alexisjane

Chapter Two

“Hey. I said it’s your shot!”

Ty slapped his large hand hard onto Jensen’s shoulder, snapping him out of his stupor. He hadn't realized that he had been standing there staring off into space.

Jensen told himself it was the heat in the bar. Being up on the raised area at the back away from the windows made it stuffy. The decorative but useless ceiling fans were doing nothing to offset the added heat from the low hanging lights over the pool tables, keeping the temperature slightly above comfortable. It was making him zone out. There was no money on the game but he needed to snap out of it. Jensen shook his head slightly, willing the languor away. “Sorry, man. I don’t know where my head’s at.”

Ty squeezed his shoulder and leant closer to say quietly, “You know we don’t have to be here if it’s too difficult.”

For a big man, his voice had such a gentle quality to it and Jensen couldn’t help but smile.

When Misha had first introduced Jensen to Ty, he had been totally intimidated.

Jensen was tall and had been taking his fitness seriously lately so he wasn’t exactly slight. He had gotten used to the way that people reacted to him since he bulked up. But even though Ty was a couple of inches shorter than him, Ty was so broad that when he first came over to shake Jensen’s hand, Jensen felt like he got a real glimpse into how other people saw him. The guy could snap him like a twig. It was a little scary. The serial-killer-blue eyes didn’t help any either.

But then he’d cracked that sweet smile and laughed low and soft at Jensen’s wide-eyed trepidation and that had been that.

A year on, it still amazed Jensen how much Ty laughed for a man who really shouldn’t have all that much to laugh about. In one of his darker moments Jensen had asked him how he did it, how he could be so sunny all the time, given all that had happened to him. Ty had just looked at him and said, "You don't think I've cried enough?" They didn't talk about it again.

Jensen took hold of the pool cue leaning up against the table and took a swig of the drink he was nursing. “Oh no! Don’t try to pull that one! You really think I’m going to throw the game just when I’m kicking your ass?”

Ty raised an eyebrow and when Jensen looked down at the scant balls on the table and his drastic change of fortune, he could see why. As Jensen bent to line up his shot, Ty reached over and took up his own drink. “So how does it feel? Being back here?”

The balls snicked together and as Jensen straightened, they made an even more satisfying sound as one tumbled into the pocket. Jensen shrugged and walked around the table, calculating his next shot. The bar wasn't busy and there was only one other pool table occupied which was by a couple who didn't seem all that interested in playing, so it felt pretty private, caught in their own bubble of illumination from the light above the baize.

Jensen shrugged again. “It feels fine. It’s a little different than I remember but it’s been three years, give or take, “ He leant down, took a shot, and smiled as the ball wobbled in the jaws of the pocket before submitting. “Being sober probably helps some too.”

Ty smirked and raised his bottle in salute. Five minutes later, watching the black ball run smoothly into the pocket and disappear, he wasn’t smiling.

Jensen was though. He chuckled and slapped Ty on the back. “Never mind, man, I just got lucky. The next one’s got your name on it, for sure.”

Ty clunked his cue on the table, laying it flush against the cushion, drained the last of his bottle. “Well, I’m going to console myself with a piss and a smoke, while you get the next round in. You going to be okay?”

Jensen nodded and smiled and muttered something unflattering as Ty walked away. He contemplated the dregs in his own bottle but opted to wait for a fresh one, took a deep breath and headed for the bar.

Even though it wasn’t Saturday night busy, the bar seemed to be pretty popular for a Tuesday, and the combination of the short bar and far too many people taking up stool space against it, meant the available places to order were three bodies deep. But by the time it was his turn to be served, he had almost forgotten why he was there in the first place.

What started as a bit of friendly banter with the petite brunette crushed next to him, if only to make the awkward proximity a little easier, had become something else. She was pretty and funny and had seen both versions of ‘The Dirty Dozen’ so there wasn't a whole lot not to like.

By the time he made it back to the pool table Ty had the balls re-racked and was melodramatically tapping his watch and holding it to his ear as Jensen approached. Jensen put the two bottles down on the closest table and dropped a packet of peanuts between them as Ty walked over, proffering a cue. “Did you pay them in pennies? I was about to call search and rescue!”

“Very funny. Nope. I…got talking.” He leant back and took the cue in one hand as he took a swig from the bottle in the other.

Ty raised his eyebrow again but not to mock. “Well, look at that! That’s a smile I’ve not seen in a while. Don’t tell me. The cute brunette that’s been checking out your ass for the last hour?”

The bottle paused on Jensen’s lips before he pulled it away, “Dude! Why didn’t you say something?”

Ty laughed, “Jen, have you seen the guy she’s with? His bicep is the size of my thigh! You’re on your own with that one!"

Jensen raised the bottle to his lips and took the opportunity to sneak a peek at the table. The brunette, Jesus! She has a name, Jensen, Genevieve was sat at a table with another girl and two guys. The one next to her was, admittedly, pretty huge.

She had said that she was with friends from work but it was possible that the little pause before she spoke could have meant something else. And he couldn't blame her. The guy was actually gorgeous, and when he laughed, throwing his head back, the sound of his voice carrying over the room to Jensen’s ears, it made something catch in Jensen’s chest.

The not-a-date pushed his chair back and stood up, still smiling at the joke, dimples visible even from that distance, casually touched Genevieve’s shoulder and headed for the bathroom. The touch didn’t bother him but Ty wasn't wrong about the biceps. Jensen pushed away the irrational urge to follow him.

Instead, he swallowed and shook his head. “She said he’s a friend. From work.”

“Uh-huh, sure he is.” Ty nodded and bent down to line up his break shot.

Jensen leant down slightly and in what passed for a whisper over the music and chatter filling the room said, “Dude. She’s a nurse. Don’t ruin this for me.”

Ty pushed forward on the cue, the satisfying snick of the white ball, scattering the triangle of balls and sinking two. “Well, thank God, ‘cause you’re going to need medical care once Gigantor gets his drunken hands on you.”

Jensen laughed but he knew Ty was only half joking.

Jensen and Ty had spent an evening when they first started hanging out that consisted almost entirely of Jensen reeling off the names and horrific circumstances of every girl he’d dated. Sound judgment was never his strong suit so there were quite a few times he’d ended up with a black eye or split lip, and worse. And when he wasn’t having to scramble out of windows to avoid husbands or hooking up with girls who were picking out bridal wear after two dates, nothing seemed to stick.

There was Alona in high school. They’d been serious, if any relationship at sixteen can be serious, but they had gone off to colleges on opposite sides of the country and decided to call it quits. And even if they hadn’t, Jensen felt by the end that she was with him out of habit more than anything else and it would have finished sooner or later.

Sarah. Sarah had felt like the real thing but she wanted something that he didn’t understand how to give. You’ve put up this barrier, Jen. I don’t know why or what it is but even when you’re here, you just feel distant. I need more. I need all of you. It was his own fault for getting involved with a Psych major in the first place.

And then there was Danneel. There was no mystery in that one. It had been perfect, she had been perfect. He had everything but the ring picked out for her when it had all gone wrong. Scratch that. When he had gone wrong. No amount of forgiveness from her would undo what he had done, the pain he had caused. It haunted him, Please stop, Jen. Please, for me. For us! I don’t understand why you’re doing this to yourself. Why won’t you talk to me! After that, he figured that maybe he should stop trying altogether.

Ty’s shot bounced wild and he cussed. As he watched Jensen step up, he tried to sound casual, “So…did you get her number?” He didn't quite pull it off.

Jensen smirked without looking at him, as he sank the ball. “Do you even need to ask? I sure as hell didn’t have to!”

“And you’re going to call her?”

Something in Ty’s tone made Jensen look up and then stand up. He'd known Ty long enough to know when something wasn’t right. Ty was a straight arrow, calm and kind and insightful but subtlety was really not his strong point. And the fact that his friend wasn’t coming right out and saying what he was thinking, made him feel twitchy. It wasn't like Ty. Not at all.

He grasped the cue tightly and leant on it. “Yeah. Yeah, I was. Why? Do you think I shouldn’t?”

Ty shrugged and walked up beside him. “No. You should do what you want. I just thought...”

“Just thought, what?” Jensen felt genuinely confused but Ty just smiled as he bumped him with his shoulder and said, “Nothing. Doesn’t matter. Now you wanna move? It’s my shot.”

Jensen half laughed and bumped him back. “No way. I sank the last one.”

“Yes you did. But that was my ball, Stupid, so move your ass! And thank you, by the way.”

Jensen frowned at the table and cursed himself, all his concerns now focused back on the game. Ty grinned as he bent and lined up his cue. “I’m liking this girl of yours a lot already.”

Chapter One --- Masterpost --- Chapter Three