Thanks for being patient and waiting for this chapter. Came a lot quicker than the last one did, at least, right? Reviews are kind of low, but I've always been of the philosophy that you should write for you, not just to gain reviews. However, if you do like the story, let me know if only for the reason that it makes me happy and feeling rewarded. Enjoy this chapter of mostly fun and flirtiness!
Chapter 9.
Two beers later and Kate was finally beginning to feel at ease among two longtime best friends. Marc, she found, brought out a whole new side of Jack that she realized she loved seeing. He smiled more boyishly, eyes lit with mischief, and laughed more heartily.
She could just imagine them together back in college—hopping bars and picking up women. Both Jack and Marc were undeniably attractive—in two very different ways—but she could see it in her mind, the two playing each other's wingman, decked out in college hoodies and battered jeans.
Kate took another sip of her beer and squinted her eyes close together to judge the distance between the dart in her hand and the board on the wall. She could feel the boys' eyes on the back of her neck. This was their third game and she'd wiped the floor with them each time. With a resolute throw, the dart spiraled and landed dead center: a bull's eye. She could hear Marc curse behind her.
She turned, triumphant, and grinned wider at Jack's expression.
"Twenty bucks, please." She said sweetly, holding out her hand and fighting back a laugh at Jack's bemusement.
"How about I buy you another beer, instead?" He tried, setting his own glass down on the bar and letting his arms snaked around her waist. He pulled her closer until she stood between his knees where he was perched on the barstool.
Kate let herself be drawn into him, draining the last of her glass and setting it down the bar, signaling to the man behind the counter for another round.
"Twenty bucks is like five beers." She whined, but couldn't wipe the smile from her face. "You're not trying to get me drunk again, are you?"
Jack laughed. "No, I'm trying to save some money."
"Don't believe him, Kate," Marc interjected, leaning his elbows back on the bar, "he's got enough money tucked away to buy this bar. That, and I'm sure he is trying to get you drunk."
Jack rolled his eyes, blushing. "That's not true."
Kate looked back and forth from both men, smirking, "So who makes more, you or Jack?" she shot towards Marc, making his eyebrows rise.
After recovering from the initial forwardness—Jack really knew how to pick 'em—he crossed his arms over his chest. "The answer," he began haughtily, "is yours truly. Brain gods trump spinal cord geeks."
Kate laughed, turning back towards Jack. "You're a geek, huh?"
He rolled his eyes and shot a look towards Marc. "Well," he began, thumbs rubbing circles into the skin just beneath Kate's t-shirt, "I've got the most beautiful girl in the room in my arms, and Marc's got mustard stains on his shirt. Who do you think is the bigger geek?"
She grinned, and Marc scoffed. "If you'll excuse me, lovebirds, I think there's a blonde woman over there who's dying for some attention. And, me being the gentleman that I am, couldn't possibly leave her helpless."
With that, Marc attempted to rub out the stain on his shirt before making his way towards the big-busted blonde in the corner booth of the bar, whose friend had just left for the bathroom.
Kate felt a pair of lips on her neck and turned back towards Jack, his head currently buried in the space between her shoulder and chin.
She laughed, pushing him back by the shoulders until he met her eyes.
"Marc's nice."
Jack laughed. "Nice?"
She blushed. "Okay, he's a little crazy. But fun. I can see why he's your best friend."
He nodded. "Yeah, we've pretty much been inseparable since the third grade."
Kate looked over her shoulder towards Marc again. He was now sitting in the booth with the blonde, leaning forward and obviously not noticing her look of boredom mixed with disgust.
"He never gets the blondes." Jack sighed jokingly, making Kate laugh and turn back to face him.
"What do you think about setting him up with Claire?" She asked, eyes lighting.
Jack waited a moment to see if she was, in fact, serious. But when her expression didn't give way to giggles, he backtracked.
"Kate—"
"Oh come on! They'd be great together. They're both outgoing, laidback, fun. She's blonde. I think it'd be good for them."
"You just met him today, and you're already playing matchmaker?" Jack tried, smiling at her enthusiasm.
She shrugged. "I don't know. I just think they'd fit. It'd be nice for all of us to hang out together." She nudged his shoulder playfully. "Double date."
Jack grinned at that. "You and I don't have the best track record with dates."
"I like it that way. It's unconventional. I think you need a little of that in your life."
Jack feigned offense. "What, you think I'm boring?"
Kate looked away, choosing her words, "Not in some ways," she said mischievously into the hollow of his ear, making his skin prick up at her warm breath.
"But," she announced finally, leaning back in his arms, "I think we've got to do something about your apartment. How about some color? Everything is so…clean."
"I like it clean." Jack whined, hands once again creeping beneath the bottom hem of her t-shirt, making her squirm closer in his arms.
"I think you need some chaos in your life."
"That's why I've got you." He teased, expecting her to laugh. His smile faded when he realized she'd taken his comment the wrong way.
"I was just—"
"I know I've got a complicated life, Jack," she said softly, looking down at her hands pressed flat against his chest, "but I just want you to know that you've been so great throughout all of this craziness. I just want you to know that if you ever needed me to help with something, be there for you—anything," she paused, licking her lips, finding her words again, "I just want you to know I'd be there."
Jack waited until she looked up, eyes a sparkling green with the truth in them, the unabashed vulnerability staring back at him. He tucked a curl behind her ear and let his thumb smooth over the dusking of freckles on her cheek. He leaned close and pressed his lips to hers, soft and warm. She responded after a moment, hands sliding up to cup his jaw on either side, mouth opening beneath his and accepting the light touch of his tongue to hers.
They heard a hoot behind them and broke away embarrassedly, turning to see Marc making his way back to them, a glimmer in his eye.
"I leave for one minute, and you two can't keep your hands off of each other."
Kate ducked her head, burying it in Jack's chest and laughing. Jack rubbed a palm up and down her back, laughing with her.
"Hey man, we've got someone for you to meet." Jack said, reaching behind him to grab his newly refilled beer glass and taking a long swig.
Kate lifted her head, unsure if Jack was going where she thought he was.
"Jesus, do I look that desperate?" Marc joked, taking a sip of his own beer.
"You'll like her, trust me." Jack tried again. When Marc didn't bite, Kate tried.
"She's blonde." She said, and Marc finally turned to eye her.
"She's not a mental case or anything?"
Kate laughed. "Not any more of a mental case than you are, if that's what you mean."
Marc grinned broadly, turning to Jack. "I like this girl, Jack. She's got spunk."
After another round, Kate and Jack said their goodbyes to Marc as it was almost nearing eleven thirty at night, and then were headed back to Jack's place when Kate rubbed nervously at her jeans and turned towards Jack.
"Do you mind if we make a quick stop?" She asked sheepishly.
"Sure, what'd you have in mind?"
"I just haven't—I didn't get to check on my mom today."
Jack looked at her, eyes guarded. He nodded. "Absolutely."
Jack didn't say much as he followed Kate up towards the floor where her mother was. When they reached the door to her room, he paused.
"I'll just wait out here." He offered, trying his best to be polite and not pry, but she only shook her head.
"You don't have to."
He nodded, following her wordlessly into the room and then stood near the doorway, wanting to give her the space she needed.
Kate walked slowly towards the bed, finally sitting on the edge and touching her mother's hand gently. Jack couldn't hear the words she was saying softly to her mother, but chose not to strain to hear, allowing the moment between them to remain private. After ten minutes, half in silence, Kate rose from the bed and looked up at him with a tight smile, touching his arm briefly and heading towards the hallway.
Jack didn't speak until they were in the elevator, on their way to the parking garage.
"What do you talk about with her?" He asked softly, unsure if this was territory he was allowed to tread on just yet.
Kate was quiet a moment, eyes on the floor. "Everyday stuff, I guess." She began, sighing and leaning into him, his arm coming around her shoulder and pulling her nearer into his side. "I tell her how I'm doing, about Claire…you." She said with a soft smile, looking up at him.
He smiled back down at her, pressing a gentle kiss to forward and walking back towards the car, her tucked beneath his arm.
When they came through Jack's door half an hour later, Kate headed for the fridge, pulling out a bottle of water and taking a sip.
"So did you really mean it when you said you thought Claire would be good for Marc?" Kate asked, settling down on one the barstools for the kitchen counter. Jack sat opposite her, grinning.
"Yeah, I think they'd be good together. Granted, I still don't know Claire that well…"
Kate giggled. "She knows all about you."
Jack raised an amused eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?'
She ducked her head. "She's my best friend. It's my duty to explain everything about our relationship…in detail."
He leaned forward, a bemused grin on his face. "When you say 'in detail,' what exactly does that imply?"
Kate rose from her seat and skirt passed him towards the bedroom. "Come to bed, and I'll show you exactly what I mean."
Jack paused a moment in the kitchen, letting her words rush over him, before rising abruptly and chasing after her, scooping her up and carrying her over his shoulder towards the bed, then dropping her down onto the mattress with a soft thud.
He looked down at her, her cheeks rosy and her eyes lit, lying on her back in the center of his too big bed.
"Are you coming down here or what?" She joked after a moment, her skin prickling up and growing warmer beneath his steady gaze.
"I love you." He said after a moment, the words all rushed together in one breath. Because he knew it all of the sudden, in that very moment, and there was no other way to say it than it the rush of the moment, the heady wind of energy coursing through him at the acknowledgment of his feelings and the confession of them to her.
The smile slipped off her face. "What?"
Jack slid onto the bed, body draping over hers. "I said I love you. I'm in love with you."
He moved to kiss her, but she pressed a hand to his chest, stopping him.
"Are you serious?" She asked, eyes unreadable and beginning to make him nervous. He leaned off of her and onto his elbow, hand coming to rest on her side.
"Yeah. That's why I said it." He replied, becoming confused.
Kate sat up, not facing him or saying anything at all. After another moment he sat up to, side by side with her on the edge of the bed.
"Are you okay?" He asked softly, unsure of her reaction his words, nervous now that the feelings weren't reciprocated, that his confession was premature, unwarranted, or worse.
Kate nodded, finally looking at him. "Yeah, I'm fine, it's just..." she trailed, her eyes darting away from his again. "This is just happening really fast," she settled on finally, huffing out a nervous laugh and running her hands up and down the thighs of her jeans, as she always did when she was unsure.
"I know, I just…I just felt it. In that moment, looking at you. And now, too. Maybe I shouldn't have said it so soon, but I meant it. I mean it." Jack argued, voice determined and eyes focused.
She turned to face him, placing a hand on his knee. "You know I care about you. A lot, right?" She said softly, and he smiled wryly, turning his eyes towards the hand on his knee.
"I'm just not…it's a big deal to me. I want to mean it. Really mean it." Kate said softly, urging him to meet her eyes, but he didn't only eyeing the carpet instead.
"Let's just forget I said anything, okay?" He said gently after a moment, trying to reclaim the lightness of their evening, the fun they'd had, the progress they'd made at being a normal couple.
Kate frowned. "If that's what you want."
Jack sighed, "For now, I think that's best."
That's that! More to come soon. Next up: some smut, Marc and Claire meet, and perhaps we'll come back to the declaration of love...