Jack stood by the bar, trying unsuccessfully to get the barmaid's attention. Eventually he gave up and turned round just in time to see a beautiful girl enter the pub, looking around shyly. She walked over towards the bar and ordered herself a drink, then tucking her hair behind her ear and she hoisted herself up onto a barstool. Jack waited until she had finished her first drink before going over and offering to buy her another one. "I'm Jack by the way." He said, passing her the vodka and coke.
"Oh thanks Jack, I'm Emma Taylor." She replied smiling warmly at him and taking a sip of her drink. "So what do you do for a living?" She asked leaning forwards slightly.
"I work on a builders yard, kind of a partner in the firm so to speak. What about you?" Jack said, turning the question back on her.
"Well I'm not long out of Uni but I've just been doing office work for the past few months while I get some ideas sorted out in my head." Emma explained, thinking fast. "I did psychology and I'm thinking about doing some child psychology in schools, something like that would probably suit me. So have you got family round here? You know brothers, sisters, parents, girlfriend?" She asked, not so subtly.
Jack smiled softly before continuing; he could tell this girl was well into him. "My folks live not far from here, outskirts of London but my sister lives up North now so I don't see much of her. As far as a girlfriend goes, I'm sorry to report that she doesn't exist at the moment. Although I wish I could say she did!" He replied inching ever so slightly closer to her.
About twenty minutes later, Emma excused herself and walked towards the ladies toilets. Shutting the door behind her, she sat on top of the cistern and began to text Sam.
Hey, he's been buying me drinks for a while. Think he likes me, will keep trying to gain trust. Hope all goes well, I'll phone you when I get home from the pub, should be about 10.30, is that okay? XxEmz
She waited until the reply came before planning out briefly what she was going to ask him when they next spoke. A few topics of conversation were off limits, as she'd have to think very quickly to answer those convincingly so she'd just steer clear of them if she possibly could. When she realised that she'd been gone for over five minutes, she left the toilets and hurried back to where Jack was still sitting patiently.
"I thought you'd given up on me and hopped out the window!" He exclaimed, getting up to let her sit down next to him. "So what are we having now?" Jack asked placing his hand on top of hers. He saw the way her skin prickled at his touch and he grinned again. How could he be having this effect on her so early on? He only hoped he was reading the signs right.
"I'll have a pint please." Emma replied, smirking at his surprised expression. "What too macho for ya?" She added jokingly as he turned to order, still in disbelief.
"Um no, just never seen a woman ask for a pint before. I thought it was kind of a bloke thing but hey there's a first time for everything." He said cheekily, handing her the pint and settling back into the soft chairs they were now sitting in. "Don't tell me you like football as well?" He added looking at her over the top of his glass. Snorting into it as he saw her nod, he raised his eyebrows questioningly.
"Liverpool, don't even think of telling me you're a Chelsea boy or I swear you'll never have children." She replied jokingly.
"Nah West Ham's my thing." Jack said taking her hand in his. "My dad's had season tickets since I was about three so I've always been with them. I don't think I'd have survived my childhood if I'd turned traitor as it was and supported anyone else!"
"Sounds brilliant, I wish my Dad had let me go to all the footie matches with my brother. Dad always thought I should be out doing girly sports and to be fair I did them as well, but football's more my speed. Played for the senior girls side at my high school but then again Dad never knew about that either!" Emma said, butterflies building up in her stomach as she felt his thumb begin to circle the back of her hand.
"Shit, I've got to be going now Emma but really we should continue this soon. You free tomorrow night?" He said, getting quickly to his feet after looking at the clock above the bar.
"Yeah I think so." Emma replied, also getting up. "Where do ya wanna meet?" She added seeing his anxiety about getting away soon.
"How about the bar on Fenton Street at say 8.30?" He replied, steering her over towards the doors. As they stood outside in the warm July night, she shivered in pleasure as his hand ran the length of her spine and came to rest in the small of her back. Turning her around to face him, he leaned in and brushed his lips softly against hers. "Night babes." He said quietly, before turning and walking off down the road.
Emma breathed out slowly and then turned and began to walk in the opposite direction. As she turned into her new street she pulled the key out of the pocket of her skirt and made her way up the steep flight of steps to her front door. It swung open and she slammed it shut behind her before locking up. After making herself a cup of tea, she sat on the sofa and picked up the cordless phone, programming in Sam's number as she did so.
"Hey Sam, it's Emma." She said after a few rings.
"Oh hey, how are you? You're back early." Sam replied, sounding worried.
"Hey, hey it's nothing to get uptight about." Emma said laughing slightly. "He had to leave that's all but I've got a date tomorrow night so it's going well I think."
"That's great honey, well done." Sam said gleefully. "I didn't think you'd be able to reel him in that quick but girl you must have good pulling power!"
"Yeah well we'll see about that." She replied dreamily.
"You're not getting feelings for him are you?" Sam asked, once again sounding worried.
Emma shook her head and then remembered that Sam couldn't see her. "Oh no, he's cute but I'm not interested. I'll keep my mind on the job, don't worry about that."
After a few more minutes of pointless chat they both hung up and Emma settled down in front of the telly. She tucked her knees up under her chin and smiled as the opening titles for Ugly Betty came onto the screen. It was her favourite program but even so, she just couldn't keep her eyelids open long enough to see what happened between Alexis and Daniel and sleep eventually overcame her. The light from the T.V. illuminated her sleeping figure and a smile played across her lips as her dreams were filled with the images of Jack.
Ta for reading this through Emz...who knows maybe this chapter will get more interest...if you've read this then please please review cause it makes me feel like crap if you don't...even if you hated it just tell me it's better than not knowing :(