"Jack?" Judy couldn't believe her eyes. "What are you doing here?"
"Nice to see you too!" he smiled. "Are you ok?"
Judy glanced at his two handsome friends passing remarks to each other. Naturally, she figured their comments were about her and her clumsiness. She began to feel really like an idiot as her cheeks blushed a little.
"Are you ok Miss?" one friend asked.
"I'm fine, thanks. It's been a rough day." She gave a phony smile. Judy took in a deep breath trying to keep from crying due to the incident with Tom and the humiliation of spilling her drink down her shirt.
Jack took her empty glass out of her hand and handed it to a friend. "Let me get you some napkins." Jack headed to the bar.
"Would you like another drink?" the taller of the two men asked winking his eye at her.
She gracefully ignored the advance. "I'm fine, thanks." She replied. Where are you Jack? She asked herself as his friend's eyes traveled around her body. She was way past uncomfortable.
"Here you go." Jack came back with a stack of napkins with STATEN imprinted on them.
"Thanks." Judy accepted them and wiped her hands and dabbed her neck.
Jack's friends began nudging him trying to get him to introduce them to Judy. "Oh, these are my friends, Troy and Patrick."
She extended her hand. "Hi, I'm Judy." She smiled brightly.
"So, you're Judy." Patrick snickered. "I've heard a lot about you."
Judy nodded at his sly remark. Patrick had the type of looks that girls would drool over. His tall broad shoulders and dark, handsome looks didn't impress her much. Troy was a little on the chubby side, but his face was just adorable, but these were Jack's friends, so she knew that they were nothing but trouble.
"Can I get you another drink, Judy?" Jack offered placing his hand on her shoulder.
"Oh no, I'm fine. Actually, I'm gonna find a restroom and clean up a little." She held up her hands trying to prove her excuse.
"I'll be waiting right here." He slid his hand down from her shoulder to her arm. "I promise."
Judy didn't know how to react to his friendly hands touching her so she just smiled and walked away. After Judy moved a good ten feet away, Jack turned to his friends as his breath was taken away. "That's my future wife."
"Jack, she is totally hot. If you don't marry her, I will." Troy laughed.
"Hands off." Jack poked his finger in his friend's chest. "I'm having a hard enough time trying to get this Tom guy out of the picture. I don't need anymore competition."
"If she's got a boyfriend, why would she want you?" Patrick asked jokingly.
He looked directly into his eyes. "Because I'm Jack Ramsey and I get what I want and I want her." He pointed to Judy who was pushing her way through the crowd.
As time passed, Tom began to grow unresponsive to Dana. His laughs and smiles were becoming phony as he pretended to listen to Dana go on and on about her ex-boyfriends and her job. All he could think about was Judy, how she laughed at dinner and how stunning she looked when she strolled out of the bedroom. Most of all, leaving Judy in the bar while he sat with another woman made him feel like a complete asshole. Tom decided it was time to go. He tried to think of the best way to get Doug's attention, so he kicked him.
"Ouch!" Doug yelped.
"Doug, was that your leg spasm again?" Tom asked with a concerned face. "Maybe we should go."
"What?" Doug didn't catch the hint. "What the hell are you talking about? Why'd you kick me?"
Tom laughed. "Don't be shy Dougie." He leaned over to Dana and Lauren. "It's an old football injury and he gets embarrassed sometimes."
"I didn't know you actually played." Lauren got excited. "Tell me about it!"
"Well, I didn't want to brag." Doug played it up since it turned her on.
Tom sighed and tilted his head back with impatience. Dana brushed the hair out of her face as she watched Tom's unenthusiastic behavior carry on. She was no idiot, so she decided to confront him.
"You have a girlfriend, don't you?" she asked leaning back in her chair.
He smiled at the fact that she figured it out. "Is it that obvious?"
"The fact that I'm giving you all the signals and you still won't make a move is pretty much a dead giveaway."
"I don't want to cheat on her."
"Well, why didn't you come here with her?"
"Actually, she's here with me tonight."
"So why are you in here talking to me?"
"I don't know." He answered honestly. "I was just asking myself that very question."
"Well," she laughed. "You're still hot and she's a lucky girl."
"I don't know about that. I can be a bit of a prick." He smiled.
Smiling, she turned to Lauren. "I'm gonna head upstairs. Are you coming?"
"Yeah, I guess." Lauren frowned. Doug hopped up to pull out her chair. Tom followed his cue and did the same for Dana. Lauren pulled a pen out of her purse and scribbled her number on a napkin. "Call me Doug. I would love to hear more football stories." She smiled seductively.
Dana snatched the pen out of her friend's hand before she could slip it back into her purse. She jotted down her number and handed it to Tom. "Just in case." She giggled running her fingers through her blonde hair.
"Just in case what?" he pondered.
"Just in case you guys don't work out, call me sometime." She kissed Tom on the cheek. "I can handle a prick." She joked.
Doug and Tom watched the two women walk away. "Did you see the way she was all over me?" Doug boasted. "Even though you probably shattered my bone, the football idea was great." He picked up his beer.
"Yeah, who would have guessed she had a weird football fetish."
"It's not a fetish. She's just a big fan like me."
"Call it whatever you want, that was pretty weird to me." Tom looked at the napkin Dana handed him.
"Are you ok?" Doug asked.
"I love her, man." Tom folded the napkin. "I can't make another mistake with Judy."
"No one made a mistake. It was just a misunderstanding."
"Well, I'm gonna fix this misunderstanding right now." Tom shoved the phone number in his pocket. "Let's get back to the bar."
Judy gazed into the mirror as she washed her hands in the bathroom. What am I doing? She thought to herself. How can I even contemplate hanging out with Jack while Tom is in the same building? She thought back to her conversation with Cassie earlier that evening. Cassie's right! I am some whore taking numbers. Her thoughts were disturbed by two drunken women who stumbled into the bathroom. Even though they looked nothing like the women Tom and Doug were talking to, they reminded her of them. Judy was beginning to have a change of heart. If Tom doesn't care, why should I. She grabbed a few paper towels to dry her hands and she walked out the bathroom, heading in Jack's direction.
Tom and Doug returned to the bar. They had a hard enough time, especially since the number of people had tripled since they first sat down in the VIP room.
"Hey Iokage." Doug put his arm around Harry's shoulder.
"Hey guys." Harry greeted them. "Did Judy find you?"
"What?" Tom exclaimed. "Was she looking for me?"
"Yeah, she seemed a little worried about you two."
Tom ran his fingers through his hair. "Where did she go?"
"I don't know, but I haven't seen her since."
A look came over Tom's face when he realized there was a chance Judy could have seen him with Dana. Tom placed both hands on the bar. "Shit!"
"What's going on?" Harry asked.
"I was talking to some girl in the VIP room and she might have seen."
"You know Judy isn't the jealous type." Harry shrugged off. "She wouldn't get mad about that."
Doug wiped his hand over his face. "Well, let's look for her." He suggested.
Tom and Doug strolled off in search of Judy. "Do you think she saw us?"
"I highly doubt it." Doug parted through the crowd as Tom followed. "I'm sure she would have come up and said something."
"We gotta find her Doug."
Judy returned to the area where she ran into Jack. Spotting her first, he yelled so she would turn around and see him. Noticing he was alone now, she began having doubts about this encounter with Jack.
"I'm glad you came back." He smiled.
"I couldn't remember where you were. It's been one crazy night!"
"I'm just glad to see you again." He caressed her back.
"Jack," Judy sighed. "Stop it."
"What's wrong?"
Judy's conscience wouldn't let her betray or cheat on Tom no matter what situation she faced. She blurted out what had been on her mind. "You know I'm with Tom. You shouldn't do that."
"Well, he's not here, now is he?" Jack smiled.
Tom and Doug finally made their way to that side of the bar. Tom located Judy in the crowd and he also found her eye to eye with another guy. He noticed how the man's hands were creeping down Judy's back trying to make their way to her backside. Unlike Judy, Tom wasn't one to control his jealousy. He headed towards them.
"Hold up a minute." Doug grabbed his shirt.
"Why? This will only take a second." Tom responded. "He's gonna get his hands off my girlfriend or I'll break them."
"I don't think you should start a fight with this guy." Doug tried to calm him down. "He probably has lawyers out the ass and you won't stand a chance in court." He smiled. "Just calm down and go get Jude."
Tom took a deep breath and looked at his friend. "Ok." Tom agreed.
"Judy, be with me." Jack confessed.
Judy could feel herself falling under his spell as she gazed into his perfect green eyes. She also could feel his hands going where they didn't belong. "Jack, stop it." She pushed his hands away for the second time. "I can't do this to Tom."
"Oh come on Judy." He placed his hands on her slim waist.
"No!" she pulled away.
"Hey!" Tom's voice shouted.
Judy's heart almost stopped when she turned and saw Tom. Even though Jack had never been formally introduced to Tom, he knew exactly who he was.
"I think she asked you to stop." Tom said in a very commanding voice. He just looked Jack up and down as Jack did the same to him. He looked into Judy's eyes and could see the tears forming. "Come on, let's go Judy." Tom put his arm around her waist and escorted her away from the lady-killer.
Tom, Doug and Judy returned to the bar where Rachel and Cassie had rejoined Harry.
"Finally, everybody's back!" Harry shouted. "Can we go already?"
"Hold up, I'm still waiting on Mark to come back." Cassie pouted. "Why don't you and Rachel head on out?"
"Are you sure?" Rachel looked puzzled.
"Actually, I'm ready to go too." Judy added. "I'm kinda tired."
"Well, I guess I can save Mark the Stallion for another night." Cassie gave in sitting her drink on the bar. "Let's go kids."
Doug, Cassie, Rachel and Harry headed outside as Tom and Judy lingered in the bar. They just stood in front of each not sure what to say.
"Thanks for rescuing me." Judy expressed. "Things were getting a little out of hand back there."
"No problem." Tom smirked.
They shared another thirty seconds of silence between each other as all the noise from the bar surrounded them. Tom could see the tears in her eyes. He knew she felt guilty and so did he. He held his hand out, hoping she would accept his invitation. Judy just looked at his hand and then she glared into those beautiful brown eyes that she fell in love with the first time she met him. She had no choice but to accept his invitation. As she put her hand into his, he pulled her into him and gave her the most passionate kiss that they had ever shared. Judy was stunned by his soft lips and she couldn't stop kissing him. Tom placed his hand on her cheek as he deepened the kiss. Judy was so elated to have the touch she had waited for finally happen. They both paused to catch their breath.
Tom gave her a soft peck on her nose and looked into the eyes of the woman he loved. "Let's go home and talk."
"Ok." Judy agreed as Tom grabbed her hand and led her out of the bar.
I was wondering why nobody has updated in a few weeks, so I decide to break the long silence of absent chapter updates. I hope everyone likes it!
