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Chapter 9 – Atmosphere

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A knock sounded on the room door and Adam went to open it.

"Jane?"

"Sorry, I forgot the key card. Besides, my hands are kinda full."

"Here, let me help.....Sure smells good."

"Yeah, it does, you haven't had to smell it all the way back up here from the lobby."

Joan moved to set the carryout bags down on the table and Adam followed suit with the one he had taken from her.

"Do we need anything else?" he asked.

"Ice I think. If you want to go down the hall and get that, I'll get the food out."

"Sure."

Ice bucket (and key card) in hand, Adam left in search of the ice machine. When he returned just a few minutes later, he was surprised to note the change in the room. Jane had moved the cushions from the couch onto the floor and they each had a place set at the coffee table which was to serve as a low level dining table. A soft candle burned in the middle of the table and music played from the continuous music channel on the TV.

"Candles and music, too?

"Well the music is no big deal. The candle was an extra, but I was bored waiting down in the lobby for the delivery guy and I found it in the gift shop."

"Cool."

"Well it's not a fine Italian restaurant, but it will have to do. There are two obvious benefits..."

"What?"

"Well one, we don't get soaked again and two, we get to eat in our bare feet."

Laughing, Adam offered his hand formally to Jane, "May I escort you to your cushion?"

"Why thank you," Joan replied taking his hand and allowing him to lead her to one of the cushions where she sat down.

After Adam took a seat on the other cushion the meal passed with conversation and laughter. Having spent at least part of their day in the exhibit hall separately exploring the exhibits, interpreting the art and watching the people there, they shared stories of what they had seen. Adam also told Jane about Grace calling and what she had said about Luke. He did, however, leave out the part of his conversation that had dealt with the situation between him and Jane.

As they were finishing their dinner, Adam glanced over at Jane and smiled...

"Full?"

"Stuffed, though I suppose that I shouldn't admit it."

"Jane, you know you can tell me anything."

"Why thank you kind sir," she replied with a smile matching the mood that seemed to be between them. "You realize of course that that particular offer works both ways."

"Yeah, I suppose that I do.....Hey Jane, care to get some exercise and work off your dinner?"

"Don't you even suggest that we are going to look for the exercise room in the hotel....I can tell you if I tried that right now it would not be a pretty sight."

Laughing as he stood, Adam replied, "No, nothing so extreme. I was just going to ask if you wanted to dance."

Careful not to let her voice sound too serious when she replied, Joan looked up at Adam and said, "Sure."

Adam extended his hand toward Joan and she accepted his assistance in standing. He held onto her hand as they moved to the center of the room and he turned to her, taking her into his arms.

As the music continued around them Joan recalled the last time Adam had held her like this as they had danced on the sidewalk in front of her house the night of her party. Had that only been two months ago? So much had happened since then. She wondered how those months would have been different if she'd not told Adam that night that maybe they weren't ready for a serious relationship. Admittedly, she had learned a lot about herself in those two months most importantly that she was growing up and with that came responsibilities and that the feelings that she had for the boy/man in her arms were far from simple friendship any longer.

As they danced, Adam as well recalled their dance on the sidewalk and admitted to himself that he should've not taken Jane's comment that evening about them not being ready at face value. Maybe if he'd questioned her more about what she meant and what she saw they could have as a relationship, he would have been able to avoid the pain he'd caused her over the last two months. She never told him directly that watching him with Iris made her unhappy or uncomfortable, but there had been no need, he'd seen it in her eyes and heard it in her voice. At first he'd thought she'd deserved to feel as bad as he had when he'd seen her dancing with that other guy at the party, but somewhere in there he stopped wanting to cause her pain and had started looking for a way out. That's why he'd gone to her house the other night to talk. Not everything he had to say could be said that night, after all at the time Iris had still been in the picture, but that was no longer the case. Grace was right; he and Jane needed to talk.

The song came to an end and changed to something way to fast to fit their mood. Joan pulled back in Adam's arms and smiled...

"It seems our dance no longer fits the music or is it that the music no longer fits our dance."

"Yeah, I know."

"Why don't we clean up all the stuff from dinner and I suppose I'd better call my parents before it gets much later."

"Sounds good."

The couple stepped apart and started work on cleaning up the remains of their dinner, putting the couch back together and rearranging the furniture.

When they'd finished Adam asked, "Jane do you want me to leave while you call your parents?"

"No Adam, why would you think that?" she asked as she located her cell phone and dialed her number at home.

"Don't know, just thought...."

Adam stopped mid sentence as Joan held her finger to her lips to quiet him. As she began her phone call, Adam headed over to find his glass and the ice bucket so he could get a glass of water.

"Mom?...How's Luke?....Yeah, we knew he was home, Grace called earlier......We're fine.... No, there's no snow here, just lots of rain......Adam talked to his Dad earlier. Mr. Rove was upset as you say.....Yeah, that's right, the Dean of the College of the Arts stopped by to see Adam's work, he invited him back next year......Yeah, he's excited about it....... Delivery lasagna, Dad would have been impressed.....I don't know; watch a movie or something......Yeah, like I said we're fine...... I'll call you tomorrow......I will......Good night."

"Everything all right at home?"

"Yeah, everything's fine. Mom is in her 'mother hen' mode with Luke. By the way she said to tell you congratulations and good night."

"That was nice of her to think of me."

"Adam she cares about you....we all do."

At Jane's comment, Adam glanced up quickly, meeting her gaze for a moment and then glancing away.

Joan, to break the resulting silence and attempting to lighten the mood, offered in a bright voice, "So what do ya want to do now....find a movie on TV?"

Adam, as he had the other night at Jane's house when he'd told her what he really wanted, knew that he couldn't let the moment pass. It was time to talk to her and to get all of this....whatever it was....between them, straightened out.

"No, it's time we talked," he offered with a serious tone to his voice

"About what?" Joan inquired, her bright voice of a moment before now softened to one of insecurity and indecision.

"Us."

"Adam...."

"Jane, we have to..."

"But where will it get us? There's still Iris."

"No, that's part of it......There isn't 'Iris' any longer."

-------------------------------------------- A/N: The ending there was an intentional cliffee, it just worked out that way. Only two more chapters to go before the end. Please keep reviewing; I look forward to hearing what you all think.