Welcome back to Tuesday Tales!  This weeks prompt is Tiger.

Well, there’s the problem with writing short books, they really don’t last long in Tuesday Tales. I just put my first one in last week, and now Haunted Hearts is done in my files. This week’s scene comes from the last chapter.

Jenna and Bryce have finally decided to try this dating thing and have been going out for about 2 weeks. Kyle is Bryce’s cousin and friend:

If anyone had told Jenna as little as three weeks ago she’d be in her current situation, she’d have told them they were insane. As it happened, though, Kyle now sat across from her in her own kitchen.

When Bryce had shown up that morning, he’d had a pained look on his handsome features moments before Kyle had popped his head around the corner. Bryce had managed only a whispered apology before Kyle had started enthusiastic conversation about the search through the videos for proof of ghosts from their hunt.

Since Bryce was pretty busy during the week and Jenna herself had her weekends booked through Halloween, they’d had only a few short hours to do anything with the tapes. Of course, they’d also wanted some time to try this dating thing.

After some time talking about the one video tape they’d managed to get through, Kyle turned the discussion to his Halloween party.

Bryce’s brow furrowed. “Kyle. I don’t think that’s going to work. Jenna doesn’t do parties and I really don’t feel like going, not that I ever have before.”

“Come on, everyone is in costume. No one will care.” Kyle looked pointedly at Jenna. “It’ll be so much fun.”

A familiar knot settled in her stomach at the idea of a party. So many people. She sighed and shook her head. “I usually don’t have fun in crowds.”

“But we could dress up.” Kyle grinned wickedly.

Over Bryce’s groan, she tried another protest, “But I wouldn’t even know where to begin on a costume.”

“Well.” Kyle pointed to each of them in turn. “There’s three of us. So we could be a lion, a tiger, and a bear.”

Jenna just stared at him, unsure what even to do with that. The longer she sat the more Kyle nodded, actually waving her on.

Bryce shook his head with a sigh. “I think you were supposed to say ‘oh my’.”

“Right.” The phrase clicked in her head, and she couldn’t help but smile. “Kyle, you are a sad, sad man. You know that, right?”

“I do.” Kyle finished off his coffee. “At least tell me you’ll think about it.”

“That’s the most I can give you.” Jenna glanced at Bryce, who smiled warmly. She turned back to Kyle. “But I just don’t know. I don’t like crowds, at all. A Halloween party seems like a bad idea to me.”

“Crowd, schmowd. It’ll be a small, intimate affair. Ten, twenty, fifty of my closest friends at most.” Kyle winked.

“Ten, sure. It’s that fifty that bothers me.”

Bryce reached out to squeeze Jenna’s hand. “Just get out of here, Kyle. Jenna and I are busy today, I told you that.”

That day was supposed to be the first time they were able to spend a significant amount of time together. They’d planned on making good use of it, although Bryce was being hush hush about his ideas for what to do that would keep them away from big crowds.

Kyle rolled his eyes and pushed to his feet. “Yeah, yeah. I know, you told me.”

Jenna smirked. “You aren’t as put out as you want to be. You’re too happy for him.”

Bryce’s grin grew when Kyle stopped to eye her.

Kyle frowned slightly. “How’d you know that?”

“A good guess?” Jenna grinned at Bryce’s snort.

“Right.” Kyle kept one eye on her as he left the room.

When the door closed, Bryce chuckled. “It’s not often I see him speechless.”

“Well, he earned it today.”

*~*

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