Junk Miles
Page 24
I didn’t roll my eyes at her, but it took a real effort. Then I saw Saxon come in with a breakfast-in-bed tray that we’d only ever used for Mother’s Day. Mom gave one last worried look and left.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Saxon asked quietly as he set the tray down over my legs. He put a napkin over my lap and pulled my desk chair next to my bed so he could sit near me.
“I’m recovering from pneumonia.” I took a sip of sweet, milky tea.
“You know that’s not what I’m talking about. Why would you have kept going to school when you were so sick? Why wouldn’t you go to the nurse? Are you an idiot?” He reached out and took my cup of hot tea when he noticed me wriggling to get into a better position to eat.
“I don’t know, Saxon.” I took a big, hungry bite of my second tart. “I just felt crazy. I was sick, so I guess I just wasn’t thinking straight.”
His mouth was pressed in a tight line.
“What? Geez, between you and my mother, I’m going to die of guilt before the fluid in my lungs does me in.” I ducked my head to see his face, and he looked up, defeat in his expression.
“That was crazy, Bren. Like big-time crazy, going to school like that,” he said lowly. Like he was admitting something.
“Okay?” I pushed the food away. “What are you getting at, Saxon? Just spit it out.”
“I’m saying that you weren’t going in everyday so you could keep up in government. And you weren’t going to see me, much as it hurts my ego to say it.” He got up and fiddled with my things, opening drawers and poking through my underwear, flipping up jewelry box lids, pawing through books, and it was just to use up nervous energy.
I knew where he was going, but I wanted him to come out and say it. Both because my saying it would illuminate my desperation (and I had been feeling pathetic enough lately) and because if he said it, it meant he was worried about it. And if he was worried about it, it meant there was a chance it might all work out.
Which would hurt Saxon deep down even though we’d agreed to just be friends. My heart ached.
“What do you think I was going in for?” I blew on my hot tea, keeping my eyes on the gently rippling liquid.
He fished his fingers in a small glass bowl on my bookshelf and held Jake’s gold posey ring looped loosely around the tip of his index finger.
“I promised I’d fix it for you when we got back.” He leaned on my desk with one hip and threw the ring up in the air. He caught it with a quick flash of his hand, then did it again.
“I told you that was a stupid idea.” My heart dropped like an iron weight in my stomach. “I know you got him to drive me home from the Folly concert, but we’re just friends. He’s with Nikki now. I can respect what he wants.”
Saxon stopped fidgeting completely and the room suddenly felt too still. “When we were first back, and you called and came to my house. I thought we might end up together, even though I knew it was a long shot. And even though it was kind of a disaster, and has pretty much been a disaster every time I got together with you, I kept holding out hope that it would work. The other night, when we went out for sushi, and we were at your house, before, I knew that whatever pull he has on you, it’s his thing. I don’t have that. I can’t make you feel that way about me.” His eyes were completely black and flat. They looked resigned.
“You’ve been amazing. I really care about you. I’ve loved spending time with you, Saxon, and don’t be pissed when I tell you that I’ve loved being your friend. I feel like I know myself better now, since I’ve been with you.” I glanced up, but his eyes were too dark and pained to look into. I wanted him to know how much he meant to me, but I realized there was still just one thing he wanted to hear. And it broke my heart that there was no way I could say it. There was no way I could lie to him or myself anymore. “I’ve loved every minute of being with you.”
“Yeah, I’ve been a good teacher, right?” He broke his stillness, and threw and caught the ring. “Letting you see just a little of the dark side. Just enough to make you realize it’s something you want to stay far away from.”
“You aren’t on the dark side.” I rolled my eyes for him to see, just so he would think that I thought he was being melodramatic. “I like you the way you are. And I don’t regret any of it.”
“You’re doing that thing where you stick your chin up. I know what it means, Bren.” He took my hand and slid the ring back on. I had lost a few pounds being sick, so it was loose on my finger. “You’re trying to convince yourself of something when you know you’re full of crap.”
There was a light knock on my half open door. I sat up, expecting Mom, and saw Jake instead. My heart hammered.
“Hey, Bren.” His eyes were red-rimmed and darted nervously around the room, failing to focus on anything. He held a bouquet of flowers in his hand, pink and green and white. It was the brightest, freshest thing I had seen in days. “If you don’t want me here, I’ll leave.” He looked at Saxon and nodded. The two of them eyed each other warily, but it didn’t seem like there was any anger between them.
“I was just leaving.” Saxon got up.
“Don’t go.” I grabbed his wrist, and he looked down at my hand, then traced Jake’s posey ring with the tip of his index finger. The air in the room already crackled with tension.
He kissed my hand, leaned down, and said quietly enough that Jake couldn‘t hear, “The look on your face when he walks into the room? That’s love, Bren. I can’t compete with that no matter how many times I jerk you off in my car. I know why I worked for you. I’m glad it lasted while it did.” He kissed my cheek.
I grabbed his arm. I knew there was no way to make it right, but I felt the heavy lead of a guilty conscience on my shoulders. I hated that the way I acted brought Saxon pain. I wished I could take it all back. He was giving me a mocking look that tried to trick me into thinking he didn’t care. “You’re being a self-obsessed ass,” I hissed. “Stop being so melodramatic. Please stay.”
He kissed my cheek again, then turned and left.
And I was alone with Jake.
As much as it hurt when I saw the disappointment in Saxon’s eyes, I knew that every single thing he said was true. I did love Jake. I loved Jake Kelly, and if he was coming to tell me that there was a way for us to be together again, there wasn’t one fiber in my body that would be capable of resisting him.
I sat up straighter and tried to move the tray on my lap. I wasn’t necessarily looking for him to swoop in and help me, but I did want to see how he’d react and if things would still be cool between us.
He hurried over, grabbed the tray and lifted the whole heavy thing with an ease that reflected regular hard work. He put it down gently while I watched his muscles flex. He pointed to the chair uncertainly.
I nodded. “Sit down.” I reached over and ran my hands over the petals of the flowers, some of them already scattered lightly over my bedspread. “Are the flowers for me?”
He picked them up and placed them on my lap. “Of course.” He stared at them without really seeing them.
“Thank you.” I pulled them up to smell them.
“You’re welcome.” His voice was robotic. He sat and folded his hands awkwardly, seeming unsure what to do with them. “You were really sick,” he informed me, his voice shaky.
“No.” I shook my head. “I mean, I had pneumonia, but there weren’t any complications or anything. I’m fine.” If he was here because he thought I was at death’s door, then I didn‘t want it. It would be like having someone love you because he was under a love spell; you could never trust a contrived love like that.
“You look really bad.” He hung his head.
“Thanks a lot, Jake,” I teased, trying to figure out exactly why he was back in my room and how long it could possibly last.
“You know what I mean.” He looked up at me, his gray eyes stark and wild, his face so angry, I dropped the bouquet in surprise. “I wasn’t even around. If something had happened…”
“Yeah, about that.” He very slowly took my hand and ran his thumb over the posey ring Saxon had slid on. “You wanted to tell me why. That day you came to see me at Zinga’s.”
“You didn’t want to hear.” I stared at my hand in his and my heart fluttered. “When I came and saw you, you told me to get lost.” I furrowed my brow. “Now you want to know?”
“I was so damn mad at you, Brenna.” He stroked my hand with quick, soft touches. “And I still am. Kind of. Then you had to go and almost die. Like Kate Winslet in Sense and Sensibility.”
I smiled at his obvious attempt to butter me up, even if he was claiming to be pissed at me. “Marianne Dashwood,” I corrected. “Kate Winslet just played her in the movie.”
“Whatever,” he said good-naturedly. It was a huge relief to hear Jake’s voice with all the sweetness I was used to. “Anyway, you didn’t come to school, then Saxon called and told me, and I was freaking out.”
What? “Saxon told you?” I asked. Why?
“I was really pissed to hear from him at first, but he explained everything.” Jake’s gray eyes were calm, like we both knew perfectly well what he was talking about and that it was all good.
“What did Saxon explain?” My voice sounded far away and tinny in my ears.
“How you were still into me from the beginning,” Jake said with a shrug. “How you regretted everything. How you would be glad to get back together with me.” He licked his lips nervously. “And I knew it was what I wanted. I didn’t want to date some random girl. I want you. It’s always been you, Brenna.”
There was that moment that was a little golden gift, and everything sane and rational in me screamed that I should scoop it up and accept what Jake was offering.
But something about this was off. There was something I just couldn’t get a handle on. My just-recovered brain muddled confusedly through the words Jake had just spoken. Not the final ones that were kind of melting my heart in the background; the earlier ones, where he wiped the slate clean so easily it made my stomach clench.
“Jake, why did you take Saxon at his word?” I pulled my hand free of his.
He sat up straighter, his now-empty hands resting on his lap. “Why would he lie?”
“Why wouldn’t he?”
“So what he told me wasn’t the truth?” Jake asked, confused and just at the edge of hurt again.
And I wanted to apply the emergency brakes again and stop this train wreck that I was about to create. But what was the point of going through all of this heartache if I was right back where I started at the end of it all?
“It was Saxon’s version of the truth,” I explained. “And it was part of a deal he made with me.”
“What kind of deal?” Jake demanded.
I didn’t like his tone. I knew I had hurt him, but part of the reason I did what I did was because I wanted to be able to care about Saxon on my own terms, without Jake’s anger. And maybe I’d taken it way too far, but I didn’t regret getting to know Saxon better. I felt stronger for having been with Saxon, even if being together as a couple wasn’t right for us in the end. “An exchange. He felt like he’d helped ruin our relationship, so he decided to help fix it. I told him I didn’t think it would work.”
Jake looked up at me, his eyes wide with realization. “But it did work, didn’t it?” he said slowly. “I was so happy to hear him say what I wanted to hear, I never really thought about whether it was true. Or just more lies.” His face hardened a little and he stood. “Sorry Bren, but I can’t hear any more lies from you.”
If I wasn’t recovering from pneumonia, I would have been on my feet and staring him down in a fury. As it was, I had to make do with sitting and waving my arms around like a deranged angry woman. “I never lied,” I said fiercely. “You say you want the truth, but it seems to be the only thing you don’t want to listen to!”
That stopped him in his tracks. He came back and sat down. “Alright. What’s the truth?”
I had no idea where to start. What was the truth?
“The truth is that you put me on a pedestal.”
He frowned. “You say it like that was a bad thing.”
“It was.” I twisted the gold ring on my finger.
“For me to love you? For me to realize how amazing you are?” He shook his head. “Sorry if I fucked up by telling you that you’re important to me, Bren,” he added sarcastically.
“Loving me and idealizing me aren’t the same,” I said quietly.
“I didn’t idealize you,” he said, too quickly. He hadn’t even bothered to think about it.
“Yes, you did. You knew what I had done. Or hadn’t done. I guess that was pretty ideal in your mind. The virginal, pure girlfriend. But you thought that meant I would never mess up or make a wrong move.”
“Well, you’re smart. A lot smarter than me. When did thinking that become such an awful thing?” he demanded.
“That’s another thing.” I swallowed hard. “You put yourself down; it’s a habit, I know, but it says something about what you really think of me.”
“What do you mean?” He stared at me.
“If you’re such an idiot and I’m with you, what does that say about me?” I challenged. “Not much, right?”
“But that’s not how I mean it…” His eyebrows crashed low over his eyes.
“I know,” I interrupted. “But it’s only because you haven’t really thought about it. I always knew I’d mess up at some point. And it kind of felt like the longer we went with you telling me how terrible you were and how great I was, the more it would suck when we both faced the fact that that’s not true. And you being a loser and me being perfect are two huge lies. And each one is equally terrible in its own way.”
He didn’t say anything for a few minutes, which was totally to his credit. He was thinking. Granted, he was thinking for a few minutes about things I’d been obsessing over for months, but it was the first step.
When he finally opened his mouth, he snapped it closed again. I wanted to hear what he had to say, wanted to know if it had made any difference to him.
“What is true, Brenna?” he asked, his voice a little cracked.
“What’s true is that I thought about you every day. And I missed you so much it made me ache. And I wanted to see the pictures you posted. And I hated missing school because it meant not seeing you, so I went even when I had pneumonia.” I took a deep breath. “And what’s also true is that I tried really hard to make something work with Saxon. I really tried,” I added for emphasis. I could feel myself radiating a shameful red.
“Why didn’t it work?” Jake asked. “He’s smart. I mean, he’s like a genius. And he’s loyal, in a weird way. And he‘s good-looking, I guess. I mean, I know girls find him attractive. Or whatever.” He shook his head. “It’s pretty weird to be sitting in your room defending fucking Saxon of all people.”
“He is a genius.” I chose my words carefully. “He’s loyal, and it is weird. And I am attracted to him. He’s also caring and tries hard to do the right thing, whatever that means. To him.” I looked at Jake closely. “But he isn’t you. And that makes all the difference.”
“Why?” Jake’s voice sounded hopeful.
“Because it’s you I want. I’m not giving you a specific reason, because I honestly can’t. I just want you.” I shrugged, but my shoulders felt really heavy. It hadn’t been that long since we had been intertwined, our lives expanding and contracting in the same rhythm. Then we were apart, and I felt scattered, but I didn’t know for sure that Jake felt that way. I realized that his whole visit might have been fueled mostly by guilt.
But then he was leaned forward, his eyes bright. “You want me? You’re sure?”
I thought about all we’d been through and all everyone had said and all I’d wanted and missed and done. That all made a difference, but in the end, there was only one truth.
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“Yes,” I said. “I want you. I’m sure.”
Jake moved slowly next to me on the bed, then gathered me gently in his arms and crushed me, suddenly, against his body and held tight. “Jesus Christ, Brenna,” he said roughly. “This has been a crazy fucking few weeks.”
I put my arms around him and grabbed tight, balling my fists around his shirt in an effort to pull him closer to me. “You smell so good,” I choked out, breathing him in hard. “You feel so good.”
“I take it you missed me?” he asked, his adorably sweet smile back. And all for me.
I smiled back, but there was already a nagging fear in my too-busy brain. Jake and I were back together, back where we both needed to be, but this wasn’t going to just snap back to what it had been; and I knew I didn’t want that anyway. The truth was, we had both done things to inspire jealousy in each other, just because we wanted to. This relationship was not the same beast it had been when we both started dating, and I wasn’t sure what that meant for us.
Because I loved being Jake’s girlfriend. And I loved being free. I loved doing my own thing. I always felt like I had been doing that, but I wasn’t. I was doing what I thought made me a good girlfriend. I couldn’t just go back to that.
I also couldn’t just dump Jake and expect him to come back with open arms. There had to be a middle ground.
But in that moment, Jake’s eyes were looking at me hungrily. “I’ve really missed you.” He kissed me, just a warm dry kiss at first, then a set of small, teasing kisses, then deep, insistent kissing that opened me up the way only Jake ever had.
I knew now that it wasn’t what he did physically, because I had done it with someone else. It was his elemental taste, the way his tongue felt on mine, the sound of his voice when we pulled apart and he said my name. Every piece of it made me feel filled up and warmed over and home.
Which didn’t necessarily make sense. There was very little that Jake and I actually had in common. All I knew was that when I was with Jake, I felt calm. I felt at peace. I felt the exact way I’d felt the second I walked through the door of my home after being in another country. Paris was exotic and gorgeous and amazing; but there was only one place that would ever smell like home for me.