Looking After You

(33) Ages: 20 & 17

Ages: 20 & 17

“What do you mean someone else showed up?” Keira screamed from the other end of the phone as James paced his small apartment. He had failed to change out of his tux from earlier, but he was far more of a disheveled mess than when he had started out the night.

“So, you didn’t send someone to pick her up?”

“What?! No, of course not! Why would I do that?”

“I don’t know.” James shrugged hopelessly. “To teach me a lesson or something?”

Silence occupied their conversation a second and James rolled his eyes after picturing Keira pondering over that one in amusement. “Not a bad idea. But I promise I wasn’t behind her mystery date.” Keira’s voice softened. “I’m really sorry, James.”

Without warning, the door of James’ apartment flew open and Jenny came barreling through with a determined and tortured expression. “Jameson Jenson, what the hell is wrong with you?!”

He stared back at her with his mouth slightly opened in shock and mentally digested her mismatched clothes along with her smudged mascara and the black converse shoes beneath her elegant prom dress. Without removing her eyes from Jenny, he mumbled quickly into the phone. “I have to go.” Tossing the phone onto the couch behind him, he waited for Jenny to speak because there was no doubt in his mind she was going to.

“You are unbelievable, you know that?”

Under the circumstances, James still managed a pathetic joke and similar smirk. “I’m guessing I’m not supposed to take that as a compliment?”

Shortening the gap between them, Jenny stepped forward and shoved the crumpled letter to his chest. He slowly pulled it to eye level and Jenny watched as he gulped back the fear and memory of everything he had written.

“No bullshit, no excuses about how you were drunk or how I somehow took those words to mean something more than what they do. Tell me, right now, Jameson, what the hell is going on in your head or I swear we are through.” She moved her arms from side to side as more tears poured down her face. “I’m serious because I can’t do this anymore. I can’t take being pulled back and forth like some rag doll and I don’t honestly believe that you would ever play me like this unless there was a really, really good explanation so...” She paused a moment and just stared back at him, absorbing every flicker of light in his eyes. “You’re turn.”

His mouth parted slightly after what seemed like an eternity for Jenny. Words were what James wanted to form but instead all he could find was the strength to shake his head from side to side.

“God almighty, Jameson!” Jenny exclaimed, tossing her hands in the air. “Do you want me to leave? Do you want this friendship to be over?” She continued taking short steps forward as he shook his head with every question. Lifting her hands, she placed them on either side of James’ face. Their bodies were touching now and Jenny could feel how fast his heart was beating, keeping rhythm with hers. “For just this one, small moment in time – for the sake of my sanity, forget every single other person in this world for just one minute and tell me," her voice broke, "what do you want?”

He stared back at her silently a moment as everything boiled to the surface, begging to come out. Lifting his hands to hers, he gently pulled her hands from his face and lowered them to his chest. Maybe keeping hold of her hands meant that she wouldn’t disappear, that maybe the moment wasn’t all in his head. “There are a lot of things I want,” James cleared his throat after realizing the rise in emotions had produced a scratchy throat. “But I am fairly certain that I have never wanted anything more than I want you.”