Romantic Preludes

As Jodie left he examined the nameplate and frowned. The nameplate read, 'Ms. Jodie Applegate.' Jodie comforted himself by reminding himself if it said Mr. It might raise questions. Questions he wanted to avoid at all cost. As he was walking along the hallway and staring at his new moniker he suddenly slammed into a large man in a tight-fitting suit. The man quickly wrapped his arms around the blindsided beauty and pulled her into him. "Better be more careful cutie." The man oozed charm while still holding Jodie upright.

"Maybe you should, like, watch out where I'm going. Where, you're, just like, ugh." Jodie tried to sound indignant but the effects of the medicine had truly begun to show and he truly could not rise to meet his anger. Jodie recognized the man as one of the other bosses with his own secretary, who too, spent a long time in his office with the door locked. "I'm sorry, I was like, distracted by my new nameplate." Jodie weakly held up the plate displaying his name to the strange man.

"No harm done, so no need to apologize Miss Applegate. I'm Ken Wellerman." Ken held out his hand for her to shake. When Jodie placed his hand in Ken's he took Jodie by the fingers and brought the feminine man's hand up to his lips for a soft kiss. 'Ugh, is every man here a horndog?!'

Jodie laughed, biting nervously at his painted lip. "A, a pleasure." He lies and once again reminded himself he was doing this to pay back Eric.

"I don't believe you've had the pleasure yet." He smirked, still holding onto Jodie's hand running his thumb across her's. "Speaking of, there's this nice little bar a few of us go to at the end of the work week, you know just relax, unwind, blow off a little steam." He was every bit as good looking as he was creepy. "If you'd like I could give you a ride and-"

Jodie's phone beeped, one of Janet's random quizzes giving him the perfect out. "Oh, thank God. I mean, like, my boyfriend he was able to get a reservation for tonight." Jodie blew air as if she had been worried, "Sorry, it's like our anniversary so, uh, rain check okay?" Jodie capitalized on the creepy Ken's momentary confusion to extricate himself from his hand and hurried back to his own desk, his hips swaying with every hurried step.

Upon returning to his desk he found a large bouquet of flowers. "What in the…" his words fell off as he picked up the card. “Things are tough, but will get through this together.” Janet had obviously sent him some flowers as a way of apologizing for being more of a bitch than usual. Not that she didn't have a right to be, and he definitely used that "****" excuse more than once when they dated. Jodie sniffed the flowers allowing himself to enjoy their sweet scent. Maybe after this mess was cleared up they could actually try and talk about rekindling their relationship.

Jodie was thankful that Adam didn't need much... attending to after lunch. The fog that still settled over his mind made it impossible to do anything more than text and study. The hardest part was texting his new bestie with his god-awful nails, especially in the bubblegumtastic way Janet expected. But, he managed and before he knew it he was back on the bus pretending he didn't see the men leering at his legs. He couldn't wait to get home, set fire to his heels, and veg out in front of the TV all weekend in his pajamas. Or, rather, whatever Becky had close to his old PJs he so longed for now.

When he walked into his apartment, however, he was greeted with the tiny ball of energy he had come to know as Eric's sister Lauren. "Jordan! Come on we have to hurry!"

"Hurry? Why?" Lauren dragged Jodie into his bathroom and immediately began helping him disrobe.

Lauren practically tore Jodie's blouse off of his body. "Your date of course." Jodie immediately snapped his arms over his breasts or lack thereof hoping to hide his artificially enhanced chest from Lauren. Fear ran through Jodie's entire body. Did she see his chest was fake? Did she finally realize who he was? Lauren couldn't believe it, but it made a lot of sense. Why Jodie was always staring at her chest. She was jealous of what Lauren had. She wanted to help but right now, it was date night. "Here, come on get washed up. And no need to hide, we can't all be blessed. You should see some of the girls I go to school with. They're as big as my head." Lauren turned the shower faucet on checking the temperature. "To be honest I'm a bit of a late bloomer myself."

"What?"

"No, it's true. Like, a few years ago my brother was friends with this dickhead, he always mocked me for being flat." She walked out of the bathroom as steam poured out into their bedroom. "God, what was his name?" She asked the universe as she walked back in carrying two large towels. "Ah, who cares. Guys like that aren't worth wasting brain matter on, right Jordan?"

"R-right," Jodie answered behind the shower curtain. He was happy she clearly didn't recognize him but it made him sad to think that was her only memory of him.

Once Jodie finished showering and removing any excess hair, he wrapped the larger towel around his chest. Lauren helped him to wrap his hair in the second towel before guiding him to the vanity mirror. "You know, I get it was probably stressful not having a job and all, and maybe certain things fall by the wayside, but it's important to remember no matter how bad things get you can start again and make a change."

"I guess so." Jodie offered no resistance as Lauren painted his face.

"No, no guess so." She said with mock melancholy. "You love Eric right? I mean it's really obvious the way you two look at each other."

"It is?!" Jodie admired Eric for all he had accomplished and done to help Jordan out. So, maybe, that's love, as much as two straight men are capable of loving one another.

"Oh yeah. I see you two making goo-goo eyes at each other even with all this going on. But tonight you need to forget about the past and start fresh. You want to make him happy again right?"

"... yeah."

"And, if you want him to make you happy too you have to show him you're willing to do what it takes to make this relationship work."

"I got a job." He cried defensively.

"I know, sweetie, and I know that probably wears you out but you still have to put forth the effort. Eyes." Jodie closed his eyes allowing Lauren to trace eyeliner along the rim of his eyelid. "If you show him how you feel tonight it will go along way to repairing your relationship."

"You think so?" Slowly the wheels started turning in his head slowly forming an idea through the fog.

"Trust me. Just forget about whatever fights you guys had, tonight you are just a sexy and beautiful woman spending a night on the town with her boyfriend, who I'm sure has nice qualities of his own." Lauren smiled at Jodie in the mirror.

"Hey, don't sell your brother short. He's really a sweetheart. And, like, handsome." Jodie hated saying it but Eric was objectively handsome and his kind and caring nature only added to it.

Lauren smiled at the lovestruck look on Jordan's face. "I suppose being his sister makes that hard to see sometimes."

"Lucky me, I'm not related to him."

"Doesn't mean we can't be sisters." Jodie meant it in a more morose way than it was taken. Jodie was just his friend and he went so far out of his way to help him that he jeopardized his own future and his own relationships for Jodie's sake. He couldn't imagine what lengths he would go to if they were more than friends. All he knew was he didn't like the thought so he shoved it down and doubled his determination to pay him back with a fun night on the town with a pretty girl. Even if that pretty girl had to be him for now.