19 The Jujitsu Champion
The Jujitsu Champion
“Sooo… Does this mean it’s official?” Naya asked.
I bit into my toast to try to make time as she, Sue, Mike, and Will stared at me. “Ahem,” I said, clearing my throat. “I guess so?”
Naya shrieked so loudly that Sue fell out of her chair and shouted back, “Can you stop doing that?”
“Finally!” Naya continued, ignoring her. Looking at Will, she said, “Remember when I introduced them and I told you they’d wind up together? I was right!”
“I was right,” Will said. “I’m the one who said that. You thought Ross would scare her away.”
“So,” Mike interrupted, “I guess we really are brother- and sister-in-law now. That’s too bad. Our romance can never be.”
Rounding the corner from the hallway, Jack said, “You never had a shot, Brother.”
“That’s what you think,” Mike responded. “But there was chemistry there.”
Coming up behind me, Jack hugged me and kissed me just under my ear.
It made me nervous, showing our affection in public—it was still new to me—and I struggled to get down the piece of toast in my mouth.
Everyone was watching us. The two guys were more or less indifferent, Naya was smiling ear to ear, and Sue was sticking her tongue out with disgust.
“Our sweet little Ross is finally getting his act together,” Naya said. “I never thought I’d see the day. We should celebrate! Dinner, a movie maybe?”
“We’re not going to the movies again!” Sue grunted.
“It’s not the nineteen-eighties. Why can’t we do like normal people and get drunk?
” Mike agreed, and Will reminded us that there was always a party at Lana’s sorority.
Everyone discussed whether we should go, and when, and who should drive, and Mike was enthusiastic, saying he could find someone to hook up with there.
I don’t think anyone was in the dark about my feelings about Lana, but I tried to be nice.
Jack asked, “Are you sure you want to go?”
I said, “Of course, why not? The only thing is, I wonder if Lana will be comfortable with the fact that…”
“That we’re going out?” he replied. “Honestly, I couldn’t care less. But I think she’s over it. Normally when you two are together, you stare daggers into each other the whole time, but when she was over last night, everything seemed fine.”
“It was Dad’s cookies that did the trick,” I said.
“Sure,” he responded, giving me a quick kiss. “Now go get showered and I’ll drive you to class.”
School was getting dull, but at least I’d managed to make a few friends I got along with, especially Curtis, the guy I’d pretended to be hanging out with when I was talking to Agnes.
He was cool. He was in my rhetoric class, and we always talked shit about the professor together.
We were walking out of the department building complaining when we noticed it was raining.
I tried to decide how I should get home, but then I saw Jack across the street.
I smiled, ran over, and hopped into his car. The heat was on. It felt wonderful.
So this was it. This was what it was to be part of a real couple. What now? I was supposed to kiss him, right? That was what boyfriends and girlfriends did. I leaned in and got it over with, and he grinned and said, “Nice to see you, too, Jen. How was your day?”
“Boring. What about you? Didn’t you have a test today?”
“Do you really need to ask?”
“I’m not sure if your constant self-assurance is your most attractive trait,” I said.
“Whatever. You’ll learn to deal with it.”
As he took off, I looked at my phone. Shannon had sent me a message asking for updates about what was going on in my life. I gave her a quick summary of what had happened the night before—omitting the steamy details, obviously. She was my sister; I wasn’t going to tell her everything .
“Listen,” Jack interrupted me, “I want you to know you don’t have to go to the party tonight.”
“Why? Are you not in the mood?”
“I’m kind of whatever, to tell the truth. Also, Will told me to grab something for dinner. Are you in the mood for anything in particular? Please don’t say pizza.”
“Barbecue pizza.”
“Or do say pizza, I guess. I’ll cut you some slack since you’ve been out of town. I guess I’ll grab some wings or something for the rest of us.”
He parked and walked into a take-out place, telling me to wait for him in the car. As soon as he was gone, I called Shannon.
“I’m assuming you’re alone and have time for me now?” she said.
“That I do.”
“So…you’ve got a boyfriend again?”
“Yes. It’s official.”
“Moooooom!” she shouted. I shuddered. I hadn’t realized she was with my parents. I heard her announce it loud enough for the whole family to hear. “Your daughter and Jack Ross are officially boyfriend and girlfriend!”
“Shannon, dammit!”
“Sorry, but I promised I’d keep Mom informed.”
“You could have at least waited for me to hang up,” I said.
“Jenna, you know what a bundle of nerves Mom is! She needed this. And Spencer and Dad told me not to leave them in the dark, either.”
“Don’t you think they should ask me?”
“Sis, don’t get all offended, but you know how hard it is to get a straight answer out of you. Now, let’s not argue. I want to hear details. I gave you twenty-four hours to get everything sorted out, and I can’t wait anymore. So spill it.”
I felt myself start sweating—I wasn’t the type to kiss and tell—and it only got worse when Jack returned to the car, leaving our food in the back seat. He looked at me, narrowed his eyes, and said, “Let me guess: your sister.”
I nodded as I told her, “Sorry, I’m not getting into all that.”
“Oh, Jenna, don’t be so boring!” she said. “Or wait… He’s with you, that’s it, right?”
I looked over. Jack had started the car and was pulling out and pretending to pay attention to the road, but I could tell he was listening to every word we were saying.
“Yeah.”
“OK, fine, I’ll deal with it. But just so you know, Mom and Dad want to give him an inspection. They won’t shut up about it. So you should probably go ahead and start making plans to bring him home one day.”
“We’ve just been together a day! Can I not enjoy myself for a while before we start doing introductions?” I asked.
Jack butted in to tell me, “Call it a day if you want, but you know what’s going on with us didn’t just start yesterday.”
“Don’t you pipe up!” I snapped at him before turning back to Shannon. “I’m tired of this conversation, so I’m going to hang up now.”
“Fine. Be that way. And have fun with your new boyfriend!”
I shook my head and ended the call.
“Did you get my barbecue pizza?” I asked.
“Can you not smell it?”
“You’re the best, Jack.”
“Yeah, but you already knew that.”
When we got back, I had to eat fast because Naya needed my help picking out her outfit.
As usual, she tried on fifty thousand things before settling on the first one.
I didn’t bother trying to look fancy. I already had the guy I wanted, so there was no need to impress anyone.
I was sitting on the bed tying my boots when Jack came in and announced that Sue was having a panic attack because we were taking too long to get ready.
“I hope she never has kids,” he added, “because she’ll be the most neurotic mother in history. ”
“What the hell?” I said. “It’s Naya’s fault. I would have been dressed forever ago if it wasn’t for her.”
As I bent back over, he ran a finger up my spine and said, “What if we make her wait a little longer, Michelle? Because you’re looking really good today.”
“One: I swear if you call me Michelle again, you’re getting hit with this boot. And two: Sue will kill you if she finds out you’re making me take any longer.”
“It might be worth it,” he said, raising and lowering his eyebrows.
He grabbed me, and less than a second later, we were lying on the bed kissing. I laughed and tried to push him away, saying, “Seriously, Jack. I don’t want her to murder you already. Let me at least have a couple of months with you first.”
“Damn you, Sue!” he shouted, shaking his fist. “Fine, let’s go to the stupid party.”
Will drove that night. Naya rode with him up front, and Jack, Sue, and I were in the back. We were more or less silent. Naya chatted away the whole time. Will nodded and responded as though he were listening, but I had the impression his thoughts were elsewhere.
The party was similar to the ones before. The only difference was that there were more people than normal. We all went to the kitchen where Naya poured us drinks while Will and Jack opened a couple of beers and walked off to talk about guy stuff.
Lana soon came over to us, radiant as ever. I tried not to get anxious.
“Fancy seeing you guys here,” she said. “Hello, Sue.”
“Very not happy to see you, Lana,” Sue growled.
“How nice. By the way, Jenna, I heard you guys are official,” Lana said to me.
“They are,” Naya responded for me.
I took a sip of my drink—actually, a gulp of it. I needed some time, and maybe the relaxation alcohol could give me, to keep from saying something stupid.
“Well, I’m glad,” Lana replied. Her smile was so sincere that I didn’t know how to react. “Ross is clearly very happy with you.”
She offered us another drink. I was so stunned by her change in attitude that Sue had to nudge me to bring me back to reality.
We spent most of the night together while Jack and Will were off with their friends.
And we had fun—more fun than I’d expected.
I did overdo it on the drinks, enough that I somehow wound up on the dance floor with Sue.
She played along until she couldn’t stand it anymore, then dragged me to the kitchen for another drink.
“Jesus, it’s fucking gross out there,” she said. “All those sweaty bodies. I feel like I’m being rubbed on by a bunch of animals in heat.”
I laughed, but she was kind of right. There were couples all out on the dance floor, some of them looking like they were about to strip their clothes off then and there.
“I guess you’re not into dancing?” I asked.
“Do I look like I’m into dancing?”