Happy Birthday, Kinsley!

If you missed Saturday's bonus post, scroll down to learn a little more about James and Jordan.  Thanks for the suggestions to do their story!
___________________________________________
 
On Saturday I got to Kendra's house around lunch time to help prep food and set up.  People were planning to start coming over around 4.  Lauren was already there when I got there, and we got to work quickly.  Kinsley arrived a short time later and we took a break to give her her gifts from us.

"You guys!" she exclaimed after opening them.  "You shouldn't have done this, you're already throwing me this awesome party."  She hugged us and we opened a bottle of wine to drink while we worked.

"What time is James coming?" Lauren asked, as we chopped up fruit.

"He said probably about 5 or 6.  He was going to call when he was on his way," I said.

"Is it going to be weird?  With Brody here?"

"Obviously," I said, rolling my eyes.  The truth was that I was seriously anxious about it and regretted inviting James.  I hoped that Brody wouldn't do anything stupid and I hoped that I'd be able to pay attention to James and not be distracted by Brody or my anxiety about the situation the whole time.

We were setting food out just after 4 when Alex's voice rang out through the backyard.  "Happy birthday, Kins!" he called.  The next few people to arrive were people I vaguely recognized from Brody's barbecue, which felt like forever ago.  And then, at nearly 4:30, I saw a familiar dark haired person moving across the yard.  My stomach flip flopped as Brody stopped to hug Kinsley, who was playing a game of drinking bean bags with Alex, Christian, and Kendra.  They spoke briefly, then Kinsley turned and pointed over to where Lauren and I were sitting.  Brody kissed her on the cheek and then made his way over in our direction.

"Stop freaking out," Lauren muttered to me.

"I'm not freaking out," I lied.  She raised her eyebrows at me skeptically and was just about to argue when Brody stepped into earshot.

"Ladies," he said with a smile.  "Quite the party you guys have managed to put together.  I'm pretty sure there's enough food here to feed the entire state."  He sat in a chair opposite me and I nodded awkwardly.  Luckily, Lauren saved me by cracking a joke, then asking him about Miami.  As he talked, I was able to relax a little, and even engaged in the conversation with them.

At about quarter after 5, my phone vibrated.  It was a text from James, telling me that he and Damien would be there in 10 minutes.  I walked over to get another drink.  When I turned around, Brody was there.

"Hi," I said, not knowing what else to say. 

He smiled.  "You look good.  You also look nervous.  Don't worry, I'm not going to be an asshole to your new boyfriend."

"He's not my--" I started without thinking, then stopped abruptly.  Brody looked at me curiously but I didn't finish the sentence.

"Well, whoever he is, I'll behave."  The corners of his lips were twitching, like he was trying not to laugh at me.  His ability to read my thoughts on my face was really quite impressive.

"Okay.  Um, thanks...I guess," I muttered.

"Damien!!" Kinsley squealed from behind me.  Drunk Kinsley had come out to play already.  Should be a fun night.  Then I realized that Damien meant James, and I spun around.  There he was.  My stomach did flips again, and I glanced briefly back at Brody before walking to meet James.  Kinsley was already there, hugging Damien.

"Hey," I said, almost shyly.  He looped an arm around my waist, pulling me to him and kissing my cheek.

"Hi," he said back, smiling.   We walked over to where Lauren was still sitting.  Brody had joined her again, and they looked deep in conversation.  They stopped abruptly as we approached.  Brody stood up and shook Damien's hand, introducing himself.  He turned to James, and extended his hand as I introduced them.  Brody's eyes flitted briefly to the yellowing bruise on my arm before he smiled tightly at James.  He then excused himself to get some food.

"Are you hungry?" I asked James.  "There's a ton of food."

"Yeah, we can get some in awhile," he said.  His eyes were studying my face. 

"What?" I asked curiously.

"Brody is the ex, right?" he asked.  I nodded nervously.  "Makes sense.  I could tell by the way he looked at you."  I waited for him to say more, but he changed the subject and asked Kinsley how the party was so far. 

The rest of the cook out portion of the day went smoothly.  I found myself less distracted by Brody than I worried I would be.  He stuck to playing lawn games with Alex and Christian and Kevin, and I stayed away from the area.  I enjoyed James's company, and he was super attentive and sweet.  Around 8, Kinsley started clamoring to go out to the bars.  James offered to drive, and Christian offered to drive Brody's car, which fit the most people.  We had enough people for both vehicles so we quickly split into cars and went to the first bar Kinsley had requested.

When we got there, James dropped off the passengers in front of the bar and went to find a place to park.  I stayed in the car with him.  He found a spot a block away and turned off the car.  He turned to me and smiled.

"Are you having fun?" I asked anxiously.  "I know it can be weird when you don't know people in a group, and there are a lot of people, and a lot of them are really drunk.  Drunk people you don't know can be really annoying.  And thanks for driving."  He laughed and I stopped talking.

"You're awfully cute when you ramble nervously," he teased me gently.  I blushed.  "Your friends are great," he continued, reassuringly.  "And you are beautiful."  He leaned over and kissed me.  Heat spread from my lips through my body as I remembered Wednesday night.  He pulled back slightly so our lips were just barely touching, and ran his fingers through my hair.  I leaned into his kiss, gripping his shirt in one fist, my other hand resting on his thigh.  I wished the center console wasn't in between us.

After a minute, he pulled back.  "Well, we'd better cut that out before I decide we should skip out on the rest of this evening and just go back to my house," he said, running his hand over his short hair.  I leaned back against the door, resting my head against the cool window.

"That doesn't seem like a bad idea," I said with a grin. 

"Kinsley would kill you, and Damien would kill me.  We'd better head in."

I leaned towards him again and pulled him back to me for one more kiss.  Then I moved back reluctantly.  "Alright," I agreed.

As we walked from the car, he took my hand, sliding his fingers between mine.  When we walked in, it took a minute to spot our group.  Lauren waved me and I waved back, and we headed to the bar.  I got a 7&7 and James got a Coke, since he was driving.  As we approached the group, Alex called out, "Hard time finding a parking spot?" and several people laughed.  My faced got hot again, and I caught Brody's eye.  I looked away quickly, but not before seeing a flicker of hurt.

When James went to the bathroom, Brody walked up to me and steered me slightly away from the group.  "You look happy," he said, with a touch of bitterness.  He was drunk, and I hoped he'd stick by his promise to not make a scene.

"I am, I guess," I said uneasily.

"How old is he?" Brody asked.

"34," I responded. 

"I thought probably around that.  He seems like a good guy."  I was surprised by the sincerity of this admission.  I felt another flash of anxiety when James came back.  He settled his hand on my lower back gently and flashed a smile at Brody.  Brody studied him and for a second the three of us just stood there, Brody and James looking at each other and me looking Brody, willing him to not say anything stupid.  Finally Brody said, "Take care of her," and turned on his heel and walked away.

"That was weird," I muttered.

"You are aware of the fact that he is still completely in love with you, right?" James asked.  I opened my mouth, then shut it again.  I shook my head.

"He was never in love with me," I protested. "We didn't date that long."

"He is, though.  Why did you stop dating?"

"He moved to Miami for two months.  He didn't know if it was going to be temporary or permanent," I replied. 

James looked at me carefully.  "Is Brody the reason you were 'not doing the dating thing' when we met?" he asked.  I nodded miserably.  This was not a conversation I wanted to be having at all, much less here and now.  I expected the evening to come crashing down around me, and I looked down at the floor.  Instead, James pulled me close to him.

"Okay," he said simply.  He kissed me lightly on the lips.  I looked at him in surprise.

"You're not mad?" I asked him.

He laughed.  "Mad about what?  That man is clearly in love with you, and for all I know, you might be in love with him, but right now you're here with me, so I have nothing to be mad about."  I racked my brain, trying to decide if any guy I'd ever dated, or even known, would have reacted to this situation like that.  I came up blank, so I just stared at him in amazement.  I couldn't think of anything to say, so I kissed him.