Chapter 3: Milk, Dude!
As four rolled around each day, everyone either regrouped at the lemon, or reserved a seat at one of the many local restaurants. It was a time to unwind with the rest of the group, talk about the stress of work, or in Jonesy's case, the stress of either trying to find work or being fired.
It was now, after a usual day at the "Tacky" Barn, that Nikki graciously sank into the booth everyone had reserved, finding herself right next door to Caitlin, who paused briefly in her story about how hideous her lemon hat was, to say hello to Nikki, who relayed her greetings to everyone in the group.
Without warning, a loud rumbling sounded from Jude's direction, stopping all conversation at the table.
"Uhh, we're not on a fault line, are we?" Nikki quipped.
"Ahh, he just wants some attention." Jude said, patting his stomach.
"Seriously, dude." Wyatt said. "That didn't even sound human."
"Well, I've only been on the go since lunch, bro." Jude replied. "Y'all know how I'm only able to function with six small meals throughout the day."
"That's enough for all of us." Nikki grinned. "You eating for more than one?"
Jonesy groaned. "That was bad, Nikki."
"Not as bad as some of yours." Nikki sneered. For her cheek, she got a napkin in the face.
"Just because you broke up with me doesn't mean you get exclusive rights to criticize my jokes." Jonesy said, sounding mockingly hurt.
"Oh, take it like a man." Nikki said in return.
Jonesy suddenly began to pretend to weep uncontrollably.
"Hey, I said take it like a man." Nikki sneered.
"I am!" Jonesy sobbed, and then laughed.
"HERE you guys are!" A familiar voice said, making Nikki's blood run cold. Jen Masterson slipped into the booth right beside her. The presence of Jen both excited and scared Nikki.
Sounding slightly on edge,Nikki began nervously "Hey, Jen,"
In the same sort of tone, much to Nikki's dismay, Jen replied with a sort of uncomfortable "Hi, Nikki. How's things?" Did she suspect something? If she pursued it, Nikki was so screwed.
"Same old." Nikki tired to relax, without much success. "You?"
"Glad the day is over." Jen said, her voice returning to its normal perky tone. "Coach Halder had me doing laps today. LAPS!"
"For what?" Caitlin piped up.
"Being in the closet while a customer waited." Jen replied.
Nikki's ears rang. Had Jen just said what she thought she just said? "What?" She inquired.
"The water closet." Jen said. "It's what Courtney's taken to calling the bathroom." When Nikki breathed a sigh of relief, Jen asked "Is something wrong, Nikki? You seem really tense."
"Well, it's just that…" Nikki's mind whirled, trying to come up with an acceptable excuse. She couldn't say, "Oh, I just have a huge crush on you, Jen." That would never do. "It's the new spring line over at Clones-R-Us. I swear, their voices get more high-pitched every day."
Everyone seemed to buy this excuse, leaving Nikki with a sense of that being WAY too close.
A steaming hot plat of fires, drenched in gravy and other edibles arrived before Jude, who licked his chops and grinned.
"One extra-large order of spicy ultra fries and extra jalapeños," The waitress said in a baritone voice and moved away.
"Mmmm!" Jude grinned and let out a chuckle, one he usually let out when he was either contented or scheming. He scooped up a particularly large cluster of fries and gobbled it.
Later on, Nikki would swear that shortly after his eyes began tearing up and his face turned a bright shade of pink, that she actually saw steam coming out of his ears. Before of course, Jude let out a god-awful shriek.
"HOT! HOOOOTTTTTTTT! WATER, WATER! JUDE NEEDS WATER, DUDES!"
"Jude, that won't do much good." Nikki said. "Miss, get us some milk. STAT!"
"Whatever'll shut him up." The waitress said, with questionable camaraderie.
"Whoa, I was thinking the same thing." Jen said. "Were we like on the same brainwave?"
Nikki replied shyly "Maybe." Inside, she said "Oh, God. I hope not." If Jen had the same thought that she had, there would be trouble.
Seconds later, she procured a large pitcher of milk, which Jude quickly downed a glass of. He settled into his seat, obviously contented. After the milk, tasting its lactose laced goodness, he let out that same chuckle he had before the fire of the fries.
Of all her days in the mall, Nikki never saw a plate of fires go so fast with milk handy. But, when Jude asked for more milk to take home, he was promptly kicked out. Not that it disturbed his mellow attitude, of course.
Everyone went their respective ways, of course, laving Nikki to bus home. All the way there, she couldn't stop thinking about Jen. How hard it was, for her to be so near and yet so far. She was right there, waiting for Nikki to touch and kiss, but it was impossible to do so. This was temptation in its purest form.And the beautiful thing about it was that it would not get any easier as time waned on.
…
Jen drove home, her head in a daze. Just how the hell did Nikki find out how she felt? That was the only explanation of her odd behavior this evening. There was also no question of the butterflies in her stomach, what they meant. Jen was falling in love with Nikki.
She gave a sad little sigh. This next little while was going to be hell.
End of Chapter.
There you go, guys! Another chapter, as per popular request. Please, review if you read. And I am going off to review your work now. Ta!