Vanessa jumps a little when she hears the buzzer. He was here. Now or never. She stands up and presses the intercom button. "Come on up, Jake," she says softly into the speaker. Part of her was nervous about him coming to see her again, like she had actually begun to care about him, but the other part of her was sublimely happy that he didn't say no or just blow her off when she had invited him over. She brain was fighting over how to react when she actually did see him.

Vanessa stands in front of the door and sighs before opening it widely, giving Jake one of her classic small smiles of indifference. "Hey, good to see you again," she says as she stands out of the way of the door, letting him in, immediately regretting inviting him at all. She didn't even know what she could say to him about the last time, hoping that he would just bring it up first.

Vanessa immediately gives him a real smile when he tells her that her cooking smells good. Maybe things wouldn't be so awkward after all. She would be okay with that, if they had the ability to just move on and not mention that awkward morning after. "Oh, thanks. It's nothing weird this time, I promise," she says with a laugh, remembering when she fed him her sandwiches. "It's chicken marinara. Really good, I promise." She starts to walk towards the table, the food already set out for them. "I, um... wanted to apologize for last time." She surprised herself by suddenly opening with that line. She didn't think she even had the guts to bring it up so suddenly.

As sits down in the chair that he pulls out for her, smiling. She meant for the evening to feel casual, but now that they were acting so polite around each other - a first, since their relationship usually hung on catty remarks and sarcastic observations - she suddenly felt under-dressed and like she should light some candles. "Yeah, they are," she says back softly when he calls the morning after awkward. She was glad that they was all that was needed to be said before they did anything else. "Not that I didn't enjoy the night before," she adds slightly, giving him a small smile before cutting into her chicken.

"Yeah, it's... fine, I guess," Vanessa says back when Jake apologizes for not calling. If she really thought about it, that's what hurt her the most. Not how awkward the next morning was or how uncomfortable she felt about it, but the fact that Jake didn't even call her to see if everything was okay afterwards. "I wouldn't really have known what to say either." She figures that it was probably best that they talk about it this way instead. She puts the bites of chicken in her mouth and slowly chews as she thinks.

"I mean it, it's fine, don't worry about it," Vanessa says back in that womanly way when she just isn't in the mood to actually talk about something that upset her. She shifted in her chair a little, the bangles on her wrists jingling as she does. She looks up at him, pausing for a moment when he says that he liked her. That was different. They had never admitted to liking each other before. And the way that he used passed tense made her wonder if he still liked her. "What do you mean by that?" She asks, not wanting to wonder about it for the rest of the meal. "That you liked me. What does that mean?"

Vanessa looks down at her foot, moving it around with her fork as she thinks about what Jake just said. "The feeling is mutual," she says softly, a small grin on her face. She stands up from the table and goes to get some wine from their pantry and two wine glasses. She pour wine into both of them, immediately drinks all of one glass and then refills it. She comes back with the two and hands the one that she didn't drink out of to Jake. She sits back down, not really sure what to say next. "I, um. I like you, too," she says, feeling like she needs to clarify herself. "You're an asshole, but you're cute, and I enjoy being with you."

"I doubt it will be the last either," Vanessa says back when Jake admits that it's not the first time that he's been called an asshole. She takes a bite of chicken and smiles, seeing that they're back to their normal, bitchy back-and-forth. "When are you going to make me dinner, Jake?" She asks as she takes another bite.

"That's very commendable of you, Jake. I would nominated you for canonization if I wasn't sure you weren't already," Vanessa says back with a smirk, but a smile. She shakes her head. "No, I don't want you to take me out, I want you to make dinner for me. I want you to take me to where you live and make me dinner."

"No, that's going to be the fun of it!" Vanessa protests, taking a sip of her wine as she grins. "See, I think that you owe me. You've come over to my house and I've cooked you dinner - twice now - and we've had sex in my bed - I think two or three times that night - so now I'm starting to feel like my apartment is just old hat, and you need to take me to yours." She giggles, her eyes peering at Jake from over her wine glass as she takes another sip, wanting to see what his reaction is going to be.