Fic: And I Never Learned to Count my Blessings
Title: And I Never Learned to Count my Blessings
Author: nelle816 But my writing is at wanderinstories
Pairing: JDM/Jensen
Word Count: ~3000
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Inspiration comes from all sorts of strange places, but this mess is my own and none of it real.
Summary: Jeff Morgan owns a cafe in a busy college town, Jensen is a grad student and it's almost Halloween.
Notes: Directly follows Morgan Street Café and the other parts of the Cafe 'Verse. I wrote the end of this way back before I even wrote chapter 3, but I just never could seem to get here. Then life got in my way an it's been more than a year since I updated this. So here it is. Title from Ray LaMontagne's Empty. It wasn't really inspiration for this chapter, I just like the song.
The late summer sun was pouring in the high windows of Jeff's bedroom creating a warm square over his half of the bed. It was Sunday, the one day of the week Jensen and he had agreed they'd try to spend together. Jeff soaked in the sunlight he could see even with his eyes still closed. He rolled over and slid his hand across a cold pillow on the far side of the bed then flopped back onto his back, stretching his arms up over his head. Jensen's mother called almost every Sunday morning. If he wasn't in bed,Jensen was in the living room on the phone with her.
Jeff sighed. He hadn't been particularly thrilled about being Jensen's public coming out to his friends at the house party at the beginning of the summer, but he was happy their relationship wasn't a secret. Jensen didn't feel their relationship was anyone's business. He wasn't prone to announcements, he simply let people draw their own conclusions, and Jeff could respect that.
At the cafe Jeff owned, Jensen would kiss him when he came in, leaning over the coffee counter. When they hung out with friends He smiled as he stood under Jeff's arm across his shoulders, and tucked his own fingers into Jeff's belt loops. He had even introduced Jeff as his boyfriend to his study group when Jeff had met him up on campus for lunch. Simply put, they were a couple, and while this wasn't anything novel for Jeff, he was frankly in awe of how easily Jensen had slipped out of the closet.
There was only one hiccup. As far as Jeff knew, Jensen hadn't mentioned him to his family. Part of Jeff thought that wasn't any of his business. Their relationship was new and the fact that he was a man was even newer to Jensen's family. They lived half a continent away, and logically Jeff understood why Jensen hadn't introduced him to them. His heart, however, had never been known to be the most logical part of his being and ached a little every time Jensen slipped out of the room to take a call from his family.
Jeff gave up trying to get any more sleep. He slid out of bed and shuffled across the hall to the bathroom. He wasn't eavesdropping, he couldn't help but hear Jensen's voice from the living room.
"Uh huh. Yeah. Okay. Really, Mom, she's smarter than that.
"She's not like us, Mom."
"Because Josh and I refused to wear dresses?" Jeff could hear the smile in Jensen's voice.
"Things are better now. I made an arrangement that works out better for all of us." Jeff paused inside the bathroom door. Okay, so maybe he was purposefully eavesdropping.
"Something like that, yeah. You know Steve helped me get through to them that my school was important and things needed to change."
"Yeah. Cathy's great. Good cook. Great sense of humor, sexy and all, you know, triple threat." Jeff inhaled sharply, then rolled his eyes at his own reflection when he remembered that Cathy was the name of Steve's girlfriend and Steve had been Jensen's friend since they were in diapers. Of course Donna would have asked about Steve.
"Yeah, mom. She tips well and is nice to animals." Jensen's eye roll was nearly audible.
"Ah, come on, mom. We just talked about how important school is right now. This is crunch time."
"Oh God, no, Mom! Nothing like that." Jeff wondered what the sweet southern mother could have suggested to make Jensen protest with such disgust. His stomach knotted up again.
Jensen sighed, and Jeff could feel the weight in his voice. "It's complicated. I'm not ready to talk about it yet. Might jinx it. Can you trust me? Just let it be for a little while?"
"Don't you trust me, Mom?"
Jeff closed the bathroom door then and turned on the faucet. He shouldn't have listened in the first place. It didn't help the little niggling fears in the back of his mind. He took his time washing his face and brushing his teeth, running water through it all so he couldn't hear anything from the other side of the thin door.
When he finally emerged, Jeff walked past Jensen on the sofa and ran his hand across the man's bare shoulders. Jensen was already saying his goodbyes and hung up by the time Jeff made it to the kitchen.
"How's the family?" Jeff knew it was childish of him to point at the elephant in the room, but he couldn't help himself.
Jensen didn't rise to the bait of a fight, though and just tossed the phone onto the other seat of the sofa. "They're good. Mac made the Dean's list at tech again last semester and now Mom had to get in her digs about me only ever making it once."
Jeff smiled and Jensen continued on, talking about what his brother and nephews were up to. By the time he'd cooked breakfast and they were settled into the couch with Jensen pressed up against his side, Jeff had all but forgotten that anything had bothered him this morning.
------
A couple weeks later, on a sunny afternoon in early October, the town was settling into it's fall schedule. Soccer practice had given way to football, the freshmen had lost their slightly frantic, lost look, and the nights were starting to get cooler. Jeff didn't think it was very cool right at that exact moment. He’d spent most of the morning in the vent over the fryers trying to sort out why the fan wasn't doing what it was supposed to, and now he was breaking down a pile of produce boxes in the back hall after the big weekly delivery. He threw a longing look at the little shaded patch of green he could see out the back door he’d propped open. He was sure the grass would still smell like summer and the sounds of the cafe wouldn't be able to reach him there. Here, in the seemingly dim hallway, the breeze only brought in the smell of the dumpsters while the dings of the register and order-up bell jangled at his last nerve.
Jeff forced his eyes away from the mirage of freedom and snagged the next box off the pile beside him. Mike threw another lettuce box at the back of his legs, and a couple of wilted leaves scattered over his shoes.
“Sorry, boss.” came Mike’s call from behind him. "That's the last one. They're all washed and tubbed now." Jeff just growled and sliced his knife into the newest chunk of cardboard.
Four boxes later, Jeff had pretty much worked his way through all the delivery debris, but was still standing in the back hall rubbing down his jeans pockets for a non-existent pack of smokes. He was standing there, arguing with himself over the merits of bumming one from old Jim next door when someone cleared their throat behind him. Jeff bowed his head and bit back a snarl before he turned around.
"Yes, Kati?"
"What crawled up your ass?" Kati stood just in from the doorway to the front where she could see the register through the window in the swinging door.
Jeff tried to shrug it off. "Nothing. Nobody likes breaking down boxes."
Kati rolled her eyes. "I'm calling bullshit. You're radiating pissed off and you weren't this upset when I walked in this morning, so either one of us annoyed you or you've been stewing over something all day and it's finally coming to a boil." She put both her hands on her hips in her determined pose. "So spill it. I'm a big girl, I can take constructive criticism if you don't like the way I mop."
Jeff stared at her for a long moment then let out a long sigh and chucked the last box out the door with a fraction of his previous force. "How do you do that?"
"It's a gift." she shrugged but didn't stop giving him that expectant look.
"You're in the wrong profession. With a talent like that you should be tending bar." Jeff rubbed his pocket down again, caught himself doing it, and stuck his hands inside the pockets to make himself stop.
"Quit changing the subject." He could tell she was trying not to grin.
He gave up and fell back to lean against the wall, shoulders hunched up around his ears. "It's not you Kati. You're right, I'm just riding around with a burr in my saddle."
"Oh no. Not cowboy colloquialisms. Honey, your boyfriend's from Texas and even he's not allowed to use them!" She threw her hands up, seemingly annoyed, but her now obvious grin belied the gesture.
Jeff tried not to flinch at the word 'boyfriend'. He swore sometimes Kati was psychic. Mikey had a theory that she made deals with demons in the walk-in cooler and that's how blood always ended up on the floor. Jeff kept telling him it was the hamburger thawing, but Mike was adamant.
"So what's the issue?" Kati's voice was softer, like she'd seen that she'd struck a nerve. Psychic!
"I'd rather not say." Jeff mumbled, petulantly. Wasn't that just a polite way of not sounding like a 12-year-old yelling 'None of your beeswax!'?
Kati rolled her eyes again. "Let me guess. You want something, probably from Jensen. I don't want to know what it is. I already know enough about Mike's kinky sex life, and I don't need more nightmares."
Jeff opened his mouth to protest, but Kati whipped up her finger and shook her head.
"Nope. Don't want to know. The point is, he is resistant and you're being a baby about not getting your way. Get over it, man. Either he's going to do it in his own time, or he won't. If this was a deal breaker issue for you, you'd have already had that conversation. Since he's still sitting out front looking like a love-struck puppy, I'm going to assume that's not the case. So suck it up, buttercup. People aren't perfect and you just have to learn to deal with them."
With that she patted his shoulder and shoved passed him to get to the cooler. Jeff couldn't help but look after her in stunned silence. Definitely psychic.
Jensen was indeed in the corner booth when Jeff came out of the back He had a coke and a bowl of carrots in front of him. Jensen never turned down Jeff and Margarite’s treats when he brought them out. He smiled and savored them while he indulged, making the most sinful noises. But if no one else was sitting with him, he'd ask the waitress or whatever fresh veggies they had available that he could munch on. It was just one of those Jensen-things that Jeff noticed and treasured for the mystery of it.
He slid into the booth and Jensen smiled as he swung his feet up to rest against the bench on either side of Jeff's thighs. Jeff returned his smile and slid one hand up Jensen's pant leg to tickle his calf.
"So Beth says we ought to go in coordinating costumes, maybe Adam and Adam. Make a political statement." Jeff said by way of greeting. The quirky blonde had chattered Jeff's ear off as she nursed a mocha through his mid-morning lull the other day. He hadn't asked why she wasn't in class, or where Chris and Aldis were, and by the time she'd been talking non-stop for an hour, he began to wonder how much caffeine she'd had before she'd shown up at his shop.
"Beth seems to be way more interested in my gayness than I am, and I'm the one enjoying the sex." Jensen twitched his foot away from Jeff's roaming fingers.
"I hear that." Jeff folded his hands together in front of him and leaned in across the table, leering at Jensen. "Not that I wouldn't be interested in watching you walk around wearing only a fig leaf all night."
"You would because you are a dirty old man, but that would also be freaking cold. They're predicting near freezing next week. It'll be snowing by Halloween. " Jensen dropped his foot to the floor, but slid it between Jeff's.
"And that would be the reason why I'm not wearing a costume like that. I was just going to wear what I do almost every year. It's warm, comfortable and cheap."
"Your hideous green fuzzy slippers don't constitute a costume."
"Ha. Ha. You’re so cute."
"I’m adorable." Jensen stuck a carrot in his mouth like a cigarette and smirked.
Jeff was just starting to think of other things he could stick in Jensen's pretty mouth when an alarm on Jensen’s cell beeped, telling him it was time to get moving for class. He groaned, and leaned in to kiss Jeff goodbye.
"Have a good day at school dear, play nice with the other kiddos." Jeff waved as Jensen gathered up his notebooks and climbed out of the booth.
"You know it’s disturbing when you talk like my mother, don’t you?"
Jeff gave him his best smarmy grin and bit back the passive aggressive comment about not knowing what Jensen's mother sounded like.
The thought lingered with him, though, as Jensen shrugged into his jacket and headed out the door. Stupid burrs under stupid saddles.
-----
October flew by in a blur of pumpkin spiced lattes and mid term tests. Jensen had finally suggested cowboy costumes for Halloween and showed up at Jeff’s place with a selection of flannel shirts, two cowboy hats and a pair of worn-looking chaps. He claimed he’d raided Chris’s closet, but that the hats were his. Jeff insisted his legs were too long to fit Christian’s chaps, and that Jensen would look better anyway. Jensen’s undergrad friend, Jared, upon hearing of the plan, had cherry picked his candy stash for Marlboro colored candy cigarette packs and had insisted Jeff borrow his dinner-plate-sized belt buckle.
“Where are we meeting them?” Jeff kept tilting the cowboy hat this way and that in the mirror. It felt like a sombrero, it was so wide.
Jensen sorted and pulled his socks and shoes off. “They were going to decide if we were going to meet back up at the house and go together, or just head straight for a bar, but they can’t even decide which bar between the three of them. I told Steve to just call me when they make up their freaking minds.” He slid his slacks off and bundled them with his socks into the hamper.
“I've got to take a shower. Gen was doing some show on perfumes in the studio this morning, and the whole booth just reeked. Then Craig sloshed his wheat grass smoothie on my shoulder when he tried to hug me goodbye. I’m not sure it was actually wheat.” Jensen wrinkled his nose as he finished stripping and headed for the shower across the hall. Before he shut the door he called back to Jeff. “My phone’s on the kitchen counter. Just answer it if he calls before I’m out.”
“Sure.” Jeff finally decided the hat was never going to look ‘right’ and that he might as well get on with the rest of his get up. He grabbed the spurs Jensen had thrown into the bottom of the box and headed out to the kitchen to figure out how they went on his boots while he waited for the phone to ring.
He was bent practically in half, balancing on one foot while he tugged a spurred boot on the other when Jensen’s phone started playing guitar riffs on the counter. Without even looking he grabbed the phone and flipped it open.
“Hey, Carlson. What’s the story? Did they finally make up their minds?” Jeff started to walk across the kitchen, looking down at his boots and admiring the way the spurs chimed against the floor.
“Jensen?” A strange woman’s voice stopped Jeff in his tracks.
“Oh no, um.. sorry. He’s in the shower.” Jeff turned the phone over and looked at the display. ‘MOM’ Shit! Feeling like a caught teenager, he quickly put it back to his ear. “He’ll be out in just a few minutes. I will have him call you back.”
“Wait!” Jensen’s Mom called out before he could hang up. “Are you Jeff?”
“Ya...Yes, ma’am.” He stuttered over the polite southern response he’d heard Jensen use with most women he met.
“This is Donna, Jensen’s mother. I was calling to tell him to invite you to Thanksgiving. Now I can just do that directly.” Jeff pulled the phone away again and stared at it.
Having confirmed it was indeed a real phone, and the display still said ‘MOM’, he put it back to his ear. “Uhhh..”
“If you have plans or are too busy, we understand, but I wanted you to know you’re welcome here anytime. Now…” Her voice switched from polite hostess to the universal Mother voice. “Tell my son he needs to call home and talk to me right away. Also, please tell him I love him and that Mrs. Kane is a terrible gossip.”
“Ya… Yes, ma’am.” Jeff stuttered again as the pieces started falling into place.
Back in her hostess voice, Donna continued, “It was very nice to get to talk to you, Jeff and I hope we will get to meet you soon. Goodbye.”
Before Jeff could gather enough brain cells to say goodbye, the line clicked and she was gone. He stood there, again staring at the phone in his hand. He was still staring when Jensen stepped out of the bathroom in his boxers, toweling off his hair.
“So what’s the verdict? Are we going to Chris’s?”
Jeff turned, the phone hand still stretched out in front of him. “It wasn't Steve.” he replied, dumbly.
“Who was it?” Jensen asked, dropping the towel from in front of his face.
“Your Mom….” Jeff paused and now it was Jensen’s turn to stare in disbelief. “She just invited me to Thanksgiving!”
-----
Author's Note: Oh if you need a reference for Jeff in cowboy gear, check out this trailer for a defunct movie.
Author: nelle816 But my writing is at wanderinstories
Pairing: JDM/Jensen
Word Count: ~3000
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: Inspiration comes from all sorts of strange places, but this mess is my own and none of it real.
Summary: Jeff Morgan owns a cafe in a busy college town, Jensen is a grad student and it's almost Halloween.
Notes: Directly follows Morgan Street Café and the other parts of the Cafe 'Verse. I wrote the end of this way back before I even wrote chapter 3, but I just never could seem to get here. Then life got in my way an it's been more than a year since I updated this. So here it is. Title from Ray LaMontagne's Empty. It wasn't really inspiration for this chapter, I just like the song.
The late summer sun was pouring in the high windows of Jeff's bedroom creating a warm square over his half of the bed. It was Sunday, the one day of the week Jensen and he had agreed they'd try to spend together. Jeff soaked in the sunlight he could see even with his eyes still closed. He rolled over and slid his hand across a cold pillow on the far side of the bed then flopped back onto his back, stretching his arms up over his head. Jensen's mother called almost every Sunday morning. If he wasn't in bed,Jensen was in the living room on the phone with her.
Jeff sighed. He hadn't been particularly thrilled about being Jensen's public coming out to his friends at the house party at the beginning of the summer, but he was happy their relationship wasn't a secret. Jensen didn't feel their relationship was anyone's business. He wasn't prone to announcements, he simply let people draw their own conclusions, and Jeff could respect that.
At the cafe Jeff owned, Jensen would kiss him when he came in, leaning over the coffee counter. When they hung out with friends He smiled as he stood under Jeff's arm across his shoulders, and tucked his own fingers into Jeff's belt loops. He had even introduced Jeff as his boyfriend to his study group when Jeff had met him up on campus for lunch. Simply put, they were a couple, and while this wasn't anything novel for Jeff, he was frankly in awe of how easily Jensen had slipped out of the closet.
There was only one hiccup. As far as Jeff knew, Jensen hadn't mentioned him to his family. Part of Jeff thought that wasn't any of his business. Their relationship was new and the fact that he was a man was even newer to Jensen's family. They lived half a continent away, and logically Jeff understood why Jensen hadn't introduced him to them. His heart, however, had never been known to be the most logical part of his being and ached a little every time Jensen slipped out of the room to take a call from his family.
Jeff gave up trying to get any more sleep. He slid out of bed and shuffled across the hall to the bathroom. He wasn't eavesdropping, he couldn't help but hear Jensen's voice from the living room.
"Uh huh. Yeah. Okay. Really, Mom, she's smarter than that.
"She's not like us, Mom."
"Because Josh and I refused to wear dresses?" Jeff could hear the smile in Jensen's voice.
"Things are better now. I made an arrangement that works out better for all of us." Jeff paused inside the bathroom door. Okay, so maybe he was purposefully eavesdropping.
"Something like that, yeah. You know Steve helped me get through to them that my school was important and things needed to change."
"Yeah. Cathy's great. Good cook. Great sense of humor, sexy and all, you know, triple threat." Jeff inhaled sharply, then rolled his eyes at his own reflection when he remembered that Cathy was the name of Steve's girlfriend and Steve had been Jensen's friend since they were in diapers. Of course Donna would have asked about Steve.
"Yeah, mom. She tips well and is nice to animals." Jensen's eye roll was nearly audible.
"Ah, come on, mom. We just talked about how important school is right now. This is crunch time."
"Oh God, no, Mom! Nothing like that." Jeff wondered what the sweet southern mother could have suggested to make Jensen protest with such disgust. His stomach knotted up again.
Jensen sighed, and Jeff could feel the weight in his voice. "It's complicated. I'm not ready to talk about it yet. Might jinx it. Can you trust me? Just let it be for a little while?"
"Don't you trust me, Mom?"
Jeff closed the bathroom door then and turned on the faucet. He shouldn't have listened in the first place. It didn't help the little niggling fears in the back of his mind. He took his time washing his face and brushing his teeth, running water through it all so he couldn't hear anything from the other side of the thin door.
When he finally emerged, Jeff walked past Jensen on the sofa and ran his hand across the man's bare shoulders. Jensen was already saying his goodbyes and hung up by the time Jeff made it to the kitchen.
"How's the family?" Jeff knew it was childish of him to point at the elephant in the room, but he couldn't help himself.
Jensen didn't rise to the bait of a fight, though and just tossed the phone onto the other seat of the sofa. "They're good. Mac made the Dean's list at tech again last semester and now Mom had to get in her digs about me only ever making it once."
Jeff smiled and Jensen continued on, talking about what his brother and nephews were up to. By the time he'd cooked breakfast and they were settled into the couch with Jensen pressed up against his side, Jeff had all but forgotten that anything had bothered him this morning.
------
A couple weeks later, on a sunny afternoon in early October, the town was settling into it's fall schedule. Soccer practice had given way to football, the freshmen had lost their slightly frantic, lost look, and the nights were starting to get cooler. Jeff didn't think it was very cool right at that exact moment. He’d spent most of the morning in the vent over the fryers trying to sort out why the fan wasn't doing what it was supposed to, and now he was breaking down a pile of produce boxes in the back hall after the big weekly delivery. He threw a longing look at the little shaded patch of green he could see out the back door he’d propped open. He was sure the grass would still smell like summer and the sounds of the cafe wouldn't be able to reach him there. Here, in the seemingly dim hallway, the breeze only brought in the smell of the dumpsters while the dings of the register and order-up bell jangled at his last nerve.
Jeff forced his eyes away from the mirage of freedom and snagged the next box off the pile beside him. Mike threw another lettuce box at the back of his legs, and a couple of wilted leaves scattered over his shoes.
“Sorry, boss.” came Mike’s call from behind him. "That's the last one. They're all washed and tubbed now." Jeff just growled and sliced his knife into the newest chunk of cardboard.
Four boxes later, Jeff had pretty much worked his way through all the delivery debris, but was still standing in the back hall rubbing down his jeans pockets for a non-existent pack of smokes. He was standing there, arguing with himself over the merits of bumming one from old Jim next door when someone cleared their throat behind him. Jeff bowed his head and bit back a snarl before he turned around.
"Yes, Kati?"
"What crawled up your ass?" Kati stood just in from the doorway to the front where she could see the register through the window in the swinging door.
Jeff tried to shrug it off. "Nothing. Nobody likes breaking down boxes."
Kati rolled her eyes. "I'm calling bullshit. You're radiating pissed off and you weren't this upset when I walked in this morning, so either one of us annoyed you or you've been stewing over something all day and it's finally coming to a boil." She put both her hands on her hips in her determined pose. "So spill it. I'm a big girl, I can take constructive criticism if you don't like the way I mop."
Jeff stared at her for a long moment then let out a long sigh and chucked the last box out the door with a fraction of his previous force. "How do you do that?"
"It's a gift." she shrugged but didn't stop giving him that expectant look.
"You're in the wrong profession. With a talent like that you should be tending bar." Jeff rubbed his pocket down again, caught himself doing it, and stuck his hands inside the pockets to make himself stop.
"Quit changing the subject." He could tell she was trying not to grin.
He gave up and fell back to lean against the wall, shoulders hunched up around his ears. "It's not you Kati. You're right, I'm just riding around with a burr in my saddle."
"Oh no. Not cowboy colloquialisms. Honey, your boyfriend's from Texas and even he's not allowed to use them!" She threw her hands up, seemingly annoyed, but her now obvious grin belied the gesture.
Jeff tried not to flinch at the word 'boyfriend'. He swore sometimes Kati was psychic. Mikey had a theory that she made deals with demons in the walk-in cooler and that's how blood always ended up on the floor. Jeff kept telling him it was the hamburger thawing, but Mike was adamant.
"So what's the issue?" Kati's voice was softer, like she'd seen that she'd struck a nerve. Psychic!
"I'd rather not say." Jeff mumbled, petulantly. Wasn't that just a polite way of not sounding like a 12-year-old yelling 'None of your beeswax!'?
Kati rolled her eyes again. "Let me guess. You want something, probably from Jensen. I don't want to know what it is. I already know enough about Mike's kinky sex life, and I don't need more nightmares."
Jeff opened his mouth to protest, but Kati whipped up her finger and shook her head.
"Nope. Don't want to know. The point is, he is resistant and you're being a baby about not getting your way. Get over it, man. Either he's going to do it in his own time, or he won't. If this was a deal breaker issue for you, you'd have already had that conversation. Since he's still sitting out front looking like a love-struck puppy, I'm going to assume that's not the case. So suck it up, buttercup. People aren't perfect and you just have to learn to deal with them."
With that she patted his shoulder and shoved passed him to get to the cooler. Jeff couldn't help but look after her in stunned silence. Definitely psychic.
Jensen was indeed in the corner booth when Jeff came out of the back He had a coke and a bowl of carrots in front of him. Jensen never turned down Jeff and Margarite’s treats when he brought them out. He smiled and savored them while he indulged, making the most sinful noises. But if no one else was sitting with him, he'd ask the waitress or whatever fresh veggies they had available that he could munch on. It was just one of those Jensen-things that Jeff noticed and treasured for the mystery of it.
He slid into the booth and Jensen smiled as he swung his feet up to rest against the bench on either side of Jeff's thighs. Jeff returned his smile and slid one hand up Jensen's pant leg to tickle his calf.
"So Beth says we ought to go in coordinating costumes, maybe Adam and Adam. Make a political statement." Jeff said by way of greeting. The quirky blonde had chattered Jeff's ear off as she nursed a mocha through his mid-morning lull the other day. He hadn't asked why she wasn't in class, or where Chris and Aldis were, and by the time she'd been talking non-stop for an hour, he began to wonder how much caffeine she'd had before she'd shown up at his shop.
"Beth seems to be way more interested in my gayness than I am, and I'm the one enjoying the sex." Jensen twitched his foot away from Jeff's roaming fingers.
"I hear that." Jeff folded his hands together in front of him and leaned in across the table, leering at Jensen. "Not that I wouldn't be interested in watching you walk around wearing only a fig leaf all night."
"You would because you are a dirty old man, but that would also be freaking cold. They're predicting near freezing next week. It'll be snowing by Halloween. " Jensen dropped his foot to the floor, but slid it between Jeff's.
"And that would be the reason why I'm not wearing a costume like that. I was just going to wear what I do almost every year. It's warm, comfortable and cheap."
"Your hideous green fuzzy slippers don't constitute a costume."
"Ha. Ha. You’re so cute."
"I’m adorable." Jensen stuck a carrot in his mouth like a cigarette and smirked.
Jeff was just starting to think of other things he could stick in Jensen's pretty mouth when an alarm on Jensen’s cell beeped, telling him it was time to get moving for class. He groaned, and leaned in to kiss Jeff goodbye.
"Have a good day at school dear, play nice with the other kiddos." Jeff waved as Jensen gathered up his notebooks and climbed out of the booth.
"You know it’s disturbing when you talk like my mother, don’t you?"
Jeff gave him his best smarmy grin and bit back the passive aggressive comment about not knowing what Jensen's mother sounded like.
The thought lingered with him, though, as Jensen shrugged into his jacket and headed out the door. Stupid burrs under stupid saddles.
-----
October flew by in a blur of pumpkin spiced lattes and mid term tests. Jensen had finally suggested cowboy costumes for Halloween and showed up at Jeff’s place with a selection of flannel shirts, two cowboy hats and a pair of worn-looking chaps. He claimed he’d raided Chris’s closet, but that the hats were his. Jeff insisted his legs were too long to fit Christian’s chaps, and that Jensen would look better anyway. Jensen’s undergrad friend, Jared, upon hearing of the plan, had cherry picked his candy stash for Marlboro colored candy cigarette packs and had insisted Jeff borrow his dinner-plate-sized belt buckle.
“Where are we meeting them?” Jeff kept tilting the cowboy hat this way and that in the mirror. It felt like a sombrero, it was so wide.
Jensen sorted and pulled his socks and shoes off. “They were going to decide if we were going to meet back up at the house and go together, or just head straight for a bar, but they can’t even decide which bar between the three of them. I told Steve to just call me when they make up their freaking minds.” He slid his slacks off and bundled them with his socks into the hamper.
“I've got to take a shower. Gen was doing some show on perfumes in the studio this morning, and the whole booth just reeked. Then Craig sloshed his wheat grass smoothie on my shoulder when he tried to hug me goodbye. I’m not sure it was actually wheat.” Jensen wrinkled his nose as he finished stripping and headed for the shower across the hall. Before he shut the door he called back to Jeff. “My phone’s on the kitchen counter. Just answer it if he calls before I’m out.”
“Sure.” Jeff finally decided the hat was never going to look ‘right’ and that he might as well get on with the rest of his get up. He grabbed the spurs Jensen had thrown into the bottom of the box and headed out to the kitchen to figure out how they went on his boots while he waited for the phone to ring.
He was bent practically in half, balancing on one foot while he tugged a spurred boot on the other when Jensen’s phone started playing guitar riffs on the counter. Without even looking he grabbed the phone and flipped it open.
“Hey, Carlson. What’s the story? Did they finally make up their minds?” Jeff started to walk across the kitchen, looking down at his boots and admiring the way the spurs chimed against the floor.
“Jensen?” A strange woman’s voice stopped Jeff in his tracks.
“Oh no, um.. sorry. He’s in the shower.” Jeff turned the phone over and looked at the display. ‘MOM’ Shit! Feeling like a caught teenager, he quickly put it back to his ear. “He’ll be out in just a few minutes. I will have him call you back.”
“Wait!” Jensen’s Mom called out before he could hang up. “Are you Jeff?”
“Ya...Yes, ma’am.” He stuttered over the polite southern response he’d heard Jensen use with most women he met.
“This is Donna, Jensen’s mother. I was calling to tell him to invite you to Thanksgiving. Now I can just do that directly.” Jeff pulled the phone away again and stared at it.
Having confirmed it was indeed a real phone, and the display still said ‘MOM’, he put it back to his ear. “Uhhh..”
“If you have plans or are too busy, we understand, but I wanted you to know you’re welcome here anytime. Now…” Her voice switched from polite hostess to the universal Mother voice. “Tell my son he needs to call home and talk to me right away. Also, please tell him I love him and that Mrs. Kane is a terrible gossip.”
“Ya… Yes, ma’am.” Jeff stuttered again as the pieces started falling into place.
Back in her hostess voice, Donna continued, “It was very nice to get to talk to you, Jeff and I hope we will get to meet you soon. Goodbye.”
Before Jeff could gather enough brain cells to say goodbye, the line clicked and she was gone. He stood there, again staring at the phone in his hand. He was still staring when Jensen stepped out of the bathroom in his boxers, toweling off his hair.
“So what’s the verdict? Are we going to Chris’s?”
Jeff turned, the phone hand still stretched out in front of him. “It wasn't Steve.” he replied, dumbly.
“Who was it?” Jensen asked, dropping the towel from in front of his face.
“Your Mom….” Jeff paused and now it was Jensen’s turn to stare in disbelief. “She just invited me to Thanksgiving!”
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Author's Note: Oh if you need a reference for Jeff in cowboy gear, check out this trailer for a defunct movie.