A Dinner Together
A story in the 'A Series' of Jericho Fan Fictions
By Moo Chapman
Jake had spent most of the morning searching Jericho and the area directly surrounding it for flowers, but he found nothing suitable to take to Heather. He couldn't turn up to dinner at her house empty handed.
Desperation was the only thing that drove Jake to ask his best friend, Stanley Richmond, to help him, a fact that he regretted within seconds of seeing said friend. Jake described his dilemma but this ended in his oldest friend laughing at him and then getting hit on the shoulder by his, well whatever Mimi is to him.
After half an hour's teasing from both of the Richmonds Mimi ordered Stanley to give Jake a bottle of wine. Stanley promptly did as ordered and got a bottle of wine and handed it over to Jake. Jake thanked Mimi, and kicked Stanley's leg as he walked past.
On the way back from the Richmond ranch Jake stopped in town to draw some water from the town well so he could bathe, after which he dressed. As Jake pulled on a pair of black slacks and a charcoal grey shirt that he had left when he had fled Jericho after Chris Sullivan's death he made a mental note to thank his mother for doing his laundry and for never throwing away any of his things. His previous dinners and outings with Heather had all been completely casual, the both of them wearing whatever it was that they happened to be wearing that day.
However how hard he tried, Jake couldn't get Emily's revelation out of his head - it wasn't the statement that she wouldn't sleep with him, it was the other part. Jake was beginning to wish that he hadn't stopped Emily so quickly. Had Heather had a boyfriend at all? Was he her entire basis for romantic relationship? Emily, as Heather's best friend, would know the answers to these questions.
Heather was beautiful, incredibly intelligent, and honest to god the sweetest person that he had ever met. He had to believe that he wasn't the first man to see that.
The walk from his folks to Heather's place was now a well walked path, a walk that he couldn't help but enjoy. If he happened to walk any one of those streets even when heading somewhere else he often felt a little rush of joy. Today was no different.
The sun was just setting as Jake arrived at Heather's small house. He knocked on her door, inexplicably nervous. Jake had been alone with Heather and eaten with Heather dozens of times so he had no reason to be nervous now, but he was. He didn't think that it had anything to do with what Emily had told him, it was more that his previous dinners with Heather had all been at his invitation and this one was Heather's. This was her first move since that kiss when he had tried to borrow 'Charlotte' to drive to Rogue River.
After that day, for reasons that Jake hadn't really understood before, Heather had left everything thing up to him. He didn't mind so much because after that night in Bailey's he felt like he had a lot to make up for.
"Hey," Heather said, opening the door; she was wearing a white floral print dress with pale pinks and greens. It wasn't really warm enough for her to wear it, but she was all the same. Her hair had just that tiny bit more curl than before. There was no questioning that she looked fantastic.
"Hey, I … ah … brought you this," Jake blurted out and held out the bottle of wine. He instantly wished that he could knock his head against Heather's front door until the memory of that particular moment in his life was wiped away. "I wanted to bring flowers, but it's winter." 'Can the ground just open up and swallow me now?' Jake thought.
"Jake," Heather said with a smile, "Come inside." Her amusement at his nervousness was clear as she opened her door all the way and reached out to take his hand. Jake allowed Heather to pull him into her home.
"Wow, smells great in here," Jake said, as the smells from her kitchen greeted him, he could make out garlic among the other smells. He had been into Heather's apartment before; she hadn't changed anything since the last time that he visited. In fact even the same piece of music was playing on her battery operated record player.
Heather smiled at him, still holding his hand and led him toward her dining room. Heather was very careful with her candles, she only had five out and none of them were lit yet. She stopped at her record player either to change or stop the music.
"Don't," Jake said, as she was reaching for the player, "I always loved this piece".
"Bach, Air from Suite No 3," Heather said with a smile
"It has a sense of melancholy but it's not without hope," Jake said, feeling a little foolish. He didn't know anything about the piece beyond the feelings and a vague memory of doing a paper on Bach in junior high, but nothing about the man himself or the music he wrote.
Heather closed her eyes, brought Jake's arms towards her and relaxed into him "I can hear that," she said, nodding, "A beautiful way to hear it." Jake tightened his embrace and placed a kiss in Heather's hair.
"Are you hungry?" Heather asked, and sighed. It was a contented sound and it sent a shot of joy through Jake, he was doing something right. If he could continue to hear that sound he would be a happy man.
"Yeah," Jake said. Heather turned to face Jake. She nuzzled in to Jake's neck and inhaled deeply. Jake smiled, "So what are we having?"
"Rabbit, you like rabbit? Don't you?" Heather asked him with a hint of panic in her voice.
"Of course I do, babe," Jake said, "Can I help at all?"
"No," Heather said decisively, moving out of Jake's arms but taking hold of his hand again, "You're my guest." Heather led him to the dining table. "If you really want to do something you can open the wine." Heather said, handing him the bottle as she walked away.
"Hey babe, need something to open this with." Jake called out after the elementary school teacher.
"I was on my way back," Heather said, and handed him the bottle opener kissing him quickly on the cheek before taking off back to the kitchen.
Again Jake couldn't help but smile. When Heather Lisinski is happy, there really isn't any doubt of the matter, it comes off her in waves so strong they are almost a physical force. Jake opened the wine just as Heather walked in with two plates in her hands.
"I got the rabbit from Brandon Kyle; he was in my first class of students in Jericho, and Stanley gave me a box of vegetables for fixing his generator when it broke down last week." Heather said, placing one of the plates in front of Jake and the second at the other place setting. She sat down and gestured for Jake to eat. Heather waited for Jake to eat, "It's not dry is it?" Heather asked after Jake tried it.
"No, it's good," Jake said, and took another mouthful before putting his knife and fork down, "We need glasses, for this wine," Jake said, and stood up.
"Shelf above the tumblers," Heather told him as he got up from the table.
"I remember," Jake told her with a smile. He was back within moments with the glasses and poured them both a drink. "This was a good idea, babe"
Heather smiled brightly at that, glad for the reassurance. She often went over every interaction she had with Jake - hating herself for what she thought were mistakes, her social insecurities leading her to say more than she should. When nervous she talked just to fill the silence, a habit she was thankfully getting over in relation to Jake. Heather was now able to enjoy just sitting quietly with Jake without having to fill the silence. This was not something she had ever been able to do with an adult before.
The dinner was an overwhelming success, and the end of it found them, as always, on the couch. They hadn't started a new book since they finished 'David Copperfield' two weeks ago so Jake stopped by Heather's book case and pulled out 'The Hound of the Baskervilles' while Heather moved the wine and glasses into her small lounge and cleared the table, and then met him by the couch.
The two of them knew with out having to fuss which position was the most comfortable, Jake on side with his back against the back of the couch, and Heather spooned in front of him with her head resting on one arm. His other arm was draped across her waist and often moved up to play with his favorite lock of hair.
Heather opened the book but didn't start to read; she stared at the words on the page for a time then closed the book again.
"Babe, what's wrong?" Jake asked softly,
"Not a thing." Heather said, rolling over on to her back so that she could look at him. If they had been in the den at the Green house there would have been room enough on the couch for the two of them to lay like that, but on Heather's smaller loveseat Jake had to roll so he was lying half on Heather. Jake braced his weight on his elbow so as not to crush her. Heather smiled a shy little half smile then bit her lip, "Just don't feel like reading."
"You don't feel like reading? What do you feel like doing?" Jake asked, smirking down Heather.
"I don't know," Heather said with a flirty tone, "what do you want to do?" Jake answered by claiming her lips with his. Jake kissed her deeply and Heather opened her mouth to his kiss, thoroughly enjoying the kiss and the feel of Jake atop her.
Jake and Heather had got into some pretty heavy make-out sessions behind the closed door of the Green family den, but this was quickly shaping up to be far more intense. The first hint was Jake's free hand working on undoing the buttons on the front of her dress. Heather had never stopped Jake's hands from roaming, but they had never, with the exception of a couple of brief trips under her tee that never got past her ribs, got past on-clothes groping. Heather pulled away from the kiss, worrying her lip between her teeth.
"Too much?" Jake asked, and started to pull his hand back. Heather quickly grabbed his hand to halt its retreat.
"No, not too much," Heather said, and released his hand. She tried her best to sound confident, but was pretty sure that she came out sounding just as nervous she felt. Jake gave her a soft smile and bent down to claim her lips again.
He pulled away, "If it gets to be too much, just say the word" Heather nodded. The hand which was attached to the elbow supporting Jake's weight, was stroking Heather's hair. She lifted herself up just enough to reclaim her partner's lips; Jake joined the activity whole heartedly.
Before long the entire top half of Heather's dress was undone and pushed off her shoulders and her bra was on the floor beside the couch and Jake's mouth was on her throat. Heather was enjoying the feel of Jake's body moving over and against hers, not to mention the feel of his hand creeping up her leg.
Heather had never hated a small town more than she had in the moment that she heard the knock on the door.
"They hate me Heather," Jake said into Heather's neck, "Oh babe, they all hate me."
"It's okay," Heather said directly in to Jake's ear, "There will be other nights, go answer the door." Jake sat up, taking deep breaths. Heather started to button her dress back, ignoring the fact that her bra was still sitting at her feet.
Jake grabbed it and held it in his hand for a moment, looking down at it. It was certainly the first time that he had ever seen, let alone touched, Heather's underwear, but the piece he was holding was not much of a surprise. White cotton and satin, sweet, feminine not designed to gain attention but attractive, very Heather.
Heather looked over at Jake as she finished buttoning her dress and noticed him smirking down at her bra. He was holding it with one cup in each hand, stroking the material of the cups with his thumbs.
Heather's first instinct was to take the item back, say to hell with the years of her mother telling her it was impolite to snatch, and just steal the item out of his hand. But she knew that would only broadcast how uncomfortable she was with the fact that Jake had it in the first place. She reached out and placed her hand over the top of the bra, gently taking it out of Jake's possession.
"Go answer the door," she said, tucking the bra behind a throw pillow. Jake nodded and got up and walked toward her front door. Heather meanwhile reached for the glass of wine she had set on the coffee table earlier, and drank its whole contents down without pausing for breath. Then poured herself another glass from the bottle and took a more sedate mouthful of that.
Heather then set her brilliant mind to what should have been the simple task of getting her heart rate and respiration back to within normal standards.
Jake came back into the room and walked right over to the couch, knelt in front of it and looked up at Heather. "Babe, I have to go, there is a fire over on Chapel."
"Go," Heather told him without meeting his eyes, she was a little embarrassed at the fact that if they hadn't been interrupted there was every chance that she would have lost her virginity on her couch.
"I don't want to go…" Jake tried to explain, worried about Heather's failure to meet his gaze.
"I'm not mad Jake, they need you, it's okay." Heather said, looking at his eyes fleetingly. She decided then and there that she needed to tell Jake that she was a virgin, but that conversation was going to have to wait. Jericho needed Jake right now and she needed him to know that she understood that. "Really it's okay," Heather told him and cupped her hand along his jaw and placed a quick open-mouthed kiss on his lips
"We are going to talk about what happened here," Jake said, standing up. Heather nodded at him and smiled. Jake understood that it was okay for him to leave and grabbed his jacket and ran for Heather's front door "Lock this," Jake ordered, 'as he disappeared out the door
Heather stood and walked to the door with the intent of following the order but waited, despite the cold, until darkness and distance took Jake from view.
"Definitely going to talk." Heather said, as she closed and locked the door.