Rocks in Their Heads Pt. 03

"You're jealous because you didn't get the chance to drop your pants," Doug responded.

"Yeah, you're probably right, and I totally would have joined you, but my dress was in the way."

Scott loved the banter between his work colleagues. He enjoyed his work, but Doug and Jacqueline enhanced the experience. They were a tight team, and the camaraderie among them was clear and present most of the time. He couldn't help but feel the connection he and Jacqueline shared, and they'd spent most of the wedding and reception in each other's company. He was feeling a little more than tipsy, and given the drama of the previous week, there were strong feelings to get off his chest, and now felt like the right time to share.

"I love you guys. I know I'm still the young bloke in the office, but I'm glad I work with you two. You're a great leader, Doug, and I'd follow you into battle. And you too, Jackie. You're the best. Work wouldn't be the same without you!"

"Jesus. Follow Doug into battle even. And here I was, thinking we were designing footings and retaining walls for buildings and bridges. I've never thought of it as combat." Jacqueline said dryly.

"Yeah, nah, Jack, Doug's the man. The best boss I've ever had, ay."

"Jackie knows a thing or two about battle, Scott. She was Boudica, the warrior queen in a past life." Doug chuckled, surreptitiously referring the little known fact among many of her work colleagues that Jacqueline once served in the Army Reserves. He also understood Scott was a little bit drunk and not deliberately kissing their arses, and he was feeling a little drunk himself and getting caught up in the merry feelings. "But keep it up son and you might get a pay rise. We are a good team though, I reckon."

"There's no I in team, but there's an M and an E. Truth is, this team would be nothing without me and you guys know it," Jacqueline joked.

"Ha! In your dreams, Jackie," Doug replied with a chuckle.

"Nah, Jack, you're the best. Work wouldn't be the same without ya. Especially when it comes to a cheeky post-site inspection surf," Scott added with a grin. Jackie raised her glass and her eyebrows at him, a smile forming on her lips.

Doug looked at them with a confused expression, but let it pass, and addressed Scott instead. "Scotty, you still haven't told us what happened to your lady friend."

Scott thought for a moment, feeling a little irritated Doug mentioned Evelyn's absence. Realising he meant no malice, he responded, "She couldn't make it. Um, we kinda had a falling out."

"Trouble and strife on the home front, eh? Sorry to hear. Look at us. A pack of bachelors and a bachelorette for the night." Doug looked up at the stars and was silent. Both Jacqueline and Scott knew he was thinking about his wife Melanie, who'd died of cancer several years previously. After Melanie's death, Doug dealt with the grief by throwing himself into his work, and when Scott was hired, Doug took it upon himself to put extra effort into mentoring him. "You know, you two really should come up to my property. It would be great. We could make a fire, have some drinks." It was his standard invite.

"Yeah, we should, Doug. Let's organise it." Scott was also feeling the need to get away up the coast and spend time with friends. "What do ya reckon, Jack?"

"Sure, let's organise it," Jacqueline said, before finishing her Scotch.

There were few people left at the reception and so they decided it was time to leave. Jacqueline and Scott lived in the same direction and caught an Uber together, while Doug lived in the opposite direction and caught a taxi. With a full bladder, busting for a pee, Scott stopped at Jacqueline's to use her toilet. Afterwards, they found themselves sitting around in her lounge room in the wee hours of the morning.

They'd worked together for over two years, but Scott had never visited Jacqueline's house before. The room was adorned with musical instruments, an amp and other musical related gear. In one corner of the room there was an acoustic and an electric guitar in stands, a banjo and violin sitting on a wall-rack, and a keyboard next to the coffee table, upon which sat a ukulele. Scott picked up the ukulele and sat on the floor in front of the lounge chair. "Looks like you're a one woman band here, Jack," he said, testing the instrument's tuning and proceeded to strum a few chords.

"It's my addiction. Music's always helped me unwind. Do you play?" Jacqueline picked up her acoustic guitar and sat on the floor opposite him, her black cat, Timmy, rubbing himself against her and purring loudly.

"A little. If I can remember the chords." He began testing his memory with A minor, E minor, C, D, G and F chords. "I used to have a music teacher in high school that all us boys liked. Everyone learnt the guitar to impress her, but I also spent two years religiously practicing the uke, hoping she'd notice I was a cut above the rest."

"And did she?"

"Ha, fuck no. I doubt it, anyhow. She was smokin hot and apparently she hooked up with one of the maths teachers, Mr Ratcliffe. Or so the rumours went." He began to play the chord progression for Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's version of Somewhere over the Rainbow. Scott was still under the influence of alcohol, but though he wasn't nailing the chords, he only faltered a few times. Concentrating where his fingers met the strings on the ukulele's fretboard, he became confident enough to sing. "Someday I'll wish upon a star, wake up where the clouds are far behind, meee..."

Jacqueline, who was in a similar drunken state to Scott, valiantly tried to match him on guitar, not knowing the chord progression, but picking it up by ear from Scott's playing. She began to sing softly along with him. "Oh somewhere, over the rainbow...way up high...and the dreams that you dare to, why, oh why can't I?"

When they finished Scott put down the ukulele and clapped softly, exclaiming, "Bravo, Jack. You are magnificent." Jacqueline smiled in response, her black rimmed glasses making her large brown eyes look even larger, and sparkling in the dim light as they held eye contact in silence. Scott's heart skipped a beat and the butterflies in his stomach and chest made their appearance. Bigtime.

Jacqueline and he hadn't spent much time together outside of work after their little surfing trip at the end of the previous year, but he'd thought about her regularly. She'd backed off a little in the previous months, but tonight, with their defences down, their undeniably strong connection and deep affection for one another was unleashing.

As he smiled, staring into her big brown eyes for far too long, he thought Jacqueline was the most beautiful person in the whole world. Her long dark brown hair was styled with a double braid running above each ear and meeting in a ponytail at the back, and Scott thought she looked stunning, especially in her long floral maxi dress. She held his gaze and smiled back, her full lips thick with red lipstick. Scott's heart beat faster and the butterflies in his stomach fluttered with a ferocity he'd never felt before; not with Evelyn, Carole, or any previous girl, and he wondered if she could read his mind as she smiled at him.

Breaking their silent moment, she began to strum her guitar strings and asked, "Hey, Scotty, do you know this one?" She started singing softly to the music she made. "Looking out the door, I see the rain fall upon the funeral mourners..."

"Um, I know the tune. It's ah...the bloke who sings Hallelujah...ah, I think it's Jeff Buckley? Um, what's the song again?"

"Lover, you should have come oh-ver..." Jacqueline sang softly while gazing into Scott's eyes. She gently lay her guitar on the lounge behind her, and moved across the floor to Scott, who let her enter his personal space. Without hesitating, they kissed softly, lips parting ever so slightly, allowing the tips of their tongues to meet for the first time. And there they sat, on Jacqueline's lounge room floor, sucking face with slow, wet and passionate kisses for ten or so minutes in the early hours of the morning. They were gentle, long kisses, with lips lingering upon each other and tongues joined in a wet embrace, caressing slowly together. After some time Jacqueline reached over and removed Scott's tie, and he didn't flinch, continuing to share their long kiss. She began to unbutton his shirt.

Scott's cock was hard as a rock, wanting him to proceed, however, he broke contact, moving slightly back from her. "I don't think this is a good idea, Jackie."

"Oh, I think it's a very good idea," Jacqueline replied. "And I think there's a one eyed monster you're hiding in your pants who thinks this is a great idea." She went to slip her hands down the front of his trousers.

"No, wait, we're drunk, and I kinda have a girlfriend, and you're one of my favourite friends in the whole world, not to mention we share an office at work. Let's not do this. Please." He rolled slightly away so she couldn't get a grip on his trousers.

"Oh, Scott, why do you have to use logic?" Jacqueline said, sounding frustrated but trying to use humour to defuse a situation she was quickly realising she may have misread. "And what ever happened to this girlfriend of yours, anyhow? Apparently you've been with her since last year, but she doesn't even come out with you."

"She's real, but we've run into some problems we need to deal with. I'm sorry, Jackie, I can't do this."

"Arrrggghhhhh," Jacqueline let out a frustrated growl. "Sorry. Sorry. I'm just frustrated. Sorry. Look, you're right. I'm going to my room and will be with my Bob, if you change your mind. Spare room's on the left if you don't." She stood and walked towards the hall.

"Bob? Who's Bob? I thought your cat was Timmy?"

She turned and replied to his confused look, as if he were an imbecile who should know these things. "Bob's my battery operated boy. You know, my vibrator!" She turned again and disappeared down the hall.

Scott dragged himself down the hall to the spare room and collapsed on the bed with his shirt still half unbuttoned, the way Jacqueline left it. He closed his eyes and his head spun before he passed out.

~0~

It was late morning before either Jacqueline or Scott roused from their respective beds. Both looked and felt worse for wear, and hardly saying more than a few words to one another, they managed to agree it'd be best to walk to a nearby café for coffee and food. Putting on their sunglasses to hide their eyes from the bright sunlight, they picked up take away coffees with bacon and egg toasties, and sat across the road in the park by the river on a bench under a large fig tree. They sipped their coffees and nibbled at their food in silence until, after some time, Jacqueline broke the tension.

"Scott, I'm truly sorry about last night. I think I misread things with us. I acted totally inappropriately. Sorry. I don't want to screw up our friendship, let alone our work relationship."

"Hey, Jack, I think we both did. I was, confused. I've been dealing with some shit, and well, you're one of my most favourite friends in the whole world, and I don't want to fuck up our friendship either."

"I'm glad you didn't fuck me up," she said light-heartedly. "A drunken root is never good, and we'd probably be feeling awkward right now. Unlike today, where we're totally comfortable with what happened." She playfully punched his leg when he gave her a dirty look. "Oh come on, I'm kidding! I'm trying to make things less awkward. No hard feelings. We were drunk and these things happen sometimes. Let's forget it, ay. I don't want to ruin things for you or for us as friends."

"I have a girlfriend, Jackie."

"I know, I know. I feel awful and I'm sorry, I shouldn't have put you in such a position. But what's the deal, mate?"

Scott sighed. "Well, part of the problem is she's not so much a girl as she is a woman, because she's twenty-five years older than me."

Jacqueline let out a whistle and said, "Here's to you Mrs Robinson."

"What?"

"You know, the song from The Graduate movie? Young man shags his girlfriend's middle aged mum? No? It's a classic. Never mind, it's way before your time."

Scott continued, "Okay then, whatever. Anyhow, long story short is she's also the mum of one of my childhood friends, and she's only just found out and not happy with it."

"What? Your cougar friend is not happy with finding out she's the mum of one of your childhood friends? I'm confused."

"No, not like that. My girlfriend, Evelyn, was our neighbour when I was a kid, and her daughter, Nicky, was my best friend in my early teens. Nicky only found out the other day that I've been seeing her mum and she went mental. This is the reason Evelyn didn't come with me to Michael's wedding. She said we should take a break while she sorts things out with Nicky."

"Wow. You, my friend, seem to be in some kind of shitty predicament."

"True that."

They sat there in silence for a while and picked at their food, before Jacqueline chuckled and sang, "Nicky's mum has got it goin on. She's all I want and I've waited for so long!"

This time Scott recognised Jacqueline's reference to the Fountains of Wayne song, Stacey's Mom, and couldn't help but chuckle at her parody. "Hell yeah, Jack," he said quietly and held his fist out, which she bumped with her own fist.

"I bet you could make some good mum jokes to this Nicky though. Like, ya Mum's so sexy I'd fuck her. Oh, wait, I did!"

"Har, har, Jack. That's the worst mum joke ever, since it's not even a joke. But I was thinkin something more like, your Mum's so hot, she's like the eternal flame. Always turned on."

"You're terrible, Scott. On second thoughts, maybe don't use any mum jokes cos I reckon that shit'll get you stabbed."

Scott gave her a little smile. "So anyway, that's my drama. What's yours?" He wanted to ask her why she, one of the most wonderful and gorgeous people he'd ever known, was still single. However, he was afraid to ask, because he thought he might know the answer. He suspected Jacqueline's feelings for him went much deeper than she let on.

Jacqueline sighed and replied, "Oh, just the usual. Hanging out with my cat and other stuff."

"And with Bob."

"Ah yes, Bob. Surely you were too drunk to remember I even mentioned him. Let's not speak of Bob again, okay?"

"No worries, Jack, we shall not speak of Bob again."

She looked down at the grass, then spoke again. "You know, Scotty, I'm okay. I'm happy with my own company, and I'm not desperate for a boyfriend. Last bloke I dated was a real arsehole, so I'm being careful with who I see. I tried Tinder and a dating website for a bit, but most blokes there seemed like arseholes too. I want to meet someone special and hopefully who I could maybe have a family with a couple of years down the track. And you know how it is, the ones I really like seem to be taken."

Scott assumed she referred to him, but he pretended ignorance. "Come on, Jack, you're beyond beautiful. I'm sure there are plenty of available guys who are right for you. What about Doug? He's always asking us to come up to his holiday house, and he seems pretty lonely, often mentioning how all the things he and his wife used to do together aren't the same by himself. I've often thought you two would go alright together."

Jackie blushed at Scott's 'beyond beautiful' comment, but sounded shocked he'd think she and Doug might be a match for each other. "Hell no. Not Doug. Don't get me wrong, he's a top bloke and all. But he's not what I'm after. For a starters, I prefer my men to be at least as tall as me at a minimum, which obviously limits my choices somewhat. And besides, it's probably not a good idea to date the boss. Plus, unlike you, I'm not into geriatrics!" She spoke her last sentence in a light hearted tone.

"Geriatric? Doug's a fit bloke for his age. And he's nice and good looking bloke too, so I'm surprised he doesn't have a girlfriend."

"He's not here with us, Scotty, so you don't have to suck up to him," she replied. "But seriously, even if I did like him that way, he has grown up kids, and well, I'd like to have kids one day and doubt he'd be up for fatherhood again. Speaking of which, if your lady friend is twenty-five years older than you, it makes her what, fifty-one, and so if you're serious about her, you do realise that she'd no longer be able to have kids, don't you?"

"Yeah, she won't be able to have kids, and I'm okay with that. At least, I think I'm okay with it. My brother's going to be a dad soon and so I'll get to be the cool uncle."

Jacqueline sighed and pointed at a family walking along the path by the river. A little girl was skipping in front of her dad who was pushing a stroller with a sleeping baby inside, and the mum, walked along beside them, carrying two coffee cups. "You see the family over there? I want to be like them," she whispered again with another sigh.

"I'm surprised, Jack, since you've never struck me as someone who wants kids. Not every girl want's kids." Scott was genuinely surprised at Jacqueline's revelation, but when he thought about it, many of her posts on Facebook were memes about how being an aunty was great, or references to having the best nieces and nephews in the world. But he also couldn't help but think of Carole's recent confession to him, about having no interest in having children, and despite loving her nieces and nephews, she also enjoyed getting away from them.

"Oh, I didn't always want kids, especially through most of my twenties. But recently I've been feeling the body clock thing. You know, my ovaries are drying up. It's a thing. Now I see families like the one over there and I'm instantly clucky. I don't even get a warning and it suddenly happens. I have three nieces and two nephews who I adore, and I'm totally jealous of my brother's and sister's families. Not psycho jealous, but you know, I'd like to have what they have. If twenty-five year old me saw thirty year old me, she'd die of shock! I still can't believe it sometimes, but what I want most in the world is to settle down with a good bloke, have a couple of kidlets, and my cat, Timmy, of course, in an ordinary house in the suburbs. Oh, and a Labrador. Is this too much for a girl to ask for?" She noted the amused look on Scott's face, and with a knowing nod and a wry smile she said, "I know, I know, I'm ridiculous and I shock myself at how pathetic I've become."

Scott felt deeply for her, and wanted to give her a hug. However, intimacy probably wasn't the best idea given that less than twelve hours previously, the feelings between them almost resulted in sex. "You're not being pathetic, Jack," Scott said. He noted how she continued to watch the young family, and wanted to reach out somehow, so he tried to make her laugh. "Seriously, everyone likes Labradors."

She didn't' laugh, simply stating, "Yeah, you're right."

He gave her a little smile but couldn't help but recall Rachael, his girlfriend before Evelyn, who'd talk about babies until she was blue in the face, constantly dropping hints to Scott about buying a house in the suburbs in which to settle down. The topic irritated him no end at the time. However, he realised comparing Jacqueline with Rachael would be like comparing apples and oranges. For a starters, Scott thought of Jacqueline as one of the coolest people he knew and he doubted even her revelation could change this.

"Yeah, well, anyhow, Scotty, you'll make a great uncle I'm sure." Jacqueline decided to change the topic. "So, I've mostly refrained from asking, but tell me about this lady of yours."

He thought for a moment before answering. "She's, I dunno, very attractive for her age. Average height, light brown hair, blue eyes."

"Do you realise you kinda just described a quarter of the female population of this country?"