“Liar,” she seethed, rolling her eyes. “You love Jared. I don’t know why he’s practically stalking you, or why you won’t talk to him when it was so obvious today that you miss him…but I know that you love him. And he loves you!” she said, the pitch of her voice rising with each point.
“You don’t know as much as you think you do,” I grumbled.
“Jared looks miserable, Nina. Don’t you care?”
I closed my eyes. “Can we please not talk about this?” I begged.
Beth sat beside me on my bed, her voice quiet. “You need to talk to someone.”
“The only person I can talk to about it is Jared, and I can’t talk to him.”
“Says who?” she asked, wrinkling her nose in disgust.
“Me.”
She rolled her eyes. “Right. Because you’re saving him.”
I shook my head and looked at her. “Why are you pushing this? I thought you liked Ryan.”
“I do. But you belong with Jared. It’s your happiness that I’m worried about, and you’re not happy right now. You are the absolute opposite of happy,” she said, touching my arm.
“I’m doing the right thing,” I said, wiping the tears. “I am.”
“How can it be the right thing when you’re so sad?”
For me, the discussion was over. I walked across the room to pull a pair of pajamas from the drawer.
“Nina, no. You’re not going to sleep. You sleep all the time. You’ve got to find another way to cope. Or just quit coping…go to him.”
“Shut up, Beth.”
Beth’s attention was drawn to the knocking at our door. I walked over, pajamas in hand, and opened the door. Ryan’s hat was pulled low over his eyes so that all I could see was his perfect white smile and his deep dimple.
He thrust a small stack of papers at me and smiled. “I brought notes,” he said, pulling his hat up. “We have finals next week, you know.”
“Thanks,” I said, setting the papers on my desk.
“What are you up to this afternoon? You wanna go get some coffee?” he asked, his eyes fixating on the pajamas in my hand. “Oh, no. You’re not going to sleep.” With that, Ryan grabbed my pajamas from my hands and tossed them across the room.
“I’m tired. I didn’t sleep well last night,” I whined.
“You’re always tired. You need to get out in the sun. It’s a nice day. We could go hang out on the greens.”
I shook my head, trying to push away any memories that thought created.
Ryan’s eyes narrowed, and then his mouth broke into a smile. “That’s it. You and I are going downtown, waste time driving around, and then I’m taking you to dinner.”
“I don’t think….”
“And then we’re going to the pub and getting smashed. You’ve had that kind of day,” he said, still grinning.
Beth looked up at us from her book. “She’s had that kind of month. I’ll call Chad. We’ll meet you there.”
“It’s a date,” Ryan said, wiping the mascara from under my eyes with both thumbs. “I’ll be back in an hour. I want you dressed for a night out on the town.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Is that a demand?”
“Yes. I’m a demanding boyfriend and I demand that you have a fun-filled afternoon full of slogan games, boutiques, good food and liquor. I’ll even make you to get a manicure. Girls like that crap, right?”
“Oh! Can I go? I need a mani-pedi so bad!” Beth whined.
I shot her a dismayed look. “Are you serious?”
“I am so serious. Ryan and Chad can drop us off, go do boy things, and come back at dinner time. We can get polished and waxed and…I hate to say it, Nigh, but you need a makeover. I’m getting in the shower!” she said, grabbing her things.
“Be—,” I began, but she was already out the door. I glowered at Ryan. “I don’t feel like going out tonight.”
“Please?” he pleaded. He encircled me in his arms and swayed back and forth, pressing his cheek against mine. “One last hurrah before finals week? If you don’t have a good time, you can make me miserable for the rest of my life. Deal?” he asked, leaning me back until my hair touched the floor.
I had to smile. He was trying so hard to cheer me up. “Okay.”
A huge grin swept Ryan’s face and he righted us both. “I’ll pick you up in an hour. See you soon,” he said as he disappeared down the hall.
Fifty-six minutes later, the door was under attack by loud, incessant knocking. When Beth swung the door open, Chad and Ryan were still knocking on it with both fists.
“It’s open!” Beth shouted over the banging.
“Don’t you look awesome!” Chad said, kissing Beth sweetly on the cheek.
“Aw…you know I love it when you use the big words,” she laughed, wrapping her arms around him.
Ryan stared at me.
“What?” I asked, looking down at my little black dress. “Too much?”
“No! No…it’s just…I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in a dress. It’s nice.”
I shrugged. “I thought it’d make me feel better to dress up.”
“Did it?”
“I think so,” I smiled.