She could tell he expected more of a response from her, but she failed to give him what he was looking for. He was likely used to getting every girl to look his way, but she wouldn’t be one of them.
He stuck out his hand to her. “I’m Jessie, Jessie Randolph.” He waited and she slowly turned to shake his hand. “You know the football player.” He said it jokingly, but she didn’t smile.
“Nice to meet you Jessie Randolph.” She moved again, this time straightening her dress so that she could go back inside.
He moved in front of her, and she blinked twice as she looked up at him.
“I introduced myself, it seems only fair that you do the same.”
She could almost feel the heat off of him, the way he peered down at her making her heart beat a little faster, though she hated herself for it.
“Lynne Alexander, that is. You know the writer?”
He smiled at his small victory, and she rolled her eyes. He waited a mere second before he spoke what was on his mind.
“You don’t like me very much do you Lynn?” He gave her a dark smile and she was surprised at his bluntness.
“I would think that you would give one care in the world what I think about you, but since you asked. No, typically I don’t like your type. You are almost always spoiled, self-involved and selfish. I know you half expected me to fall over dreamy-eyed because you spoke to me but you’re just a guy.” She paused. “That being said, I would never really say any of those things to you, since the fact of the matter is that I don’t really know you, so I have no right to assume any of that.”
She watched a few different emotions cross his face before he laughed loudly. “I can tell you sweetheart, almost all of that is accurate. I am self-involved, but I’m not spoilt. I fought hard to get where I am and that’s the truth. As for being selfish your right… I want what I want, and I always get it. In my mind that makes me confident.” He smiled down at her.
She made a very unladylike noise. “Hardly.” Which brought on another round of laughter from him.
Without thinking he crushed his mouth to hers, melding the two and making her knees feel weak. She barely had enough time to recover when he let her go once more.
“So Lynn…” He tested out her name on his tongue. “What do you write?” He was casual about the entire situation, not once breaking stride to kiss her.
“I do a column for The Times. Nothing sports related though. What the hell was that about?”
“You are beautiful.” He blurted it out, and she blushed.
He smiled at her. “Tell me something else about you then, since you seem to already know so much about me.”
“One thing she can tell you is that she is here with me, and you need to stay the hell away from her.” They both turned to see Brad standing in the doorway, scowling.
She felt the tension in the air go up a notch as she watched the two of them size each other up. She could only hope he had missed the kiss.
“Lynn, now that we are friends please tell me you don’t know this piece of…” He trailed off as Brad stepped towards him, causing her to jump into action.
“Whoa whoa, ok you two enough.” She turned her back to Jessie, and focused on Brad.
“Let’s just go Brad, let’s just go home.” She moved to walk towards the door, jumping as she went.
As they settled into the car she knew he was angry. It’s not as if she had done anything wrong, at least nothing she could think of. She waited, knowing he would tell her when he was ready to. She felt her face flaming, mainly because when her back was turned to him, Jessie had taken the opportunity to let his fingers grace her exposed back, causing her to jump.
“Lynn, that guy is a piece of work, and he is no good. Remember the fight I had two weeks ago?” He waited for her nod. “Well he is the ass who jumped me… out of the blue and for no reason at all except I was in the same general area that he was in.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Stay away from him Lynne, he is bad news. What the hell were you doing with him out there anyway?”
She felt the burn of anger rise up slowly from her stomach. “Jessie, really? I went out there to get some air and he was there. I didn’t want to talk to him tonight but I didn’t have much choice did I. Besides, maybe you are overreacting just a little.”
Some part of her knew that was going to make it worse. Instead of responding, he simply pulled into her apartment letting her out. No goodbye he spun out and left her standing outside.
“Gee thanks for making sure I got in ok.” She whispered it to herself, hating the way the tears sprang to her eyes.
Jessie
He couldn’t help shake the feeling he had about her. Not his usual type, not even close, but she was still beautiful. Everything about her seemed different, certainly not like any of the women he was attracted to. Perhaps it was the cat and mouse game, or her indifference to him that made him want to see her again. Whatever it was he found it very interesting. Maybe it was the kiss, something he rarely did so spontaneously. The only bad thing in the whole mix was Brad Falcor. He was a sonofabitch who had a squeaky clean demeanor and perfect image on the outside but Jessie knew him differently, he knew of the black hole in his chest he called a heart.
He shook his head doing his best to not focus on him. It would only piss him off, and then he would do something stupid, like go to his house. After the falling out years ago he knew better than to let Brad get under his skin, if for any other reason than to not give him the satisfaction of ruining his career.
She was definitely too good for him. What man would just leave his date alone to fend for themselves anyway? He frowned thinking about how he had learned to avoid that situation entirely by never bringing anyone with him to those events. She had looked a little lost out there, standing alone and something made him want to reach out and pull the pin out of her hair and let it all fall around her.
He sat up with a star. “What the hell is wrong with me?” He spoke it aloud, shaking off whatever path he had been traveling down with that train of thought. She was just a girl, and not one he should be messing with anyway. Not because of any reason other than her boyfriend. He had to wonder just how serious they were though.
The afternoon sped by and he found himself immersed in the strategy for the next game. It was a full time thing, always trying to improve yourself, and always doing your best to keep the fans happy. He had a game with Brad’s team on Friday, and it was a rivalry that was outmatched. It was also his favorite game of the year. Nothing felt better than beating the rival team. They were about evenly matched but his grudge with Brad always pushed him to be on top of his game.
He let his thoughts drift to her again, and he smiled as he flicked the screen on his phone and silently dialed the number for The Times. It only took a little smoozing, but he was sent to her line quickly enough. He smiled when he heard her pick up on the other end.
“Lynn Alexander, how can I help you?” She was obviously busy, he could hear her rustling in the background and the telltale click of a keyboard.
“I’m not sure yet, you are quite a mystery Lynn Alexander.” He said it simply enough but he felt a sense of satisfaction in hearing all activity stopping on the other end.
“Who is this?”
“It’s Jessie, we met the other night… at the party.” He waited, still grinning.
“Oh yes, I see. What can I do for you Mr.… she trailed off?”
He sat up in his chair “Randolph… don’t tell me your memory is going at such a young age Lynn.”
“On the contrary, Mr. Randolph I tend to only remember things that are important. As I said what can I do for you?”
He felt the same discontent from before. She really didn’t like him at all. “I’d like to meet with you. I want to clear the air about me and… your boyfriend.”
He heard her clear her throat. “I really can’t do that Mr. Randolph, I’m afraid.”
There was a hint of something else there, as if she wasn’t being totally honest about her reasons. He never had to push this much before, but he continued on anyway.
“Still, that’s what I’d like to discuss. I’d like to apologize, and explain… please.”
“I have to ask you Mr. Randolph is that the first time you have ever had to say please?” When he didn’t respond right away he could hear a slight tinge of laughter in her voice.
“Well, since you said please and everything, then fine I’ll meet with you. Just tell me when and where.”
In my bed, and now. He wanted to say it, but he knew better. “1 o’clock. I’ll meet you at Tratorio’s. It’s near your office.”
He didn’t wait for a response, instead he hung up, before she found a way to get out of it. Lunch would prove to be an interesting affair after all.
Lynn
What had she done? She glanced down at the phone on her desk and the first stirrings of guilt crept in. Brad would be upset, angry even if he found out she was meeting Jessie Randolph. Truth be told she wasn’t even sure why she was meeting with him, but she had said yes and now she was committed. Eventually curiosity got the best of her, and she did a little research about her lunch date. Sometime later she went through her day, idly writing the latest column and wen the time came she made her way out of the building and across the street to lunch.