Jenna's heart, which had finally begun to calm down, skipped a beat. She had wondered why Bryce did that after initially refusing to even get onto the stage. First the flowers, then agreeing to come out drinking with her on a worknight, and now getting way too into karaoke. All of that was to cheer her up because he noticed she was sad.
Nobody out here had noticed or cared when she was upset. Part of that was her fault for keeping her distance but Killian's barely-there sympathy didn't really count. He was only doing his job.
Today would have been the worst birthday of her life if not for Bryce. As it was, despite her lack of family, it was better than the year she was recovering from a root canal, was in a lot of pain, and hadn't been able to eat her own birthday cake. Significantly better.
She jumped up and threw her arms around his neck as tears sprang into her eyes. Somebody that had absolutely no reason to care about her had gone out of his way to make sure today didn't suck without even knowing what day it was.
"Thank you," Jenna said fervently. "This is the most fun I've had all year."
Bryce pulled back and looked at her in surprise. "Seriously? But the year is almost over!"
She had been shot in January, went through months of physical therapy while under protective custody and had to learn her cover story, and then ended up here. This year had been the worst of her entire life.
"…it's been a rough year."
"Well, that's unacceptable. Someone like you needs to have fun at least a couple of times a week," he said.
Jenna tilted her head, confused. "Someone like me?"
Bryce's face pinked and he rubbed the back of his neck, unwilling to meet her eyes. "Someone lively. I, uh, noticed you that first day in the smoothie shop when I had been sent on an errand getting some for everybody and kept coming back because I thought you were interesting. I don't even like smoothies."
She knew it! But seriously? He wasted that much money on smoothies he didn't like for her? That was unexpected. She figured he at least liked the smoothies to come back that often.
"What exactly was so interesting?" Jenna asked curiously.
He thought she was lively? She had practically been a zombie since moving here! Though she supposed that Josh and Del tag-teaming all the time had brought out more of her usual personality.
"Your laugh," Bryce admitted. "You were in the middle of cracking up about your coworker being covered in smoothie and kept laughing even when you were taking my order. I had never seen anyone attempt to be professional while cracking up before."
Now it was Jenna's turn to blush. Her makeup had been messed up from crying laughing too. That was a big part of why she didn't like wearing it! It got smudged way too easily.
"I looked like a racoon; how is that interesting?!"
He shrugged. "Maybe but you were a cute raccoon. Sorry I basically admitted to stalking you. Way to ruin a first date."
That was true but she knew it hadn't been done maliciously. Goodness knows, when she had a crush on a boy in high school she rode her bike past his house every day on purpose hoping she would see him. That was pretty stalkerish too.
Plus Bryce had always left her tips. She was willing to be magnanimous to a kind, handsome man that had gone out of his way to cheer her up today.
Jenna cracked a smile. "It's okay. I can forgive that because you made my day go from terrible to fun."
"So…now what?"
Now what indeed. He had sort of confessed that he liked her even if he hadn't used those exact words. She suspected it before anyway but it had essentially been confirmed for her. She really didn't want to get close to anybody but he was right that she needed more fun in her life.
All this time she had been wasting away. Occasionally doing things with her classmates and having fun with her coworkers during her shifts was one thing but having someone to do things with consistently was another.
It was tempting. So very, very tempting. But Jenna wasn't Tessa O'Brien.
What would happen when she inevitably had to leave? Would she even be allowed to stay in touch with people she knew before as her real self?
Even if she could…would Bryce forgive her for lying to him? He probably wouldn't be willing to move to Florida for her either. Staying here once she was free was not an option with how much she missed her family.
Jenna was getting ahead of herself. They had been on one date. One! Albeit a wonderful one that was exactly what she needed today. Contemplating a future or lack thereof right now was stupid.
"What do you want to do?" she asked, deflecting back at him.
He had been the one that liked her in the first place. Enjoying herself today didn't mean she liked him back yet. She barely started thinking of him as a person rather than a customer when he randomly gave her flowers.
Bryce clasped his hands behind his back and rocked on his heels a bit nervously. "I'd like to get to know you better if you're alright with that."
The perfect gentleman. Jenna knew he was nice but that was too perfect an answer. He seemed to mean it too. Earnestness was shining in those beautiful green eyes, like he wanted nothing more than to keep spending time with her.
She knew this was a bad idea and that she was only going along with it because she was in an emotionally vulnerable place and needed someone to distract her from the soap opera her life had become. That didn't stop her from charging right in anyway.
She smiled at him. "I would like that a lot. We should exchange numbers though so you don't have to go all the way to Juice Jubilee to find me, especially since you don't actually like smoothies."
Bryce's return smile was a bit sheepish at her teasing. "Sure. But before you go…do you have any plans Friday night?"
"Not unless you count homework but I can do it tomorrow instead."
"Do you maybe want to get dinner with me?"
Jenna nearly laughed at how adorably nervous that question was. "If you're cool with waiting to have dinner until like eight. I don't get off until about 7:30 and would need to get changed."
"That's fine! Did you drive here or do you need a ride home?" Bryce asked.
"I could use a ride. Thanks."
"No problem."
He hesitantly reached for her hand again and she let him take it. The warmth felt nice in the cool evening air. They walked in companionable silence to his car and that continued on the drive aside from her occasionally giving directions.
Silence with some people was awkward but it wasn't like that with Bryce. Jenna wondered if it was because he was a naturally calm person, though he had definitely surprised her more than once tonight.
He was different than the quiet office worker she had initially thought him to be. He was a lot more interesting. Their reasons might be different but she looked forward to getting to know him too.
When he dropped her off she headed back inside, took her makeup off, showered, and put on her pajamas in a state of numbness. Her emotions were too conflicting to even process between her misery about spending her birthday apart from Jonas, her worries about getting involved with anyone out here, and how happy she was that someone liked her enough to make sure she had a good birthday without even knowing it was her birthday.
Once Jenna was clean she got her birthday cake out of the fridge and had another slice. She chewed on it thoughtfully, still unsure what to make of any of this.
Casual dating to strengthen her cover was one thing but there was a very real risk of developing feelings. Deep ones. Ones that would continue to haunt her once she went home. Did she really want to have that to worry about on top of everything else?
It wasn't like she could help her feelings. Bryce was a nice person that liked her. Liking him back would be too easy but it wouldn't be fair to either of them.
Jenna couldn't exactly give him a disclaimer before getting involved with her either. No one was allowed to know she was in the program outside of her family and that was only because they had no idea where in the country she was. If she broke the rules, she lost her protection. Next time she wasn't so sure she would be able to avoid a fatal bullet.