Reid was bored. All the time he thought they were going to spend wooing Jane was spent in Tyler's borrowed room, in the company of his best friend. Used to being alone with Tyler after four years of dorming together, this felt much like most of their time at Spenser. The two boys might as well have stayed at school.
Reid propped himself up on his forearms, scrutinizing his lover typing diligently away on his laptop. He leaned forward. "Whatcha doing?" he asked, tilting his head.
"Homework," Tyler answered simply, not even deigning to look at the blone. Reid pouted.
"Boring," Reid declared, drawing the word out.
Tyler shrugged. "What else are we supposed to do? Jane's at the office, working. We don't know anyone from here except certain people we, a.k.a. you, don't get along with. So, yeah, homework."
Reid rolled onto his back and looked at the ceiling. "This is true," he admitted. He lay there for a few moments before sitting up in glee. "Give me your computer."
Tyler opened his mouth to protest before seeing the mischievous twinkle in Reid's eyes. Sighing, he handed the other boy his computer.
Ecstatically, the boy began typing quickly, long, piano playing fingers hitting keys with unmatched precision. Tyler would never tell Reid this because he had a big enough head already, but when Reid grew excited and had that impish twinkle in his eye, Tyler couldn't resist. It had always been a problem for the dark-haired boy, which had led to many misadventures when the two were younger.
Giving another weary sigh, Tyler doubted the outcome of Reid's latest scheme could be anything good.
"I've got it!" Reid crowed in triumph. "I've got the address to Janie's work!"
Tyler felt himself smirk. Then again, he could be wrong.
Jane took another pull from her very grown up traveler's mug, looking like every other young, hardworking woman in a pressed blouse and black skirt. Unknown to the other room's occupants, her mug held the very precious contents of Rockstar Juice. The sweet tang of the energy drink hit her tongue and Jane sat up straighter almost automatically.
To be truthful, she hadn't been sleeping well the past few nights, knowing how badly she had hurt Reid and Tyler and how close they were to her when she was lying alone in her bed. It would be so easy for her to walk a few doors down and slip into the bed the two shared, right between the two of them.
Shaking her thoughts away, she turned her mind back to the meeting. Nodding politely to the man sitting across from her who was staring at her, Jane scribbled something onto her notepad.
Her father smiled and got up to shake the hands of the members of the company they were currently dealing with. Jane laid her cup gently down and got up as well, smoothing down her skirt before following her father's motions.
"Miss Doe," the man who had sat across from her greeted politely when she had shaken every man's hand but his.
Jane knew he was the son of the other company's owner but had forgotten his name, so she simply settled for giving him a polite smile.
"I was wondering if you had an escort to the annual Christmas Ball?" he asked, smiling charmingly. Was it just Jane or had his teeth mysteriously sparkled of their own volition?
He was speaking, of course, of the Ball her father's company threw every year for its associates. Jane had always opted to go solo.
Jane considered him for a few moments. His hair was black and his eyes nearly matched the color perfectly. He was different from the boys she usually went for, more man than boy, with perfect posture and the perfect background. But maybe different was good? Maybe she needed to try something different?
"No," she answered finally, "as of yet I haven't been asked." Inwardly she winced – she knew two boys who would have been very eager to take her if they had known of such an event. Thankfully, the two didn't.
Her unnamed suitor smiled and Jane was sure that his teeth had actually glistened this time, despite his back being to the window. "Would you do the honor of me taking you?"
Everything in her was telling her to say 'no' so of course she said, "Sure – I mean, yeah – um, yes, I'd love to." She forced herself to give him more than a polite smile.
He smiled in reply and Jane realized it boded ill for her eyesight if he kept flashing her with his amazing teeth. She was almost dazed. "Great," he stated, shaking her hand again. Jane almost laughed at the ridiculousness of it all.
Holding back her sigh, she stood next to her father as their new associates filed out of the boardroom. Once every business suit had left the room, Jane turned back to the large table and bent to gather her and her father's items.
"Tyler, will you look at that? I'm glad we chose to drop on little Janie, here." Jane's eyes widened in surprise and she froze. They didn't!
Turning, she almost groaned at the sight of her favorite boys. They did! Jane fought the urge to begin cursing. Crossing her arms, she glared at the two playful looking boys.
"Me, too, Reid," Tyler replied, his eyes looking Jane up and down, taking in how her outfit outlined her silhouette perfectly and loving it.
Jane tapped her foot impatiently, pretending that his heated look hadn't affected her. "What are you two doing here?" Outside the open door she could see some of the female workers looking in curiously and Jane fought the urge to shut the door.
"I was bored," Reid said as if it explained everything. Problem was, for Reid, it did. He sat at the chair at the head of the large table and propped his feet up, leaning back. "This is a sweet chair. I can see why you spend all your time here, Janie-girl."
Jane pushed his sneakers off the polished table. "Get out of that seat!" she hissed.
Rather than listen to her, he reached over to her mug and sipped from it. He grinned when he tasted the contents.
Snatching her cup, Jane gathered her stuff before turning and walking out of the room. Setting her belongings on her desk, she turned to drop of her father's in his office. She sniffed haughtily when Tyler pointedly opened the door for her, stepping through the door gracefully and deliberately refusing to meet his gaze.
"Reid, Tyler!" her father greeted enthusiastically, looking up from his documents and standing up. "What are you doing here?"
"Just visiting, sir," Tyler answered, shaking her father's hand, Reid a second behind him. Jane wanted to tear her hair out at how perfectly they were behaving.
The older man nodded. "I'd imagine it would be boring just sitting at our house. I'm surprised you two haven't sought out Janie sooner."
"If they're so bored, maybe they should just go back to Ipswich," his daughter muttered, arranging his items on his desk quickly and efficiently.
Her father laughed. "Nonsense, Jane, they can't go back now! Not when the Company Ball is so soon!"
Jane's eyes almost narrowed. If she didn't know better, she'd think her father was setting her up with the two boys. But that thought was crazy, considering that he knew nothing of what has happened. He had probably revealed to the two what she had been dreading to tell them by accident.
"Ball?" Tyler asked in interest. Jane, still looking down, grimaced at the folders she was organizing.
"Jane hasn't told you?" her father asked, surprised. Jane's eyes actually narrowed this time; he had sounded a little too surprised.
"Daddy," she said in a sweet voice with a slight warning intonation.
He looked at her pursed mouth and telling eyes before dismissing her and turning back to the two boys. "Each year, our company throws a ball for all its costumers and employees," he explained. "You two can come as guests, of course. Janie doesn't have an escort, so -."
Jane allowed herself to feel a bit of triumph. "I do," she countered.
He stopped. "What?" he asked, genuinely surprised this time. "Who?"
She gave him a saccharine smile. "Don't worry about it, Daddy." She felt positively gleeful, winning this round against her father. She ignored Reid and Tyler's hurt looks. She told herself it was all for the best. Too bad that the longer she told herself these lies the harder they were for her to believe.
Her father shrugged nonchalantly before engaging the two other males in conversation again. "You two bring suits? Of course you didn't. You didn't know about it. Tell you what," he propositioned, "why doesn't Janie here take the rest of the day off and help you get suits?" He smiled and continued, cutting off Jane's objection before it left her mouth. "Janie, why don't you call a cab?"
Speechless and outmaneuvered, Jane could do nothing but do as her father asked, walking outside of his office to dial the phone at her desk. "Fucking ridiculous," she said into the dial tone before punching in the numbers angrily.
Her disappearance from the room meant she missed the three men look at each other knowingly, their smiles matching perfectly.
Jane would've crawled over Tyler to get out of the cab if she didn't know he'd enjoy it. She had been shuffled into the cab between Reid and Tyler quite effectively and neither boy bothered to pretend like they didn't like their closeness to her, taking turns to 'accidentally' brush her thighs through her stockings. She nearly whooped when she saw their destination and told ('screeched' would be more of an appropriate word) Reid to open the door.
Pressing a hand to her chest, her heart still beating erratically after being in such close proximity to the two attractive boys, Jane paused before leading the two into the store.
Walking up to an attendant she immediately got down to business quickly, wanting to get this over with as soon as possible. "I need these two to be measured for tuxedos, please," she stated.
"Of course," said the employee, a tall, Amazonian woman dressed in the sleek fashions of the season. Eyeing the two boys, she guessed, "Five-eleven and six feet?"
"Five-ten and three quarters," Jane corrected.
Reid exchanged a look with Tyler. Of course Jane would know Reid's exact height. Despite her recent foray in being difficult, she was their best friend.
"I see," the employee said, eyeing the two appreciatively.
Jane examined the woman for a moment, much like a predator eyes its prey, before saying something. "Listen," here she eyed the woman's nametag, "Sheila, they only need tuxedoes, nothing else you're selling or offering." She eyed the woman in disdain, as if to say the two boys wouldn't be interested either way. "Now are you going to get them anytime soon or should we take our business elsewhere?"
Sheila turned back to Jane and saw the look on her face. "Of course, Miss," she said, thoroughly cowed by the smaller girl. She walked away and it almost looked as if she was fleeing.
Jane followed the woman, scowling and repeating in a much louder tone than before, "Fucking ridiculous."
Reid and Tyler couldn't help but smirk before following in the two women's wake.
That's their girl.
TBC.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Covenant or any of its characters. I also don't own the drink Rockstar.
A/N: One more chapter and then the epilogue. Yay!