Wow, okay sorry it took me a while. Thank you again for my reviews who remind me about this story. Thank god for backup discs.(Laugh) Anyway please enjoy.
Disclamier-I don't own forbidden game, if I did the ending would have been a hell of a lot different and this fanfiction wouldn't exist.
"Jenny, order up!"
"Coming," Jenny called as she grabbed her orders and placed them on her platter.
Three days had past since she had spoken to Zach; Jenny was determined to set herself in motion again.
"Easy, slow down Jenny, you're hogging all the customers," a cute curly haired red head smiled at her.
Jenny laughed, "You're just not fast enough, Danna."
Danna flipped a curl over her shoulder as she glanced at the table of guys staring in their direction, "Any of those goons your type?" Jenny glanced over as she spotted a dark haired boy with his glasses hanging off the bridge of his nose.
"Not really, though the one with the glasses seems kind of cute," Jenny said. Danna shot her a wicked grin as she handed Jenny her second platter.
"Come help me real quick, we're gonna have a bit of fun," Danna said. Jenny followed Danna with her serving tray. Though most trays could carry at least seven cups, Danna had only placed two on her tray and three on Jenny's.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, gentlemen," Jenny heard Danna's sugary voice as she tried not to laugh. Danna had purposely placed her in front of the dark haired boy that had been staring at her and she had taken her place at the side of a blond.
"Oh, no problem at all," the blond said as he flashed Danna a smile. Danna placed his cup next to his hand and for the briefest moment, brushed hers against his. Jenny laughed as he jumped and blushed. She turned and placed a cup in front of the dark haired boy, he stared open-mouthed at her as she gave him the most breath-taking smile she had. His glasses slid off his nose and landed with a soft clack on the floor. Still smiling, she picked them up and put them next to his cup. The guys chortled with laughter as the boy blushed deeply. "Here you go, don't want to lose those."
When Jenny met Danna in the back room, they busted out laughing.
"Did you see his face," Danna gushed as she tried to contain her laughter. Jenny chuckled as she smiled.
"I think we might have over done it a little, the poor boy looked like he was going to melt into the booth," Jenny said. Danna flashed a dare-devil smile as she laughed.
"The only reason the guys come to this café is because we have the most beautiful girls here," Danna said. "You heard what chief said, he only hires beautiful girls because this place is a sponsor of the Miss California contest as well as Miss America and the Fashion Rouge magazine. He can't afford bad press." Jenny rolled her eyes.
"Good thing he hasn't seen me since last month," Jenny said. "I have looked like a train wreck the past few days."
"You just need to start getting your beauty sleep Miss I-got to-work-around-the-clock-to-feel-good-about-myself," Danna said. Jenny straitened her apron.
"I don't work around the clock," Jenny said, "I have a life too."
"What life, Jen?" Danna asked. "Unless you have got a secret man stashed away in your room, I know you don't have a boyfriend."
"I am just not interested in guys, Danna, I don't have time," Jenny said.
"Most working women find time to howl at the moon if you know what I mean," Danna said with a sly smile. "Face it Jennifer, you are a dead-beat." Jenny rolled her eyes as she looked at her watch.
"My shift is ending," Jenny said. "I am going to fill the last few orders before I leave."
"Any plans for tonight," Danna asked. "And don't say, 'I'm just going to kill time in my dorm' again." Jenny paused as she thought for a moment.
"What's today," Jenny asked.
"Saturday," Danna said as she was adjusting her shirt. They walked back out into the Bristo as Jenny started to tally her orders for the day.
"I was invited to a Poetry slam tonight," Jenny said quietly as she recorded her numbers in the ledger as well as her own personal tracker. Danna paused in cleaning her cups as she looked at Jenny.
"Really, by who?" Danna asked. Jenny sighed.
"I literally ran into a guy a few days ago," Jenny said. "And we spoke for a bit and well, he said he hoped to see me there so I thought, why not right?" Danna gaped at her. Jenny felt her cheeks flame slightly. "What?"
Suddenly, Danna busted out laughing. Jenny stared confused as she noticed a few of the patrons glanced over at her as well.
"Well I'll be a damned, Jenny the queen of the workforce has finally got a date!" Danna sniggered.
"It's not like that, he said he hoped to see me there, he didn't ask me on a date," Jenny defended. She didn't want to give her friend the wrong idea, but her efforts seem to prove futile. Danna was untying her apron and pulling it from her shoulders.
"What are you still doing here, go get dolled up and go see this guy," Danna said as she was shoving her out from behind the Bristo. "Tell you what, what time is this Slam thing?"
"At six"
"I'll come with," Danna said. "Gabe, Will, and Shauntel are free tonight so we all can get together afterwards as well, sound good? Okay so get going!" Before Jenny could get a word in, she was being hustled out the door. She stopped her self from being flung forward and out.
"Danna will you stop," Jenny exploded. She locked her legs and the girl looked at her quizzical. "I need to grab my bag and my things from the back and I haven't even agreed yet?"
"Jenny, I am just trying to get you out for a night okay, honey," Danna said before she sigh, going back over to the counter. Jenny followed her as the girl suddenly seemed years older instead of just one. "You work too much and you need some fun, so go and after meet us at the Tiki Cabana around 10 aright?" Danna handed Jenny her bag, apron and sweater.
"Okay, I will go, but please next time don't try to shove me out," Jenny said as she smiled. "Tell Will to ditch the Hawaiian shirts tonight, okay?" Danna snickered as Jenny left.
The bus ride back to the door was long but Jenny didn't mind. She needed time to get herself together.
She loved Danna's carefree attitude but sometimes the girl really pushed her buttons. Jenny smiled as she reached into her bag and pulled out her planner. She didn't have anything important going on all weekend, just on Monday she had a get together with Summer, Audrey and Dee to go dress shopping as well as to check out the place where Summer wanted her wedding.
Jenny gave herself a little shake as she snapped the book shut and hid it again. Leaning back, she really wished she could just go home and sleep instead of going out. She had been working since 5:30 in the morning and it was almost 4:30 in the afternoon now and she was tired.
But she had been tired for a long time. Suddenly, Jenny felt like years were added onto her shoulders as she let her head droop back against the seat. Some times, at night alone, she wished she would just lie there forever, not have to get back up. It felt nice to just lie there and not have to get up and try every day. She was trying, and trying hard, to live life. But between dealing with friends, school, work, and her own head, Jenny felt used up.
Hearing the driver call the campus stop, Jenny sighed as she lifted her head and stood up again. She got off the bus and began to walk down the cobblestone sidewalk towards the iron fence covered with Spanish moss and ivy. The wind blew as Jenny tucked her arms into her sweater. The air was unusually chilly for early April and Jenny wished she had grabbed a heavier sweater. As she walked, the only sound she heard was her own steps on the stone walk echoing. As she turned the corner and made her way to the dorms, she noticed there wasn't anyone around. Usually she would have seen at least one or two people around but today, it seemed oddly lonely.
When she reached her room, Jenny saw it was already five o'clock. Picking up the flyer, she saw it was in the student commons and second smallest stage. Placing her things on to her bed, she took a quick shower.
Slipping on her robe, she began drying her hair. As she did, she noticed that it needed a small trim.
Searching for her scissors, Jenny trimmed her ends and re-brushed her hair. On an impulse she grabbed the gel and began to curl and crimp her hair. She examined a test strand and liked how it fell in a tight spring. By the time she was done, her hair was in soft wave of curls that she found pleasing. Pining back part of her hair next to her ear, she placed one of hair pieces she got from Zach, it was a delicate comb pin with a pink cherry blossom dominating it. The ends fell over her ear creating a nice effect.
Becoming creative, she covered her eyes with olive and dark matte shadow. She had seen a lot of the girls at work wearing something similar, Chief called it the 'Smoky eye', Danna called it the glam girl. Jenny used a dark brown, almost black mascara to darken her lashes before applying a shiny balm that Michael gave her. She smiled as he happily told her it was "organic" and therefore safe. She liked the feel of it on her lips.
Pulling on a dark green tank, blue jeans and her ankle boots with three inch heel, Jenny grabbed a brown sweater with a deep hood lined with baby blue silk. She had fallen in love with the feeling of it because it felt like she was wearing water.
Grabbing a purse, Jenny checked the time; it was 6:04 and thought she better get going.
As she walked across the lawn towards the Student building, she saw little lanterns adorning the side of the door way. She laughed as she saw the door had been opened and a beaded curtain had been hung instead.
The commons had been set up like a coffee shop with tables scattered about and all facing the small stage area. There was quite a crowd out today, Jenny mused as she pulled up a table towards the side. She saw a small menu card placed on the table. When the server came by, she ordered a glass of red tea and a fries. She was surprised this was all set up by the students but then again, her school always went out of its way to get things done in an orderly fashion and to the best of its ability.
Around 6:45 the lights darkened and some cheesy beat music came on and fuzzy haired boy stepped onto the stage with a dark haired girl. After a quick stand up comedy number, an artist was brought in on the side to sketch a portrayal of the poem's meaning and the first act was opened by the reading of a poem by a local published poet. Throughout most the shows, Jenny watched with a mild fascination. She liked poetry, it always seemed so musical to her and she tried to write it once, but never liked how it sounded. As she refilled her cup of tea, the fuzzy haired boy came back on the stage with the girl.
"Wow, we are so glad to be here. We would like to take a moment to thank all of you for coming out here tonight to join us for this special event. We are so glad to be here with you all and thank you from the bottom of our hearts. So now we will open the stage to open poems for those of you who signed up to read your poems and then we will give it over to the band to shake things up a bit. But before we do, we have one more talent. He is a student here at our very own UOC and now may we present, Jarle Dolan, our senior executive and our patron for our arts department here in UOC. Take the floor!" Jenny gaped at the stage as Jarle stepped into the light.
He was a stunning sight. He wore a dark green almost black shirt that made his hair almost white. Jenny felt a strange sense of familiarity towards him but she quickly shook it off. She had made a promise to herself that she would get attached to this guy just because he looked like Julian. If she did, she would only set herself up for heart ache later and she wouldn't do that to herself or him.
Snapping herself back to reality, she saw Jarle lower the mike. He seemed to glance at her before he began to speak.
"I know this might be a little unorthodox, but please bear with me; I have arranged a special piece just for tonight and would like to share it with you all tonight." He looked over at the guitarist in the band who nodded. Jenny heard a low strum before she heard a low throbbing melody to the lowest crash of a cymbal. The song beautiful but it sounded sad. Jenny was entranced by the melody just as Jarle began to speak.
What evil has befallen you?
You sleep and dream of heart and mind.
You wake and see what other can't.
Your life is a story, a sad song.
You heart is full
Broken and Battered
Your fire is gone
Your soul is cold
Where is the girl of steel and soul?
Where is the glare that commands her troops?
Her dignity, her pride
The worshiped woman of power and life
Beautiful and Bright
Her will that commanded armies, her eyes saw all.
Where is she, fire-walker, shadow stalker
Where is the girl that stole my heart?
Thrown aside, her sword rusts, eyes cast down to the dust.
She is gone, no more to see.
The woman that stands before me, docile and weak
Mild and meek
My goddess no longer breathes.
Her bow hung unstrung on the wall. Her quiver collects dust.
Her hunters crest, traded for a house-wife's dress
She is dead, an empty shell she shed and left for me to see.
Jenny smiled wryly as the music changed and Jarle seemed to smile as he began his second poem
I wait for you
My hearts a battleground
No quarter has been given
No haven have I found
Hellish sound my soul screams
The battle drums beat
The field is stained anew with red
The men cower from their duty
Women lay upon their shields
The walls of my fortress come crumbling down
I retreat
Deep within me
A fire burns
Deep within me
A soul stirs
I give one last cry
I then feel the thrust that
Like the sirens lure I go to you
I lay to rest in your arms
I am my only master now
Jenny felt her throat dry as she realized she had stopped breathing for a few moments. Her heart beat had skipped when she had heard the last line of the poem. Taking a deep drink of her tea, it tasted bitter and some how she felt like everything would taste that way.
Getting up, she placed twenty on her table and started for the door. She could hear the music playing, signaling a change in poet but she didn't want to stay and listen anymore.
When she reached the door, the cold night air hit her lungs like tiny dagger blades. Taking another gulp of air, her throat hurt badly. She started for the bus stop but paused when she heard someone call her name.
"Jennifer!"
Turning, she saw Jarle emerge from the shadows.
"Jarle," She managed to say. He came over, his eyes the color of gas flames.
"Are you okay," He asked. "You left pretty quickly. You seemed rather spooked."
"I'm fine," Jenny said. "I just have to meet some friends at the Tiki Cabana around ten."
"You know its only 8:30," He said in a matter-of-fact tone. Jenny glanced at her watch.
"I thought I would get a decent meal first," She tried to lie. She didn't want to show this stranger she was coming apart at the seams.
"Why don't I join you," he said in a reasonable tone. "Food usually tastes better when it's shared." Unable to think up an excuse, she nodded. As she started for the bus stop again he stopped her. "Where are you going?"
"The bus stop," She said. Jarle's lips twitched as he quirked a smile.
"My car is this way; I can drive us," he said, "My treat?" Jenny smiled shakily as she felt her stomach clenching in the most painful way.
When he brought his car around, Jenny was surprised to see he owned a shiny black Kia. Before she could get to it, he was out of the vehicle and opening her door.
"Thank you," She said. After she was in, he shut the door and was around quickly. The seats were soft and covered in a soft fur like cover that felt strangely familiar to her. As Jarle drove, he turned on the heat and Jenny gave him a grateful smile as she leaned back into the seat.
I will try to get the next chapter out this weekend, hang in there everyone!
