Sleeping on the Terrace Ch. 03

"Hi." A cute and curly redhead dropped down in the seat beside Jessie. She looked to be taller than he was, her long legs draped across the footstool in front of her chair.

"Hello." Jessie squinted into the afternoon sun and smiled at the girl next to him.

"I'm Janet, nice to meet you." She extended her hand with a welcoming smile.

"I'm Jessie, thanks, it's nice to meet you too."

"How do you know Sarah?"

"I'm just a customer, my friend Rachel took me there a couple of weeks ago."

"Don't you just love her store? I shop there every week. Shoes are my biggest weakness." She lifted her feet adorned with a pair of strappy sandals with five-inch heels. "Just call me Imelda Marcos!"

Jessie chuckled. "I love them too but on my budget I can't afford as many."

"What do you do?"

"I teach at the community college. How about you?"

"I work for a design firm downtown but I take classes at the community college. What do you teach?"

"English. Mostly composition. Occasionally I get a chance at an intermediate writing course but not very often."

"Are you a writer?"

"Yeah, I try to be. Mostly pulp fiction stuff, romance and erotica. Have you ever written anything?"

"Oh God no, I'm a terrible writer, just ask my high school composition teachers. I'm surprised I even passed those classes. So have I ever read any of your stuff? Do you use your name or a pen name?"

"I've hardly published anything so far, I..."

"If you can find out her pen name you're a better person than me. I've known Jessie for six months and she still hasn't told me what it is. Hi, I'm Rachel." Rachel extended her hand and shook Janet's.

"Hi. Oh, are you two together?" Janet's face began to show signs of concern.

"Yes, but don't worry about it. It's nice to meet new people."

Jason got up and pulled another chair over for Rachel. "Did you come here alone?"

"Yeah, sort of. I came with my friend Brie; she's the tall blonde standing over there drooling over Howard's muscles. She knows better, Sarah will box her ears if she goes too far."

Rachel sat in her chair and adjusted the cushion. "No boyfriend?"

"Not lately. The last guy I was with didn't end so well. I sort of forgot to mention a few things and when he found out he was kind of pissed." Janet pulled back her hair and revealed a small scar on her temple near the hairline.

Jessie shook his head and sighed. "Shit, did you press charges?"

"No, it's no use anyway. The courts don't want to hear about domestic disputes that include girls like us. So we just go home, lick our wounds, and start all over again." She shook her head as if clearing her head of negative thoughts. "Hey, enough of that crap. Let's talk about something fun. I've got vacation time coming up, where should a single girl go? Any ideas?"

Rachel reached across and gave Jessie a big hug. "The Bahamas, definitely the Bahamas."

"We just got back a couple of weeks ago, can't you tell?"

"It was magical," Rachel added kissing Jessie on the cheek.

Janet laughed at their antics. "I see that. Tell me more."

"Janet! Come here, there's someone I want you to meet!" The tall blonde that Janet pointed to earlier was standing near a picnic table and talking to a couple of new arrivals. She motioned with her hands for Janet to hurry.

Janet stood up and grinned. "I guess I'm needed, sorry. Can I catch up with you guys later for the details?"

"Sure, wait a minute," Jason said pulling out a pen and grabbing a napkin. "If we miss each other today, perhaps you can give us a call. We can talk over a cup of coffee sometime."

"That's very sweet, thank you, I'd love that. Bye." Janet turned and jogged towards her anxious friend still urging her to walk faster.

Rachel turned to kiss Jessie on the cheek again. "So, Mr. Popular, I guess I need to keep my eye on you."

"You have nothing to worry about sweetie, I'm totally smitten by you." He leaned in and returned her kiss. "Now, let's get go try some of Howard's burgers, I'm starved."

As they walked towards the food table, Howard cranked up the music then grabbed Sarah for a dance. Apparently all the grillwork was over so now it was time to party. It was kind of funny watching Howard, this hulk of a man, gliding across the dance floor working his salsa moves on his girlfriend Sarah. She looked a bit like Faye Ray in his arms. Not that Howard resembled a giant gorilla but he was huge. It was fun seeing everyone just enjoy themselves and for Rachel, she was glad to see Jessie relax more and enjoy himself too. She hoped that they could go out more often like this but she knew it would always be a battle to overcome his tendency to hide.

Watching Howard and Sarah salsa dance inspired Jessie to grab Rachel around the waist. She squealed as he hugged her. "Would you like to dance, gorgeous?"

"I'd love to, but let's eat first."

*><*><*

The afternoon passed into twilight and the party began to wind down. Rachel and Jessie said their goodbyes with promises to make the next barbeque whenever Sarah announced it. They wove their way out of Sarah's neighborhood with the expert guidance of Jessie's GPS phone and eventually climbed the three flights of stairs to their apartments.

Rachel leaned forward and kissed Jessie on the cheek as he fumbled with the keys to his apartment. "A glass of wine on the terrace my dear?"

"I'd love one, but I want to change first. I'll be out in a couple of minutes."

Rachel walked into her apartment and kicked off Jessie's shoes by the front door. She stopped in the bathroom to freshen up her makeup, then she walked into her kitchen and grabbed a bottle of chardonnay she had chilling in the fridge. Knowing how much they both enjoyed a glass of wine before bed, she put the bottle in to chill before they left for Sarah's. She opened the wine and took two glasses off the shelf then she padded in stocking feet out through her terrace door.

A moment later Jason stepped out onto his side of the terrace holding a plate with slices of cheese and some savory crackers. He was wearing pajama bottoms and silky thin cotton t-shirt. He stepped gracefully over the dividing wall and joined Rachel at her table.

"Oh, you brought snacks, perfect."

"I had the munchies, I thought you would too." Jason sat the tray down on the table and poured himself a glass of wine. "So, how was the party?"

"Good, we had lots of fun and met a bunch of new people. What did you do while we were gone?"

Jason tried putting on a mock pout but half way through he grinned. "Sat around feeling lonely. I spent the evening watching old reruns of Friends."

Rachel grinned and popped a slice of cheese into his mouth. "Here, have some cheese, it'll make you feel better."

"Thanks."

Rachel munched on a few crackers and glanced sideways at Jason. Her mouth twisted into a wry grin. "Jessie got hit on by a couple of girls tonight."

"That's what she said." Jason looked off to watch the moon dance among the clouds.

"Some of those girls were very pretty. I know a lot of women who would love to look that good in those dresses."

"Yes, she told me that some of them were quite beautiful. She also told me about Howard."

"The Incredible Hulk? Yeah, he was very funny."

"Apparently a good dancer too."

"Uh-huh." Rachel watched the smirk play across Jason's face. It was obvious that he was toying with her. She was on a phishing expedition and he was going to make her work for the answers she wanted to hear. She decided that she might as well play along.

"So, have you ever thought about a relationship with a transsexual?" Rachel darted another glance across the table to watch his reaction to her question.

"Actually, I've led a pretty sheltered life up until I met you. Aside from Sarah, I've never met a transsexual before. And I didn't even know she was a transsexual until you told me."

"So, the question still stands, would you?"

"I think it's moot, my love. As long as I have you in my life, the rest of the world just doesn't matter." He turned to her with a gleam in his eyes. "Now about the shoes you wore tonight that just screamed 'take me'!" He growled as he swooped her up into his arms and hugged her.

She squealed and giggled as he carried her back into her apartment smothering her with kisses.

*****

A NOTE TO THE READER:

This story is a work of fiction. All of the characters, their names and the places that they visit, are purely from the imagination of the author. Any resemblance to persons, places, or things is not intentional and purely coincidental.

If you believe in coincidence I'm happy for you. However, if you read my other works you know that I do not, but the lawyers like to see that word in there anyway.

Thank you for reading my work, I hope you enjoyed it. If this is the first time you've read one of my stories, welcome. I hope you take a look at the rest of the work that I've published her on Literotica.com. If you are a returning reader, welcome back, it's nice to see old friends.

Dreamweaver594