fanfic: Just Friends by k71

Chapter 5

The last day of training finally arrived for Rick and Lisa. Rick had spent most
of the previous day with Lisa, so he had not had time to ask around about Jeff.
He decided he would get to work early on Friday and see if he could ask some of
the other guys from Jeff’s quadrant about him.

He managed to corner another captain and a lieutenant who had worked with Jeff
for the last year. It seems all three men had been stationed in the
southernmost part of South America when Dolza attacked, thus surviving the
devastation of “The Rain”. Both men said he was a really nice guy. He was a
bit of a lady’s man, but seemed to be slowing down in that area lately. The
captain said Jeff had even told him he was sick of dating around and was ready
to settle down if he could find the right girl.

On a professional level, he was a popular officer with several accommodations
for bravery under fire and a newly acquired medal-of-honor for rescuing a group
of civilians from a recent Zentradi raid. He was a career military man from a
long line of career military men and women. Overall, the two men couldn’t say
enough good things about him. This information should have made Rick happy, but
it didn’t.

“There’s got to SOMETHING wrong with this guy,” Rick thought. With this
information in mind, he headed toward the lecture hall to find Lisa.

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Lisa had arrived early to work, as usual, but today she sat in her office lost
in thought. She and Rick had again enjoyed dinner together the night before.
Usually their dinners together amounted to eating in the mess hall or going to
the diner or coffee shop. But now they had two nice dinners, at nice
restaurants, two nights in a row. It almost felt like they were, well,
“dating”.

Lisa blushed just thinking about “dating” Rick. That would be a dream, she
thought. But that was a dream she better not bank on, at least for now. She
wanted so much for Rick to understand how much she cared for him. She new she
was in love with him. She had experienced crushes before-albeit back when she
was in her teens- and this was NOT a crush. She truly loved him, but could not
bring herself to tell him.

What if she did tell him? “He would run as far from me as his legs would take
him,” Lisa thought sadly, “and then I would lose his friendship for good.”

She simply could not take that risk now that she and Rick were developing such a
close relationship. It was like they were best friends. They kept in touch
almost every day. Sometimes, he would call her late at night or come over to
her quarters just to talk or watch a movie. They had a great time together.
Lisa valued every second they spent together, taking in every detail of him.
She loved everything about him.

Even though she was content, for now to enjoy their friendship, she still held a
secret hope that the friendship would one day blossom into romance. She knew a
lot of people on base already thought they were an item, and she found herself
not doing anything to deter that rumor.

Then Lisa smiled as she remembered the day she had bumped into Rick at the
kitchen store. The saleswoman there had actually thought they were a couple!
Lisa had been embarrassed, but secretly thrilled by that comment.

“Oh, if only she were right!” Lisa said dreamily to the empty office, “that we
could be a couple one day.”

She thought about her so-called “admirer” that Claudia was teasing her about.
She still wasn’t convinced anyone was interested in her, especially Jeff. She
had decided that he really was good looking, “If you liked the rugged, chiseled
types,” she thought with a laugh. He also seemed nice and very intelligent.
Why would he be interested in her?

She hadn’t had an offer for a date in so long; she didn’t remember what it felt
like. Would she even consider going out with another man? Why would she? If
she were to go out with someone, wouldn’t she just be stringing the guy along?
She tried to picture herself on a date and saw herself sitting there with the
guy, thinking about Rick the whole time.

Besides, she had decided Claudia was crazy thinking Jeff was interested in her.
If she even had an admirer at all, it was probably one of those geeky guys from
IT. There were several of them who gawked at her and the rest of the bridge
crew whenever they came up to the bridge to do computer maintenance.

She cut off that train of thought as she realized the time. “I’m going to be
late!” Lisa thought suddenly, “I’ve got to stop this daydreaming before it
gets me into trouble!”

She gathered her notes and headed quickly toward the conference room.

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She arrived at the meeting just as it was starting. Rick saw her come in and
waved her over to a seat he had been saving for her. Later, Rick and Lisa both
gave their final presentations and were more than ready to break for lunch.

On the other side of the room, Jeff had been watching Lisa nervously all
morning. He had wanted to catch her before the meetings and ask her to dinner,
but she had gotten there at the last minute. He decided he would try to take
the plunge at the lunch break.

When they adjourned for lunch, Rick again turned to Lisa and quickly suggested
they have a working lunch in her office again. Lisa agreed, surprised again at
Rick’s enthusiasm for catching up on reports.

Just as they were about to leave, Rick noticed Jeff making his way toward them.
Unfortunately for Jeff, the lecture hall was full and by the time he got to Rick
and Lisa’s seats, they had already gone out the door.

“Damn, this is even harder than I thought!” Jeff said to himself, “I knew it
would be hard to win her over, but I didn’t think it would be this hard just to
catch up with her!”

Claudia had been sitting at the back of the lecture hall, having arrived only to
catch the last presentation. Like Rick, she had also done some checking up on
Captain Wilson, with similar results. She also found he was a popular officer.
She also found out about his medal and accommodations and that he was from a
military family. The man she spoke with even thought Jeff’s father had served
with Henry Gloval in the civil war. Jeff also was certainly very handsome and
seemed intelligent and friendly.

Claudia supposed Jeff could be the perfect man for her love-starved friend.
From the outside, Lisa and Jeff seemed to be a great match. But Claudia could
not picture them together. She had to admit that even she had trouble picturing
Lisa with anyone but Rick.

Of course, from the outside Rick and Lisa looked like a train wreck waiting to
happen. Especially the way they could go at each other sometimes. Unless you
knew both of them as Claudia did, then the attraction was easy to understand.

“Still a shame she’ll never give him a chance,” Claudia thought as she watched
Jeff, looking frustrated near the hall exit, “but it’s too late now, Lisa is way
too hung up on Rick Hunter to even consider dating anyone else.”

“Oh well,” Claudia thought, running her hand through her tight curls, “hopefully
the Hayes-Hunter story will turn out for the best.”

Not that she didn’t believe that Lisa and Rick belonged together, but it
wouldn’t hurt for Lisa to shop around a little while she was waiting on Rick to
wake up to that fact! “Besides”, she thought mischievously, “maybe a little
competition is what Mr. Hunter needs to help him wake up!” Claudia gave one
last look to Jeff and left the room.

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After lunch, the meetings continued endlessly. Lisa thought the last few hours
of class would go on forever. Rick was the last lecturer of the day. At least
the time went by a little faster for Lisa when she was able to admire Rick at
the podium. At the end of his presentation, Rick adjourned the meeting for the
day.

As Rick gathered his notes, several pilots from the Ontario region approached
him on the stage and began asking various questions related to his presentation.
Rick answered all the questions politely, although nervously, as he watched Lisa
get up from her seat and Jeff approach her quickly from his seat.

Lisa had watched the pilots corner Rick on the stage and knew she would be there
for a while waiting on him. As she stood up to stretch, she was surprised to see
Jeff approach her.

“Hi Lisa!” Jeff said in his usual cheery tone, “How are you?”

“Oh, fine Jeff,” Lisa replied, “Glad all this is over for me, actually.”

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Jeff said as he looked at her and then looked at the floor.
He forced himself to look her directly in the eyes, took a deep breath and said,
“Look, I know you’re a busy person, but I’ve really enjoyed meeting you this
week. I was just wondering if you would be interested in having dinner with me
tonight. I would really like to get to know you better.”

Lisa practically gaped at Jeff. She stood in front of him silently for what
seemed like an eternity to both of them before she finally spoke.

“Oh, I’m flattered, Jeff,” Lisa began hesitantly, “but I already have plans for
tonight. I’m sorry.” Lisa started to add ‘maybe some other time’, but thought
better of it.

“Sure, I understand. Of course a beautiful woman would already have plans for a
Friday night. I should have asked sooner.”

Lisa found she was blushing and couldn’t stop.

“I really do appreciate the offer, but my plans are with a good friend and we’ve
had plans for some time and I…”

“Oh, no, really, I understand. Maybe I can look you up sometime after I move to
Monument?” Jeff asked hopefully, thinking that her blushing was only making her
more attractive.

“Oh, please do. I’ll be around here, as always,” Lisa replied, smiling.

“Great. Look, I won’t keep you any longer. Again, it was a pleasure to meet
you.”

“You too, Jeff. Bye. Take care,” Lisa replied shyly. She tried to look Jeff in
the eye, but she couldn’t seem to stop looking at her own feet.

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“I can’t believe he really asked me out!” Lisa thought with amazement. She
wondered what she would have said to him if she didn’t have plans that night.
She also wondered what she would do if he called her later. “I’ll cross that
bridge when I come to it,” she thought.

Lisa looked up to watch him leave and then tuned around to find herself face to
face with an angry Claudia Grant. “What are you DOING!” Claudia asked in a
huff.

“What?” said Lisa knowing full well what Claudia was referring to.

“Why didn’t you just go out with him? It’s just dinner.”

“I have plans,” Lisa said defensively.

“What plans?” Claudia asked, putting her hands on her hips.

“I can’t say. What does it matter? I just have plans with a friend, that’s
all.”

“With Rick?”

“No, as matter of fact, it’s not with Rick. I do have other friends besides you
and Rick, you know.”

Claudia raised her hands in mock disgust. “Fine, be secretive. But I really
think you should have given the guy a chance. He seemed so nice,” Claudia said
as she placed her arm around Lisa’s shoulder, giving her a gentle shake.

“I know, but I REALLY DO have plans and then there’s the whole thing with
Rick…it’s complicated,” Lisa said, looking Claudia in the eyes.

“It’s not that complicated, it’s just DINNER,” Claudia said, exasperated, “OK,
whatever, have fun with your ‘plans’. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“OK, I’ll call you,”

As Lisa said goodbye to Claudia, Rick had finally gotten away from his friendly
admirers and made his way over to Lisa. He had seen Jeff talking to her. He had
also noticed the look she had given him. That shy, blushing look that made her
whole face glow like an angel. The look she always gave him when they were
sharing intimate feelings or when she was embarrassed. Sometimes he would
embarrass her on purpose just to get that look. When he saw that sexy look
directed at another man, he felt emotions curse through him that he could not
begin to name.

Rick approached Lisa quickly. He had to control himself to keep from being
frantic. It took all his control to play it cool by the time he reached Lisa.

“Hey Lisa, I saw Captain Wilson over here, what did he want?” Rick asked,
trying not to sound too suspicious.

“Oh…uh…nothing,” Lisa said. She was a little embarrassed by Jeff’s attention
and couldn’t bring herself to tell Rick that Jeff had asked her out. Besides,
Rick was acting like he was annoyed with the guy.

“He was just saying goodbye,” Lisa said, looking into Rick’s eyes. In those
eyes she saw disbelief and something else. Was Rick jealous of Jeff?

“Huh. Well, OK, as long as he wasn’t bothering you.” Rick noticed she was
nervous and wanted to know why.

“No, why do you say that? I thought you liked the guy,” Lisa said.

“He’s OK, I guess. There’s just something about him I don’t fully trust.”

“Oh, I think he seems nice.”

“Well…” Rick began, than thought better of continuing, “he’s gone now, so it
doesn’t matter.” Rick looked around for a moment as if verifying that Jeff had
indeed left the room, then turned back to Lisa, “Hey, do you want to grab
dinner, again?”

“Oh, I’m sorry Rick, but I have plans.”

“Oh,” Rick’s heart began beating wildly, “Uh, what are you up to this evening?”
Rick asked although he wasn’t sure he wanted the answer.

“Um…not much, I just made plans with a friend. I’d love to go to dinner with
you, but I’ve already made a commitment. Maybe tomorrow?”

“Yeah, great,” Rick said hesitantly.

“Well, I’ll call you tomorrow, OK? I have to go, I’m late,” Lisa said. She
couldn’t believe the disappointment she saw in his eyes.

“OK,” Rick answered dejectedly.

Authors note: Sorry, Sorry, I just could NOT let Lisa go out with another man.
She belongs to Rick. But I will make sure Rick suffers a little more before I
finish this story.