Chapter 13. Jenny's back... with me.
It was the second Tuesday night after Thanksgiving when I went out to meet a few of our friends for snacks, drinks and conversation at Perkins. My housemate Brian was prepping for a trial and said he was going to stay home so I headed out alone.
It was packed. There were over twenty-five guys present and the restaurant staff put us off in our own little section.
It was a big turnout as they had heard about the exciting night at Brian's house a little over a week before and wanted the first-person account of what happened.
I had sent out an email offered a Reader's Digest condensed version of what happened to my closest friends and let them know we were all okay. I'm sure it got forwarded as well.
This was the first time I'd really gone out since that night except for work and the gym.
I began by telling them about my cousin stopping by with a black eyes and a bag full of money and drugs and all the details from there.
Of course, they all laughed heartily when I told them about the police dog taking a bite out of crime - or in this case, some bad guy's ass.
They had lots of questions and I answered as many of the questions as I could.
Since the attack, Nicole had avoided her apartment, staying with friends. We loaned her a .38 Special revolver - an old police trade-in gun, with some petite grips and gave her the crash course on how to use it just in case. Thankfully, though, there had been no more excitement.
We were there for about an hour and we had moved onto other topics when someone tapped on my shoulder.
I turned around and nobody was there. I turned the other direction and saw Jennifer, the girl my house-mate Brian brought home all of two days after I moved in.
She was giggling at me, fooling me with the oldest trick in the world.
"Hi Joe. Remember me?"
"Jenn! It's so good to see you!"
I stood up and gave her a hug and held it. She felt nice and smelled good too.
"You're looking good and as always, that scent is a perfect match for you."
I let go from our hug and noticed she was with another girl, a blonde who was fairly cute as well.
"Thanks, you're such a sweetie and you're looking pretty handsome as well. How's my favorite home bartender anyway?" Jenn asked with a sparkle in her eye. She flicked her hair and looked me up and down.
"Pretty good. Even better now that you're here." I smiled. It was obvious that despite her casual appearance, she had put some effort into making herself look nice. Jenn stood about 5' 7" and weighed probably 115 pounds or so. Her curly, dark brown hair was a few inches longer than shoulder-length, with just a hint of red. She was wearing business casual - a pair of nice-fitting slacks with some 2" or so heels dressing things up a little.
"And, who's this pretty friend of yours?"
"This is Melissa, my room-mate."
Her friend was wearing jeans and some sort of turtleneck sweater of sorts, and with her freshly done make-up looked pretty sharp.
I took a second glance at Melissa and she was pretty. She was in her mid-twenties like Jenn, about 5' 5" tall and probably weighed about 160 pounds or so - a little heavier than I generally prefer, but that standard had changed a bit lately for me personally.
Melissa had a wickedly cute smile and some gorgeous blue eyes that contrasted nicely with her long, curly blonde hair. She had nice boobs, too.
I kissed her hand.
"Melissa, those blue eyes of yours are so beautiful! It's such a pleasure to make your acquaintance," I said.
Melissa looked back at Jennifer and smiled.
"It's nice to meet you as well," Melissa said. "Are you like this with all the women you meet?"
"No, just the prettiest ones, of course," I said, winking and smiling. Melissa just shook her head grinning. She was probably thinking I was full of crap, but I didn't mind.
I turned and introduced my friends at the tables arrayed around us. They were very charming and kind, complimenting the girls on their attractiveness. There was even some good-natured teasing at my expense. Jenn stood quite close to my side the whole time. I couldn't help but wonder if it was Jenn standing by "her" man.
She made a comment to the guys to not take it personally if she didn't remember everyone's name.
I asked her if she'd like to sit with us and she smiled. "Of course!"
I suggested everyone scoot over and we'd bring up more chairs, but a couple of my friends to my left offered their seats as they were done eating. They pulled up chairs at another table and Melissa and Jenn sat down. Melissa began chatting with a few of the guys down to her left about something or another.
"So, Joe, how have you been?" Jenn asked me, moving in still closer, our bodies almost touching as we sat. I put my arm around her shoulders and she leaned towards me.
"I've been okay. Busy, of course, but I've been okay. I was looking forward to seeing you again, but figured you must have found yourself seduced by the pool boy and ran off with him for warmer climates or something when I didn't see or hear from you again."
Jenn laughed. "No. No pool boys."
"Well, his loss. So what brings you here?"
"Melissa and I are just out to get out of the house for a while. Thought we'd see what was going on downtown after getting a snack - and by pure chance I saw you in here through the window when we walked around from the parking lot."
"I'm glad you're so observant!" I said, gently pulling her against me as I smiled at her then taking my arm away. "Really, I thought I might not ever see you again."
"Well, Brian never called me back. To make matters worse, I lost his number so I guess it was my fault as well."
"Oh well. The important thing is that you're here. So, can I buy you both something to eat?"
"Sure."
They ordered and I was admiring Jenn's pretty face as she talked with some of the others there. I found myself smitten, thinking how she could be so elegant and pretty out in public and such a sultry vixen in the bedroom. What a perfect woman!
She looked over at me. Her eyes were as beautiful as her smile. Thankfully, she wasn't talking to me because I wasn't paying attention.
She gave me a little wink and a smile.
I winked back. "So, Jennifer, what do you do for a living? Anything exciting?"
"I work for an insurance company as a claims representative. It's far from exciting. How about you?"
"I'm a physician's assistant over at the local hospital. Good days aren't exciting. Exciting usually means someone else is having a really bad day."
She chuckled a little and we talked a little more about our jobs and co-workers for a bit.
Melissa turned back towards us. "So, you're Brian's room-mate, huh?"
"Domestic servant, actually," I said. That brought a smile and a laugh.
"And cook, bartender and dragon slayer." More laughter.