Love Is A Battlefield

“Lynn...What do you think you're doing?”

If looks could kill we would have well been dead. Kylie's jaw was dropped and her arms flung open.

Jonah and I stepped away from each other and stood frozen. We were both caught off guard. I don't think either one of us was thinking of Kylie, let alone, remembered that she was even here. We were so caught up in ourselves that we shut everyone else out.

“Kylie...” Jonah tried to consult her, but she wasn't having it.

“Save it, Jonah.” Kylie held up her hand.

We were a distance away from where the party was taking place, but Kylie's loud voice had caught the attention of the people sitting closer towards us. I looked over to see Jaime running over.

“Ma'am I'm with security. I'm gonna have to ask you to leave.” Jaime grabbed Kylie's arm and attempted to pull her away. “Jesus, you're really getting your money's worth at those fitness groups” He exclaimed at the hardness of her arm muscles.

“Shut up! I just met you an hour ago, I know you're not security.” She snatched her arm back and snared at him. “I'm so disappointed in you, Lynn.” She shook her head and walk away. I tried to stop her, at least explain myself, but I couldn't muster up the words.

“Fuck” Jonah whispered out loud. “I have to go talk to her.” His hands briefly covered his face. “I can't believe I just did that. I have to go talk to her.”

“Um” I shook my head, trying to get my thoughts straight. “Maybe I should go talk to her. Explain things.”

“No” Jonah said as he walked away. “I'm the one who fucked up. You stay here.”

He ran out the dinning hall and chased after Kylie. Jaime and I stood in silence.

“So...What the hell was that?” Jaime rocked on his heels as he stood with his hands in his pocket. “I heard someone yell and looked over to see you three standing here.”

“This is what happens when I follow my heart.” I leaned against the wall and crossed my arms. “First, I hurt Connor because I still had feelings for Jonah. And now I've done the same thing to Kylie.”

“I mean....” Jaime stretched out his words as if to get a point across. “How good of friends are you two? This is my first time meeting her and she came to your best friend's engagement party with your ex-man.”

“It doesn't matter.” I huffed. “I didn't tell her about us because I didn't think this would happen. I didn't think Jonah and I would be back in this position.”

Jaime walked towards me and leaned against the wall as he mimicked my posture. His arm wrapped around my shoulder. I saw his mouth open, he stood quiet for a second, as if he were choosing the right words of wisdom. But then his chest sank in with a sigh, and in true Jaime fashion he continued, “Love is a battlefield. We are strong, no one can tell us we're wrong.”

I turned my head towards Jaime, both of us staring at each other before we laughed. He wrapped his arms around me and gave me a hug. “I know you're feeling bad because of what happened with Connor. And this isn't the same thing, Lynn. Stop making excuses and go for what you really want.”

I nodded my head.

Jaime and I went back to the party. Sarah and Jebrone had witnessed the whole thing and flooded me with questions the second I walked back to our table.

Most of the guests had left and it was just family at this point. Kadie finally had a moment to break away from the crowd and sat next to me. “What's wrong? Did something happen with Jonah?”

I told her everything when Jonah finally walked back into the room. Kadie stood up offering her seat and claiming that she needed to get back to her guests. Jonah sat down. I looked up, around the table, making eye contact with Jebrone, Sarah, and Henry. There was an awkward silence before they got the hint and left the table to give us some privacy.

“Did she take it okay?” I fumbled with the fork that was sitting on the table.

“She had a few choice words for me.”

“I'm sorry Jonah.” The fork accidentally slipped out of my hand and made a thudding noise on the table. “I thought you were just with her to get back at me. I didn't realize things between you two were so serious”

“They weren't” He quickly corrected me as he held his hand over mine so I would stop playing with the fork. “I would never do something like that, Lynn. I was starting to realize things were really over between us, so I was just trying to move on like you wanted me to.” He let go of my hand and continued “Besides, she was just eager to win me over. She's more upset that it didn't work out with 'the guy who has his own show'. Trust me, there was nothing serious about it.”

“Everything okay over here?” Adam asked as he and Kadie walked up to our table.

“Yeah” Jonah sighed. “Sorry, man. Didn't mean for all the commotion.”

Adam looked at Kadie, confused. “What commotion?”

“I'll tell you later” She whispered to him. “Lynn, we're gonna head out in a minute.”

“Okay.” Kadie and Adam went back to their table to grab their things. I stood up from my chair and Jonah followed my lead. “I need to clear everything up.”

“Do you need help?” He asked. I shook my head and we hugged goodbye. “We still need to talk.”

“Come over later. I'll text you when I'm done here.”

He stared at me in a way that I hadn't seen him do in a long time. His mouth curving up as he spoke. “Okay.” We had been holding each others hands, but they slowly slipped undone as he walked away.

Adam's family was going straight to his place after the party, so I forcefully made him and Kadie leave, even though they insisted on helping. Jaime stayed behind and helped me instead. I hadn't seen much of him this summer. He was spending a lot more time back home in New Jersey. We finally had a chance to catch up after all the drama of the day was finished and done.

Once I was on my way back home I texted Jonah letting him know to come over.

As soon as I'd gotten inside I changed into a t-shirt and pajamas. I'd optimistically bought a bandage dress a size too small thinking it would fit better since I started my fitness groups. I was wrong. It was tight and I could barely breath. I unintentionally let out a sigh of relief when I unzipped the stupid thing.

I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth when I heard a knock at the door. I rinsed out my mouth and went to open it.

Jonah stood in the doorway. With everything going on, I hadn't realized what he was wearing. I smiled as I examined him. A plaid button up neatly tucked into his Nantucket red fitted pants and a navy blue blazer.

“You can take the boy out of Harvard...” I laughed.

“Oh please, I feel so under dressed compared to you.” He sarcastically exclaimed as his eyes shot to my pajamas. “You look amazing!”

I smirked before gesturing him inside. “You remember my place, don't you?”

“Vaguely” He joked as he took his blazer off and placed it over the back of the couch before sitting down. He waited for me while I grabbed a couple of drinks for us.

We sat and talked for a couple of hours about nothing. It was like we both knew what we needed to say, but we were too timid to bring the topic up, so instead we continued to talk about random nothings.

Jonah swivled an empty glass in his hand as he looked down at his watch. “It's getting late.”

He leaned forward and put his glass on the coffee table. There was a moment of “speak now or forever hold your peace” silence. When nothing was said he stood up and walked over to pick up his blazer.

I came up behind him wrapping my arms around his waist. I couldn't see his face, but I knew he was smiling.

“I missed you” He whispered.

“I missed you too, Jonah.”

He turned around to face me. His hand held onto my face as his thumb gently stroked my cheek. “You never answered my question.” He leaned forward planting his other hand on the wall behind me. He bent down so our foreheads were touching. “Are you sure you want to do this? You better say yes, because I'm getting really tired of chasing after you, Lynn Lee.”

I smiled, trying to hold in a laugh. “Only because you're getting tired.”

He smiled back as he bent down lower, nose to nose. “Can I kiss you?” He just barely whispered.

“No” I shook my head. “If we're gonna do this we have to start over.” Jonah pulled away, his hand still leaning on the wall, and his smile growing crooked. “From the beginning.”