Chapter 34

She didn't want to jump to conclusions, remembering how she told Randy she would be his going out buddy, and thought it was nothing more than that. "I'd really like that." Randy asking her out on a date would definitely make her happy, but maybe all he wanted was friendship. From what he said at the party Trish threw for them until now, Randy had given her mixed signals and confused Jasina to say the least. "I'll call you when we're done dealing with the asshole and then we can decide where to go for drinks."

"That sounded like a dismissal, are you dismissing me?" Randy teased, catching the dishrag before it could hit his face when she threw it at him, rolling it up and then snapping her ass lightly with it, laughing at the shocked expression on her face. "Close your mouth Jas, flies will get in." He probably shouldn't be starting with her in the kitchen since he now knew she kept chocolate syrup around and used it for stuff besides her ice cream but it was irresistible.

Jasina retaliated by grabbing another dishrag and rolled it up, snapping his leg with it, smirking when he groaned in pain, hopping near the door. "You should know better than to challenge me." She stated with a smirk, snatching the dishrag out of his hand after snapping him, tossing it over her shoulder in the sink. "And yes I'm dismissing you because I want to finish cleaning up, take a nice hot bubble bath and then get to bed. Not to mention you need a shirt before you poke someone's eye out with your nipples." It wasn't that cold in here so Jasina knew there was another reason why they perked.

He immediately glanced down at his chest then shrugged, a broad smirk crossing his face. "Well Jas, how nice of you to notice they were standing at attention." Randy teased, his voice dropping to a low rumbling tone, catching it when she involuntarily shivered. "I must've liked you snapping at me a bit more than I realized." Just to see her blush was well worth that comment.

"That's it! Out!" Jasina ordered and pushed a howling Randy out of her door, shaking her head with crimson cheeks, rolling her eyes. "I hope the mosquitoes get you. See you tomorrow, Orton."

She shut the door and immediately splashed cold water on her face, knowing that wasn't going to help. She needed sex badly...having been used to getting it whenever she wanted for the past four years with Mark. So going from having sex nearly every night to going without for nearly two months was killing her.

"Tease." She grunted, finishing cleaning up before heading into the bathroom for her bath.

Once away from her apartment, Randy slumped against the wall and made sure he was alone before adjusting himself, groaning softly. He was the tease? No, she was. She was driving him insane and it was both a mixture of lust and something not quite love but along those lines.

"I'm fucked..." He groaned softly.

Randy hadn't even bothered with the cold shower, a bit tired of them at this point, and wondered if he shouldn't have made it clear he wanted their drinks to be a date thing. Given that they had no idea how her day was going to turn out, what with her going over to Mark's with Gary and Arielle…that was a world war just WAITING to happen. That didn't change the fact Randy cared about Jasina a great deal and the erection threatening to rip through his jeans was evidence he wanted her.

"Hey, found a cure to an erection..." He muttered, shuddering, not particularly liking the idea of Mark, but it had gotten rid of a problem that was going to eventually leave his palm calloused.

After an hour long cool bath, Jasina felt a little better as she stepped out and wrapped her body up in a towel with a robe, knowing Arielle was in her room with Gary. She trusted them and knew Arielle would use protection if they decided to further their relationship. Jasina walked into her bedroom, shut the door and locked it, peeling the towel and robe off. She padded over to her radio and turned it on, loud enough to where it would drown out any sounds, and she planned on making some. Turning the light out, Jasina slipped under her covers and pulled her nightstand drawer open, instantly beginning to get rid of the heat Randy caused her, thinking only of him.

~!~

Jasina looked in the mirror one last time and swallowed hard, not looking forward to this meeting at Mark's at all. She wished she could fast-forward and be with Randy, having picked this specific dress to look nice for him. And maybe tease him a little bit. She smirked, it would serve him right after what he did the previous night!

She wore a golden yellow strapless cotton dress that went an inch above the knee and featured a perfectly hidden side zip, a cocoa colored ribbon around the waist that had a smocked back. It had a pleated bust with a ravishing array of ruffle embellishments upon its hem. She had a floral clip in her hair, glad she'd gotten it done and added the red to the blonde streaks along with a pair of matching cocoa brown t-strap heels that went up her calves.

Deciding on wearing an amber stone cut in the shape of a heart that was on a brown necklace along with matching amber stone earrings, Jasina painted her lips in pure gloss. Brown eyeliner traced her teal eyes, shimmering gold on her eyes, going for the natural look. When Jasina was satisfied with her look, she walked out of her bedroom, where Arielle and Gary were waiting for her.

"Gee Mom, I feel so underdressed now." Arielle joked when she seen how ravishing her mother looked, wearing a pair of skinny jeans and a pale purple tank top with a gray suede vest over it, black flip flops on her feet and a cowboy hat on her head. "You look beautiful. What's the occasion? It's not for Daddy is it?" Arielle was actually a bit excited about seeing her Dad; it had been over a month, but also very nervous. She knew Gary probably felt like throwing up, he had hardly slept a wink all night.

"Of course not!" Jasina chided, smiling at the compliment. "I would never look this good for your father. Randy and I are going out for a few drinks...JUST as friends, but I wanted to look nice." She could see the doubt in Arielle's eyes and sighed, knowing this was hard for her daughter, but Jasina wanted to move on from Mark. "It's not a date and if we decide to become something more, I promise to let you know first. There is no mentioning Randy today either. That will just anger your father and we don't need any more explosions."

Gary could only nod, wearing blue jeans with a black shirt, feeling as though he was walking to the electric chair.

Jasina also wanted to show Mark what he lost and headed out with the kids toward her car.

Mark had spent the entire morning cleaning his already spotless house, feeling antsy because he hadn't seen Arielle in a month and knew Jasina and Gary would be with her. He had let go of the anger he felt towards Gary, the entire situation coming back to him. Gary did have a horrible home life and sixteen hadn't really been that much older than twelve, considering the boy hadn't been even thinking about Arie in THAT way so much as just one of her friends. It was Jasina that was his problem. He was torn between kissing her senseless and strangling her with his bare hands.

Nobody said a word the entire ride to Mark's, the tension so thick in the air it couldn't be cut with a knife. Jasina played country music to help the tension a little, but even she was nervous, her stomach doing flip-flops whenever she thought about Arielle's party. When she pulled up to Mark's ranch, Jasina pulled up in the driveway and cut the ignition, looking over at her nervous daughter.

"Everything will be fine you guys, come on." She wanted to say let's get this over with, but refrained because Arielle hadn't seen her father in a month.

This definitely was going to be emotional. Stepping out, Jasina instantly held Arielle's hand and kept an arm around Gary, whispering encouraging words to him, letting him know she would protect him and reminding him to breathe. All three held their breath when Arielle rang the doorbell, not just walking in like normal.

Arielle let go of her Mom's hand when her Dad opened the door, just staring up at him. She let out a muffled curse when she suddenly found her feet dangling off the porch, being crushed in a massive bear hug. "I love you too Dad..." She coughed out. "Can't...breathe..." She let out a sign when he set her back down, arching her back to pop it. "Can we come in?"

That was new and Mark hid the sting of hurt it caused, opening the door completely nodding. Frowning when Gary halted in front of him, Mark stared down, arching an eyebrow when Gary hesitantly extended his hand, obviously prepared for Mark to break it. Was he really that bad?

Gary managed not to piss himself when the older man took his hand in a very strong grip and shook, sighing inwardly when it was returned whole.

Jasina just smiled and winked when Gary quickly glanced back at her, nodding silent encouragement. She was surprised Mark hadn't shut the door on her when she passed by him, the smell of sunflowers permeating the air from her perfume and looked around the ranch, noticing how clean it was. Gary was shaking slightly and Arielle was reeling from the hug, Jasina bit back giggles as they all headed into the kitchen with Mark following.

They had knocked on the door, yet headed straight for his kitchen; at least some things hadn't changed, Mark thought with a shake of his head. He had half-expected for Jasina to bring along her new friend, or boyfriend, or whatever the hell Randy was to her at this point; he definitely knew it was more than a coworker. Mark followed them into the kitchen, watching as they took seats around his table, seeing Gary looking around.

"No, it hasn't changed."

"No, sir." Gary remembered being tied at the ankles and on his hands and knees, scrubbing this floor with Arielle and Toni, shooting Arie a look. He groaned when she just smiled slightly, apparently remembering the memory all too well herself.

Jasina simply sat there and kept her mouth shut, knowing she was only there for moral support and in case Mark flew off the deep-end again. Gary sat right beside her with Arielle on his other side, Mark and Jasina refusing to sit beside each other. She would've moved had he sat down next to her, that's how much she loathed him. All of her love had turned into hate, Jasina was surprised her heart didn't even break at the sight of him like it normally would have. When Arielle began talking about the ring, Gary didn't look as nervous anymore and Jasina hoped this stayed civil and calm.

Mark listened patiently to everything Arielle said, never taking his eyes off his daughter as she explained about the ring and her relationship with Gary, most of which he had already surmised by this point. He listened as she told him about her and Gary living with Jasina in separate bedrooms, about them both working jobs, Gary's full-time since he was an adult and out of school, on leave from college, which had surprised him - the college bit that was. When Arie paused to take a breath, Mark had a feeling there was still more to come, sparing a glance at Gary and then Jasina.

Jasina looked away from him to stare at Arielle, reaching over to squeeze her hand, trying to give her the courage to continue. This was it. The sole reason why they were here in the first place and why Jasina felt like she truly didn't belong, wishing she would've figured it out sooner than four plus years later. This wasn't about her though, it was about these two young kids in love wanting to spend their lives together.

Gary knew he'd been silent long enough and place a hand on Arielle's back, their eyes locking, deciding it was time for him to be a man. "Sir, we want to get an apartment together." He was pulling an Arielle move, just blurting it right out, taking Arielle's hand in his with the ring on her finger. "We love each other and, as much as we enjoy Jasina's company, we want our privacy. Now, we understand that you have full custody of Arielle until she's eighteen and we totally respect that, but we're asking your permission to do this. We both have full time jobs that pay decent and, since we're going to be married someday, we want to make sure we can live together first before taking that plunge." He finally let out a breath and hoped the house didn't blow up.

Mark was stunned into silence, wondering what the hell Jasina had even thought when they broached her with this. Yes, he had full custody of Arielle, but she was nearly a full grown woman and he had a feeling she'd be stubborn enough to try to get emancipated if he turned her down. Letting out a shaky breath, Mark leaned back in his chair, staring at his daughter intently.

"Any way I could talk ya into waitin' until after you graduate?" Mark asked pokerfaced, already knowing the answer, but had to ask anyway.

"You could try." Arielle replied deadpan.

"Arielle, remember what we agreed on." Gary said softly, smiling when she just shot him a glare, chuckling. "You want me and your Dad to get along right? I told you if he wanted you to wait until after you graduated, we can do that."

"But..."

Gary pressed a finger to her lips and kissed the back of her other hand. "Graduation is only three months away, ninety days. It'll probably take that long for us to even find a suitable apartment. And if I find one before that," He turned to Mark, pausing briefly. "If it's alright with you sir, could she possibly stay with me a couple of nights out of the week?"