Jen's eyes widened in surprise. She had already noticed that Jim seemed far more observant than you'd given him credit for, but also because he cared about her even though they'd barely gotten to know each other over the course of a single lunch break. She then smile and lowered him down a little...
"Huh?" Jim was caught off-guard by the sudden movement but he quickly caught on to what was happening "Hey, wait!" He said just as Jen was bringing him closer to her lips.
"Hmm? What's wrong?" Jen asked with an innocent, slightly confused look.
"Best not to kiss me" Jim said, blushing noticeably but surprisingly keeping his cool otherwise.
"I mean, you might fall in love with me instead and I just can't do that to my bro" He then said, looking away while chuckling awkwardly but Jen sensed that in spite of presenting it in a joking manner, there was a measure of truth in his words.
"Oh? Are you sure it's not the other way around?" She teased and giggled when she heard him gulp in response.
"Either way the result's just as bad" He said. Jen giggled cutely again and carefully turned her finger so that he wasn't facing her lips, but instead his side was and then she gave him quick but no less massive kiss.
"Last time I checked kissing a Lillie from the side is fine too" She said.
"Huh, you did your homework" Jim noted, slightly surprised. He had observed earlier that when she handled you she seemed to have a good idea on what she was doing, compared to Brobs that'd never seen or interacted with a Lillie before.
"I thought we were the first Lillies you met though"
Jen couldn't help but blush in response, she had gotten caught. She wasn't that embarrassed about being knowledgeable on Lillies thanks to Zuemy in itself but it had carried a negative connotation among her fellow Brobs for so long that she felt somewhat ashamed 'by reflex'.
"You are!" She said, a bit more defensively than she would've liked before she remembered that Jim wasn't like the Brob girls that judge her and her friends for it.
"Sorry, I mean, you are the first Lillies I've met for real but... yeah, I did some research and got some practice even" She chuckled embarrassedly.
"Practice?" Jim scratched his head.
"Yeah... you see, there are these dolls that are life-sized replicas of Lillies, they're used to help teach us how to handle them with care, and to get used to their size" Jen confessed and then glanced down at her cleavage.
"The dolls are also used to, um... test our bodies, if you catch my drift"
"Wow, I never knew someone made stuff like that but I can see why they would. It makes sense with all the government jazz about integration and whatnot" Jim said. He couldn't help but bleed from the nose a little, as the mental image of Jen sticking a Lillie-sized doll down her cleavage was far too vivid.
"But please don't tell anyone, specially not Blaise" Jen then said somewhat pleadingly.
"Why would I?" Jim asked almost in a deadpan tone "Besides, with Blaise you don't have to worry about that, dude's sturdy as hell"
"Huh?" Jen got speechless for a moment. Definitely not the kind of answer that she was expecting and his other statement only caught her further off-guard "Wait a minute, what was that?"
"Hmm? Oh! I just said that I have no reason to embarrass you before him since we're on the same team" Jim responded.
"No, not that... well, actually yeah. But I was asking about the other thing you said" Jen said with a somewhat puzzled look.
"That he's sturdy?" Jim repeated slowly and then his own eyes widened in shock 'Oh shit!' He thought, quietly panicking for a moment. He remembered the trick you taught him to quickly calm down and so, he took deep breaths and held them in for several seconds, then slowly breathed out to calm his nerves.
"I mean, all of us Lillies are pretty sturdy for our size" He said, chuckling nervously but Jen couldn't help but feel that there was more to it.
"I dunno, you made it sound like Blaise's even sturdier than most Lillies" Jen said, remembering the things Zuemy told her before about how peculiar your surname and nationality were for a Lillie.
"It's nothing really. He's stronger than most think but he doesn't like to show off. He's usually holding back in PE because he doesn't like to get the attention. Just that... he's just a bit taller than most Lillies and I guess his mom fed him well as a kid" He explained with another chuckle, hoping that he was able to sell it decently enough. Jen narrowed her eyes at him, suspecting that there was still something he wasn't telling her but she decided not to press things further and so, she simply nodded.
"Anyway, like I was saying... I thought we were on the same team" Jim said "I mean I'm Blaise's best bud and you want to make him your boyfriend, right? That means we're on the same side"
"Y-Yeah, we are! I thought you wouldn't trust me that much too easily" This time it was Jen's turn to laugh a bit awkwardly.
"I saw how you carried him, and how you defended him from that bitch Chrissy. I also saw how protective you're of him already. As far as I know, all that is plenty of proof that you're good" Jim shrugged "So, hey... just for the record, we good?"
"Hmm?" Jen raised an eyebrow at the sudden question "Yeah, of course. Why do you ask though?"
"Look, I already told you what I think of you but at the same time, I feel I need to ask. I need to actually hear it from you" Jim said, taking a deep breath before continuing.
"Do... do you actually want Blaise for who he is? Or is it just the novelty of a Lillie bf?"
Jen quietly gasped. She should've expected this question from your best friend, yet she was surprised to hear it. Coming to think of it, her own friends at some point might ask you similar questions, though her own situation is a tad more complicated, with Lillian also going after your affections.
"Sorry, didn't mean to be rude but I feel I need to hear it" Jim said.
"No, no, you're right. It's perfectly okay for you to ask that, it's your best friend after all" Jen smiled.
"Yeah" Jim chuckled "You know... it's not just that. You see, Blaise's probably kind of a guy that you won't easily find many like him in this day and age. He's smart but he's, well, you've seen it, he's still kinda innocent in a way that not many of the rest of us guys are. I probably shouldn't tell you this but I trust you: He's never had a gf before and so, if you're going to be his first and hopefully only, I have to make sure... I'd never forgive myself if I pushed him into the arms of someone only for her to pick up his little heart and smash it to pieces"
This time, Jen's pupils were the ones to widen. She wasn't even offended at the question because she could imagine her own friends asking you more or less the same kind of thing. She slowly nodded while waiting for the mild trembling in her mouth to wear off to avoid stuttering too much.
"I like him" She replied "I may not have met many Lillies yet but I already knew in my heart that I wanted him when I saw him for the first time" She added and then blushed again.
"Hey... is it bad if I say I like him even more after I learned he's Mexican?" She asked quietly with a bit of a nervous giggle.
"That depends, you got a fetish for spicy latinos or something? There's not that many others but if that's the case I might be worried some other guy might win your attention" Jim said in a mock-serious tone, crossing his arms.
"No!" Jen blushed even harder in obvious embarrassment "I mean, I already thought he was cute when I saw him, even more so when I first talked to him. But I do really love all about Mexico and finding out he's from there is just a bonus, like a cherry on top, you know? It feels like it's even more perfect"
"Alright, alright, relax!" Jim nodded and laughed a little.
"I get it. No, it's not bad. In fact, I think it's pretty good. That means you understand at least some of their culture, right?" He asked and Jen nodded in response.
"Then, I probably don't need to tell you this but whatever, you probably already know that it's not just him you need to worry about"
"Huh, what?" Jen raised an eyebrow.
"His mom. It's not just making him fall head-over-hells for you, you know? You need to gain his mom's approval too. Probably a good idea to ask for her blessing or permission before you even try to start dating him"
"Oh... yeah, I knew that" Jen giggled. She tried to picture her, imagining that it'd be a Lillie lady bearing at least some resemblance to you, probably in her 40's or even 50's, likely a stern one, yet sweet with her own son and probably fiercely protective of him. She could see why such a mom might not approve of her dear son dating a girl a thousand times his height, she'd have to work extra hard to earn the lady's trust before even thinking of asking you out.
'But how am I gonna convince a strict, protective Lillie mom that I'm not gonna squash her son, or use him as a toy?' She wondered, knowing to some extent that many Lillies didn't have a positive opinion of Brobs, and so, logic dictated that your mom probably wouldn't want you dating someone so huge.
"Hey, just for the record... everything we're talking about stays between us, right?" She then said. She didn't think Jim would be the sort of guy to snitch but just as he said earlier, Jen herself felt the need to hear it from him.
"Sure" Jim said "Not a word about this conversation to anyone... don't worry, I shall swear this upon my mother's grave" He said in a surprisingly serious-sounding tone. Both the tone and the words themselves caught Jen off-guard once more but she thought he was just being overdramatic like before.
"No need for the excess drama" Jen chuckled "Careful about that sort of joke though" She then said.
"Huh? What joke? I wasn't joking" Jim blinked twice in confusion before he spoke and only then Jen paused, her own eyes widening in panic as the realization hit her like a bucket of ice water.
"Wait, what?"
"Yeah, that wasn't a joke" Jim chuckled, realizing what had just happened.
"My mom passed away a very long time ago, she was a victim of the GBL-Virus, one of the last waves"
"Oh... shit...I'm so sorry" Jen now felt even more stupid than before, unsure how to reply to that.
