Red Shoes, Black Coffee (Red & Black #2)

16 | Ten numbers

Jed

"So where's the handsome, disgustingly rich New Yorker you promised to send me?" Mae's voice is light with laughter. "I'm still waiting for him, you know."

I chuckle. "I still haven't found anyone worthy of you."

"No one is worthy of me." I imagine her pout. "I just want a hot piece of ass."

I laugh. I can't help it. Mae has always had that power on me, right up from the first day of high school when she leaned in to me during History and asked whether I thought he looked like an egg.

Mr. Gormes heard it. We both ended up in detention that day. Have been friends ever since.

And truth be told, Mr. Gormes really looked like an egg. He was bold, pale, and wore white shirts. And pointing it out was worthy of sorting through all of the history files he was too lazy to read himself.

"I'm sorry I don't go around checking out guys' asses." I tell her. "But I'm sure you do it for the both of us."

She snorts. "You betcha."

I grin, throwing my head back against the armrest. I'm stretched out on my couch, with my feet propped up on its back. This is the very same couch I found Ada sleeping on over a week ago, which reminds me...

"Hey, I didn't find your knight in shining armour but guess who else I bumped into?"

Or rather she me. Literally.

"Jennifer Anniston?"

"Close. Ada Dearg."

"No shit!"

"She came to the coffee house I work in." I say. "She studies at Julliard, Mae."

The wave of pride I feel whenever I think about it is still there.

"I know." Mae cajoles. "I was there when she signed her application form and sealed the envelope."

A pang of regret pierces my chest. It should have been me. I should have gone to her to the post office when she threw the letter to the box. I should have been the first person who heard her perform her audition song. I should have gone with her to the auditions, kissed her good luck.

And maybe I would have. If only she had called me.

"So, did you guys talk?" Mae's voice snaps me out of my thoughts. She sounds excited about the fact Ada and I met. Suddenly, I miss her more than ever. I'd like her to be here, to see the two of us.

So did Ada and I talk? Excluding that one time Carla forced us to by locking us in my apartment? "Not really."

"What?" I hear the springs in her bed groan when she, most probably, sits up abruptly. "Why?"

I shrug, then remember she can't see me. I sigh. Phone calls suck.

"Dunno. I say."She's not very... eager to talk to me."

"Not very eager?" Makena repeats, incredulity filling her voice. "What, did she just ignore you and pretend you're not there just like she did when you two first met?"

"Sort of." I admit. "Only this time, it's worse. At least she wasn't afraid to mix me with mud back then. Now she's all about nodding and making polite comments. She's-" I pause. "She's not the same anymore." I finish weakly.

"That bitch." Mae snaps. I can almost see her sitting there, with her jaw wide open like always when she's appalled by something. "Hang on. I'm going to call her and get her mind to start working properly once more. We're getting our Ada back, Jay."