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It was Saturday night. Jen couldn’t believe she was actually clad in a tiny black dress that clung to her body like second skin, partying at the most famous club in the metro. Her brown tresses had been tied up in a sexy, messy bun by none other than the person who’d dragged her there— Melissa.
“You look really gorgeous, Jen,” Mel told her with twinkling eyes and a grin on her lips.
“You’re just admiring your work,” Jen said, trying to be heard over the loud thumping music in the club. She still grinned back, though, knowing that she really did look like a magazine cover model in her smoky makeup, stylish hairstyle, and sexy but elegant garb. However, she didn’t feel that comfortable with what she was wearing because it just didn’t feel like her.
“Well, aside from my awesome work on you, I am pretty certain you’re going to meet someone today,” Mel said with confidence.
“Yeah, you do look amazing,” Bernard quipped. He had an arm around Mel’s bare shoulders. The two of them had been acting so intimately with one another the entire evening that Jen would have felt totally out of place, if not for their other colleagues.
“Thanks,” Jen muttered, turning around so she would not have to see them kiss another time. At least they were surrounded with people she knew. It was actually a company party to celebrate their recent discoveries in Alaska, and also to acknowledge the newly promoted staff.
Suddenly, another lab assistant grabbed her and took her to the dance floor. “Let’s dance, Jen!” the blonde girl called Elise said.
Jen smiled and joined her and some others, trying to loosen up and have some fun. After all, she should be enjoying her freedom rather than sulking at home.
As she danced to the music, she accidentally bumped into someone behind her. When she turned around, her eyes almost bulged out of their sockets.
His hair was a little longer and he’d grown a moustache. But she would never, ever forget those dark, mysterious eyes and that lazy smile that used to make her heart beat so fast. Brian.
At that instant, her whole world seemed to stop. The deafening music faded to the background and the rest of the club swirled around her.
“Hi, Jen,” Brian said. “Fancy seeing you here.”
Jen forced herself to say hi back. But just as she was about to say something more, a curly woman with false eyelashes came forward and carted Brian away.
She blinked back tears. Her night of freedom had just been shattered by reality. Seeing her ex-boyfriend after a year, together with the new love of his life, felt like a bomb had exploded into her heart. Quickly she hurried back to the bar to look for Mel and find comfort. Her friend was nowhere to be found. But there was someone else there looking at her with concern and curiosity.
She almost did not recognize the tall, well-built man wearing a light denim button-down and a pair of casual khakis. He held out a shot glass to her. “Drink?” he offered, his gray eyes shimmering in the dimness.
Jen didn’t even think or care. She took it and finished the shot with one gulp. The sharp bitterness seemed to set her throat on fire. What the hell!
When she looked up, her eyes seemed to refocus. Now she had a clearer vision of who it was in front of her. “Jack!” she hissed, wide-eyed. “What was that?!”
He simply smiled at her. “Nothing you can’t handle, especially since you look like somebody just stole all of your money.”
“Talk about stealing all of my life...” Jen muttered, shaking her head and sitting down on the bar stool beside him.
Jack chuckled. “Sounds serious. Want to talk about it?”
“No!” Jen said a little louder than she’d intended. “I want to forget about it.”
“Then I suggest you have another drink,” Jack said, signaling for another one from the bartender and pushing it toward Jen.
Jen stared at it for a second, then thought, What the fuck. It’s freedom night. I’m a big girl and nobody cares, anyway.
Jack ordered two more. He drank one while handing the other to Jen.
“You do this all the time?” Jen said after finishing her third shot.
“Nah,” he answered with a grin. “Just when I’m celebrating something important.”
“Oh, okay.” Then it hit her. Jack had actually been promoted to Lab Director! Her hand flew to cover her open mouth as she realized her mistake. “I’m sorry, I forgot. You got promoted too! That’s totally cool! I mean, wow! Congratulations and all!”
Her words reverberated in her ears, and they seem to have sounded bad. What was happening to her voice? Maybe she was drinking too much. She wasn’t used to it.
“Thanks, Jen,” he said.
“I can’t believe you’ve gone such a loooong way in such a shoooort time!” she said in a slightly slurred manner, her pitch higher than usual. Her head was beginning to throb. Even her teeth felt as if they were throbbing!
This time, Jack got a beer for each of them. “Yes, but I believe I’ve worked hard to deserve it.”
“Of course!”
Her head wasn’t really aching, but she somehow knew she was already tipsy. He knew it too.
“You know, I think you’re not used to drinking and partying like this...” Jack said, his voice becoming serious. “Better for you to just have a beer, I suppose.”
“Sure, whatever,” Jen answered with a smile. She took a swig from the beer. “It tastes really good.” She was actually beginning to feel light and good. Brian’s face had disappeared from her mind finally, now replaced by her wandering thoughts of Jack.
She remembered bumping into him in the hallway several times, running into him in the pantry, and reporting to him at times, even though he wasn’t her direct superior. He’d always been so serious and uptight at work. She liked the way he was being such a cool friend at the moment.
As Jack drank from his own beer, he actually told her about himself— how difficult it had been to transfer to the city after growing up on a ranch in the countryside, how he wanted to make it big to make his family proud, and how he enjoyed doing lab work on his own.
Jen nodded, smiling widely. “We’re the same!” she announced with a laugh. “I mean, I love working at the lab on my own too! That’s why I sometimes hang around after work hours.”
Jack leaned over and motioned for her to lean forward too. Their noses were almost touching as his intense eyes seemed to bore a hole into hers. For some reason, her whole body began to heat up. Her heart started hammering against her rib cage.
“I really, really like you, Jen,” he told her sincerely. “I’ve had my eye on you for a while now. I think you and I are going to make wonderful partners.”
Jen was flustered at first. She didn’t know if he was referring to liking her as a future girlfriend or as a future work partner. But then she realized that he might actually be considering her to take his former position as lab manager, which had surprisingly not been filled up yet. Maybe he had the privilege of choosing who to assign in that vacancy.
“I...” she began softly.
But he placed a finger on her lips, which made her heart thump even harder. “It’s okay,” he quickly said. “You don’t have to respond to that. I just wanted to let you know.”
“You like me as what?” she suddenly asked boldly as a rush of adrenaline gave her the courage to be blunt. Or maybe it was just the alcohol at work.
Jack chuckled at her boldness. “You’re an intriguing woman indeed. Full of surprises too. And very, very intelligent and skillful, I might say. I like all of you, Jen. I really do.”
“As what?” she demanded, although her mind was whirring crazily and her heart was racing madly. “You didn’t answer my question.”
He laughed. “Sorry. I meant to say I like you as in, I want to go out with you.”
“You want me?” Jen said candidly in a flirtatious way.
Jack smiled mysteriously. He took her hand on top of the counter and squeezed it. Then he slid down his stool and took a step closer to her. “You’ve had too much to drink...” he said. “But yes, I want you. Let’s get out of here.”