by Chloe Maddox
Not so different from his reputation, then, she mused as she straightened her spine and continued forward, pretending the whole incident had never happened.
Jenny tried to ignore the heat of his stare as he made it clear that he was checking her out. It’s not that he wasn’t attractive, she’d have to be blind not to see that, it’s just that there were certain elements in her life that couldn’t risk being affected by his presence.
No matter how charming she remembered him to be.
“I’ll have a beer,” Brad announced as he plopped next to her and began to belch rather loudly. Jenny tried to hide her discomfort as she told herself that she shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, and that she had agreed to go out with Brad to give him a chance. Yet here she was, 5 minutes into the date, and he was already ignoring her. Brad was slightly taller than she was with black hair, brown eyes and an average build. She had seen him around the hospital a few times, and when he asked her out for a drink, she had seen no harm in saying yes.
Brad had arrived late, already slightly tipsy and didn’t even bother to greet her except with a very nonchalant ‘hey babe.’
She loathed when men treated her like that, but she figured she owed it to herself to see this thing through just to make sure she had left no stone unturned.
“So, Brad,” She cleared her throat as she sipped on her glass of wine. “What is it you told me you do?”
Brad swiveled in his chair as he nursed his beer, he meet her gaze and took a sip of his beer. “I’m a repair man.”
Jenny studied him over the rim of her glass. “Aha, and do you enjoy it?”
Brad shrugged as he let his eyes trailed over her body before settling on her face. He leaned in closer. “I like fixings things.”
“Really? That’s very interesting. How did you stumble upon this passion of yours?”
Brad blinked as if he hadn’t quite understood her question before he scratched his head thoughtfully. “I suppose it’s because my dad wasn’t around much when I was younger, so I learned to help my mum around the house.”
Jenny thought that was sweet, and she placed a hand on his arm. “Well, I think it was very sweet of you to want to help around the house, I’m sure your mum appreciated it, and what a handy thing to learn.”
Brad shrugged as he titled his beer back and swallowed it in one gulp. He signaled the waiter for another one. His eyes began to examine the bar as if looking for something. Jenny waited for him to say something in response to her statement, and when the minutes ticked by awkwardly, she was about to open her mouth to say something until he turned to her. “How do you feel about sports?”
“Oh,” Jenny paused as she considered the question. “Well, I’m not really big on sports, but I suppose basketball is an interesting game.”
Brad snorted. “Basketball? That’s for wussies. Football is a real man’s game.”
“Is it now?” Jenny took a huge gulp of her wine and smiled at him pleasantly. “Why is that?”
Brad’s eyes lit up as he began to crush a peanut between his fingers. He popped it into his mouth before chewing thoughtfully. “Men are meant to be aggressive, but with all these rules society places on us, we can no longer be as aggressive as we want, so we find other ‘civil’ outlets, football provides that.”
Jenny thought over what he said. “I suppose that is a valid point, but isn’t it a rather violent sport?”
“Exactly!” Brad slammed his hands on the table enthusiastically. “Best thing about it.”
“Hmm,” she said noncommittally as she gave him a tight smile, already writing him off in her head. She’d just give it five more minutes before she made her way out of here. After all, her mother did raise her to be proper and polite.
A minute later, a bottle head blonde sat in the seat next to her Brad and began to flirt with him. Jenny watched in amusement as Brad completely ignored her and began to turn his attention to the blonde who was lavishing him with exactly the kind of attention he wanted. She was nodding during all the right moments, and touching his arm every chance she got. She could practically see them undressing each other with their eyes.
Jenny rolled her eyes as they leaned towards each other and began whispering. She could practically feel herself gag in the back of her throat, and yet she still felt a twinge of sadness; not over Brad. Of course not.
Rather over the fact that this was her first night out in a really long time, and it hadn’t gone well. She reflected over that for a while and was just about to get up and leave when a voice stopped her.
“Can I buy you a drink?”
She was just about to turn him down not feeling like dealing with another Brad for the evening, but when she turned around to face him, something about the way his green eyes regarded her intently made her change her mind.
“Sure,” she said finally as the man sat next to her. He was even more attractive up close with shaggy blonde hair, an athletic build and piercing green eyes, he was what most women considered eye candy. She couldn’t help but notice a tattoo peek out from underneath the hem of his shirt, and she wondered what it said.
“Can I get one red wine and a Budweiser?” The man told the waiter before he turned around to face her.
“I’m Mark.”
“Jenny.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Jenny.” The bartender placed their drinks in front of them, and Mark tilted his back and took a small sip. “I see your date has vanished.”
Jenny took a peek over her shoulder and noticed that Brad had indeed disappeared with the blonde. No real loss there, she thought to herself as she turned her attention back to the green eyed blonde. “It would appear he has.”
“His loss,” Mark winked at her as he held up his drink. “To happy losses.”
Jenny laughed at the unexpected choice of words before clinking her glass against his. “To happy losses.”
“So Jenny what do you do?”
“I’m a doctor.”
Mark’s eyebrow shot up. “I didn’t see that one coming.”
“Why is that?”
“I don’t know, if you were my doctor, I think I’d be too distracted to do anything.”
One corner of her mouth turned up. “Does that line always work?”
“You’re the first person I’ve tried it on, how am I doing?” he whispered conversationally. Maybe it was the wine, or maybe it was just that for the first time in a long time she felt desirable, but Jenny laughed quietly and briefly placed a hand on his arm. “It could work,” she said coyly.
“Oh, it could, eh? Well, I shall have to change that then,” he gave her a grin that had her heart skipping a beat.
Jenny wasn’t the type to indulge in one night stands, she just couldn’t imagine being intimate with someone like that and then have them disappear the next day, but for the first time in her life, she found herself contemplating whether or not she could break that rule.
Mark seemed nice enough, and he was definitely making her libido scream, so maybe she could give in just for one night.
What could it hurt?
“What about you? What do you do?”
“I play sports.”
“Like for the NBA?”
Mark chuckled. “Not quite yet, but hopefully it’s my lucky year, for now I just work at a gym coaching until I get my big break.”
“Have you always been a fan of basketball?”
“Pretty much since I first picked it up as a kid. I never really found anything that inspired me to want to be the best until I picked up a basketball and made my first basket.”
“What did it feel like?” Jenny leaned forward suddenly wanting to hear more. She was absolutely captivated by the far off dreamy look in his eyes.
“It felt like everything zoomed in on that one moment when the ball went flying out of my hands and landed perfectly in the middle. I had never felt anything like that, that rush, that stillness.”
Jenny
smiled softly. “You sound like you really love it.”
Mark’s eyes snapped to hers. “I do. What about you?”
Jenny ducked her head, feeling shy all of a sudden as she ran her thumb over the rim of her glass. “Well, I know it’s kind of cheesy, but I’ve always wanted to make a difference in the world, and the hospital I work at might not be big in the grand scale of things, but at least in some corner of the world, I’m helping people, making a difference, you know?”
“That’s not cheesy at all,” he said quietly as an absent minded smile played on the corner of his lips.
Before she knew what she was doing, Jenny had leaned over and placed a slight kiss on the corner of his mouth. She pulled back wondering where she had gotten the courage from.
Mark eyed her speculatively before smiling, a beautiful heart-stopping smile. “What was that for?”
“I just wanted to,” she offered.
Mark leaned forward and paused mere centimeters from her lips. His eyes gazed into hers as if asking her a question. She nodded slightly before he pressed his lips to hers. Jenny’s eyelids fluttered closed, and she found herself sighing and leaning into the kiss.
Dimly, she was aware of the fact that he had picked her up and placed her on his hip, but she didn’t mind. Usually she hated PDA, but there was something about the way he touched her and kissed her that made all rational thought fly right out the window.
Mark kept his mouth lightly on hers, barely brushing her lips. Jenny made an impatient noise in the back of her throat before she wrapped her arms around his neck and gently nibbled on his lip.
She could feel him smile into the kiss, so she bit his bottom lip gently causing his mouth to part in surprise. He moaned as his tongue collided with hers, and they began a battle for dominance.
They pulled back a short while later aware that they were still in a public place. He leaned his forehead against hers and breathed deeply.
“Do you want to get out of here?” he asked as he placed his arm on the small of her back.
This was it, her chance to back out if she wanted to, but much to her surprise Jenny found herself nodding as she hopped off his hip and tossed some money onto the counter. Mark did the same as he grabbed her hand, and they raced out onto the street like a bunch of giddy, hormonal teenagers.
“My place isn’t too far from here,” she said as he hailed down a cab. Mark nodded as he opened the car door for her. “Shall we?”
Jenny gave him a slow seductive smile before sliding in. She rattled off her address, and the second Mark was in the cab, he yanked her, so she was on top of him, and he began kissing her with renewed urgency, his hands exploring everywhere, leaving a trail of heat in their wake.
Jenny began her own tentative exploration surprised to find that he actually trembled at her touch. She pressed herself closer to him, feeling the fire burning within her continue to blaze, and knowing that only he could quench the fire.
They arrived at her address a short while later, and they stumbled out of the cab in a mass of limbs and laughs.
***
Jenny shook her head, trying to clear off the fragments of the memory that had entered into her mind unbidden when she noticed that Mark had stepped away from her and was talking to one of the children.
They were standing in the middle of the children’s ward, and one of the children had cautiously wandered over to where they were standing.
Most celebrities just gave the kids a tight smile and patted their heads absent mindedly. She had expected the same out of Mark, but instead he leaned down and began to ask the little girl about her action figure.
“But most little girls like Barbie,” he was saying.
The little girl-Gemma was her name-made a face at Mark as if the suggestion was preposterous. “Well, Barbie is cool, but action figures are so much better.”
“Are they now?” Jenny could practically hear the surprise in his voice. “And why is that?”
“Because action figures have superheroes like Captain America, Thor, Ant man.”
Jenny pretended to be reading something on her clipboard as she eyed the little brunette who was staring at Mark speculatively. For his part, Mark looked absolutely befuddled and couldn’t figure out what to do with a little girl who didn’t like Barbie’s.
“Who’s your favorite then?”
Gemma brought her hand up to her chin and gazed into the distance as if she was pondering a very serious question. “Captain America,” she announced finally, sounding quite pleased with herself.
“Why is that?”
“Because Captain America has only ever wanted to serve his country, even at the cost of his own life.”
Jenny noticed a flash out of the corner of her eye, and she visibly tensed until she remembered that there were supposed to be reports for this PR event. She discreetly took one step to the side, so that they could do their job, and she went over her to-do list for the day as she began checking off one by one. She scribbled down some notes as she zoned the conversation out as best as she could. When she sensed that the reports were done, she took a step closer, clicked her pen shut and knelt down, so she was at eye level with Gemma.
“Wise words for a little girl, Gemma.” Mark commented
Jenny had always thought so. She began to examine Gemma as she went through the normal medical procedures and noted down her vitals which were normal and healthy. “Are you tired, Gem? Do you want to go back to sleep?”
Gemma shook her head empathically. “No, I want to talk to Mark. He’s really nice, he said he could get us all the Marvel movies, so we could watch them,” she turned the force of her hazel eyes onto Jenny, who could already feel her resolve melting. “Can we please?”
“As long as you take all your meds, eat and spend a good amount of time outside, that’s fine with me.”
Gemma threw her arms around Jenny in a hug so fierce, Jenny was momentarily knocked back by the force. Jenny pattered her head soothingly. “Remember what we always say?”
“Women are just as strong as men,” Gemma said as she gave her a toothy grin. “And I can do anything I set my mind to.”
“Atta girl.” Gemma gave Jenny a high five before scampering off to play with the other kids.
Jenny
Jenny had forgotten that Mark was there until he cleared his throat next to her. He had stood up and was leaning against the wall, watching her with an amused grin playing on his lips.
“Dare I ask what that was about?”
Jenny stood up and brushed the dust off her pants. “What are you talking about?”
Mark pushed himself off the wall. “Oh, come on now. Don’t play dumb with me. You’re trying to teach her to be a feminist, at her age.”
Jenny faced his gaze directly. “Women ARE just as strong as women, and I don’t want society’s labels confining her.”
Mark held his hands up in mock surrender. “Easy there, Rocky. I never said she should be limited, but don’t you think it’s a bit early?”
Jenny cocked her head to the side. “No, it’s not early. Besides I just asked her what she wanted to be, and we got to talking, she’s the one who came up with that, not me. I wish I had though.”
Mark chuckled. “So you want me to believe that a seven-year-old is the ring leader of your little feminist cult?”
Jenny shot him an amused glance. “First of all, it was her idea. Second, she is not a ring leader and third, this isn’t a feminist cult,” she used air quotes for the last thing, and as they made their way outside the children’s ward, they began to walk brusquely down the corridors, heading nowhere in particular.
“It’s not a cult to want to fight for basic human rights, rights that men take for granted I might add,” she responded, trying to keep the curtness out of her voice. Of course he’d be glib about something like this. He was a privileged white male, he didn’t know what it was like for other people.
“I’m not just tal
king about women, I’m talking about other men too. Men who aren’t white.”
“Whoa, hey, what? Feminism is a feminist movement.”
Jenny abruptly stopped in her tracks, causing Mark to slam into her back. She wheeled around to face him. “Actually that’s a common misconception. It may have started out as a feminist movement, but it’s grown to encompass so much more than that-now it’s about equal rights for everyone.”
Mark paused. “But isn’t feminism basically women thinking they are better than everyone else?”
Jenny laughed. “No, that’s just extremism. Every movement has its fanatics, and feminism is no different. No, that isn’t the true essence of feminism.”
Mark considered this carefully. “I didn’t know that.” He eyed her for a minute before continuing. “Can we continue this inside your office? I’d like to discuss making a donation for the children.”
A delighted smile lit up Jenny’s face as she gestured for him to follow her. They made their way down the hallway and stopped outside her office. Jenny opened the door and groped for the light switch as they sat down opposite each other.
For the next fifteen minutes they discussed how much money he wanted to donate, what he wanted to be done with it and possible alternatives. He actually had a lot of great ideas, and he knew exactly how to maximize the potential of the sum that they were getting. He promised he’d tell his friends about donations as well.
Jenny leaned back in her chair and smiled at him, wondering why it seemed like there were two different sides to this man.
Mark reached into his wallet and took out a cheque which he filled out before handing it to her.
“Thank you. This really does mean a lot to the kids,” she responded as she opened the top drawer and placed it there, fully intending on presenting it to the board later to show them that it wasn’t so hopeless after all. The kids would be so happy too.
“I wanted to ask you something,” Mark said finally a while later as he stood up before strolling towards her.