Jen had left the university with her girls since they had agreed on having dinner together that Thursday. They had reserved a private room so that they could talk freely without disturbing the other customers in a pretty fancy restaurant.
It was then that Jen found out that Leanna had a boyfriend who was a gym trainer and Nancy had broken up with her boyfriend after high school. In Fact, he was the one who broke up with her but there was no need to get into the specifics.
As they ate their dinner Jen couldn"t help but compare the food to that that was served in her restaurant. She started to seriously think about opening another branch in city X but that was something she needed to discuss with Alex because as much as she enjoyed making money, she did not want to be too occupied with expanding her business and then end up flunking her cla.s.ses.
It was past 10 pm by the time they left the restaurant. As Leanna arrived in front of Jen"s house, they saw a black BMW parked in front of it. The two girls gave Jen knowing looks before she got out of the car. She waved goodbye as she walked towards Lucas who was leaning against his car.
"Hi baby, h-" Jen was cut off when she was pulled into a tight hug. She was surprised by his sudden action. However, what worried her more was his trembling.
"Lucas, are you alright?" she asked worriedly as she gently soothed him.
"You weren"t picking up your phone" Lucas complained.
"My battery died, and I lost track of time since I was with the girls" Jen explained. The only response she received was being hugged even harder.
"I was worried about you," Lucas said as he buried his face in her hair.
"I"m sorry baby, hmm" Jen comforted and waited until he had calmed down.
"Are you okay now? Should we go inside?" Jen asked and couldn"t help but smile when he nodded.
He looked like he was embarra.s.sed by his overreaction. However it was understandable seeing as she had a stalker that was lurking around her that he had no information on adding on to the fact that she was not home and she wouldn"t pick up his calls, he couldn"t help but a.s.sume the worst.
He had almost called the police before he tried to rationalise. If she hadn"t come home at that moment, he would have called them.
He followed Jen to her house and went inside before her to check on it. Jen"s eyebrows were furrowed as she saw his action. She was not sure what was going on with him but she didn"t say anything. If he wanted to tell her then he would say something.
He collapsed on her couch after confirming that everything was fine and closed his eyes. Jen watched him as he tiredly sat down and couldn"t help but feel a bit sorry for coming so late. G.o.d knows how long he had been waiting outside her house.
[A/N: Like two hours, it wasn"t that long]
"Have you eaten?" she asked.
"Not yet" he replied.
"What did you have today?" she asked him.
The only response she received was silence. Lucas knew if he told her he had been fueled by just coffee all day then it would only result to him being scolded. So he didn"t bother answering her since his answer would probably make her even more vexed than she would have been.
Jen took off her shoes and wore her slippers before going to the kitchen. Since he didn"t say anything then she wouldn"t force him.
She made him a quick meal before calling him to the table. Lucas obediently sat on the table and silently ate. Jen accompanied him but did not eat because she had just had her dinner when she was with the girls.
After he was done eating he cleaned up after himself even though Jen had insisted on doing it, he felt bad for making her cook for him when she would have otherwise not have cooked that day. After was.h.i.+ng what was left of the dishes, he returned to the living room.
Jen was watching a random program and she was obviously not paying attention because it was cartoons. Lucas sat down next to her and gathered her in his arms. She got comfortable in her new position and laid her head on his broad chest.
"Jen," Lucas said solemnly.
"Mmmh," she answered.
"There"s something we need to discuss," he said.
"Is it about today?" Jen asked and looked up at him but she could only see his chin since he was not looking at her. She grasped his face in both of her hands and tilted his head down so he would look at her.
"What"s wrong?" she asked, this time the concern in her voice could be heard. He didn"t want to break upright? She couldn"t help but think.
[A/N: Don"t worry darling, he"s in too deep]
Lucas was wondering how he would broach the subject without making her feel scared but he couldn"t think of anything else besides being direct. If he could, he would have rather not talk to her about it.
"Do you know Michael?" Lucas calmly asked. When Jen heard the name she was confused at first but then remembered the guy who kept asking her out was called Michael.
"Uhmm, is he at the university?" she asked. Lucas nodded in response.
"I know him, but we aren"t close at all" Jen replied. Lucas smiled in amus.e.m.e.nt since she looked like she was trying to rea.s.sure him.
"You didn"t do anything to him, right? He only talked to me a couple of times," Jen defended making Lucas speechless.
"Is that why you were acting that way earlier? Don"t worry about it, we aren"t like that at all" Jen continued not giving him a chance to say anything.
Lucas couldn"t hold it in anymore and he ended up laughing. It was a full and hearty laugh that surprised her since she had never heard him laugh so carefreely before. She was happy that he didn"t look solemn and serious anymore but at the same time, she couldn"t help but feel vexed that he was laughing at her expense.