Stripped

Chapter 7

    Kara spent most of the next day trying to weasel what had happened on my date out of me. When I finally broke and spilled every detail of the night, Kara was swooning over both Jake and Mark. "Oh my goodness they are both so in love with you!" She said excitedly, almost as if she was happy that two guys were seemingly vying for my affections.

I didn't share her enthusiasm. Even though Mark had kissed me, the look on his face when my name rang out over the microphone was enough for me to think he probably wouldn't be asking me out again. And even entertaining the thought of trying to steal Jake away from his fiance made me feel ill. He chose her and I wasn't going to stand in his way. 

Listening to Kara rave about how romantic Jake was made me angry. It didn't seem romantic to me, it was selfish. He did it to lay some kind of claim on me, I didn't belong to him. At last my patience ran out, "Kara quit," I demanded. I rubbed my temples to fight the headache that was threatening to set in, "I'm not putting any energy into getting Jake. He is getting MARRIED! He chose someone else!" Without realizing it I had started yelling and the look on Kara's face made me feel  like shit.  "I'm sorry, I shouldn't yell. But I just want him to leave me alone. I NEED him to leave me alone." I knew that if we didn't keep our distance that I would never be able to move on. Kara needed to understand that too.

She seemed to understand why I was so upset and started rambling about gossip she had heard at Cherry's. Relief washed over me and I was able to relax a little and exchange rumors with Kara.

Mark called as we were getting ready to head to work and asked if he could stop by. Kara instantly started to shake her head 'no' at me.  There was a strict policy at Cherry's about boyfriends. Typically Brad didn't like them to come in at all but if they kept their distance and didn't get jealous when other men were getting attention from their girlfriends, it wasn't a problem. But I really wanted to see Mark. I ended up telling him to show up really late so Brad would probably be gone for the evening or otherwise indisposed. When I hung up the call Kara was eyeing me, "You know that could be a disaster right?"

"I want to see him Kara. Everything will be fine." At least I hoped so.

With only an hour to go in my shift, I see Lila, the bartender, standing behind the bar and waving frantically at me. I hurried over, expecting some kind of emergency but she only directed my sights to the occupant of the bar stool at the end of the bar. Jake was waiting for me, a hopeful look lighting up his face.

A sense of excitement and dread filled me and I immediately thought of Mark. He was probably going to be there any moment. Who knows what he would think after what happened on our date the night before? I decided the easiest thing to do would be to find out what Jake wanted and get him out of here as fast as possible.

Tugging my robe tightly around me, I rushed to Jake. "What are you doing here?" I demanded before he could even say hello.

Jake shuffled his feet nervously, "I saw you last night at my show. I had to know what you thought."

Was he serious?  "You guys sounded great." I said shortly, keeping myself from looking directly into those sea green pools that always seemed to pull me in. I knew if I wanted to end this conversation quickly I would have to avoid talking about what he did. I had hoped that Jake would get the hint and not bring it up either. But as soon as I finished speaking, he opened his mouth.

"Did you like our song?" His voice was almost hopeful, he wanted me to like it, I realized as I looked at him. 

Of course I loved the way he sang "She Will Be Loved" he was a great singer but, the innocent look on his face made me furious. I couldn't hold in my frustration and I shoved his shoulder, "What the hell were you thinking?! How could you do that to me while I was on a date?"