J&B story-106

by: Darlene

Inside the kitchen. Susana is peeking into the window of the oven to see if the pizza is almost ready yet.

B: "Smells good"

S: "It's almost ready"

Susana slowly turns & hands Brenda the salad,

S: "This is ready to go out"

B: "Okay, I feel a little guilty making you cook at my house"

S: "Miguel said this was Jax's house"

B: "It is, but I think of it as mine too. Thanks for cooking dinner"

S: "Your welcome, it really was my pleasure. I like cooking. Do you cook?"

As soon as those words came out of Susana's mouth, she realized that she probably shouldn't have asked, since by Brenda & Jax's salad, it was obvious that neither of them cooked often, it was more obvious about Brenda, then Jax. Jax at least knew the core ingredients in the salad & had cut them, although their shapes were quite odd, Brenda on the other hand was grabbing vegetables that Susana had never seen in a salad before.

B: "Ah, no, I've tried, but it usually doesn't come out too well. Besides Jax & I like eating out a lot. Although I do wish I could learn to cook at least one dish. If I could do that, I could surprise Jax with a real homemade meal."

S: "I can teach you , if you want. Something simple." <<That way I could spend more time with Miguel>>

B: "I just might hold you to that. I better get this out there."

S: "I'll turn down the pizza so it doesn't finish too soon."

As Brenda returns to the living room she hears Miguel asking the same question that Jax asked her minutes earlier.

M: "So when are you two getting married?"

Jax spots Brenda with the salad.

J: "You have to ask her"

Jax lowers his voice a bit as if to whisper, but speaks just loud enough to make sure that Brenda can hear him.

J: "She won't answer me"

Brenda sets the salad on the table, which Miguel & Jax had already set. As soon as Brenda's arms are free, of the salad, she walks to Jax's side & whispers in his ear,

B: {whispering} "Friday"

Jax smiles at Brenda.

B: "That's my answer"

M: "What was the question?"

J: "We're getting married on Friday"

M: "THIS Friday, two days from now?"

B: "Yes!!!!!"

M: "Brenda I thought you wanted a big wedding, how are you going to plan that in two days?"

B: "Jax's wedding is on Friday, my wedding will come after"

M: "You're getting married twice?"

B: "Yes! I get a wedding how I want it & Jax gets one how he wants it"

M: "That makes sense" <<I guess>> "I'll see what is taking Susana Maria so long"

S: "Don't bother, I'm here"

M: "I didn't se you come in"

S: <<Do you notice when I come into a room?>> "Let's eat. The pizza will be done in about ten minutes"

J: "I'll go get something for us to drink"

B: "I'll help"

After dinner, Susana & Brenda sit on the couch & watch TV, while Jax & Miguel wash dishes in the kitchen. Brenda tries to make small talk with Susana as she thinks about what Jax said when they went to get drinks. Jax asked her if it was okay with her if he asked Miguel to be his best man, since he doubted Jerry would show to the wedding. Brenda agreed, but was now worrying that maybe Jax was right & Miguel was still hung up on her. She hoped that Jax wasn't putting him in an uneasy position by asking him to be his best man.

B: "So how long have you known Miguel for?"

S:" Since we were kids. We went to school together, but I hadn't seen him for years until he did a concert in Puerto Rico"

B: "Have you been dating him for long?"

Susana went dead silent when Brenda asked her that. She couldn't figure out what to say. She hadn't been able dating him at all, she didn't even consider this night a date. So many questions went through her head: Why hadn't Miguel discussed this with her; what was she supposed to say; what if Miguel had had said something else? Susana's look let Brenda know that Susana didn't want to answer the question, so Brenda tried to get her out of the awkward position she put her in.

B: "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to question you, you don't' have to answer"

But Susana didn't hear Brenda. In the time it took Brenda to speak, Susana had decided to tell Brenda the truth that she wasn't actually dating Miguel, but she would like to be.

S: "Um, I haven't really been dating Miguel, we're really just friends"

B: "I'm so sorry, I just got the impression that you two were dating"

S: "The truth is that I would love to date him, but there's someone else"

B: "Do I know her?"

S: 'I'm sure you do"

B: "What's her name?"

S: "Her name. Uh, I'm just going to say this straight out, it's you Brenda. He asked me to come here & pretend to be his girlfriend so that you would think he was dating someone"

B: "Why would he do that?"

S: "Well he got the impression that you & Jax felt uncomfortable about showing your feelings towards each other in front of him. He didn't want you to have to hold back because of him. So he got this idea to bring me. Only, forget it, I shouldn't bother you with this"

B: "It's no bother, really. Only what?"

S: "I'm doing this for another reason, I wanted to date Miguel, even is it was just for pretend. I was going to go along with his little plan so that I could spend more time with him"

B: "If you want, I'll pretend like I don't know. I still don't' understand why Miguel decided to do this"

S: "Miguel cares about you a lot & he wants you to be happy. He knows that you're happy with Jax. so he doesn't mind seeing you with him. He said if it were any other guy, he would be jealous beyond belief. But he's not jealous when he sees you with Jax. He's actually happy for you. He just doesn't want you to think that you're hurting him"

B: "I didn't think he would be, but Jax did. So I agreed not to show my affections for him around Miguel."

S: "Miguel realized that"

B: "I wonder what the guys are talking about"

S: "Probably you"

B: "Noooooo! They're probably talking about sports or cars. Jax just bought a new one & he keeps trying to talk about it, but car talk is sooooo boring to me."

Meanwhile in the kitchen, Miguel & Jax are really talking about the wedding. Jax is trying to figure out if he should beat around the bush, or just come out & ask Miguel to be his best man. While trying to decide, Jax kept thinking about how it felt when he found out that Brenda was marrying Sonny. What Jax didn't realize was how different the situations were. When he found out that Brenda had agreed to marry Sonny he knew how dangerous a life that would be for her. He also knew that Brenda could never truly be happy with Sonny. He had seen the way she was with him & the way she was with Sonny & he knew that she was not able to express herself fully with Sonny. He knew that with Sonny she would always have unanswered questions & he couldn't forget how Brenda had told him that she had never been able to just be herself with Sonny; she always had to pretend to be something she wasn't, more then she was. He saw how she destroyed everything she had wanted so that she could be with Sonny & he was 100% positive that her happiness with Sonny would soon fade. He was also scared for her life. Jax didn't realize how truly different this situation was. Miguel cared deeply for Brenda, he may have even still have been in love with her, but he also wanted her to be happy. Miguel had put happiness & fun back into her life for a short time, but there was always some sadness there. Miguel knew that he wasn't the one for Brenda, & he knew all along that their being lovers was merely an extension of their friendship for Brenda. That hadn't stopped him from falling foe her, but it did make him realize that she would never fully be his lover, not in the sense that Jax was her lover. Sure he had made love to her many times & several of those times it was really love for him, but for her it had just been about sex. She loved him as a friend but that was all, Miguel was fully aware of that. He had not wanted Sonny to be with her because he could not stand Sonny or what he stood for. He knew that Sonny would hurt her again because he always had, but with Jax it was different. Miguel saw how happy Brenda was, in fact he was sure that he had never seen that happy before. There was something definitely different about Brenda, he wasn't sure what it was, but he knew it was there. He couldn't quite figure out if it was the way her eyes sparkled when she looked at Jax, the way her whole face lit up when Jax's name was even mentioned, the way she seemed so free, so at ease with Jax, or all those reasons but he knew that whatever it was, he liked it. He understood that Jax made her far more happy then he could have & he came to realize that although he was attracted to her, very attracted, what he truly wanted was for her to be with Jax because Jax made her the happiest Miguel had ever seen her. Seeing Jax & Brenda happy together actually put Miguel's heart at ease. He had been so used to worrying about Brenda, that knowing that she was with Jax, safe & happy, actually took a big burden off his heart. He had spent countless nights worrying that he might had pushed Brenda into sleeping with him too soon after the break up. After all it had been less then 48 hours. He knew that she had fully consented, yet he still wondered if maybe he should have been stronger & held back his feelings until she was less vulnerable.

Jax finally decided to ask Miguel fairly straight out.

J: "Brenda told me that you encouraged her to pursue me, when we were apart"

M: "I wanted what's best for Brenda & as far as I can see that's you"

J: "Brenda & I were wondering if you would like to come to our wedding on Friday"

M: "I wouldn't miss it"

J: "and I was also wondering if you would be my best man"

M: "Are you sure?"

J: "Yeah, you helped Brenda & I find our way back to each other"

M: "I would be honored to be your best man, but why me? We don't know each other that well"

J: "That's true! But Brenda's told me a lot about you. To be perfectly honest with you my first choice was my brother, Jerry but I doubt he can make it to the wedding. You have done so much for us, it only seems right to have you in our wedding. Of course if you would prefer not to I understand"

M: "I would be honored to be your best man"

A few hours later Jax & Brenda and Susana & Miguel are relaxing in the living room,

M: "It's getting late, are you ready to leave?"

S: "Yes"

J: "It looks bad out there, why don't you check the weather channel before leaving?"

Brenda turns on the TV & switches it to the weather channel. It's a good thing she did because the first thing they hear is that all the roads near them are temporarily closed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~