Jonah stood up and took the shirt. “Thanks. Wish me luck.”
I shook my head and flipped open an anatomy textbook, not seeing the words or diagrams. I had no idea how I felt. That part of my brain, the part that identified emotions, wasn’t well developed. I knew, as a baby, I’d cried and my mother hadn’t always come. She hadn’t always smiled at me. She hadn’t always talked to me. Max and Jackson and Claire had kind of known what to do and when Marie was there, I’d clung to her and started to understand what to do when I felt certain things.
Nameless things.
I closed my book. No point sitting here getting nothing done. I needed to be around people, talk, smile, laugh.
Maybe find someone to make smile.
* * *
I never heardfrom Jonah once he and Wren had split up. I hadn’t seen much of him since the end of our third year. He loved Wren; the two of them were inseparable for about eighteen months, but then things changed, as they always did.
“What are you thinking?” She topped up my champagne glass. We’d started a trend with most of the crew having a glass or two.
“About Jonah.”
She looked away.
“Why?”
“Because sometimes I do. Have you heard from him?”
Wren shook her head. “No. I’m friends with him on Facebook.”
“How is he?”
“Married. He met a guy. You know how it goes…” She turned to me and gave me a wry smile.
I smiled back. “I’m glad he’s happy.”
“Me too. We both shat on him from a great height really.”
“Not intentionally.”
“I know. Are you single?”
My smile grew wider. “Why are you asking?”
“Polite conversation. We’re sitting next to each other in a dangerous tin can for the next eight hours.”
“I’m single.”
“Have you had more than three dates with the same woman yet?”
I had to think. “No. I don’t think so. Not like consecutive dates.”
“I saw you in a magazine with some model. I was in a hair salon, reading through some trashy weekly and there you were. I spluttered coffee everywhere.”
“I was her arm candy. Nothing more.”
She raised an eyebrow.
I shrugged.
“What about you? Single?”
“Just about. I was seeing someone until we got here. I ended it over the phone.”
