by K. Aten
Jamie shook her head. “Uh, no. Lindy and I never dated. We hung out for a while, that was all.”
Tam scoffed. “She told everyone you were dating. She also mentioned that you broke her heart when you dumped her and were out with someone else the following weekend.”
“Knock it off, Tam!” Jenn stepped close to her overprotective friend. “Clearly Lindy was lying because I was there the night Jamie told her that she only wanted to be friends, that she wasn’t interested in dating anyone.”
“But—” She was interrupted by the soft voice of her wife.
“Tam.” All three of them turned to Shell and she shook her head at Tam. “Let it go. You know Kelsey has been going through some stuff lately and you also know she can fight her own battles.” She glanced at Jamie. “Jamie here is good people.” She held up a hand to forestall Tam’s protest otherwise. “No, you have always listened to too many rumors. Jenn says she’s one of her best friends and Jenn is one of mine. Let it go.”
Tam looked at Jamie, then back at her wife and wisely let it go. “Sorry, Jamie, I shouldn’t have judged you based on gossip.”
Jamie shrugged. “Its fine, everyone does.” Then she turned and headed for the front door herself, gently shoving her way through the crowd.
Jenn hung her head for a second and let out a big sigh, then she looked up at her friends. “Looks like I have to go. I’ll come back if I can.”
She turned to leave but was stopped by a hand on her arm.
Shell looked at her in concern. “Will you text later and let me know what’s going on?”
The black woman grimaced. “As much as I can. I mean, it’s not really my business. But my friend is hurting and I also happen to be her ride so, eh. We’ll see.”
Shell nodded. “Fair enough. Drive safe, Jenn.” Tam just nodded.
Jenn found Jamie sitting in the passenger seat of her car. She got in, put on her seatbelt, and noticed that the other woman was already wearing hers. Making a quick decision, she grabbed her cell phone out of her purse and sent off a quick text message. Jamie glanced over at her when it rang a minute later. Jenn didn’t say anything about the incoming text, she simply started the car and backed out of the driveway. “I’m taking you home.”
Jamie looked at her smart watch. It was a little after seven. “Are you mad at me?”
With a quick glance at her passenger, Jenn turned her eyes back to the road. “I’m not mad at all. I just think you need to get some rest and maybe put some ice on that lip. I’m going to drop you off and that’s what you’re gonna do, doctor’s orders, all right?”
She got a sad look in return. “You’re not even going to come up with me? You are mad. I’m sorry I made you leave the party, Jenn, sorry for embarrassing you.”
Jenn nearly rear-ended the car in front of her when she heard Jamie’s words and cut a sharp look to the other woman. “Now where in the world did you get that idea? I’m not embarrassed at all. And I’m not mad at you, freak! I’m going over to hang out with Kelsey for a while.”
“What?” Jamie’s head whipped around. “How do you know where Kelsey lives?”
Jenn chuckled and shrugged as she pulled up in front of Jamie’s condo. “I’m friends with her too, you know. And she’s been teaching me to knit!”
Jamie snorted. “With her cats?”
“They certainly don’t help us. The one is a real demon!”
“So you’re choosing her over me?”
Jenn socked her in the shoulder. “You’re so dense sometimes! No, I’m going over there because I think she could use a friend right now that she can talk with objectively. And I will be sure to let her know that while you act like you’ve been dropped on your head a few too many times as a baby, that you’re really good people. Okay?” The blonde nodded and unclasped her seatbelt. “Get some rest, James.”
Jamie nodded and opened the door. She leveled a serious gaze at Jenn. “Text me tomorrow, okay?”
Jenn smiled at her. “Of course!”
KELSEY’S APARTMENT WAS less than ten minutes away, even after making a quick stop at the grocery store. Jenn arrived at her door with a plastic bag in one hand and a six-pack of bottles in the other. Kelsey took in the groceries and the woman outside her door. “What’s this? I thought you said you were bringing dinner.”
“So I did.” Jenn smiled at her and walked in, careful to avoid stepping on nosy felines as she made her way to the dining room table. It was a small apartment, so the kitchen overlooked the tiny dining room space, which overlooked the living room. Typical setup for an apartment complex dwelling. There was a short hallway that led to the bathroom and bedroom.
The Irish-Latina peeked in the bag. “I don’t think beer goes with ice cream, Jenn.”
Jenn smirked. “I’m positive it doesn’t. Look again.”
Kelsey pulled out a bottle and started laughing at the pale colored liquid. “Cream soda! I haven’t had that in years! I love cream soda. What else do you have?” She started rifling through Jenn’s grocery bag while the other woman took off her shoes and left them by the door. “Gummy bears and microwave popcorn! Ooh, and its dark chocolate and cherry ice cream!” She looked up at her friend. “Are we having a girls’ night?”
Jenn nodded. “We are definitely having a girls’ night!”
“Squee!”
The black woman raised an eyebrow at her. “Did you just ‘squee’?”
“Maybe.”
She got laughter in return. “You’re a hard duck to pin down, Kels. I can’t seem to put you in a box, you know?”
Kelsey shrugged and grabbed a couple of spoons out of the kitchen drawer. She found two bottle cozies and popped the caps off a cream soda for each of them, then led the way into the living room. “I don’t really like to be put into a box. That’s not who I am. I’m not a label and I hate when people try to define me!”
Jenn held up her hands. “Hey, I get it. And nobody is trying to define you here. I was just making an observation. You’re not the only person I know who feels that way.” Kelsey held up a movie and Jenn gave her a thumbs up, so she put it in the DVD player. The black woman laughed. “Anticiiiiiiipation! The movie never goes out of style! You ever see it live?”
Kelsey shook her head no. “What do you mean live? Like a musical?”
“Oh, girl, no! Seriously Kels? You’ve never seen it at the theater with a live cast?” She got another shake of the head. “Wow. You have to go. There is a theater about forty-five minutes away that plays the movie once a month and has a live cast to accompany it. My cousin and I go a few times a year. We should get a group of people together. It would be a blast!”
“Sounds like fun.” She put the movie in and they both settled onto the couch with spoons and their pints of ice cream. Kelsey took a bite then pointed her spoon at her friend. “This is not even remotely healthy!”
“A little ice cream is not gonna kill you. Live a little, Kels!”
Kelsey laughed. “Some doctor you are!”
Jenn started laughing too. “Hey, I’m a pediatrician, what do you expect from me?”
“Oh, I don’t know, the bedside manner of something other than a cranky iguana?”
The pediatrician snorted. “If you’re a ten-year-old I have a great bedside manner. Now where the hell did you come up with that? Can iguanas even be cranky?”
Kelsey shrugged. “Who knows? I have cats for a reason.” She took another bite of ice cream, slowly sucking it from the spoon as a pair of giant lips and teeth took up her TV screen. “So who else doesn’t like to be put into a box?”
“Huh?”
“You said I wasn’t the only one you knew who didn’t like labels. Who else do you know like that? Because I feel like most people seem content with this label or that. It drives me nuts.”
Jenn gave her a look, measuring the impact of her next few words, then decided to just go with it. “Me, for one. But the person I was really talking about was James. She hates labels and to be fair she do
es seem to defy them. She’s another one that’s hard to pin down.”
“I don’t want to talk about Jamie.”
Jenn gazed at her honesty, ice cream momentarily forgotten and slowly melting in the container. “Why not?”
“You know why!”
The pushy woman shrugged. “Actually, I don’t know why. I know you stormed out of the party, and she was really upset. Did she say something to you?”
Kelsey sighed. “No, she didn’t say anything to upset me.”
“Did she do anything?”
The other woman didn’t answer because she wasn’t sure how to answer. She knew she had been having feelings for her driving app buddy, but she also knew that there was no hope of a relationship with the other woman. Jamie was just Jamie, and Kelsey was looking for someone she could settle down with, not a playmate. She shrugged. “I just saw something that bothered me. It’s no big deal.”
Jenn arched an eyebrow her way. “Really?”
“I think it bothers me more that I was even upset about it.”
“You’re going to have to elaborate because I’m kinda in the dark here.” Jenn took another bite of her melting ice cream and waited.
“I was in the back yard when you both got to the party. When I walked back into the house I saw Jamie kissing some redhead named Cory.”
“Tori.” Kelsey gave her a look and she elaborated. “She’s an old friend of mine from college and has had the hots for Jamie for years. But go on.” She waved for her friend to continue.
“Anyway, from the way they were talking I gather that Tori is someone that she’s been sleeping with. And Jamie has mentioned more than once how she hasn’t slept with anyone in months. I just don’t like to be lied to, or mislead.”
Jenn looked at her knowingly. “You’re not the only one, my dear. What if I told you that Jamie didn’t lie to you? If I said she hasn’t played around for nearly three months? How do you feel about the two of them kissing? Does it still bother you?”
Kelsey thought about the scene that played out in her head. The exact point when all she saw was Jamie’s lips on those of another. She was forced to give the real and honest reason for why she was so upset. “It still bothers me.”
“Why does it bother you, if y’all are just friends?”
Kelsey scowled. “You know why!”
Movement out of the corner of her eye prompted Jenn to grab the spray bottle and hose down Pierre before he could get any closer to her cream soda bottle. “Ah ha! I got you, little asshole!”
That cut a little of the serious mood and Kelsey chuckled. “Nice shot.”
Jenn blew on the barrel of the spray bottle and set it back on the end table. “Thanks! Now answer the question.”
Kelsey grumbled at her. “Jesus, woman, you’re so pushy!”
“You know it!”
Kelsey stared into the ice cream container, as if the collection of cherry pieces and dark chocolate chunks held the answer to all her woes. “Fine! It’s because I like her, okay? But you don’t have to worry, I know the score with her and I’m happy to just be her friend.”
Jenn’s gaze was gentle as she put a hand on Kelsey’s knee. “If it were anyone else, I’d agree with them. But since it’s you, I’m going to say you’re wrong.”
Dark green eyes stared back in confusion. “What do you mean? Jamie is Jamie. You and I both know how she is. She’s told me the stories herself!”
“Kels, Jamie has only told you stories of who she used to be, not of who she is becoming.”
Kelsey blew out a frustrated breath. “But what does that even mean?”
Jenn shrugged. “Truthfully? I’m not completely sure. I know that someone from her past hurt her, and she’s never really moved on from it. But that’s only what I’ve put together myself. I’ve never actually heard her say that though because she refuses to talk about that part of her life with anyone. I know that she’s been unhappy for a while and has started making changes over the past few months to be a better person.”
“She told me a little about her past. The person who hurt her was her first girlfriend, I believe. And she may be changing and turning over a new leaf as she calls it, but you and I know that Jamie isn’t dateable.”
Jenn shook her head. “The old Jamie wasn’t dateable. I know she has her scars, but I truly believe that she’s changing and finally moving forward. I also believe that if a woman were patient, they would see that Jamie is someone worth waiting for.”
Kelsey placed the half empty pint on the coffee table and took a drink of her cream soda before answering. “The problem is, I have my own scars. And they’re the reason I can’t take a chance on someone like Jamie. She’s one of the sweetest and funniest people I’ve ever met, and she’s been a great friend, but that’s all it’s ever going to be between us. Okay?”
Jenn watched her to gauge the other woman for resoluteness. She found exactly what she expected to see staring back at her with resigned green eyes. “Okay.” Then she set her ice cream on the table next to Kelsey’s and stood up. “Now, if you’ll please turn up the music, my song is gonna come on and we need space to dance to the Time Warp!”
AFTER JENN DROPPED her off, Jamie did exactly as promised. She went upstairs and drank down two glasses of water, peed, then came back to pour another glass. Then she made an ice pack with a Ziploc baggie full of crushed ice from her fridge. She took the water and icepack into the living room and settled into her recliner to chill, literally. She didn’t even put the television on, because she was just too tired to watch. Her thoughts raced with newly realized feelings for her friend.
In all their conversations and teasing, Kelsey had never once told Jamie if she found her attractive. She had never once mentioned any kind of interest in her at all. Clearly she wasn’t interested in that way, and it made Jamie’s chest ache to think about it. She couldn’t help wondering why Kelsey was so angry then. She thought through the puzzle logically, or at least as much as her brain could handle. She thought back to the scene in the kitchen and pictured what Kelsey had walked in on. If Kelsey wasn’t jealous, then what prompted her anger and hurt? Especially since Jamie had told her that she hadn’t slept with anyone in months. Tori’s words came back to haunt her.
“Yum, you taste sweet! Just like old times, huh?”
The redhead’s words made it obvious that the two had slept together and Kelsey would have no idea when that occurred. “She thought I lied to her!” Jamie winced as her split lip protested her declaration. She realized then that Kelsey was not interested in her and that she probably would never be after the scene in the kitchen. Exhaustion rolled over her all at once and eventually she reclined all the way back in the chair and fell asleep.
Chapter Eleven
JAMIE WOKE CHILLED. The collar of her shirt was damp where the forgotten ice pack had rested all night. She had a kink in her neck and the sun was cutting a swath through the French doors, right across her eyes. Other than a faint headache, she seemed no worse for wear from her Bloody Mary binge the day before. Clearly all the excess water she drank the previous night did the trick. It also meant her bladder was screaming at her. She picked up her cell phone and made a face at the early hour. “Too early, going back to bed.” She set the Ziploc bag of water in the sink and hung the towel to dry, poured herself some fresh water, then went upstairs to pee and catch a few more hours of sleep from the comfort of her bed. Before drifting off again she checked for messages from Jenn or Kelsey and was disappointed to see nothing. She woke almost three hours later feeling significantly better. The swelling had gone down in her lip but it was still tender. She checked her phone again and saw she had a message from Jenn. Relief washed through her at her friend’s words.
She’s not mad at you. She thought you were lying when you said you hadn’t been sleeping with anyone.
Jamie grinned ruefully and messaged back.
Figured that out on my own.
Well aren’t you just the genius. Too bad that br
ain didn’t kick in before you decided to drink all afternoon.
A couple of seconds later another text came in.
How’s the head?
She rolled her eyes.
My head is fine. Followed the doc’s orders and drank lots of water. Neck hurts from sleeping in the recliner most of the night though
James. *sigh*
What?
I love ya, but sometimes you’re a real idiot.<3
Jamie snorted aloud but knew her friend was right.
Yeah, I know. Thanks for taking care of me last night.
She thought for a second then sent another text.
How did you know I was drunk yesterday before you showed up?
Your spelling & grammar were terrible and you werel acking some serious punctuation. And you are a freak about those things.
She scowled as she stood in front of her armoire deciding what to wear after her shower. She didn’t feel like working out. She just wanted to be clean. Finally she texted back.
Whatever! You are just as bad!
She set the phone on top while she opened the cabinet and dug out a sports bra and brief set, soft white ankle socks, a pair of running shorts and a soft t-shirt. Her phone vibrated and she smiled as she read the incoming text.
Not like you tho
It vibrated again as she was getting ready to go shower.
Gotta go J. Heading for yoga to work off last night. We’ll talk later.
Bye, and have fun!
Jamie wanted to know what Jenn did the night before that she felt she needed to work it off. She looked at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. Was she drinking? Not getting an answer from her reflection, and knowing that Jenn wouldn’t tell her, she shrugged and jumped into the shower. Clean and dressed, Jamie finally broke down and texted Kelsey.