Not Thinking
"My underwear was on the floor." AJ said, sitting outside the hospital with Renee having lunch on their break.
"No." Renee gasped, "Why?"
"Well… I took them off when Jason was there then he had to go to work and I forgot they were there." She shook her head, "It was… so humiliating."
"Jason went to work after you took your panties off?" Renee looked at her.
"He got a call, said it was important. I know he's trying to shift around a lot of property right now." AJ nodded.
"So… not the night you planned for?" Renee said.
"Not even close." AJ sighed, "It did go well with us, though. We're back on the same page again and it doesn't feel awkward or tense anymore." She said.
"Well that's good." Renee nodded positively, "Here I was thinking you deliberately set your kitchen on fire to see the dreamy fire man." She teased.
"Stop." AJ laughed a little, "The table is cremated. At least Jason thought it was funny when I told him this morning." She shrugged.
"Oh, yeah. Real funny. You could have gotten hurt." Renee said, "And I'm being serious."
"It was just a small fire." AJ waved her hand.
"Well you need to be careful." Renee advised, catching her eyes on Dean who was walking towards the hospital, "What's he doing here?" She wondered.
"Hey, you two." Dean smiled, making his way over to them after spotting them, "Hiding from your boss?" He asked them.
"Yeah, actually. It's the only way we get to eat." Renee said, "What are you doing here?"
"Came to give April this. It's just a fire report explaining what cause the fire and if you're entitled to compensation, which… you're not cause you lit the candles." Dean nodded, handing the report to AJ.
"Thanks." AJ nodded to him.
"You guys free tonight? We're gonna go to Kat's for a few drinks." Dean said, looking at Renee who smiled, taking a bit of her sandwich and nodding to him as he chuckled, "Alright."
"We'll see you there." Renee said.
"We?" AJ looked up from the report, "I uh… I think I'll pass."
"Oh, really? You're fun." Dean shrugged as AJ raised a brow.
"Thanks?" AJ said in a questionable tone, "But I'll pass."
"Oh, really? You're gonna leave me on my own?" Renee asked.
"You'll be fine." AJ rolled her eyes, "We don't need to hold hands with everything we do."
"You're mean today." Renee scoffed.
"Ok, I'll catch you later." Dean pointed to Renee who nodded with a smile, watching as he walked off.
"You had fun the other night, why don't you just come?" Renee turned to AJ.
"No, I just… I wanna go home and sleep." AJ sighed, "I feel like I haven't had a decent sleep in months."
"Probably cause you haven't." Renee nodded, "Well you know where we'll be if you change your mind."
"I didn't think you'd be home this late." AJ said quietly, sitting on the sofa later on where she watched Jason get home. She wasn't fond of him getting mad for working late at the hospital, yet dismissing her when he did just the exact same thing at his job. It just felt a little unfair.
"I got caught up." Jason nodded.
"It's like… super late, though. And our dinner plans last night sort of went to shit." She said, "Thought we could at least have a cuddle on the sofa and watch a movie." She shrugged.
"We can still do that." Jason assured her, "I'm just gonna finish up some emails in the kitchen and then I'll be in."
"I'll probably be asleep by then." AJ said with attitude as he looked at her. When she was left on her own, in her own thoughts, her brain really did overtime. She'd thought about where their relationship had been these past few weeks, how up and down it had been, and she hated it. She wanted better. She wanted what she knew they had deep down…
"Do you have something to say?" Jason shook his head, "Seems like you're pissed off."
"I'm pissed off because you grilled me for blowing you off for work when these past few nights that's what you've been doing to me. I mean is that… is that you trying to get back at me or something? To get even?"
"Please, what age are we?" Jason shook his head, "I've not been blowing you off-"
"I dropped my panties in front of you last night and you took off to work without any hesitation." AJ shook her head.
"I had to go. I would have preferred to stay, believe me." Jason said, "But you know I've been working on these two properties, trying to get them sold for a while."
"And you know that I work hard at taking care of people and saving people's lives, but you still get mad." She shook her head. One thing for sure was that she had a voice in their relationship, and when she needed to, she used it.
"Are we really gonna do this? Again?" Jason asked her tiredly as she looked across at him.
"Well judging by the tone in your voice. No, we're not." AJ shrugged, standing up from the sofa.
"Where are you going?" Jason shook his head.
"Out." AJ said briefly, walking into the hallway, putting her coat and shoes on.
"Out where?" Jason laughed a little.
"To clear my head." AJ shook her head, grabbing her purse and leaving the house, slamming the door behind her as Jason sighed to himself.
AJ wandered around the streets for a while, needing the cool fresh air to clear her head. She never liked to feel like she was being controlled. It reminded her of a time in her life, with her father, that she just hated. And sometimes, she felt it with Jason.
She wasn't sure if it was the pressure of all the wedding talk creeping up on them, or if they had just clashed at a bad time with both their careers, but she just felt unappreciated. And she only knew that because she actually felt more appreciated by a stranger as of late, than her own fiancé.
She found herself headed to Kat's, walking into the bar, noticing Renee sitting with the guys at the usual table. There was a comfort in seeing them. She just knew they were all decent, good human beings and that always helped when seeking comfort.
She made her way over to the table, feeling like she'd probably regret it at some point but not caring.
"Oh, you came." Renee noticed happily, "April, these guys don't believe that I scrubbed in for a surgery today. Tell them." She took her friends hand and pulled her down to a seat.
"She did." AJ nodded, smiling to them all, saying hello, looking over at Punk who gave her a different kind of smile. She didn't know why she kept putting herself in this position. Probably because she secretly liked it. Probably because he made her feel things her fiancé was failing to at this given time.
"Why did you change your mind?" Renee asked AJ discretely.
"Just… wanted out of the house." AJ nodded to her.
"Is everything ok?" Renee asked.
"Yeah… fine." AJ smiled, "I think I just need to let my hair down." She nodded.
"That sounds more like it." Renee smiled.
Things escalated pretty quickly. Some nights in the bar were rowdier than others. This specific night Kat had gone with an upbeat, dance playlist, which had so many people dancing and having fun, including AJ and Renee.
"You going in for it?" Dean asked, sitting with his brother, watching AJ and Renee dancing over by the bar, the epitome of girls just wanna have fun.
"No, I can't." Punk scoffed, "She's basically married." He shook his head.
They didn't have to communicate, Dean knew his brother was very much interested in this woman.
"Then where is her man?" Dean asked.
"It's none of my business." Punk said responsibly, looking over at AJ, watching her running her hands through her hair, her curvy hips moving side to side, testing him hard as he tried to look away.
"She wouldn't be dancing like that in front of you if she loved her fiancé." Dean said, "Maybe there's trouble in paradise-"
"Well I'm not preying on that." Punk told him, "Maybe she's just having some fun with her friend. She just… she just doesn't seem like the type to hurt anybody." Punk said. He did feel a little guilty to a certain extent. He didn't want to confuse this girl, but he was just way too incredibly attracted to her.
"You're not usually this nice. You must really like her." Dean realised.
"Well I'm just trying to behave." Punk nodded, "I gotta go take a leak." He announced, getting up from the table and making his way through the bar, catching eyes with AJ as he walked past them, making his way to the bathroom.
"I'll be back in a minute." AJ told Renee, leaving her to dance on her own whilst she walked through to the bathroom, waiting outside the men's until Punk opened up the door, jumping a little when she pushed him back into the bathroom and closed the door behind them.
"What are you doing?" Punk chuckled.
"I want you to stop." AJ nodded, convincing herself of the words.
"Stop what?" Punk looked down at her.
"Looking at me the way you look at me. Smiling. Undressing me with your eyes." She said as he looked at her.
"I'm just being polite." Punk whispered.
"And stop that too." AJ pointed, "It's… it's not right."
"If it's not right then what are you doing here?" Punk questioned, "Don't you think I know when a girl is trying to make me take notice?"
"I'm just having fun." AJ shook her head.
"And where's your fiancé?" Punk asked, "How come whenever you wanna have fun… he's never involved?" He asked, "How come when you're sitting at home, in a stunning dress, no panties on… he's at work?" He questioned as AJ looked up at him.
"You don't know me. And you're pretending like you do." She shook her head. The truth was, she'd never let anyone speak to her like this, but for some reason, when he said it, she wanted to hear it.
"You wanna know what I'd do?" He asked, standing as close as he could to her. As close as she'd let him get.
"What?" She whispered.
"I'd sit you on the kitchen counter… push that dress up around your waist." He said, watching him gaze up at him, believing every word he said, "And I'd fuck you however you wanted." He whispered as she gulped, looking up at him as she felt her stomach racing.
She couldn't believe this was happening. She couldn't believe her feelings for this man and his words were stronger than the resistance to be loyal to the man she loved. It didn't make sense, yet it just felt right.
She never really understood the excuse "not thinking" until now, when she reached up and pressed her lips against his, cupping his cheeks as he grabbed at her waist immediately, as if he had been ready for this moment.
Their tongues battled fiercely as he pushed her against the wall, hearing her moan into his mouth at the desire she felt he had for her.
The kiss went on for a while, hot and heavy, until there was a knock at the door from another customer who was waiting to use the bathroom. It wasn't until then AJ pulled back from his mouth, looking up at him, realising what awful thing she had just done.
"I can't believe I just did that." She whispered, looking up at him, quickly opening up the bathroom door and rushing out.
She rushed to their table, putting her coat on and grabbing her purse.
"Hey, where you going?" Renee asked, tipsy and dancing her way over to AJ.
AJ was too frantic to reply or even hear her, quickly rushing out of the bar, feeling someone grab her hand as she turned around and saw him.
"Let me walk-"
"No." AJ said immediately, "I… I need you to leave me alone." AJ nodded seriously.
"You kissed me." Punk shook his head, "You came into that bathroom with me." He nodded as she looked at him.
"Please just leave me alone." AJ shook her head, pulling her hand back and leaving the bar as Punk sighed to himself. It was like she didn't trust herself around him. An engaged woman who seemed to have her life together, it was like she fell apart around him and gave into what she really wanted. In a night they'd gone from flirtatious strangers to something much more complicated.
