Brian Quinn: A New Man

Chapter 8

It had been a week since the first car rode with Brian, a week full of rain and thunderstorms had prevented Jacki from picking up her bike and bringing it home. She got accustomed to him offering her a ride. One evening she needed to get groceries and he wandered the store with her. To repay his generosity, and to try and reimburse him for all the gas he was spending, she made a steak dinner with green beans and roasted red potatoes. He told her it wasn't necessary but he didn't turn down the food and basically inhaled it.

But there was finally supposed to be a break in the rain and Jacki was looking forward to enjoying the last few days of reasonable temperatures while biking back and forth to work. Brian had picked her up and they drove in to the city to the TruTV offices near Columbus Circle.

It was a day full of meetings, most of which didn't really pertain too much to Jacki. But she made use of some free time by scrolling through job postings on the TruTV employee pages. She sent her resume out to a couple of different productions and then decided to get her bike and enjoy the rest of the afternoon.

She got to the bike rack in the parking garage and saw that her bike wasn't there. This is where I left it! There's not another bike rack, right? She was frantic. She ran over to the security booth and asked the guard about her bike. He hadn't seen anyone take it and the bike rack was, unfortunately, in a blind spot from the security cameras.

She spent about an hour at the security office, inside, while they went through videos. But everything only lasted a week on the servers. Which meant that if her bike was taken on the day she first left it then that recording was already gone. Defeated, Jacki went upstairs, hoping that the Jokers would be breaking for lunch soon.

Just as the elevator arrived and the doors opened the Jokers and some of the producers were coming out of the TruTV office. Her eyes were a little puffy from crying and her nose was still a bit funny. Which must have been pretty obvious since everyone, almost in unison asked if she was ok.

"No," she said as she sniffed, "someone stole my bike."

She saw Brian push passed everyone else and pull her in for a hug. His arms were comforting, surprisingly so. But she was grateful for him and how kind he had been over the last week. And despite what the rumors were, he'd never made a pass at her or made her feel anything less than respected.

"Come on, let's go." She heard him whisper. He guided her back on to the elevator and the doors closed. No one else even tried to ride down. When they got to the garage, Brian got the door for her and she say in the passenger seat.

"What do you need right now?" He asked.

It took a minute for Jacki to think. She needed transportation. She'd been saving for the Vespa, but she was still a couple hundred dollars away from that. She needed food, too, she was hoping to have had lunch by then

"Well, I need some way to get around town, and not be depending on you every day. I've been saving up for a Vespa."

"Okay, off to get you a Vespa!"

"But I still need a couple hundred to put towards it."

"No problem, I can spot you the cash." He said it without missing a beat.

"Brian, I can't ask you to do that."

He looked at her.

"You didn't ask. You're my friend. This is what friends do. Now I don't want to hear any arguing."

She nodded and he turned the car on. Jacki looked up the address and they were off to the shop in Brooklyn. As Jacki went over everything with the salesman he kept asking her if her husband wanted to know any of the details. She blushed and corrected the salesman that Brian was simply her friend.

When the papers were signed and the Vespa purchased Jacki smiled. She smiled even more when Brian gave her a helmet, obviously purchased while waiting for her. She had completely forgotten to buy one so she was glad that he did. She put it on and stood next to her new mode of transportation.

"How do I look?!" She asked excitedly.

"Like Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday."

He pulled his phone out and snapped a few photos. Jacki approved a few of them and asked him to send them to her. After the photos she stood on the sidewalk with Brian.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye to you and your Jeep."

"I'm sure we'll meet again, especially when it rains."

She laughed and finally hopped on her mint green motor. She turned it on and carefully made her way home. When she did get home she opened the texts from Brian and smiled. She was grateful for him and his friendship. Her crush hadn't gone away completely, though, especially considering the amount of time they'd spent together. But she wasn't willing to jeopardize the closest friens she'd had in a while.