the truth will out

15. Vince

As I'm walking across the street towards the cafe, I notice Jason sitting in the window. He hasn't seen me yet so I walk up to the window and knock sharply on the glass. I openly laugh as he jumps out of his skin looking at me shocked.
I walk into the cafe, still chuckling, and head over to our table.
"that wasn't funny" he says standing up to give me a hug.
"oh yes it was" I laugh "how are you, it's been way too long" I sigh as we sit down.
"I've been good, you?"
"well you know, as good as it can be- but hey we're in Chicago, we're working together again. It's all good" I say quickly as I see Jason look up at me sympathetically.
"so is Amanda not here?" I ask changing the topic of conversation.
"no she had to stay home, she's not been feeling so good"
"awe well send her my love yeah?"
"of course"

Me and Jason stay at the quiet coffee shop laughing and catching up for another two hours.
"well thankyou for the coffee and soup" I smile, turning towards jason as the door to the cafe closes behind us.
"no problem, hey I'll see you tonight right?"
"errm I don't know, why? What's happening tonight? " I ask confused.
"oh it's just cause the crew thought it'd be nice if we all went out for dinner tonight, you know to get comfortable with each other before filming starts" he digs his hands in his pockets "I thought you would've been told?"
"well I'm sure there's a message on my phone waiting for me when I get back" I smile, secretly hoping they didn't decide to just not invite me.

But sure enough when I got back to the hotel and placed my bag down on the bed, my phone was flashing with the notification of a missed call.
The meal was only scheduled for 7 so I lay on the bed, the window open, as I went through the script imagining what it was going to turn out like.

Knock knock
"hi, I won't be a minute I just need to grab my bag" I say opening the door for Jason as I turn back into the room.
"you look nice... Tryna meet someone?"
"ugh hardly" I roll my eyes looking down and smoothing out the tight, red cocktail dress I'm wearing.
"right let's go"
"after you" he smiles being a gentleman as he let's me past and shuts my hotel door behind me.

We arrive at the resteraunt 5 minutes to 7 but everyone's there already anyway. I politely shake hands and hug people as I'm slowly introduced to the main cast and crew.
"hi I'm vince" I hear a man say behind me and turn around to look up into a pair of intelligent brown eyes.
"wow" I mutter, swallowing hard "you're...tall"
"thankyou...you're small" he replies with a grin as he wraps his arms around me in a hug. It feels weird to he hugged by a man after so long, I hold on maybe a little longer than I usually would before pulling away, still looking into his eyes.
We all get seated around the table, me ending up inbetween vince and a nice lady called Ellie.
I order the steak as suggested by vince who is a regular here seeing as he only lives a couple of blocks down.

I spend most of the night talking to vince who it turns out is a very funny guy, leaning my head closer to his so I can hear him over the racious laughter and noise of the resteraunt.
"you look really pretty tonight" he says, so quietly I can barely hear him, into my ear. I blush looking down, smiling as my hair falls around my face, his breath against my neck sending tingles down my spine.
Why am I acting like this? I've been around guys plenty of times since new years and I've never felt like this. Maybe it's just been too long since I've had some masculinity in my life.
As I feel the heat creep back down my neck I look up and straight into vinces eyes. He stares back for what seems like eternity before we're dragged out of the moment by the scuffle of chairs as everyone begins standing up.
I gulp down the last of my martini and stand up. Grabbing my purse I lose my balance somehow and start to fall, but then I feel vinces arms around me pulling me upright.
"thankyou" I whisper, becoming more aware of his hand still on the small of my back.
"ahem" I clear my throat, turn on my heel and follow everyone out and onto the street. I see Jason stood a little away from the door smirking at me. I dramatically roll my eyes as I walk towards him.
We say goodbye to everyone and begin the short walk back to our hotel.
"ugh I can't wait to get these heels off" I mutter as we go to cross the street.
"jennifer wait"
I turn around to see vince jogging towards us. I turn back to jason "go ahead, I'll catch up" he raises his eyebrows but turns and continues crossing the road.
I turn back to vince and step back onto the sidewalk.
"ermm I was just wondering if you maybe wanted to go out again sometime in the week. You know just to get to know each other more, strictly professional" he says quickly as he sees me considering it.
"I-I'm-umm" I stutter desperataly trying to decide if I want to get closer to another man right now.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable" he mutters looking down.
"no no it's fine...erm I'd love to go out again some time"
"that's great" he smiles, his eyes lighting up slightly.
"oh and call me jen, I don't really like jennifer"
"ok...jen" he says, looking into my eyes.
I give him my number, saying goodbye with a hug and a kiss on the cheek, before turning and walking quickly to where Jason is stood waiting for me.
"don't even try" I say as he opens his mouth to make a cocky remark.
"what?!" he asks laughing, pretending he wasn't going to say anything.
After 5 minutes of silence Jason decides to break it; "so... you two seemed to hit it off"
I smile slightly, looking at jason.
"he's nice" I say.

We walked the rest of the way in silence until we say goodbye at my hotel door.
I kick off my heels and climb right into bed not bothering to change or wash up.
I stare up at the ceiling as Norman once again curls into my side.
I smile remembering how vince called me pretty as I turn onto my side, running my hand through Norman's coarse fur...