N/N just blinked. 

“I… uh,” Jared looked down at his hands, he didn’t want to come off controlling or entitled, “sort of, already told the production team that you would.” Jared looked up from his hands, unsure of how Y/N/N would react. “When they said I could have a PA with me for the shoot, they offered me my pick from the pool at the production company, but I told them I had someone in mind for the role, and they said ‘sure’.” Jared waited, watching Y/N/N’s emotions process, running clear as day across her face. 

“You want me to come with you?” Y/N/N wasn’t sure if the tears that were clogging her throat were the leftover product of her fear of being left behind from moments ago, or from the overwhelming gratitude she felt towards Jared right now. It had been a long time since someone had actually wanted her to stick around. 

“Yeah, I would love that,” Jared admitted, and this time, Y/N/N couldn’t stop herself from throwing her arms around his chest.