It felt like an eternity before they eventually broke eye contact, clearing his throat Jack glanced in Erica's direction, the discomfort on his face plain to see, stepping a little further to his side she plastered her best smile to the woman who once held his heart and introduced herself.
Landing back from whichever land her thoughts seemed to be venturing to Lucille wiped the blank look off her face and returned the smile despite how her feelings were telling her to do otherwise. "It's a pleasure to meet you. It's funny when I ran into Jackie," she paused narrowing her eyes on Erica, "he didn't mention anybody in his life."
It didn't go unnoticed to Erica how rigid his body grew under the pressure of Lucille's words that even rubbed her the wrong way, "Well forgive me if I fail to see how Jack's relationship status is either you or anyone's business," she kept her voice light. Despite the tone being wrapped in a cloak of sweetness hidden underneath was a sour, bitter taste that Lucille's tongue met causing her smile to drop. To any spectator eagerly watching the pair, neither of the women liked the other. Erica knew that she was not a fan favourite of the woman, but her approval wasn't the one she sought such that no longer willing to engage in the conversation she leaned forward into his ear slowly whilst maintaining eye contact with Lucille who gawked at them and gave him a chaste kiss on the cheek holding the contact a few seconds longer than usual. The action caught him off guard momentarily stopping him from functioning as a pink tint painted his cheeks whilst she excused them from Lucille's presence who still stood rooted in the same spot watching them
"You really know how to put on a show," he whispered rubbing the back of his neck gently, a habit he had when unsure of what to do.
"That was nothing. If there weren't little kids around..." she left the statement hanging smirking in his direction when she noticed his blush deepen.
"Well, I never thought I'd see the day anyone walked away from the Great Lucille," a feminine said immediately causing Erica's laugh to falter at the voice she had only heard on TV. Gulping down nervously she turned to find Terri watching them both grinning from ear to ear.
"Besides you," Jack pointed out moving forward to give his long-time friend a hug. They had met in high school where she was introduced to him as Oscar's girlfriend till, she was promoted to the sister he never knew he needed, it was unfortunate that it was through her where he met Lucille.
They maintained contact long after the relationship between her and Oscar deteriorated due to reasons that neither party chose to disclose. But Jack knew whatever the reason may be, it changed Oscar and nearly destroyed him.
"You can't blame me. She's a pain in the ass who hurt my little brother," she pouted pinching his cheek much to his dismay and he smacked her hand away irritated at the gesture. Erica chuckled lightly watching them both, He glanced in her direction finding the sound of it musical and Terri perplexed by the look on his face had to blink a few times to ensure herself that she wasn't misreading the look. In all the years she knew him, Terri had only seen that look on his face once when it came to Lucille. Considering the bad condition, he was left in, she was convinced she'd never see that look again. Following his gaze, her curiosity peaked at the woman to which the look was directed to.
"Well, I'll be damned," she muttered lowly under her breath. Poking his side gently he looked at Terri to see the millions of questions and immediately remembered the promise he had made.
"This is my date, Erica. And this," he gestured to Terri who was already grinning at her, "is my annoying friend, Terri."
Feeling nervous she took a few steps towards them and reached her hand out to Terri. She felt her heart leap out of her chest when she grasped her hand. "I-I uh... sorry, I'm just such a huge fan," she chuckled tucking a curly strand of hair out of her face.
Terri giggled turning to briefly glance at Jack, "I like her."
"You like anyone who worships you, Terri."
"Correction," she held up her hand at him, "I like anyone who has good taste in music."
"I guess you two will get along. She's hoping to make a career out of it," he murmured eyeing her as she quickly looked in his direction wide eyed at the sudden mention. He raised his hands in mock surrender and moved towards her, leaning down gently towards her ear. Jack inwardly smirked at the way her breath hitched, "You'll thank me later. Enjoy your conversation, Songbird."
And without bothering to look in Terris direction who he knew was observing them, he made his way back to the table.
***
Playing with his old gold band, Jack felt pathetic for being unable to throw it away whilst Lucille was sporting a new one already. It was still hard to come to grips with how much has changed. One second, he found himself soaking into the bliss that came with marriage only to have his time under the sun cut short. Just as he was about to slip it on his finger, a habit he oftentimes did he quickly stuffed it into his pocket when he saw Erica making her way towards him.
"You have a lot of explaining to do, Mr Dawson," Erica said taking a seat next to him. He looked at her beaming face and he had a feeling that the conversation with Terri went well which made his mood brighten momentarily forgetting about the ring.
"And what would that be, Miss Jones?" he inquired taking a sip of his drink turning his body towards her in his seat.
She pursed her lips unsure if this was the right thing to ask. After all it wasn't any of her business unfortunately her mind couldn't stop the plethora of questions from emerging since Terri mentioned something that caused her interest to peak. Taking a deep breath, she blurted it out hoping to not regret it, "How did you and your ex-wife meet?"
The question made him nearly choke on his drink. He leaned forward and began coughing profusely. Worried she rubbed his back gently whilst a part of her felt guilty that she had made him uncomfortable. "You don't have to answer. It's really no –"
"It's okay," he breathed clearing his throat to rid himself of the discomfort he felt in his throat from choking. After taking a few calming breaths he leaned back in his seat, 'it's okay for you to be curious."
"It's just that Terri mentioned she knew you back in high school."
"Yeah, I met her when she was dating my brother but that's not my story to tell," he responded looking at her.
"So would you be willing to tell me yours?" she queried maintaining a firm gaze on him. After meeting Lucille, a part of her had been trying to piece together how their paths seemed to cross given how different they seemed. And if the comments Terri made whilst they conversed were anything to come by, it was apparent that through the course of their relationship Jack's sweet disposition was taken advantage of by the bride.
"It's really not that serious, she's Terri's cousin and so we met through her."
"There are a lot of blank spaces in this story, Jack," she noted watching him carefully.
"Well, you're not exactly an open book yourself," he countered.
"Fine," she sighed knowing to a degree he was right, "ask," she shrugged nonchalantly.
He contemplated his next choice of words, he had envisioned this conversation a few times already since the incident happened and was hoping to get the answers he sought, "What's your relationship with that guy, Maxwe –"
"Anything but that," she cut him off frowning, inwardly placing the concrete walls up that she used to shield herself from any potential danger.
"You want answers, yet you refuse to give them yourself. You're not playing fair."
She remained silent crossing her arms in the process whilst turning her body away from him. The action made him feel unsettled knowing that she was not only creating an emotional distance between them but a physical one as well. But Jack couldn't help but ask the question especially when the other man had thrown daggers at him.
He secretly hoped nothing romantic was going on between them, why? That wasn't something he was ready to explain further on for the time being.
Chewing his bottom lip gently he considered standing up to give her space but telling his limbs to move felt like an implausible task given all he wanted to do in that moment was talk to her.
Looking away from her, he blurted out the only other thing he thought seemed to make sense to extinguish the thick, dense fog of awkwardness that fell upon them, "I recently read something about the sacred lotus," he cautiously looked up to find her eyeing him. The emotionless look was all the encouragement he needed to continue his train of thought, "The flower holds a great symbolic weight behind it in many cultures. Apparently, its miraculous process of re-blooming makes it adequate to our lives and being reborn," he said.
She smiled at him, the action caused an increase in his heartbeat, and he suddenly felt proud for taking the time to find out information on the flower he noticed on her body. "Are you smiling because I now know so much about the lotus flower?"
Giggling lightly, she leaned forward tilting her head to the side observing him, "I just find it cute how you think mentioning the symbolic value of the tattoo on my ass will coax me into talking."
"I only mentioned it because I don't ever want there to be an awkward silence between us," he clarified earning a hearty laugh from her. And without Erica knowing it her walls crumbled under from the pressure of his words.
"I'll admit though," she bit her lip reaching out to rub his chin playfully in thought, "it's a bit titillating knowing my booty inspires you so much."
Even if he wanted to he couldn't hold in the laugh whilst his cheeks burned giving away the effect her words had on him. Both parties lost in the moment failed to notice the hostile pairs of eyes scrutinizing the supposed union which neither Erica nor Jack knew would serve to distort the plans already in motion.