“How did you flunk gym?” Jack asked. “I didn’t think that was even possible.”
“It wasn’t my fault! He told us we could pick our activities one day, and my friends and I decided we’d just toss a ball around, and he came over and was likeLess talk and more work, ladies, I want to see those butts moving, and when he turned around, one of my friends flipped him a bird behind his back.”
“That doesn’t explain very much, Jen. I feel like you’re leaving out some essential details.”
“Fine, so we were all laughing afterward, and I acted like I was going to throw the ball at him, but it slipped out of my hand and hit him in the head. I didn’t do it on purpose! My hands were sweaty!”
“Wait—you haven’t made a single successful pass this entire game, but you nearly decapitated your teacher? Amazing!” Jack was laughing, and I might have joined him if the two other guys hadn’t come over. But I wasn’t in the mood to have all three guys making fun of me. Thankfully, despite his occasional fits of the giggles, Jack kept the story to himself.
That evening, Lana was having a party, and I’d agreed to go with Naya and Will. Sue had said she’d had enough of Lana to last a lifetime and was staying in. Jack, well… Jack’s reasons for not going were obvious. He couldn’t take the risk of running into people he used to get high with. I respected that. It had to be hard, and why let himself be tempted? Still, I felt bad, looking at him lying there on the bed with his laptop propped up on a pillow, and I asked, “Are you sure you don’t want me to stay?”
It must have been the fifth time, and again, he gave me the same answer: “Go, Jen. Go have fun.”
He was watching something, and he only ever looked up to see what I had on. I ended up choosing a pink spaghetti strap dress that hung to just above my knees. I thought it was cute. It had been a gift from Spencer, but I was pretty sure Shannon must have picked it out, since he had no taste and always got her to do his shopping for him.
“What do you think?” I asked him, my hands on my hips.
Jack’s neck stretched out like a turtle’s. In his tank top and cotton shorts—his summer pajamas—he grinned. I took that to mean heapproved. But then he stopped me: “I’m not sure…maybe you should walk back and forth a little bit so I can get a better idea of how it fits…”
“Is it too short?” I asked.
“Is it ever too short?”
“Jack, I’m serious.”
“It’s perfect, Jen. You look amazing. I don’t know who gave it to you, but if they were here, I’d kiss them.”
“How do you know I didn’t pick it out?”
“Jen, let’s get real. I’ve seen the clothes you wear to school.” There was no point in arguing. He was right: T-shirts and shorts, sweatshirts and jeans, that was pretty much all I ever donned of my own free will.
I looked at myself in the mirror and pulled my hair back into a ponytail. It was weird to me that Jack wasn’t jealous—that he wasn’t worried some guy would see me dressed that way and try something. Maybe that was my issue, though. Maybe I was so used to a guy trying to control me that I didn’t realize the normal thing was to trust someone, accept that they cared about you, and let both people be free.
With my bag in my hand and a thin jacket draped over my arm, I bent over and kissed him on the lips. He kissed back, but he was reading an email on his phone as he did it.
“See you soon,” I told him.
“Have fun, Mushu.”
I flipped him a bird, putting my hand in front of his screen so I could make sure he’d seen it.
Naya and Will were in the living room waiting. Thankfully, she had already gone through her routine of hysterically pulling everything out of her closet while we were off playing basketball. For the first time in history, we wouldn’t be late. Will asked if I was ready.
“Ready,” I replied, then looked over at Sue, who was grunting as she tried to read some book. “See you later, loser,” I told her.
I had the feeling she might have exaggerated her dislike of Lana. She probably did want to come to the party, but she felt someone should stay behind to keep Jack company. Sue was sweet in that way, even if she would never admit it.
“Sure. Try not to die,” she replied to me, but then added, in a more pleasant voice, “Seriously, though. If anything cool happens, tell me.”
Naya and Will barely looked at each other the whole drive. Things hadn’t gotten better between them, and it was causing issues in the apartment. I didn’t know if they were arguing, if they had finally made a decision, or if they were just going to pretend it wasn’t happening.
For weeks now, Will had been telling her they needed to figure out what they were going to do. And Naya would always clam up, saying she had to think about it. Will would remind her that if they were having a kid, they’d need to get a bigger apartment, but whenever they looked at one, she always found something to object to. Will moved heaven and earth to make peace with her, but she was constantly snapping at him, crying, walking out of the room for no apparent reason.
It was uncomfortable, but I wasn’t about to make it worse by getting in the middle of it. Naya had rarely been at a loss for words, so I was sure that sooner or later, everything would come out.
We arrived at the huge sorority house and walked up the stairway, which looked like something out of a Greek temple. It was early, but people were still roaming around, walking in and out, sitting on the steps with their drinks. We followed the music to the ballroom, which was lit up by sparkling lights that changed from green to pink to blue. Some corny song was playing, but everyone was excited about it, jumping up and down and shouting out the lyrics, which they knew by heart.
It seemed like the vibes were good, but that quickly changed when we went to the kitchen for drinks. Will reached into an ice bucket and pulled out two beers. Naya tried to grab one, but Will passed it to me instead.
