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‘We’ll see,’ I say, closing the door and locking all three locks: knob, deadbolt, chain. I can’t risk any more visitors at this point.
‘I’m so sorry!’ Jade says. ‘I totally just made that worse because I was lost for words, starstruck, and confused, so I think I will go. Running away always helps in these situations.’
As she gathers her things and heads my way towards the door, I grab her hand. ‘Jade, I really do like you. More than I expected. But I can’t make a move until I know you’re available, and I will leave that up to you. Absolutely no pressure.’
She laughs nervously. ‘Yeah, no pressure. Alright. Well, I’ve got some things to sleep on today, don’t I.’
‘Call me later?’ I ask, hopeful she isn’t going to leave my apartment and run for the fucking hills after all this.
‘Of course,’ she promises as she exits my building, only glancing back once. As soon as I close the door, I hunt down my phone and dial my sister’s number.
‘Hey, dork,’ Hollyn answers.
‘I’m going to drive you out into the middle of nowhere, cover you in peanut butter, and drop you off for the wildlife to consume.’
She laughs nervously. ‘You’re homicidal, alright. May I ask why?’
‘Mom stopped by,’ I say flatly as I walk to my room, dropping onto my bed and staring at the ceiling. Jade’s coconut shampoo is lingering on my pillow and I don’t hate it.
‘Right… I may have had something to do with that. Sorry, but what’s the deal? Are you suddenly engaged? To Jade? I thought she already had a fiancé. Also, why would Caitlin stop by Mom’s for a visit after five years? Did something happen? That’s not your baby is it?’
‘It’s definitely not my baby. But yes, something did happen. I ran into the woman I’ve been avoiding for five years and had a stroke while Jade talked for me.’
‘You saw her? What did you guys talk about? Why didn’t you tell me?’
‘We talked about nothing because I hate her. All I could do was try to figure out an emergency exit. How do you not know that Caitlin’s not my favorite person on the planet, much like your ex, Professor Dickbag. We aren’t chatting it up in the grocery store. Now you’ve sent Mom here for answers at the worst possible time, Hols. I was with Jade the night I ran into Caitlin. She read the room and pretended to be my fiancée.’
‘Ohhhhh. Fake engagement? Easily straightened out.’
‘Is it? Because having a crush on a girl who’s taken doesn’t feel easy to straighten out.’
‘You have a crush on Jade? Does she know?’
‘Yes, she knows. I’m pretty sure the feeling is mutual.’
‘Shoot. And Caitlin visited Mom to get the details because she thinks the engagement is real?’
‘Uh-huh.’
‘Oops.’
I hit the speaker button and lay the phone on my chest. ‘Oops? That’s your response? Oops, I spilled all the fucking tea to our invasive mother, who has probably already submitted a newspaper engagement announcement about a girl with a fiancé and me. I’m sure she’ll enjoy explaining that to her family. Not to mention Jade was here when Mom arrived this morning. They’ve now met, and Mom feels she’s the one “in her bones”. Thanks for that.’
Hollyn gasps. ‘She’s there? No way. Did you guys, boom-chicka-bow-wow or what? I can’t believe you’d do that with a girl with a boyfriend. That’s one of your rules. No cheating.’
‘The only thing I did last night was try to survive a nasty bout of food poisoning while Jade attempted to keep me alive. There was and will be no cheating. I swear to God, Hols if I could demote you to stepsister, I would.’
‘Well, you can’t, so ha. You better figure this out fast because Mom’s already scheduled a family dinner for tomorrow night, and if you don’t hurry, she’ll have your wedding planned by the end of the week. Trust me; she’s been trying to plan mine for months.’
I know she’s right, and the thought terrifies me. Poor Jade already realizes the world she knew just weeks ago is no longer. The last thing she needs is to deal with my psycho mother trying to marry me off.
21
JADE
I can’t believe I met Penny Candy and had no words! Well, I did have words, but they were all wrong based on River’s reaction. She’s so pretty, so bubbly, and loves River very much. But I’m confused about how she looks just like she used to. She’s got to be in her sixties by now. God, my mom would have fainted. Then I lied to her, probably making everything worse for River, but I didn’t know what else to do. I was starstruck in a way I’ve never experienced, and now I have to sleep it off because I am absolutely exhausted and don’t want to think about everything I need to think about, including dumping Conner, which obviously I’m going to have to do. Love shouldn’t feel like this. I just don’t know how to do it. I’ve never dumped someone before.
Hours later, the smell of something wonderfully familiar wakes me from my deep sleep – a sleep filled with dreams of River and me. When I say dreams, I mean sex dreams. That’s right. I’m probably going straight to hell, considering I’m taken and dreaming about doing another guy. What even brought it on, besides our subtle flirting, which I consider harmless because I don’t plan on having sex with him? God, how could this happen? Rarely do I have sex dreams, never even about Conner. What does it mean? And what is that smell?
