The Warmest Winter, Day 15

Jenny was starting to get scared. This was resistance beyond what she was expecting. Mike was, frankly, frightening when angry. What's worse, he kept control of it.

"Okay, okay," she started, trying to calm herself down. "Let me see if I can try this another way."

The front door opened.

"We're back!" announced Veronica. Nate followed closely behind her.

"Don't bother," said Mike, brushing by her to go upstairs.

"What's going on?" Veronica asked, concerned.

"Oh, nothing," said Mike breezily as he went up the stairs. "I've just been having a friendly discourse with a meddling bitch!" He called the last words over his shoulder before shutting the door to his room behind him.

"Stubborn jackass!" Jenny shouted up in response.

"Someone want to fill me in?" Nate said.

"They get like that," Veronica said, "This is the worst I've seen it, though."

The front door opened again.

"Hey, bro! How was your day?" Cassie asked, giving Nate a hug.

"Pretty damn awesome," he said.

"There was, uh, steam still rising from your engine block when we pulled in," Rick mentioned, "Didn't you two leave, like, over an hour before Cassie and I?"

Veronica whipped her head around and blushed. "We, um, stopped on the way in. For a while." Feeling bold, she took Nate's hand in hers. Cassie's eyes bulged.

"You?! And you?! SQUEE!" Veronica and Nate found their necks yanked by the spontaneous hug from Cassie. Rick sat back and grinned at the scene. Jenny's head reeled. She knew Nate had a crush on Veronica since the Stone Age but... wow.

"How was your time with Rick?" Nate asked pointedly. He had gotten a good look at Rick's face during the hug, and saw some familiar expressions.

"Awesome!"

"How awesome?" Nate raised an eyebrow at Rick.

"Let me put it to you this way:" Rick confessed. "If anybody can tame me, it's her."

"That just leaves you and Mike!" gushed Cassie; then she saw Veronica's frantic cutting motion across her throat.

"Yeah, I... don't know about that," Jenny said. "It got pretty bad." She looked straight at Rick. "Your idea sucked. He exploded. I should never have pushed him, but no, I had to trust that you knew what you were doing. And now I..." She couldn't finish the sentence.

Rick raised his hands. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down. I'm sorry. I forgot he could get like that. It's been a long time, and the wounds run deep. Jenny, I really am sorry. Please believe me when I tell you I wouldn't have asked if I didn't think it was our only shot."

"Our only shot?!" Cassie said, until the others reminded her to lower her voice. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm saying I honestly don't think I can win without some genius brainstorm. And the only person who could come up with one doesn't want to."

"Do you still want to do the thing for tomorrow, considering everything?" Nate asked.

Jenny thought for a while.

"Yes. Yes, I do. Especially because of everything."

"Okay, we'll be downstairs getting the stuff down."

"I'll be along in a minute."

Jenny watched the new couples head to the basement. God, it was so easy to see their connection, that crazy fire between them that said Love with a capital L. New or long-held, romantic or physical, all four of them screamed it.

Screaming. They didn't know the half of what was said in the basement. Jenny's eyes teared up as she thought back. What had gotten into her? What made her try so hard? What had gotten her so out of whack today? Whatever it was, it was driving her crazy.

The realization hit Jenny like a punch in the stomach. How she was feeling. Why she was acting the way she was. Why Mike mattered so much to her. How deeply she felt before she was ready to. How hard she had fallen for him.

And now, how badly she had screwed it all up.