Flea: Where's the Love?
So I watched Jake in Prince of Persia last week and this came up out of nowhere *beams*
Title: You and Me and a Dog Named Flea
Pairing: Ennis/Jack
Disclaimer: Annie Prouxl owns the timeless characters in BBM. I'm writing from love and making no profit.
Summary: AU!AU set in Flea Universe. Looooov is everywhere =D
My Deepest Thanks: to Judy whom I can always count on. She's the best beta a girl can ask for! To all of you who hopefully are still interested in reading
Flea: Where's the Love?
A month ago, K.E. had brought, Stella, his seven-month-old little girl, to see Ennis. Stella was wearing a pink skirt and matching pink socks. Her little chubby hand was holding tightly onto this stuffed pink rabbit that Ruby had made for her. Ennis couldn’t help but tease his big brother that his world must have turned pink now that he was a daddy. K.E. just smirked and jerked his chin toward something above Ennis’s head.
“What?” Ennis had said, glancing up, but there was nothing there. K.E. was still looking above his head though, with a wider smirk even. “What is it?”
“Look at you,” K.E. said. “It’s ten times pinker than my little girl’s socks.”
“What’s pinker?”
“Your aura. It’s totally pink. Very girly pink.”
Ennis blinked. “My aura?”
“Uh huh.” K.E. had looked at that invisible thing above his head again. But his look softened when it landed on Ennis this time. “Jack is good for you, huh? You’re good together.”
All the things Ennis wanted to tease K.E. about, how he had developed such a strange ability from a too-long stay in Africa, had faded instantly. After a minute of playing with the hem of his shirt and fidgeting under his brother’s playful stare, Ennis shrugged, feeling the heat spread up from his neck to the tip of his ears. “I guess.”
K.E. gasped. “Jesus, now it’s turning shocking pink.”
“Shut up.”
“Man, I see love everywhere. Hey, Stella, you see it? Sweetie, do you see how much in love your uncle Ennis is? You want to play with him? You want to play with your pink uncle?”
“Shut up,” Ennis groaned but took Stella from K.E. into his arms anyway. She let go of the pink rabbit and grabbed his finger, and Ennis swore she almost instantly looked at something above his head. Then she giggled.
“That’s my baby,” K.E. cooed and mouthed ‘pink uncle’ at him.
*
It was raining. Ennis hated it when it rained. Jack seemed to like it though, judging from the way he always kept the windows in the bed room open on nights like this. He loved the sound of the rain, the smell of the earth, and he felt calm watching the shadow of the big tree branches that was dancing in the wind on their cream wall.
But Jack wasn’t here tonight. Actually, Jack wouldn’t be here for a week. He was doing a special scoop of the love story of these two guys in New York that involved a proposal during a bungy jump and a marriage on a jet ski. Ennis was alone so he kept the windows closed. The room was dark except for the green illumination from Flea’s glow-in-the-dark rubber frog doll on the floor. The sky was roaring with lighting bolts that shook the earth and, honestly?, Ennis was pretty sure that Jack would also find this nerve-wracking.
Flea whined from behind him on the bed. Ennis rolled over to the little dog who was curling himself into a ball and petted his head. Flea’s big, expressive eyes were pools in the darkness, silently asking for more love on a frightening night like this. Who the hell Ennis was to ignore that?
“Go to sleep, buddy,” he said and scratched behind Flea’s ear. “It’ll be morning soon.”
Before he felt himself drifting into slumber, the last thought Ennis had was for Jack to have a nice, shining day in New York, for a change.
*
It was still raining in the morning. Ennis finished his last gulp of coffee as he looked down from the kitchen window at the soaking city and people with colorful umbrellas wandering on the street three floors below. He had been stalling, clearing stuff off the fridge, going through junk mail and fucking folding his laundry. But the rain just wouldn’t stop and if he wanted to be on time for his morning shift, he had to leave the apartment in five minutes.
“We have to walk in the rain. You ready?”
Flea was already waiting for him at the door. He barked, not at Ennis’s words, but at the green rubber frog toy that gave out a squeak when Ennis tossed it to him. Flea needed a little distraction from the annoyance of the plastic bright yellow raincoat that Ennis was going to make him wear. It made Flea look stupid and Ennis hated the attention he always got from people walking by them. But Flea’s stupid look was going to make Ennis feel better on this dull, wet and dark morning.
He finished dressing up Flea in two minutes and he knew he had made the right decision. A black and white Boston Terrier wearing a yellow raincoat and chewing on a green rubber frog sure was a sight. Snorting, he took a picture with his cell, typing, “he’s way too colorful. We need to get your dog mentally checked up”, and sent it to Jack.
His phone beeped when they made it downstairs to the front door of the apartment building.
“Flea’s crazy. So is the person who dressed him up”.
Ennis chuckled and opened the front door. Drizzles of rain smacked his face and he tightened Flea’s raincoat and put on the hood of his own, Flea held firmly in his arms. Suddenly, this morning didn’t feel so dim anymore.
*
“Ennis, Dr. Shooooolaces left you a note.”
Ennis chuckled as he reached for a small piece of paper Martha was handing to him. Dr. Jessica Shulaces was a new vet. She was blonde and tiny, couldn’t handle even a 15-pound poodle alone and had the weirdest name he had ever heard. Martha wasn’t really a big fan of hers-hence the drawl she had made of her name. Dr. Shulaces always wore flowers in her hair and her lipstick would match the color of that flower. And, oh, she talked a lot, too, and she had been encouraging him to join the blind date dinner held by this somethingsomething dot com-an online dating website-- ever since they first met two weeks ago. Martha had said she understood. A woman with that kind of name would want to get married as soon as she could. Ennis had waved that comment off with a smile.
“What is it?” Ennis asked as he blinked at the note. It was short and straight to the point. “Don’t forget the blind date on Saturday. Great. I’ll be going on a date. She set me up on a blind date with some random girl.”
The look Martha gave him was a combination of I-told-you-so wariness and I-can’t-believe-it annoyance. Then she said out loud, “You shouldn’t socialize with her. She’s weird.”
Ennis sighed. “I had breakfast with her once. That wasn’t socializing.”
“It was, for her. Apparently, she has no friends.”
“Martha,” now Ennis was amused.
Martha shrugged. “You should go with Jack.”
“He’s in New York.”
“Then go with Grant.”
“Lee would kill me and probably chop my body into pieces. Anyway, she’s been asking me this for two weeks. Doesn’t she already know that I’m, like… I have someone?”
Ennis never really talked about them to other people. Well, everybody at the clinic knew. Martha and Drew knew. Dr. Brown and Dr. Amy knew (Ennis sold his old apartment to her) and Jack had been the only regular visitor of the clinic who always brought in coffee instead of sick pets. Here, they never had to hide that they were together. Jack never had to school his hands to stay still whenever he wanted to touch him and Ennis was, well, he might not be as expressive or affectionate as Jack, but Ennis never ducked away from Jack’s touch. He always craved it-whether it was just a light stroke on his back, a firm squeeze on his shoulder or a full-on, Jack Twist trademark hug that left him breathless but wanting more. Damn him for making Ennis the fool for love that he was, and, according to his crazy brother, making his aura all shades of pink.
His face might have shown what he was thinking ‘cause now Martha was grinning. “Just tell her you’re dating this guy who’s way prettier than her and her random friends. Though I have to tell you, she never listens. I mean she either has bad ears or simply doesn’t listen.”
“Huh.”
“Just tell her.”
“Tell who what?”
Dr. Shulaces appeared from the second floor with a too-bright smile. Ennis couldn’t take his eyes off the white flowers in her hair. Jasmine? At least she wasn’t wearing white lipstick. That would be odd.
“Ah, well,” Ennis held out the note and cleared his throat. “Hi, Dr. Shulaces. We should talk about this?”
“Oh, we should!” She looked excited. Ennis felt bad.
“Well, we should…”
He gestured to the examination room and led the way, Dr. Shulaces following closely. The clinic at eight in the morning was empty and Martha was going to be here until Drew took over at ten. He had more than enough time to gently disappointed her. No sense being all mean to the fellow vet whom he had to work with every day.
“I’m sorry but I can’t go on the blind date on Saturday,” Ennis blurted out as soon as they were inside the closed door. He was pretty knocked off-guard by his own action but Dr. Shulaces just smiled.
“Ennis, you should give yourself a chance to meet someone new.”
“I do have someone…” Ennis shifted his feet, trying to be brave. “I have a partner?”
Her smile faltered as realization sank in. “Oh. You are…oh… I’m sorry.”
Huh. That was new. And awkward as hell.
Ennis could deal with homophobia. He could deal with people making disgusting faces when he told them he was gay. He had to admit that he expected that kind of reaction more than an amicable one. But this? Having someone he met barely two weeks ago say she was sorry because he was…gay? He really didn’t know what to think.
Martha was his knight in shining armor. She poked her head into the room. “Dr. Del Mar, you have Simon--a bird that swallowed a button.”
Ennis swallowed hard, ignored Dr. Shulaces and nodded at Martha. “Bring him in.”
*
“She was sorry that I’m with Jack,” Ennis told Grant on the phone as he weaved through people on the pavement, heading for a coffee. Grant choked on something.
“What? God, that was rude. Who’s this woman? Do I know her?”
“She’s the new vet at the clinic. And she didn’t really sound rude. She looked like she meant it. Why would someone feel sorry for me?”
“Ennis, that’s not the problem.” Grant sighed. “It’s her attitude that you should worry about. Just be careful around her, okay?”
“Grant, she’s like four feet tall.” Grant laughed and that brought a smile to his face. Ennis stopped at a red light and let out a soft breath. “I’m okay. I can deal with her. It’s just weird ‘cause nobody I know ever really had a problem with me and Jack being together before. Guess it’s meant to happen sooner or later.”
Grant was quiet for a moment before he heard the soft rumble of his chuckle coming back. “That’s my man. You have to come to dinner at my place tonight ‘cause I really want to hug you right now. I’m so proud of you.”
Ennis laughed, his heart swelled in his chest. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll see you later, daddy.”
As soon as he ended the call, someone tapped his shoulder. Ennis blinked at the blond-haired man with green eyes who was smiling at him. “Hey,”
“A.J., hey,” Ennis shook hands with the man, remembering one of Jack’s friends from the Velvet that he had come to know. It still surprised him that he had gay friends.
“Ennis,” A.J. smiled. “Hey, what a coincidence! Are you heading somewhere? I, uh, happened to be around here. You want to have a cup of coffee or something?” A.J. said, fast, and Ennis had to blink at how nervous he looked.
“Okay,” he said.
A.J. smiled and held out a book in his hand. It was a picture book with a baby panda standing on its hind legs on the cover. “I got this from a secondhand book shop. I thought, you know, it kind of reminds me of Flea. Yeah?”
It was a little strange talking about Flea with someone other than Jack. And the panda on the cover didn’t look exactly like a dog. But A.J. was looking at him with such a hopeful, nervous smile. There was a scar on his chin. He then remembered what Grant used to tell him about A.J.
His father hit him with a belt when he came out to him a couple of years ago.
Ennis felt his mouth stretch into an easy grin as he shrugged. “Yeah, if only Flea ate bamboo leaves.”
A.J. laughed then. His nervousness obviously melted away and, stupidly, Ennis felt like he had done something Jack would be proud of.
*
“I met A.J. and we had coffee,” Ennis told Grant and Lee after dinner that day. He was playing chess with Lee and noticed how Lee halted his hand that was about to move one of the rooks. “What?”
“Nothing.” Lee shrugged. “Just, isn’t it like thirty minutes from Castro to around the clinic?”
“He happened to be there. It was a coincidence.”
“Hmmm,” Lee smirked. “And he happened to bring this,” he grabbed the panda book from the sofa and flipped it from back to front, front to back and did it all over again. “…too?"
“That’s what I said.”
“Okay, two things,” Lee leaned over the table, knocking off his own king in the process. “First, A.J. has had a crush on you since the first time he met you. It’s not a coincidence at all.”
Ennis was torn between rolling his eyes and widening them in surprise at that remark. He simply grunted instead. Who the hell knew if Lee really was telling the truth anyway.
“But don’t worry. He’s not going to hit on you cause, second, A.J. is going to move to L.A. next month. Check.”
"Huh?" Ennis’s head snapped.
“Check! Dude, I totally rock at chess!” Lee yelled, totally imitating a five-year-old gesture of jumping around with his hands in the air after he placed a king on a4, aiming to mercilessly 'behead' Ennis's king on the spot. Ennis groaned and pushed the board away. It wasn't happening. He didn't just lose a game of chess to Lee 'cause, damn it, he had just taught the emo kid to play chess not more than a month before.
"You suck!"
Lee comfirmed that it really did happen. Ennis crossed his arms. "I was distracted."
"You still suck."
Ennis sighed. He frowned when Lee brought the two kings together in the middle of the board and made them kiss. Then to finish off, Lee sang the heavy metal version of Boys II Men's “I'll Make Love to You”, Flea jumping up on the couch and barking in unison.
“Weirdo.” Ennis threw a black rook at Lee but he was laughing. The kid was a maniac but he was also good company. “Anyway, you said A.J. is going to move? Why?”
Lee shrugged. “New job. You’re interested now, aren’t you, now that you know you have a secret admirer.”
Ennis grabbed the panda book from Lee and put Flea on the table and walked to the kitchen. He changed his mind. Lee wasn’t really such good company. Grant was putting something in the microwave and arched his brow in question when they heard Lee shout, “Ennis! Your dog is eating my king!”
“I’ll fix him in the morning!” he shouted back, grinning and popping a piece of baked green bean in his mouth. He glanced down at the book in his hand. The baby panda was looking back at him innocently but that wasn’t the reason why his heart gave a big leap right at that moment.
“Hmmm,” he popped another piece of green bean into his mouth.
*
I had the strangest day.
Back at the apartment that night, Ennis typed the message and sent it to Jack. Five minutes after that Jack still hadn’t replied.
*
The clinic was busy on Saturday and it was raining from morning until late afternoon. Sighing wearily, Ennis pressed the buzzer for Martha to let the new customer into the examination room, not expecting to find A.J. hovering at the door. He was wet from head to toe and there was a kitten popping its little head out from his grasp.
“Shit, you alright?” Ennis blurted out, not really sure if the question was for the human or the cat. A.J. wiped water from his forehead.
“I’m okay. Found this kid in the gutter in the rain. Can you look him up? I don’t know if… I think she’s, he’s…”
“I’ll take care of it.”
Ennis rushed to A.J. and hollered for Martha to come help. A.J. was shaking from more than just the chill of the rain, Ennis was certain, and he was clutching the kitten so tight that Ennis had to practically peel his numb fingers off of the little furry creature. With one look at the kitten, he knew it was a girl and that she was in pretty bad shape, probably had been starving for days, not counting the fact that she was soaked and was breathing funny.
“She’s gonna be fine. Come on, A.J., let me take care of her. Martha, dry him off, get him some dry clothes. Just…”
“I’ll do something.” And because Martha was his hero, she hustled a now visibly shaking A.J. out of the examination room, letting Ennis focus on the task at hand.
*
Two hours later, Ennis stood still in his office on the second floor, gazing down at the kitten that was sleeping in the cocoon of soft cloth in the small basket on the desk in his office, looking warm and sleepy. His phone beeped then and he averted his attention to flip his phone open. There was a text from Jack.
Sorry 4 nt getting to u sooner. Bad day yesterday. Lost in subways. Late for interview.
“Shit,” Ennis cursed softly but felt his mouth turning into a smile. He could almost picture Jack’s face right now--those slightly twisting lips and liquid blue eyes that were begging for comfort. His cell blinked again with a new message.
Hug Flea 4 me. Miss u.
Ennis looked down at Flea who had tottered near him and nudged Ennis’s shin with his nose. So he scooped the dog up in his arms and gave him a good squeeze.
Done. Ennis sent the message back to Jack. Then he paused and sent one more message. Miss u2.
“It’s a she, right?”
Ennis looked up at A.J., who had now changed into Ennis’s spare, dry t-shirt and an old pair of jeans which, by the way, fit surprisingly well considering the guy was a few inches shorter than Ennis. A.J. blushed faintly as if he heard Ennis’s inner thoughts.
“It’s the boots,” he said.
“The boots?”
“Yeah. It’s the magic of these two-point-five-inch boot heels that save your jeans from sweeping the floor.”
“You wear two-inch heels?” Ennis blurted out and held up his hand in apology the minute he realized what it might sound like. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that in a bad way or anything.”
“Don’t worry about it.” A.J. simply waved it off and reached out to caress the kitten’s head. The room was quiet except for the hum of the air-conditioner. That was why they both jumped when Flea barked and scratched the door.
Ennis looked out of the window. The rain had fairly stopped so he let Flea out the door.
“Hey,” A.J. cleared his throat. “You want to eat something? You haven’t had dinner, right? I’m kind of hungry so I’m hoping we can have dinner or something…”
Ennis surprised himself by giving the guy a quick nod. “Sure. Let me feed Flea first and we can go.”
*
“I heard you’re going to move to L.A,” Ennis asked once they were seated in a corner of Joe’s diner. The place was packed. They both looked at the plate of Texas-style steak with a pile of steaming mashed potatoes soaked with home-made gravy on the nearby table and both pointed to the plate when the waitress came to get their order.
“God, I miss Texas,” A.J. said.
“You’re from Texas? Jack graduated from University of Texas,” he said and scratched his neck shyly when A.J. shot him a knowing smile. Ennis shrugged weakly. “Anyway, so you’re going to move?”
“Yeah. So, I met a guy.” Ennis coughed. A.J. was blushing from the opposite seat. “Sorry, That’s not a good way to start a conversation.” A.J. scratched his cheek. “I’m just… I met this guy and am going to try my luck, moving to L.A. and starting a relationship with him. But before that…”
Ennis watched as the guy took a deep breath and suddenly felt self-conscious. He shouldn’t have listened to Lee, damn it. But Ennis waited. For some reason, he felt the weight of what A.J. was about to say and knew this was important. After a few deep breaths, A.J. looked up to meet his eyes.
“I have a crush on you,” he said. Then Ennis watched with wide eyes as A.J. scrunched up his face and knocked his head on the table. He startled.
“Shit,” A.J. peeked a look at Ennis through his blond bangs. “..did I just say that? Out loud?”
Ennis nodded dumbly. A.J. knocked his head on the table again. With a curse, Ennis reached out to grab the guy’s head, aware of curious glances they got from the tables around them.
“Christ. What are you doing?” It wasn’t until A.J. smiled that Ennis realized he was holding A.J.’s head above the table. But the damage was done. He rolled his eyes. “I’ll let your head go if you promise not to knock yourself dead on the table again.”
“Promise.”
“Good.” He sighed and reluctantly let go. A.J. stared at him with bright hazel eyes that made him squirm. He laughed at Ennis and then went somber. “You’re kind of awesome, you know that?”
Ennis snorted. “I’m not.”
“You are,” A.J. said, smiling softly. “I don’t know, there’s something about you that shines.”
“What? Like an aura? Please don’t tell me you can see auras.”
“I can’t,” A.J. snorted. Ennis huffed out a short bashful laugh. “Anyway, you’re awesome. And I think you should know that.”
Ennis didn’t know how to respond to that. Dr. Shulaces felt sorry for him, maybe thought he was a pathetic gay man and she hardly knew him at all. And here came A.J., Jack’s friend whom he had met like twice, saying he was awesome. Ennis really had no idea what to do next. If Jack was here, maybe he could think of what to do. He always knew ways around people.
“Ennis,” A.J. smirked. “You don’t have to think that hard. I didn’t ask you a question. It’s just something I want to tell you before I move to L.A.”
“Hmm. Thanks?”
A.J. laughed. “You’re welcome.”
Despite everything, their conversation went on comfortably during dinner. A.J. told Ennis more about the guy he met. He worked in Hollywood and A.J. wanted to try his luck there, too, once things were settled.
Ennis told A.J. briefly about his research, how bizarre it was that they now had a vet who specialized in ferrets and of course about Jack and his work in New York. A.J. listened to everything with a perplex and amused expression, like, he wasn’t even sure he understood what was coming out of Ennis’s mouth, but wanted to remember every word anyway. It was kind of strangely flattering.
Ennis was about to tell A.J. about the new doctor with the weird name when said doctor walked into Joe’s diner.
“Oh, shit,” Ennis groaned at the sight of Dr. Shulaces who had this very big plastic-looking red rose on the bun at the back of her head, looking so out-of-place in this all-American family diner in a long greenish silk dress and high heeled shoes.
“What? Someone you know?”
“She’s the vet at the clinic. I think she’s out on a date. A blind date, to be exact.”
“Here? A blind date? At Joe’s?” A.J. was torn between lifting his brows in surprise and laughing. He decided on frowning when Ennis nodded solemnly.
They sneaked a look. Dr. Shulace’s date was a small Hispanic man. He was totally fitting in here with his Lakers jersey and cap. The guy ordered food and flirted with the waitress while Dr. Shulaces sat uncomfortably and spent the entire time looking at the floor. It looked like she wanted nothing but to disappear.
“Well, shit,” A.J. murmured. “This is why blind dates suck.”
Ennis wasn’t going to argue there.
*
He was still replaying the scenes at Joe’s the next morning when he was at the airport to pick up Jack. He missed the announcement that said the United Airlines flight from New York had landed ten minutes earlier. So he startled when someone kicked his boots.
“Are you daydreaming?”
Then Jack was there, like he had just popped out from the ground. He was all clean-shaven, his hair looked soft and Ennis itched to run his fingers through it. Those bright blue eyes glistened as he took Ennis in and damn those lips. Ennis pulled Jack all the way into his arms.
“You missed me,” Jack murmured into his shirt.
Ennis hummed. “Well, yeah, ‘cause you saved me from a blind date.”
Jack pulled away, grinning. “Is that a Hallmark quote? It is. I love you ‘cause you saved me from a blind date. Wow, some catchy stuff.”
“Very funny.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Jack curled his fingers in his jacket and pulled him close. Ennis watched Jack until he felt his eyes cross, loved how those pretty blue eyes fluttered and closed before their lips touched. It was weird how Ennis had changed from some boring, in-the-closet guy who preferred to work night shift to this Ennis who was kissing another man in the middle of the airport in daylight.
Ennis could be on his own just fine. But it sure felt good to have Jack back in his life and he made sure Jack knew that.
“Welcome back,” he said, winding his arms around Jack’s shoulders and giving him a hug again. Jack melted into his chest. The soft kiss on Ennis’s neck that came with a cat-like, contented sigh told him that Jack thought the same.
*
“So, how was your week?” Jack asked as he emptied his suitcase and threw dirty clothes into one corner of the room. Flea was watching his every move but refusing to leave his side. Ennis knew exactly how he felt.
“How was yours?”
Jack smirked. “Well, exhausting. But I have a great scoop. You’ll love it. And I think that old guy had a crush on me or something. He asked me to go on their honeymoon in Bali with them.”
“Huh.”
Jack grinned wider. “Lucky you, Ennis Del Mar, that I’m monogamous.”
“Lucky me,” Ennis repeated dryly. That earned him a kick at his shin.
“Now tell me. Did you do anything fun?”
“Dr. Shulaces asked if I wanted to go on a blind date,” Ennis started. He ignored Jack’s surprised stare. “Lee beat me at chess and I…haddinnerwithA.J.”
“You what?”
Ennis fumbled for the remote control. He couldn’t find it. Damn. “I had dinner with…your friend. He brought a kitten to the clinic and it rained. I treated the cat and he’s going to keep her, by the way. Then we had dinner. What’s that look supposed to mean?”
Jack’s face was plastered with this stupid smile that made his face crinkle. “You had dinner with A.J.”
Ennis ignored him. Something told him that Jack already knew about A.J.’s little crush on him. He finally found the remote control on the floor and turned on the T.V. There was a rerun of some dancing program. He changed the channel and stared at a polar bear family on T.V. for a while. Jack was still looking at him though.
“What?”
Jack shrugged again. “Nothing.”
But he was still smirking. Ennis sighed. “Okay.”
“Okay. Now come here.”
Then Jack flopped down on the sofa and pulled Ennis on top of him. When they kissed this time, it wasn’t a kind of sweet kiss like the one they shared at the airport. It was a passionate kiss that made Ennis see bright pink dots behind his eyelids.
*
“Jack!” Martha yelled and opened her arms to welcome Jack, who surged into her embrace.
“How was New York?” she asked as soon as she freed him. “And where is my souvenir?”
“I’m sorry, I was so busy I didn’t even have time to go anywhere,” Jack said, then held out a big bouquet of pink and red roses. “But I got you this.”
Martha squealed. Ennis rolled his eyes at the exaggeration of it all but he couldn’t help but smile as Martha hugged Jack again. He always loved the sound of Jack’s laughter, the way it echoed in the room like he had no care in the world. Hell, he hadn’t heard that for a while and he missed it.
Martha put the flowers in two big vases, put one on the registration counter and gave one to Ennis, shooing him to put it somewhere in the examination room.
Ennis was about to ask why the hell he needed flowers in there when Dr. Shulaces walked into the clinic. She looked pale and, damn it, but Ennis thought back to the other night when he spotted her at Joe’s with that asshole date of hers.
“Dr. Shulaces,” Ennis blurted out, stopping her from walking toward the second floor. Martha quirked her brow at him while Jack blinked slowly, curious, but didn’t push. Then Ennis remembered Jack hadn’t met her before. He put his free hand on the small of Jack’s back, feeling the firm and warm skin through the thin fabric of his shirt. He shouldn’t feel surprised by now how Jack’s presence always calmed his nerves. But no, this never failed to surprise him. This, how right it was that he was touching Jack, that Jack was standing beside him, that they were together. The love that radiated from Jack was burning Ennis’s skin and God but Ennis wanted more.
He moved his hand to gently cup Jack’s nape, feeling Jack’s eyes on him as he played with the fine hair on his nape.
“Dr. Shulaces,” Ennis called out again. “This is Jack. Jack, Dr. Shulaces. She’s the new vet. She just started two weeks ago.”
“Hi,” Jack smiled at her and waved since she was standing too far to reach for a handshake, his blue eyes bright and eager. Dr. Shulaces waved back and that was it. Ennis heard Martha snort from behind them. Jack frowned but Ennis knew he started to smile when Ennis moved his hand to hug Jack’s shoulders and gave him a firm squeeze.
“Jack’s the only regular at the clinic with no sick pets,” Ennis said, deadpan. “And he sometimes loves to play at being a vet’s assistant when Martha has her hands full. He’s a bad one though.”
“Hey,” Jack’s half-heartedly protested with a punch at Ennis’s stomach.
“That’s true. You always feed burgers to sick dogs.”
Flea barked from the floor, agreeing. Jack narrowed his eyes at the dog. “Shut up, you. Not helping.”
“Anyway, Jack’s my, ah,” Ennis paused to look for proper words. “…boyfriend.” He wrinkled his nose. “…except that we’re not fourteen.” He looked at Jack then. He was giggling into his fist. Ennis groaned. “God, you are fourteen.”
“Am not,” Jack said. He turned his head to give a quick kiss on Ennis’s shoulder before he strode to Dr. Shulaces with an outstretched hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Dr. Shulaces.”
He didn’t even make fun of her name, Ennis thought absentmindedly.
Dr. Shulaces hesitated only a little. But when she shook Jack’s hand, she was also smiling. “Nice to meet you, too, Jack. Ennis told me about you.”
“He did?”
“Sure did.” She aimed that smile at him now. “Told me he was with someone. I’m glad to finally get to meet you.”
Her smile was so sad to Ennis. Before he knew what he was doing, he found himself holding out the vase of roses to her. Martha grinned a little and turned her back to them, pretending to occupy herself with the patients’ files.
Ennis didn’t say anything. Neither did Dr. Shulaces. She simply stepped closer to them and took the vase, saying thanks so soft Ennis could barely hear.
“You’re one lucky guy, Ennis,” she said, audible this time and Ennis nodded solemnly.
“I guess I am,” Ennis told her. His heart expanded with something and that something almost suffocated him when he saw Jack grin down at the floor.
*
“Check,” Ennis announced loud enough for everyone at the outdoor patio of Cafe Flore to hear as he smacked his king on the a4 square of the portable chess board, ready to kill Lee’s king at the exact same spot Lee had killed his king last time.
Lee huffed, “You’re impossible. You’ve plotted every move, haven’t you?”
“It’s chess. Of course I have a plan. Check.”
“You’re no fun.” Lee pushed away from the table and headed inside the cafe for another cup of latte and more muffins.
“Still, check!” Ennis shouted after him. Grant chuckled from the opposite seat but he was too engaged in some cooking magazine and a glass of iced tea to really bother about their childish exchange. Jack was typing away on his laptop, brows knotting in concentration beneath his sunglasses. The scoop of that peculiar gay marriage in New York was due to get published this week. That was why he had to work even on this beautiful, sunny Sunday.
Ennis sighed and leaned back in his seat, feeling warm and content from the sun.
“Coffee.”
Without turning his gaze from his laptop screen, Jack held out his hand. Ennis rolled his eyes but handed Jack his cup of double espresso. Jack’s sunglasses that were now perching on his forehead looked like they were going to fall down when Jack ducked his head to drink his coffee. So Ennis grabbed them, put them on instead and, huh, he should have known. Noe Street was all in shades of pink behind Jack’s specs. What the hell kind of fancy sunglasses were these?
“Eveything is pink,” Ennis said.
Jack sipped his espresso and smiled.
Title: You and Me and a Dog Named Flea
Pairing: Ennis/Jack
Disclaimer: Annie Prouxl owns the timeless characters in BBM. I'm writing from love and making no profit.
Summary: AU!AU set in Flea Universe. Looooov is everywhere =D
My Deepest Thanks: to Judy whom I can always count on. She's the best beta a girl can ask for! To all of you who hopefully are still interested in reading
Flea: Where's the Love?
A month ago, K.E. had brought, Stella, his seven-month-old little girl, to see Ennis. Stella was wearing a pink skirt and matching pink socks. Her little chubby hand was holding tightly onto this stuffed pink rabbit that Ruby had made for her. Ennis couldn’t help but tease his big brother that his world must have turned pink now that he was a daddy. K.E. just smirked and jerked his chin toward something above Ennis’s head.
“What?” Ennis had said, glancing up, but there was nothing there. K.E. was still looking above his head though, with a wider smirk even. “What is it?”
“Look at you,” K.E. said. “It’s ten times pinker than my little girl’s socks.”
“What’s pinker?”
“Your aura. It’s totally pink. Very girly pink.”
Ennis blinked. “My aura?”
“Uh huh.” K.E. had looked at that invisible thing above his head again. But his look softened when it landed on Ennis this time. “Jack is good for you, huh? You’re good together.”
All the things Ennis wanted to tease K.E. about, how he had developed such a strange ability from a too-long stay in Africa, had faded instantly. After a minute of playing with the hem of his shirt and fidgeting under his brother’s playful stare, Ennis shrugged, feeling the heat spread up from his neck to the tip of his ears. “I guess.”
K.E. gasped. “Jesus, now it’s turning shocking pink.”
“Shut up.”
“Man, I see love everywhere. Hey, Stella, you see it? Sweetie, do you see how much in love your uncle Ennis is? You want to play with him? You want to play with your pink uncle?”
“Shut up,” Ennis groaned but took Stella from K.E. into his arms anyway. She let go of the pink rabbit and grabbed his finger, and Ennis swore she almost instantly looked at something above his head. Then she giggled.
“That’s my baby,” K.E. cooed and mouthed ‘pink uncle’ at him.
*
It was raining. Ennis hated it when it rained. Jack seemed to like it though, judging from the way he always kept the windows in the bed room open on nights like this. He loved the sound of the rain, the smell of the earth, and he felt calm watching the shadow of the big tree branches that was dancing in the wind on their cream wall.
But Jack wasn’t here tonight. Actually, Jack wouldn’t be here for a week. He was doing a special scoop of the love story of these two guys in New York that involved a proposal during a bungy jump and a marriage on a jet ski. Ennis was alone so he kept the windows closed. The room was dark except for the green illumination from Flea’s glow-in-the-dark rubber frog doll on the floor. The sky was roaring with lighting bolts that shook the earth and, honestly?, Ennis was pretty sure that Jack would also find this nerve-wracking.
Flea whined from behind him on the bed. Ennis rolled over to the little dog who was curling himself into a ball and petted his head. Flea’s big, expressive eyes were pools in the darkness, silently asking for more love on a frightening night like this. Who the hell Ennis was to ignore that?
“Go to sleep, buddy,” he said and scratched behind Flea’s ear. “It’ll be morning soon.”
Before he felt himself drifting into slumber, the last thought Ennis had was for Jack to have a nice, shining day in New York, for a change.
*
It was still raining in the morning. Ennis finished his last gulp of coffee as he looked down from the kitchen window at the soaking city and people with colorful umbrellas wandering on the street three floors below. He had been stalling, clearing stuff off the fridge, going through junk mail and fucking folding his laundry. But the rain just wouldn’t stop and if he wanted to be on time for his morning shift, he had to leave the apartment in five minutes.
“We have to walk in the rain. You ready?”
Flea was already waiting for him at the door. He barked, not at Ennis’s words, but at the green rubber frog toy that gave out a squeak when Ennis tossed it to him. Flea needed a little distraction from the annoyance of the plastic bright yellow raincoat that Ennis was going to make him wear. It made Flea look stupid and Ennis hated the attention he always got from people walking by them. But Flea’s stupid look was going to make Ennis feel better on this dull, wet and dark morning.
He finished dressing up Flea in two minutes and he knew he had made the right decision. A black and white Boston Terrier wearing a yellow raincoat and chewing on a green rubber frog sure was a sight. Snorting, he took a picture with his cell, typing, “he’s way too colorful. We need to get your dog mentally checked up”, and sent it to Jack.
His phone beeped when they made it downstairs to the front door of the apartment building.
“Flea’s crazy. So is the person who dressed him up”.
Ennis chuckled and opened the front door. Drizzles of rain smacked his face and he tightened Flea’s raincoat and put on the hood of his own, Flea held firmly in his arms. Suddenly, this morning didn’t feel so dim anymore.
*
“Ennis, Dr. Shooooolaces left you a note.”
Ennis chuckled as he reached for a small piece of paper Martha was handing to him. Dr. Jessica Shulaces was a new vet. She was blonde and tiny, couldn’t handle even a 15-pound poodle alone and had the weirdest name he had ever heard. Martha wasn’t really a big fan of hers-hence the drawl she had made of her name. Dr. Shulaces always wore flowers in her hair and her lipstick would match the color of that flower. And, oh, she talked a lot, too, and she had been encouraging him to join the blind date dinner held by this somethingsomething dot com-an online dating website-- ever since they first met two weeks ago. Martha had said she understood. A woman with that kind of name would want to get married as soon as she could. Ennis had waved that comment off with a smile.
“What is it?” Ennis asked as he blinked at the note. It was short and straight to the point. “Don’t forget the blind date on Saturday. Great. I’ll be going on a date. She set me up on a blind date with some random girl.”
The look Martha gave him was a combination of I-told-you-so wariness and I-can’t-believe-it annoyance. Then she said out loud, “You shouldn’t socialize with her. She’s weird.”
Ennis sighed. “I had breakfast with her once. That wasn’t socializing.”
“It was, for her. Apparently, she has no friends.”
“Martha,” now Ennis was amused.
Martha shrugged. “You should go with Jack.”
“He’s in New York.”
“Then go with Grant.”
“Lee would kill me and probably chop my body into pieces. Anyway, she’s been asking me this for two weeks. Doesn’t she already know that I’m, like… I have someone?”
Ennis never really talked about them to other people. Well, everybody at the clinic knew. Martha and Drew knew. Dr. Brown and Dr. Amy knew (Ennis sold his old apartment to her) and Jack had been the only regular visitor of the clinic who always brought in coffee instead of sick pets. Here, they never had to hide that they were together. Jack never had to school his hands to stay still whenever he wanted to touch him and Ennis was, well, he might not be as expressive or affectionate as Jack, but Ennis never ducked away from Jack’s touch. He always craved it-whether it was just a light stroke on his back, a firm squeeze on his shoulder or a full-on, Jack Twist trademark hug that left him breathless but wanting more. Damn him for making Ennis the fool for love that he was, and, according to his crazy brother, making his aura all shades of pink.
His face might have shown what he was thinking ‘cause now Martha was grinning. “Just tell her you’re dating this guy who’s way prettier than her and her random friends. Though I have to tell you, she never listens. I mean she either has bad ears or simply doesn’t listen.”
“Huh.”
“Just tell her.”
“Tell who what?”
Dr. Shulaces appeared from the second floor with a too-bright smile. Ennis couldn’t take his eyes off the white flowers in her hair. Jasmine? At least she wasn’t wearing white lipstick. That would be odd.
“Ah, well,” Ennis held out the note and cleared his throat. “Hi, Dr. Shulaces. We should talk about this?”
“Oh, we should!” She looked excited. Ennis felt bad.
“Well, we should…”
He gestured to the examination room and led the way, Dr. Shulaces following closely. The clinic at eight in the morning was empty and Martha was going to be here until Drew took over at ten. He had more than enough time to gently disappointed her. No sense being all mean to the fellow vet whom he had to work with every day.
“I’m sorry but I can’t go on the blind date on Saturday,” Ennis blurted out as soon as they were inside the closed door. He was pretty knocked off-guard by his own action but Dr. Shulaces just smiled.
“Ennis, you should give yourself a chance to meet someone new.”
“I do have someone…” Ennis shifted his feet, trying to be brave. “I have a partner?”
Her smile faltered as realization sank in. “Oh. You are…oh… I’m sorry.”
Huh. That was new. And awkward as hell.
Ennis could deal with homophobia. He could deal with people making disgusting faces when he told them he was gay. He had to admit that he expected that kind of reaction more than an amicable one. But this? Having someone he met barely two weeks ago say she was sorry because he was…gay? He really didn’t know what to think.
Martha was his knight in shining armor. She poked her head into the room. “Dr. Del Mar, you have Simon--a bird that swallowed a button.”
Ennis swallowed hard, ignored Dr. Shulaces and nodded at Martha. “Bring him in.”
*
“She was sorry that I’m with Jack,” Ennis told Grant on the phone as he weaved through people on the pavement, heading for a coffee. Grant choked on something.
“What? God, that was rude. Who’s this woman? Do I know her?”
“She’s the new vet at the clinic. And she didn’t really sound rude. She looked like she meant it. Why would someone feel sorry for me?”
“Ennis, that’s not the problem.” Grant sighed. “It’s her attitude that you should worry about. Just be careful around her, okay?”
“Grant, she’s like four feet tall.” Grant laughed and that brought a smile to his face. Ennis stopped at a red light and let out a soft breath. “I’m okay. I can deal with her. It’s just weird ‘cause nobody I know ever really had a problem with me and Jack being together before. Guess it’s meant to happen sooner or later.”
Grant was quiet for a moment before he heard the soft rumble of his chuckle coming back. “That’s my man. You have to come to dinner at my place tonight ‘cause I really want to hug you right now. I’m so proud of you.”
Ennis laughed, his heart swelled in his chest. “Yeah, yeah. I’ll see you later, daddy.”
As soon as he ended the call, someone tapped his shoulder. Ennis blinked at the blond-haired man with green eyes who was smiling at him. “Hey,”
“A.J., hey,” Ennis shook hands with the man, remembering one of Jack’s friends from the Velvet that he had come to know. It still surprised him that he had gay friends.
“Ennis,” A.J. smiled. “Hey, what a coincidence! Are you heading somewhere? I, uh, happened to be around here. You want to have a cup of coffee or something?” A.J. said, fast, and Ennis had to blink at how nervous he looked.
“Okay,” he said.
A.J. smiled and held out a book in his hand. It was a picture book with a baby panda standing on its hind legs on the cover. “I got this from a secondhand book shop. I thought, you know, it kind of reminds me of Flea. Yeah?”
It was a little strange talking about Flea with someone other than Jack. And the panda on the cover didn’t look exactly like a dog. But A.J. was looking at him with such a hopeful, nervous smile. There was a scar on his chin. He then remembered what Grant used to tell him about A.J.
His father hit him with a belt when he came out to him a couple of years ago.
Ennis felt his mouth stretch into an easy grin as he shrugged. “Yeah, if only Flea ate bamboo leaves.”
A.J. laughed then. His nervousness obviously melted away and, stupidly, Ennis felt like he had done something Jack would be proud of.
*
“I met A.J. and we had coffee,” Ennis told Grant and Lee after dinner that day. He was playing chess with Lee and noticed how Lee halted his hand that was about to move one of the rooks. “What?”
“Nothing.” Lee shrugged. “Just, isn’t it like thirty minutes from Castro to around the clinic?”
“He happened to be there. It was a coincidence.”
“Hmmm,” Lee smirked. “And he happened to bring this,” he grabbed the panda book from the sofa and flipped it from back to front, front to back and did it all over again. “…too?"
“That’s what I said.”
“Okay, two things,” Lee leaned over the table, knocking off his own king in the process. “First, A.J. has had a crush on you since the first time he met you. It’s not a coincidence at all.”
Ennis was torn between rolling his eyes and widening them in surprise at that remark. He simply grunted instead. Who the hell knew if Lee really was telling the truth anyway.
“But don’t worry. He’s not going to hit on you cause, second, A.J. is going to move to L.A. next month. Check.”
"Huh?" Ennis’s head snapped.
“Check! Dude, I totally rock at chess!” Lee yelled, totally imitating a five-year-old gesture of jumping around with his hands in the air after he placed a king on a4, aiming to mercilessly 'behead' Ennis's king on the spot. Ennis groaned and pushed the board away. It wasn't happening. He didn't just lose a game of chess to Lee 'cause, damn it, he had just taught the emo kid to play chess not more than a month before.
"You suck!"
Lee comfirmed that it really did happen. Ennis crossed his arms. "I was distracted."
"You still suck."
Ennis sighed. He frowned when Lee brought the two kings together in the middle of the board and made them kiss. Then to finish off, Lee sang the heavy metal version of Boys II Men's “I'll Make Love to You”, Flea jumping up on the couch and barking in unison.
“Weirdo.” Ennis threw a black rook at Lee but he was laughing. The kid was a maniac but he was also good company. “Anyway, you said A.J. is going to move? Why?”
Lee shrugged. “New job. You’re interested now, aren’t you, now that you know you have a secret admirer.”
Ennis grabbed the panda book from Lee and put Flea on the table and walked to the kitchen. He changed his mind. Lee wasn’t really such good company. Grant was putting something in the microwave and arched his brow in question when they heard Lee shout, “Ennis! Your dog is eating my king!”
“I’ll fix him in the morning!” he shouted back, grinning and popping a piece of baked green bean in his mouth. He glanced down at the book in his hand. The baby panda was looking back at him innocently but that wasn’t the reason why his heart gave a big leap right at that moment.
“Hmmm,” he popped another piece of green bean into his mouth.
*
I had the strangest day.
Back at the apartment that night, Ennis typed the message and sent it to Jack. Five minutes after that Jack still hadn’t replied.
*
The clinic was busy on Saturday and it was raining from morning until late afternoon. Sighing wearily, Ennis pressed the buzzer for Martha to let the new customer into the examination room, not expecting to find A.J. hovering at the door. He was wet from head to toe and there was a kitten popping its little head out from his grasp.
“Shit, you alright?” Ennis blurted out, not really sure if the question was for the human or the cat. A.J. wiped water from his forehead.
“I’m okay. Found this kid in the gutter in the rain. Can you look him up? I don’t know if… I think she’s, he’s…”
“I’ll take care of it.”
Ennis rushed to A.J. and hollered for Martha to come help. A.J. was shaking from more than just the chill of the rain, Ennis was certain, and he was clutching the kitten so tight that Ennis had to practically peel his numb fingers off of the little furry creature. With one look at the kitten, he knew it was a girl and that she was in pretty bad shape, probably had been starving for days, not counting the fact that she was soaked and was breathing funny.
“She’s gonna be fine. Come on, A.J., let me take care of her. Martha, dry him off, get him some dry clothes. Just…”
“I’ll do something.” And because Martha was his hero, she hustled a now visibly shaking A.J. out of the examination room, letting Ennis focus on the task at hand.
*
Two hours later, Ennis stood still in his office on the second floor, gazing down at the kitten that was sleeping in the cocoon of soft cloth in the small basket on the desk in his office, looking warm and sleepy. His phone beeped then and he averted his attention to flip his phone open. There was a text from Jack.
Sorry 4 nt getting to u sooner. Bad day yesterday. Lost in subways. Late for interview.
“Shit,” Ennis cursed softly but felt his mouth turning into a smile. He could almost picture Jack’s face right now--those slightly twisting lips and liquid blue eyes that were begging for comfort. His cell blinked again with a new message.
Hug Flea 4 me. Miss u.
Ennis looked down at Flea who had tottered near him and nudged Ennis’s shin with his nose. So he scooped the dog up in his arms and gave him a good squeeze.
Done. Ennis sent the message back to Jack. Then he paused and sent one more message. Miss u2.
“It’s a she, right?”
Ennis looked up at A.J., who had now changed into Ennis’s spare, dry t-shirt and an old pair of jeans which, by the way, fit surprisingly well considering the guy was a few inches shorter than Ennis. A.J. blushed faintly as if he heard Ennis’s inner thoughts.
“It’s the boots,” he said.
“The boots?”
“Yeah. It’s the magic of these two-point-five-inch boot heels that save your jeans from sweeping the floor.”
“You wear two-inch heels?” Ennis blurted out and held up his hand in apology the minute he realized what it might sound like. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean that in a bad way or anything.”
“Don’t worry about it.” A.J. simply waved it off and reached out to caress the kitten’s head. The room was quiet except for the hum of the air-conditioner. That was why they both jumped when Flea barked and scratched the door.
Ennis looked out of the window. The rain had fairly stopped so he let Flea out the door.
“Hey,” A.J. cleared his throat. “You want to eat something? You haven’t had dinner, right? I’m kind of hungry so I’m hoping we can have dinner or something…”
Ennis surprised himself by giving the guy a quick nod. “Sure. Let me feed Flea first and we can go.”
*
“I heard you’re going to move to L.A,” Ennis asked once they were seated in a corner of Joe’s diner. The place was packed. They both looked at the plate of Texas-style steak with a pile of steaming mashed potatoes soaked with home-made gravy on the nearby table and both pointed to the plate when the waitress came to get their order.
“God, I miss Texas,” A.J. said.
“You’re from Texas? Jack graduated from University of Texas,” he said and scratched his neck shyly when A.J. shot him a knowing smile. Ennis shrugged weakly. “Anyway, so you’re going to move?”
“Yeah. So, I met a guy.” Ennis coughed. A.J. was blushing from the opposite seat. “Sorry, That’s not a good way to start a conversation.” A.J. scratched his cheek. “I’m just… I met this guy and am going to try my luck, moving to L.A. and starting a relationship with him. But before that…”
Ennis watched as the guy took a deep breath and suddenly felt self-conscious. He shouldn’t have listened to Lee, damn it. But Ennis waited. For some reason, he felt the weight of what A.J. was about to say and knew this was important. After a few deep breaths, A.J. looked up to meet his eyes.
“I have a crush on you,” he said. Then Ennis watched with wide eyes as A.J. scrunched up his face and knocked his head on the table. He startled.
“Shit,” A.J. peeked a look at Ennis through his blond bangs. “..did I just say that? Out loud?”
Ennis nodded dumbly. A.J. knocked his head on the table again. With a curse, Ennis reached out to grab the guy’s head, aware of curious glances they got from the tables around them.
“Christ. What are you doing?” It wasn’t until A.J. smiled that Ennis realized he was holding A.J.’s head above the table. But the damage was done. He rolled his eyes. “I’ll let your head go if you promise not to knock yourself dead on the table again.”
“Promise.”
“Good.” He sighed and reluctantly let go. A.J. stared at him with bright hazel eyes that made him squirm. He laughed at Ennis and then went somber. “You’re kind of awesome, you know that?”
Ennis snorted. “I’m not.”
“You are,” A.J. said, smiling softly. “I don’t know, there’s something about you that shines.”
“What? Like an aura? Please don’t tell me you can see auras.”
“I can’t,” A.J. snorted. Ennis huffed out a short bashful laugh. “Anyway, you’re awesome. And I think you should know that.”
Ennis didn’t know how to respond to that. Dr. Shulaces felt sorry for him, maybe thought he was a pathetic gay man and she hardly knew him at all. And here came A.J., Jack’s friend whom he had met like twice, saying he was awesome. Ennis really had no idea what to do next. If Jack was here, maybe he could think of what to do. He always knew ways around people.
“Ennis,” A.J. smirked. “You don’t have to think that hard. I didn’t ask you a question. It’s just something I want to tell you before I move to L.A.”
“Hmm. Thanks?”
A.J. laughed. “You’re welcome.”
Despite everything, their conversation went on comfortably during dinner. A.J. told Ennis more about the guy he met. He worked in Hollywood and A.J. wanted to try his luck there, too, once things were settled.
Ennis told A.J. briefly about his research, how bizarre it was that they now had a vet who specialized in ferrets and of course about Jack and his work in New York. A.J. listened to everything with a perplex and amused expression, like, he wasn’t even sure he understood what was coming out of Ennis’s mouth, but wanted to remember every word anyway. It was kind of strangely flattering.
Ennis was about to tell A.J. about the new doctor with the weird name when said doctor walked into Joe’s diner.
“Oh, shit,” Ennis groaned at the sight of Dr. Shulaces who had this very big plastic-looking red rose on the bun at the back of her head, looking so out-of-place in this all-American family diner in a long greenish silk dress and high heeled shoes.
“What? Someone you know?”
“She’s the vet at the clinic. I think she’s out on a date. A blind date, to be exact.”
“Here? A blind date? At Joe’s?” A.J. was torn between lifting his brows in surprise and laughing. He decided on frowning when Ennis nodded solemnly.
They sneaked a look. Dr. Shulace’s date was a small Hispanic man. He was totally fitting in here with his Lakers jersey and cap. The guy ordered food and flirted with the waitress while Dr. Shulaces sat uncomfortably and spent the entire time looking at the floor. It looked like she wanted nothing but to disappear.
“Well, shit,” A.J. murmured. “This is why blind dates suck.”
Ennis wasn’t going to argue there.
*
He was still replaying the scenes at Joe’s the next morning when he was at the airport to pick up Jack. He missed the announcement that said the United Airlines flight from New York had landed ten minutes earlier. So he startled when someone kicked his boots.
“Are you daydreaming?”
Then Jack was there, like he had just popped out from the ground. He was all clean-shaven, his hair looked soft and Ennis itched to run his fingers through it. Those bright blue eyes glistened as he took Ennis in and damn those lips. Ennis pulled Jack all the way into his arms.
“You missed me,” Jack murmured into his shirt.
Ennis hummed. “Well, yeah, ‘cause you saved me from a blind date.”
Jack pulled away, grinning. “Is that a Hallmark quote? It is. I love you ‘cause you saved me from a blind date. Wow, some catchy stuff.”
“Very funny.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Jack curled his fingers in his jacket and pulled him close. Ennis watched Jack until he felt his eyes cross, loved how those pretty blue eyes fluttered and closed before their lips touched. It was weird how Ennis had changed from some boring, in-the-closet guy who preferred to work night shift to this Ennis who was kissing another man in the middle of the airport in daylight.
Ennis could be on his own just fine. But it sure felt good to have Jack back in his life and he made sure Jack knew that.
“Welcome back,” he said, winding his arms around Jack’s shoulders and giving him a hug again. Jack melted into his chest. The soft kiss on Ennis’s neck that came with a cat-like, contented sigh told him that Jack thought the same.
*
“So, how was your week?” Jack asked as he emptied his suitcase and threw dirty clothes into one corner of the room. Flea was watching his every move but refusing to leave his side. Ennis knew exactly how he felt.
“How was yours?”
Jack smirked. “Well, exhausting. But I have a great scoop. You’ll love it. And I think that old guy had a crush on me or something. He asked me to go on their honeymoon in Bali with them.”
“Huh.”
Jack grinned wider. “Lucky you, Ennis Del Mar, that I’m monogamous.”
“Lucky me,” Ennis repeated dryly. That earned him a kick at his shin.
“Now tell me. Did you do anything fun?”
“Dr. Shulaces asked if I wanted to go on a blind date,” Ennis started. He ignored Jack’s surprised stare. “Lee beat me at chess and I…haddinnerwithA.J.”
“You what?”
Ennis fumbled for the remote control. He couldn’t find it. Damn. “I had dinner with…your friend. He brought a kitten to the clinic and it rained. I treated the cat and he’s going to keep her, by the way. Then we had dinner. What’s that look supposed to mean?”
Jack’s face was plastered with this stupid smile that made his face crinkle. “You had dinner with A.J.”
Ennis ignored him. Something told him that Jack already knew about A.J.’s little crush on him. He finally found the remote control on the floor and turned on the T.V. There was a rerun of some dancing program. He changed the channel and stared at a polar bear family on T.V. for a while. Jack was still looking at him though.
“What?”
Jack shrugged again. “Nothing.”
But he was still smirking. Ennis sighed. “Okay.”
“Okay. Now come here.”
Then Jack flopped down on the sofa and pulled Ennis on top of him. When they kissed this time, it wasn’t a kind of sweet kiss like the one they shared at the airport. It was a passionate kiss that made Ennis see bright pink dots behind his eyelids.
*
“Jack!” Martha yelled and opened her arms to welcome Jack, who surged into her embrace.
“How was New York?” she asked as soon as she freed him. “And where is my souvenir?”
“I’m sorry, I was so busy I didn’t even have time to go anywhere,” Jack said, then held out a big bouquet of pink and red roses. “But I got you this.”
Martha squealed. Ennis rolled his eyes at the exaggeration of it all but he couldn’t help but smile as Martha hugged Jack again. He always loved the sound of Jack’s laughter, the way it echoed in the room like he had no care in the world. Hell, he hadn’t heard that for a while and he missed it.
Martha put the flowers in two big vases, put one on the registration counter and gave one to Ennis, shooing him to put it somewhere in the examination room.
Ennis was about to ask why the hell he needed flowers in there when Dr. Shulaces walked into the clinic. She looked pale and, damn it, but Ennis thought back to the other night when he spotted her at Joe’s with that asshole date of hers.
“Dr. Shulaces,” Ennis blurted out, stopping her from walking toward the second floor. Martha quirked her brow at him while Jack blinked slowly, curious, but didn’t push. Then Ennis remembered Jack hadn’t met her before. He put his free hand on the small of Jack’s back, feeling the firm and warm skin through the thin fabric of his shirt. He shouldn’t feel surprised by now how Jack’s presence always calmed his nerves. But no, this never failed to surprise him. This, how right it was that he was touching Jack, that Jack was standing beside him, that they were together. The love that radiated from Jack was burning Ennis’s skin and God but Ennis wanted more.
He moved his hand to gently cup Jack’s nape, feeling Jack’s eyes on him as he played with the fine hair on his nape.
“Dr. Shulaces,” Ennis called out again. “This is Jack. Jack, Dr. Shulaces. She’s the new vet. She just started two weeks ago.”
“Hi,” Jack smiled at her and waved since she was standing too far to reach for a handshake, his blue eyes bright and eager. Dr. Shulaces waved back and that was it. Ennis heard Martha snort from behind them. Jack frowned but Ennis knew he started to smile when Ennis moved his hand to hug Jack’s shoulders and gave him a firm squeeze.
“Jack’s the only regular at the clinic with no sick pets,” Ennis said, deadpan. “And he sometimes loves to play at being a vet’s assistant when Martha has her hands full. He’s a bad one though.”
“Hey,” Jack’s half-heartedly protested with a punch at Ennis’s stomach.
“That’s true. You always feed burgers to sick dogs.”
Flea barked from the floor, agreeing. Jack narrowed his eyes at the dog. “Shut up, you. Not helping.”
“Anyway, Jack’s my, ah,” Ennis paused to look for proper words. “…boyfriend.” He wrinkled his nose. “…except that we’re not fourteen.” He looked at Jack then. He was giggling into his fist. Ennis groaned. “God, you are fourteen.”
“Am not,” Jack said. He turned his head to give a quick kiss on Ennis’s shoulder before he strode to Dr. Shulaces with an outstretched hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Dr. Shulaces.”
He didn’t even make fun of her name, Ennis thought absentmindedly.
Dr. Shulaces hesitated only a little. But when she shook Jack’s hand, she was also smiling. “Nice to meet you, too, Jack. Ennis told me about you.”
“He did?”
“Sure did.” She aimed that smile at him now. “Told me he was with someone. I’m glad to finally get to meet you.”
Her smile was so sad to Ennis. Before he knew what he was doing, he found himself holding out the vase of roses to her. Martha grinned a little and turned her back to them, pretending to occupy herself with the patients’ files.
Ennis didn’t say anything. Neither did Dr. Shulaces. She simply stepped closer to them and took the vase, saying thanks so soft Ennis could barely hear.
“You’re one lucky guy, Ennis,” she said, audible this time and Ennis nodded solemnly.
“I guess I am,” Ennis told her. His heart expanded with something and that something almost suffocated him when he saw Jack grin down at the floor.
*
“Check,” Ennis announced loud enough for everyone at the outdoor patio of Cafe Flore to hear as he smacked his king on the a4 square of the portable chess board, ready to kill Lee’s king at the exact same spot Lee had killed his king last time.
Lee huffed, “You’re impossible. You’ve plotted every move, haven’t you?”
“It’s chess. Of course I have a plan. Check.”
“You’re no fun.” Lee pushed away from the table and headed inside the cafe for another cup of latte and more muffins.
“Still, check!” Ennis shouted after him. Grant chuckled from the opposite seat but he was too engaged in some cooking magazine and a glass of iced tea to really bother about their childish exchange. Jack was typing away on his laptop, brows knotting in concentration beneath his sunglasses. The scoop of that peculiar gay marriage in New York was due to get published this week. That was why he had to work even on this beautiful, sunny Sunday.
Ennis sighed and leaned back in his seat, feeling warm and content from the sun.
“Coffee.”
Without turning his gaze from his laptop screen, Jack held out his hand. Ennis rolled his eyes but handed Jack his cup of double espresso. Jack’s sunglasses that were now perching on his forehead looked like they were going to fall down when Jack ducked his head to drink his coffee. So Ennis grabbed them, put them on instead and, huh, he should have known. Noe Street was all in shades of pink behind Jack’s specs. What the hell kind of fancy sunglasses were these?
“Eveything is pink,” Ennis said.
Jack sipped his espresso and smiled.