One Step at a Time

Thanks yet again for the reviews. I\'m relieved to find out that the last two posts went over well. Since I\'ve never done scenes like those before I was eager to find out how I did. I guess it all turned out okay.

This one\'s kind of short and dull, but it gets done what I need for the next part.

===

The day was fairly warm, but the surroundings were damp and slick due to a short rainfall earlier in the day. Jake made his way through the parking lot to the bookstore Liz worked at, weaving to dodge the occasional puddle that formed in the potholes of the less than perfect blacktop. He was there to pick Liz up after work and they were going to catch a movie afterwards. Pride and Prejudice, he reminded himself with an inward groan. Personally he didn’t know much of what it was about, but from the few scenes in commercials he had seen, it didn’t exactly thrill him. There wasn’t anything out in the theaters the interested him anyway at the moment, so he decided to go with it.

He wasn’t looking where he was going for a moment as he neared the building, adjusting his jacket some when he suddenly ran into something or someone. When he looked up he realized exactly who it was.

“Oh!” That was all he was able to stammer out at the first second. “Mr., uh… Harold. I’m sorry, I wasn’t…”

Liz’s father cut him off with a friendly laugh and was fairly amused by Jake’s slightly panicked expression on his face. “Oh, Jake. Hello.” He said with a chuckle as he adjusted his glasses some, which appeared to have been knocked loose when they bumped together. “I wasn’t exactly paying attention either.”

Jake cleared his throat nervously. He was fine enough with her father on Christmas when he visited, but ever since he got together with his daughter he felt like he was on pins and needles the couple other times he saw him since. Jake knew he had no reason to be, but he couldn’t help it. “So, I take it you’re here to see Liz?”

“Surprisingly, no, but that was enjoyable none-the less. No, I was actually here to see Lee Edwards.” Jake looked at him with a blank face and a slight shake of the head to point out that he didn’t know who that was. “Oh, I take it you’ve never met him?” He was answered by another shake of his head. “He use to be a colleague of mine at the college. Then after he retired he ended up buying this bookstore. That’s actually how Liz came to work here, through association.”

“Ah…” Jake started with a slight laugh. “Much more practical than how I got my job. I happened to be at the store when they canned someone and I more or less replaced them the same day.” They both got a pretty good laugh from that and continued talking for a couple more minutes until Jake finally looked at his watch.

“Well, I guess I should probably get in there. The two of us are going to see a movie after we leave here.”

“Oh, which one?”

Jake scratched at his eyebrow in hesitation. “Uh, that Pride and Prejudice…”

Harold tucked in his lips some and nodded his head mournfully, stepping forward and patting his hand on his shoulder. “Good luck with that.” They both had to let out a laugh at their supposedly serious moment. “Well, I’ll let you go, then.”

“Okay, I’ll see you later sometime.” Jake started for the door before turning back quickly. “Oh, do you know where she is in there?”

“When I saw her she was by the magazines.” He informed with a clear of his throat. With that he gave Jake a wave and headed to the parking lot.

Jake entered the store and eyed the place for any sign of Liz before he turned to the magazine section. He walked down the first aisle and turned the corner towards where she should be and sure enough spotted her kneeling down by the bottom shelf of the row. A wicked grin spread across his face as he decided to sneak up on her, making his way over behind her a playfully slapping her on the rear and causing her to screech. He moved around her to see her expression when his face drained of any color.

“Holy hell…” He exclaimed when he realized the girl wasn’t Liz. “I am so sorry.” He tried to apologize. “I thought you were somebody else.”

The girl’s face was flush both from anger and embarrassment with an intensity in her eyes that Jake had never seen before, but she suddenly tilted her head some and looked at him strangely. “Jake…?”

His face was that of a dear in headlights and his body was tense for the expected slap or any other bodily harm that he rightfully deserved. “Um… yeah?” He admitted hesitantly, relaxing only slightly.

“Jake Hobbes?” She asked again, but this time he only nodded suspiciously. “Oh my God. It’s me. Linda.”

Jake straightened himself up some and raised an eyebrow as if he wasn’t fully convinced. “Linda? Really? Uh, you’re… her?” he could only imagine how dumb he was sounding, but she didn’t seem to pay any mind.

“Yeah. It’s, um, been a while.”

“Yeah.” He forced out. “I didn’t recognize you. Your hair, it’s…”

“Darker.” She finished for him. The last time he had seen her she was a natural blond with shorter hair. Now it was below the shoulders and black. Well, not black, he corrected to himself. Up close he realized it was a dark brown, but from far off and behind she looked like Liz. “Yeah, I dyed it about a year ago. Felt like making a change.” She explained, running her hand unconsciously through her long locks.

“God, again, I am so sorry about that.” Jake expressed again. “I just… you were down there organizing the magazines and your hair is darker… I thought you were the girl that works here. I am so sorry.” He stressed again.

Linda laughed reassuringly. “Don’t worry about it. Though if you weren’t you your crotch would most likely be inside out and security would be escorting you out.” She joked before regaining a serious tone. “All kidding aside, though, you look good.”

“Yeah, well…” He scratched the back of his head nervously. “Things have kind of picked up for me the past few months.” He smiled softly at the thought of Liz and how much his life seemed to have improved since she came into the picture. “You look good too.”

Liz had just come out of the storage room with a package of unopened magazines and she stopped in place as she spotted Jake by the racks talking to some girl. She would be lying if she said jealousy didn’t immediately flow through her. As far as she could tell from the distance the girl was very beautiful. Probably about the same height as herself with dark hair that flowed down her back, but it was her face that she noticed the most. She had a fair complexion that was only complimented by light amount of make up that she hardly needed and appeared to have striking blue eyes.

What was the matter with her, she chided herself. There was nothing to be jealous about. He was merely talking to someone else… who was female, and in her eyes much prettier. He’s allowed to do that. Though her train of thought would almost say otherwise. She couldn’t imagine what had just come over her. With a shake of her head she made her way slowly over to them and he happened to turn and see her, giving her a warm smile that for a second made all her worries fly away.

“Hey.” He said simply with the same smile. He took a couple steps towards her as she approached and leaned down to give her a light kiss on the lips. For some reason she immediately looked over to the girl and she didn’t know if it was her imagination or not, but she could swear she saw something flicker in her eyes.

“Hi.” She said almost weakly, though Jake didn’t seem to notice. Liz continued on by shifting her eyes between the two.

“Oh.” Jake started as he cleared his throat when he noticed her actions. “This is Linda Avery. She’s an old friend from high school.” Liz almost let out a sigh of relief. The way he just called her a friend was no different than the way he introduced her to Alice or Nick. Of course Nick was a guy and Alice he had only know for a few months, and was taken as well. She immediately cursed her mind for refilling the slight doubt that had just been drained. “And Linda, this is Liz Jennings. My girlfriend.”

“Girlfriend?” She said in a cheery tone and a smile that seem legit enough. “So I take it she’s what made the past months so pleasant.” Liz could feel her face heat up some at the thought of Jake talking about her in that way, and even more so when he nodded with a smile. “I’m happy for you, for both of you. I really am.” She finished.

Liz nodded in appreciation. “Um, well I should probably get these on the shelf.” She said, lifting up the stack she was still holding to show them. The two of them stepped out of the way so she could finish working.

“Well, I should probably get going too.” Linda started. “I actually have to get to work too.”

“Are you still working at the department store?” Jake asked, remembering back to her job.

“I’m working at A department store still, but not the same one.” She explained. “I’m now at the one downtown by Sixth and Eighth. It’s right by where I’m living now.”

Jake nodded in acknowledgement. “Sounds convenient.”

“It is.” Linda nodded as well. “But hey, I’ll let you go. You know…” She reached for her purse that was draped over her shoulder and pulled out a pen and small piece of paper. “If you ever want to get together sometime, just hang out and talk about old times or something, here’s my number.” She finished writing her phone number and handed it to him. “It would be fun to hang out together again.”

“Yeah, maybe…” He said as he folded the piece of paper. “We’ll see.”

Linda turned to Liz who was finishing up her placing the magazines. “It was nice to meet you, Liz.” She said sincerely.

Liz stood up and brushed her knees off before making eye contact. “Likewise.” She said with a smile, the same one she usually gave the everyday customer. Not family or a friend, but somebody that she would never think of seeing again.

Linda turned back to Jake. “Remember, any time.” She added to her previous offer. “But no more ass slapping.” She said with a joking smile and a slight wave before heading off to leave.

Liz turned and eyed Jake strangely. “Ass slapping?”

Jake couldn’t help but laugh. “Eh, not my brightest hour. I’ll tell you later. So, are you done with work?”

“Yep, that was the last thing I had to do. Just let me tell them I’m leaving and then we can hit the movie.” Jake again let out a comical groan to the thought of the two to three hours he would be soon spending in a chick flick. She responded with a frown and a pout that didn’t last long before it broke in a smile and she walked off. Well, maybe it won’t be so bad. Maybe we can make out in the back of the theater, he joked to himself. With that entertaining thought in his head he went outside to wait for Liz to return.

***

“Well, I guess that wasn’t such a big disaster.” Jake commented as he took a piece of chicken with his chopsticks and tossed it in his mouth. “I got to catch up on some sleep.” Liz elbowed him in the ribs and made him drop the lump of rice he had finally gotten a hold of. After the movie they went back to Liz’s apartment and ordered Chinese take out to watch another movie later that evening. Chinese definitely was not his favorite kind of food, but it was one of hers and he figured with the movie and the food it would be her day. The movie of choice at the moment was an old Doris Day and Rock Hudson film that neither of them were really paying attention to. It was more or less there to fill in the sparse amounts of silence that fell between conversations.

“It was not that bad.” She fought back. “I thought it was romantic.”

“The trailers were more entertaining.” He jabbed as he leaned forward and grabbed one of the many other cartons of food that were scattered around the floor, this time noodles and peas.

“Keep that up and things are going to get cold down south.” She threatened with a roll of her eyes.

“I’m sure.” Jake replied confidently with a chuckle and leaned over to whisper something in her ear, causing a deep blush to form on her face.

She stared at him wide eyed and gaping. “That was… that wasn’t fair.” She said in a soft voice. Jake rested his head on the back of the couch and laughed out loud until she elbowed him again. They were silent again for a couple minutes, Jake grinning in victory and Liz intentionally avoiding looking at him and staring at the movie, knowing if she looked at him her blush would deepen.

“Speaking of, um… that…” She started all of the sudden, looking down at the cup of noodles she was holding tightly. “Who was, I mean… I wasn’t your, um…first… was I?” Her flush deepened when she thought about what she just asked him and immediately wished she hadn’t. “I’m sorry. That’s personal. I shouldn’t have…”

Jake interrupted her with a shake of his head. “No, it’s okay.” He looked down at his food as well. Liz was able to look up at him sheepishly and he returned the glance at the corner of his eyes before shaking his head solemnly. “No. Unfortunately…” He trailed off.

Liz shifted uncomfortably at the thought of him with another girl and again whished she never brought the subject up. “So, an old girlfriend?” She asked shyly. She didn’t know what came over her with these questions, but seeing him in the store with another girl made her realize that he had an entire life before her and along with that, other interests.

“Yeah, someone from high school that I went out with for a while.” He explained with a slight sigh as he finished. “This is going to sound utterly cliché, but I enjoy the time with you much more. Just so you know.” He said honestly with a comforting smile. She could only smile back and blush from his compliment.

She was content with his answers now. Now she only felt silly for working herself up so much about everything. She was with Jake now and his character wasn’t one that would betray her or cause her to mistrust him in any other way. With all of that she decided to change the subject, though only partly. “So, Linda from the store… was she a close friend?”

Jake seemed a little thrown from the sudden change of subject and turned to face Liz partially. “Well, kind of… we knew each other for most of high school, but just drifted apart after graduation. Though that’s what happened with all of my school friends.” He added with a nonchalant shrug.

“That’s too bad.” Liz said in a consoling tone. “My small group of friends is the same one from back then. I didn’t really change much at all since then I guess.”

“I guess that’s where we’re different. I don’t know what others think, but I think I’ve changed quite a bit since then.”

“Well…” She started with yet another blush starting to form. “It seems to me it that whatever it was, it works.” They exchanged smiles with one another and fell into a comfortable silence, turning their eyes to the television again, but their thoughts remained on each other. “Are you going to call her?” Liz asked abruptly, breaking the silence.

Jake looked at her quizzically for a moment before realizing what she was talking about. “Oh, oh… I don’t know. It was so long ago, we might not even have much in common anymore.”

“It seemed like you got along well enough earlier.”

“Yeah, well, that was probably just because it was just a run in. No time to see what we’re like now. I don’t know, I’ll think about it.” He said. Jake finished his small box of noodles and tossed it in the wastebasket they kept near them, then scooted closer to Liz, putting his arm around her. “But thinking about another girl isn’t exactly what I want to do right now.” He said with a sly smile.

Liz looked up at him with a shy smile. “And what exactly do you want to do?” She asked meekly and without hesitation Jake leaned in and kissed her lightly on the lips, a moan escaping from her mouth into his. He put his weight on her some and forced her down on her back and broke the kiss for a moment.

“I thought you said things were going to get cold for me.” He said with a smug smile. She let out a small sigh of pseudo defeat and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer.

“Are you going to keep talking or are you going to continue what you started?” She asked quietly. Jake chuckled victoriously and lowered his head to hers once again. As much as Liz wanted to relish in the moment there was still a nagging feeling in the back of her mind that she couldn’t explain, but when she felt his hands beginning to run up her thigh all such thoughts left her. For now.