Sparrows Song

Chapter 17

Blake was even more nervous about going to dinner at Jenna's house than he had been going out with Jane and her friends the night before. He knew it was important to Jane, so he had to do it, but he had no idea what Jenna's intentions were by inviting him tonight.

Jane could tell he was really nervous, and she tried her best to soothe him. "Really, Blake, you don't need to be worried about tonight. Jenna and I have been best friends since middle school. I know she can be opinionated at times, but she's really not that bad. She's a nurse, so she just doesn't take crap from anyone. That's why Luke is always so quiet. Jenna kind of wears the pants in that relationship," Jane giggled then, "Anyway, she knows you and I have gotten to be pretty close friends again lately, so she just wants to get to know you more. That's all."

Blake only nodded as he drove them to the address Jane had given him, saying nothing in response. He didn't really feel any better about it.

Soon they arrived at a predictably cute, blue two-story house. The house was a small starter home, but the perfect size for newlyweds. It had a nice little front porch, complete with a welcome sign and two inviting chairs. Jane and Blake walked up to the front door together.

"Knock, knock," Jane said as she quickly rapped twice and walked in without waiting for Jenna or Luke to open the door for her.

"Jane!" Jenna said excitedly as they entered, and the two girls hugged.

Blake assessed the place, which was clean with coordinating decor, potted plants, and signs with cute little sayings on them. He wondered if he would ever get used to coming into homes like this, organized with everything matching, so unlike the filthy, cluttered, and rundown places he had grown up around. Would he ever fit in among people like the kind of people in Jane's life? He had to at least try.

"Hi Blake, welcome," Jenna said graciously. Luke stepped forward now as well, and the two guys nodded at each other in greeting.

"I just took the ribs off the grill," Luke said, and Blake could smell the delicious scent of sweet barbecue sauce. Jenna ushered the small group into her dining room.

She handed Jane a bottle of some kind of fruity alcoholic beverage, which Jane accepted. Blake was offered a beer, which he declined, but then wondered if he should have just taken it to be polite. He didn't want them to think he was rude already, but no one seemed to really care. The four of them sat down at the table, as plates were passed around.

The two girls had already begun chattering to each other happily, and it didn't seem to require any input from Blake or even Luke, so he was happy to let them. They were talking about someone they both knew from college, and something funny that happened to them. Jane was giggling, and Blake really liked to see her so happy. Seeing her like this he thought he could probably tolerate this evening well enough. The girls visited for a while before they dished up food and began to eat, giving him something to do.

But eventually the conversation turned to him. "So, Blake," Jenna asked, "What do you do for a living?"

"Oh, uh, software development. I'm a programmer."

"Hmm, that's interesting," Jenna said, although he was pretty sure she didn't really think it was interesting, "what kind of software?"

"Well, we do a lot of eCommerce stuff. I did some banking software once, that was fun," he replied slowly. He wasn't sure if these people actually cared about what he did, and it was kind of hard for him to explain it to people who knew nothing about programming.

Jenna didn't really care, because she moved on quickly to her next question, but it became clear to him at this point that this was an inquisition.

"So, what do you like to do for fun?" she asked.