Someone Else's Fairytale (32 page)

I was thrilled that no one ordered dessert. Jason seemed ready to be done, so no one ordered coffee either. When I reached for my purse, he held up his hand and said, “Chloe, I got this.”

“Are you sure-”

He nodded. “Guys, we can use the side exit.”

“Thanks,” I said to Jason as I pushed back from the table. “I think I can use the normal person exit.”

“Rub it in,” said Don.

“Eh, let me walk you to your car,” said Jason.

I paused, unsure what to make of the offer. “Okay.”

Don and Rick exchanged looks. Well, Don never seemed to like anyone else getting attention from any female in the room. Rick I didn't know, but it looked the same for him. I let both of them go ahead of me, while I walked in front of Jason down the hall. We all turned to go out the side exit and stepped right out into a snow shower. Clumps of flakes floated down all around, landing in our hair and clinging to my eyelashes. I wrapped my shawl more tightly around myself and dug in my purse for my keys.

Jason put his hand on my arm. “Where's your car?”

I did my best to seem nonchalant and nodded in the appropriate direction. We set out and I waved good-bye to the other two guys.

“Bye, Chloe,” they each said in turn.

Jason's hand, on my arm, flinched.

“They seem nice,” I asked.

“Sure.” The word came out clipped.

All right, I thought. I'll get out of your world now. I get it.

The gravel had a layer of ice over it, so I focused on staying on my feet. High heels that I had not been broken in were not the ideal footwear for this. We made it to my car without being spotted, but a scream about thirty yards away let me know Don and/or Rick hadn't been so lucky.

I stepped up to the driver's side door and turned to Jason. “It was good to see you,” I said.

“Yeah.” He put his hands in his pockets and looked away. “You too.”

The appropriate thing to do would have been to shake his hand, or just say goodbye. This was it, after all, probably the last time I'd ever see him. Impulse took hold of me and I held out my arms.

He paused, then pulled me in for a rough, informal hug. One squeeze and he let go.

Only, I didn't.

Chloe, I thought. You are being an idiot. Still, it felt so good to hug him again. His toned muscles, the lotion scent of his skin. Okay, stop being a fangirl, I told myself. I made my muscles relax and released him. “Bye,” I said. I didn't look at him as I unlocked my door and climbed into my car.

He stood next to the door for a second longer, looking annoyed or confused, I couldn't tell which. I waved at him as I pulled out and he lifted his hand in reply. In my rearview mirror, I saw him head back towards the restaurant, a crowd of girls in hot pursuit.

Well, I thought on the drive home, you're stupid. Everything was going less than disastrously until you clung to him like that. The tears were flowing long before I pulled into my driveway. I dabbed at them with a tissue and smeared my eye makeup all over my face. I could have been worse, I reasoned. I could have done that in the restaurant.

Boy did I feel terrible. I went to the bathroom and washed my face twice. The water ran first black, then gray as the eyeliner and eyeshadow swirled away down the drain. When I looked at myself in the mirror, I just looked like me, with puffy, red eyes. I changed into a t-shirt and sweats.

And I was starving. The fridge was empty. The freezer still had that carton of gourmet ice cream in it. I rolled my eyes. I hadn't touched it and Lori had moved out before she'd eaten it, so it'd just sat there for two months. The thing was probably hard as a rock, and I needed to get rid of it. It would only remind me of Jason.

I picked it up and looked around. The kitchen garbage was out. It'd melt and go rancid. I had to take it outside, in the snow. I headed for the front door and opened it.

Jason stood on my doorstep. I had to stop short in order to not run into him.

“Hi,” I said. I hid the carton behind my back.

“Yeah, hi.” He still seemed distracted and annoyed. He pushed past me and stepped inside. Snow was melting in his hair and clung in little drifts on his jacket. His Prius, which had pulled up silently, was in the driveway. “I gotta ask you something, and then I'll leave you alone, for good. I promise.”

“Okay.” I shut the door behind us.

“So... yeah,” Jason said. He paced my living room.

My hand was going numb from holding the freezing container of ice cream, so I sidled on over to the counter and put it down. I tried to keep myself between him and it.

“One question,” he said.

“Okay.”

“It... you can blame my sister. I... she... I just spoke to her and...” He scrubbed his hands through his hair, wiping away the last of the snow.

I waited.

“Did the rules change?” he asked. “You know, between you and me? Would... would kissing be allowed now?”

My heart just about stopped.

“You know what? Never mind. Stupid question.” He turned to leave.

I had seconds before he stepped out the door and was gone for good. “Wait,” I said, only it came out as a whisper.
 
A mass the size of a grapefruit had formed in my throat. I coughed. “Jason,” I tried again.

“What?” He had his hand on the knob, but he turned to look at me.

“Yeah.” Saying the word felt like stepping off a cliff and going into free fall, plummeting without knowing if he was going to catch me or just leave me in a crushed heap at the bottom.

“Yeah what?”

Come on, Chloe, I thought. English is your first language. Try to speak it coherently. I pressed myself against the counter. It only provided a narrow ridge of support across my lower back, but it was better than nothing. I felt like I was plunging farther and farther down into the abyss, picking up more and more speed while I tried to piece together a sentence.

He let go of the doorknob and came over to me, stepping way closer than we'd ever stood as friends. He kept his gaze locked with mine and slowly, as if he wasn't sure what he was doing, he reached out and stroked my hair, gentle as a butterfly. All the while he looked like he was waiting for me to either jerk away or punch him.

I was a mess, and still tumbling headlong. H
e looked at me as if both desperate to hear what I had to say and terrified of breaking the tension, because he didn't know what lay beyond it.

Don't screw this up, I thought. Speaking was out of the question. It'd release a torrent of nonsense, so I put my hand on his chest and leaned up to kiss him.

He kissed back and his hand spasmed against my cheek. His lips were cold from the chill outside.

When I broke it off, he looked down at me, still uncertain, though now there was a flicker of hope in his expression.

I couldn't believe that I was
still
in freefall. The kiss hadn't ended the sensation. But this was Jason Vanderholt. Women threw themselves at him for all kinds of reasons. The man who looked into my eyes right now was smart enough to wait for me to explain myself, rather than take the kiss as an answer. He wanted to know what I wanted, in concrete terms.

My thoughts scrabbled in a vain attempt to come together. “I love you,” I heard myself say.

His hand grasped my shoulder and he took a breath that sounded like something between a gasp and a sob. “I love you, too.”

That, finally, put a stop to my headlong plunge. I took a breath, then another. Yes, he was all wrong for me. Still, those eyes were now searching my face as if I were Venus in all her glory.

He leaned in and, with a pause to look me in the eye for permission, kissed me again, first hesitantly, and then as if he never wanted to stop. A flood of emotion spilled loose inside of me. I slipped my arms around his neck and felt his arms go around my waist. It was a million times more intense than I'd imagined, even at my loneliest times when I'd hugged my pillow and wished he were there. His mouth warmed against mine as the kiss went on and on, making my heart race and my head spin. When he broke off, there were tears in his eyes, real tears!

“I'm sorry,” I said as I dabbed them away with my fingertips.

“For?”

“For taking so long to figure out what's what.”

He just shook his head. The disbelief still hadn't faded from his expression. “Why?” he said. “What changed?”

“I dunno. I don't know what I'm doing right now. I just... I've missed you so much. I was sure you'd be over me.”

“No. Are you kidding? I
love
you.”

It was incredible to hear him say that again.

But now he looked past me and his expression turned quizzical. I felt him reach for something on the counter.

“Yeah...” I shut my eyes. “It's gotta be like concrete now.”

“Seriously?” He hoisted the ice cream with one hand.

“My mean roommate moved out without eating it, so it's been there, tormenting me for two months.”

“I am so terribly
not
sorry about that.” He stepped away from me and went to fetch a spoon from the drawer.

I turned and watched him dig into the ice cream. It looked okay. He held out the spoon to me. I tried it.

“Okay?” he said.

“Yeah, it's still fine.”

“Sooo, I'm still kinda hungry. I didn't eat much.”

“I'm starving.”

He held up the carton. “What do you say?”

As we sat on the couch, working our way through the ice cream, Jason told me his side of things. “It was Jen,” he said. “When she went back to the kitchen, she texted me.”

“What'd she text?”

He pulled out his phone to show me. “What's up with C?”