City of Champions (19 page)

"Hey, guys, what are we doing?" she asked.

"Tea is being annoying."

"No, I'm not. Jenna is being pissy, but don't ask her about it."

"Thanks for the recap, I think," Aubrey said, with a confused frown.

"Point is," Tea answered, "we have taken to our bed."

"Oh, fun, me too! Let me in." Aubrey leapt in beside them until the bed bounced them up and down.

"What's bothering you?" Tea asked.

"Nothing, I just don't want to be left out."
Aubrey bounced on the bed merrily until the whole mattress jostled beneath them. "So… Why do you claim Tea is being annoying, Jenna?"

"
I'm
not being annoying," Tea interrupted. "
Jenna
just doesn't like that I'm trying to make her talk about what's bothering her." Tea sighed deeply before adding, "I am upset, though. That's true."

Jenna softened and patted Tea's hand. Turning to Aubrey, she said, "Griffen is pushing for Tea to change her name to Tate, and he wants to adopt Johnny."

"Oh, yep, that would do it. Griffen can be so dense sometimes," Aubrey said simply.

"Hey, that's not true, Aubrey. Griffen is so sweet," Tea said, quickly jumping to his defense.

"Sweet or not, he needs to remember he parachuted into our lives — er, I mean your life — and you're still dealing with stuff. He can't just change everything right away," Aubrey said.

"He's just excited, Aubrey," Jenna said. "Did you hurt his feelings, Tea?"

"No. That's why I came here. I didn't want to hurt his feelings."

"What did you tell him?" Aubrey asked.

"
I thanked him for being so supportive and helpful about the wedding but that I had plans with you two, so I couldn’t work on anything today. See? I'm growing."

"Riiight," Jenna said slowly.

"Stop it, Jenna. I just needed some time to think through things. If I take his name, if he adopts Johnny…it feels like Jack would just…disappear."

"You and Griffen would never let that happen," Jenna said with a softer tone, stroking Tea's hair softly.

"It's just so real now. Do I go and have another wedding with a white dress and cake and all the trimmings? Do I just become a new person? I was 'Tea Taylor' for so long. I'm not sure who 'Althea Tate' is."

"You don't have to know now, do you?" Aubrey asked.

"But she has to deal with it at some point, Aubrey," Jenna answered. "She can't just ignore it and disregard Griffen's feelings."

Jenna felt guilty for being so tough on Tea, but focusing on other people's problems, rather than her own fears, was all she could handle at that moment.

"Oh please, Jenna, that pretty boy is going to be fine." Aubrey turned to Tea and added, "You baby him too much." She laughed softly, and then continued, "Okay, so, we know Tea's issue. Jenna, why are
you
being pissy?"

"I am not being pissy! I just had a bad day and don't want to talk about it."

"Of course you don't. You never want to talk about your shit," Aubrey said.

"Thank you!" Tea responded in a sarcastic tone.

"Oh, stop. Is this pile up on Jenna day?" Jenna said, elbowing Tea, only to get elbowed back, until they were in a full-on cranky pants, mutual hissy fit.

"I like the sound of that! Tea, let's pile up on Jenna!" Aubrey's long, limbed body and Althea's mass of hair suddenly overtook her vision as they tickled her until it hurt.

"Stop! I give, I give."

"Good," Aubrey said, a little breathless from her onslaught. "I say enough, you little babies. You know what you two need?"

"What?" Jenna asked warily. Aubrey's brilliant ideas usually ended…colorfully.

"You both need to go out with me…and get drunk."

"Hmm," Tea answered thoughtfully. "I'm listening."

"I suggest we go to the casino on the North Shore and party like some blue haired old ladies. Though I think we should also get dressed up all sexy and let lame visiting businessmen buy us drinks all night."

"I'm in," Tea said gleefully, dragging Jenna off the bed with her.

"Come on, you, no more moping," Aubrey ordered with a grin, and Jenna decided to give in and have fun for a night, too.

"Okay, I'm bored with the slots. Let's go to that big bar with all the TVs over there," Aubrey ordered to Jenna and Tea.

Jenna's head was already spinning, but it definitely sounded like a great idea. When Jenna was drunk, it always seemed like Aubrey came up with the best ideas.

"Sure, Aubrey. They have alcohol there, right?" Jenna asked.

"Of course! They have alcohol and plenty of opportunities to make bad decisions. It's just right over there," she said in a singsong voice, gesturing and slopping a bit of her candy-colored appletini onto her hand.

"Sounds good to me," Tea answered, toddling over to the huge bar and dragging her barely-covered ass up onto a stool.

"Sold!" Jenna said, following quickly behind her. She was in the market to make some bad decisions.

Jenna had played by every rule, done everything right, looked after everyone, and delayed every form of self-gratification her whole life.

And for what?
she wondered.
To possibly have the same outcome as my mother? To face the promise of a painful, early death?

"Hey, Jenna, why'd you get so sad looking? Tell us," Aubrey demanded.

"I know what it is," Tea answered.

"You do?" Jenna suddenly felt panicked through her alcohol fog. The last thing she wanted was for her friends to know about those lumps — they didn't need to be scared, too.

"You need to get laid, girl. You are being seriously uptight. If you won't sleep with Wyatt, what about Trey? He's pierced, tattooed, delicious, and he seems interested in you," Tea suggested.

"Ooh, good idea, Tea," Aubrey added. "Trey is like an international bad boy of mystery. I think he was a spy before."

"You're probably right," Tea said seriously. "That does make sense."

"Enough of that, you two. Okay,
One
— I've told you, Trey and I are friends, we like each other, but not that way and —
B, er I mean, Two
…Tea, seriously, you're acting like the expert on getting laid now?" Jenna asked skeptically. "Ms. '
I will keep my vagina on ice for almost six years, thank you very much
' is suddenly the voice of constant sex."

"Hey, if I lived with Griffen 'The Sex Machine,' I'd be a sex-pert, too," Aubrey said in defense of Tea.

"I thought you already were a sex expert, Brey." Tea giggled.

"That's true. Let's go on the road then, Tea. We could do seminars. I’ll call my advice, 'Brey Bites.' And you can call your advice something like: 'Cups of Tea' or 'Tea bags.'"

"No way, Brey!" Jenna exclaimed. "You can't do that."

"Man, still no-fun Jenna. We were joking."

"We're supposed to be making Tea feel better," Jenna said. "Tea, do you feel better?"

"I think so, I guess I just got a little overwhelmed…"

"You poor thing. You have a hot millionaire that loves you and can't wait to marry you. Wah-wah, boohoo," Aubrey teased with a biting tone, as she twisted two fists in front of her eyes.

"Stop it," Tea said through laughter, while swatting at Aubrey's hands.

"Do you not want to marry him?" Jenna asked fuzzily, fingering the smooth rim of her martini glass — almost hypnotized by it.

"Of course I want to marry him. I said yes, didn't I?" Tea said sternly.

"I know, but it's okay if you're having regrets now. It's okay if you don't want to," Aubrey said, leaning heavily against Tea on the bar.

"Shut up, Aubrey, you just want her to bang him and then hang out with us all the time. That's not a relationship."

Aubrey just snorted and said, "Sounds like the perfect relationship if you ask me. Have sex with a hot guy who treats me right and then makes himself scarce so I can have time with my favorite ladies."

"And you helped me approve the ring for Griffen, Aubrey — enough with your mixed messages."

"Enough of that, you two. I love having Griffen around. I love Griffen. Everything about him. I never thought I'd even date again, much less marry… Now, I don't picture a day in my life that he's not in it." Tea's eyes got weepy and her voice cracked, and then she hiccupped a little.

"All right, sweetie, we get it. Calm yourself. You're getting all red. God, you are the most emotional drunk ever, Tea!" Jenna shouted out at her, more loudly than she'd intended.

"Ex-cuuuuse me, Doctor Tough Cookie. Keep that temper down, you. It's just a matter of time before you want to go pick a cat fight with some trashy girls, you bad-ass," Tea warned her.

"I got in one fight once in college…"

"And that time we went to the Outer Banks for vacation," Tea added.

"Oh yeah, you remember that. Don't change the subject, we were talking about you being all weepy. So you love Griffen? What's the problem?" Jenna asked.

"I'm crazy about Griffen, but it’s all even more real than ever. Jack? That life we had? It's really gone, and that makes it feel like he's died all over again, but then I see Griffen and my whole heart swells. It still gives me a thrill just being near him, and I know it always will. I just need to reconcile that happiness with the knowledge that I had a life before, and it's gone."

"It’s only gone if you let it be," Aubrey interrupted.

"Right! It's not gone. You have Johnny, and Griffen loved Jack, too. You need to tell Griffen why this name thing freaks you out. I mean, he's probably scared, too. Why don't you tell Griffen what you're feeling?" Jenna asked.

"Because we
just
got everything sorted out between us. This is
my
thing to get over. I can't risk losing Griffen, so I have to figure it out on my own. I put him through hell for a while there. It'll hurt him too much — he won't get it."

"If you're marrying him, he's gonna have to get it."

"No. I'm not making the same mistake twice. I'm going to protect this relationship at all costs. Even if it's against myself."

"Tea, you've been so focused on the protecting part of your plan that you forgot about the other mistake you kept making," Aubrey said seriously.

"What do you mean?"

"Communication. If you have worries then you have to tell Griffen about them," Jenna said.

"Did you not hear me? I put Griffen through hell. I don't want to upset him when we're finally together."

"You made him sweat it out for a couple of days. It's not Dr. Zhivago we're talking about here.  I think he'll live."

"I don't know, Aubrey. I feel bad. I know my feelings are irrational."

"Of course, they're irrational," Aubrey said, with a dramatic slurping of her appletini. "That's why they're called
'feelings,'
otherwise everyone would just call them
'thoughts.'
" Aubrey continued on, "have faith in what you feel and what you want. That's what feelings are there for. Life is a real asshole. It may give you something nice, but it will make that nice thing hard as fuck to keep. Right, Jenna? Jenna, are you okay? Fuck, you're so quiet."

"What? Oh, yes. Right." Jenna must be drunk because Aubrey was making loads of sense. In fact, it was causing her to rack her brain to collect her thoughts and memories.

She wanted something good and nice. How could she so desperately want to enjoy her feelings with Wyatt without it meaning something?

"Enough picking on me," Tea said. "Jenna's awfully quiet over there. I swear, Jenna, you look so hot in that dress. You need to shake your cookies more often. I mean, you're built like you model for mud flaps, but you keep trying to be serious doctor lady."

"Tea, you're just all about meddling now, aren't you?"

"Yes. I warned you it was my turn."

"And I actually happen to
be
a serious doctor lady."

"Just keep telling yourself that. You're not fooling us, we know you need to get some action, like Tea said," Aubrey said assuredly.

"Why are you picking on me?
I'm just having a dry spell. Tea had the whole Sahara desert."

"Yeah, and we should've stepped in sooner. I’m worried you’ll end up in some kind of nunnery for hot, delusional doctors. I think we need to nip that in the bud right now."

"I'm glad you waited to push me. It was worth it to wait for Griffen," Tea said dramatically, as she started to get emotional again.

"Ugh, see what you did, Brey? You got the drunk waterworks going again. Give the crybaby a cocktail napkin, would you?"

"You always change the subject, Jenna. Point is, you haven't gotten any in a while."

"And, that's none of your business."

"It
is
my business because I live with you and it's making you be bratty. I don't like it."