Plus 1

by Erica Lee

  Jenny shook her head forcefully. “Not at all. I actually have no interest in that. Working for an independent company would be a dream come true. It’s all of the joys of film making without any of the spotlight BS. It’s just that the position is the lowest of the low. It’s pretty much just a paid internship and I don’t even know if I’ll make enough money to cover bills and rent. My parents offered to help, but I hate depending on them. The one positive is that there is a good chance I could move up in the company fairly quickly.” She sighed loudly before continuing. “I just don’t know if I’m chasing a pipe dream. Part of me thinks I should just let go and live in the real world. I have a writing minor. It wouldn’t be too hard for me to go back to school and take some teaching classes so I could be an English teacher. It’s not my dream but it’s stable.”

  At this point, the slow song had ended, but I continued to hold onto Jenny. I looked deep into her eyes as I spoke. “You should do it. I know I just met you and it’s none of my business, but I can see the way you light up when you talk about it. I think it’s worth going for it. You’re only 24. You don’t have to enter the real world yet. Plus, who’s to say this isn’t the real world for you?”

  Jenny nodded her head in understanding. “You make a good point. Apparently you’re not just eye candy Rory Montgomery.” She winked before adding, “But here I am being so rude. I haven’t even asked about what you do.”

  Before answering, I took a moment to look around the room and noticed that even though the DJ had switched back to a fast song, it looked like people were starting to stare longingly at their seats. As much as I wanted to spend the night talking to Jenny, I knew I owed it to my cousin to make sure her wedding was a success.

  “I would love to bore you with all of those details, but for now, we have a job to do,” I informed Jenny. “You take the high school boys. Flirt with them a bit to keep them on the dance floor. If you keep them out there, the girls will stay too. I’ll take the older crowd. I’ll charm them into dancing with me.”

  I followed my instructions with a wide grin, hoping she didn’t mind that I had just put her on hormonal boy duty. If she did, she didn’t show it. She bumped her hip against mine then made her way toward the group of teenage boys congregating at the edge of the dance floor. As she walked, she made sure to sway her body back and forth. When she reached the group, she gently placed her hand on the one boy’s shoulder, then whispered something in his ear. She followed up this action by turning around and winking at me. My God. How many hours were left in this wedding? This girl was going to be the death of me.

  I tried to shake myself of the thoughts that would make me the equivalent of a teenage boy myself and made my way over to my grandma who seemed to be walking toward her table with the other older members of our family. Before she could sit down, I grabbed her arm.

  “Hey hey young lady,” I scolded. “Just where do you think you’re going? I haven’t gotten my dance yet.”

  My grandma waved her hand in my direction in an effort to shush me, but she should have known I wouldn’t give up that easily. I moved my hand over my face as if I was wiping tears away.

  “Aw come on grandma Helen. You’re going to break my heart. Is that really what you want to do to your FAVORITE grandchild?”

  My grandma shook her head at me, but I could see a smile starting to spread across her face. “You know I don’t have favorites. But I must remind you that I am your favorite grandma and if you make me dance much longer, you might kill me.”

  She was right about that. She was my favorite grandma. Although, she never really had any competition. I had never had much of a relationship with my grandparents on my dad’s side. His father passed away when I was only 5 and his mother passed away when I was 12, but I had only met her a handful of times. She lived in Florida and didn’t really make time for her family. Like mother, like son I guess.

  “You might be my favorite grandma, but that doesn’t mean you’re automatically my favorite grandparent. Grandpa could still beat you out at that and I bet he will dance with me if I ask him. Isn’t that right gramps?”

  At this my grandpa looked up from his seat, where he was almost falling asleep and muttered a quick, “Oh yeah sure. Whatever you say sweetheart.”

  I turned to grandma Helen with a victorious smile. “See. Told you,” I said while raising my eyebrows at her.

  She rolled her eyes then took my hand. “Fine. Let’s get this over with.” She paused and looked back at her white haired posse behind her. “Come on ladies and gents. We have to put on our dancing shoes for just a few more songs for my granddaughter.”

  Soon I was out on the dance floor, twisting and turning with everyone over the age of 70 at the wedding. Time passed by quickly and I was happy that I had been successful at keeping the older generation on the dance floor for a decent amount of songs and that they seemed to have forgotten about wanting to sit. As often as I could, I turned to look at Jenny on the dance floor. Now and then, she would look over at the same time and smile at me in a way that made butterflies flutter through my stomach. Man, what was wrong with me.

  After a few more songs, my cousin joined my grandma and I. She leaned in close and whispered just loud enough for me to make out what she was saying.

  “You’re off wedding hype duty. You did a good job. Now go dance with John’s cousin. You’ve only been staring at her all night.”

  “Have not,” I tried to argue, but the blush on my face told her otherwise.

  Valerie threw back her head in laughter. “Ok. Whatever you say Ror. Would you stop arguing with me and just go dance with her?”

  “Fine,” I said. “But only because you told me to and it’s your day.”

  She smiled at me knowingly as I scurried away. I found Jenny patting the head of a boy from Valerie’s graduating class. “I told you dude. Even if you were five years older, you still wouldn’t be my type.”

  Just as she finished her sentence she caught me standing beside her and a wide grin spread across her face. She pointed to me. “Now if you looked more like this one right here, you would totally be my type.”

  A look of confusion entered onto the boy’s face as he looked between Jenny and I, but suddenly his face became like a kid on Christmas when it clicked that Jenny and I were lesbians.

  He threw an arm around each of us. “So ladies, how would you feel about…”

  I put a hand over his mouth before he could complete his thought and moved an elbow toward his junk, stopping myself right before I hit the target. “Finish that sentence and you’ll find out how it feels to lose the ability to ever be able to make babies.”

  His eyes went wide as he quickly backed away from us. He put both hands in the air in a sign of surrender. “So sorry ladies. You two do whatever it is you want to do. Forget about me. So sorry.”

  He tripped over his own feet and stumbled into a group of girls and guys his age. Jenny and I looked at each other and both broke into laughter at the same time.

  Jenny shook her head. “Boys. What to do with them?”

  I reached my hand out toward her. “I can think of a good amount of things NOT to do with them. And one of those things is dance. That, I would rather do with you.”

  “You think you’re such a smooth talker, don’t you Miss Montgomery?” Jenny lifted an eyebrow at me, but proceeded to take my hand.

  We spent the rest of the wedding dancing with each other and made sure to keep it mostly pg. As the last song played, Jenny leaned in close to whisper in my ear.

  “You know, this is normally the point in the night when I would kiss you and ask you if you wanted to come back to my room, but I’m not going to do that.”

  A mixture of excitement and disappointment shot through me. It felt good that this gorgeous girl was clearly enjoying my company just as much as I was enjoying hers, but clearly it wasn’t enough to keep the night from ending.

  I leaned in close to whisper back to her. “Oh yeah? And why is that?”
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  At this, Jenny grabbed my hand and dragged me toward the exit of the reception hall. The cool October air sent a shiver down my spine as we sat down on a bench a few yards from the hall. Although I wasn’t sure if it was definitely the air or the girl sitting next to me that was causing the chill.

  Jenny kept her hand on mine as she started to speak. “I like you Rory.”

  Before I could control it, I felt a goofy grin take over my face. Jenny must have noticed it too because she rolled her eyes at me.

  “Whoa, calm down killer. Not like that. You can put the breaks on planning our wedding.”

  I let out a disgusted moan. “I would never! I don’t plan to date someone for more than three months, let alone marry them.”

  And it was true. As much as I had grown to like Jenny over the past few hours, she wasn’t going to be the girl to suddenly change me. I decided from a young age that long term relationships just weren’t for me and even the most gorgeous girl I’d ever laid eyes on couldn’t change that.

  Jenny giggled and I couldn’t help but notice how she batted her eyelashes while she did.

  “As I was saying,” she continued, “I like you. You’re one of the most down to earth people I have ever met. Not to mention, you’re not so bad to look at either. That is exactly why nothing can happen between us. I think we could be good friends and a random hookup would ruin that. Plus, you would want to take me to dinner and text me lovey things for three months before cutting me off completely and none of that sounds like fun to me.”

  I stuck my hand out to Jenny, motioning for her to shake it. “Deal. Friends it is. I like the way you think. I’m happy one of us is capable of thinking with their brain and not, well, something else. But as your friend, could I ask for your number? I want updates on this job of yours.”

  Without saying anything, Jenny reached for my purse and grabbed my phone out. She hit a few buttons then handed it back to me. I looked down to see a text message reading hey there cutie sent to the contact “Wedding Jenny.”

  I raised an eyebrow at her. “Wedding Jenny, huh?”

  She lifted her shoulders slightly. “Hey, who knows how many girls named Jenny you talk to. Had to make it something you would remember.”

  “Again. So smart,” I remarked. “By the way, is this text your way of telling me that you think I’m cute?”

  Jenny gave me a half smile. “That text was sent from your phone so technically you think I’m cute.”

  I laughed and shook my head. “Well, I’m not going to disagree with that. You’re one of a kind wedding Jenny.”

  Jenny squeezed my hand then stood up. “I better be heading to bed. We’re flying back to California early tomorrow morning.” She hesitated then added, “Would it be ok if I asked you for a friendly hug?”

  I nodded and stood up. As Jenny wrapped her arms around me, I held her close taking in her scent, not knowing if I would ever see her again, but secretly wishing that I would.

  Chapter 2

  “Hey lovely. How would you feel about me taking you to dinner tonight?” I finished the text and looked back at my laptop, forcing myself to focus. I had a ton of emails to answer and meetings to set up if I wanted to actually have time for said dinner.

  I answered a few of the emails, then looked back at my phone to see a text message come in from Jenny.

  “Hey there. Do you have any free time to chat today? I have an update on the LA situation that I want to share with you.”

  Before I had the chance to answer Jenny, I received a reply from Morgan, or as Jenny liked to call her - my flavor of the week. “Dinner sounds wonderful. Where were you thinking?”

  I told her it was her choice, then brought the phone up to my ear to call Jenny. It had been 4 months since we met at my cousin’s wedding and we had grown surprisingly close in that time, texting or calling each other almost every day. She picked up after just a few rings and giggled into the phone.

  “Well, that was quick. You must miss me.”

  “You know I do, plus I’m dying to hear the update you have for me.”

  Jenny had been keeping me updated with her job offer in LA. Soon after the wedding she agreed to take the job, but the position wasn’t available until January. She was having trouble finding housing she could afford in the area so for the past month she had been working there 2-3 long days a week and commuting. Her boss had been understanding of it, but during our last call she told me that she thought his patience was running thin.

  “I have good news,” Jenny announced. “Stalking Craigslist finally worked. A guy who is just two years older than us posted an ad that he is looking for someone to split the rent in his apartment. It’s a small one bedroom so it’s definitely not super convenient, but it’s the lowest I would ever pay in LA. The best part is that it’s within a mile of work so I can just walk there.”

  I was happy that Jenny and I hadn’t decided to FaceTime for this call because I didn’t want her to see the skeptical look on my face. “That sounds great,” I lied.

  “You don’t have to lie to me, you know. My family looked at me like I was crazy when I told them about it.”

  “I just have a few questions, like how this living arrangement is going to work and how I can be sure that this guy isn’t going to murder you,” I questioned.

  Jenny laughed again. “The living arrangement isn’t so fun. It’s literally going to be like college. Two twin size beds in a shared room with shared closet space. And about the whole murder thing - I have done my research. He friended me on Facebook, sent me a link to his nonprofit that has his picture on the website, and we Skyped this morning. It all checks out. I’m actually driving to LA now to meet him. If it goes ok and isn’t super awkward, I’m just going to sleep on the couch tonight so I don’t have to drive back for work tomorrow.”

  I felt a ball form in the pit of my stomach. It sounded like Jenny had done her research, but I still worried about her. “Could you at least send me his address?” I asked, then added, “I’d also feel better if you met him somewhere in public to start.”

  I could almost feel Jenny rolling her eyes at me through the phone. “You sound like my parents, but I’ll send you the address of his apartment AND the address of where I am meeting him, which is the Unicorn Cove - a very public place that happens to be the non profit that he owns. It’s a safe space for lgbt kids to go hang out and feel like they fit in. They also provide counselors for those struggling. And before you ask, yes he is gay.”

  “You’re definitely getting murdered,” I proclaimed. “Someone this great doesn’t actually exist.”

  “If I do get murdered, at least I can be content knowing that I already met the prettiest girl in the world. But I better focus on this drive. Traffic is picking up. I’ll send you the addresses once I’m out of the car, but for now you can look up Unicorn Cove.”

  “Sounds good. I should be getting back to work anyway,” I said with a sigh.

  “Oh you mean this super secret job of yours that you refuse to tell me anything about?”

  I shook my head at Jenny. It’s not that I was trying to keep my job a secret from her. I just didn’t feel the need to talk about it all the time. “I’ve told you. It’s not a secret. I just don’t want to bore you with the details.”

  “Ok whatever,” Jenny quipped. “I’ll talk to you later. Have a good night Miss Montgomery.”

  “You too Wedding Jenny. Bye.”

  When I hung up the phone, I noticed a huge grin had spread across my face which seemed to be the norm whenever I talked to Jenny. I quickly typed Unicorn Cove into the search on my computer and did a sweep of the site to make sure it seemed legit. Once I decided it passed, I looked back at my phone to check my text from Morgan, who had suggested an Italian restaurant about a half hour from me.

  I looked at the clock which now read 3:30 and told her that I would pick her up at 6:30. This would give me another hour to do work and then an hour and a half to get ready. Morgan was a nice girl. She wa
s a second grade teacher and deserved a little effort. I had been on a few dates with her over the past month, some that lasted all night.

  A few minutes before 6:30, I was pulling up outside of Morgan’s apartment building. I parked and hit the button for her apartment number so she could buzz me in. When I walked in, I found Morgan putting on her shoes which were gold high heels. Her curly blonde hair was resting on her tan shoulders and she was wearing a green sundress. Seeing her in green made my mind immediately flash to Jenny and how good she looked at the wedding. That look was ingrained in me since it was the first time we met, but I have to say that all of the times I have seen her since through FaceTime and Skype have been just as good. I had to shake these thoughts from my head though. I was on a date with Morgan. Jenny was my friend and that’s all she would ever be. It made sense that way. Why risk our friendship over a relationship that was doomed from the beginning? Neither of us had any plans on staying in any sort of lasting romantic relationship and that wasn’t going to change.

  I was surprised to feel a pair of lips on my cheek. I had been so caught up in my thoughts that I hadn’t realized that Morgan had stood up and made her way over to me and was now standing beside me.

  Ready?” I asked while flashing her a thousand watt smile.

  If she had caught on to the fact that I had completely zoned out from the world around me, she didn’t let onto it as she took my arm that I had offered her.

  When we arrived at the restaurant, we made small talk about work and what her class was learning now. One thing I liked about Morgan was how much she lit up when she talked about teaching. It wasn’t as much as Jenny had lit up when she talked about filmmaking but… damn it… why was my mind going back to Jenny again? It must have just been the worry over her trip to LA. I felt like my phone was burning a hole in my purse, but I refused to take it out to check if I had any messages from her. I wasn’t going to ignore my date to focus on my phone.