Again, thanks to everyone who's reading this and being so positive towards me. Every little follow, view, comment, 'like', and review isn't little to me at all. It actually means so much! So here…have some lovely Jadina.
James wouldn't tell me where I was meeting him or what we were going to be doing. He only told me not to dress up and gave me the address. When I got there and saw the sign above the building that read "Mud Sweat and Tears Pottery", I knew exactly what we were going to be doing. I couldn't help but smile. It was cliché and cute and I couldn't wait.
Idina walked inside and an employee took her to a section off to the side. She was happy to see James' face. He stood up as she walked over and wrapped his arms around her once she got to him. She returned his hug before finally speaking. "You're kidding me."
James laughed and replied. "We're going to be creative and leave here with new talents."
"We're going to leave here with bumpy, uneven pottery." Idina joked.
James could only agree and say that it was worth a try. The instructor came over and taught them the basics, most of which they laughed through because of all the mistakes they were making. Once they got the hang of it for the most part, the instructor left them to work on their pottery.
"I think yours looks better than mine already." Idina said half joking, half jealous.
"Well, if mine ends up looking better than yours, we could swap."
Idina smiled at the fact that he would even offer to appease her competitiveness.
"I think you're going a little too slow." James says as he gets up.
Don't do it. Don't be cliché. You're going to do it, aren't you?
James moved his stool behind Idina and laughed when he noticed her trying to hold back a smile. Idina turned to look at James. "Are Ghost reenactments a requirement here?" she asked.
"They're encouraged. So let me help you."
Idina turned back around, smiling from ear to ear when she felt James' arms reach from behind her and his hands softly land on hers. She could feel his chest move closer to her back. She looked around to make sure they had privacy before relaxing into him a little.
"Could you move your foot off of the pedal because honestly, you're not doing very good." he joked.
Idina laughed. "Oh really?" she said as she removed her foot from the pedal. "All yours, Mr. Professional Potter By Day, Broadway Star By Night."
"That's perfect. Could we maybe shorten it a little though?" he joked, returning the sarcasm.
Idina was stopped mid-laugh when she felt James' leg come from behind for him to put his foot on the pedal to spin the wheel. "Okay, let's see how much better I do with your help." she said, needing a distraction from the feeling of his thigh pressed against her hip. He pressed the pedal softly and the wheel began spinning, her hands underneath his being guided, smoothing the clay as it spun in slow circles.
He sped up a little before speaking. "See the difference the speed makes?"
"Mm-hm." Idina nodded, unable to speak after feeling his breath on the side of her neck.
Is he as close to me as it seems? Here come the butterflies.
"You think you have the hang of it now?" James asked, breath still tickling Idina's neck.
"Nope." Idina said with a giggle, obviously lying just so James would stay behind her.
James was aware that she could do it alone, but to be honest he was comfortable right where he was and was hoping that would be her answer. Idina was hoping the instructor didn't come back anytime soon because she wasn't ready for this moment to be over, but she didn't need this getting out to the public.
"I have to admit that it does look just a little bit better." Idina said, laughing.
James laughed "Just a little bit, huh?"
Idina nodded, her nod slowing to a stop when she felt James' chin on her shoulder. It was like everything stopped and nothing else mattered. All of a sudden it was just the two of them, the sound of people coming in and out of the establishment, being greeted and led to another section of the place, didn't matter, and any pressure she felt to be perfect for James dissolved, anxiety about if things would work out or not faded away.
She didn't want to move an inch. She just wanted to sit there in that moment, enjoy the person she was with, enjoy the person she was becoming the more she realized that life would go on and that things would work out and be okay.
Just when Idina was impossibly getting more relaxed, loving the feel of James' hands on her hers, his leg wrapped around her, his head resting on her shoulder, the instructor came back. James sat up and leaned back from Idina a little.
"Mr. Snyder, your lunch is here and ready." the instructor said before leaving like she didn't see anything.
"You got lunch for us?" Idina turned and asked James.
"I figured we might get hungry from working so hard."
They got up from their seats, both of them a little disappointed about moving from that position. They got all cleaned up and walked to another room, talking about how their pottery ended up. "I think mine was a little beyond repair at that point. It—" Idina was stopped in the middle of the conversation once she opened up the door to what she assumed was a pottery classroom.
The pottery tables were set up in a circle and on each one of them sat a small bouquet of flowers, each bouquet different from the ones next to it. She looked back at James, who was smiling and was very happy to see Idina's reaction.
"I promised you flowers, didn't I?" James said, following Idina into the room and closing the door behind him.
"Yes. Yes, you did. They're gorgeous. This is really amazing." she said, admiring the way the floor in the middle of the circle of tables was set up in a picnic fashion. "You really don't have to go through this much trouble."
"It's no trouble. I just want you to enjoy yourself. You're busy and you've been through a lot of ups and downs this past year. I just want to help you relax and have fun. Anything you ever need, I'll be happy to give you."
Idina turned around and smiled at the handsome man she was now looking face to face. "I know. Thank you, James." She wrapped her arms around him and he did the same with her. Though it only lasted a few seconds, it felt like much longer. Neither of them complained about that though. They both enjoyed being in each other's arms.
After their date, the next time they saw each other was later that day at the theatre. Idina brought one of the bouquets from James to her dressing room. She took a picture of it and sent it to him.
What am I doing? I have a son; I have a soon-to-be ex-husband. Why does this man make me feel like a lovesick teenage girl? Okay, maybe not lovesick. "Likesick" would be a better term. Very strong like. For the past few months, even with my busy schedule, all that's been on my mind is the divorce, what people are saying, how much I feel like Taye's moved on. Now I think about what the next time being with James will be like, what we'll do, what we'll talk about, when we'll actually be with each other…in that way.
Her phone's vibration brought her from the type of thoughts that usually come when she thinks about where things are heading with James. She smiled and shook her head when she opened and read James' reply, which was a simple " ;)". As she was thinking of a response, there was a knock on her door and she knew exactly who it was.
"Come in." she said before James opened the door and peeked in really slowly, making Idina laugh.
"I just wanted to see the flowers again in person." he said as he came in and closed the door.
"That sounds like an excuse to me, but I'm not complaining" Idina said with a smile, standing up from her chair.
Her phone buzzed in her hand and she looked down to see Taye's name and a picture of Walker on her screen. She answered with a polite hello, trying not to sound as confused as she was. She had talked to Walker only a little while ago and wondered why Taye would be calling again so soon.
"Can you talk right now?" he asked.
"Is Walker okay?" Idina asked, the worst situations going through her head.
"He's fine. Can you talk right now?" Taye asked again, just as seriously as the first time.
"Wait a second." Idina answered, muting the phone and asking James to step out for a second.
She took a breath and tried to think of why Taye could be calling. They were amicable, but they never called each other about anything that was trivial or not about Walker. So she knew he wasn't calling about anything unimportant, he wasn't calling just to talk, and thankfully nothing was wrong with Walker.
She unmuted the phone and held it to her ear. "Okay. What do you need to talk about?"
"Why are people asking me if I've seen a blog about you and James?"
I haven't told anyone anything about James and I. There's really nothing to tell.
"I don't know. I haven't seen anything and there's nothing for anyone to truthfully blog about."
"You didn't go anywhere with him today?" Taye said and cleared his throat, clearly unhappy.
Idina sat back down in her chair and let out a sigh.
AN: I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I love getting feedback from you all, it really encourages me to keep writing. So continue to review, 'like', follow on Twitter and Instagram (Fanzel12) and comment or message me. If you have any ideas, let me know. And tell a friend to tell a friend to tell ANOTHER friend to check this out. I LOVE U!