15 Because You're You

"I should probably get going," Jenna said regretfully. "I still have laundry to do tonight."

"I'll leave you to it. I really enjoyed talking to you though. When will I see you again?" Bryce asked a bit shyly.

She smiled at his earnestness despite feeling a bit shy herself. What was she supposed to do with a guy that liked her this much?! She had zero experience with guys liking her as a woman and wanting her around for anything more than having her on their team playing sports.

"If you're willing to pick me up from work tomorrow, we can watch one of those shows I told you about for a couple of hours before I have to go to bed," Jenna offered. "How does that sound?"

"That sounds great. Goodnight, Tessa."

She inwardly sighed at being called the wrong name. "Goodnight."

This was going to take some serious getting used to. Most people didn't bother calling her by her fake name because she didn't spend enough time with them. She still had a hard time responding to it even after this long because it didn't feel right.

She had been Jenna Mitchell for twenty years; that habit wasn't going to go away overnight. Or in more than six months.

Jenna went inside, showered, changed into her pajamas so she could put her uniform in the laundry, and got a load started. Killian insisted on getting her an apartment with a washer and dryer in it because laundromats were apparently places where predators targeted single women.

His hypervigilance was troubling but she supposed it was what made him a good FBI agent. And it was convenient so she was willing to let him freaking her out slide.

She sighed and slumped down on the couch once it was in the washer before turning on the TV and grabbing herself some microwaveable macaroni. Just because she could cook didn't mean she wanted to do it when she was alone and tired.

That whole conversation with Bryce had been wearying even if she did enjoy herself at points. She didn't know what she was supposed to do with him, honestly. She never had a boyfriend before, let alone while she was in the Witness Protection Program.

Jenna hoped she didn't screw this up. She could really use a real friend out here. Even if that friend happened to be her boyfriend.

===

Bryce had been panicking all weekend and really had been so restless he went for a run before ending up in front of Juice Jubilee about twenty minutes before it closed. He stupidly waited out there for much longer than Tessa thought he had. But boy, did it pay off!

He hadn't expected her to say yes considering how guarded she was when they talked on Friday. Especially needing an entire weekend to think about it. That hadn't boded well for him.

Yet not only did she agree, she wanted to be his girlfriend too! After two dates!

Screwing this up wasn't an option. Not when he finally found something that made him feel alive again after losing his grandma. He knew Tessa was apprehensive about this and wasn't as invested as he was but he would make absolutely sure she didn't regret her choice.

He was in an excellent mood all Tuesday at work to the point that he freaked his coworkers out. He didn't care about that though; he was too happy.

"What's with you? Yesterday you were a wreck and today you're on cloud nine," David said suspiciously.

Bryce ignored him and hummed to himself as he crunched numbers. Not even David's nosiness could spoil his mood right now. Less than six hours from now he would be watching anime with Tessa. What could be better than that?

He had always liked animated shows but it was a roommate in college that introduced him to Japanese animation specifically. He had been hooked ever since but not many people he knew watched it. Finding out that his girlfriend—ah, his girlfriend!—did was a bit surprising but it wasn't like he was complaining. It was one more thing they had in common.

Video games…TV shows…energetic family members… He looked forward to seeing what else they had in common as time went by.

Since Tessa had already seen him in a hoodie he saw no reason to dress up fancy for hanging out to watch TV. He put on another one and a pair of jeans after getting home in preparation for going over to her house. Which was still hours away.

Bryce sighed and forced himself to make dinner. He may as well make something nice and bring her a plate since she wouldn't have time to eat until after work anyway. He didn't know if she was okay with leftovers though; some people didn't like them.

Oh well. He could try it once and see how it worked out. If she didn't like it, he wouldn't do it again. Simple as that.

When Tessa was getting off work she was chatting with her coworkers. "Are you sure you don't need a ride home? Your mom won't be here for a minimum of forty minutes and it's sketchy around here after dark."

Del sighed. "Okay, fine, I could use a ride but I don't want to go with Josh. He'll hold it over my head forever."

"I will not!" Josh said in an offended tone. "Honestly, you always think the worst of me."

"That's because you're the worst."

"I think she's uncomfortable because you're a guy that's older than her," Tessa said in what was probably meant to be a comforting tone as she patted his shoulder. "I don't have a problem with you. I appreciate the rides to work on Tuesdays and Thursdays."

"Nice to know SOMEONE appreciates me," he sniffed.

Bryce suppressed a laugh. These three were at it again. But it also looked like he was now taking a third party home. He didn't mind much. This was a sketchy area at night and, if he remembered correctly, Del was still in high school.

"As long as you don't mind riding with me and my boyfriend, we can take you," Tessa offered.

They both stared at her blankly. "Since when did you have a boyfriend?"

"…it was a recent development."

Bryce chose that moment to make his presence known and waved as he approached. "Hey! Tessa!"

"That would be him," she said before hollering back. "Hey! Can we take my coworker home? Her mom is running super late and I don't feel comfortable leaving her here alone."

"Sure."

Now they both stared at him. Josh spoke first after thirty seconds of stunned silence. "You're the Banana-Rama guy!"

He smiled a bit self-deprecatingly. He should have known the others would notice him the same way Tessa had showing up every day for months even though she was the one running the cash register.

"That's me. I'm Bryce."

He held out his hand and Josh shook it first. "Nice to meet you officially. Did you really start dating Tessa because of smoothies?"

She laughed. "Actually, it's the other way around. He started buying a ridiculous number of smoothies because he wanted to date me. Isn't that cute?"

Del smiled and it was amazing how it transformed her angular, dark makeup covered face. She was nearly approachable. "Very. Well, I hate to say goodbye—actually I don't—but I have homework to do. Bye, Josh! See you tomorrow!"

"See you," Josh grumbled. "You still need a ride on Thursday, Tessa?"

"Yep. I'll meet you in the usual place."

He shot her a thumbs up as he ambled away and Bryce felt a bit sorry for him. What was Del's deal with him, anyway? They had been at odds pretty much every time he came to Juice Jubilee.

"How long has Josh been giving you rides to work?" he asked conversationally once they got into the car.

Tessa shrugged. "A month and a half? Two months? I can't remember. But once we realized we were at the same school he offered because I was on campus working on homework about that time of day anyway before heading to work. He meets me in the library on the way out of his last class. He's in the music building, which isn't terribly far from there."

"Gotcha. That's nice of him."

"You need to turn left up here," Del cut in.

Bryce wasn't so sure conversation would be able to flow with her needing to give directions every so often so he turned the radio up instead. Tessa sang along to nearly every song and he had a smile on his face pretty much the entire ride.

When they finally dropped her off it would take another twenty minutes to get back to Tessa's apartment. So much for binge watching tonight.

"I'm sorry about that," she apologized. "I didn't mean for it to take so much time but I really couldn't leave her."

"Don't apologize for that! I wouldn't have either if I was in your situation. Oh, and I nearly forgot. I brought you dinner. I was already cooking for myself so making an extra portion was no trouble at all but I'm not sure how good it will be reheated," Bryce mused.

"You…made me dinner?"

"Well, yeah, I knew you wouldn't have had the chance to eat so I figured why not? It wasn't any trouble."

"You really are the nicest person I've ever met," Tessa marveled. "Why on earth did you pick me of all people to shower with your niceness?"

Bryce was fairly certain that was a rhetorical question but he answered it anyway. "Because you're you, Tessa O'Brien. There's no one else I would rather shower with niceness than you."