Title: One Year Anniversary
Author: Stress
First written: April 18, 2002-May 12, 2002
Edited and replaced: August 9, 2005
Summary: Part III of the Soul Mates Series; When Jack and Stress reach their first year anniversary, Stress tells a friend the story about how they almost didn't get together at all.
At Tibby's
Stress and Grace were sitting in a corner booth at Tibby's , finishing up their lunch. Stress was nervously drumming her fingernails against the table while Grace sat across from her, sipping her second glass of sarsaparilla and giving her advice.
"Now, just be calm. All ya gotta do is be yourself. Then, when ya get an opening, just say 'Jack, we gotta talk.' Then give me a signal and I'll leave. Simple as that." Grace accented her statement by draining the rest of her glass.
"But what if he's got someone with him? I'd rather jump off the Brooklyn Bridge then let anyone here me get rejected by a guy, especially Jack."
"Dont' worry. I'll take care of anyone he's got with him. And you are not gonna be --" Grace let her sentence end there when something caught her eye. "What did you say Jack looked like again?"
"Well, he's about four inches taller than me, brown hair, brown eyes. He's always wearing the same red bandana and the same cowboy hat. Why?" Stress asked, puzzled. But that puzzlement lasted only seconds as she realized what Grace was asking.
"Cause he's coming in the door right now. Quick, act natural!" Grace whispered.
"How the hell do ya expect me to act natural when I feel like I've got twenty snakes in me belly?" Stress whispered back and quickly stopped when she noticed that Jack and his companion, a tall boy with curly brown hair and blue eyes, had spotted them and were coming to sit with them at their booth.
Jack slid into the booth first, choosing the seat next to Stress while his companion sat next to Grace. After giving Stress a big hug that lasted only a second, the two of them looking equally uncomfortable, Jack introduced his new friend. "Stress, this guy here is David Jacobs, but we call him Dave or Dave, unless he's acting like his usual self. That's when we use the nickname that Spot gave him -- The 'Walking Mouth'. And Dave, this is one of me best buddies, Stress," Jack said as he introduced his two best friends.
David blushed slightly and looked up shyly at Stress. "Hello."
"Hiya. I got a question for ya then. Why do they call you the 'Walking Mouth'?" Stress asked, her green eyes alit with interest. She had never heard a nickname like that before and she figured that if she focused on David, then she might not get the chance to talk to Jack.
"Oh, no particular reason," he replied, quickly shutting up.
"O.K., well, now that I've met the infamous brains behind the big strike," she said as David blushed crimson," I'd like to introduce you two to me pal Grace, from Queens. She's gonna stay here awhile with me in the Bottle Alley Lodging House. Grace, this lug right here, with his favorite cowboy hat on, is the one and only Jack Kelly." Stress turned to look at Grace expecting to see her smile a knowing smile. Instead she was surprised to see Grace looking up demurely at the two boys at the table. "Oh, great. Now she decides to shut her trap," Stress thought to herself.
It was quite a picture-- all four of them afraid to talk to one another, instead just stealing glances at each other. When they thought that no one was looking, Jack would look over at Stress, Stress would look over at Jack, David would look up at Stress and Grace would look over at David. Then Jack would look up at David for help and Stress would look up at Grace. And still no one said a word.
After about ten minutes of silence Stress decided she might as well take the plunge. "Jack--", she stopped when she noticed that he was looking at something over his shoulder that has caused the color to drain from his face.
Stress was too afraid to turn around and see what had spooked Jack so bad, so she kept her back to the restaurant door. "What I can't see can't hurt me," she thought to herself. She was wrong.
Central Park
"Thank you very much for deciding to help us with the plan you two. Now, our goal is to keep Jack and Stress apart, no matter what. Got it?" Bookie asked the couple right in front of her.
"Sure, Bookie. But explain to me why we're gotta do this again," said Mush, looking a bit confused as he scratched his head of dark, curly hair.
Mushie could see that Bookie was about to blow, so she quickly said, "Mush, there, don't worry about that right now. I'll explain it all to ya later. Just pay attention to what Bookie's telling ya to do and we'll be fine."
"Sure," he said contentedly, his eyes following the path of a nearby buzzing bumblebee.
Bookie sighed, but continued speaking as Race laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. "O.K. guys, this is the thing. No good can come from Stress and Jack getting together. It'll only cause heartache for me pal now that Jack's got a girl, and it ain't her. What we've gotta do, right now, is wait for the perfect opportunity to strike."
"Strike? I thought the strike ended two weeks ago. Jack told me that we won. Didn't we win, Race? Mushie?" questioned Mush, now extremely confused.
"Yea, Mush. We won," answered Race, giving Bookie a look that said "Drop it and continue with your plan."
Again, Bookie sighed. "Now, what I need you guys to do is for you to go down to Tibby's and make sure that nobody tells Stress about Sarah yet. We need all the time we can get to concoct our scheme. Me and Mushie are gonna go back to the lodging house to work on the plan some more. In case you guys are too late and Jack has already told Stress about Sarah, then we're gonna need to be there to comfort Stress. But I don't think that'll be a problem. We all know how honest Jack Kelly is. Or should I say Frances Sullivan, remember?" added Bookie, unable to resist throwing in one last jab about Jack's dishonesty during the strike. "He's gonna pay," she vowed to herself, smiling.
On their way to Tibby's
It was a beautiful summer day outside-- not too hot, but warm with a pleasant breeze. Sarah Jacobs smiled to herself as she finished tying some of her long dark hair into a neater bun. She and her friend, a pale-skinned girl with green eyes, long, dark, curly hair with half of it that was clipped back and wearing a small oval silver locket around her neck, had just finished shopping.
"Hey Satine, since we finished shopping so early today, how about we go meet Jack for lunch after all?" asked Sarah.
"Sure, why not? I think I can handle sitting next to the lovebirds for one meal. As long as ya promise me that there will be no goo-goo eyes. I hate goo-goo eyes when I'm trying to eat."
Sarah giggled. "I can't make no promises, but I'll try. C'mon let's go. I can't wait to surprise him. David said he would be so disappointed that I couldn't make lunch this afternoon."
"Yeah, well your brother's a dork, Sarah."
"I know, but he sure does have some cute friends, don't he?"
Both girls began to laugh as they left the marketplace that was three blocks from Tibby's. The laughter continued until Sarah and Satine reached the door of the restaurant.
Satine spotted Jack and David first. She stopped laughing at once and quickly motioned for Sarah to as well, as she pointed out to Sarah what had made her stop laughing. When Sarah saw what Satine was pointing at she stopped in the middle of a "ha".
Inside of Tibby's was Jack and David sitting at a booth with a tall, pouting brunette with flashing green eyes and a cute blonde with bright blue eyes. Sarah quickly stifled a giggle; the whole scene just looked so comical once she got over the initial shock of seeing her boyfriend with two girls that she didn't know.
Jack was sitting next to the girl with long, curly, brown hair with his head staring down at his empty plate while her brother was practically drooling over her. The brunette kept her aloof gaze straight in front of her but, Sarah noticed after watching the girl for a minute or two, every now and then she would shoot glances at the girl across the table. But that did no good because the blonde kept her eyes on David.
"Ain't Jack lucky that he's not mesmerized by that girl like your dumb brother is," snickered Satine.
"Ya know Satine, I wouldn't say that," Sarah said sweetly as she opened the door to the restaurant and walked in.
"Oh boy, this should be good," Satine said as she waited at the door. Ever since Sarah had started to date Jack, her confidence had soared. Gone were the days she called people "stupid ape". She pitied the poor girl that was sitting with Sarah's boyfriend.
Satine watched as Sarah casually strolled up to Jack; she was pleased to see that all the color from his face drained out upon seeing his girlfriend approach him. "I guess he knows that he's caught," she said gleefully. She thought that this might be interesting.
Whether Sarah saw him pale or not, maybe she didn't care, she just continued walking until she reached the booth where Jack was sitting. She walked right up to him, and without a word, she leaned over and kissed Jack right on the lips.
Satine laughed triumphantly for her friend when she saw the brunette's face fall. "Chalk one point up for the girlfriends," she said as she followed Sarah into the restaurant. She couldn't wait to hear Jack's excuse.