Disclaimer: Still nothing's mine. Alas.
A/N: Here goes a well deserved somewhat happier chap for all of you, good folks :) Thank you for joining me for another great journey!
This chapter includes referrals to songs that don't belong to me. Also quotes from JT Roach's Don't Keep Me Waiting - doesn't belong to me either.
'What are you wearing?'
'The reception is starting in less than fifteen minutes. I'm not sure this is the best of time to, ehm, handle his lady friends,' Helen shook her head towards Tristan who approached them from the restaurant's parking lot putting the car keys into his dress pants pocket.
'He's talking to Aiden,' Rory mouth-whispered.
'Oh. Didn't realize. Sorry.'
'Okay, bring extra pair of clothes for both you and Josh okay?' Tristan continued his conversation, joining them in front of the restaurant. 'It might be raining later. Pack the pump, the soccer ball's been leaking slightly.'
'Gimme the phone,' Paris stepped forward, reaching a hand out, palm up.
Tristan turned to the side, pressing the phone against his dress shirt.
'Aiden's got him.'
'Gimme the phone.'
Tristan raised his hand holding the mobile in the air, arching an eyebrow as Paris tried to jump and reach it. Even jumping in her heels she couldn't reach as high as his elbow, let alone his hand. Paris rolled her eyes and folded her arms before her chest, looking like a little girl stomping her foot before her big brother. Tristan's eyes sparkled with amusement as he put the mobile back to his ear, smirking as he listened to Aiden. Just then Paris reached forward and tickled his abs, surprising him, making him double over as he laughed.
Helen gave Rory a questioning look. Rory only shrugged.
'Okay, now listen,' Paris said into the phone as she managed to sneak him out of Tristan's hands. 'You have something to write on? Good. I want you to write my number down and memorize it. What? I've already put it into your phone. Duh. I just wanna make sure you know it by heart in case some maniac kidnaps both you and Jo... Hey,' she protested as Tristan sneaked the mobile back from her hand. 'I'm not finished giving instructions to your son!'
'Stop creeping them out.'
'They need to be crept out.'
'No they don't.'
'Says who.'
'Paris,' Tristan sighed patiently, putting the phone back into his slacks pocket. 'They'll be fine, the nanny's got them.'
'The nanny has narcolepsy.'
'She had bar exams last week, she's just exhausted. She's fine. They're fine.'
Paris narrowed her eyes, glaring at him. Then sighed emphatically.
'Come on, let's get drunk. The Chief's daughter is getting married after all.'
Tristan smirked.
'Now that's more like it.'
'Amen,' Helen smiled too.
They started to enter the restaurant.
Rory looked around apprehensively, smoothing her dress.
'He'll be late,' came Paris' voice right beside her, startling her. 'He's taken the day shift so he'll be coming after work.'
Rory looked at her best friend, contemplating playing the dumb card but immediately deciding against it as she met Paris' knowing look.
'Come on, I bet there's fancy complimentary champagne plus some finger food with doubtful hygiene,' she pulled on Rory's shoulder and they caught up with the others, entering the restaurant.
As Jess entered the restaurant, the party was going full speed. People were laughing and drinking, most having left their tables mingling. Some were dancing to the live band that was playing on the stage to the side of the bar.
He preferred coming late to such venues (or better, not coming at all), at an hour when the official part and the toasts were already over and he could just disappear into the crowd. He had contemplated not attending this reception. He almost didn't come. However, the Chief had made a big deal out of getting his only daughter married and the event had been made top priority through the last couple of weeks. The Chief was very clear about every invited guest's expected presence.
Jess looked around. A couple of colleagues greeted him, some of them obviously tipsy. He greeted them back and headed for the bar, deciding it was too late to look for his place around the tables. It had been a long day shift, especially since many colleagues had left early in order to be able to attend the official ceremony. Jess had volunteered to take the longest shift, welcoming the chance to bail out of at least half the torture.
He leaned against the bar and asked for a beer.
His look roamed around. He touched the knot of his tie, suppressing the urge to loosen it.
He had thought about calling Paris, checking up if they'd made it okay to the restaurant but he knew she would be driving with Tristan and Helen. She hadn't mentioned anything about Rory. He wasn't sure if she was even coming. He didn't see her in the OR, neither at the emergency triage at work earlier. She could be night shift though. He massaged his temples with his point and middle finger. Again, what was that band playing? 'Don't Hate Me' by Jingle Punks. He spotted Dugray, surrounded by a party of bridesmaids, dancing to the beat in the center of the makeshift dance floor. Their eyes met and Jess rose his beer in greeting, meeting Tristan's acknowledging nod right before one of the bridesmaids swung her hands around Tristan's neck and engaged him into a hazardous low dip. Jeez.
Jess took a swig of his beer, reveling in the astringent taste as it coursed down his throat. His muscles were strained from a long day's work and all he wished for right now was a round over the wrestle mat and then a hot shower before sleep. Workout, sleep, work. Those were the highlights of his days lately. Pathetic right?. He'd always despised jocks for their lack of actual purpose in life and here he was, wishing for another post-exercise adrenaline rush to wash over him.
'Hey there,' Paris stumbled over, taking the empty stool next to him. Jess turned to regard her with an arched eyebrow.
'Don't look at me like that,' she waved a hand. 'I had to get wasted in order to survive all that fluff.'
Jess smirked.
'Can you believe the music they're playing?' Paris shook her head in disbelief.
'Blasphemy,' he smirked.
She let out an indignant huff.
'This, my friend,' she gestured towards the live band and the dance floor in general, 'is the epitome of fluff. God, there goes another one. I'm gonna go outside, look for some sanity before I hurt myself.'
Paris was right. Another song was starting. Melodic guitars. Back vocals humming. Yep. It was official. The most overdone reception he had attended. Not that he had attended many.
Giving up your pride isn't easy... Come on, realize that you need me
Jess shook his head and left the bottle on the bar, following Paris outside.
As soon as they came out onto the terrace, his eyes found her. Even though her back was turned to him, he couldn't mistake her. It was Rory. It was like she had a magnetic field, attracting him. She was wearing a classic tight fitting black dress. When she turned a little to the side, he cursed under his breath. The dress was cut out at the sides, the creamy white skin of her ribs and waist showing. He remembered the freckles that covered her there. Remembered how she looked with her eyes closed while laying over his chest, long hair brushed to the side, clad in nothing but his unbuttoned plaid shirt. And the feeling was better than the taste of cotton candy melting in one's mouth, better than flying paper kites when you're ten, better than a George Lucas binge, better than winning the national lottery, better than saving a life in the last minute. It was the best damn feeling one could imagine and he, Jess Mariano used to have that.
He looked around, trying to remember why he'd come out here in the first place. Right. Paris. She was a couple of feet away, trying to convince Helen to cut off the cables to the band's sound system.
Rory tried to concentrate on what the Chief's brother in law was saying but it was getting harder and harder to.
She rubbed both palms against her bare arms. Here, on the restaurant's terrace, the afternoon dusk was giving way to a clear early October evening and the air had a crisp edge to it.
Rory tried to nod in the proper places but she had lost the main plot in what felt like hours ago. The Chief's brother in law was a middle-aged balding man with a fervent passion for ornithology. He was a professor at the Zoology Institute of Michigan and was obviously deeply fascinated by the mating habits of the white-rumped vulture and the importance of natural ecosystems. Rory felt her eyelids grow heavy. Inside, a slower song had started playing, the intro featuring some rhythmic guitars.
A gust of wind caught up and she shivered, hugging herself tighter.
Turned out the white-rumped vulture preferred to nest closer to human habitations.
'Sorry for keeping you waiting,' a low voice breathed out by her right ear. Another wave of chills ran down her spine, this time for reasons that had nothing to do with the weather.
She felt a coat being slung over her shoulders, bringing warmth and the unmistakable whiff of a painfully familiar woodsy perfume.
He was standing right behind her, at a distance that suggested they'd come to this venue as a couple. Sudden and unexpected, his presence closed in on her and she felt lightheaded. A tight feeling settled in her throat. She felt her cheeks burning and a sudden twist pulled at her chest, squeezing her in a vice-like grip. She wasn't sure her feet could be trusted to not betray her so she stood plastered on the spot, not daring to breathe.
'Sorry, am I interrupting?' Jess turned towards the Chief's brother in law with a forcedly polite smile plastered over his lips.
As the elderly man shook his head no, Jess threw an arm over Rory's shoulders and navigated her inside, acknowledging the other man with a brief nod.
As soon as they got back in, he stepped out of her personal space and withdrew his hand from her shoulders.
They made a couple of steps, walking side by side. He scratched the back of his neck.
'You were getting bored to death there right? Say yes so that playing the possessive boyfriend doesn't come off as creepy as it's starting to feel.'
Trying to catch your eyes when they pass along Don't keep me waiting... Me waiting...
With some luck, the band was gonna take a break after the end of that song. Jeez.
Rory realized they'd stopped walking and were instead staring at each other, not saying a word. She watched as he parted his lips and took a breath, then wet them in apprehension, obviously contemplating whether to speak at all.
At that moment Ed Sheeran's 'Perfect' started playing and both Jess and Rory's eyes sparkled with amusement, trying to suppress a smirk.
Jess rubbed his hand against his chin, tilting his head towards the band.
'Never in my life did I think I'd say that but,' he paused, letting out a sigh, 'I miss the Indie Pop they'd been set on.'
Rory felt the corners of her mouth start to hurt with the effort not to smile and when she met Jess' look she remembered how easy it was to lose herself in his eyes. The curve of his clean-shaven jaw was the perfect combination of smooth and angular. The spark in his look was still as contagious as it used to be. And it felt both exhilarating and terrifying.
He seemed to catch on the change of her mood because there was a shift in his look and it turned more somber.
Rory shrugged out of his coat and handed it back to him.
'Here.'
'Look, Ror...' he made a step towards her not taking the coat.
She immediately tensed.
'Don't push it.'
'I'm not pushing it,' he said, a hint of stubborn defiance making its way into his voice.
Suddenly she felt tired. She wished she had stayed home. She wished he would just take his damn coat and leave her alone.
'What you're doing is making a show of not pushing it.'
He ran both hands through his hair and hung his head back, chewing on his lower lip. After a moment his defiant posture deflated and he hung his arms by his side, letting out a slow sigh. He made a careful step forward, taking his coat from her still outstretched hand. Their eyes met.
'Maybe...' he rubbed a palm against his jaw. 'Maybe we'll catch up at a better time.'
He tried to give her a reassuring smile and after a pause turned to go.
She watched his back as he moved further away, the coat she'd returned thrown over his shoulder. She took a breath.
'Jess.'
He turned back, his eyes vibrant and unguarded.
'Take me somewhere.'
He blinked once, regarding her quietly, letting her words sink in.
'Okay.'
TBC