A/N: So I tried EXTREMELY hard to wait at least 24 hours for the next update (you know to give everyone a chance to read and review for the last chapter) but I couldn't so here it is.
Thanks to: Erin McKinley, melodie568, LittleZurawski, cecapo3610, Adrienne, jackjackio, burninsecretskept, Alexis, anedderm, xTamarax, and pixiestix16 for reviewing the last chapter. And thanks to everyone else who faved and everything.
Peacefully sitting on the end of a dock, listening to the car radio as we eat our ice cream, I could die a happy man at the moment.
"Do you think I'm even ready to get married?" she asks, in between bites of cookie 'n cream ice cream. "I mean, we haven't even known each other a year yet. You think that's enough time?"
Why the hell is she asking me this? How am I supposed to keep the neutral and—and objective and passive on this subject? Of course they haven't known each other long enough! That's what I've been trying to tell everyone.
"Long engagement?" I shrug, taking another bite of my sundae thing I've got going on.
"He's thinking about a fall wedding…" she says, nonchalantly, licking her dripping cone. "4 month engagement long enough?"
"I thought you always wanted a summer wedding?" I say, setting aside my ice cream dish.
She shrugs, and absentmindedly looking at the ring on her finger. "I can do an autumn wedding."
"Even though you want a summer one?"
"It doesn't matter, I can't get everything I want," she murmurs, swirling her bare feet in the water.
"Why not," I ask, solemnly.
Pshh! Why can't she get whatever the hell she wants? She's one of the few people I know who deserves every good thing that comes to her. Everything.
She shrugs, flashing that smile of hers. The one that makes me want to attempt to buy her happiness. "Relationships are about compromise."
"Jude, it's your wedding, girl. It's your day. You have whatever you want." Screw Jax, he's not the bride.
"Having a summer wedding isn't that important to me."
I throw her a knowing look. I want to laugh aloud at her poor attempt to lie to me. She's told me on numerous occasions what kind of wedding she would like…a small one…close friends and family, on the beach, slightly formal.
She turns away from my gaze, glancing down at the ring again.
I know she hates it.
"So," she sighs, getting ready for a subject change. "Are you going to let me get a bite of that sundae?"
"No." I laugh, looking at her like she's crazy.
Her face falls into a frown and she looks at me menacingly. "You're supposed to be watching your cholesterol remember? And all the butter sauce on your lobster certainly met your quota for the day."
I take a slow bite, looking at her suggestively. "I had oatmeal this morning." I grin.
"Hey, hey, hey," I interject, just before she grabs for my bad wrist.
"Ooh, sorry," she says, grimacing at the thought of what could have been.
"Forgiven," I say, waving it off, handing her the ice cream.
"Thank you," she smiles, taking a bite, and handing it back to me. "So what happened to your wrist anyway?"
I fell off the bed in shock, when you said yes to that moron.
"Long story," I shake my head, waving her off.
We sit there finishing up the last of my sundae, listening to the radio.
"And here's an oldie but goody from Maxwell… "Whenever, wherever, whatever" for all the lovers and friends out there."
I sigh, standing up, holding my hand out to Jude. She looks from my outstretched hand to my eyes and back to my hand. "What?"
"Dance with me."
She laughs and looks up at me skeptically.
"Come on…" I coax, smoothly. "You know you want to,"
She rolls her eyes and takes my good hand. I help her to her feet, gently pulling her closer to me, wrapping her in my embrace as the beginning cords of the Spanish guitar float out of the car speakers, surrounding us on the dock's platform.
Lead me on, girl, if you must
Take my heart and my love,
Take of me all that you want.
She's tense in my arms at first, but a few seconds later; she's fluid against me. Melting into me— cheek to cheek, hip to hip, chest to chest.
And if there's a thing that you need
I'd give you the breath that I breathe
And if ever you yearn for the love in me
Whenever, wherever, whatever, baby
As the music continues, she leans into me even more, laying her head on my chest. My breath catches in my throat for a split second, as I try to not to focus how close she is to me…how good she smells…how her sundress swishes against my legs…the smoothness of her bare back underneath the palm of my hand. I can't help but to tease the tips of her velvety hair, as I pull her deeper into our embrace.
Wish I knew if I could
Be the one that you would
Love forever and a day, baby
Oh, yeah, yeah
And how the true the words are I think, as we slightly sway back and forth to the music. It'd be so much easier to tell her, if I could know that there would be no rejection. No one-sided thing I've got going on. If I knew, without a shadow of doubt, that she didn't love him.
And if there's a thing that you need
For you and your blood I will bleed
And if ever you yearn for the love in me
Whenever, wherever, whatever, baby
Her hand roams the contours of my back, as I continue to fiddle with the ends of her hair. If only this song lasted a few more millenniums.
As the Spanish guitarist takes a lengthy solo, she takes the opportunity to bring the engagement back up to me. Damn. "What were you thinking when you heard the news? We're you shocked?"
"No," I reply, a little too quickly. Well, I wasn't. I knew about it days before she did. But, she probably doesn't need to know that. She pulls away from enough to look me in the eye.
I shrug slightly, "A little…" she still looking at me with a raised eyebrow. "Okay, a lot."
She smiles, and lays her head back to my chest.
"I fell off the bed," I admit, in a flat tone.
She quickly glances up at me, "Explaining the sprained wrist uh?" She laughs.
"Exactly," I murmur, into her hair.
And if there's a thing that you need
I'd give you the breath
And if ever you yearn for the love in me
Whenever, wherever, whatever, baby
A/N: That's not the something good (really) good, I was talking about either.