Chapter 34 (7/22/16)

Guys!  I have no idea what happened.  I thought I posted this yesterday.  I came to check just now because I thought it was odd to not have gotten any comments...and there it was, hanging out in my drafts.  So strange.  I'm sorry!  Here it is!  (Also, after this, I'll be going to a Monday/Thursday schedule.)

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When Friday rolled around, I was surprised to get a text from Jesse saying we were on for Saturday if I was still free.  I was, so we made some plans, because why not? 

After work, I hurried got ready for the evening.  I was going out to dinner and to get some drinks with Grace, Sam, Emma, and Rayne.  I wasn’t nervous this time, just relieved that Charlie wouldn’t be there.  Grace was (once again) picking me up, even though I’d offered to drive this time.  I wasn’t complaining! 

When we got to the restaurant, Rayne was waiting outside.  She hadn’t been at Emma and Charlie’s cookout, and she squealed when she saw me. “Hi!” she exclaimed, throwing her arms around me.  “I’m sorry, we’re idiots, I missed you, I’m so glad you’re here!”  Rayne was tirelessly optimistic, energetic, and did everything quickly and loudly. 

“Hi, Rayne,” I said, giggling at her enthusiastic greeting.  “It’s good to see you.”

She wrapped her arm around mine as we walked in.  “Tell me everything you’ve been up to.  Don’t leave anything out!”  I caught Grace’s eye and she tried not to laugh.  I started to catch Rayne up on the highlights and she listened intently, interrupting every so often with an excited interjection. 

Tonight--unlike at the cookout--I immediately felt like I was part of the conversation with everyone else.  They caught me up on their lives and we all ate too much and far too slowly because we were busy catching up and laughing.  It felt good to be back to hanging out with them, and I was relieved that it felt so normal. 

As we were waiting for the bill, Rayne looked at me, serious for once.  “How are you doing?” she asked, looking at me intently.

“Like, right now?” I asked confused.

“No,” she said, shaking her head.  “I mean…how are you?  With the divorce and everything?  Are you happy?  Are you okay?”

“Way to make it weird, Rayne,” Emma said, rolling her eyes.

“It’s fine,” I replied.  “I am now.  I wasn’t either for long time, but now I’m both, and I’m actually better than I was.”  Rayne seemed satisfied with that, and she flashed me a smile before changing the subject to something a little lighter. 

No one mentioned my divorce or my well-being for the rest of the evening, and I was glad. We moved from the restaurant to a nearby bar and had a few drinks.  It was nearing midnight when my phone screen lit up with a call from Ryan.  I declined the call and texted him, “I’m out.  It’s loud.  What’s up?”  He responded immediately with, “Ah, I was just wondering what you were up to, but you’ve answered my question.  Have fun!”  I set my phone aside just in time to hear Sam saying that she should probably get going soon.  Emma chimed in with agreement.  I picked my phone back up and texted Ryan, “Actually, it sounds like the night is dying down. I could meet you at my place.  I’m at the mercy of my sober friend though.”  After a short wait, I got his response.  “I can pick you up if you want.  How drunk are you?”  I laughed and responded, “I’m not sure what kind of answer you’re hoping for, but just a little buzzed. Sober enough to make good decisions.”  “That’s exactly what I was hoping for, I’m not into banging drunk women,” he replied.  A second later, another text popped up: “When and where should I pick you up? 

We made arrangements and I quietly told Grace I didn’t need a ride home.  I hadn’t told everyone else about Ryan and I wasn’t really interested in doing so.  We all closed our tabs, and Grace and I said goodbye to Rayne, Sam, and Emma.  She insisted on waiting with me until Ryan got there.  She and I were standing there chatting when all of a sudden we heard a male voice say loudly, “A nice ass on the one and legs for days on the other, how did we get so lucky?”  Grace and I spun around, and I was prepared to tell off whoever it was.  Instead, I was surprised to see Kevin and a guy I didn’t know.  He was clearly surprised to see me.  The idiot with him said, “And a great set of—“

“That’s my ex-wife and my buddy’s wife, you asshole, shut up!” Kevin hissed at him. 

I wrinkled my nose.  “Classy friend you have there,” I said to Kevin, crossing my arms and glaring at him.

“I’m really sorry,” Kevin apologized.  “He’s really drunk, and a really big idiot.”

“I am not either,” the guy said.  

Grace looked annoyed, but stayed quiet.  I turned my icy glare back to Kevin's friend and said, “I hope someone punches you in the face someday for talking to them like that.  Catcalling and harassing women in public isn’t appropriate and it’s actually incredibly degrading and threatening.  You want women to stop talking about not feeling safe or respected around men?  Then stop doing dumb shit to make them feel unsafe and disrespected.  It’s disgusting and it’s not going to get you dates or even a one night stand.”

A Mercedes SUV pulled into the passenger loading zone and the driver got out.  I was too busy telling off Kevin’s classless friend that I didn’t even notice that the driver was Ryan until he stepped up on the curb and asked, “Everything okay, Jenna?”

My head snapped his way and I nodded.  “Yes, but can you give my friend a ride to her car?” I asked, throwing one more angry glare at Kevin’s friend. 

“Of course,” Ryan said.  He pulled open both passenger side doors and motioned us over. 

            “See you later, Kevin,” Grace said as we walked over.  I said nothing. 

Ryan offered me a hand to step up into the large SUV and I gave him a weird look.  When he shut the door and got back in the driver’s seat, he glanced in the rearview mirror at Grace and flashed her a killer smile.  “I’m Ryan,” he said, pulling his eyes away from the mirror to check his blind spot and merge out onto the road. 

“Grace,” she replied.  “Thanks for the ride.” She directed him to where her car was parked two blocks away.  I jumped out and hugged her before she left, and she whispered to me, “He is gorgeous, have fun!”  I grinned at her and got back in the SUV.

I looked at Ryan as I pulled my seatbelt on.  “I didn’t know you were so fancy,” I said pointedly.  “I guess I never even saw your car when you came to my house.”

He chuckled.  “I’m not fancy at all, actually.  It’s a company car, and I sort of hate it.  When I’m in town I do a lot of schmoozing of clients, so I get a fancy company car to keep up appearances.  Apparently clients care what kind of car their project manager drives.”

“Who knew?” I asked rhetorically.

“What was happening when I picked you up?” Ryan asked curiously. 

I sighed.  “Grace and I were waiting for you and one of those guys made some obscene comments to us.  When we turned, I realized he was with my ex-husband.  So I was giving him a piece of my mind.”

“Your ex-husband, or the guy that made the comments?”

“The guy that made the comments.  Saying things like that to women you don’t know is disgusting and degrading.  But I guess I’m not surprised, for a guy that was hanging out with Kevin.”

“Noted,” he said, glancing at me.  “Would you like to tell me more?”

I glared at him.  “Don’t mock me,” I snapped. 

“I’m not!” he said, holding up one hand in surrender.  “I swear!  I was just giving you an opportunity to vent off more of your frustration.”

“I’ll take out my frustration on you in other ways, as soon as you get us to my house,” I informed him. 

He grinned.  “Well, that’s even better!”  He paused for a second, then asked, "So which one was your ex-husband?"

"The blonde one."

"Nice looking guy," Ryan said.  

I gave him a weird look. "Could you not?" He shrugged but didn't say anything more.

Ryan parked in my driveway and waited patiently while I unlocked my door and let us inside.  I’d barely even gotten the lights on and the door shut and locked when he said, “So, tell me more about how pissed you are.”

“I’m going to make you really sorry you asked that,” I said, backing him up against the door.

He smirked, grabbed me by the upper arms, and easily spun us around so he had me against the door.  “Are you?” he asked, slowly sliding his hands down to my wrists.  “I’m not feeling sorry yet.”  I playfully tried to pull my hands away from him but he tightened his grip, pulled them from my sides, and pinned them above my head.  I grinned at him wickedly and he took that as his cue, kissing me hard and pressing his body against mine.  “It’s a good thing you wore this nice short dress,” he murmured in my ear, taking a break from kissing me to suck on my earlobe and nip at my neck.  He let go of my wrists to slip his hands under my dress, find my thong, and drag it down my legs until it fell to the floor on its own.  I stepped out of it and he kicked it away down the hallway. 

“Are you going to stop talking and start fucking me, or are we going to stand here all night and chit chat?” I asked him, biting back my smirk. 

He grinned at me for a split second before spinning me to face the door and pressing his hips against my ass.  I ground my hips into his, feeling him against me. “No patience tonight, huh?” he asked, pulling my hair to one side.  He deliberately dragged his fingers across my neck while doing it, making me shiver.  Then he lowered his mouth to the back of my neck, moving his lips across the same path his fingers had just taken.  At the other side of my neck, he nipped hard at my exposed skin, surprising me.  I yelped, then groaned as he slid his other hand back up my dress and worked two fingers into me. 

We had sex right there against the door, with one of my legs held tightly bent up against the door and his other hand gripping the back of my neck.  I was a little worried one of the neighbors would call the cops because I was not even close to quiet. When we were finished, we managed to stumble to the couch.  Ryan stretched across the couch and put his head in my lap, and I reclined the section of couch I was on.  “Still pissed off?” Ryan asked from my lap.  He stroked my bare calf lightly.

“Not even a little bit,” I said sleepily. 

“Then my job here is done,” he replied.  He continued to run his fingers up and down my leg and the repetitive sensation was making me sleepier by the second. 

“When do you leave again?” I asked him, yawning.

“Umm,” he said, thinking for second.  “Monday, I think.  I’ll be gone until the next Wednesday, and then I guess I have a full month off from traveling.  You know what that means, right?  That means you can get a piece of this whenever you want for an entire month.”

“So basically I should start coming up with excuses now?” I asked, teasing him.  “Damn, I think I feel a month long headache coming on.”

“I hear orgasms are good for headaches,” he replied, sitting up and stretching.  We were both fully clothed.  He’d simply pushed my dress out of the way and unbuttoned and unzipped his pants. I yawned again and closed my eyes.  “You need sleep,” he said, standing.

“Don’t tell me what I need,” I said, but I was too tired to put any sass to it.  I had to stop going out on Fridays.

He laughed.  “Don’t get up.  I’ll see myself out.”

“No,” I groaned, struggling to push the footrest of the reclining couch to the floor so I could sit up.  Ryan lifted his foot and put it between mine, easily shoving the footrest down and back into the couch.  “Thanks.  I need to get up so I can go up to bed.” 

I walked with him to the door and when we got there, he leaned against the doorframe.  “Hey, so I know you’re tired, but I just want to check to make sure we’re both still good and on the same page with this.”

I made a face.  “Why, did I do something to make you think otherwise?”

He shook his head and smiled.  “No, I just think it’s good to check in with that every once in awhile.”  His smile turned to a smirk.  “You know how women get, suddenly finding feelings where there weren’t any before and then getting mad when they’re not reciprocated.  It ruins everything.”

“You’re far too much of a dick to ever have to worry about any of that,” I told him, rolling my eyes.  “We’re definitely still on the same page.”

“Good,” he replied.  He leaned down and kissed my forehead gently; it was surprisingly tender and even more surprisingly not weird at all.  “I’m sure I’ll see you when I get back from my next trip.”

“If you’re lucky,” I retorted  Ryan shook his head and turned to leave.  I smacked his ass and said, “Good game, champ!” 

He burst into laughter but chose not to respond, instead just walking out the door.  I locked it behind him and headed to bed.