Jack & Diane (3 page)

“No it doesn’t, but being under sixty does. Even my parents listen to some. Heck, even my grandma does.”

“You get the Jo Bros off of your iPod before you judge me.” She gently ripped her player out his hands.

“I wasn’t judging. I was just curious.” He said seriously.

“I listen to some if it’s on the radio, but I’m not a big enough fan to buy any. If you must know, my mother didn’t allow such “base level music” influencing her children. I never really listened to it. I’m more a top forty with some influence from my daddy’s taste for soul and jazz.”

“What about country music? You ever listen to it?”

She smiled and raised an eyebrow. “Would it be hypocritical to say I don’t listen to that because I’m black?” They both laughed.

“I bet you I can make a country music fan out of you.”

“If I lose will I have to grow a mullet?” she said and giggled. He threw a french fry at her as he smiled.

♥♥♥

Diane walked into the front door of her apartment. She looked at the clock on the microwave in her kitchenette. It was quite late. She had enjoyed talking with Jack more than she’d expected to and they sat in the booth long after their meal was done. Though she was tired she wanted to feel hot lavender scented water wash away the stress of the day.

An hour later Diane lay in bed and closed her eyes to pray. It had been an eventful day, but she felt blessed that she had made it home safe and sound. She prayed that she would come to forgive the unkind doctor and that her relationship with her mother would be better. Before she said amen, she thanked God for sending Jack to rescue her, even if he was totally not who she asked for.

Despite herself, Diane couldn’t fall asleep. Thoughts of Jack kept popping in her head. She’d really enjoyed their dinner together. It was relaxed and easy. They’d talked and laugh until it was almost time for the restaurant to close down. She tried to dismiss it as the rebound effect. The rebound effect is like Cupid’s arrow. The first guy you meet after a breakup is always far more perfect in light of the transgressions of your recent ex. Each time she tried to dismiss Jack for all the reasons he was wrong for her, she would think about his dimple, and the way his deep voice tickled her ears, or the way his blue eyes looked at her like she was the prize bike for selling the most Boy Scout popcorn. Her attraction was beyond the physical, he was a gentleman too. Eventually she drifted off to sleep with thoughts of Jack still dancing through her dreams.

♥♥♥

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Early Thanksgiving evening there was a knock on Diane’s door. She paused the TV. A spontaneous smile lit up her face when she saw Jack standing in the hallway with jeans that fit snug on his muscular thighs.

“Hello, Jack.”

His crooked smile appeared slow and easy, but he was rendered speechless as his eyes perused her. She was wearing fuzzy knee socks, shorts and a t-shirt. The shorts were itty, bitty, displaying her long legs. From firm smooth thighs to stripe sock clad calves. Her t-shirt was stretched across her round, bra free breast with nipples hardened by the cold outside air that met her when she opened the door.

“Um…hi,” was all he could manage from his hormonal brain.

Diane looked down then quickly she crossed her arms over her chest. That didn’t help him focus any better because all that did was enhance the cleavage peeking out of the V of her t-shirt.

“It’s Thanksgiving. What are you doing here?”

“It’s Thanksgiving,” he repeated nodding his head. She must think he was a stupid horn-dog with the way he was talking and acting. He looked into her eyes to help him focus and get the blood flowing back to his brain. “I didn’t want you to miss out on the holiday so I brought you some food.” He stretched his arms out to hand the bags to her.

She opened the door wider instead of taking them. “Would you like to join me?”

He wished she was more readable, but she held her thoughts close to her vest. Was she glad to see him or ready to call the police and get a restraining order. So far none of his normal charms had worked. She was all he could think about but there was no clue if she’d even given him a second thought. She was nice to him, no she was polite to him, but nothing beyond that. He could not tell if she was just being polite or if she really wanted him to join her.

“I didn’t call ahead or anything. I wasn’t inviting myself over. I just didn’t want you to be the only person in the country not eating a good meal today. I’ll just set it in the kitchen and be on my way.”

“Unless you have other plans, I’d really enjoy your company,” Diane offered politely.

“My only plan was to catch a nap while watching football.”

“I’ve been watching Christmas themed romantic comedies all day waiting for the Bears game to come on.”

“There are enough Christmas themed chick flicks to fill a day?”

“There’s enough for more than a day. Someday I’ll torture you and make you watch them with me.” She bit her lip as if to trap the words she’d already said. He liked that she was thinking of them in the future even if she didn’t intend to share it. Her playful tone was also comforting.

“If I’m with you I don’t see how it could be torture.”

“Let me go change into something more appropriate for company.”

He allowed himself to look at her body once again. “I think you’re dressed plenty appropriate.”

“You don’t think this is a kind of revealing?” She raised an eyebrow.

“What it’s revealing is mighty nice.”

Quickly she walked towards her bedroom. He was somewhat mesmerized by the sway of her bottom as she walked away. The shorts barely covered her perfect backside. He shook his head to rid it of its unseemly thoughts. He needed to play it cool before she ran off like a frightened doe.

He was unpacking the food when she returned wearing a Chicago Bears sweatshirt over a pair of leggings and she’d pulled her hair back into a ponytail. She was just as cute as she was sexy, and smart as she was funny.

She stopped in her tracks when she saw the feast filling every inch of the counter. “All of that is for me? That’s a lot of food.”

“I didn’t know what you liked so I brought a little of everything. It’s Thanksgiving, you’re supposed to indulge.”

“The scale says I’ve indulged enough and need to slow down.”

“The scale is a liar. You look perfect.”

“There’s a pie and a cake here!”

“My mom insisted I bring you both. She wanted you to experience the full range of her culinary skills.”

“That was awfully nice of her. Wait, you told them about me?”

“Yep.”

She waited for him to elaborate but he did not. “What did you tell them about me?”

“Stuff.” Again he did not elaborate.

“What kind of stuff?”

“Just Stuff.”

“Why are you being so evasive?”

“’Cause you’re awfully cute when you’re flustered, Nancy Grace.”

She narrowed her eyes at him playfully at the nickname he gave her. “Are you going to help me eat this?”

“I doubt you’d be able to stop me. The only thing I love more than my momma’s cooking is my momma.”

They sat on the couch eating and watching football. She was surprised at how good all the food was. She had only had chips and pop so far that day so she had quite an appetite. They both reached for the last piece of turkey at the same time. She hit his fork away with hers. He just smiled and watched her eat it.

“What kind of pie is that?”

“Sweet potato.”

“Not pumpkin?”

“She tried to get me to bring one of her legendary pumpkin cheesecakes too.”

“That sounds delicious. You’re being selfish. I feel you were holding out on me by not bringing it. ”

“I was. Plus, I need some leverage to get you to go on a third date with me.”

“Third date? You’ve skipped from zero to three. You can’t count.”

“You don’t know the definition of the word date.”

“Just for that, I’m not sharing the pie or cake with you,” she said with false indignity.

“I’ll be sure to tell momma how selfish you are.”

“I’m sure you will since you apparently tell her everything.”

She cut a huge wedge of cake and brought the whole pie and a fork back to the couch. She sat the slice of cake on the table and dug into the pie. She moaned with the first bite.

“Thish is sho good,” she said with a mouth full of pie.

“I’m glad to see you like to eat. I don’t date girls that don’t like to eat.”

“We’re dating?”

“So are you really not going to share?”

“We’re dating?” she repeated

“Yep, we’re dating Nancy Grace. Last night was our first date and I’m going to go ahead and count this as our second.” He said going to the kitchen and returning with a fork of his own and a slightly larger chunk of German chocolate cake that he sat next to hers.

He moved towards the pie with his fork but once again met opposition from her fork. He hit her fork away with his, but she retaliated before he could get a bite of pie. She was quite skillful using her fork as a sword.

♥♥♥

To get comfortable he took off his sweater. As he did so his t-shirt came up a little too, momentarily revealing rippling abs. It was now her turn to ogle him. The t-shirt lay contoured over his pecks and stretched around his biceps. She’d seen something similar before in a museum in Italy, but Michelangelo’s David wasn’t quite this perfect. He caught her looking and just smiled that cocky little smile that showed his dimple under his facial stubble.

As they sat next to each other his scent wrapped around her. The faint smell of outdoor mixed with his cologne was very masculine and appealed to Diane on a very basic level. The little things about this man were starting to add up to her being attracted to him big time and it bewildered her. She slid away from him so that his pheromones, or whatever, were out of range. She was simultaneously enjoying her body’s reaction to him while reprimanding herself for being attracted to him so soon after meeting him.

They sat quietly watching football and binged on delicious cake and pie for a while. Every now and again she would get really excited about a play and jump up to either cheer or jeer at the screen.

“You really get into football.”

“My father worked really hard through the week when I was little. Saturday was his day to do yard work or odd things around the house. The best way to spend time with him was on Sunday when he was watching football. My father, brother and I would come home from church, and plant ourselves in front of the TV for the next few hours. He’d even let us stay up late to watch Monday Night Football if the Bears were playing.”

“I like dating a girl that likes football.”

“Once again, what’s this about us dating? We are not dating.”

“I didn’t say we were. I just said that’s a quality I like in a girl I date. But we are dating.”

She rolled her eyes at him. Eventually all the food she’d eaten caught up to her and she became drowsy. Her foggy brain did not tell her to stop when she laid her head on his chest. She cuddled into his warmth and fell asleep to the rhythm of his heart beating under her ear. He pulled her in closer and kissed the top of her head, but he did not doze off because he wanted to enjoy the feel of her soft warmth nestled against him.

Slowly she woke to an unfamiliar feeling. Her pillow felt harder than usual. Finally, her drowsy brain reminded her she was on her couch with Jack. Hesitantly she opened her eyes confirming her suspicion that she was not laying on a pillow but on Jack’s chest. Even more alarming was that in her sleep her hand had found its way under his t-shirt to rest on the bare skin of his well toned stomach. She yanked her hand from under his shirt and sat up, moving away from him. Of course when she looked at him, he was just smiling that smile at her.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you,” she said flustered.

“No need to be sorry, you were comfortable. I liked it. I like when a girl I’m dating falls asleep on me.” Before she could say anything he said, “I know. I know. You don’t think we’re dating.”

Diane hoped that his stomach was the only thing she touched. The fractions of her dream that she could remember had her investigating if his thighs were as muscular as they appeared. She had been engaged to Dr. Insincere and he had never made her feel more than lukewarm. She’d known Jack for a little over twenty-four hours and he already had her hot enough to melt steel. Somewhere deep down inside she felt like less than a woman because of Dr. Insincere’s probable perpetual infidelity. Jack made her feel like the most desirable of women and everything he did reminded her how much of a man he was.

Despite the reasons why she was reacting so strongly to Jack, she was going to have to nip it in the bud or at least apply the brakes. He had her so confused she was mixing metaphors. She needed to concentrate on school and her career, not deep voiced smiles. She scooted further away on the couch. Once her car was fixed and returned to her, she would have no contact with him. Of course she would pay for the repairs. Well, her dad would pay for the repairs, but after that she’d forget he existed. A voice in her mind was laughing.

 ♥♥♥

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