A/N: This is the first chapter of my new fic :) I'm not sure exactly how long it'll be, but it's more than likely that it'll be a short one. Hope you guys enjoy it… and I don't own Cena. I would really appreciate the feedback, what you guys think, what you want to see etc :) so please review! And enjoy!
Her small hand pulled once more on the hem of the thigh high blue dress she wore. The cotton fabric clung to her skin uncomfortably in the afternoon sun.
"Jennifer!" Her mother hissed, quickly approaching the young woman. "Stop that."
The woman rolled her eyes, shaking her head allowing her dark locks to slip forward over her eyes. She tucked a few strands behind her ear and glared back at her mother.
"I don't even know why I need to be here. I have to be back at work in a few days. I really don't need to be at another family and friends gathering."
"You most certainly do. Aunt May is bringing one of her sons' friends." The older dark haired woman sent a wink her way.
"Moooom." She groaned, her head lolling back. "I don't need to be set up with anyone."
"You may not need to. But I want you to. We haven't seen you with anyone in years!"
"Don't over exaggerate. I went out on a date with Jeff a couple of months ago."
"That was a date? That long haired boy who looked like he fell into a pile of hair dye tookmy daughter out on a date? I thought that was a friendly thing?"
"It was… friendly." A small smile stuck to her soft features as she avoided her mothers gaze.
The sun beamed down on both of them as they stood amongst the groups of people in the grass and decking. April in Boston meant only one thing for the families and close friends in the West Newbury neighbourhood, the annual gathering in the small national park. It seemed as though everyone was enjoying themselves, indulging in a barbeque and alcoholic beverages. But the young brunette wanted to be anywhere but here right now.
"May! I'll be right over!" Jennifer was pulled from her thoughts as she heard her mothers booming voice. "That's aunt May, I think the young man is around here somewhere… Don't move."
As her mother sauntered over quickly to greet her sister, Jennifer froze in place. Like hell I'm staying put! Her blue eyes darted between guests, trying to find a quick escape route that would hopefully take her back to the road where she could hail a taxi.
Crowds of people filled the space between her mother and her and Jennifer calmly passed the people to sneak round the side of a large old oak tree that was in full bloom in the Spring weather.
Her eyes quickly fluttered shut as she breathed deeply and leant back against the tree. Hiding from view, she made a few glances round the side to check no one had followed her. A small smile slipped onto her full lips and she turned back round, eyes open and let out a small scream.
Her eyes immediately focussed on the figure of a man, leaning back against the fencing with a bottle of beer in hand. "You scared the crap outta me!" She held a hand to her chest, gazing into the eyes of the man who had just taken 10 years off her life.
"Sorry." An easy chuckle passed through the well built man and he pulled away from the fence to stand upright. "Didn't mean to scare you…"
"Don't worry." The brunette shook her head and glanced again around the side of the tree, looking for her mother.
"Ex-boyfriend?" She heard the man's voice again.
"Huh?" Turning around to see him, she noticed he had taken a few more steps in her direction.
"I said, ex-boyfriend?"
"No." She shook her head, slightly confused.
"Well you're hiding from someone…" He smirked a little and that's when Jennifer noticed the dimples that were indented into the sides of his cheeks.
She stumbled on her words for a second, not realising she had begun to smile. "Hiding from my mother. She's trying to set me up with someone."
"Ah. Now that I can sympathise with… My friends' mom is trying to set me up with some girl too."
Her eyes squinted slightly, her smile widening. "Really?" Nice work, aunt May. Nice work. Jennifer thought as she took in the man's appearance. With large broad shoulders and a long body, she estimated him to be about 6ft and easily towering over her small 5ft 5 form. Large hands gripped the beer bottle… You know what they say about men with big hands… His smile was the one thing that Jennifer had taken to immediately. It had pulled her in, right when she saw his dimples. Dressed casually in jeans and a white shirt, that was slightly open at the top, revealing his smooth chest. Her eyes flickered with hope for a second.
The man stepped forward a couple more steps and extended his large hand out towards her. "I'm John."
She gulped as she placed her hand in his. "Jennifer." Her small hand was engulfed is his large one as they shook.
Another smile slipped onto his lips and she felt at ease. "Guess I'll see you around then, Jennifer." He shot her wink before draining the rest of his beer and walking away from the hiding place. John glanced back at her, over his shoulder, his smile still in place before disappearing in the crowds of people.
She stood still, watching him walk away. I'll be seeing you again soon when they introduce us… She grinned. Her mother definitely did good this time. If she was going to introduce her to real men now, not those scraggily awkward men that she usually brings to her, then she was definitely going to be allowed to meddle with her daughters relationships status more often.
"Jennifer!" The woman quickly turned at her mother's high pitched voice. "There you are!" Christine hooked arms with her daughter and leaded her back around to the main reception where all the friends and family were positioned, still talking incessantly.
"Mom, I just wanna say—"
"You can thank me later, darling." She hushed her quickly as they neared a smaller group and Jennifer smiled brightly. "Here, I'd like to introduce you to…"
John…
"Bob."
The brunette's jaw went slack. "Bob?" Jennifer echoed as she watched the man turn around.
Mom you are not allowed to meddle anymore.
The man that stared back at her with a toothy grin made her frown. She was quick to cover it up with a forced smile.
"My friends call me Bobby." He smiled a bit brighter as his eyes wondered over her slender yet curvy form.
"I'm Jennifer." She nodded over to him lightly.
"Honey, Bobby works at an advertising agency in New Jersey." Her aunt grinned. "That's kind of similar to what you do, isn't it?"
Jennifer raised her eyebrows ever so slightly. "…Not really, mom. I work in a book publishing house. Different thing entirely."
"Oh. Well I'm sure you two have lots to talk about. Myself and Aunt May will let you two get know each other a bit better." The vivacious blonde that was Aunt May sent a wink in Jennifer's way before leaving the pair alone beside the drinks table.
"Your mom was saying how you're trying to get published?" Bobby crossed his arms over his thin chest. He's skinnier than me!
"Y-yeah. It's a long and slow process but right now I'm working as an assistant editor. So I'm fine with that for the time being." She attempted a weak smile before she reached for a bottle of beer from the table.
"Ladies do not drink beer out of the bottle, Jennifer." Her mothers echoed in her mind as she popped the cap off the ice cold beverage for taking a sip. Screw that.
"…And it would be good to get to know each other a bit better without our families breathing down our necks." As Bobby rambled on about something that Jennifer wasn't paying attention to, her attention was on something that was happening over his shoulder.
The man she met earlier, John, was meeting his blind date for the afternoon. Jennifer mentally groaned. She's so pretty. Her long blonde hair hung past her shoulder in big waves, her body was very slim, with long arms to match her equally long legs. She almost reached John's height in the heels she wore.
She silently watched as John took her hand and kissed the top of it. There goes that one. And mom wonders why I can never get a boyfriend. All the good ones are taken.
Her glance wondered back to Bobby stood before her. "So what'd ya say?" He beamed back at her nervously.
He was probably a great guy once you got to know him, but Jennifer wasn't pulled to him as much as she was John. But John was seemingly taken by now, by the walking, talking, breathing Barbie doll.
"Say about what?"
"A date…"
"A-a you and me date?"
Another nervous chuckle slipped through Bobby. "Yeah. It would be preferred if you came to this date as well."
Jennifer glanced back up over the dark haired man's shoulder and saw that John and his Barbie had disappeared. A sad look pulled her lips down and Bobby immediately caught it.
"You don't have to if you don't want to. No pressure, I just thought it'd be nice to talk to you more privately with no pressure of everyone around." He smiled a crooked little smile and looked down at his feet, tucking his hands in his pockets.
"It's not that I don't want to…" Come on, Jen, don't lie to the poor guy. Tell him you're not interested. Don't fake another boyfriend. Soon enough you're gonna sound like a whore with the amount of guys you're making up."I'm just already involved with someone." Bad Jennifer. Now what're you gonna do when your mom comes over, asking to meet this fake boyfriend? Idiot.
"Oh. But your mom and your aunt said you've been single for a few years?"
Jennifer glared over at where her mother was positioned with her sister, Aunt May. Her teeth clenched and her jaw was tight. It's only been a few months! Okay? "No. Just a few months… But I… umm… met him a couple of weeks ago?" She said, almost questioning herself.
"Oh, okay." Bobby scratched the back of his head. "So is he here today? It didn't look like you were with anyone..."
She began to stumble on her words again. "Uhh… He… ummm…" Fuck. Think, Jen, think!
"You alright, Jennifer?" His voice melted her whole body as soon as she heard it again. It was like soft Bostonian velvet. She felt his hand on her lower back as the new person stood beside her and interjected himself into the conversation. "Thought I'd bring you a refill?" He handed her a new bottle of beer. She glanced down at her beer bottle that was now empty before craning her head to the left to meet his baby blue eyes.
The corner of his mouth twitched up into a small smile. His dimples appeared in an instant. You'll do.
"Thank you." She smiled, raising her eyebrows at him as if to tell him: Go along with this or I will hurt you. "You're not getting lost in the crowd, were you… baby?"
John's brow crinkled ever so slightly at the last word. She shot him another warning look, this time mentally telling him: Save me.
She was pulled in a little closer to him when his hand curved around from her lower back to land on her hip. "No, I wasn't. Just came to find you."
She snapped out of her thoughts, forcing herself from thinking about his hand on her hip, his thumb caressing her hip bone. Big hands… Big hands…
"Bobby, t-this is John. The guy I'm… seeing." She felt him squeeze her hip.
"Oh. This is the guy?" Bobby quickly raised his eyebrows at the taller and more muscular man stood beside Jennifer. "I thought by the way you were going you were just making someone up to make me not feel so bad…" Another nervous laugh from him was heard and Jennifer cringed slightly.
"Sorry. He's real." She lay on a hand on his chest and stopped mid-grin once she felt his hard, ripped chest muscles behind the thin white shirt. Wow.
He squeezed her hip twice this time. "Nice to meet you, Bobby." John reached out to shake his hand.
"Yeah, you too." Bobby's hand was almost crushed between John's strong grasp.
"You wanna head out, Jenny?"
"Yes!" She said a little too eagerly. John bit back his chuckle as she cleared her throat, trying to control her blushing red cheeks. "I mean, yeah, that sounds… good." She spotted her mother slipping through the sea of people to get to the mini group. "Uh… Let's leave now."
"Great. See ya, man." John nodded to Bobby as his hand floated up to rest on Jennifer's curvy waist this time before leading her away.
"Nice to meet you, Bobby!" She called over her shoulder before John guided her away.
"Thank you." She whispered once they were out of earshot and slipped through towards the parking lot.
"You're welcome." John let out the laugh he had been holding in. "You looked pretty desperate to get away… Just didn't think you'd take it that far."
She cocked him an eyebrow. "Actually you arrived just on time, well you could've gotten there a bit earlier, but you were busy with Barbie."
"Hey, Barbie was pretty nice!" He grinned over at her and leaned against his Jeep.
"I'm sure she was."
"But unlucky for her, I already had my eye on this other girl." John smirked over at her.
"Oh?"
"Yeah. She's about yay tall." He lifted his hand to float mid-air near his shoulder to emphasise his point. "Dark hair, amazing blue eyes… curves in all the right places…" John's eyes scanned her body from head to toe as Jennifer's cheeks blushed pink. "…Goes by the name of Cindy, and phwoar… she is hot." John winked over towards the brunette.
She covered up her laugh and threw a small punch into his beefy bicep. "Ass." She turned around, intending on walking away to wait beside her parents car. She had chosen not to drive, considering she knew she was going to need to have a few drinks to get through the afternoon.
"What? No proper thank you from saving you from that investment banker?" With his arms outstretched, she turned around, smirking.
"He actually worked in advertising. And I already said thank you."
"Not a proper thank you." Within seconds, his dimples popped into place and Jennifer walked back over to him.
"And what is this proper thank you that you are requesting?" John silently tapped his cheek, prompting her that he wanted a kiss. "You're not gonna quickly turn your head for aproper kiss?"
"I will if you want me to." John winked at her, prompting her to giggle slightly. "I promise I won't. I'm a gentleman." He raised his hands up in defence.
"Hmm." It took a few feet in steps and she reached him. Leaning forward and going up on her tiptoes, she pressed her lips against his smooth cheek. "Thank you for saving me, hero." She whispered on his skin before pulling away and offering him a small smile.
Hero. I've been called that many times before.John thought before smiling back at her. "That's better." The word 'hero' sounded better when it was coming from her lips though. Felt different from all the times people have referred to people like him like that. "You want a ride back to yours? It'll save you from waiting for your parents."
"They say you're not supposed to get into strangers cars."
"I'm not a stranger though. I'm 'the guy you're seeing'" He repeated her words from earlier and saw as a smile soon spread across her plump lips. "Come on. I'm not gonna hurt you. Just wanna drive you home to save you from the agony of being in the same car with your parents after what happened back there." Unlocking the car with the simple press of a button, he pulled the passenger side door open for her. He nodded once in the direction of the door. John watched on with an amused smile as she rolled her eyes and walked towards him again, sliding inside the vehicle.
John jogged around the other side of the car after shutting her door. He jumped inside quickly and turned on the ignition.
Less than a minute later, he had her cracking up. She's beautiful when she laughs. Her nose would crease when she laughed while her eyes squinted into slits. Her pearly whites were on full display when she laughed too, her lips pulled up around them.
John didn't realise when he licked his own lips. Too soon to kiss her. Too soon to kiss her. Too soon to kiss her. He continued to tell himself as he focussed his eyes on the roads.
"Take a left here." Her voice was soft. "And that's me, number 89." Jennifer nodded over to the white house with a picket fence out front. Unbuckling her seatbelt, she hadn't even noticed John was twice as fast as her and was already opening her door. "Thanks." She smiled slipping out the Jeep. She turned to make her way up the path, but paused mid-step when she heard his voice.
"So can I get your number at least?"
She turned on her heel to face him, a smile on her face. "Give me one good reason why I should."
"Because 'the guy you're seeing'needs your number to call you tonight to say goodnight."
"That can't be your reason for everything, y'know."
"But it's a good enough reason though." John offered Jennifer a crooked smile and a quick wink.
"I suppose it is." She continued to approach him, "Phone?" John quickly pulled his phone out of his jeans pocket and slipped it into her hand. Their skin brushed against each other as he passed the item to her. Her skin was soft under his rough touch, almost too delicate to touch. After punching in the number quickly, she handed the phone back to him.
"So I'll call you tonight?"
"Surprise me. I like surprises." She bit down on her lip, a noticeable twinkle in her eyes, and walked across the lawn, to spite her mother, and slipped inside the large white home.
John tried to rid the smile from his face, but it was no use. He knew he was in the wrong right now. He was getting himself into something he knew he wouldn't be able to handle. Starting up the engine, John silently began to curse himself.
He had met her by chance. But the hardest thing he would have to learn to do is forcing himself not to fall in love with her or get to serious. John didn't allow himself to get into serious relationships anymore, it was too hard. Most of his friends within the same profession as him had families to come home to. John wanted that. But not right now. He didn't like long distance relationships and couldn't cope with them. That and the communications services in Iraq and Afghanistan, even for a solider, were difficult to control.