En Route
Title: En Route
Characters: Jenny Rivers and Mark Broward
Rating: PG-13
Word count: 1265
Prompt: itsproductivity April 8: In the car. April 9: Write about something on your mind.
"Where are we going?" Mark asks for the third time. Jenny just smiles at him enigmatically and merges left. "Give me a hint, at least."
"No. You'd figure it out." He's not above aiming a pitiful look at her, but Jenny's friends are all experts at looking pitiful, and she's effectively immune to it. "Just trust me! You'll like it."
"Can you at least tell me what state we're going to?" They took a ferry to Connecticut, but Mark doubts that Jenny would coopt his entire weekend for a trip to Connecticut. "We're staying in the United States, at least?"
"I promise I'm not taking you to Canada. We're staying in New England." When he tries to steal her phone, she smacks his hand. "No looking at the directions! Seriously, Mark, trust me."
"Can't I trust you and be curious at the same time?"
"Curiosity got the physics teacher maimed. Slightly better than what happened to the cat, but still unpleasant," Jenny says, and Mark lifts both hands placatingly.
"Okay, okay! Message received." She smiles again and pats his knee.
"Good. I'll tell you this much, we have three more hours of driving to go."
"Oh, we're going to Massachusetts." The pat turns into another smack.
"Stop speculating!"
"It's not speculation, it's distance. Three hours is too long to stay in Connecticut, it only takes 45 minutes to drive through Rhode Island, and it's not long enough to make it to New Hampshire or Vermont. Therefore, Massachusetts."
"Yes, fine, we're going to Massachusetts. How do you even know that distance stuff?"
"Sweetheart, you think I spend all my time in Long Island? I do some photography in New England in the fall almost every year. I went to a conference in Lowell two weeks ago. I know we're not going that far." Jenny shakes her head and Mark laughs. "I could probably pin down where we're going."
"You're spoiling the surprise. I never surprise you any more."
"That's not true. You surprise me all the time. You're one of the least predictable people I know, that's part of what I love so much about you." He reaches over and wraps a lock of her red hair around one finger, tugging gently. "You keep me on my toes."
"I do my best," Jenny says, "fine, go ahead and tell me where we're going."
"Either Boston or Martha's Vineyard, but I'm guessing Boston because the Vineyard doesn't really seem like your style. There's a lot to do in Boston, though, I have no idea what your specific plans are."
"And you're not going to find out what they are until we're about to do them," Jenny says stubbornly, sighing. "Please don't tell me you've already done everything there is to do in Boston, or I'll be forced to kick you out of the car."
"Not even remotely. I've been there a couple of times, but mostly just while visiting my ex-wife's brother, so I've hardly done anything interesting there." Jenny glances over-- she knows that Mark was married once, he's never made a secret about it, but he never talks about his ex-wife. She doesn't even know what the woman's name is. Mark meets her gaze evenly, his green eyes calm, and adds, "Whatever you have planned is already more interesting."
"Damn straight it'll be interesting. I really think you're going to like this weekend," Jenny says. "You brought a camera, right?"
"I always bring a camera. You know that. Why, am I going to have something cool to take pictures of?"
"I hope so. Otherwise we're going to have to come back in the summer."
"So it's not something seasonal."
"I swear to god, if you guess what I have planned, I'm going to cry."
"Okay, okay, I'll stop! If it's that important to you."
"It really is." Mark can't help thinking about it-- what is there to do in Boston that Jenny would think he would think is cool?-- but he's smart enough to stop talking about it, at any rate. After a few minutes of silence, Jenny changes the topic, talking about the paper due on Monday that she did earlier in the week so she'd be free this weekend, about her schedule for next semester that she only just finished planning the night before, about the fact that she's planning on taking Intro to Physics-- "And you're probably going to need to explain some of it to me better, because Halen said you were really good at making physics understandable, and this professor isn't the clearest, according to ratemyprofessor.com."
"I have no problem with that. Actually, it's kind of exciting."
"Right? You get to indulge your love of teaching with your girlfriend. Which wouldn't have been okay three years ago."
"Don't remind me. Although we probably never would have gotten to this point if you'd taken my class in high school."
"Come on, Mr. Broward, you can't say that for certain." Mark covers his face with one hand and Jenny laughs brightly. "One of these days you're going to let me do the naughty schoolgirl thing."
"No, I am not. That would just make me feel like a dirty old man. I don't get why you want to play up our age difference."
"It's not the age difference thing, it's not the fact that you're actually a teacher, it's just that... naughty schoolgirl is fun and sexy. I would still want to play naughty schoolgirl if you were my age. Or probably even if I was your age." Jenny pouts a little. "I just think it's hot."
"It would be hot, that's why it's probably a bad idea," Mark argues, but he has the distinct feeling that not only is he fighting a losing battle, but he kind of wants to lose this one. It feels like a line he shouldn't cross, but Jenny's very convincing when there's something she wants, and this is not the first time she's brought the subject up.
"I don't think there's anything wrong with it. We're both adults, you're not dumb enough to get roleplay and reality mixed up, and I was never actually one of your students so it's not even like you're belatedly doing something you shouldn't." Jenny looks over, blue eyes michievous, then focuses on the road again. "But if you're really morally opposed to it, we don't have to."
"I wouldn't say that," Mark hedges, and Jenny's grin is a sharp-edged thing. "You're a little bit evil, Jennifer."
"Only a little bit? I'm not trying hard enough, clearly," she says. "Don't act like you didn't know I was trouble from the very start."
"Oh, I figured it out pretty quickly."
"To be fair, the only thing I ever lied to you about was my age... hey, Providence is coming up, we should stop for dinner."
"I think there's a good Japanese restaurant there," Mark says. Jenny hands him her phone-- no point concealing the directions when he's already figured out where they're going.
"The Urbanspoon app is on the second screen, see what you can find." He pokes at it while she gets off the highway, and by the time they've figured out both where to eat and how to get there, they've both let the topic drop-- but it's lingering in both their minds, Jenny's gleefully, Mark's somewhat apprehensively. Before they go into the restaurant, Jenny goes up on her tiptoes and kisses him sweetly. "You do trust me, right?" she asks.
"Yes. Absolutely," he says, and she beams up at him.
"Good. I promise you're going to enjoy this weekend."
Characters: Jenny Rivers and Mark Broward
Rating: PG-13
Word count: 1265
Prompt: itsproductivity April 8: In the car. April 9: Write about something on your mind.
"Where are we going?" Mark asks for the third time. Jenny just smiles at him enigmatically and merges left. "Give me a hint, at least."
"No. You'd figure it out." He's not above aiming a pitiful look at her, but Jenny's friends are all experts at looking pitiful, and she's effectively immune to it. "Just trust me! You'll like it."
"Can you at least tell me what state we're going to?" They took a ferry to Connecticut, but Mark doubts that Jenny would coopt his entire weekend for a trip to Connecticut. "We're staying in the United States, at least?"
"I promise I'm not taking you to Canada. We're staying in New England." When he tries to steal her phone, she smacks his hand. "No looking at the directions! Seriously, Mark, trust me."
"Can't I trust you and be curious at the same time?"
"Curiosity got the physics teacher maimed. Slightly better than what happened to the cat, but still unpleasant," Jenny says, and Mark lifts both hands placatingly.
"Okay, okay! Message received." She smiles again and pats his knee.
"Good. I'll tell you this much, we have three more hours of driving to go."
"Oh, we're going to Massachusetts." The pat turns into another smack.
"Stop speculating!"
"It's not speculation, it's distance. Three hours is too long to stay in Connecticut, it only takes 45 minutes to drive through Rhode Island, and it's not long enough to make it to New Hampshire or Vermont. Therefore, Massachusetts."
"Yes, fine, we're going to Massachusetts. How do you even know that distance stuff?"
"Sweetheart, you think I spend all my time in Long Island? I do some photography in New England in the fall almost every year. I went to a conference in Lowell two weeks ago. I know we're not going that far." Jenny shakes her head and Mark laughs. "I could probably pin down where we're going."
"You're spoiling the surprise. I never surprise you any more."
"That's not true. You surprise me all the time. You're one of the least predictable people I know, that's part of what I love so much about you." He reaches over and wraps a lock of her red hair around one finger, tugging gently. "You keep me on my toes."
"I do my best," Jenny says, "fine, go ahead and tell me where we're going."
"Either Boston or Martha's Vineyard, but I'm guessing Boston because the Vineyard doesn't really seem like your style. There's a lot to do in Boston, though, I have no idea what your specific plans are."
"And you're not going to find out what they are until we're about to do them," Jenny says stubbornly, sighing. "Please don't tell me you've already done everything there is to do in Boston, or I'll be forced to kick you out of the car."
"Not even remotely. I've been there a couple of times, but mostly just while visiting my ex-wife's brother, so I've hardly done anything interesting there." Jenny glances over-- she knows that Mark was married once, he's never made a secret about it, but he never talks about his ex-wife. She doesn't even know what the woman's name is. Mark meets her gaze evenly, his green eyes calm, and adds, "Whatever you have planned is already more interesting."
"Damn straight it'll be interesting. I really think you're going to like this weekend," Jenny says. "You brought a camera, right?"
"I always bring a camera. You know that. Why, am I going to have something cool to take pictures of?"
"I hope so. Otherwise we're going to have to come back in the summer."
"So it's not something seasonal."
"I swear to god, if you guess what I have planned, I'm going to cry."
"Okay, okay, I'll stop! If it's that important to you."
"It really is." Mark can't help thinking about it-- what is there to do in Boston that Jenny would think he would think is cool?-- but he's smart enough to stop talking about it, at any rate. After a few minutes of silence, Jenny changes the topic, talking about the paper due on Monday that she did earlier in the week so she'd be free this weekend, about her schedule for next semester that she only just finished planning the night before, about the fact that she's planning on taking Intro to Physics-- "And you're probably going to need to explain some of it to me better, because Halen said you were really good at making physics understandable, and this professor isn't the clearest, according to ratemyprofessor.com."
"I have no problem with that. Actually, it's kind of exciting."
"Right? You get to indulge your love of teaching with your girlfriend. Which wouldn't have been okay three years ago."
"Don't remind me. Although we probably never would have gotten to this point if you'd taken my class in high school."
"Come on, Mr. Broward, you can't say that for certain." Mark covers his face with one hand and Jenny laughs brightly. "One of these days you're going to let me do the naughty schoolgirl thing."
"No, I am not. That would just make me feel like a dirty old man. I don't get why you want to play up our age difference."
"It's not the age difference thing, it's not the fact that you're actually a teacher, it's just that... naughty schoolgirl is fun and sexy. I would still want to play naughty schoolgirl if you were my age. Or probably even if I was your age." Jenny pouts a little. "I just think it's hot."
"It would be hot, that's why it's probably a bad idea," Mark argues, but he has the distinct feeling that not only is he fighting a losing battle, but he kind of wants to lose this one. It feels like a line he shouldn't cross, but Jenny's very convincing when there's something she wants, and this is not the first time she's brought the subject up.
"I don't think there's anything wrong with it. We're both adults, you're not dumb enough to get roleplay and reality mixed up, and I was never actually one of your students so it's not even like you're belatedly doing something you shouldn't." Jenny looks over, blue eyes michievous, then focuses on the road again. "But if you're really morally opposed to it, we don't have to."
"I wouldn't say that," Mark hedges, and Jenny's grin is a sharp-edged thing. "You're a little bit evil, Jennifer."
"Only a little bit? I'm not trying hard enough, clearly," she says. "Don't act like you didn't know I was trouble from the very start."
"Oh, I figured it out pretty quickly."
"To be fair, the only thing I ever lied to you about was my age... hey, Providence is coming up, we should stop for dinner."
"I think there's a good Japanese restaurant there," Mark says. Jenny hands him her phone-- no point concealing the directions when he's already figured out where they're going.
"The Urbanspoon app is on the second screen, see what you can find." He pokes at it while she gets off the highway, and by the time they've figured out both where to eat and how to get there, they've both let the topic drop-- but it's lingering in both their minds, Jenny's gleefully, Mark's somewhat apprehensively. Before they go into the restaurant, Jenny goes up on her tiptoes and kisses him sweetly. "You do trust me, right?" she asks.
"Yes. Absolutely," he says, and she beams up at him.
"Good. I promise you're going to enjoy this weekend."