Hello my mentalist fan friends! Here is chapter 4! I hope you are having as much fun reading this as I am writing it! Thank you all for your reviews! I like teared up reading them all! I love all of you! Again any criticism is welcomed, if there is anything you didn't like feel free to tell me. All of these lovely reviews are making me so happy! I'm so glad you guys like this, I will try to not disappoint in the coming chapters! yay!
I do not own the mentalist or any of the characters, and I am just borrowing them. Although I really wish I knew them in real life :'(
Teresa wasn't into extravagant things, but the emerald earrings Patrick had gotten her were so pretty, she wore them that day, to find a dress to match.
Patrick insisted on coming along, she somehow wished he hadn't, what were they going to talk about all day? Patrick was not someone who normally indulged in awkward silences, but he rarely talked about things that made him uncomfortable, and any normal human being would be uncomfortable about this, but then again, he was not a normal human being, he was Patrick Jane. He was probably laughing about it in her living room while she was in the bathroom, composing herself.
She splashed some water on her face, she needed to wake up, ugh no, she needed coffee. Coffee was her trusted companion in emotionally distressing times like these.
But where there was coffee, there was a kettle, and where a kettle there was tea, and where there was tea there was Patrick Jane.
He was in her house, they were about to leave to go shopping, actually he insisted they did, she was hoping after that last awkward encounter, he would find some excuse to leave, but it was Jane, he thrived in unwelcome surroundings, including hers.
She composed herself and came down the stairs, facing her demon. Her biggest demon, that nosy annoying, meddling, Patrick Jane.
She walked into her kitchenette and there he was, grinning to himself, as she'd predicted. Any other man would probably be nervous, embarrassed after something like this. But he probably thought it was hilarious. Because most likely, in his mind he had just proven what he had known all along, Lisbon's true feelings for him.
And the one thing Patrick loved more than anything, maybe even more than her, is being right.
"Well, look at you, those look lovely on you, Teresa." Jane chuckled as he looked up at her when she entered the room. Oh so they were going by first names now, how oh-so-sweetly-manipulative.
It was true, he had given her the present after the mishap, which helped diffuse the awkwardness on his part.
The sheer shock and embarrassment on her face was too funny for him to not enjoy.
It was timing, all of it, her phone just had to ring as he was about to kiss her. Why did she pick up? Why didn't she just let it ring?
This is also part of why Patrick was laughing; work would always come first to her. He didn't mind though, that was one of his favorite qualities about Lisbon, her drive.
"Thank you." She said obviously on edge.
He smiled again. Did he ever get embarrassed?
This entire situation just proved how alike they were. Both ridiculously stubborn, headstrong, it was becoming a competition who would break who first? Who would bring it up first?
Certainly not Jane. He made his move, the ball was in her court now. He would let her take her time. He was not embarrassed at all, he was Patrick Jane and he made a lot of mistakes in his life, but this was definitely not one of them. He'd planted the seed, now he just had to sit back and wait.
She was starting to get rather annoyed with him, because he was obviously enjoying himself.
She, however was not.
She poured some more coffee in her mug and paced around. She was obviously unsettled, and she had a sick and nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach. She could feel his eyes on her, watching her pacing around, laughing at her.
She was not going to give him that satisfaction, so she sat down on her kitchen table, pretending to look calm, and pretended to skim the paper in front of her.
So, Teresa ." he said as he rose from the couch and walked over to her, "I-" he hesitated, Patrick Jane,hesitating? "I have our entire day planned out!" He recovered.
He put his tea down next to her coffee on the table and pulled on of her kitchen chairs over next to hers, he sat close to her Is that a new cologne?
She nonchalantly got out of her seat and sat down on the couch. He registered this and got up and followed her. He sat down on the couch, extremely, extremely close to her. So close she was practically sitting on his lap. Her heart started pounding, she breathed in his scent. He was torturing her, making her so uncomfortable she had to say something, and he was doing it on purpose!
Well, she thought, two can play at that game.
"Yeah, let me just grab my phone." She said, she reached across him, so he could smell the perfume she'd applied 5 minutes ago to evoke some kind of nervous response from him.
He saw through it immediately. "Oh now, stop it Teresa, no one is better at this game than me."
She pulled back, almost immediately, and tensed up feeling stupid and ridiculous.
"you don't have to stop Teresa, trust me, I didn't mind.
She got up from the couch and grabbed her coffee from the kitchen table.
"Mind what?" she said absently as she turned her back to him. "So, do you want to get going?"
She said to change the subject.
"Only on one condition." He said
"what?"
"I get to drive."
XXX
She got in his little Citroen without complaint. The sides, if she drove he would pick at her for being an emotional driver, she tensed up when she drove when she was feeling ill at ease with anything, which was a very frequent occurrence, since she'd known Jane.
The car was silent, as was Jane, which was strange
A speechless Jane, that was about as strange as snow in sacramento.
They were both feeling a bit awkward, she reached for the radio button at the same time he did.
The brief touch was enough to send a brief flush to both of their faces, even Jane's.
"Sorry." She whispered as she drew her hand away.
Jane was starting to act strange in the past 14 and a half minutes it had taken to drive to the nearest shopping center. He did not make much conversation in the car at all, which was unusual for him. The fact that Teresa had played back his little game of who can make the other one squirm first put him on edge. She was usually an open book for him, he was not used to her playing mind games.
XXX
The ride home 9 hours later was sufficiently less awkward. Lisbon marveled at the fact that she had actually survived the day. Jane had eventually started to act normal and they were distracted by their errands enough to forget the awkwardness of that morning.
It was only when they were shopping for the gift that things began to get awkward. They had been in a department store for a few minutes when an employee had asked them if they needed help with anything.
"Yes, actually we are looking for the gift registry." Lisbon replied, she had never been good at shopping for these types of things, and she was grateful for any help she could get.
The employee led them over to a front desk with the computer.
"name?" the young woman employee asked as she typed a few keys into a computer.
"Isabella Lisbon," Lisbon answered. Patrick smirked.
"Ahh yes, and you must be, Jonathon? " The young woman asked gesturing to Patrick as the file came up on her computer. "Congratulations you two, now are you looking to add items to your wish list? Or remove some?"
Lisbon and Jane looked at eachother, confused. "No, my name is Patrick." Jane said, slightly amused.
"You mean, you aren't the bride and groom? " The young woman asked, confused.
"No. We-we're just friends. Isabella Lisbon is my cousin, I am here shopping for her!" Lisbon blurted, fed up with everyone thinking her and Jane were a couple.
Jane chuckled quietly at this; he loved it when Lisbon got all worked up.
"Oh, God I'm so sorry." The woman said,embarrassed. "I thought you two were the couple!" She said gesturing at their hands.
Lisbon looked down at the same time Jane did. She had just realized that they had been holding hands, this entire time, unintentionally.
She looked at his surprised face and let go immediately.
The clerk laughed at this and handed her a piece of paper. "The checked off ones are the ones someone's already bought, have fun you two." She said, gave them a knowing smile and walked away.
That was the one time things had gotten awkward that day. Jane had not even seemed to realize they had been holding hands all day.
However driving home in his Citroen, she remembered, and blushed at the memory.
"What is it?" Jane asked in response to her sudden mood change.
"Oh nothing."
But it wasn't nothing. There was something…more going on between Jane and Lisbon; she just wished she knew when they would talk about it.