Mending the Soul (5 page)

"Ah, how sweet, you'll be my protector… my body guard.  I feel so honored."  Jenna teased.

"And you should!  I don't do it for just anyone, only my special friends!"  He said.  Jenna smiled at him, and the two sat in silence the rest of the way to the restaurant.

*****

When they pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant, Jenna started to get nervous.  For some reason, she began to get worried about what Nicholas' friends thought of her.  Logically, she knew that their opinions shouldn't matter, but for some reason they did.

Nicholas opened her door again and helped her out of the vehicle, then offered her his arm.  Jenna put her hand on the crook of his elbow and the two made their way inside.  When his friends saw them, they all stopped talking and just stared, making Jenna more nervous.  Nicholas guided her to an empty seat and sat her down, then took the seat right next to her.

"Hey guys, this is my friend Jenna, she moved next door a few months ago."  Nicholas introduced everyone at the table and they all said little hellos to her.  "So, why is everyone so quiet?"  He asked.

"Well, when you said you were bringing a friend, no one expected it to be a female friend.  I think we were a little shocked."  Nathan, one of his friends, said.  "It's just been a while since we've seen any woman on your arm."

"We're just friends, very platonic and everything."  Jenna said, to clear up any misgivings that his friends had.

"Oh, that's too bad."  Nathan said.  He seemed to be the most outspoken one.

After that, everyone started talking again, and including Jenna in all the conversations and making her feel welcome.  The food was great, and Jenna kept her vow to Nicholas and didn't eat too much garlic.

When dinner was finished, they all headed to the club across the street.  Nicholas took Jenna's drink order, then went to the bar to get it for her.  He came back with three of the drinks she asked for.

"Why did you get three?"  Jenna asked.

"Well, I promised you a nice dinner, a few too many drinks and tons of dancing, right?  We've already had the nice dinner, now we're working on a few too many drinks.  So drink up, then we'll dance."  He explained.

"It's been so long since I've had any alcohol, I think these three will get me pretty smashed."  Jenna said, looking a little embarrassed.

"Nothing wrong with that!"  Nick told her as he sipped on his own beer.

Jenna started her first drink, and after tasting it, she decided the best plan of action was to slam it.  After it was all gone, she put the glass back on the table and picked up the next one.  Nicholas's eyes got wide as he watched her, and began laughing.  "Easy killer, you keep going like that and you'll really be paying for it tomorrow!"

"Sorry.  The first one is always the hardest, had to get it over with."  She smiled.

A little while later, Nicholas pulled a slightly buzzed Jenna out on the dance floor.  "I might be a little rusty."  Jenna told him.  "It's been a while."

"It's ok, I'm rusty too."  He told her.

They found an empty spot on the dance floor and started to move, a little awkwardly at first, but as the music played on, they started to loosen up and get more comfortable dancing.  They were really getting into it when the music turned from a fast song to a slow one.

Nicholas looked at Jenna questioningly and asked "How about it?"

Jenna nodded and moved closer to Nick.  He put his arms around her waist and pulled her closer to him, until her hips were touching his.  She rested her hands on his shoulders as they moved to the music.

"Are you having fun?"  He asked her, causing Jenna to look up into his eyes.

Jenna just looked into his eyes, remarking that even in the dark, she could see the beautiful shade of green that they were.  "I'm having a great time.  I don't think I've ever had so much fun.  Thanks for making me come out tonight."  Jenna looked away from Nick's eyes, and laid her head on his shoulder.  Her heart was racing as she smelled his cologne and ran her hands up and down his nicely muscled arms.  She felt like her world was spinning out of control, and at that moment, she didn't care.  She picked her head off his shoulder and looked into his eyes again.

Nicholas tightened his arms around her waist and picked her up, just slightly off the ground and hugged her body to his.  He nuzzled his face in her neck, just before putting her down.  "You smell so good."  He moaned as he looked back into her eyes.

"So do you."  Jenna said breathlessly, the whole time the space between their lips lessening.  Before either one knew what was happening, their lips touched in an explosive kiss.

Nicholas removed one of his hands from her waist and put it at the base of her head, on the back of her neck.  He deepened the kiss, enjoying the tingling feeling in his lips, not to mention the rest of his body.

Jenna allowed Nick's tongue to enter her mouth, and massaged it with her own.  Every part of her body was reveling in the joy of what was happening at her mouth.

When neither could breathe any longer, the kiss was broken.  Both Nicholas and Jenna's face registered the shock of what had just happened between them, and both were panting.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to do that."  Nicholas said.

"It's my fault too.  I'm sorry."  Jenna told him.

"This just isn't the right time.  I don't want to ruin our friendship."  He explained.

"I know, me either.  I think we just got carried away.  How about we blame it on the alcohol and forget it ever happened?"  Jenna suggested.

"That sounds good."  Nicholas told her but wondered if he would ever forget that marvelous kiss that awoke so many feelings in his body.

Jenna wondered the same.  No man had ever made her feel like that just from a kiss before.  'But it's best for our friendship if we forget it ever happened, and I need him as a friend now more than ever.'  She thought.

"Maybe we should head home, it's getting late."  Jenna said.

Nicholas nodded and led her out of the club.  When they got home, Nick walked her to her door to say goodnight.

"Thanks for tonight.  I really did have a great time."  Jenna said.

"I did too.  Thanks for coming with me.  Tell Emma to come home when she wakes up in the morning, ok?"

Jenna nodded.  "Good night."  She said, her voice a little shaky.  She took her key out and unlocked the door.

"Night."  Nick said and left.

Jenna paid the babysitter and locked up the house when she left.  She then headed to bed, for a long night of passionate dreams.

The next morning, Jenna woke up with a monster headache.  She rolled out of bed and headed straight for the medicine cabinet in her bathroom.  She shook out three pills from the bottle of Advil and threw them into her mouth.  After turning on the water faucet, she scooped up a handful of water and poured it into her mouth, washing the pills down her throat.

After taking the Advil, Jenna headed for the shower.  She let the water cascade over her body and enjoyed the streams trickling down her face.  The pulsing water seemed to soothe the pounding inside of her head.

After finishing her shower and drying off, Jenna dressed in a pair of comfortable navy yoga pants and her white Yankees jersey.  She headed downstairs to get breakfast started for the Colby and Emma.

Just as she was finishing the French toast, Jenna heard the scampering of little feet running down the stairs.  Colby and Emma jumped up onto the stools at the breakfast bar, ready to eat.

"Good morning.  Did you two have fun last night?"  Jenna asked.

"Yeah, it was pretty cool.  Are we still going to the arcade today?"  Colby said.

Jenna wanted to go anywhere but the arcade.  She knew that once she got there, her headache would go from bad to worse, with all the bells and whistles, and little kids running and screaming all over…all the wonderful attributes of the arcade!  "Of course.  I promised that we would go, so we will."  Jenna told them.

After breakfast, Jenna called over to let Nicholas know Emma was on her way home.  "Just wanted to make sure you were awake.  Emma's on her way over, then we're going to head to the arcade."  She told him.

"I'm up, send her over."  Nicholas told her.  He paused for a minute, then said, "Do you still want me to go with you to the arcade?"

"Just try and get out of it.  I'm not suffering alone!"  Jenna mock threatened him.  "Meet us outside in about half an hour, ok?"

"We'll be there."  He said and then hung up.

Jenna sent Emma home to get ready, then took Colby upstairs to get him ready.  After Colby changed into the clothes that Jenna had laid out for him, she asked him to take Jeter out to go potty before they left.  He was doing a good job being responsible when it came to his puppy.  He never whined about having to take the dog out or feed him.

After Jenna had cleaned up the kitchen from breakfast and the puppy was put in his crate, Jenna and Colby headed outside to meet Nicholas and Emma.  When Jenna walked out their front door, her stomach started doing somersaults, remembering the kiss that they had shared on the dance floor the night before.  'God, I hope that things aren't going to be awkward between us now.'  Jenna thought.  She could still feel the way his lips felt against hers, the way his tongue had begged for entrance into her mouth, and the way her lips tingled after the kiss was broken.

She looked over and saw Nicholas and Emma waiting for them in his Xterra.  He sent a nervous smile over her way as she walked towards the SUV.  Jenna returned his smile, just as nervously.  Colby on the other hand, ran over to the SUV and jumped in the back, talking excitedly with Emma about how much fun they were going to have.  Jenna climbed in the front passenger seat, and as soon as everyone was buckled in, Nicholas put the vehicle in reverse and backed out of his driveway.  

The ride to the arcade was quiet between Nicholas and Jenna, but Colby and Emma did enough talking for everyone.  The two kids seemed to spend all of their time together, and never ran out of things to talk about or say to each other.  For once, Jenna was thankful for their incessant chattering, to make up for the lack of words between her and Nicholas.

After they reached the arcade, Jenna and Nicholas both bought the kids $20 access cards, so they wouldn't have to worry about them losing their money, or coming back to beg for more money.  After they got the cards, both kids took off to the game area, leaving Nicholas and Jenna to fend for themselves.

The two parents walked over to the restaurant portion of the arcade and got a couple of Pepsis to drink.  They sat down at an empty table and looked out into the sea of kids.  Neither one could look at the other, both of them thinking about their kiss.  Nicholas was the first to break the tension that was hanging in the air between the two of them.

"So, do we need to talk about what happened last night?"  He asked.

"Well, I thought we were going to blame it on the alcohol.  It doesn't seem to make it any easier though, does it?"  Jenna asked.

"Um, not really.  It's not that the kiss wasn't nice, because it was…it really was.  It's just that I like our friendship and I don't want to lose that.  Say something more happens between the two of us, and then I suddenly realize that even though I thought I was ready to move on after losing Leslie, that I really wasn't ready, then our friendship will suffer.  I just can't do that to you, or to us.  You are the first person who has made me smile and laugh, besides Emma, since I lost Leslie, and I don't want to lose that.  I don't want to do something that will potentially hurt you in the end."  Nicholas explained.

"I agree.  I don't think I'm ready for anything after what Kyle did to me anyways.  I think I am going to have some serious trust issues, and I don't want to make you hate me for some stupid neurosis that I have because that prick couldn't ever keep it in his pants."  Jenna said.

"So, friends then?  We can move on after last night?"  Nicholas asked, offering his right hand for her to shake.

"Friends."  Jenna said as she shook his hand.  "So, the kiss was nice?"  She teased innocently, with a huge smile spread across her face.

"Yeah, could have used a little work though."  Nicholas joked.  Jenna punched him lightly on his arm, and he apologized.  "Yes Jenna, it was nice, or better than nice, but I thought we were moving on."

"We are, I was just making sure."  Jenna laughed.

"So, how are you feeling this morning, by the way."  He asked her.

"Ugh, remind me not to drink so much next time.  I have had the mother of all headaches this morning, and this arcade isn't helping much!"  She groaned.  "How about you?"

"I didn't think you looked too happy to be here.  Actually, I feel fine, but I had a lot less to drink than you did."  He told her.

Jenna and Nicholas sat around talking while the kids played around the arcade.  When Nicholas's cell phone rang, he got up from the table and walked outside to answer it.  Jenna got bored when he didn't come back right away, so she picked up her phone and called Vanessa.

"Hey girl, haven't talked to you in a while, where've you been hiding?"  Vanessa asked her.