Chapter 10: Busted
Nikki had been avoiding Jonesy for the past three weeks. She wanted to talk to him about what happened at the dance but never had a chance to because Jonesy never left Bridgette's side for a moment. He was always texting her or talking to her. She even pulled up her own chair at their table, always engrossing the gang in adventures in taking care of her three week old brother. Although she was virtually attached to Jonesy's hip, Bridgette wasn't bothering him at all. He started planning everything he did around her schedule in order to avoid Nikki. Just as Nikki had predicted, Jonesy was pretending the whole thing never happened. He didn't say a word to the gang about the kiss. And the gang never pressed the issue; they figured that they'd discuss it when the time came. Also, everyone at school had long forgotten about it so Bridgette never knew. It wasn't until one afternoon in the library that things went wrong.
"Go to youtube. I wanna check out this funny video." Jonesy asked his girl as he sat with his arm around her shoulder.
Bridgette pulled up youtube and saw the recently added videos. One was title 'Winter Formal Romance'. "This one sounds interesting." Bridgette said clicking on it.
Jonesy didn't pay any attention to the video at first. It was of decent quality, probably filmed with someone's camera phone. It started out showing Wyatt at the DJ Booth then panned around to other random couples dancing. But by the end of the song, Jonesy and Nikki were on camera. "Aw, that's so nice of Nikki to give you a pity dance." Bridgette exclaimed.
Jonesy stayed silent. He knew what happened at the end of the song and he prayed that the video would end before that. He tried to put his hand in front of the computer screen but Bridgette's arm blocked it. Then he heard the dreaded bridge and immediately racked his brain for a good excuse. He knew that 'she kissed me' wasn't going to cut it. When the video ended, Bridgette shoved Jonesy's arm from around her shoulder and stood up to face him.
"So nothing interesting happened at the dance, huh?" she quizzically looked at Jonesy as he tried to think of an excuse.
"Bridgette I--" was all Jonesy could manage to say before Bridgette's extraordinarily firm palm came in contact with his soft cheek. She then turned around and left in a huff, her voluptuous hips swinging back and forth ferociously as she walked.
"God, I screwed up royally on this one." Jonesy spoke out loud.
"You can say that again." a cheerful voice said behind him. It was Nikki.
"Please tell me you didn't see what just happened." Jonesy begged.
"I could say that, but I'd be lying. So I take it that Bridgette saw the video."
"Yea. What kind of idiot would post that? None of our friends, I hope."
"Of course not," Nikki said as she pulled up a seat next to Jonesy. "Pick any nerd with a camera phone and its narrowed down to..." Nikki pretended to count. "the whole school."
"Why aren't you upset about this?" Jonesy questioned Nikki.
"Because, unlike you, I was mature enough to tell my boyfriend about what happened before he saw it on youtube. That, and he kinda already knew about it. He was there."
"And he's okay with it?" Jonesy asked in disbelief.
"Of course not," Nikki reassured him. "He was ready to delete my number out of his phone when I called him and explained everything."
"What did you tell him?"
"I told him that I was going through a very emotional time in my life and I needed to be sure of my feelings. And now I'm sure."
"What are these feelings?" Jonesy inquired. Nikki blushed and looked at the floor.
"Why are you here, Nikki. I know it's not because you love the library." Nikki took a deep breath and looked seriously into Jonesy's eyes.
"I'm here because...I wanted to talk to you for once without Bridgette around."
"There's no way you could've known she was going to leave."
"I was going to ask her to leave. But then I didn't have to. Back to the subject, I'm here to talk about the kiss. That night...I know I felt something between us. I felt safe and I felt secure. I never felt that way with anyone," Jonesy remained silent, but he kept his eyes on Nikki.
"I want to know if...if you feel the same way."
"God, Nikki. If this happened a few weeks ago...I'd be all over you right now." he said taking her hand in his.
"So you do feel the same way?" Nikki asked, hopefully.
"Yea, I do. I initiated it, why wouldn't I? The only problem is..." he trailed off.
"Bridgette?" Nikki finished his sentence.
"Yea, I really like her, and I don't want to hurt her."
"News flash, you already did about ten minutes ago, remember?" Nikki told Jonesy.
"Oh, I can fix that. But I can't make myself fall in love with her like I've been trying to." Jonesy sighed.
"Why not? People do it every day. It's only been three weeks. Give it some time." Nikki said casually, not understanding what Jonesy was getting at.
"No, I mean, I can't make myself fall in love with her because... I'm already in love with you." Jonesy admitted.
"Again?" Nikki asked.
"I never stopped." Jonesy then grabbed Nikki's face and kissed her just the way he had kissed her at the dance, only it was even better. After a few moments, Nikki pulled away from him and brought them back to reality.
"I'm in love with you, too. And it took me this long to realize it. What are we going to do about this situation? I have a boyfriend now."
"And I have a girlfriend. But Bridgette has been busy a lot lately. Taking care of her little brother."
"So I've heard." Nikki said, emotionless.
"That's why she spends all her free time with me. I think we should start hanging out when we're not spending time with our significant others."
"You think we should sneak around? I don't know about this."
"Come on, Nikki. Where's that devious girl I fell in love with?" Jonesy gave Nikki the puppy-dog look that let him get away with anything he wanted and she caved.
"Alright. I suppose I'm free when Jonathan's at rugby practice." she suggested.
"When's that?"
"After school from 3 to 6. He's there now."
"I guess we could go to the park then?" Jonesy asked.
"Yea," Nikki said as she stood up. "And one more thing: the gang can't ever know about this, okay?"
"I promise." Jonesy said as he allowed Nikki to leave first, and followed behind her to make sure no one they knew would see them.
__________________________________________
Jude was sitting outside in his empty driveway, wearing nothing but a white tank top shirt and board shorts, with his portable DVD player in his lap. This afternoon the weather was unpredictably warm, especially for February and it was too hot for skateboarding. He was watching the Aguateen Hungerforce Movie but he thought he would have more fun with a companion.
Jen's phone started shaking on the counter at the Penalty Box. When she saw that it was Jude, she answered.
"Hello, Jude." she said in the friendliest way possible.
"Hey, Jen. What time do you get off work?"
"In like, thirty minutes, why?"
"I want you to come over and hang out with me."
"Hang out and do what?" Jen ordered. She had dealt with a lot of disgruntled customers that day and was not in the best of moods.
"You'll see when you get here. Bye." Jude hung up and went back into the house. Jen sighed and stared off into space. She knew she was really starting to like Jude. If anyone else wanted her to do something after work, especially after such a stressful day, she wouldn't have given them a chance. But something about Jude's calm demeaner relaxed Jen. She knew an afternoon with him was just what she needed.
______________________________
"Okay, Jude. What are you doing?" Jen said as she walked up to Jude sitting in the driveway. She was wearing a white tank top and her usual white skirt.
"I'm hanging out," Jude explained. "Care to join me, bra?" Jen agreed and sat in the driveway next to Jude as he put his arm around her.
"I love this movie." Jen and Jude sat comfortably laughing at the movie and expressing their opinions of how pointeless some scenes were "I have a great idea, Jen," Jude suddenly said. "We'll make our own movie."
"Really, Jude? About what?"
"About anything. About our lives. My skateboarding. Your snowboarding. We could be so rich." Jude fantasized.
"Dreams are wonderful, Jude. But let's be real. Who would want to watch us on TV?"
"We've got to be much more interesting than the Aguateens." They both laughed at the thought. Jude then looked at his watch.
"The Maple Leaf game comes on at eight."
"Who are they playing?"
"The Canadiens."
"Oh, they are dead." Jen loved the Montreal Canadiens and dared anyone to question her loyalty.
"Are you serious? You know the Maple Leafs will kick their butts."
"Would you like to place a wagger on that?" Jen said playfully.
"I'll do you one better. We'll have a thumb war. If you lose, you have to admit that the Maple Leafs are the best hockey team ever and that they will kick the Canadiens butts."
"You're on." Jen never backed down from physical challenges.
"One, two, three, four, I declare a thumb war." Jen and Jude said simultaneously. Jen was almost winning, her thumb pushing Jude's to the side. She then attampted to put it on top of his, when he snuck up behind her and tickled her side.
"No fair." Jen spit out through her laughter as Jude's thumb covered hers.
"I'm the winner and you're the loser. Now say it."
"Oh, alright. The Maple Leafs are the best hockey team in the whole world."
"And?" Jude teased.
"And...they'll kick the Canadien's butts for sure tonight. Alright Jude, I lost. But, what did you win."
"Well, the satisfaction of knowing my team will destroy the Canadiens, and the winner gets a special prize."
"What?" Jen asked looking into Jude's eyes.
"This." he said pulling her toward him and finally kissed her. He felt the warm sun on his back as he pulled his fingers through her hair and pushed her gently onto the warm pavement. It burned Jen's skin a little but she didn't care. She pulled him on top of her and started kissing his neck and his ears. Jude returned the favor and was about to pull off his shirt when the loud honking of a car invaded their space.
"Are you gonna let me park the car or what?" Jude's mom rolled down the window and said. Jen pushed Jude away and straightened her hair with her fingers.
"Sorry, Mrs. Lizowski." Jen said embarassed. Jude pulled himself from on top of Jen and they both walked into the bushes, Jen holding the DVD player.
"What were you guys doing?" Jude's blond-haired mom asked as she stepped out of the car and up to the door.
"Mom!" Jude pulled his hat over his eyes so that he didn't have to look at his mom. She was so embarassing sometimes.
Mrs. Lizowski noticed Jude's embarassed look and his arm around Jen and decided she shouldn't pry.
"Have fun," she finally said. "We'll talk later."
When Jude's mom left, Jen spoke again.
"I guess I better go. My mom and Mr. Garcia are expecting me home soon."
"I don't want you to go. I mean, who's gonna watch the Maple Leafs win and gloat in your face about it?"
"Jonesy, probably," Jen giggled. "I'll call you when it's over so you can gloat as much as you want to." Jen kissed Jude on the ckeek and walked away cooly. When his house was out of sght, she skipped all the way home. Three weeks she waited for him to kiss her and it finally happened. She was so happy that she didn't even mind that the Canadiens lost the game because she was thrilled to hear Jude talk about it till two in the morning.