Chapter 12

    I bit back the laughter that threatened to bubble forth at the sight of Sarah's face.

     She turned to me with a look of horror, "We aren't really going in there are we? Think of all the diseases we could contract in a place like that!" She squeaked.

    Jonathan rolled his eyes, "Really Sarah, I've been coming here for years and so has my mother." He spread his arms out wide, indicating he was fine, "As you can see, I'm perfectly disease free."

    I laughed then at the look Sarah passed between Jonathan and I. It was Saturday and Jonathan had agreed to take Sarah and I to the flea market, since I had managed to get the entire weekend off from work. I didn't tell her where we were going, even though I did tell her that Jonathan and I would be taking her shopping with us. I knew she had assumed it would be to a mall. I'd kept the secret until we had gotten there, and it was already easy to see that her reaction was similar to the one I'd had when Jonathan had first taken me there.

    "It's okay, Sarah. Jonathan is right, it's not a bad place. I know you'll love it. I loved it and when I was here I knew you'd like it too." I slid my arm into hers, "Come on, just give it a chance okay?"

    She reluctantly let me drag her into the market. I kept my arm in hers and she clung to me as if afraid if she let go, she'd get sucked into a black hole hidden among all the flea market stalls. Jonathan walked behind us, allowing Sarah and I to take in the sights.

     As we walked, Sarah's eyes grew large, "Wow! Look at all the stuff!"

    I grinned, "I know. There's so much here Sarah. I know you'll find things you like. I found lots."

    She turned to me, "You did?" At my nod she asked, "Like what?"

    "Like all the paintings Jonathan has in his apartment. And the red outfit I wore to school on Tuesday, the black leather jacket you keep telling me is the coolest thing you've ever seen, and that white coral necklace you keep threatening to steal."

    Sarah gaped at me, "Are you serious? You got that necklace here?" She began swinging her head around in an attempt to find one like it, "Show me where!" She demanded.

    Jonathan laughed as he watched Sarah practically drag me through the rows of stalls in search of a necklace similar to mine. In no time at all she was bouncing from stall to stall with a lot of enthusiasm, her fear of diseases long gone from her mind. The three of us made our way from stall to stall browsing through all the clothes, jewelry, and other items that the various vendors were selling.

    Jonathan held my hand as we walked behind Sarah, who was oblivious to us at that point. He grinned as he watched Sarah leaning over a case of earrings and talking to the vendor about the various gemstones housed there.

     He leaned in and whispered, "Looks like I've managed to convert another one."

    I giggled, "Hey, I helped! It was my idea to bring her after all."

    He shrugged, "True." He smiled, "So, think she and Darryl will still like us in the morning?" he asked.

    I bit my lower lip, as I thought about it. I had asked Jonathan if his brother was single and when he'd said yes. I suggested we go on a double date with him and Sarah. Jonathan had looked at me like I'd grown a second head for a moment, but then as he'd thought about it, he suggested we try to get them together first before going on a real date with the two of them. He had suggested we take her to Harvey's with us where Darryl would be and just let the two of them meet that way. I thought it was a great idea and we set it up so that we'd do the flea market during the day, then that night, we'd hit Harvey's.

    I glanced over at Sarah who was now haggling with the vendor over a pair of pale blue sapphire earrings. "Gosh, I really do hope so. I hope she'll forgive me in any case." I looked back at Jonathan and chuckled, "And I hope Darryl doesn't poison the sauce he gives you."

    Jonathan laughed causing Sarah to glance back at us before going back to haggling with the vendor. He slid his arm around my shoulders, pulling me closer to nuzzle my cheek, "I'll make sure to appeal to his emotions and tell him if he kills me, you'd be devastated." he whispered into my ear, sending unexpected shivers down my spine.

    I turned and looked into his eyes, seeing the sparkle there. "Jonathan! Would he believe you?"

    He nodded, "Yes, I'd make sure he did. Darryl wouldn't be able to lift a hand once he knew you'd miss me and pine away for the rest of your days. He wouldn't want to leave you helpless and alone without me to spoil you rotten."

    Jonathan laughed again as I playfully pushed him away, "Stop! You're such a guy! I do not pine!" At his smirk I added, "And I definitely wouldn't be helpless or devastated."

    "You wouldn't?"

    I shook my head, "Nope."

    He smirked again as he leaned down once more, "Sure about that?"

    I glared at him, "Positive."

    "Come on, beautiful," he whispered against my neck, "Admit you'd miss me."

    I shivered again, "Um...well I guess I would."

    His lips grazed my neck, "You'd miss me and would wake up calling my name."

    I swallowed my pulse quickening, "Jonathan, I don't think we should talk about this here."

    A moan threatened to spill from my lips as I felt his tongue lick a long trail up my neck to the shell of my ear. He lifted my head, his fingers caressing my cheek and kissed me fully. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and pulled him close, oblivious to the fact that we were in the middle of a crowded flea market and my best friend was just a few feet away. The moment his lips had met mine, I didn't care about what we'd been talking about. All I was focused on was the feel of his mouth on mine, the taste of him, the way he made me melt in his arms.

    Slowly he pulled away from me, his eyes sparkling and a smirk forming on his lips, "You'd miss me."

    I didn't argue this time, instead I simply nodded and pulled his lips back to mine. When Sarah cleared her throat and Jonathan reluctantly pulled away from me I resisted the urge to whimper my protest. Instead I turned and looked at a grinning Sarah.

    "I think you two really need to get a room. It was getting so hot in here for a moment that I thought the fans weren't working!"

    I blushed and Jonathan laughed, "Did you get what you wanted Sarah?" Jonathan asked, diverting her attention from me.

    She nodded and proudly displayed the earrings in her hand. "These will go perfect with the skirt I'm wearing tonight when we go to the club."

    I smiled, "You're right. They're gorgeous Sarah."

    "Thanks. I'm glad you guys dragged me here. I'm having so much fun!" She took my hand, dragging me towards the next stall, "Come on, we still have lots to buy and not enough time!"

    I grinned back at Jonathan, whose hand was in mine as he let me drag him the way Sarah was dragging me. He returned my smile as we continued our day at the flea market.

    "Wow! Alex, you look stunning." Sarah announced as she emerged from her bathroom where she'd been changing.

    We were now at her house getting ready to go to Harvey's. Jonathan had dropped us off earlier and had gone on home to drop off the stuff he'd gotten from the flea market and to change for tonight.

    I smiled and turned to look at her as I smoothed down the front of my dress. I had chosen to wear a red halter top dress with black heels with laces that wrapped around my ankles. I'd swept my hair up and to the right side in an old fashioned do that went well with the dress style. I only wore red lipstick, a bit of mascara, ruby teardrop earrings and a matching ruby bracelet as accessories.

    "Thanks, Sar. You look gorgeous! That blue really suits you."

    She gave me a smile of thanks as she sat on the edge of her bed to put on her shoes. She was wearing a pale blue thigh length skirt, a matching blue satin shirt that she'd tied at the waist, and white sandals. Her hair was left long with the sides pinned back away from her face by a silver clip. She wore pale pink lipstick, light mascara, a thin silver necklace with a blue stone, a silver tennis bracelet, and the pale blue sapphire earrings she'd gotten from the flea market. I thought the pale colors and the silver made her skin glow from the inside out. I secretly hoped Darryl would like what he saw.

    As I gathered my things together in my bag, we heard the honk of Jonathan's car. I grinned up at Sarah, "You ready?"

    She nodded as she snatched up her small silver handbag, "Ready, girlfriend. Let's go knock Jonathan's socks off."

    I laughed as I shouldered my overnight bag. I'd told my parents I was staying the night with Sarah, who had secretly promised to cover for me while I really spent the night with Jonathan. I'd been hesitant to ask her to do this for me, but once again she'd rolled her eyes and said of course she'd do it, what were best friends for, and she expected me to cover for her if it ever came up. I'd wholeheartedly agreed to do it.

    We made our way out of her house as Jonathan came around to greet us with a smile. "Wow! I'm gonna be the luckiest guy there, arriving with two very beautiful ladies."

    Sarah chuckled as Jonathan leaned in to plant a kiss on her cheek before taking my lips in his. "Don't get used to it. I'll let Alex continue to handle you alone. I'm thinking you have enough with just her."

    He winked at her as he held the door open and took her hand to help her into the back seat before sliding the seat back for me.  He took my hand and helped me in before closing the door and walking around to the drivers side and soon we were on our way.

    Once again Sarah had the same reaction I had when we'd arrived at Harvey's. She'd also scolded me for allowing her to come overdressed. Jonathan pointed out that if that was true, then we were all overdressed, since he was wearing a pair of black slacks and light blue button down shirt. I was actually amazed to see him dressed like that, knowing he usually wore jeans when he came here, but then, he'd known I was gonna dress up, so he must have decided to do it too.

    As we made our way into the club, Sarah began to relax again. Jonathan had his arm around the both of us, making Sarah feel more secure. He steered us towards one of the round booths along the side of the club and waited for both of us to slide in before sliding in next to me. Sarah sat on the other side of me as she scanned the place. It was crowded the way it always was on a Saturday night, but not as smoky as I remembered. The dance floor was packed, as was the bar and the area around the dance floor. The tables and booths that were the farthest away from the dance floor remained empty. It tended to be quieter in these areas, so most of the people liked to hang as close to the music as possible and that was near the bar and dance floor.

    Sarah's eyes went wide as she noticed the shadowed nooks and crannies I'd noticed my first time there. Her eyes snapped to mine, "Oh my God! Alex! Do you see the shadows moving!"

    I chuckled, "It's okay Sarah. They're just dancing."

    Jonathan coughed behind his hand at my answer, but I squeezed his hand to make him go along with it. He nodded, "Yeah, they're dancing. Don't worry about them."

    Sarah gawked, "That's called dancing!"

    I patted her hand, "Let it go, Sar. If you ignore them, they'll ignore you."

    She stared at me in disbelief that I could sit there and not be bothered by it as a waitress came up to the booth. "Can I get you guys anything?" she asked.

    Jonathan turned to us, "What'll it be ladies?"

    I smiled, "The usual." I turned to Sarah, "What do you want to drink, Sar?"

    "I guess I'll have a coke."

    I chuckled and turned to Jonathan, "She'll have the usual too."

    He winked at me and gestured to the waitress who bent down so that he could whisper the order in her ear. She nodded and left to get our drinks.

    I settled back against the booth and leaned into Jonathan's side. He leaned down to whisper into my ear, "Did I tell you that you look gorgeous tonight, beautiful?"

    I smiled, "You just did, handsome." I gave his cheek a peck as he grinned his trademark smirk.

    Sarah rolled her eyes, "You two never quit do you?"

    We both turned puzzled eyes towards her as I asked, "What are we doing?"

    "Making goo goo eyes at each other. I swear my teeth hurt every time I look at the two of you and the sweetness oozing off of you both."

    Jonathan laughed, "Is it that bad?"

    "Oh yeah, sometimes I end up with a toothache."

    I laughed and playfully swatted her arm as she grinned, "We are not that bad! She's just teasing us, Jonathan."

    Sarah laughed, "Believe what you want, girlfriend, but my teeth aren't lying."

    "Jonathan, bro, sorry I'm late, class ran over and I had to go home and change before coming to meet you guys." Darryl announced his presence, as he sauntered up to the table holding a beer in his hand.

    Jonathan grinned as he noticed the way Darryl was already staring at Sarah. "It's okay, we just got here ourselves. Darryl, this is Alex's best friend, Sarah." He motioned to her as he continued, "Sarah, my younger brother, Darryl."

    Darryl smiled as he held his hand out to her, "Pleased to meet you Sarah."

    Jonathan and I both held back our smiles as we noticed how Sarah blushed when Darryl took her hand and placed a chaste kiss against her knuckles. "Nice to meet you too, Darryl. Alex has told me about you."

    "Really?" he raised an eyebrow at me as he slid into the booth next to Sarah. "Nothing bad I hope?"

    Jonathan and I both laughed at that. "No Darryl, I don't have anything bad to say about you." I grinned at Jonathan, "That's your brother's job."

    "Hey! What did I say?" Jonathan asked.

    Sarah chuckled at our antics, "She just told me about how close you and Jonathan are and that you are studying to be a chef."

    Darryl nodded as the waitress returned with our drinks. As she handed them out, Darryl glanced up at Max, "I'll get Sarah's." She blushed again as he paid for her drink and continued talking, "Yeah, I'm in culinary school right now. I just barely got out of class about an hour ago."

    Sarah nodded, "You have class on Saturday?"

    He chuckled, "Well no, but my instructor co-owns a catering company and one of our assignments was to have hands on experience while he got things ready for the party his company is catering for tonight. We had to go and help with the cooking and getting the food ready for the company to transport to the party."

    "Oh! Wow! It must be great to get hands on experience before you graduate."

    Jonathan and I simply sat there and allowed the two of them to talk. We listened to their conversation, amazed that they seemed to be hitting it off with almost no interference from us. Sarah was genuinely curious about Darryl's skills as a chef and what he was learning as he went through school. He was more than willing to answer her questions and managed to ask a few of his own when she let him.

    Jonathan wrapped his arm around my shoulders as he leaned down to whisper into my ear, "Well, that was easy."

    I chuckled and turned to whisper back, "Yeah, almost too easy."

    We heard Sarah sputter and turned to see her making a face at her drink, "Ewww. Jonathan, what is this? I ordered a coke."

    He smiled, "It's coke."

    I nodded, "Coke with vanilla vodka. It's really good Sarah." I gestured to my drink.

    Her eyes widened and she leaned in to whisper loud enough for both Jonathan and I to hear, "We're not legal, Alex."

    I sighed, "It's okay, Sar."

    Jonathan nodded, "I've got it covered, but if it bothers you, I can get you a plain coke."

   Darryl nodded too, "I'll get you a coke, Sarah."

   She looked between the three of us before looking down at her drink. I knew she realized I was drinking mine and didn't seem to be affected by it. She smiled at Darryl, "No, it's okay. This is fine." She lifted the drink to her lips and took another sip. "Um. It's not so bad."
   
    Our night at the club had gone better than Jonathan and I could have ever planned. Sarah and Darryl had hit it off well. Jonathan and I had left them talking at the table and gone to dance several times during the night. Darryl had discovered that Sarah liked fruity tasting drinks so he'd ordered those for her while Jonathan continued to order the coke with vanilla vodka for me.

     I had begun to wonder if the two of them were going to spend the entire night sitting there talking when Darryl finally asked Sarah to dance to a slow song. Turns out Darryl didn't think he could dance, so he only did so to slow songs, at least that is what Jonathan had told me when I'd asked worriedly if he was ever gonna ask her to dance. Sarah didn't seem to complain. I saw the look on her face as she had danced with Darryl. I'd also seen the smile she wore as she told Jonathan and I that Darryl was giving her a ride home and she'd see me at school on Monday.

    Now I was sitting on the edge of Jonathan's bed rubbing cream into my legs as Jonathan finished up in the bathroom.  He walked into the room and pulled the covers back from the bed before turning the lights off except for the lamp on his night stand. He slid under the covers and watched me finish rubbing the cream into my skin. I smiled at him as I dropped the bottle back into my bag before walking back over to the bed. He held the covers up for me to slide under.

    I lay on my side and looked into his eyes, "So, guess we'll be having a double date soon huh?"

    He chuckled as he slid his hand down my arm, "Yeah, I guess so."

    I leaned in and gave his lips a quick peck before going on, "Hm, I was thinking we could go to that new restaurant on Commerce, but I don't kn..."

    Jonathan cut off the rest of my sentence as he grabbed me and pulled me against him, his lips fusing with mine. I chuckled into his mouth.

    He growled, "What's so funny?"

    "I was wondering how long it was gonna take you to kiss me like that." I murmured against his mouth.

    "Tease." he chuckled as his lips made their way down my jaw.

    I closed my eyes in pleasure as his hands began lifting my shirt off of me, slowly caressing my skin as he went. "Jonathan," I sighed, as I wrapped my arms around him, pulling him closer to feel his skin against mine.

    I allowed him to undress me, then returned the favor by undressing him. He moaned into my neck as I took him into my hands, "God Alex, I need you, beautiful."

    "I need you too, Jonathan." I continued to stroke him as his fingers stroked the fire beginning to burn inside of me. It wasn't long before he was reaching into his nightstand for a condom. As he slid into me, I whispered, "Sarah and I are going to the clinic this week, I'm going to try the pill."

    He stopped moving and lifted his eyes to mine, "Are you sure?"

    I nodded and reached up to caress his face, "Yes. I want to do this Jonathan. I want to be able to feel you and I want us to be protected."

    He smiled, brushing his lips over my face, "I love you, Alex."

    I sighed, taking his lips into mine, effectively ending all conversation as I allowed Jonathan to make love to me for the rest of the night.