Along for the Ride

by Mimi Grace

  “Yes.”

  The tension evaporated.

  “Then it’s settled.” He reentered the bed and slung his leg across Jolene’s, placing the empty glass on the side table.

  He drew her to him and breathed in the smell of her as she pressed her face into his hard chest. She melted against him, and he thought how right and comfortable this all felt. He definitely could get used to this.

  Chapter 16

  “So, he made you breakfast?” Yvonne asked as they stood near a craft service table. They were at a studio for a morning show their clients would appear on in the next hour. Jolene played with the pineapple chunk on her paper plate with a spoon, trying to make her recount as casual as possible.

  “Yeah, he made us crepes. I don’t have a crepe pan, but he made do.”

  “Hmmm.”

  Jolene turned to her friend who wore an ensemble that looked like something Stevie Nicks would’ve worn in the seventies—in the best way possible.

  “What do you mean by ‘hmmm’?”

  “Absolutely nothing. I’m just proud and smug because a few weeks ago, you were swiping right on men whose personalities were Nietzsche quotes, and now you’re getting good dick and crepes.”

  “You are so loud right now.”

  “I’m not.”

  “The words ‘dick’ and ‘crepes’ pretty much ricocheted off the ceiling, Yvonne. ”

  “Oh, please you’re deflecting.”

  “I’m not deflecting anything. I just don’t think people should know my business.”

  “Did I hear someone say crepes?”

  Jolene gave Yvonne a pointed look. Mark, a host for the morning show, walked up to them. He’d obviously just strolled into the studio because he still held his bag and wore his designer sunglasses. He was a little taller than Jolene and, with his confidence and handsome face, he was regularly seen with beautiful women. His family came from the sort of money where if the world were to go up in flames, they had a literal spaceship to Mars ready to go.

  He smiled up at Yvonne and wedged himself between the two women, essentially altering the dynamic he’d found. He was too slick. It was as if he had their conversation already plotted out, and he simply waited for her to say her lines so he could say his.

  “Yes. I had crepes for breakfast this weekend. I haven’t had them in a while.”

  “There’s this creperie downtown that has eighteen different flavors.” He shifted closer to Jolene. “We should go one of these days.”

  Jolene stepped closer to the wall on the other side of her. “Eighteen flavors. Wow. That’s a lot. Isn’t that a lot, Yvonne?”

  “It sure is.”

  Yvonne’s bored tone and blatant disinterest in their conversation made the interaction marginally entertaining. Mark, on the other hand, gave Jolene a crooked smile, as if he found her attempts to avoid a date with him amusing, adorable even. He’d asked her out when she met him at a media-networking event she’d attended when she first started working at Able & Quinn. They’d gone out to a fancy dinner, but Jolene had found the whole experience uninspiring. After the date, she’d gently let him know that it would be their last date. But ever since then, Mark had been a relentless flirt and on some mission to perhaps make her rethink her choice to never pick up what he put down. Mark had an appeal that Jolene recognized, but she found he didn’t do anything for her, especially now.

  Jolene indulged the man in conversation for a few minutes before she smiled at him. “We need to meet with our clients. I’ll see you later, Mark.”

  The two women made their way to where their clients were getting their hair and makeup done to run through their talking points one last time.

  “I’ll just say this,” Yvonne said, looking back at Mark—“it’s rough out here. You deserve the fun you’re having.”

  Jason worked on his second patient of the day, a man named Russell who loved to chat. He had to stop constantly to let the man get out what he wanted to say about his latest trip to Martha’s Vineyard.

  “Did you know that at one point people who lived on Martha’s Vineyard used sign language as their main way of communicating? It didn’t matter if they were deaf or not.”

  “That’s fascinating. I didn’t know that.”

  “It’s—”

  Jason cut Russell off with a gentle tap to the man’s jaw, signaling he wanted him to open up. Marvin gave Jason a silent look of exasperation as he placed the suction against the inside of his patient’s mouth.

  The moment Jason removed his tools, Russell resumed speaking. He pointed to the TV mounted on the wall. “My nephew’s girlfriend works on that show.”

  Jason turned to the closed captioned TV and watched as a lively host interviewed two women. The names and their business scrolled at the bottom of the screen, and Jason recognized it as the business that his Jolene represented. He swiveled in his low chair, turning away from his patient to watch the women Jolene had prepped and coached to be the best they could be on TV. She probably watched them now off-screen.

  “Doctor Akana?”

  “Yes?”

  “Everything good with my teeth?”

  “Yes,” Jason said as he turned away from the screen. He made a mental note to text Jolene about seeing her clients on TV. “Your gums are healthy and the swelling you were having issue with the last time has significantly improved. Marvin here will clean and floss your teeth, and you can be on your way.”

  “Thank you, Doctor.”

  “It’s my pleasure, Russel.”

  After seeing his last patient that day, Jason changed into jeans and some sneakers he knew the kids at the after-school program he volunteered at would appreciate. Most people dreaded Mondays, but Jason liked them for the simple fact they were the days he volunteered.

  When he arrived at the gymnasium, it was already packed with kids that reminded Jason of himself and the people he grew up around. He waved to one of the program facilitators, Tracey, before spotting some of the older kids, sophomores and juniors in high school, playing basketball.

  “Hey, Jason!” shouted one of the boys, Anthony, who was tall and lanky. He waved from the sidelines, because despite his build, he wasn’t as good as people assumed he would be so he was often benched. But the kid’s talents were in other places. He loved science. Jason made his way over to Anthony, greeting the other kids he recognized along the way.

  “Hey, man,” Jason said, giving Anthony his fist to bump. “How’s it going?”

  “Good. Guess what?” Anthony reached under the bench he sat on for his backpack and retrieved a folded-up paper. “I got straight As on my final report card except for English.”

  Jason studied Anthony’s report card. “That’s what I’m talking about.” He gave the young man a high-five.

  He knew what it was like to have teachers, guidance counselors, and admission offices think you can’t make it. He was so proud of Anthony. He’d been the poor, brown kid at college fairs and tours asking questions and trying to find and discover every scholarship and financial aid he was eligible for. Anthony would at least have some sort of guidance in the process.

  “You just have to nail next year. But I would start applying for good scholarships now. You’ll have a better chance of getting a full ride or at least a partial ride to a good school.”

  They watched the game unfold in front of them for a while.

  “Your parents are doing well? Your siblings?”

  “Yeah, Mom’s got a new job. It’s paying better but she’s working longer hours.”

  Jason nodded. “And you start working again at McDonald’s?”

  “Yeah, next week.” They remained silent for a while as they watched the game go into overtime. “Also, I kinda want to apply for a competition that the science center is holding.” He said it so tentatively, like he was unsure that it was a good idea.

  Jason forced himself to maintain a casual tone. No young person wanted to be fawned over. “I think that’s a great idea. I’m down t
o help if I can.”

  Anthony nodded appreciatively.

  The game in front of them ended and a new game was about to start. “Okay, enough of the serious stuff. Let’s play some ball.”

  “Vacant building complexes?” Jason picked up the stack of real-estate ads on the edge of Jolene’s coffee table. “Is this for your PR business?” He looked up at Jolene in her kitchen as she constructed a charcuterie board.

  Her eyes went wide. “What?”

  “You told me you’re interested in opening up your own PR firm one day.”

  “You remembered that?”

  He shrugged. “Yeah.” Oh, he remembered a lot of things about Jolene.

  She came over with the board and placed it on the table where the papers had been and let out a long sigh. “No. I was just looking.” She took the papers from him and placed them on a shelf with an award he’d spotted when he first toured her place.

  The abstract shaped trophy read, “2018 Young Professional of the Year.” He wanted to give her encouragement and even opened his mouth to say something, but she beat him to it.

  “And don’t tell me to ‘lean in’ or some other platitude.”

  Jason kept quiet for a moment. “Well, since all I have are platitudes and I’m someone who knows almost nothing about public relations, all I’ll say is that I’ve seen you in action and you seem like you know your stuff.” He popped an olive into his mouth before feeding Jolene one. “Plus”—he lifted the award that sat on her shelf—“the people in your industry think so as well.”

  She smiled while she chewed. “Thank you. Now put it back and come eat the packaged food I artistically transferred to this board.” She pulled him down with her as she sank into her couch.

  They were making this arrangement work. Their hookups required they meet up right after work and at Jolene’s apartment since it was close to both their respective workplaces. However, he didn’t know what it meant when he constantly thought about taking her in his own bed. He didn’t want to understand the psychology behind his desire to have her smell lingering on his sheets.

  She turned the TV on to some reality show that had several middle-aged housewives screaming and throwing wine glasses at one another. She filled in the background information as they watched. Jolene’s feet were in his lap, and he pointed at the TV trying to remember the characters’ names she’d listed off.

  “So, she’s angry because the other woman wore the same dress to the reunion taping last season,” he said.

  “Yeah, pretty much.”

  He laughed at the theatrics of it all and found himself so transfixed with the drama unfolding that the low moan Jolene made took him a moment to recognize. He turned to her with his eyebrows raised.

  She caught her bottom lip between her teeth and looked away. “Sorry.” She pointed to where he idly massaged her feet. “I’ve been on my feet all day. It feels good.”

  He’d seen the heels she wore. Her collection littered her entrance, and he thought about fucking her one day while she wore a pair. Possibly with one of those pencil skirts she wore to work hiked up around her waist. He gave her an impish smile. “I’m glad I can help.”

  “Oh, don’t give me that look.” She removed her legs from his lap. “I worked hard creating this board, and you’ll eat it before you even think about anything else.”

  “I have to leave in an hour, and if we’re friends-with-benefits, we ought to get to the benefits part,” he said, shifting his suddenly tight pants while he crawled toward her end of the couch until he hovered over her.

  She shrunk into the couch cushions, doing a poor job at containing a smile. “I think it’s a benefit to be in my presence. Also, I’m quite content watching TV and receiving a foot massage.”

  “Liar. I bet you’re wet as we speak.”

  “There’s no way you can know that.”

  “So, you’re telling me if I check, you won’t be wet?”

  “Yes.”

  He unbuttoned her jean shorts as he watched her closely. Her shallow breathing and the way her nipples pressed against the material of her shirt let him know that even if she weren’t wet right now, it would be a quick fix.

  He made contact with her damp panties. “As I said. Liar.”

  She shrugged. “What are you going to do about it?”

  He tugged at her shorts until they were off her body and did the same with her panties. “Get on your hands and knees.”

  He saw the desire flare in her eyes and any sort of sass she might want to perform dissipated. She wore another one of her bralette-and-T-shirt combos, and when she turned around for her backside to face him, his breath caught at the tantalizing view. Grabbing a condom from his bag, he lowered his jeans and played with her pussy until her back arched and her breathing became labored. He rolled the condom over his cock and entered her with one fluid motion. She was so tight and warm. He grabbed her hips and gave her slow gentle strokes, encouraged by her soft whimpers. He reached under her and played with her clit as the tension in his own body built. He needed to go faster. Harder.

  “Jason, faster.”

  He pressed his hand to her upper back so her face pressed into the sofa. Then he pumped assertively into her. She met his thrusts with her own movement, and the sounds their bodies made muddled with the TV’s noise. She came, then, in a glorious expression of ecstasy. Her body squeezed his, and he was defenseless to his own orgasm. He withdrew from her and disposed of the condom before lying back on the couch with Jolene. He was there for he didn’t know how long before he reached for his phone and saw the time.

  “Shit.” He sprung up. “I’m going to be late.”

  Jolene lazily rolled over and watched him as he got his belongs and bearings together. How had he lost track of time like this?

  “You know, this wouldn’t have happened if we just stuck to eating and foot massages.”

  He gave her an exasperated look before exiting her apartment. He shut the door behind him, leaving a laughing Jolene.

  Jason was spared the third degree for exactly two weeks. He’d been late picking up his mother and aunt from the symphony where they’d listened to Hollywood hit songs throughout the ages. But he’d been surprised and relieved when he wasn’t hounded about his whereabouts beyond a comment from his mother about him “never being late.” He should’ve known that the women in his family didn’t simply mute their opinions for too long. Jason couldn’t do anything but smile listening to his aunt and mom on their podcast.

  The sound of his aunt’s voice filled his kitchen. “Unfortunately, we were unable to try drinks and hors d’oeuvres.”

  “Our driver, that is, my son arrived a bit late,” his mom cut in. “We’d have driven ourselves or taken the bus if we’d known.”

  “But what we saw of the menu while the ushers whisked us to our seats looked good.”

  “But again, Jason—”

  “Her son and my nephew.”

  “Yes. He seemed to lose track of time wherever he was beforehand, and we were late, so we can’t tell you if the food was in fact good.”

  They knew he’d be listening, and it was their way of not only teasing him but also making sure tardiness wouldn’t happen again. They went on to describe the performance, outline which songs the orchestra performed, and sprinkled in anecdotes about the earlier years of cinema. Leaning against his newly polished countertops, he texted their group chat.

  Jason: I enjoyed the episode. :) Also, I was only 8 minutes late.

  Mom: Remember we have another one coming up soon. It’s the Dido and Aeneas opera.

  He didn’t have anything planned with Jolene, and he sort of hated that he didn’t. Their hookups had begun to feel more than easy, breezy escapades. For instance, earlier that day she sent him a silly meme but also asked about how work went. He liked that there was someone who cared how the construction of the donair restaurant across the street drove him up the wall.

  An incoming call from Ty interrupted his musings.
<
br />   “How’s the backyard renovation going?” Jason asked after initial inquiries about each other’s well-being.

  “Slow, but it’s getting there. It has more space than it initially looked like. It’s good because it’s a lot of room to run and play.” A long pause followed. “Which will be useful sooner than we expected.”

  “Are you guys getting a dog?”

  Ty sighed. “No. I’m trying to tell you I’m going to be a dad.”

  Jason stood up straight. “Wow. Man. Congrats. That’s amazing.” He couldn’t get the grin off his face. He’d known Ty when he first met Nicole, and he knew his friend was a goner the minute he saw him with his future wife.

  “How’s Nicole doing?”

  “She’s great. Sixteen weeks pregnant. I’m so excited, man.”

  “I’m so happy for you. Jolene must be pretty excited as well.”

  “Jolene? You guys still talk?”

  Crap.

  Jason tried to hold back on talking about Jolene. It would be awkward to discuss something that could be summarized with “it’s just sex” with Ty because it was with his sister-in-law. And the guy was having a baby. This would sit low on his priority list, but he knew if he straight-up lied, Ty would know, and there would be more questions in the future.

  “No, not really. We text now and again. Nothing serious. Just catching up and stuff.”

  And stuff? Jesus, it sounded like some awkward attempt to hide the fact that he regularly had sex with his best friend’s sister-in-law.

  “Okay.”

  Shit.

  His friend dropped the topic, but for the next fifteen minutes as they caught up, Jason couldn’t help but feel like there, in fact, would be more questions in the future.

  Chapter 17

  “It looks like a blob,” Yvonne said, studying the sonogram on Jolene’s phone.

  Jolene gave the image another look, moving her head side to side. “Well, kind of, but it’s the first picture of my niece or nephew, so don’t be alarmed if you find it framed on my desk.”