Adultery All In My Head by xleglover-COMPLETED

[Ramesh_Rocky]

Jen shrugged. "I did it in freshman art," she said. She looked at her painting. "I don't think it has all that math stuff in it though, I'm lousy at math, I have to work hard just to get Cs."

Mike looked at the painting again. "You must be really smart. I think you have a natural talent for math," he said honestly.

Jen couldn't help smiling at the compliment. No one ever said she was smart. Was this guy for real? French literature and now math? That's how he hits on a girl?

"I heard you won a big math award?" she asked.

"Oh yeah," Mike said embarrassed. "It was no big deal."

"No big deal huh?" Jen said eyeing him. Tony-Tony and Victor would brag forever about intramural football, and this boy was too modest to talk about winning the freaking Nobel prize?

"You know, I could help you with your math class," Mike offered, stammering out the offer.

Jen titled her head. "Maybe ..." she said.

Mike decided it was now or never. Summoning all his courage he asked "I've got tickets for the Springsteen concert, would you like to go with me?"

"You've got tickets for Bruce?" she said amazed. She'd been trying to get tickets – everyone had been trying to get tickets – for months!

"Well – yeah," Mike said. It hadn't been easy to get them. He'd had to work double shifts at the record store and drive to Philly to buy them from a ticket scalper.

"I'm definitely in!" Jen said excitedly. Allie would be soooooo jelly. She tilted her head at Mike. "You don't even know my name."

"Sure I do Jen," Mike said. "I'm Mike."

Jen smiled. She liked that. "Jen." More grown up than Jenny.

"What's your favorite Bruce song?" she asked. If he was taking her to the concert the least she could do is talk to him for a little while. She expected him to say "Dancing in the Dark" or "Born to Run," most people did.

Mike was tempted to say Thunder Road. After all, he knew that was her favorite. He'd listened to every Springsteen song by that point, and honesty said "I think Sandy."

"Really?" Jen asked surprised. That song was one of her favorites, but no one ever said Sandy. Intrigued, she said "Why?"

"My family used to go to the Jersey shore," Mike explained. "Bruce sings about a fortune teller there –."

"Madame Marie," Jen said.

"Yeah," Mike said. "She's real life you know. I've talked to her."

"Me too!" Jen said excitedly. But then she saw the melancholy on Mike's face. "What happened?"

Mike got choked up remembering. "Sorry," he said.

"No that's okay," Jen said. "Tell me."

This was something Mike definitely hadn't wanted to get into. A real buzz kill. But he had no choice now. "When I was younger my older brother got really sick. Cancer. So we went to the shore because he liked the ocean. It's okay, he got better."

"Oh that's good!" Jen said squeezing Mike's arm.

"I got a fortune from Madame Marie. We talked for a long time. It sounds crazy, but I've always felt that was part of why Aaron got better."

Jen smiled. "I'm surprised a math major believes in fortune telling and mystical stuff like that," she teased.

Mike shrugged and smiled sheepishly. "I guess everyone needs hope," he said.

Jen stared into his face, startled by his words. "Yeah ...," she agreed in a soft uncertain voice.

Who was this guy? She'd agreed to go to the concert because she wanted to see the Boss, not because she was interested in him. But now ...

From across the room, Allie, Tony-Tony and Victor looked at Jen talking to the math geek. "Let's save Jenny from that geek," Victor said.

"Yeah, come on," Tony-Tony said.

Allie watched her best friend talking to the math major. "Hold it guys," she said grabbing their arms. "Give her some space, okay?" She inwardly shrugged. Who knew, maybe it was true opposites attract.

Jen and Mike talked and laughed a long time, way past when the party ended. They were surprised when they saw the first rays of the sun, that's how long they'd talked. They went outside and sat on the porch, carrying a blanket because it was chilly. Mike put the blanket around them.

As the sun rose, Mike gathered all his courage and put his arm around Jen, the prettiest and most popular girl on campus.

Jen welcomed his arm, and leaned into him. His arm felt really good. It felt right.

~~ The End ~~

(Mike and Jen's story continues in "Making It Work")