“Nothing,” I barked. “Sorry.” I lowered my voice. “It’s not your fault. Just because Brian Anderson is a jerk doesn’t mean all guys are.”
“Did he hurt you?” Jackson unfolded his arms and leaned closer, concern tightening his features.
“Only my ego. That loser.”
“You sure? I could go over there and teach him a lesson, you being Sarah’s best friend and all.”
Bless Jackson. I always looked up to him like a big brother. Right now, I was having all kinds of thoughts that were nowhere near brotherly, though.
“No, it’s okay. He didn’t do anything that hurt me—physically, anyway. I made my point crystal clear to him. I don’t think he’ll be bothering me anytime soon.”
“Now, there has to be a story to that. Want to tell me?” He relaxed his stance, and the way his chest flexed as he leaned on the doorframe distracted me.
“Not really…” I felt my eyes well up. I was such a freak. I couldn’t believe I cared so much about a loser like Brian Anderson.
“Hey, don’t cry.” Jackson reached out to me. I felt a tear escape and roll down my cheek.
“Wait here for a sec while I grab my keys. We can hit the diner for a sundae. Doesn’t ice cream fix everything?”
Jackson gave me a tentative smile. His hand squeezed my shoulder gently, offering comfort. It didn’t do much to help my terrible mood. I didn’t know if it was my fragile state of mind or the hormones taking over, but I heard myself say, “Okay.” I got into Jackson’s car two minutes later.
JACKSON
“Tell me all about this dork, Brian Anderson.” I was eager to hear Jane’s story, but my mouth watered as I looked at the huge pile of chocolate ice cream smothered in syrup and cream sitting in front of me.
“I’ve had a crush on him for a few weeks now. He’s popular and on the football team.”
My stomach clenched. Brian Anderson was a punk. He made it a sport of dating the hottest chicks in school and then taking what he wanted before dumping them. I couldn’t believe a smart girl like Jane would fall for that player. Her tears earlier had me on edge. I wondered if I was going to have to go over there later tonight and teach that bonehead how to treat a lady.
Jane took a small taste of her dessert and smiled, calming my nerves.
That smile that set me at ease distracted me now. I always liked Jane. What was not to like? She was Sarah’s best friend. Always loyal, a quality I admired. And she was easy on the eyes. Even though she was a few years younger, I was still a guy, and we guys noticed these things. Like her hair, it was a deep shade of brown with natural highlights and waves that ran down her back. I was a sucker for long hair. But what stood out the most were her green eyes. They were a deep emerald I’d never seen on anyone but her. They were typically Jane.
She also had a sharp mind. Some girls that were hot, like Jane, came up blank. And I meant completely blank. Beyond makeup, the amount of calories in the salad dressing, or who was sleeping with whom, there wasn’t much else going on in their brains. This girl knew stuff. She always impressed me with her sharp wit.
Before I drooled all over my sundae, I cleared my throat. “Brian Anderson, how’d you pull that one with the folks?”
I remembered Jane’s parents’ rule: No dating until she turned sixteen. Being an only child made them crazy overprotective.
“You know my parents want me to focus on my studies. No dating will help me reach my goals.” She did a pretty good imitation of her dad. Jane was in Honors English, dedicated to her education. I could appreciate that.
“Technically, I was tutoring Brian. He asked me to help him with his English paper.” She tilted her head to the side, lifting her shoulders as if it were all good. I bet her dad hadn’t met Brian and didn’t know about the setup. No way would that fly. I really hated that tool. He was bad news. Before saying something stupid, I dug into my sundae with a vengeance.
“Tonight was our study date. He made it seem special. He even said the whole ‘It’s a date’ line.”
I heard her voice pick up on that last line. I checked her eyes for tears. I didn’t do tears.
“Okay.” I dragged out each letter. “What went wrong?”
Jane had barely touched her sundae.
“When I got to his house, he sat me down, gave me a drink, showed me his homework assignment, and then the doorbell rang.”
I shoved another spoonful of ice cream in my mouth and fought back a brain freeze.
“In walks Mindy Foster, his date for the night.”
I couldn’t help myself. I snorted. Not in the cool guy kind of way. Some of the cold cream shot up my nose, making me cringe. I had to give it to the jerk, he was a real butthead. He might have gotten away with his plan with any other girl, but not Jane.
“I know, right? He expected me to do his homework while he went out with Mindy. Can you believe it?”
Her indignation was cute. Her brow bunched up, and the frustrated pout begged me to claim those lips and kiss that frustration away. What the heck? Where did that thought come from? This was Jane.
“Wow!” is all I said. She was looking at me like I totally got her outrage, but really I was fantasizing about what Jane’s lips would taste like. Would they taste like the coconut smell I picked up off her earlier in the car, or would her lips be as sweet as the chocolate sundae?
Jackson, dude, snap out of it. I chastised myself.
“How did he think you would react?” I couldn’t believe he didn’t try to make a move on her himself.
“He knew about the no-dating rule.” She huffed. Honestly, she had no idea how lucky she was that rule scared the players off like it did. No one messed with Mr. Pierce. He was a great guy, don’t get me wrong. Heck, I’d known him my whole life, our family being tight like we were. But even I knew not to get on the wrong side of him.
“But wait for it. He was going to drive me home after his date with Mindy, so he couldn’t understand why I was upset about it. That punk.”
“What did you do?” I tried my best to wipe the smile off of my face, still distracted imagining those lips on mine.
“I did the only thing any self-respecting girl in my position would do,” she exclaimed. “I took the glass of water he gave me and dumped the whole thing right over him.”
I stared for a moment, and then burst out laughing. Her animated relaying and my reaction to it were causing a stir.
“I wish I could have seen his face.” I shook my head, forcing my mind back to the conversation and away from those tempting thoughts. “And Mindy’s,” I added, back on topic now.
“Well…I think I might have gotten Mindy sort of…kind of wet in the process of teaching Brian a well-deserved lesson.” Jane seemed to relax.
“You have quite a mean streak, Jane Pierce. I’ll give you that. No guy on the team will ever mess with you, that’s for sure.” I awarded Jane with one of my winning smiles and noticed her blush as she tucked her hair behind her ear.
This night had certainly taken a turn with Jane pounding on my door. Sitting here with her, I was really happy her date hadn’t worked out and that she was here with me instead.
Present Day
Hello - Martin Solveig
JANE
I was going to kill Sarah. I was really going to kill her! I kept repeating this like a mantra in my mind as I found myself in the high school auditorium Wednesday after school. Somehow, I got suckered into helping with the auditions for this year’s drama club play. Don’t get me wrong, I was all for the performing arts, and a huge fan of Romeo and Juliet, the chosen play this year. However, I wasn’t a huge fan of being cornered into something, especially assisting Mr. Graham Hamilton, our drama teacher.
“You spent junior year obsessing about this play. Nobody knows Romeo and Juliet better than you. You’re the perfect person to help,” Sarah defended when I tried to put up a fight.
She had a valid point. Although Sarah was my best friend, she was still the vice principal
, and this was her call, whether I liked it or not.
“You do know I don’t have time for this, right?” I challenged, even though I knew it wasn’t going to fly. You couldn’t blame a girl for trying, though.
Her constant ribbing of Graham being interested in me didn’t help, either. I was used to Sarah’s antics. I didn’t think much of it.
Not that there was anything wrong with Graham. His sandy brown hair had that disheveled messy look. It totally worked for him. And his eyes…a girl could get lost in those pools of chocolaty brown. Not me, though; I wasn’t ready to get lost in another guy’s eyes. But the other female teachers spent a good amount of time checking him out. I couldn’t blame them.
It was with trepidation that I took a seat next to Graham and plastered a smile on my face five minutes later. The sooner this was over, the better.
“Hi, Graham. Do you have the list of who will be auditioning?”
He already informed me that I was to show up and help him select the most suitable leads.
“Sure do.” He smiled and handed me a sheet of paper. “Apparently, we have a full afternoon ahead of us. This play has attracted quite a few interested pupils.”
“Wonderful,” I grumbled, unable to hide the sarcasm from my voice.
He looked over, confused. I tried to hide my foul mood with a forced smile. Not a wide one, in case Sarah was right and Graham was interested in me. I didn’t want him to get the wrong idea.
He called out the first Juliet candidate, and the long afternoon of auditioning started. After about an hour, my love for the play dwindled. After two hours, I wanted to strangle the next teenager that recited, “What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.”
Finally, after three hours, we had seen all the potentials, and the students were informed that the roles would be announced the next day. I had a good idea of who I thought should play the role of Romeo, Juliet, Mercutio, the Nurse, and Friar Laurence. I couldn’t wait to quickly hand my ideas over and head home.
“I wrote down my thoughts next to each name and put a circle around my favorites.” I stuffed the sheet in Graham’s hands and collected my things.
“Thanks, Jane. This looks great.” He glanced at it. “But I thought we could discuss this over dinner.” He shoved his free hand in his pocket, and his gaze darted to mine.
His request threw me off my game. I’d put Sarah’s subtle jokes this past week down as just that, jokes.
“Graham.” My voice wavered as I took in his bright face. “I need to pick up Emma. I promised my parents I would be back by dinnertime.” I shuffled around, shifting the strap of my bag from one shoulder to the other.
“That’s too bad. I would love to take you out some time.”
I was at a loss for words, and I wanted to kill Sarah even more.
“Graham, I’m not sure that would be a good idea.” His shoulders drooped, and his eyes lost their earlier spark. I hated being the cause of that. But I couldn’t shove the memory of David out of my mind. I was a married woman. Just because my husband died didn’t make me available.
“I understand, Jane. But it’s just dinner. Hey, if we’re feeling crazy, I might throw in one of Miss Mabel’s famous sundaes.” His invitation, although unexpected, sounded appealing. Not for me. I was still not ready to move on. If I were, Graham would be a great candidate.
“Thanks, Graham, but I really can’t.” With an awkward wave, I pushed past him and left, my stomach churning all the way home.
As I was ready to get into bed, my phone dinged.
Sarah: How’d the auditions go?
Jane: Great! Three long hours of the same scenes over and over. =(
Sarah: How’d it go with Graham?
Jane: Fine.
Sarah: Just fine?
Jane: He asked me out to dinner.
Sarah: HAHA… I told you. Serves you right!
Jane: How is any of this my fault??? A couple of jokes hardly count as proper warning.
Sarah: Aw, poor baby. It’ll do you good. Get out of your comfort zone.
Jane: Seriously?
Sarah: It’s time…
Jane: Don’t start!
Sarah: Or… You could always ask my hunky brother out? =)
Jane: Goodnight!
Sarah: Touchy, touchy! Only teasing.
Jane: Your teasing always ends up with me getting into trouble.
Sarah: Goodnight, Jane. Love you.
Jane: Love you 2. See you tomorrow!
JACKSON
After meeting with the main contractor and the plumber, everyone was up to speed with the latest changes for the extension of the new wing of the high school. The positioning of the drain piping was a concern. If that got messed up, we wouldn’t be able to connect to the existing drains. This would cause more work, meaning a higher cost.
This job wasn’t as complex as the work I’d done in Boston, but there I had a backup team to support me. Now I worked solo, doing all the paperwork, filing the right reports, setting up appointments, handling all of the calls. The flexibility was great, but it came tied to a lot of grunt work. The hours weren’t much different from my associate’s job. The difference was I didn’t have someone waiting for me at home.
As I walked to the parking lot to load up my plans and hard hat, I noticed Jane getting out of her car. I raised my hand to wave at her, but before she saw me, a guy walked over to talk to her.
I made my way over. I was interested to see who the guy with the confident swagger was. I also wanted to see Jane. After bumping into her the other day, I hadn’t been able to think of much else.
I couldn’t make out their conversation, but this guy seemed awfully familiar with Jane. The way he touched her arm, his hand lingering on her like he was used to touching her like that, had me picking up my pace. My shoulders bunched as I heard her chuckle at a joke he made. He leaned in closer, and I heard him say, “Jane, you’re fine.” Hiding her pink cheeks, she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and averted her gaze.
The movement caused our eyes to meet and lock. Her face darkened to a deeper shade. That simple act had me puffing out my chest and lengthening my stride. It settled some of my anxiety that this fool had caught her attention.
“Hey, Jackson.” Her voice sounded breathy. I wasn’t sure if I was to blame, or this dork was.
“Hey, Jane.” I surprised us both by leaning in for a quick hug. As I glanced over her shoulder, I sized this guy up and gave him the look. The one that said he better leave well enough alone.
“I better get going,” he said.
I had to give him credit. He took the hint and moved along.
“See you later, Graham.” Jane waved, but her focus returned to me.
“So, who’s that?” I tried for casualness, but the glint in Jane’s eye told me she wasn’t fooled. This woman knew me so well.
“That’s Graham, a colleague.”
“Huh. Seems like a nice guy.” The words sounded like a lie, even to my ears.
Jane smiled and shook her head. “You’ve always been so protective of me. I’d forgotten how that felt.” Now Jane sized me up, and her scrutiny made me squirm. Did she sense the real reason I disliked this guy?
“I better get going,” she said. “It’s bad form for the teacher to be late to class.”
Jane walked off but stopped and turned back. “Thanks for looking out for me, Jackson.”
It hit me that Jane always thought I had been looking out for her, but my intentions were never that altruistic. I might be as lost now as I was all those years ago.
Fifteen years earlier
Hanging by a Moment - Lifehouse
JANE
“’Bye Mom, ‘bye Dad.” I hung up the phone and rolled on my side to face Sarah, who was sprawled on her queen-size bed. Her vanity was littered with an array of nail polish and makeup containers, all of which we had tried on at some point this afternoon. The clutter was a stark contrast to her otherwise tidy room.
“How are the folks?” Sarah skimmed over the pages of the latest edition of Seventeen without looking up. Her long, dark almost-black hair was in a ponytail today. Her long lashes and those same baby blues like her brother made her a natural beauty.
“They’re fine. Enjoying the Hamptons and some time alone for their anniversary.” I was spending the weekend with the Wrights. I loved it there. It always felt like home, just more relaxed. Sarah’s parents were great.
“I guess the big twenty is special.” She turned another page and stopped to read over an article that caught her attention.
“So you sure this setup with Evan is going to work tonight?” I didn’t buy into Sarah’s brilliant idea of making Jackson jealous by sitting through a date with Evan. The guy was such a meathead, I didn’t understand why she would set me up with him. Plus, it wasn’t really a date. If her parents thought it was a date, they would tell my parents, so yeah, technically not a date. Sixteen couldn’t come soon enough!
“Jane.” She pinned me with a hard stare. “Situations like these call for forceful intervention.”
“What do you mean situations like these? Where are you getting this crap?”
“It says so right here: ‘If a person displays jealous feelings, then it’s fair to assume they have a love interest in the other. If they remain indifferent about the other’s actions, it’s fair to assume they don’t care about the other person in a romantic way.’”
“So if Jackson doesn’t respond, you’re telling me he doesn’t care?” My voice cracked on the last word, a knot forming in my stomach as that thought settled. I blinked, not wanting to mess up my mascara and blush.
“Jane, I don’t make up the rules, I just carry them out.” Sarah returned to the article. When I didn’t respond, she looked up.
“Hey.” She scooted closer. “Jackson likes you. I’ve seen the way he looks at you. He just needs a push in the right direction. And if it doesn’t work out, Evan is genuinely interested in you. He’s been begging Tom for weeks to set you two up.”
The Songs of You and Me Page 2