Pete Dunham...where's your famous GSE? (![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} notthemajor) wrote in ![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small} wariscoming,@ 2011-09-30 01:10:00 |
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WHAT: Jess is back from the dead and rather jittery.
WHEN: 9/30/11 - Midnight
WHERE: Pete’s Apartment
STATUS: Complete
RATING: PG, graphic language
Restless, Jessica felt restless. Yup, that was definitely it. She hadn’t realized that was what it had been until she’d baked a batch of cookies, cleaned her entire apartment from top to bottom, and checked in at the infirmary (rather quickly and without alerting anyone about anything). She wished that she didn’t feel so restless, but there it was. Maybe it had to do with what had happened with the evil version of Sam. Maybe there was something else that was bothering her that she wasn’t realizing. Either way the silence in her apartment was driving her insane. She couldn’t stand how quiet it was. Normally it wouldn’t be a problem. Normally having moments where she could rest and sit down to think were few and far between. Right now, Jess didn’t want to sit down and think. She didn’t want to rest.
The blond woman contemplated getting a hold of Kyle. She thought about asking him if he wanted to get pizza...or Chinese, but then she remembered what she had found out. Kyle had bought the purse that had been left on her door, and that necklace. Both had been rather expensive. She didn’t want him to spend money on her. She wasn’t sure what exactly it meant. Was it him showing his appreciation for her as a friend or was it something more? Did he have a crush on her? It was hard to tell. Kyle had always been such a negative person, he’d always been so stand-offish, and he had never been easy to read. Things were too complicated with Kyle at the moment to get a hold of him.
The second person that came to mind was Pete. Call Jess crazy, but he was a breath of fresh air. Pete was an interesting character. He said what he meant to say, he was a straight shooter. It was nice. There weren’t really dull moments with him, if she were honest. Jess was pretty sure if she went to him he’d be fine with it. She would have kept thinking, but everyone else had things on their plate. Jessica had never been a selfish person. She didn’t want to put Jules out after what she’d been through. They were friends, but she had been through so much and she didn’t need to deal with Jess’ problems or quirks. Ruby and Sam would have been a choice any other time. It wasn’t that she blamed Sam for what the alternate version of him had done. She knew that wasn’t it, but they were going through things as well. Jess needed time before she saw him too, honestly.
Pete was the obvious and best choice. Jess felt a little bad. She didn’t want to put him out or anything. She was almost sure that he wouldn’t mind. Even so, she’d have a way to make sure that he didn’t mind. Step one was getting a plate, two was putting cookies on the plate, and third was to wrap them with saran wrap carefully. After she finished that it was a quick thing to put her shoes on, stick her keys in her pocket, and head out the door. The trip to his apartment was quick and the next thing she knew she was knocking. It seemed like she’d done all of that in one breath. Her plate of cookies was in the left hand and the right had fallen to her side. She didn’t really care that she was wearing a rather plain t-shirt and a pair of jeans, or that her hair was pulled back in a sloppy bun. As she heard activity on the other side she put a small smile on her face, waiting for Pete to answer the door.
Pete was bored. Jess wasn’t answer his calls and he hadn’t really bothered to make other friends yet. Eventually, he would. When he bloody felt like it. He’d been waiting, he supposed. For Matt to show up, maybe, or Bovver. He missed the GSE and his mates; Pete didn’t really much feel like making new ones. Though, he had to give credit to Tyler for being a good bloke, even if he seemed a little bit on the young side.
So, to pass the time, Pete had made dinner and eaten, had taken a shower and pulled on a pair of boxer shorts, and was in the process of re-arranging the flat to better suit his fancy. The telly didn’t look right where it’d been. The bed hadn’t faced the door properly. He really ought to have waited on the shower, he’d realized after finishing moving about the sitting room. In fact, Pete was about to head back to the shower again before going to bed for lack of anything better to do, when he heard a knock at the door.
Before answering the door, Pete pulled on a pair of workout pants and pulled open the door. The person on the other side came as a very pleasant surprise; he’d started to give up on her coming back after she’d gone missing. It was sad, but it was what it was and Pete didn’t like to dwell on things he couldn’t control. But...there she was, standing there looking gorgeous as ever, holding a plate of cookies. Pete raised an eyebrow and smirked, opening the door wider and standing aside, gesturing her in. “Didn’t think I’d be seeing your lovely face again,” he admitted. “Especially so late, but ‘m not one to complain. Come on in, then,” he finished, giving her a genuine smile.
The moments that passed as Jess waited for the door to get answered felt like they were taking forever. In reality they really weren’t taking all that much time at all. It was just the fact that Jess was feeling antsy. She’d probably be feeling a little bit antsy until she settled back in and everything. That was easier said than done so far. She wanted to forget about burning period. It was a little bit hard when you had been burnt twice. Jessica didn’t look as if she had been burnt. In fact, she looked just like she had before. That was a good fact, really. She didn’t need that reminder too. There were enough other reminders looming about, though.
As the door opened, Jessica couldn’t help but smile a bit at Pete. She knew all to well that she’d disappeared. She knew that she hadn’t exactly been able to warn anybody about anything either. It had happened so quickly, it had been terrifying. Jess shook her head just a bit lightly. “Guess you’re not that lucky. And I can’t be gotten rid of that easily.” Jess replied, looking down and then back up. “I’m sorry about showing up so late, though.” Jess told him as she lifted the cookies up a little bit. “I brought cookies, though.” As he told her to come on in, Jessica didn’t hesitate, entering the apartment.
“Hope you don’t mind, me barging in?” Jess looked around his apartment for a moment, perhaps a bit awkwardly.
A look of slight confusion and definite concern flashed across Pete’s features when Jessica looked down. It was uncharacteristic for her to look uncertain in Pete’s experience. Where had she been, he wondered? Just as quickly as the look was there, it was gone again. “It’s all right, I was up,” he replied, forcing another smirk. “Cookies are good,” he went on, “gorgeous girls delivering them is better,” he pointed out.
Once she was inside, Pete shut the door behind her, reflexively turning the lock before looking over at her. “Why would I mind?” he asked, genuinely curious. Usually, when women were over this late it was because he was going to be having sex with her. Something about the feeling in the air told him that this wasn’t the case. Jess didn’t come over for sex; he wondered why she had, but he wasn’t going to push his luck to ask.
Gesturing toward the couch he’d recently moved against the back wall to open the room a little more, Pete moved into the kitchen. “Want some milk, love?” he offered, pulling open the refrigerator and looking over his shoulder at her and raising his eyebrows in question. He closed the refrigerator and set the carton of milk on the counter to get a glass, or...maybe two, if she wanted some as well.
Jess knew that she wasn’t acting quite like she normally would. Getting back to doing things that she normally did might help her change that, though. She didn’t want to feel different. She also hadn’t wanted to get burned again, but there you have it, it had happened. “Well, good, at least I didn’t wake you up.” She nodded a little lightly. “They’re homemade too. So, delivered and made by a gorgeous girl, actually.” Jess shared. As the moments passed it was feeling a bit more and more normal, enough so that she was starting to relax and not feel as on edge. Definitely a good sign.
Jess gave a light shrug, “I don’t know, just covering my bases, you know. And you kind of look like you were ready for bed.” Jess commented, trying to joke a little bit about it. Part of her wanted to talk about what had happened and the other just wanted to sit down and relax , feeling better with another person around. “So, did everyone think that I had gotten taken back.” She left the to heaven part out of it. She didn’t particularly want to talk about that right now.
Jess didn’t hesitate after he gave the gesture, moving to sit on the couch, even sitting the cookies down. Hearing his voice she automatically looked toward the kitchen. “That’d be great, actually. I’m going to steal a cookie or two too. But they’re yours.” Jess shared, letting him know.
Pete looked appropriately impressed. “So this is what I’ve been missing by being too busy for the birds back home,” he said, more to himself than to her. He could hear her cross the room and had seen her, while looking over his shoulder, take a seat. She looked more comfortable in her own skin suddenly and he bit back the urge to ask her what was wrong. It wasn’t his place and was none of his business. Instead, he reminded himself that she could be anywhere, but Jess was sitting on his couch in his flat. He’d let it go, tonight.
She mentioned the he looked as though he’d been ready for bed. It was a good observation, he supposed, since it was true. “I was, but not because I was tired,” he admitted. Pete took out a second glass and filled both with milk before putting the carton away again. He made his way back to the sitting room, giving Jess one of the glasses and keeping the other for himself as he settled onto the couch casually beside her, far enough away from her to spread his legs in his favorite relaxed position, slightly slouched, but close enough that it didn’t look as though he was trying too hard to avoid her.
When Jess asked whether people thought she’d been taken back, Pete paused for a moment. “You could say that,” he said carefully and quietly. He looked over at her, then, his face drawn. “You’re all right, though, yeah?” he asked. “Not that I mind you being here this late, love, don’t get me wrong; I’m definitely all right with it,” he went on, “but...why are you? D’you need a place to sleep and get away or something?” he half-asked, half-offered.
“Guess so, though not every girl likes to cook.” Jess stated, not realizing that he was talking moreso to himself. It didn’t really matter, though. The blond couldn’t help but keep herself looking toward the kitchen. She could see the tattoo that was on his back. For a few moments she couldn’t really take her eyes off of it. She hadn’t realized that he had a tattoo, really. Not that it mattered to her. It was something to focus on for a few moments. She didn’t think he’d mind her looking at his back. She could just imagine the grin and the way he’d tease her about her ‘fancying’ him.
Jess was fairly observant. Then again an idiot, maybe even a blind woman, might have noticed he was shirtless. “Pete, do you have some sort of grudge against shirts?” Jessica asked him, a little bit jokingly. She didn’t need to wager a guess as to why exactly he was shirtless. She could probably come up with a hand full of options. If he wanted her to know he would tell her about it. Jess watched as Pete performed the mundane task of pouring milk, and it was calming. Jess didn’t move as he sat beside her, taking her milk and automatically taking a sip from it. “Thank you.”
She wasn’t sure what they had thought with that answer. Did anyone know what had really happened? Did they know that Sam had burned her, no, she had to edit herself. It wasn’t Sam. The king of hell, that bastard had burnt her. Blinking at the question, Jess wasn’t sure if she should be honest or stretch the truth. “I will be.” She decided on honest, obviously. Wetting her lips, Jess pulled the saran wrap off of the plate of cookies and held it out, offering for him to grab one. “It was too quiet in my apartment. I felt too antsy. I wanted some company, honestly. Didn’t want to be alone.” Jess said , looking between the cookies and Pete. “The reason I was gone wasn’t by choice.” She didn’t want to make him angry, but it was so close on her mind. “I died again. But apparently the seal doesn’t want me gone.” That lifted some of the weight off of her and it felt kind of nice...or at least better, anyway.
"Well, that's a point," Pete agreed when Jess mentioned that not every girl likes cooking. Jess did, though, apparently and that was sort of all that Pete cared about, if he was being honest with himself. Not that he was going to come out and tell her that, because as straight-forward as Pete liked to be, he also knew when a good time to reel it in or pull back would be. This was one of those times.
Smirking at her, Pete waggled his eyebrows. "Too confining when one is sitting home relaxing. Would you prefer I put one on while you're here?" he asked playfully, figuring her answer would be no, whether because she liked what she saw or because she didn't want to feel like she was putting him out. "You're welcome, love," he replied when she thanked him for the milk. When Jess's response to his question was only that she would be, Pete frowned slightly. That meant that she wasn't currently.
But, as she went on talking, his frown fell into a sympathetic expression. "Jess...you don't ever have to be alone here, not while I'm about, yeah?" he said, seriously, his eyebrows raising slightly as he said it. He wanted her to know that he meant it, all flirtation aside. "I'm thinking you might know that already though, as you're already here. But...if you ever need anything. Yeah?" He took an offered cookie with a soft "thanks," although he didn't take a bite; he was still listening because she was still talking.
Pete's jaw set as he listened to Jess explain where she'd been. He could tell she was holding back, but Pete wanted to know more. He wanted to know how, where, why, and most importantly who. The way she'd said it lent him the idea that she intended him to assume she'd just passed on again, but in this place, especially the way the news had been looking the past week or so, Pete didn't buy it and his blood was boiling at the thought of someone bringing death upon her. Of all people, Jessica. He got to his feet for a moment and rolled his neck, balling his hands into fists at his side; a thing he did without ever realizing he was doing it, in an effort to keep himself calm when he was riled.
Taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly, Pete willed himself to sit back down. "Right, you shouldn't stay alone anymore. 'm not saying you're meant to stay here, although I'd admittedly rather like it if you did, but...somewhere where you're not on your own anymore, yeah? Until the bloody chaos that is this week thus far blows over," he said, finally looking back at her, his face drawn with concern and a fire in his eyes that he hadn't had since he'd found out what Tommy Hatcher had done to his brother, Steve. For a moment, he stayed like that and then his face softened. "Look, love, it's...right, I fancy you, all right? I don't want to see anyone hurt you and, while I'm being honest, I can't entirely be held responsible for what might happen to someone who tries, in the future. Yeah?"
Jess had always had a lot of those stereotypical feminine qualities that some girls rejected all together. She liked to cook. She didn’t mind cleaning. She liked pink, hell, she even liked dresses. That was just Jess. She had tried to help Ruby learn to knit, but that hadn’t been something she had really attempted to force or anything like that. Women were different amongst one another.
Laughing lightly at the waggle of his eyebrows, Jess shook her head. “Wouldn’t dream of it. I don’t mind either way.” If she had a problem seeing a naked male chest, Jess would have had more issues than the ones she was currently carrying around, considering what she had chosen to do for a living. If she couldn’t look at a guy’s chest without flipping she probably never would have stood a chance in the medical profession. Jess took the moment to take another sip of her milk, though, needing the moisture in her dry mouth.
She knew that explaining where she had been was probably more than a little bit weird. Maybe she had come to the wrong place. Maybe she should have tried to remain calm about all of this. Maybe it wasn’t as big of a deal as she felt like it was? No, that definitely wasn’t it; being killed was definitely a big deal. There was no way that this was the wrong thing to do. She needed to get it off of her chest, talking to someone about it was for the best. It was hard, but even so getting it out in the air definitely helped. She wasn’t sure about his reaction, though. She was pretty sure that it wasn’t going to make him happy, but she wasn’t sure how much it’d upset him either. They were pretty good friends thus far.
The first thing that came out of his mouth was somewhat surprising. “I think the complex is pretty safe, Pete. Only what he was saying made sense at the same time. Chaos that had been going on....she didn’t really want to be alone if she were honest. “Okay, maybe you’re right... I don’t want to impose, though.” She could probably stay with others, but then again so many of them were going through their own dramas at the moment. She knew he was upset, she could see it, no matter how he was trying to calm himself. Well, that was one of the more direct ways of telling someone that you liked them that was for sure. Jess gave Pete a light smile. “I’m not sure whether I should worry because of that or find it kind of sweet.” She said honestly. All she could really think about at that moment was Sam and how much she didn’t want him to get the wrong idea about him. He was her ex, but that didn’t mean she didn’t care about him or love him still. They were always going to be friends and she would always care about him too. She definitely wasn’t going to be telling him about who had killed her with that reaction.
Frowning slightly, Pete raised his eyebrows at her. The expression clearly read, oh really? but before he could open his mouth to say it aloud, Jess contradicted herself. "If it was an imposition, I wouldn't have said I'd rather like it if you stayed, love," he pointed out in a solemn tone. He was thankful, at least, that he'd managed to get her to smile, even if it wasn't the full-blown beautiful Jessica Moore smile he liked so much on her.
"Probably both," he admitted with a small smirk that didn't quite reach his eyes. His mind was reeling behind those eyes; he wanted to know who'd hurt her and he wanted to put said person in their grave. For a brief moment something akin to sadness came over both his whole being and his outward expression.
"The GSE didn't kill your son, Tommy, you did. He was your responsibility! He was your son!"
All at once, he knew how Tommy Hatcher had felt. He knew why he'd been beaten to death. He'd deserved it, come to think of it. Tommy needed someone to blame other than himself for his son being trampled in the Millwall-GSE riot. Pete needed someone to blame for Jess being killed; someone other than himself for not being more persistent and trying to spend that much more time with her. If he had, maybe she wouldn't have had to go through that again.
"You can have my bed," he said in a quiet voice, finally focusing his eyes back on her rather than staring off into nowhere. "I'll take the couch," he offered. Really, he'd rather share the bed, but he didn't suppose now would be a very appropriate time to mention that. "Stay as long as you like, yeah? I could use a woman's touch in here anyhow," he added, trying to tack on a joke to lighten the situation, like he always did.
“I know.” And she did know, sometimes people were illogical. It wasn’t difficult to have those moments with being upset. Jess wasn’t 100% sure what she wanted at the moment, though. Did she want to bunk here? Did she want to stay with Pete? Was she going to cower in fear of someone that...she may or may not ever run into again? She wasn’t sure. That gave the evil version of Sam a lot of power, but sometimes that happened. Jess had more than a little bit of a right to feel scared about what had happened. Logically she was safe in the complex, but it wasn’t perfect at the same time. Evil version of Sam hadn’t been a demon, or not quite from what Jess had gathered. That meant that if he ever came back he could get into the complex, or so she assumed. She wasn’t going to live her life in fear forever, but maybe transitioning back into things wouldn’t be so bad?
There was something charming about Pete, no matter how gruff he could seem at first. He was a good guy underneath it all. He felt like he was genuine when he said things. It was definitely something that was refreshing. It was nice to have him telling her things rather than leaving her to guess. She didn’t have to play the ‘does he like me’ game. She didn’t have to play any games with him as of yet and it was kind of nice. “I’m going to agree with you there, a nice mixture of both.” Jessica paused for a moment, wetting her lips. “I don’t want you to hurt anyone for my sake, though.” She didn’t know if he would actually listen to that or even be okay with it. Sam had been spurred to the same sort of violent reaction on her behalf more than a few times. Jess didn’t want anyone to hurt anyone else, though. Even in this situation. If normal Sam was back, and not that evil version, she didn’t want him to pay for something he never would have done.
Jess noted how quiet and sad Pete looked. She wasn’t sure if she should ask why, but she wanted to know. She didn’t like seeing that look on his face that was for sure. The shift in him was sudden, even if it was quiet. Jess couldn’t help but pause at it.
“I don’t want to take your bed.” It came out of her mouth before she could really stop it. It was the truth, though. She didn’t want to take his bed. It was a generous offer, definitely. She’d rather take the couch than put him out of his own bed. There was, of course, another option. She didn’t want him to get the wrong idea from it at all, but then again, she was pretty sure that Pete had enough sense at the same time. When she’d slept over at Kyle’s she had fallen asleep on the couch, so there hadn’t been this talk of who would take the couch. Then again, some time during the night she had ended up sleeping next to Kyle. In her hazy half-awake-half-asleep state that night she had gone there after waking up. “You know what, we’re both adults. I think we can share a bed just for sleeping without it being a major ordeal.” Jess said tentatively, watching Pete for his reaction.
If she were honest with herself, Jess didn’t want to sleep on the couch either. It wasn’t anything that had to do with comfort, though, but that was just silly...and illogical. “We’ll see, I can give this place the woman’s touch easily, but you might regret that later, you know? She teased lightly, needing a moment to just lift the heaviness that had seemed to settle. She felt pretty thankful for Pete at the moment. He may not have known it, but he honestly was a sweetheart, it was just behind a gruff exterior. Or maybe she was just special. She did like to see the good in people.
Pete was unpleasantly taken aback when Jess said she didn't want his bed. It wasn't that he was offended, but he was surprised. And possibly a little hurt, because most girls didn't want to take a bloke's couch when offered a bed; that meant she was declining his offer to stay and he would have to be that much more vigilant, probably in secret — which wasn't Pete's style at all; he preferred to be known and outspoken — to keep her out of harms way. There were demons, and there were psychos. The complex wasn't safe from the latter, from what little he'd gathered.
But then Jess spoke again and he found himself smiling slightly, letting out a huff in place of an unexpected laugh. His eyes went back to hers and he raised an eyebrow. "Well when you put it that way," he joked. Then, the smile faded just slightly into a more serious expression. Pete wanted Jessica to know that he could be mature about the situation, even if he wasn't very good at acting the part when caught off guard. "I think so, too," he agreed, giving her another smile, this time genuine rather than playful.
"Nah, love," he disagreed at her pointing out the possibility of him regretting letting her give the place a woman's touch. "I couldn't possibly regret this place not looking and smelling like the shithole I've made it," he laughed, looking around at sparse and random piles of clothes and empty pizza boxes through the living room and kitchen counter. "Knock yourself out," he added playfully.
Pete went to take a bite of the cookie she'd given him before when he realized that it was nothing more than crumbs in his hand when he'd balled it into a fist, forgetting entirely that the cookie was in it. "Bollocks," he muttered, another huff of laughter and shake of his head accentuating the curse word as he opened his hand over the coffee table, sprinkling it with a mutilated cookie. "I'll get it later..." he added, taking another cookie from the plate and actually having a bite this time. "That's actually really rather good," he pointed out genuinely after swallowing his mouthful and taking a drink from his formerly abandoned glass of milk. "I might have to keep you around, love."
She couldn’t help it. She gave a little bit of a giggle at Pete’s reaction to her. She had noticed the way that he seemed to deflate, and then the huff came out. Maybe it was just her way of letting out some of what she’d been carrying around, but she was glad that he wasn’t arguing with her. “You know, I do have good points. Y’know every so often.” It was true, though honestly Jess probably thought she was right a good majority of the time. A lot of the time she was, though, but that was neither here nor there. He was agreeing with her and it made Jess feel a little bit better about staying here, for more than one reason.
Well, when he put it that way maybe he was right at the moment, but Jess wasn’t sure if she wanted to say that. She only smiled and looked around. “I think I could work with it. I’ve seen worse, I’m pretty sure! Most of the whole woman’s touch is the cleaning.” She winked at him, mainly joking, though there were a few things that would help other than just cleaning things up. Maybe she’d actually help him, but at the moment she had no actual intention of doing anything. It felt nice to sit there on the sofa. She didn’t feel anywhere near as jittery as she had earlier, which was a good sign.
As Pete moved to try and eat the cookie he’d taken, she realized that he’d smashed it. Even more, as he sprinkled it on the coffee table it was hard for Jess to completely hold the disapproving look back. “You’re messy. Leave it too long and you’ll get ants.” Jess pointed out mildly, just offering that little piece of info, but not really getting on him for what he’d done. It wasn’t her apartment, it was his.
That was when Jess decided to take a cookie of her own, picking one up and taking a bite out of it, grinning a bit at his comment. “What did you think I’d bring you bad cookies?” Jess teased before she started laughing, covering her mouth with her hand because she still had a bit of cookie in it.
Smirking, Pete raised his eyebrows in playful dubiousness. "Yeah? Only every so often, hey?" he asked, finally allowing himself to laugh genuinely. "'spose we'll have to agree to disagree on that point, Jess," he replied. He watched as she looked around the apartment, surveying what he'd just pointed out and was, admittedly, embarrassed, for the first time in front of her.
"Oi...to be fair, 'm not always a pig; it's been a...busy week, innit?" he asked, trying to keep it light and yet still justify the state of his flat. Normally, he really didn't like it to be this dirty. Normally, Pete was okay with a pizza box left out for a day or two, but laundry was something he usually kept up with and he never let trash build up. It wasn't because he was overly neat, it was just because Pete bloody hated fruit flies and they came with a dirty flat. Especially if the sink was full. That was the one thing that Pete had kept up on even during the week from hell.
Looking over at Jess when she declared him messy, Pete frowned. "Am not," he insisted. "I'll get it before bed. Only, I thought it'd be a bit rude to just get up and take it to the bin right now when we're in the middle of chatting," he pointed out. "Ants are dirty little buggers, but not as bad as fruit flies. It really doesn't normally look like this, in fact I can hardly bloody stand it. After I finished moving things about, though, I was too tired to tackle it and you'd come and I'll get it tomorrow after work," he justified. It was a fair assumption for her to make, though, he had to admit. It wasn't as though she'd ever been inside before everything went completely bloody bonkers in Lawrence.
Pete remembered, just then, that he hadn't had a chance to tell her about Kitty helping him draw up falsified paperwork so that he could apply for a job. "Right, I got a job interview yesterday. Phone call this afternoon; I get to bloody start on a Friday as a substitute for now but it'll do for the time being," he finished, sounding simultaneously disgusted and proud. Substitutes got no respect and in the classroom, Pete didn't pull rank the same way he did on the streets; it was harder to get the respect he required and desired without it, but he usually managed, however grudgingly.
She was smiling. She just couldn’t help it. Being here was helping.
Jess hadn’t ever seen Pete’s apartment before. From her experience men’s apartments weren’t quite as clean as those of the womens that she had been into. That was just a general observation that she had noticed over time. She didn’t think that Pete was all that messy of a person, though. She had seen worse than this. It was almost cute to see him defend himself about his apartment, though. She hadn’t even been giving him hell for it! “It has been a busy week, so a bit of a mess is to be expected.” She meant that too, she wasn’t teasing him this time.
“I believe you, I’m just teasing you, anyway.” Jess told him, giving him a wink. She didn’t have a reason to disbelieve that he was tidier than this. If he was that was good for him. The second he mentioned fruit flies, Jess wrinkled her nose. “Ew. Those things do suck.” She had to agree there. If he was tired it was all right, though, it didn’t hurt to leave things for a little while.
As Pete told her about his job interview and then followed up with his new job Jess was a little surprised. She couldn’t help but tilt her head. “Substitute teacher? Really? That’s great!” It was, she was surprised about it, but it was definitely great. “What grade are you subbing for, what ages? I didn’t even know that you worked with kids.” It was true, she didn’t, but if she had she would have thought it adorable because she sure as hell did right now. Jess was smiling at him, glad that he was figuring things out for himself.
Pete grinned when Jess winked at him. He wondered if she had any idea how beautiful she was or how sexy she looked when she did that. She was practically begging his misbehavior, but he still knew better. "You'll see for yourself, tomorrow after work when I tidy it up; it's bloody disgusting," he admitted. "They're right bastards, they are, fucking fruit flies." He almost added that he'd nearly rather roaches, but he figured that bringing them up would just gross her out. Women were weird about bugs.
"Yeah, well..." Pete started with a shrug of his shoulders. "'m not a fan of subbing, but it'll make do until something permanent opens up," he replied. "I teach history...mainly fourth and fifth year," he replied. "Er...grade," he corrected himself. "I coach football too," he added. "Well...back home. Not here, because American football is shit," he laughed, "and sadly, Yanks don't appreciate real football."
Pete stretched his arms above his head and rolled his neck. "Darling...I adore you, I really do, but I'm knackered," he admitted almost apologetically as he leaned forward to sweep the crumbs off the table and into one cupped hand. He picked up his glass in his free hand and got off the couch, heading to the kitchen, first to deposit the empty glass in the sink, running water to rinse it out before abandoning it for the night, and then to the bin to rub his hands free of the cookie crumbs.
Then, Pete made his way back to the sitting room and picked up the plate of cookies, carefully repositioning the saran wrap over it and looked over at Jess questioningly as he reached for her glass. He didn't want to take it if she wasn't done, but he didn't want to leave it if she was.
“I’m going to look forward to it.” Jess said with a grin. Maybe she wasn’t looking forward to it a whole lot, but it would be interesting to see a guy other than Sam that cleaned really well. Kyle sort of counted, but he was somewhat of a hermit. He never left his apartment, so he was sort of forced to keep it pretty tidy. Jess only gave a nod of agreement about the fruit flies, finding his vehemence toward them a little bit on the amusing side. They were annoying, though. She definitely would agree with that.
He wasn’t a fan of subbing, but it was a nice way for him to get his foot in the door. He seemed to get that, though. She couldn’t help but grin. “I never would have pegged you as a teacher, I don’t think. That’s cute, though.” Okay, yes, Jess was a total girl in the fact that a guy working with kids was something that was somewhat adorable. She just couldn’t help it! And he was a coach, which was pretty cool. It meant he really did care about kids. Definitely a plus in any person as far as she was concerned. As he made the distinction between soccer and football, Jess couldn’t help it. “Would now be a bad time to tell you I’m an American football fan?” She couldn’t help but grin. Yeah, she liked football, but she wasn’t a huge fan, really.
The second knackered came out of his mouth, Jess realized that it was late. She felt a little bad for keeping him up as long as she had. “It’s pretty late! I can’t believe I kept you up this late.” And really, now that she was aware of how late it was, Jess realized that she was tired too, she fought back a yawn. As he got up, taking things to the kitchen, Jess finished her milk before sitting it down, so that when he came back and reached for it, she nodded. “Thank you.”
"Most people wouldn't," Pete admitted when Jess said that she hadn't really pictured him as the teacher type. Matt hadn't, either. Whatchoo think the GSE paid the bills? he'd asked Matt playfully when Matt had looked confused by the idea of Pete being a history teacher of all things. Though, it had been funny, proving it to Matt when he'd let his kids beat the tom of of him in football the following afternoon... "Cute?" he asked, wrinkling his nose once the sentiment had processed. "Seriously, though, I do love kids. Dunno if I want any of my own, but I do love them. They're our tomorrow, yeah? If you want something done right, you've gotta do it yourself, so I might as well be the one teaching them before they go off into the world and inevitably fuck it up a bit more than their fathers did," he joked.
Jessica mentioned, then, that she was interested in American football. It took a moment for Pete to wipe the disgusted look off his face. "Obviously, love, you've never seen Europeans play football. We make your over-padded, arse-patting players look like bloody fairies," he said with a wink when he'd recovered from the unpleasant shock of her statement.
Once she'd nodded for him to take the glass, Pete smiled at her and lifted his chin in a jerking motion toward his bedroom. "I'll give you a minute to get ready for bed, yeah? While I wash these," he offered, deciding that leaving milk glasses, even rinsed ones, was probably not going to help the smell in his flat. "My clean shirts are in the second drawer; pants — undershorts? — in the top, if you need to borrow something," he said over his shoulder, unsure if he was using the right American term for the under garments housed in that top drawer. "I'll be in after I put these away," he said, lifting the cookie plate a bit, "and get the glasses washed." Then, he paused and looked over at her. "Don't worry about it, love, I wasn't that tired until just now. It's nice having you here; I don't mind at all," he said with a genuine smile before setting the cookie plate down on the counter and turning his back to her to wash the milk glasses.
Jessica nodded a little bit. She could understand why most people wouldn’t, but it was actually a nice surprise. It said something about his character underneath everything. He definitely was a good guy. It was cute that he was a teacher, and honestly in her mind she couldn’t see why he didn’t use it and say it soon if he wanted to impress a girl. Jess was more than aware of the fact that she was girly in the belief that she thought it was cute. There were probably tons of other women that would agree with her too, actually. “Hey, cute is a compliment, mister.” Jess lifted her hand, wagging her finger at him lightly. As he explained why he was a teacher, Jess couldn’t help but laugh. “I guess that’s as good a motivation as any.
The look of disgust on his face was....damn near priceless, actually. Jess couldn’t help the shit eating grin on her own face. She couldn’t help but think about how in the future she would be teasing him about this. “I haven’t seen that, but even if I did, I think I’d still like football.” She grinned just a bit wider.
Jessica stood up as he told her to head on to bed, and she even listened intently about where everything was, nodding to him once he had finished. She got where everything was kept pretty easily enough. “Thanks, Pete.” She should have packed something, but then again she hadn’t known that she’d be saying. She really didn’t want to dirty his clothes, but there was no way in hell she was sleeping in her jeans either. So, Jess headed to his bedroom. She’d borrow a t-shirt. She was wearing boyshorts already. Hell, Sam’s brother Dean had probably seen her in less the first time they met. Though, she couldn’t help but wonder if he was a boxer or brief man, just idly. Her bet would have been on boxers, which she found out was right. (What, she had to satisfy her curiosity?) It didn’t take her but a moment to pull a t-shirt out of the drawer and lay it out. It probably took her even less time to strip out of her clothes. Only after pulling his t-shirt on did Jess grab her clothes up and fold them, sitting them off to the side and out of the way.
Jess yawned as she slid into the bed, lying down and watching the door, waiting. She could feel how tired she was now. It wouldn’t be long before she conked out.
Pete looked at her with playful incredulity for a moment before speaking. "No man wants to be 'cute,' love," he replied simply, "but if it's meant as a compliment, I 'spose I could take it," he added with a wink.
"Doubtful," Pete replied confidently when Jess said that she'd probably still like American football after watching how it was really done. Although, she was a bird and it was mostly the blokes that showed the enthusiasm for the sport. Mostly because of the firms, he supposed. Not that he would ever tell Jessica about the GSE or what it really was. Not on purpose, anyway. That didn't stop him being proud of leading it, nor did it stop him missing it terribly.
Pete waited until Jess disappeared from sight before he started the dishes to give her time to find something to wear and change into it. He would have been lying if he said he'd offered solely out of the kindness of his heart. Pete thought it was incredibly sexy to see a woman wearing his shirts. He always had. Jess would definitely be no exception to the rule.
Once he'd finished the dishes, Pete headed to the bathroom to ready himself for bed and then made his way to his own bedroom. Jess was already in bed, which was good because it meant that he hadn't barged in on her still dressing. He closed the door quietly behind himself and gave Jess a small smile before shutting out the light, dropping his trousers and kicking them off to the side, very nearly sending the pants with them out of habit and only just stopping himself before doing just that, and then he crawled into bed beside her. "Bathroom's down the hall, second door; wake me if you need anything, yeah? Anything at all," he told her.
Laying on his back, Pete laced his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. Normally, when there was a woman beside him in bed, he'd be spooning her, but she'd made it a point that this wasn't to be a big deal, so he figured, if she wanted contact, she'd initiate it. Otherwise, he was going to go to sleep. "G'night love. ...it's good to have you back," he yawned. "It really is."