Patience already wore thin with me. What right did Kelsey have to fling that shit into my face? It was like she had saved it for this moment, because God knew we didn’t talk about it otherwise. I didn’t bring up the two guys she dated at one time, and she didn’t bring up my downward spiral from the past year.
“Why are you talking aboutthis?”
“Going out with a girl? Really, Shan? Since when are you lez?”
“Since when are you a big fucking homophobe who has a problem with me being friends with lesbians?”
“I don’t have a problem with lesbians! Jesus. I ain’t no homophobe.” Kelsey snorted, as if that were the worst thing I could ever say. “I have a problem withher,specifically. If you ask me, she’s taking advantage of you.”
“How is that not being a homophobe?”
“Because it doesn’t have to do with her being gay! It’s about her! Altogether!”
“She’s never been anything but super sweet to me.” Which was more than I could say about Kelsey lately. Sometimes I swore I got along more with Jess than I did my supposed best friend. Maybe that was us growing apart as we grew older and held different ideals.
“She’s been out for nothing but your pussy this whole time. Trust me. I know that look.”
That particular comment caught me off guard. “What? How do you know ‘that look?’”
She shrugged. “I’ve got more experience in certain things than you do. Don’t go out with her this Friday, seriously. She’s going to come on to you so strong that you won’t be able to breathe.”
Maybe that didn’t sound so bad. I swore I wasn’t attracted to Jess – not that way – but the more Kelsey talked, the more I wanted to get into bed with Jess to spite my friend.
So what if she was right? Maybe I wanted to cut loose a little more my senior year of college. I didn’t want to use someone nice like Jess… but if the whim of fate made me sleep with her… well, how could I regret it, even if I didn’t like it?
“The Boar’s Head, huh?” I got up, grabbing my backpack and heading toward my room. “Sounds great. I’ll let you know if I fuck her.”
Kelsey said nothing, but like a disapproving parent, she stared into the back of my head and sent a riot of chills down my spine.
***
Shannon’s ominous feeling manifested when Jess rounded the corner of Metaphysics. She expressed surprise for one moment before merely shaking her head with a wan smile.
“What are the odds that we keep bumping into each other?”
Shannon shoved her book about astrological compatibility back onto the shelf. “It’s like college, but with a much bigger campus.”
Jess leaned against the window. A small stack of books pressed between her crossed arms and her chest.Yeah, like college. Only now you’ve filled out a little and are more confident to be around.Shannon hadn’t realized those things about Jess until that moment. “The odds are still incredible.”
“You’re not stalking me, are you?”
“Please. That’s a little too much like college.”
Shannon didn’t know if that was a joke or not, but when Jess smirked like that, how could she think it was anything but a joke?The more I think about it, the prettier I realize she is.Jess wasn’t the most conventionally attractive woman, but she still had the markings of the type of girl Shannon could find striking to look at on a warm day. Round face, full lips, bright blue eyes, and a flattering haircut that clipped above her ears and disappeared into the nape of her neck. She was a little wider than she had been in college, but so was Shannon. Wider wasn’t a bad thing. It made Shannon’s hips more pronounced in those jeans, and her thighs more enticing to look at.I like thighs. I remember liking her thighs a lot…Shannon grinned. No, no, that was trying too hard. Although admitting that remembering Jess in a sexual way made herhappywas definitely progress…
“What do you have there?”
Jess looked down at her small stack of books. “It’s the Purple section, you know? I had to swing by the religion aisles and see if they got anything new.”
Shannon could only see the cover of the book on top of Jess’s stack.“King David: The Real Life of the Man Who Ruled Israel,”was accompanied with a dark, brooding image of a man who looked part innocent cherub, part ass-kicking warrior. “I forgot you studied religion.” To that day, it was not a subject Shannon would ever associate with a woman like Jess.
“From a purely secular viewpoint, of course.” Jess chuckled at the cover looking back up at them. “My work project this week was writing a series of articles about David. Decided to pick up this book and see what I forgot to send my client. Not that I think the good Mr. Thompson would be interested in a more fictional account of the man.”
“It’s a fictional book?”
“Dunno, but that’s what all the one-star reviews said, so it must be good.”
Shannon laughed. “I admit, I don’t know much about that stuff. We didn’t go to church growing up.”
