Then there was the weekend the gang decided to join Raina for a night out. Voz came into town early to spend time with Raina. Everyone else would join them later for Chinese food before they would drive into the capital city for a night on the town. They had decided to take the chance of being recognized. As long as they all dressed down, they figured the chances were not as great. There were several large festival shows outside the area, so they hoped that most people would be out of town. Being cooped up for so long, the guys were sick of the same four walls, and were willing to take the chance.
He arrived earlier than she expected; Raina had wanted to stop at the mall to pick up a new shirt and hadn't yet made it there. Voz was more than willing to go with her, much to her surprise. It had been a very long time since he had been in a mall. She was skeptical - most men hated to shop for any length of time with women - but was glad to have him with her, so off they went. He soon found that he appreciated Raina's definitive style of shopping. She was not one of those annoying women who had to go over every single clothing rack in every single store. Casing the joint was more her style. This consisted of a once-around the store, by which she could tell whether or not there would be anything she might be interested in, therefore worth the time to check out the racks. She also was very sure of what she liked and did not. Voz did not have to consistently weigh in his opinion. In fact, she did not even ask him for one unless she had tried on the shirt, liked it herself, and simply wanted to know what he thought. Within four stores and only half an hour's time, Raina had what she wanted. There would be enough time left for them to spend some time alone at her house before anyone showed up.
Voz had decided to pick up a new baseball cap to wear that night. It would help conceal his identity, at least a little bit, if he covered up his gorgeous, trademark mane. While he was waiting to pay, Raina went back into the mall to buy them some caramel popcorn. It was just two stores down from the sports store, so it was likely they'd be done at the same time. But the lady in front of him only had a question, so while one clerk helped her, another rang up his purchase, so he was in and out nearly before Raina had even made it out of the other store. He walked out toward where Raina had headed. He was pleased to see her already walking out of the shop with her bag, until...
From the opposite side of the mall a tall, good-looking man called her name. Raina looked up from putting her wallet in her purse and saw the man who called to her. The recognition took a beat, then the smile that spread over her face was incredible. "Steve" she questioned. When the man smiled, she yelled, "Steve!" and ran to him. In the mall, she ran to him. He could not hear what they were saying. She was obviously ecstatic to see him. Voz was seeing red at the same time that his heart felt like it was about to explode in his chest. As he approached, slowly, thinking he'd just smash the guy in the face, Raina threw her arms around him and hugged him. Now, Voz would have to kill him. How could she, right in front of him? How could she, when things were going so well? How could she, when everyone was on their way to join them? How could she do this to him?
Just before Voz was close enough for the first swing, Raina spun around. As she grabbed his fisted hand, she said, "Voz, I'm glad you're here. You have to meet my cousin, Steve."
Stunned, Voz's hand unclenched. Cousin? Had Raina said "cousin"? The good-looking guy smiled at Voz and put out his hand. Man to man, he caught the look of jealousy on Voz's face. He very deliberately said, "Hello, I'm Steve, Raina's cousin. Are you the Voz D'Oro from Jury?"
Voz was still trying to collect his thoughts rationally; he was still trying to shift out of the kill mode. He could not get any words to come out of his mouth. Though she thought Steve had no clue, Raina could see something was wrong by Voz's face. It just flashed for a moment or two. She jumped in, "Yes, he's the same Voz. It's been so long since I've seen you, I guess you didn't know that I knew him." She turned to Voz. "I had no idea that Steve had come into town for a visit, I guess I've been too busy." Now that she could see Voz relaxing, she turned back to Steve. "So how are Michelle and the boys?"
"We're just fine." The very pregnant Michelle was waddling out of the store with a stroller full of toddler, and a shy four-year-old holding onto her purse. "The baby's making me as big as a house, but we're fine."
Steve and Raina helped Michelle over to a nearby table. Steve went to the food court to get them all drinks while Raina and Michelle caught up on family business. Voz listened, and slowly cooled the hot steamroller of jealousy he had initially felt for Steve. When he came back with the drinks, the girls abandoned the baby talk to include the guys in the conversation. Steve and Michelle were very interested to learn about Voz and Jury being nearby to record their next album, and promised not to pass on any of the information. They were also fans, and were thrilled to meet him. After talking for about an hour, the little family left to get their children home for naps. By this time, Voz felt horrible for the way he'd felt earlier - the couple was very nice. And they were Raina's family. At least no one knew about the murderous thoughts on his mind when he had walked out of the sporting goods store.
Wrong. Raina knew. She let him know about it on the way back to her house to meet the rest of the band.
"Voz, what the heck was that all about? What's wrong?"
"What? Nothing's wrong."
"C'mon, I think I know you a little bit better than that. When I was about to introduce you to Steve, your hands were clenched into fists. I've never seen you like that. You didn't even do that when you were upset with Brill."
"Ah, you noticed that, huh?"
"The next corner is where you make the left," Raina interjected. "I don't know how you thought I could miss that. If I didn't know better, I'd have thought you were getting ready to take a swing at me." The realization clicked. "Voz, you weren't... you weren't really thinking of going after Steve, were you?"
"No! No. It wasn't like that. Raina, you have to believe me, that's not how it was." Voz struggled to think of a way to explain himself. Where were the words when he needed them? "Can you try to see it as I saw it? I walked out of the store, and I see you running to some great-looking guy that yells out your name. I'm nowhere around, and you run up and hug him for dear life. I didn't know who he was, just that my girl is hugging some guy... That sounds really lame, I know, but after all the Brill has been through, the first thoughts that ran through my mind weren't the nicest. I wouldn't have started anything..."
She cut him off. "That isn't the way you looked. You looked like you were going to blow."
He pulled into her driveway and cut the engine. Voz turned to her and took her hands. "Please, Raina, believe me. It was just that... I was worried. About you and me. It was my insecurities running wild. Once I realized what you had said, that he said he was your cousin, I felt terrible. I could hardly talk to them, I felt so horrible. After all that, they end up being fans of Jury." He looked like he wanted to crawl into a hole.
Raina was firm, determined to get her point across; it was important they were clear on this point. "Voz, you have nothing to worry about. I care about you, and I'd never hurt you that way. Not ever. But we cannot continue this, I cannot go on with you, if you are going to be the jealous type. I have not done anything to make you doubt me, and I never will. I've done the jealous boyfriend routine, and I don't like it."
"I can understand that."
"And I can understand Brill's situation causing you to worry about him. But that's not me, it's not us. We need to trust each other Voz. I trust you. Can you trust me?"
"Yes."
"Please. I don't want to see that look on your face again. That was so unlike the Voz I know. I don't think I even want to know whoever you were earlier."
"I don't want to know him either. Are we ok?"
"Yes."
"Good." He kissed her. "Let's get inside before the others get here."
Well, that didn't exactly happen. They were inside just long enough for Raina to change when the rest of the gang showed up. Raina gave the women a quick tour of the house, and they were off to the Chinese restaurant.
Dinner went well, even Brill was well-behaved. The group ordered several sampler platters to share, and had a good time trying to eat with chopsticks. Sam and Nicole were the best at it, and had a good laugh trying to teach the others how to use them. Lisa, Summer, and Raina gave up first and went back to forks. They finished the meal with saki and fortune cookies. A couple fortunes ended up holding some truth for the remainder of the night. Brill's read: Finding joy in moderation will find you joy in your heart. Voz's read: A cool head will always prevail. And Raina's said: A wise man forgets his anger before he falls asleep.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
The boisterous group left the restaurant and piled into the vehicles for the drive to the capital. Raina led, being native to the area. They had decided ahead of time to stay in one spot; the In-laws Club was chosen. It was the most popular place, big, with a nice dance floor to tear up for the night. The parking lot was only half-full by the time they arrived, which was just what they were hoping for. Roger, Brill, and Voz noticed a classic car in the parking lot, an early sixties Camaro of cherry red, in excellent condition. The owner was just getting out of the car, so the three could not resist talking to him. Everyone else went inside.
The first stop was on the bar on the upper level. Each ordered a drink and the group headed for the tables on the side looking over the dance floor. Several people were already out there. In-laws was fairly dark at this point, with the strobe lights from the dance floor providing most of the light. Raina was seated one seat in from the aisle, holding a chair for Voz. She heard her name called, and couldn't see at first who it was that was talking to her. It was Marty, an old friend from college that she hadn't seen in months. She stood to hug him and introduced him around the table, telling everyone that they were close friends in college, and they used to go out dancing often at that time. Maria was impressed. She told Marty that he looked amazingly like one of the latest soap opera heartthrobs. She wasn't exaggerating; his look was dark and exotic, he had a wonderful smile, and he was absolutely charming.
Maria said, "Raina, this one is gorgeous! Why did you ever let this one get away?"
Raina and Marty looked at each other, then both laughed. She explained that she and Marty just had one of those friendships that they couldn't ruin by having a relationship - there was too much at stake. Besides, they had tons of fun back in college just dancing together in the clubs. Going out as friends had also helped attract a lot of interest for them from the opposite sex. It had been a wild time, when someone who seemed to be already involved, someone you couldn't have, was so much more attractive than a person who was single.
An older song with a Latin beat pulsed from the club's speakers. "Remember this one?" Marty asked Raina. She nodded. "Dance with me, for old time's sake."
Raina looked around to the door. "Voz and the guys should be in soon, Marty. You have to meet him; I should wait."
"No, no, no," said Maria. "We want to see you dance, Raina. Get out there. Voz won't mind. He, Brill, and Roger will be talking about that car for a while. Go!" She shooed them away.
Raina hesitated, but Marty stood up and offered her his hand. He led her down the steps to the dance floor and soon the girls, Sam, and Don were cheering them on.
It had been a long time since Raina had been out dancing, but it didn't take her long to get back in the groove. She and Marty had danced together for a couple years, so they soon picked up on each other's signals again and were having a blast. That's what was going on when the guys walked in. They ordered their drinks from the upper bar, and were trying to find the rest of their group.
Brill said, "Hey Voz, that sure looks like Raina, out there doing the old bump and grind with that boy toy out there."
"Where?"
"And it looks like our wives and the guys are really enjoying the show from over there," Roger put in.
Voz found the table easily. He followed the line of sight of his seated friends, who were laughing. He searched through the crowd, and saw some guy dipping his partner nearly to the floor, before swooping her up again. Their backs were to him at the moment, but they seemed to be dancing really close, nearly on top of each other. Good idea, he thought, I'll have to get Raina out there and see if she can do that. It looked really sensual. He scanned the bar again for Raina, then the dance floor.
What?! That couple out there, the ones practically glued at the hip, was Raina and some guy?! Voz was stunned.
Brill slapped his bandmate on the back. "Looks like you're loosing it, big guy. She's looking pretty damn chummy with that guy out there." Brill didn't know when to shut up.
The music was changing to a new beat, and several of the dancers were leaving the floor. As Raina and Marty were coming up the stairs to the table, Roger was pointing out to Don that Voz and Brill were at the bar. Don could see that Voz was distraught, and it didn't look like Brill was much help. He rose and skirted around Raina, to get Brill away from Voz. The women distracted the two for only a minute. Raina noticed Voz at the bar, and nearly dragged Marty behind her, saying that he just had to meet Voz.
Voz was seething, Don could see it and feel it several feet away. Brill was laughing, telling him that all women were alike. Don approached, looking at Brill. "Brill, you don't know what you are talking about. Why don't you go ask your girlfriend to dance?"
Brill smirked. "And miss this?"
Don glared at him, but turned his attention to Voz. "Voz, get a grip. You're going to make a fool of yourself. They're old friends, Voz, just friends. Calm down and give her a chance to tell you." He looked his friend in the eye, gripped his shoulder hard to get his attention. Voz's eyes snapped to Don's. "Voz. Knock it off."
"Did you see her? Don! Did you see what they were doing out there?"
"Dancing, Voz. Dancing. Now she's almost here. Calm down or you'll piss her off."
"Piss who off?" Raina came up behind Don, looking quizzically at Voz.
Don lied, "Just Summer. Voz was keeping Brill out there talking about that car so long. She's been wanting to dance." Brill finally took the cue and left for the table.
"Oh," Raina replied. "Voz, I have someone I want you to meet." She pulled Marty up beside her, and smiled at them both. "This is Marty, my college buddy. We used to go out dancing all the time. We had so much fun! Marty, this is Voz D'Oro."
Marty stuck out his hand and started to speak, but Voz interrupted. "Her boyfriend, Voz D'Oro," he said in a dangerously flat, emphatic tone, staring Marty down. Don had moved behind him, and put a hand on his shoulder, trying to warn him. But Raina saw the look in his eye, the same look he wore earlier that day.
She stepped between Marty and Voz. "Voz, Marty is an old friend of mine. If you are going to be rude, if you are going to play this jealousy game, that's it, I'm done. You can spend the rest of the night with your friends. Have a good time." She turned to Marty and asked him if he minded if she sat with his friends at his table. He said it was no problem, and they walked off toward the other side of the bar. Voz slammed his empty soda glass on the bar, and was going to follow them, but Don held him back.
"Good job buddy. If you wanted to piss her off, you did a damn fine job."
Marty glanced back and saw the argument about to brew. To keep Raina from being more upset, he walked her away quickly. He could see she was already struggling with tears.
Voz turned to Don. "Did you see them? Out there? On that dance floor? You couldn't separate them with a crowbar, dammit. She's supposed to be with me. Am I supposed to just take that?"
"You weren't even in here when this all started! You were out there drooling over some car, instead of in here with Raina. It's totally innocent Voz. Maria told her you wouldn't mind. We all told her we wanted to see her dance with Marty. While you were outside, they told us about being in college together." Don swallowed the rest of his beer. "You could have been in here with her. You could have heard the whole story. You could have been in here dancing with her." He thumped his friend on the chest with the empty beer bottle. "You chose to talk about some damn car. She's a fine- looking woman, Voz. She's a great person. You best start treating her right, get rid of this jealousy thing. Don't ruin this."
"Don, did you see them out there? The bump and grind?"
"Voz, it was just a dance. They are just friends. I told you to calm down, to let her tell you. You jumped to stupid conclusions. There isn't anything here to be mad about. Why do you let Brill fill your head with this bullshit?"
Lisa came up to the bar to get drinks for the table. "Ah, Don? What's up? Why is Raina sitting at Marty's table?"
Don said, "Why not ask Mr. Ass here? Ask him what he did."
"Don!"
"What? I'm not kidding, he's being an ass. Tell her, Voz. Tell Lisa what's going on."
He just glared.
Lisa took Voz by the arm. "C'mon Voz. You come on over and talk to Maria and me. We'll get this all straightened out." Reluctantly, Voz followed. Don did too. But Voz wouldn't speak at the table. He kept his eyes on Raina and Marty. Sam and Nicole and Brill and Summer left the table to play pool. Lisa knew that he needed some time to talk to Don, so she and Roger left to dance. Once they were alone, Don filled in Maria on Voz's ridiculous behavior.
Maria said, "Now Don, you know that if you were in his place, you'd feel the same way. Give him a break. He just needs to talk to Raina, they can work this out."
Voz felt vindicated, and smiled in triumph at Don. "Ha! I knew there was something to worry about, even your wife agrees."
"No Voz, that's not what I said. I said I can understand your feelings. You and Raina just need to talk this out."
"Did you see them Maria? That Marty guy was all over her."
"Yes, and she was `all over him' as you put it. They were dancing Voz; that was the dance they were doing, and they were damn good at it. It's not like you walked in on them kissing, or sleeping together."
"He might as well have been! Did you see where his hands were? It's just not right. He should not have been touching her."
"You can't dance without touching. Now that is just going a bit too far. Rationally, you know that, Voz. That kind of talk is just jealousy, and it's not attractive on you. Has she ever given you a hard time about the groupies?"
"No. That's different."
Don said, "It's not, and it's worse, if you think about it. At least this is an old friend. Groupies are chicks you don't even know hanging on you, pawing you, even tearing your clothes off."
Voz countered. "Groupies are strangers - less likely you're going to jump into bed with someone you don't know. Well, for most of us. She knows him; they were old friends. More likely that something could happen."
Maria jumped in. "No, not if you'd heard them earlier, Voz. And you weren't here. You didn't give her the chance to tell you that. You're going to have to trust her."
"It's him I don't trust. Not her. We just talked about this. Just today, earlier, we had this disagreement, talked about trust, and---"
"Wait, wait, wait. You already went over this today, and you still are acting like a jerk? What was this?"
As Voz told them the story, he kept an eye on Raina. Several times Marty and his buddies tried to get her to dance again, but she wouldn't move from the table. And she made a point of not looking his way. He couldn't catch her eye, couldn't tell what was going on. Her back was mostly toward him, he only caught a view of her face from the side.
Raina was miserable. After this afternoon, she couldn't believe that Voz was acting this way. Maria had said Voz wouldn't mind, but that didn't matter, she'd done nothing wrong. She had told Marty a bit of what they had talked about earlier. He told her honestly what he thought from a man's point of view: she'd done nothing wrong. It would be different if they had reason to doubt each other, or if there had been anything between the two of them, Marty and Raina. Even his reassurance didn't help Raina much. She stayed at the table for the distraction and the company, sipping soda. She couldn't be coaxed onto the dance floor. That was what had started the trouble anyhow. All she wanted was to stick with them to keep face, to show Voz that she wouldn't let him ruin her evening, or at least pretend he hadn't ruined it. After a reasonable amount of time, she would leave alone, go home, and cry. She'd feel better after a good cry, but she would not do it here. She would not let him see that he'd made her feel that bad.
Don and Maria were faring much better on the other side of the dance floor. Once they heard Voz's story of the afternoon, they knew that Voz was having coping trouble. He'd never been overly confident, and he'd been devastated after Rachel had so abruptly left him; the aftershock was still affecting him. It wasn't what his ego wanted to hear, but he was giving Raina a hard time. Slowly, his friends were helping him see that. It was horrible to see her sitting across the room, and not with him, but he had no idea how to say he was sorry. Roger and Lisa had returned to the table, and Sam and Nicole. Luckily, Brill and Summer had decided to dance. Nicole heard the tail end of the conversation. She suggested that the best thing for Voz to do would be to just walk over to Raina and just simply say I'm sorry. He nixed that idea right away. There was no way he could, or would, do that in front of Marty. If he could find a way to get her alone, he could do it.
"Well, hey, I'll just go ask her to dance," Don said.
"No," Maria said. "The first thing she'll think is that you are going to try to fix things. It can't come from you Don. This has to be between Voz and Raina."
"What about me?" Roger volunteered, "She won't think I'm involved."
"Thanks, Rog, but I don't think that will work either. I've seen Marty talking to her, trying to get her to dance, and she won't leave the table."
Nicole tapped Sam on the shoulder. "I think Sam should try. Sam, you and Raina get along well, don't you?"
"Yes, but me? You think I should do it?" Sam was doubtful it would work.
Maria said, "Yes, that might work. Sam, you get her out there. Don, you and Voz get out of sight. Sam, get her out there, keep her talking, keep her back to us. Then Voz, you cut in, take it from there."
"You think that will work?" Voz hoped.
Maria said, "Well, that gets her alone. The rest is up to you."
Don said, "Don't blow it! C'mon, we'll go to the men's room, step outside, something. Get you out of her sight until Sam gets her out there. Move it, Mr. Ass."
Roger said, "C'mon Lisa. We'll go request a slow song, and we'll dance too. It'll be less suspicious."
Sam sighed, but went over and approached Raina hesitantly. He squatted down beside her chair. "Hey Raina, I wish you'd come back over and sit with us."
Raina smiled sadly. "I'm sorry Sam. I don't think that's a good idea; I don't want to ruin everyone's night. I'm fine here at Marty's table."
"You're looking kinda sad. Why don't you come out and dance with me?"
"No, that wouldn't be a good idea, but thanks for trying to cheer me up, Sam."
"C'mon, it's a slow song. Nicole's busy with Maria. Please." He smiled at her.
She turned to look across the room. Nicole and Maria were talking, Roger and Lisa were dancing, and so were Brill and Summer. Voz was not in sight. "Well, ok, Sam, but I don't know if Voz will give you a hard time about it."
"I can handle Voz." He led her out to the floor.
They hadn't been dancing long when someone put a hand on their shoulders. "May I cut in?"
Raina turned to see Voz. She stiffened. Sam was about to let go of her and turn her over to Voz, when Raina said, "I don't want to dance with you, Voz."
"Please, Raina."
She looked at Sam. Sam nodded to her. Then he backed away, and Voz put his arms around her, pulling her close before she could resist. For the rest of the song, he said nothing, just held her as they moved to the music.
Voz was thankful that the DJ was cooperating with him, and went from one slow song into another. He pulled back a bit from Raina, turned her chin so she was facing him. Her eyes were tearing up. "No, Raina, don't cry. I didn't mean to make you cry." She looked away, took a deep breath and held it, trying to hold back the tears. "Look at me. Raina." It took effort, but she swallowed hard, and looked at Voz.
"Raina, I'm sorry," he said softly.
A tear slid down her cheek, she couldn't hold it back. "No, novia, don't." He wiped the tear from her cheek. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't give you the chance to tell me about that guy..." His voice had hardened, and he checked himself. "I didn't give you the chance to tell me about Marty. I didn't realize, I jumped to conclusions. It was wrong."
She could only look at him.
"Honestly, before I realized it was you out there dancing, I was thinking I should see if I could get you to dance with me that way. I was jealous. It wasn't you, really, it wasn't, it was me. I just couldn't handle seeing him touch you like that, putting his hands all over you. It's going to take some time, I guess. I'll work on it. I don't want it to be this way. I hate it when we argue."
"I don't want to fight with you."
"And I don't want to fight with you. Forgive me?"
"Voz, I told you before. I can't do the jealousy thing. I don't want to. We talked about this earlier; I thought you trusted me."
"I do. It's him, Marty, I had a hard time with."
"You don't even know him."
"I know, and that's why I apologize. If I had given you the chance to tell me about him, this would have been nothing. I won't do that any more, I'll let you talk to me first. I'll ask you first, so I won't get mad." He kissed her forehead. "It's been a while, Raina, since I've cared about someone this much. Can you give me a break?" He rested his head on hers.
She ran her hands over his hair, rubbed his neck. "I can't stay mad at you for long. Voz, promise me. Promise me that this won't happen anymore, that you will give me a chance to talk to you before you get upset over some guy. I had a life before I met you, dated other guys. I'm sure there were other women you were with, not just Rachel. We're going to run into old friends and lovers over time. We'll have to deal with it. Can you do that?"
"I'll try, if you try."
"Now that is a deal." She kissed him. They were jostled by other dancers on the dance floor, before they realized the song had ended and they returned to the table. Brill looked a bit cynical, but said nothing. The group had a good time. Voz and Raina even ran into Marty at the bar before the night was over. She reintroduced the two men. Marty was uncertain, but Voz offered his hand first this time. "Raina and I had a talk, she told me about you. Nice to see ya." It wasn't exactly an apology, but the men exchanged a look of understanding between them. It was enough, for now.
On the way home, Raina told Voz a little about her college days, and what a good friend Marty had been to her at the time. Though he didn't tell her that he really didn't like it, he did feel a bit better knowing about their relationship. But hopefully, they wouldn't be running into Marty often. In his mind, that would be the best thing, all the way around.