Out On The Town
Two
I'm declaring this fic AU if the real show's timeline caught up with this one. Enjoy.
Kim decided to drop a visit for no apparent reason. No dilemma to be solved, no story to be told. Just fresh and raw and kind of awkward.
It had been a week and a few days since Kendall's wedding and they (Jerry and her) last saw each other - but there's been something nagging in her mind kind of bothering her with memories of Jerry and his sisters and his grins and smirks and whatever else associated with him. Sometimes when Eddie subjected her into a conversation, she spaced out. When Milton faced her with a Mathematics problem, she blinked blankly up at him. Even Jack questioned if she was fine.
She just, well, you know, missed Jerry, she guessed.
He was really a good friend and his presence did imprint a mark with the whole gong, leaving it empty when he left.
When she came to his house-apartment, which were still crammed-up with stuff and strangely a lot of blankets and pillows, Maricela and Maddy were eating their lunch. Maricela greeted her with a giddy giggle, "You're looking for Jerome, right? He's at the roof." Maddy turned from her position in front of the television - honestly, was this all what the sisters did? "He is very, very lonely since you stopped visiting, Kimmy. He didn't admit to it, but we know he is."
Kim ignored their teasing and sat at the couch while they ate away their lunch. The television was screening a Beauty and The Beast movie, which was awesome because Kim can finally sat through something she could understand of. The girls seemed to be really into the movie. She waited until the Martinez sisters finished with their lunches and washed their dishes for them, just like how Jerry always would. It was a few things she could do, to lessen whatever Jerry was left to do since his Mama worked until late at night.
"I'm going to the roof," Kim announced, once she dried her hands at a cloth nearby.
The sisters didn't even turn their heads. But Maddy spoke up, "Don't worry. We won't interrupt."
Kim rolled her eyes - whatever.
When she opened the door to the roof, she expected to see Jerry was fast asleep - again. But instead, he was lying on his back where he had slept before and a book in his hand. Somewhere near his reach, was a table. It was an old table, looked unused for quite a few years now. And on that table was a collection of stacked books. The books looked old and yellow, even from afar. Let's not forget, besides the stacked books was a can of Coke.
Right, you must think: Jerry? Books? Reading?
Comedy gold.
But it was what she saw. Jerry seemed focus with his book, didn't realized her presence at all. He turned a page of his book. Kim came closer and went to the table, her fingers were careful as it fiddled with the books. What a shocker, the books were in Spanish. Most of them. And there were, if Kim weren't mistaken, Hardy Boys. Jesus, Jerry must be very bored to be bothered with this. She chortled briefly.
He shifted, lifted his head in shocked. "Kim?"
"That's me," Kim smiled up at him, putting a book she's holding down. She didn't leave her position. "So what? You're grounded or something? An assignment, maybe?"
Jerry chuckled, swung his legs so he was in a sitting position and held the book in his hands. One finger slid in between the pages he's currently reading. "I was bored," he began to explain, his eyes settling on her. "My brother kept all of my uncle's book and I just - you know - decided to put it in good-use, once again. It's actually, surprisingly, really good. The Hardy Boys are very inspiring."
"Really?"
"Sure. It made adolescence looked cool, in their era." Jerry said, Kim laughed.
Then, he jumped off from where he was, walking over to chuck his can of Coke. "What are you doing here, PYT? Decided you couldn't get enough of me?" He joked, leering a smirk. She rolled her eyes and spatted his shoulders. He winced with a grin, rubbing his shoulder, "Dang girl, I forgot how strong you are."
"Ooh, that's not good. How can I ever let you forget of my magnificent strength, good sir?" Kim teased, finding a seat.
He made a face, "Unfortunately."
"Oh come on!" Kim grinned, tilting her head back as she laughed. She looked at him carefully, biting her lips and at the same time appreciating the feel of rushing wind ghosting over her skin. "You love it."
"Babe, you know me so well."
Kim shrugged a shoulder playfully, "I have my ways."
"Seriously, though - what brought you here? What happened? Do you need me to teach you Hip Hop or something, 'cause I can't guarantee you you'll be a master by the end of the week. Hip Hopping is tougher than it looks." Jerry looked serious, nodding his head at his own statement.
"No! No. I mean, I have learned enough dancing to last me ... until at least, three months." Kim told him, and started questioning herself. You know what? She never really thought what she would do after she had come to see him. All she ever thought of was to see him - after that, what was she supposed to do? Seconds passed, Jerry stared, the whole world seemed to be waiting. Kim paused, crossed her converse over the floors, wrecking her mind for something - anything, really! "I just, I thought I spend some time with ... a friend. I mean, it's been a while since we really hang out."
Jerry looked like he's considering this, "I swing by the dojo sometimes. Phil's place."
"Yeah, I don't see much of you. Like, how are you? I haven't listen to any of your activities at Golrick Arts. I assume everything is well. I mean, you look fine."
"I am fine, thank you." Jerry narrowed his eyes at her, "You're getting strange. Do you need a big favour or something? Does this have anything to do with Jack?"
"Why does anything have to do with Jack?" Kim shot, frowning and partly disappointed that he thought such idea. She meant, she didn't talk about Jack like, all of the time now, did she? She knew - well, everyone knew - of her crush on Jack, but that didn't mean everything she's doing was connected herself to him. It appeared as if she didn't have a life outside Jack. It made her looked somewhat shallow.
Kim gritted her teeth, grimly.
Jerry shrugged, swallowed his Coke. "I don't know," he answered honestly. "I was just guessing."
Kim sighed. Truthfully? She's confused as well. She glanced at the Latino across from her, then dwell over what she's about to say. "I just - Jerry - I need, uh, I really miss having you around. The dojo didn't feel the same without you. And I - God, is it a sin to just simply want to hang out with you?!" Okay. Yeah. She might have shouted by the end of her sentences, but to her defense, she was frustrated! Jerry, Jerry was - uh, he was staring down at her like he's a hawk and she's his meal or something and she felt threatened.
Now, she really felt like a mouse while Jerry blinked up at her, surprised at her sudden outburst.
Man, I have terrible temper.
To his surprise, he plopped down his book on the old table and leaned back, his arms crossed over his chest. After a second, he began to smile, "Okay. Fine. But I'm not so good with stories. What about you do the story-telling part, I mean I practically been hearing you yapping on about completely everything since the first time I saw you - so it won't be like, really awkward." He said, shrugging.
She pouted slightly. "What should I tell you?"
"I don't know," he mustered out. "Like, did anything happened lately?"
"Did I ever tell you about Rosa, the new transferred student from ... what part of the world she came from again? Oh yeah, England. Like, that's all fancy and stuff - "
"Wait, wait, did this have anything to do with Jack?" He narrowed his eyes at her again.
She furrowed her brows in rage, but muttered out finally, "... yes."
"Thought so! Resume," Jerry laughed, "I love when you bitch about other girls. It's hot."
She found herself grinning and continue.
This went on for a while, their ... hanging-out. Jerry installed an old couch on the roof, said he spent about 20 dollars on it at a garage sell and it was a total crap. But he fixed it at his Uncle's shop and it's now all fluffy and a little bit old and comfortable. She asked about the neighbors, won't they mind, but he shook his head. "Mrs Garcia dried her underwear on the roof - if she's complaining, she's not the only one." Jerry argued, crying out. He still kept the table around and it's very convenient most of the times. He liked his can of Coke nearby.
Sometimes Jerry practiced his moves on the roof and Kim would looked over the magazines she brought over, sitting at the couch. Once in a while, Maricela and Maddy would join them but because their ... obsession over the television's shows, they usually at the apartment, content to themselves. They (Jerry and her) don't always talk to occupy times; he read, she listened to music, he took a nap, she finished a homework. But when they did talk, it's usually fun. Jerry liked to comment on stuff and that's always amusing.
Jerry talked about his schools more often than not. Golrick Arts sounded crazy. They have like, two theaters and one auditorium. Their cafeteria was called a cafe and that sounded cool. According to him, there will always have a kid busting out moves or playing a tune or practicing their lines and it's not very dull or boring. Never boring. He met his group when one of the group members walked in on him while he was dancing for fun in an empty room. "So yeah, it's cool."
She loved it when he talked about Golrick Arts. He tried to play it cool - but she can definitely saw the passion plastering over his expression.
Their hanging-out went on until, like, before late evening because she still went to dojo for practicing and sometimes she had shifts to teach kids under the age of 10 Karate. He didn't follow with, going to his home and took care of his sisters, like he always would. She didn't know what exactly he did after hanging out at the roof but he shrugged and explained, "I like, don't know, clean up the place a bit maybe. Maddy's a big litter. Always a packet of candy's wrappers surrounding her perimeter. I make them dinner when it's time. Make sure they take a decent shower. Tucked them to bed, and that's about it, I guess."
"Your Mom works out really late, huh?"
"Really, really late." Jerry exhaled, "Got to, if she wants to pull us through."
That's the end of the conversation mostly. She don't venture much in his personal business, unless it was him who started it. But that rarely happened.
Anyway, it seemed that nowadays when she walked in just a little bit late into the dojo, all of them would give them weird looks. Rudy raised his brows, "What's keeping you late, Kim?"
She shrugged her shoulders, "I'm just late." And went on to the real business. They usually respected her enough to not push the subject deeper.
One day, Milton had been looking at her with his eyes sort of in an accusing manner which made her skin crawled and minds reeled. What did she do wrong now? Then, while resting after a spar - and now it's Jack and Eddie's turn to spar, Rudy watched by the sidelines - Milton asked, "How long have you been hanging out with Jerry?"
Yup. She nearly spat her drink out.
"What- what - " she couldn't really deny it. So, she dropped her voice into a whisper, "How did you know that?"
Truth be told, she didn't know why she's keeping the times she spent with Jerry a secret so much. They weren't going out anything. But... she didn't like the feeling, you know? Making it public. Scared of what people might say. Gosh, she's so pathetic sometimes. Was she, like, ashamed of Jerry? She better not - because Jerry was a respectable young man with great dance-skills and a good sense of humor. He's also a friend. A very good one.
Milton was surprised for a second, his eyes widened, then he seemed relaxed. He massaged his foot as he answered, "Jerry was talking about ... hanging out with you while I tutored him the other day."
"You tutored him?"
"Since forever," Milton snorted, then scrunched-up his nose. "Well, not forever as in, literally . But it's been a while. A few months after we became friends. I tutored him Mathematics and Science. But mostly Mathematics. That's why his grade is ... well, not failing. That's why he managed to pull off a decent D and sometimes a C-minus."
She looked impressed, moving her shoulders in circles as she felt the slight pain spreading across that part of her limbs. Milton's improved since the last time - she still pretty much beat the hell out of him, but he managed to launched his attacks before he fell down, which was just a big achievement to him, she supposed. She's really proud of him. "That's really cool of you. So, are you still tutoring him?"
Milton took an ointment Rudy kept to lessen the bruise and spatted it across his bruised ankle. "Just because he's in a Performing Arts school, doesn't mean they don't have Mathematics and Science, you know."
Kim blinked. "I knew that."
"Sure you were," Milton muttered, now moving on to put the ointment on his elbows. "But to answer your question, yes, I still am tutoring him. Our tutoring session are usually on Saturday evenings and the afternoon of Sundays. We used to have it on Wednesday though, but I'm guessing since he hang out with you lately - thus, also explaining why you're late almost everyday - he called it off."
Kim felt heat rushing through her neck up to her cheeks. Did Jerry cancelled his tutoring session for ... her? Wow, that's both funny and embarrassing. "I-I'm sorry if I kept him- "
"Oh it's okay," Milton shrugged it off. "He looked less tense now, and you seem happier. It's odd, yes, I admit but - it's up to you guys if you want to do ... anything."
"We're not together if that's what you meant," she cleared it out, turning slightly pale. Then, her eyes landed on Jack, who had Eddie's head under his palm against the mat. Rudy called it that he won, and Jack shouted out in triumph. Then, he sent her a shy smile, to which she returned. Kim quickly ducked his gaze under that. God, he looked so ... dashing.
"Okay." Milton seemed awkward. "You don't have to explain yourself to me, you know."
She blinked - again. "I know that."
"Right."
She bit her lips, fiddled with her belts and made that nervous move where she thumped her feet against the floor. She spun herself back to face Milton, "Don't - uh, I prefer it if you don't - like, tell everyone about it. What I had with Jerry are - "
"Yours. I understand." Rudy called for Milton, he stood up. "I won't say anything."
She kind of smiled. Mumbling out, "Thanks" before Milton headed out to Rudy.
Jack sat next to her, wiping a hand towel across his face. Kim smiled somewhat shyly and Jack replied. "So, you and Milton looked like you were in a deep conversations? Mind sharing it with me?" He threw her one of his many charming smiles, staring at her with his warm gaze. Kim tried not to sigh.
The conversation came across her mind (Jerry!) and she looked away. "It's uh, about Chemistry. I'm really confused over this one question." She decided to lie.
Jack bought it.
And they talk about the up-coming Karate tournament. Jack was ready. She was excited.
"So, I know you like Broadway and theatre and that stuff," Jerry guffed out, from besides her.
He was reading another one of The Hardy Boys Spanish Edition and she was finishing up her stupid English essay assignment that was due like the next day - and she just hated it when she did her homework last minute, although she done it a thousand times before. Her song of choice boomed from her phone - they're rocking out to Adam Lambert, which was always awesome, and his can of Coke stood for him dutifully. The wind was a little cold, but things were silently comfortable.
She had her side pressed against with Jerry's side - and she won't lie about the muscles she felt digging against her - and had a thick book tucked under the paper, so the pen won't tear the paper up when she writes. She's on her second paragraph when Jerry spoke it up. She was, in all honestly, caught a little off-guard.
He continued, turning a page of his book. "And you know my school is constantly producing a Musical or something because they want to keep the students' talents continuing on blossoming, or some intelligent shit like that - "
Kim turned, interested. "Where are you going with this, Jerome?" She asked, using his full name in terms of teasing. It sounded weird coming from her, but it's endearing, almost.
He closed his book and put it on his laps. He lifted his eyes at her - somewhat nervous, she detected. "I, uh, there's this Musical coming up. My friend's in it, and the tickets aren't that expensive and since I know you like theater - "
"Are you asking me out?" She cut to the core.
Jerry narrowed his eyes, seemed taken aback. "Not ... really. But yeah, I do realize this situation makes me appear like I am."
"Well, are you?" She didn't know why she sounded hopeful.
Jerry pondered for a few seconds. "I am ... not."
"Good," she didn't know why she felt sort of, disappointed? But her stomach kinda sunk in and her chest stung with unfamiliar pain. She made sure her expression didn't betray her, though. " 'Cause we're not like - going out - like, you know I have a crush on Jack, right?"
"That much is obvious, darling," Jerry teased, smirking.
Kim's shoulders relaxed, seeing his soft gaze. "Good. So, yeah, good."
"Come on," Jerry began to twirl his fingers with her long blond hair, staring at intently - as if it's the experiment of his lifetime to figure out whether the hair was authentic or not. It's a habit he picked up mid-through their sessions of hanging out. "Support my friend. I'm inviting you to watch a Musical with me. It's gonna be awesome."
"I don't know," Kim chewed on her lips. "When is it?"
"Two weeks from now. On a Saturday. You're free right?"
"I guess," Kim wasn't sure.
"I asked Milton, but he had some geeky convention shit at some crap. I asked Jack, but he's not available. I asked Eddie, but apparently, he had a date. Rudy - he said Musical is for chicks, and he had to help his mother with grocery or something. He didn't admit to it directly, but he's not so good with lying."
"So, I'm your last resort?"
Jerry grinned, "Pretty much."
Kim rolled her eyes, groaned, "I just, I don't know Jerry. We'll see. But..." She tilted her head to one side, looking up at him. "I really appreciate it that you asked me. It felt really good to know someone cared enough to know that I like Broadway and theater."
It's Jerry's turn to roll his eyes as he scoffed, "Babe, you once go on about Idina Menzel for three hours straight. It was crazy!"
She laughed, then pointed out, "Idina Menzel is fabulous! Oh my God, did I ever tell you about that one time - "
Jerry cried out before burying his face against the couch, sputtering in Spanish. But she saw him smiled afterwards, and they caught themselves went on for one hour with her describing Idina Menzel's life.
He didn't once look away to read his book.
"You look different."
Kim turned to Jack, who didn't look like he had any sweat across his body. She, however, after training a class (for Karate), now looked like a total mess. She felt the sweats sticking to her skin, blonde hair in a jumble although was being tied in a ponytail and the image of her must be terrifying. Kim sighed, chunk a bottle of water and tiredly replied, "Must be the hair. My mom told me it's getting too long."
Ah, typical Mom. Always noticing the wrong things about her.
"No, no. Not the hair. It still look wonderful," Jack denied, Kim blushed. He walked closer and squinted his eyes, inspecting closer. This time however, she frowned. Sure, in any other occasion, she would love for Jack to invade her privacy - but not when she's all grossed-up. Gosh, she didn't want to chase Jack away! "You just look... different. It's not clear, but it's there. Did anything happened?"
Kim's frown deepened. "I don't..." she racked her mind, trying to provide an answer to Jack, "... know. Maybe you're just tired, Jack. You're imagining things."
"No. I'm pretty sure I'm not." Jack stubbornly responded.
She pouted - oh well, she didn't know what was wrong. Did she apply any make-up this morning? She might did. Or Mom might have tried to. Kim didn't do make-up, not usually, only because she wished to piss Mom off. It worked. But on rare occasions, a light blusher and a hint of lipsticks won't hurt. Maybe the lipstick managed to smudge across her face after the training - after all, one of the students she trained did accidentally slapped her today. "Is there anything on my face?"
"Your face looked fine."
"Then, I'm really clueless, Jack. I'm sorry. I can't... give you what you want." She muttered helplessly, sitting down.
"No," Jack smiled, standing in front of her. "This new look - it looked better. You look more, how can I put it, fresh? Vibrant. Like when you see a bunch of colorful balloons being free into the blue sky, or a bunch of candies wrapped together in one place - you reflect that image. It's, uh," Jack leered his eyes away, rubbing his neck in discomfort, a hint of pinkish color crept onto his cheeks. Kim watched, "...beautiful."
Kim gaped - the heat rushed and beamed on her face.
She pretended she didn't see Rudy, Eddie and Milton fake-puking at the background.
The door to the dojo suddenly swung open. A familiar figure in a sleeveless grey-shirt with a dark-blue beanie came walking in. His signature smirk gave him away as his eyes crossed over the whole dojo - Kim smiled when his eyes landed on hers. "Yo, amigos!" he cheered, a wide smile spread over his pale face. "Haven't see you guys in a long time."
Jack was enthusiastic. "JERRY!"
Rudy beamed proudly, walking towards Jerry to give him a hug. "You look good, Jer."
Jerry snorted, "What do you mean? I always look good."
Kim secretly scoffed.
Jerry noticed.
Jack came in second to hug the Latino. "Man, where the hell have you been, you rat! Like, you didn't even text me anymore! God, I miss you."
Jerry chuckled, "I miss you too, brother. Sorry though. GA had me by my every limb. Couldn't escape even if I tried."
Jack took a step back, a subtle smile ran over his lips. "I understand," then he looked at the young man in one view, "You look good - even without Karate."
"The regimen at GA is tough, and I'm not adding the tight schedule." Jerry swept past to the center of the room, taking a seat next to Milton, after giving him a nod of acknowledgement. Jack followed. Rudy stood, filling a paper on his clipboard. "I mean, the school's a whole lot of fun - but I'm always running around, you know? You would think a Performing Arts school would be easier - tch - so much for thinking. Why do I even waste time on that?"
"Maybe you're getting smarter," Rudy retorted, then laughed.
The whole room laughed - even Jerry, although he seemed more to chuckling than burst-out laughing. Milton offered a forced smile, packing his shirts in his duffle bag. Jack and Eddie were cracking up, tears seeping through their eyelashes. But Kim - she didn't want to laugh. Didn't feel like it. What was Jerry talking about? He thinks, sure he did. As a matter of fact, he reads. Did she ever caught Rudy or Eddie or Jack even tried to pick up a book and read through the first chapter willingly? She didn't think so.
Jerry wasn't a very good student, not much acing in the academic department - but he's not so bad that even the thought of him gaining an ounce of intelligence can came across as - as - as absurd. Or something to laugh about.
Jerry was smart - smarter than he appeared. Milton must knew this - that's why he didn't join in laughing too.
Sigh.
Why was she getting all hyped-out about this?
It must be because she's tired.
"So what are you doing here?" Eddie's the one who asked.
"Well, I just thought that maybe I'm slacking in my Bruce Lee moves and that ain't gonna cut it. This huge giant just moved into GA and if he started seeing me as a punchbag, Imma need some act of defense to savor my one and only life." Jerry explained, putting it all out with his style of words. Kim was silent, the thoughts of his sisters bothered her. Who's babysitting them?
But she was smart not to say anything, just continued on packing her stuff.
Let Jerry do what he wanted to do.
Jack brightened, "Dude. You don't even have to ask! Come on, I'm ready for some sparring!"
"Really?" Jerry asked, his tone softened - a little touched.
"God," Rudy squawked. "Did I miss the wedding?"
The boys frowned.
Kim smirked, only slightly.
She moved to her locker, stuffing a cloth into it. She heard some shuffling against the mat as Jerry cleared his throat, "Just wait a sec, brah, I need to get something back from our Cinderella over here." The footsteps moved closer - Kim scrunched up her nose. Did Jerry leave anything with her? No, as far as she's concerned, there's nothing he left for her. So, why ... ?
"Maricela and Maddy are safe. They had a stupid play-date stuff at a neighbor's house," Jerry breathed, leaning against a locker next to hers.
She eyed him up, shrugging afterwards, "I didn't say anything."
"You don't have to," he curtly responded.
She shrugged again, grabbed an old pink barrette Mom bought for her and passed it on Jerry's hand. "You said you were getting something for me, right, as an excuse from Jack?" She asked, after he raised his brows questionably. His brows dropped then, and he smiled.
"Thanks, Honey-Blonde."
She rolled her eyes, shaking her head - can't quite remove the smile that's blossoming on her lips. "Whatever. I'm heading home!"
"Oh come on, Kim!" Jack exclaimed, "We're going to Phil's after this! With Jerry! Like, right after I beat the crap out of him, that is. Trust me, it's not going be long."
Jerry shot him a look, "I am offended!"
Jack narrowed his eyes at the barrette sitting in Jerry's palm, "Why do you have a pink girly stuff in your hand?"
Jerry glanced at it, "It's not mine."
"Of course it isn't!" Jack grabbed his wrist, taking a closer look at the barrette. "Dude, are you hiding a girl from me, or something?"
"W-what?! No!"
"As much as I prefer watching a married couple engage in a heated argument because one of the partner is jealous," Rudy snarled, breaking the two boys up, "I much rather watch you two spar and doing some actual Karate moves!"
Kim walked away after that.
You're not stupid, Jerry.
She texted him, later that evening - when she was sure he was done sparring with Jack and probably at Phil's.
Never said I was, Sweetness.
Was his reply.
But you let them treat you like one. She grimly pushed her thumbs over the screens, typing the words out.
Trust me, s'not as shitty as it looked. He responded.
Kim sighed. Just, I don't like them mocking you. Even if they're friends.
I'm sorry if it upsets you, Kim.
She brushed a blonde hair back, trying to tolerate this feeling of ... everything for this friend. This - this - Jerry. Don't let them treat you like that again, please.
His reply didn't come as quickly as the others and it doubted Kim. But she waited, the phone sat in her palm - her back against the wall, her knees digging onto the mattress of her bed, her toes curled onto the blanket. Her phone vibrated, beeped and she flashed the screen open. The message laid wide for her to see.
Anything for you, babe.
The conversation ended there.
The popcorn cracked in her mouth as Kim chewed on it.
The theater was smaller than she thought - but it was a theater still. Jerry sat next to her, going over his phone. His arm swung over her chair, making his posture looked relaxed. Golrick Arts were amazing - the hallways' floor are black-and-white checkers and the walls are filled with graffiti designs and there are students' statues being presented proudly along the hallways, even one piano sitting randomly at the grand entrance. Kim was impressed.
"Uh, is this seat taken, pretty young lady?"
Kim turned to a greasy old man besides her, and she slowly shook her head 'no'.
The greasy old man gave out, what she supposed, a smile and sat down. Kim swallowed and scooted closer to Jerry.
He finally looked up, realizing the sudden warmth. "Babe?" his tone was questioning.
She only stared at him wide-eyed, before making a gesture at the greasy man besides her. Jerry tilted his head, then leaned back. A soft expression went through his face, "Do you want to change seats?"
"No," she decided. "I'll be okay."
He nodded, pushing her closer with his arm slowly. "Just shout if he started 'feelin' you, kay?"
She pursed her lips, "God, please don't."
Jerry finally put his phone away, giving Kim a chuckle. "Don't worry, seƱorita," He breathed, his breath hit her skin, his fingers finding the tip of her blond hair and played with it. She chewed on a popcorn numbly. "I'll look after you, I promise."
She slightly leaned against him, mumbling, "I know you would."
"Anyway, my friend starred in this. Well, not exactly starred in it. He's the supporting role. But at least it's a role."
"You must be really proud of him," Kim poked his sides.
He rolled his eyes, "At first. Then he started bitchin' about it nearly everyday until I lost each damn of my insanity."
"Don't curse so much," Kim reminded.
"Sorry, Sweet-Chicks." Jerry brushed his hair with his fingers, before popping one of her popcorn into his mouth. "Got carried away there. Being with Bradley does that."
"His name is Bradley?"
"People call him Brad, but yeah, it's Bradley. Bradley Henson."
Kim folded the brochure open, "Oh yeah! That's the name!"
"I remembered when my names are in the brochure for a theater."
"Really? You act?"
"No," Jerry muttered. "Under Production! I do the technical stuff - lighting, effects and stuff. I'm the stage crew. It's for extra credit"
"Have you ever tried acting?"
"I took Improvisation class. I usually got small roles. Like, one line or two."
"At least you're doing something."
"Thank Jesus for that."
"Don't do that." Kim watched as his fingers twirled her hair. "Don't say that you're - like - useless. You're not."
Jerry managed a small smile, "You care too much, Blondie."
"Whatever." She went over the brochure in one look, "What's the Musical about again?"
"Romance. Paris and Italy and some more romantic places." Jerry sounded bored.
Kim grinned, "I've always wanted to go to Paris."
"Really?"
She shrugged, "Who wouldn't?"
He made a face, "Maricela have always wanted to go to Brazil."
"How so?"
"She's a fanatic soccer fan of theirs. And plus, ever since that Rio movie came out, she's been going nuts about it."
Kim giggled. "That's cute."
"It was hell."
Suddenly, the room darkened and the stage brightened. A young man - a stage crew - came out to ask the audience to keep their phones away during the whole show and stated whatever it was to be done. Kim was ready. Jerry sat more properly. The young man finally disappeared behind the curtains - and within the next seconds, the curtain opened. The light shone and the Musical began.
Somewhere during ACT I, Jerry pointed out a dark-headed guy as "The moron, Henson." and Kim beamed.
It was nice seeing Jerry talking - well, mocking - his friend. At least it was known to her he managed to find a friend.
The show went on.
When the Musical ended, she was hungry. Jerry told her about the burger GA's cafe sold and said they'd grab it later, just right after they greet Bradley. So, Jerry dragged her backstage. There, the proud faces of stage crews and the rest of the actors were everywhere - Kim felt like a child. She was proud for them, even if she hardly knew them. Their talents were outstanding and deserved the applause they've gotten.
"Jerome, my man!" A cheerful voice boomed through the atmosphere.
"Bradley," Jerry grinned.
The young men hugged. "Saw you out there," Bradley stated, looking over Jerry's shoulders to her, "See you got company here."
"She's Kim."
"Ah. The friend." Bradley exclaimed.
What? Has Jerry been talking about her? This was nice to know. Bradley extended his hand, "I'm Bradley. It's a pleasure to finally witness a beautiful face around here - I have to be honest, Jerry's face has causing me headache nowadays."
"Just like your voice does?" Jerry retorted.
"Hush, hush, Jerome. Nobody likes when someone interrupts them talking to a beautiful girl." He kisses Kim's hands.
"I'm just..." Kim hesitated, "... hungry."
Jerry spatted Bradley's hand away, his tone hardened. "No fucking way, dude. She's off limits."
Bradley raised his arms, backing away. "I get it. Just being friendly."
"Go be friendly with someone who would fall for it." Jerry said, then exhaled. "By the way, nice work out there."
"I know it was, Martinez."
"We're heading off to eat at The Cafe, you comin'?" Jerry offered.
Bradley smirked, "Would love to. But this man - " he pointed his thumbs to himself, " - has got himself a hot date. Plus, wouldn't want to interrupt your time with your girl. But seriously, have fun. And thanks for coming to our Musical. It meant a lot. And Kim, try our burger. It's the best in town."
Kim nodded, "So I heard."
Jerry shook his friend's hand once again, "Make sure to use a condom."
Bradley chuckled, "As if you don't know me."
Kim grimaced.
Boys.
The day went on, as usual.
A/N: Thanks for those who review. And to Guest: I appreciate your review and I know you're not bashing me, so thank you for that. But I'm writing Jerry/Kim for a reason: because I see the potential in them and I choose to embrace it. Obviously the show is not going to broadcast a Jerry/Kim plotline because it's written there that the pairing is Jack/Kim (and Jerry/Mika), and I truly respected that. So that is mainly why I turn myself into Fanfiction - where I could write the possibilities that I see - because isn't that what Fanfiction is for? Unleashing our imagination? Anything is possible in a Fanfiction, and yes, even this pairing.
And I also don't mean to bash you. This is merely my opinion. Once again, I respected that you left me a review. It gave me something to consider.
