"Jon?"
He raised his hand and said, "Hi."
I blinked in disbelief, I rubbed my eyes, blinking another couple times, leaning forward. "I've got to be dreaming. I must off, like, jumped off the stage and am in a coma."
The men laughed. 'This is real, Jennifer."
I stared at Jon, disoriented, barely listening, my shoulders slumped. "Uh huh . . .gotcha. Okay."
"You're not even listening are you?"
"Sure . . ."
Jon chuckled. "You have a crowd to entrain."
"What?" I shook my head. "Oh . . . yeah. Gimme a song to sing."
"Headstrong." Dreadlocks, or aka Joe, said and I nodded, turning around. Someone caught me by the arm, it was Jon.
"Jen."
I looked back at Jonathan. "Yeah?"
"Afterwards meet me near the stage?"
I hesitated then nodded. "Okay."
~~~~~
After helping my crew get off stage I was helping Mason and Nathan with the percussion, my guitar in my truck. I stood in the cold, my hands shoved into my coat pockets, I sighed in exasperation. Watching the crowd, bobbing my head and tapping my foot to my music that was belting out into my right ear from a ear bud.
Someone slapped me on the back, making me stumble and double over a bit. "Hey!"
"Sorry Jen." Nathan apologized, laughing. "But we're good, you can go now, thanks for the help and great job tonight."
I sighed, I didn't really want to go, as annoying as these men can be, I'd prefer them over meeting face to face alone with a guy you accidentally called the day before. But I nodded and walked off towards the crowded stage as a group of people acted out a play.
I tugged my hood over my head and shivered, the December winds cold. Even with no snow on the ground it was a cold night. I sighed, my breath billowing around my mouth in a frozen mist.
I stood near the stage, out of the crowd and my kid brother, Zachary, ran up to me, smiling. "Wow great job sis!"
I smiled, pulling him into a sideways hug, wrapping my arm around his shoulders. "Thanks kid, wanna autograph?"
"Yeah," he pointed at his forehead. "Right there please, Mrs. Patterson."
I laughed. "Alright, and who do I make this out too?"
"Your loving bro, Zack."
I smiled, pulling my hand out of my pocket and licked my pointer finger, writing my name in spit on his forehead. He grimaced. "Ewwww, Jen!"
He tried getting away but I put him in a head lock that he wiggled out of, so I tackled him, holding him with my legs wrapped around him as I finished the signature.
I let him go but he continued to lay there, staring up at the nigh sky. "My forehead is cold now, I can feel the JP there with the wind blowing across my face."
I snickered, rubbing my arm against my thigh, pulling the sleeve over my hand and wiped my saliva clean off his forehead. "Better?"
He blinked. "Yes."
I chuckled, patting him on the shoulder. "You can get up now, lazy bum."
He sat up, getting to his feet, brushing off his black jeans and fixing his black hair, swishing his bangs out of his face. I smiled. He lend me a hand and pulled me up to my feet. "Thanks."
He smiled, inclining his head. "Anytime."
I brushed off the back of his black coat and patted him on the back. "Go find Mom before she freaks out."
He nodded. "Okay." And ran off.
"Well, that was adorable."
I jumped, spinning around, finding Jon walking up to me, I smiled shyly and shrugged my shoulder. "He's my brother . . ."
He shoved his hands in his jacket pockets and arched a brow, slowing his pace. "The one that threw a heater at your head."
I quirked my mouth and rocked my head side to side, my shoulders mimicking the same movement. "Yeah . . ."
He chuckled. "That must of been pay back then?"
I studied him, his brown Levi coat and his, probably Levi, jeans and black shoes. I looked up at his face, suddenly nervous to be in his presence. "Is it natural to feel nervous around you, or am I the only girl to be anxious around a tall giant like you?"
He stood at my side. Looking down at me, then laughed. "No, its natural, even men are terrified to be around me."
I looked up at him, a bit taken aback, and asked slowly. "Why . . .?"
He shrugged, smirking. "I'm a scary guy."
"Oh, that's so not unnerving." I said sarcastically looking away from him, shaking like I had hypothermia. I jumped up and down, hoping to disguise my shivering.
It failed.
"You cold?"
I shook my head. "No."
"Jumping isn't hiding the fact that your shaking." Jon stated taking his coat off, my jaw dropped.
"Damn dude, you're skinny."
He looked down at himself then up at me with a raised brow, seeming confused. "Yeah . . .?"
He shrugged the rest of his jacket off and my eyes widened at the sight of his biceps. "Well, I know you work out a lot . . . explains the slimness."
He chuckled, handing me the jacket, I took a step back, he gave an amused look, and quirked the left side of his mouth, tilting his head to the side. "Take it, it won't bite."
"I can't just take, you'll freeze!"
"I'm perfectly fine, take it."
"But you'll freeze into a Jonsickle." I argued, dodging his coat's line of direction so if he threw it it wasn't directly to me. The coat followed.
He laughed. "That's new, besides there's no snow on the ground, I think I'll live, Jenny."
"And I'll live too, Jonny, so put it back on. Now."
"Jonny?" He took a step closer to me and I lurched backward, away from him. "Put it on, Jen."
I shook my head, humming. "No, you put it on, Jon."
"But I'm not the one shakin' like a leaf."
"I'll live." I repeated, crossing my arms, almost hugging myself, when he didn't move I sighed, a mist billowing around my mouth. "Look, I'm going to my car, okay? Where there's heat, so yeah . . . you can come if you want, but I'm probably boring to talk too."
He followed me, putting his coat on. "Nah, you're fine."
Jon's P.O.V
When I first saw Jennifer on stage I thought she looked friendly enough - the way she smiled at the lead singer with just one corner of her mouth, the tilt of her head, like she was considering a question. Then when I heard her talk, and her name announced I swore my heart fluttered. When she looked at me for the first time and smiled . . . .when she called me hot . . .dear God I almost died.
When she had appeared out of the crowd to standing in front of Joe, Colby, and I, I couldn't believe how hard and bright her blue eyes were, they were humorous but as hard as ice, colored the same hard, ridged, hue too, they were beautiful.
Her hair the color of the night sky and the body of a supermodel and so small - against to me anyway. I was surprised when she said that I was the skinny one. 225 pounds? Yeah try picking me up, Honey.
And when she sighs, how her breath evaporated into a mist around her face was somehow cute to me.
Now we were sitting in her truck, a Dodge Ram, listening to the radio and the heat blasting.
"I stand corrected." Jennifer said tossing her phone on the dash. "Mom, wants me to go to the hospital tomorrow, check if I have cancer."
"Really?" I asked, looking at her.
She nodded.
"Runs in the family," she said with difficulty. "Hopefully I don't have it." She put her hand in her head, combing her fingers through her black hair. "I'm strictly attached to this."
"Sorry to hear that . . . " I said slowly and awkwardly, I wasn't really good at this kind of sentimental stuff.
She reached across me. For a second I was afraid she was gonna cry on me. "Sorry," she said. "My charger is o'er here."
She pulled a purple car charger out for the side cubby of my door and plugged it into the lighter thingy, plugging her phone into it.
She looked at me with her icy eyes and smiled. "Sorry bout that."
I shrugged. "So, Jennifer Patterson, what do you do for a living?"
Her smile faltered but her eyes sparkled.
Oh this girl was gonna be hard to forget.