Title: FML – It's Too Late Pt.2
Author: Juana
Story Summary: Jenna made her choice at the dance, but second guessing is just part of her nature and Tamara is determined to make Jenna weigh her options.
Rating: T
Jenna sat inside the party waiting for Jake and Matty to come inside, her mind going ninety miles a minute. She was pretty sure that Matty would keep quiet about their secret relationship, but suddenly she began to wonder about the trail from the people who knew about her and Matty to Jake.
Tamara was thinking pretty much the same thing as she approached her friend.
"How's it going?" Tamara was beaming from ear to ear and Jenna couldn't have been happier for her, she had been swept off her feet by Ricky Schwartz at the dance and she was living her fairy tale.
"I'm surviving," Jenna offered.
"I saw the whole thing with Matty…that was toats brutal J."
"Yeah…I have the image of it all burned into my brain," Jenna admitted.
"So what are you going to do about Matty?" Tamara asked.
That was the prominent question in her mind now too. It wasn't like telling him it was over really made it over for her. She still ached for him and what they had shared, a part of her wishing she'd never called him out on anything.
"I'm giving my Matty obsession a rest – it's the only thing that is fair to Jake."
"Well you're like way Wonder Woman stronger than me…I caved like a bad soufflé the minute Ricky told me he wanted to be with just me."
"Do you think I should have given Matty another chance?" Jenna asked second guessing everything in that moment.
"That's like an a Dr. Phil problem – you and Matty have mad history and chemistry, but Jake's like a cute factor of 10 after tonight and he's obvs smitten with you it's like choosing between a cute cuddly kitten aka Jake or an adorable Matty puppy."
"So I guess I need to decide if I'm a cat person or a dog one," Jenna lamented.
"And quick because both species are headed your way," Tamara said pointing to Jake and Matty as they came through the front door.
It wasn't really her choice to make anymore though, she'd sent a clear message to both Matty and Jake at the dance when she'd taken Jake's hand in hers – or at least she thought she had.
"Hey…"Jake said putting his arm around Jenna now.
"Hey yourself," she answered back doing her best to give him her undivided attention now.
"I'm outie, see you guys later," Tamara said as she left Jenna facing the two men who were turning her life upside down although in very different way.
"Yeah…me too," Matty said in a hurry now to distance himself from the pain that was coursing through him at the sight of a coupled Jake and Jenna.
It wasn't like Matty not to enjoy a good party, but this one's suckage level was pretty high right now. The beer was just barely giving him a buzz and it seemed like every corner he turned he ran into someone or something that reminded him of Jenna.
He was about ready to bail when Tamara pulled him into another room to join in a game of suck and blow. As she sat him down in the circle he realized it was right next to Jenna.
"Okay, we have our last victim now…so I'll explain the rules for those nubiles who haven't played before."
Matty was doing his best not to look at Jenna now and he could tell she was fighting the same fight.
"The object of the game is to suck the playing card on to your mouth like this," Tamara said demonstrating her best hoover maneuver.
"And then you lean in towards the other person and they suck it from your mouth to theirs while you blow…easy peasy."
"Here's the rub a dub dub though, you fail and you have pay the piper with a kiss for thirty seconds."
Instantly Jenna's hand shot up.
"Yes Hamilton."
"Can I be excused?"
"Only when you fail. You mess up you pay the piper and you and your fellow fail-bot are eliminated and so it goes until only two people are left holding the card."
"Any more questions?"
When nobody raised their hand Tamara smiled and handed the card to Jenna before sitting back down in the circle next to Ricky.
"Okay then Jenna get to sucking," Tamara prompted.
FML thought Jenna with Tamara as a friend who needed enemies.
Unable to stall any longer Jenna sucked the card to her mouth and turned to Jake who successfully sucked the card away and proceeded to card lock with Lissa who was on his other side and so on and so on until the circle got all the way around to Matty whose mission it was to pass the card on to Jenna's lips and he did but it took every ounce of willpower on his part not to just let it drop.
The first couple to bomb out was Lissa and her date Marcus and they were quickly ushered into the middle of the circle for a very public 30 second kiss fest.
Jenna could only imagine on how many levels this game could go horribly wrong as one couple after another dropped out after dropping the card and every turn of the circle with Matty it was getting just that much harder for her to distance her body's reaction to his closeness. She wanted to kiss him so bad now it hurt.
Matty had had enough now too, so much so that he was contemplating purposefully dropping the card and publicly kissing Sadie to get the hell out of there. He knew Sadie had been trying to get it to drop on every turn of the circle. Still he hung on though because kissing Sadie was really the last thing he wanted to do.
As he sucked the card away from Sadie's mouth he knew he was going to do something really stupid even as he did it, blowing way too hard on the card for Jenna to be able to suck fast enough. And he knew Jenna wasn't happy with him as she closed her eyes with the realization of what had just happened and even more so what was going to have to happen before this game was over for the both of them.
"Way to suck McKibben," Jake teased not even remotely aware how purposeful Matty's maneuver had been.
Suddenly the chant around the circle, started, Jenna was pretty sure by Tamara.
Kiss, kiss, kiss…everyone repeated over and over.
"Time to pay the piper Hamkibben," Tamara said speaking up.
Jenna shot her friend a dirty look as she got up from the circle and Matty reluctantly joined her.
As Tamara got ready to start the 30 second countdown Matty realized that this would probably be the last kiss he ever shared with Jenna and it fueled his desire to make it one she would not soon forget.
Jenna knew she was in trouble as she stood in front of Matty, he wore a determined look and for the next 30 seconds her lips were his and he made it clear from the first meeting of their lips and his hands on her face that he wasn't going to waste a second of it.
He was singularly focused on her and the rest of the world just kind of melted away for the both of them. It felt so amazing to be in his arms again that Jenna just let go and did her best to hang onto every precious second.
But reality kicked in the minute Jake spoke up.
"Easy there Mckibben…that's my girlfriend you're mauling there."
God, they'd been together less than 24 hours and Jake already had no problem displaying his affections for Jenna thought Matty.
"Sorry dude," Matty said in a half hearted apology, he wasn't really sorry at all.
Breathless now Jenna slunk out of the circle and went to sit down on the couch across from the game. She was embarrassed and conflicted big time. The last person she needed around her was Matty but he joined her any way.
"You dropped that card on purpose," she accused as he took the seat beside her.
"Sue me."
"Or I could just slap you."
"Whatever. I'm pretty topped out on the pain scale right now anyway."
"Matty…"
"Save it Jenna, consider that our goodbye kiss," he said getting up now to leave.
He'd had enough of this party…and this night for that matter.
She knew she shouldn't follow him, but she couldn't help herself she was up and on her feet the minute he left.
She saw him get in the limo and said a few forgive me fathers like she'd seen Lissa do, before heading in after him and shutting the door.
He was lying on the seat but sat bolt upright as soon as she did.
"We need to talk," she said sitting a safe distance away from him now.
"I don't really have anything else to say."
"Are we going to be able to be friends?" Jenna asked. It wasn't all she wanted she wanted, she wanted more, but she knew it was really all she had the right to ask for now.
"I think I proved with that kiss, that isn't going to be possible for us."
"What about you and Jake, he's your best friend."
"Yeah…I don't really know. I haven't had a lot of time to process any of this," he admitted.
It really hit him now for the first time how much was going to be changed in his life after tonight. Jenna was right, Jake was his best bud, but he knew he wasn't going to be able to watch him developing something real with Jenna and be his sounding board like he had been with Lissa and the other girls Jake had dated since they had become friends.
Jenna knew there was one more pressing question on her mind, and she was afraid to ask it, but she knew she had to.
"Are you going to tell Jake about us?"
Matty sighed, running his hands through his hair now in a frustrated gesture.
"That seems like a really bad idea."
"I agree, but what if he finds out somehow?"
"I guess we deal with it then…it's not like you cheated on him."
"I would want to know if he had sex with Tamara or Ming," Jenna offered.
Suddenly Matty tensed as he realized the implications of that statement.
"You're not going to sleep with him are you?"
Jenna hadn't really put much thought into the where do we go from here agenda with Jake until just now.
"I am dating him…I suppose eventually it would happen," she hated admitting that, but it would have been a lie to say otherwise. She was no Lissa and in a relationship sex was a level that deepened things.
"I have to go," Matty said reaching for the door now, but Jenna put her hand out to stop him.
"Matty, I'm sorry."
"Yeah…me too."
Matty felt like his heart had been put into a blender now and someone had hit frappe.
"Jake is a lucky guy Jenna…you're pretty amazing."
Jenna wanted so bad to hug Matty and in that moment it seemed right and appropriate, he was her friend and so much more and she knew she was going to miss him.
The kiss that followed however was more of an accident as she realized there was a tear slipping down his face, she had wiped it off and he had begun kissing her.
It wasn't a passionate, I need you type of moment, it was their official goodbye the way it should have been, in private and between just the two of them as every ounce of his and her aching heart went into their final intimate moment with a slow and deliberate kiss that reached into both of their souls.
"I messed up Jenna…I'm sorry," Matty admitted as he now wiped at the tears that were slipping down her face.
"I forgive you," she said exiting the limo now. It was time to get back to her real reality where she had Jake waiting for her. It was time to let go of Mattie and release him to find someone who would make her happy like she knew Jake was going to make her.