Between Boyfriends (Book 1 in the Between Boyfriends Series)

Chapter 3

The next two nights, Jan starred in a dramatic remake of Monday, except without the friends, the bar or the bathmat. The days weren't so hard, she had her hangovers to nurse and the sounds of people out and about kept her distracted, but the nights...

She spent each night alone in her apartment polishing off the rest of the amaretto Lisa had left her, along with several gallons of vodka. She spared glasses by drinking straight from the bottle and saved time by dragging her comforter into the bathroom and making up a bed for herself next to the toilet. She put her back to the wall and imagined someone was spooning her.

When Lisa stopped by Thursday morning to check on her, Jan had finally hit rock bottom. She realized that a weekend of crying was bad, but replacing dating with drinking was pathetic. Her only accomplishment was that she had not once drunk-dialed, drunk-texted, or even drunk-emailed the ex. Since the no-dating ban forbade calling Mike with the ulterior motive of manipulating a reunion, Jan had not been tempted to contact him.

The first words out of Lisa's mouth that morning when Jan opened the door were, "Oh my god are you all right?"

Jan sarcastically replied, "Good morning, Lisa. It's nice to see you too." Jan was in a foul mood. She had woken up on the wrong side of the bathroom floor. Her back ached from sleeping on the hard tile and her head was pounding from a hangover. She was definitely not in the mood for company.

"I'm sorry, but you look awful. Are you sure you're okay?" Lisa was studying Jan intently with the eyes of a medical student. She seemed to be considering calling 911.

"I'm fine." Jan wasn't fine. She knew it, Lisa knew it, even the bathroom floor knew it.

Lisa took a moment to formulate a response, then asked, "Should I get you a blanket or something? Maybe help you back to bed? You look exhausted."

"The comforter's in the bathroom," Jan replied without thinking. She flopped down onto her couch. The blanket would be a nice change. The leather couch was mighty cold.

Lisa gave her a strange look and went to fetch the blanket. A shriek of terror emitted from the bathroom. An animated Lisa came running out moments later as if being chased by a creditor. She was carrying Jan's pillow and comforter bundled up in a ball.

"Have you been sleeping in the bathroom?" Lisa asked with wide-eyed concern.

"Maybe," Jan said.

The conversation went downhill from there. Lisa threw the bundle dramatically at Jan's feet, threatened to call an emergency intervention, and insisted that Jan at the very least get out of the house. Jan was pleased that she had finally found something to shock Lisa out of her usual reticence.

Lisa's performance was eerily similar to the reaction she had gotten from Juan the day before. Jan figured hysterics were going around like the flu. As Lisa ranted and raved, Jan replayed the ordeal in her mind to distract her from herself from the lecture.

Jan hadn't bothered to make her appearance presentable before yesterday's class. She knew she looked horrible. Her hair was limp and lifeless under her hat. She couldn't make herself put on makeup. Her teeth felt filmy and gross. It had been a week since she'd used a whitening strip.

Without all the primping, Jan had made it to class on time. She had slumped into her seat next to Juan while foregoing her usual false optimism and had sat quietly as if on autopilot throughout the day. Anytime Juan asked how she was doing, she mumbled something unintelligible. He finally cornered her after class and demanded to know why she was acting so unlike herself. She told him that he was worrying over nothing and walked past him. Juan played with his hands for a moment and then, in a last-ditch effort to reach out to her, invited Jan over to "hang out and talk."