AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Ooh, who is Alexis?” Jade asks.
“Just a friend,” Seth says at the same time I say, “The love of his life.”
“Shut up,” Seth says and shoves my shoulder, jostling me.
“Excuse me, I’m working here,” Jade says.
I open my eyes in time to watch her shoo him off.
“But tell me more about your friend who you love.”
“I dolikeher, but she doesn’t know that, and we’re just friends. She doesn’t see me like that, and it’s fine. I like being her friend.”
“Mm-hmm . . .” I make a noise that makes it clear that I don’t believe him, and that he doesn’t believe his own words and he knows it. Because I’ve seen the way he looks at her. And I’ve seen the way she doesn’t even notice. She’s completely oblivious to his feelings. I have a feeling it’s not “fine” he’s in the friend zone. But he won’t admit it, so I try not to be too pushy about it.
“Well, have fun with yourfriend,” Jade says, and I fight a smile.
Seth leaves, and Jade continues to work on my face, dabbing and dragging a brush across it. Now that we’re alone again, I’m itching to touch her, but the moment we had earlier is gone, and now I’m wondering if I’m the only one reading into these moments we keep sharing. Unless Jade likes me too . . .
My deduction skills are lacking when it comes to desire, but she seemed to like that kiss yesterday. And she stared at me a lot during the theater party . . . Does it mean something? Jade doesn’t seem to have a problem separating feelings from the physical, so maybe she just wants to hook up.
That thought bums me out a little considering my growing feelings for her, but I tuck it away for another day, because I don’t want this plaguing me during my lunch with Robert.
Sometimes I wish I could take my brain out of my skull and just have a break from myself.
“All right, I think it’s good,” Jade says. She steps back, observing her work.
I turn to look at myself in the mirror, and besides a little swelling and the general sense that something is off with my face, I can barely tell I had a bruise there at all. Jade has masterfully hidden it. I reach up to touch it, but she smacks my hand away.
“Damn, Jade, you are . . .”
“I know,” she says and starts to pack up her stuff.
I lean forward, studying my face. Even with the bright dressing-room lights, there’s no visible bruise. It’s really impressive. My admiration for her talent compounds. It’s obvious she takes the same kind of pride in her work that I do, and despite the many differences we have, this is something that connects us.
“Seriously, Jade. You’re really talented.”
I straighten and face her, but she’s still packing her things, so I tap her shoulder, and it has the desired effect. She turns her head to look at me. I take her chin and turn her head even more, so she has no choice but to fully face me. I imagine brushing my lips against hers, and the thought of it sounds so good, like ice-cold water on an August afternoon, that I give myself over to it.
It is the barest touch of our lips, and it holds the promise for more another time. I’d hoped this would satisfy me, but it’s only made me want more. And I can’t stay.
“I mean it,” I say, our lips inches apart, my voice thick with all the feelings for her I’m not saying out loud. “You’re incredible.”
“Thank you,” she says, and her voice is soft. Her green eyes are dark with the kind of vulnerability I don’t normally get to see from Jade. It creates the tiniest of cracks in my heart, which was already too soft to begin with.
Seeing these parts of Jade she works so hard to hide from the world . . . this is what does it for me. This is what makes me want Jade, even though I know we’re not right for each other. She doesn’t want to be married. She doesn’t want love.
And I still want her.
“Don’t you have to go?” Jade asks, breaking the spell.
I nod, trying to swallow around the lump in my throat. “I’ll see you later,” I say, and leave Jade in the dressing room.
Robert is waitingfor me in the lobby when I get to the playhouse. I wait for comments about the makeup or the bruise, but he makes no indication that anything is amiss. Plastered on his face is a big, friendly smile. It’s the smile of a man seeing a long-lost son.
Robert doesn’t have kids of his own, and he kind of became a second dad to me given how much time I spent in the theater as a teenager. He’s that way for all the theater kids at Red Barn Playhouse. He’s kind of a jolly, Santa-like man. He’s got a gray beard that hugs his face, and his cheeks are perpetually red, and I swear I’ve heard him “ho-ho-ho” a few times while he was laughing.
“Ian!” Robert holds up his arms like he’s preparing for a hug, which he is.
