Rough around the Edges Ch. 07

"Nicole, no you are going to be okay. Ramon doesn't bite and he is a real nice guy. Just be yourself and everything will come naturally."

"Yea, I have been myself for the past eighteen years and I'm still a virgin."

"That just means it takes a real special guy to see past the nervous goofy you." Jade said pulling her along.

"I just figured there was no one that was immune." Nicole said as Jade pulled her into the place.

Later that night, Jade was laying in James' arms after a length session. After they moved everything in, Jade and Nicole started cooking dinner while the guys moved around the place trying to decipher what needed to be done first. Jade had fun watching Ramon try to include Nicole in the conversation and then she get flustered. Jade liked the fact that Ramon tried to put Nicole at ease even though she was naturally high strung. After dinner, Nicole and Ramon said they would clean up leaving Jade and James to find a room upstairs. Now, she was wide awake, her finger tips lightly brushing his palm. She had got so caught up in the lovemaking that it almost slipped past her lips again. Instead, she just brought his face down to kiss him. Oh her heart soared every time he gave her that wanting look at the table and she was ready to kick everyone out the place.

"What's the matter princess? You are way too quiet." He said and she turned her head to look up at him.

"I can't be quiet baby?" She said hugging him closer.

"You can, but on you, it's not normal."

"Shut up. You tease me too much." He laughed.

"You love it so it doesn't matter." He said yawning, "But I have something for you."

"For me?" she said sitting up on the bed, bringing the sheet with her.

He reached over into his pants pocket and pulled out a little square box. It wasn't as small as a ring box so Jade put her emotions in check. She couldn't get past I love you yet, there was no way she was prepared to say yes to a marriage proposal. He handed her the box and she looked at him before flipping it open. Inside there was a pair of dog tags with his name on it.

"Is this your way of claiming me publicly? I feel so high school." She smiled as he lit a cigarette.

"Look at it again." He said taking a drag from his cigarette.

She smiled and looked at the tags again and saw something in between. She moved them out of the way and saw a shiny key in the middle of them. It looked like a house key. Her mouth dropped and she looked over at him.

"I made a promise a long time ago that when I was truly done with the military; I was going to give away my tags. So now when Gale says something about me going back, you know that it's not true because I have to go through you to get them and I know that you are not going to let me go. Man that sounded a little corny." He laughed taking another puff.

The smile spread on Jade's face and she tried her best not to let a tear fall, "No, that's beautiful and you will have to cut off my arm before I give this back to you." She smiled, "And the key is the key to your heart?"

"No, I'm not that damn corny. The key is to my place. I made you a spare key so that you don't have to wait on me or come by the shop to get it when you want to come over." Her heart felt like it expanded through her whole body.

"Your key? This is your spare key?" she repeated and he nodded.

Her tongue was heavy and she wasn't sure what to say next. Well, she knew what to say but she didn't want him to think that all she wanted was the key and that was the way to get her to say it. She wanted it to be special the first time. So, she swallowed hard and finally found her voice.

"Thank you, I really appreciate that. This is a big step."

"I know it is. I don't do that for just anybody." He said and she smiled again, taking the tags out and putting them around her neck, "Looks good on you." She just grinned, looking down at him as he stared back.

She laid her head back on his wide chest, taking comfort in the heat from his body. She wasn't even bothered by the cigarette smoke. She thumbed the tags between her fingers looking at his name imprint on them.

"Jade?" he said.

"Yes." She said still looking at them.

"Just fucking tell me you love me. It's been on your tongue for the past couple of weeks now." Her body froze when and she slowly turned her head to him.

"What?"

"I know that's what you want to say but been too chicken shit to say it."

"Why didn't you say it first?" she said lifting her head from his chest.

"I want you to say it. You have been skipping around the whole thing every since I took you to that museum. You forgot I can easily read people."

"Well, I'm not going to say it." She said crossing her arms and he nodded.

Before she could react he rolled over on her and started tickling her sides. She burst into a fit of laughter trying to fight is hands back but he was too quick. She felt a brief pain in her side and she couldn't take it anymore. "Okay! Okay! I love you." She said, catching her breath, wiping the tears from her eyes.

"I'm sorry what did you say." He said leaning his ear closer.

"You heard me, I love you."

"One more time in this ear." He said turning his head and she pinched him, "Okay baby, I love you too." He said looking down into her eyes.

She smiled down at him; bring him down to kiss her again. She wrapped her arms around his neck, rolling him over so that she was on top. Oh yea, this weekend was going to be all fun, she thought to herself.

On the last day, James and Ramon were hard at work upstairs while Nicole and Jade were packing up. Nicole was going to really miss the place and vowed that when it was up and running, she was going to come visit. James had already got a call from Sergeant Kipling that he wanted to sit down and have a drink with James and the other guys just to catch up. James knew that a drink would turn into many drinks and he was welcoming that challenge with his mentor.

Jade was just finishing up some cleaning when she heard her phone ring, "Hello."

"Hey, where are you two at?" the moment Jade heard Gale's voice her smile slowly turned.

"We are vacationing for a little bit, what's going on?"

"When are you coming back? There is something I want to talk with you about."

Jade's interest peeked, "Well we are driving back today but tomorrow night I won't be too busy because James is hanging with some old friends." There was a brief pause, "Well, whenever you are finishing doing that, you want to hang out for a little bit."

"Gale, I don't feel like arguing anymore..."

"No arguing, just talking. I don't want to let my past come between us." She breathed.

"Wow, okay then. I will see you tomorrow night."

"Good and take good care of our baby sister."

"I am, besides I think she has a crush on someone." Jade whispered into the phone.

"I do not!" Jade heard from the other side of the room and started laughing.

"Wait, a crush? Really?" Gale inquired.

"I'll tell you later." Jade whispered.

"There is nothing to tell!" Nicole shouted again and Jade hung up.

She went to the front and saw Nicole dusting off some of the old furniture, glaring at Jade.

"Oh come on, you know it's funny and true."

"It so is not. We are just talking to each other. I can't even have a full conversation with him without me giggling and falling over my words."

"So, you two talk more than what we have seen?"

"There have been a couple of times. Like last night, I got up and went to the kitchen for some cookies and milk. I was sneaking around and he switched on the lights and I spilled milk all over myself. Stop laughing." Nicole immediately said as Jade's side started hurting from her laughing so hard.

"I'm sorry, go ahead."

"Anyway, he cleaned up everything while I changed clothes. I must admit, he looks mighty scrumptious in what he sleeps in."

"And what's that baby sister?"

"Just some lounge pants." Nicole sighed and Jade just shook her head, "He does have a lot of tattoos though. I was scared to ask about some of them because the one I was really asking about was on his chest."

"Oh, my poor virginal sister."

"Stop throwing that in my face." Nicole pouted. At that moment, they both walked in and James was dusting himself off, "Are you girls about ready?" he asked.

"I think so. We have cleaned up enough without getting paid for it." Jade said.

"I don't know, last night on the beach was certainly payment enough." He whispered into her ear and she playfully pushed him a way.

"Well, I'm going to take a shower and get cleaned up. You know I have to go ahead and head out."

"Okay then, we will probably follow right behind you." James said, "I'm going to clean up too."

"Hey Nikki, you want to ride back with me?" he said giving her a lazy half smile and that set off Nicole.

"Um...well... I really need....to...um...I don't know." She said giggling.

"Come on, I told you I won't bite much." He smiled and she started laughing hysterically again, nearly turning red.

"Um...I need to get some stuff." She said sprinting upstairs.

"What did you do?" Jade smiled.

"What? I'm just teasing; besides, she has a cute laugh." He said just before heading upstairs.

"Do not say anything." Jade said as she looked at James.

"What? I think it's kind of funny and cute. Little Nicole gets all flustered when she talks to him. What are you going to do if they start dating?"

"I'm going to be happy for my baby sister. She needs to date someone." Jade said rolling her eyes.

Jade did convince Nicole to ride back with Ramon even though they were directly behind them the entire time. She seemed to be doing pretty good around him, even though Ramon told Jade that she stayed pretty quiet the drive back. Oh well, she would just have to warm up to him.

The next day flew by quickly as Jade caught up with all her work she missed. It didn't take long but Katrina kept asking about those tags she was wearing around her neck. Truthfully, Jade hasn't been able to take them off since he first gave them too her. She didn't want too. She already knew her key worked from this morning when she left his place.

It was amazing, Jade had never been so in love before. She loved Dante, but this was way different. It was getting to a point where Jade was starting to see herself settling down with James. She never thought to ask if he was willing to get remarried but right now she was content with being with him right now. Right now, she had to concentrate on dealing with Gale. She wondered what exactly she had planned for their little talk tonight. It was possibly nothing more than to bitch and complain more about James but Jade didn't care. Nothing that Gale could possibly say would make Jade think any different about him. When Jade got home, Gale was already at her house. Well, it was now or never, she thought to herself as she went inside and was amazed to hear laughter. When it concerned Gale, Jade was so use to hearing silence or her ordering people around.

"Hey you two." Jade said walking in.

"Hey, what's going on?" Nicole said.

"Same thing I was going to ask you two."

"I came early and saw Nicole was here so I thought I would wait on you."

"Well, I was just about to start dinner. James is out with a couple of the guys and I was going to go there when he calls me or maybe wait on him." Jade said heading towards the kitchen.

"How were you going to wait on him?" Gale asked following her.

"Oh, he gave me a key to his house so I was just going to wait till he came home."

"A key? Really?" Gale said and Jade nodded, "I see that you are also showing off some new jewelry."

"Oh yea, he gave me his dog tags this weekend."

"From what Nicole tells me, it sounds like you all had fun."

"We did. The beach was beautiful and the place was awesome. I was really shocked by it and James was doing really well fixing it up."

"Yea it sounds, really good so far." Gale said and looked off slightly. Jade looked over at Gale and saw her bite down on her bottom lip, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just thinking about some stuff."

"Is this about James again?"

"No Jade, he, umm, he seems like a nice guy. Maybe I have been battling with my own past and have been taking it out on you. I just wanted to say that it was wrong of me to try and direct your life." Jade stopped what she was doing instantly.

"Are you apologizing to me?" Jade said looking back at her.

Gale smiled, "Something like that. I should just let you do what you want to do."

"Wow Gale, thank you. So does that mean you like James?"

"I'm tolerating him for you, because I do love and care about you."

"Thanks Gale. Well, now I feel comfortable enough to tell you that I am in love with him."

"What?"

"I am. I actually knew it for some time but this weekend I actually admitted it to him and that's when he gave me the keys to his place. Gale, I'm so happy with him and I'm starting to see myself with him. I love him, Gale." Jade smiled and Gale's mouth just dropped.

There was a brief silence and Gale looked off. She bit down on her lip and sighed. This was not like Gale, what was going on? "Gale please don't tell me that..."

"No, I'm happy for you. It's just, you brought me back to that day when I admitted that about Patrick to mom."

"Gale, what happened between you two? Please talk to me because it obviously something that was very hurtful. I mean one minute I see the both of you are happy and everything is looking good and the next you are crying your eyes out. What happened?"

"I don't know if I feel comfortable talking about it. It just brings up so many bad memories of what he said."

"Okay, it might help a little. Just so I can understand why you brought up James' race." She sighed looking up to the ceiling, "I don't know if I told you but Patrick proposed to me one night saying he was ready to spend his life with me and only me. I accepted and then he went back home for awhile. He came back and broke up with me. He said that he would never to marry a black girl and that he got another girl pregnant back home. I was so crushed after that. I asked him several times to admit that he was joking, but he said it wasn't. He said he couldn't do this with me and left. I never saw him again after that."

"I'm so sorry Gale. I didn't think he would say anything like that. I mean he always use to tell Nicole and I that he was going to make an honest woman out of you." Jade reaching for her hand.

"Well, he didn't." she quickly responded, "So, that's the end of that. I don't want you to go through that because I know how it felt especially when I realized the woman was white. It was just extremely hard for me to accept."

"I know and I'm sorry that it happened, but James isn't like that. He doesn't even like his ex-wife anymore." Jade smiled, "Can you be happy for me?"

"I am." Gale smiled as Jade hugged her close.

"So, is that what you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Part of it; you know I will be right back I have to make a quick call." Gale said.

Gale went upstairs to Jade's room and frantically, "Hello." Dante said.

"I can't do this. I don't think we should." Dante sighed, "Gale, come on. We are doing this for Jade. You know she deserves to be with me and this guy is no good for her. You have to help me please; I can't live without her."

"But, this is going overboard. I just think that we should leave her alone."

"Do you really want Jade to go through what you went through? I remember you said how hard it was." Gale sighed, leaning her head against the door, "Just hang out with Jade and keep her there. Deborah will take care of the rest." Gale closed the phone and took a deep breath.

She just kept going in her mind that she could get through this and headed downstairs. James was having fun hanging with his sergeant that he didn't even notice the time or how drunk he was. Scott and Nik left awhile ago and James was still talking about old times at the base. He needed to call Jade; she was going have to come pick him up.

"James, you can't hold it like you use too?" Sergeant Kipling bellowed.

"I can hold it just fine sir, I need to go home." James slurred pulling out his phone.

He tried dialing Jade's number but it just kept ringing and ringing. She knows not to leave her phone around so why wasn't she answering her phone? He tried one last time and it still kept ringing.

"Trying to call a ride?" Kipling slurred leaning on the bar.

"Yea, I'm trying to call my girl but she is not answering the phone."

"Well, I have the number for the taxi service, so just call them."

"Yea I have one too. I'm going to leave sir and I will see you later okay."

"Nice catching up with you James. Be careful."

James stumbled outside with his phone in hand trying to focus on the numbers on the phone. Why couldn't this be easy? He was about to dial but heard someone calling his name in the distant. He turned towards the voice and saw Deborah heading his way.

"What the hell you want?" he said backing away from her.

"I was just leaving a club, are you drunk?" she said looking at him up and down.

"I'm not drunk just been drinking a little."

"You look like you have been drinking a lot. Did you drive here?"

"Why do you care?"

"Because you shouldn't be drinking and driving."

"I will call my girl and get her to come and get me."

"It's late James, let me go ahead and get you to your place."

"Hell no, I don't want you doing anything for you."

"James, please you are out in public. Let me take you home and I will make sure you get in okay."

"I don't think it's smart to let you in my house."

"All I want is to give you a ride, that's it! Just let me go ahead and make sure you get in okay, please." He looked at her skeptically and maybe it was the extra drink he had but he realized that he had no other choice.

"Alright then. Lead me on." He said and Deborah smiled as she helped him to her car.

She was lucky that she parked close because he was getting heavy as he leaned on her. James sat back in the car and thought about calling Jade one more time but he couldn't even keep his eyes open as soon as his head hit the back of the seat.

The next morning, Jade woke up a little confused. Gale left early that morning, but she was more confused that she didn't get a call from James. When she finally took a look at her phone she saw that he did call but somehow her phone was on silent. She swore she needed a new phone. Oh, well she would just go to his house to make sure he got home safe. She missed him so much and they were away from each other for just one night.

"Nicole, will you be alright tonight?" Jade said heading downstairs.

"Yea, Dominique is going to come and get me to take me to the college for registration." Nicole said.

"Okay good. I'm going to see about James before going to work."

"Okay, you know what; I was really shocked by Gale last night." Nicole said.

"I know I was too. I think when she told me what really happened between her and Patrick; she must have loosened up a little."

"Well that's good. I like to see the old Gale back, now all she needs to do is get rid of Ryan." Nicole stopped in mid stride, "Did I say that out loud?"

"Yes and I couldn't agree with you more." Jade said smiling, "I will see you later." As she hurried out the door.

On the way to James place, Jade stopped by the doughnut shop to pick him up some coffee. She knew how he gets without his coffee in the morning. She made it to his house and saw the strange car in his driveway. Something about the car looked familiar, but she couldn't quite point it out. Well, maybe the sergeant stayed the night with him. She walked in and called out for him, but didn't get a response, "James!" still nothing.