In Harmony(13)

There was no other word for it. They were twinkling at me. I’d have known he was grinning even if the rest of his face was hidden. There was an openness there, an honesty I’d never seen in anyone. Everything for Connor was simple and easy. He didn’t have a care in the world.

The opposite of me, I thought bitterly.

I opened my mouth to deliver a witty putdown. My mouth actually formed the first vowel, but I didn’t seem to have any breath. I just stared at him for another second, and a wave of heat rushed through me. I’m too angry, I reasoned. He’s got me too angry to even speak.

Connor straightened up. “Nothing? Really?” He clapped a hand to his chest. “She doesn’t call, she doesn’t send me flowers….”

Natasha, Clarissa and Jasmine all giggled. The traitors.

“I’ll see you in class,” Connor told me. Then he pointed at me theatrically. “Be careful! I might not be there to save you, next time!”

I hadn’t thought I could blush any more than I already was, but I felt it happen. Half the bar was looking at us. Then Connor clapped an arm around one of his drinking buddies and they stumbled off across the room.

I could feel the other girls all looking at me, and took a long drink of my Pretty Woman to buy some time.

“I fell over,” I said. “He caught me. It was sort of his fault anyway. That’s it.”

Jasmine glanced at Natasha. “Natasha fell off a stage, once, and that worked out.”

“He’s not—are you kidding?” I stared at her. “He’s an idiot! He’s drunk half the time, he’s loud, he’s arrogant….”

“He has those eyes,” countered Natasha quietly.

“You’re taken,” Jasmine told her.

“And that voice. I love that accent,” said Clarissa.

“You too,” said Jasmine.

“He’s about to flunk out! He doesn’t even bother coming to class most of the time!” I told them.

Jasmine pretended to catch her breath. “Oh no! And I pick my boyfriends by their GPA!”

“He’s completely squandered his opportunity! They gave him a scholarship and he’s just wasted it on…on…girls and booze!”

Jasmine frowned. “For a guy you hardly know, you seem very knowledgeable about him.”

I realized the others were all staring at me. She’s right. What do I care?

I swallowed. “No, I just—”

Jasmine snapped her fingers. “When we were at your place, you were in the shower for like three years. Were you thinking about him?”

“No!” I almost shouted. How could she know? How could she possibly know?!

Jasmine was beaming, delighted. “You were! I was sitting out there waiting for you—well, and making a sandwich—and you were in there flicking the bean—”

“No!”

“—thinking about Connor Locke!”

“No! Really!”

Jasmine collapsed into giggles. “Relax! I know you weren’t.” She shook her head. “You’re so easy to wind up, sometimes.”

Everyone laughed, and I let my breath out, smiling nervously. OK, fine. She hadn’t guessed. Not that there was anything to guess. I mean, I’d been thinking about him in the shower, but not in that way.

“How’s Neil?” I asked Clarissa, to throw some of the heat off me.

“Great.” Only she said it too quickly, and in a not-great way. We all turned towards her. “No, seriously, it’s fine. Better than fine. It’s just—”

“He wants a threesome?” asked Jasmine.

“He—WHAT?!”

“He wants another woman to join you. Or—God, another man? Is it a biker?” Jasmine clutched Natasha’s arm. “Is it Darrell?”

“No! Where did you get threesome from? No, nothing like that. He’s just…Neil.”

We waited.

Clarissa stared at her drink. “It’s just…when it started, it just sort of…worked. I mean, I don’t know why it worked, exactly, but it did. He had this…hold over me.”

“And now he doesn’t?” asked Natasha quietly.

“Oh, no, God, he does,” said Clarissa. “That hasn’t changed. He just has to say something in my ear and—” She reddened. “That works fine. But I keep wondering if that’s all we have. I mean…”—she looked around at us—“…we’re very different.”

“Opposites attract,” I said carefully.

“Yes, but do they stick?” Clarissa asked.



***



I’d said I’d only stay for one drink, but it was two before I persuaded Jasmine that I was serious about going. I wanted to put her in a cab back to her place—I figured I could quietly pay the cabbie in advance.