Chapter 2 Back Home #2
“Imagine how he’s going to react when he sees her,” Sue murmured. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m going to record it.”
I passed in a matter of seconds from surprise to panic to rage, and I turned to Naya, letting all of those feelings out at once: “You said he was still in France! And you, Lana, you knew all this, and you didn’t say a damn thing!”
“Yeah, but if we told you, you wouldn’t have come!” Lana protested.
“Of course I wouldn’t have, and that’s my right!” I said, letting go of Will’s hand and standing up. “This is an ambush, and you have no right!”
I couldn’t believe Naya was still smiling and trying to tell me what she’d done was fine. She argued that Jack would be happy to see me, that we’d be like a little family again. Even Will wasn’t buying that. He asked, “You really think he’s going to want to see her after what happened last year?”
Naya looked down and admitted he wouldn’t. “I just wanted everything to be the way it used to be.”
“Well, this wasn’t the way to do it,” Will said. “So what are we supposed to do now?”
Sue, completely relaxed, responded that there was nothing to do but wait for Jack and hope he’d behave, and I looked up and asked what that meant. When there was no reply, I pressed them: “Is there something you all haven’t told me?”
Lana started to try to explain, but trailed off, and Naya did the same. Finally, Will took the lead: “Ross isn’t exactly like he was before.”
Sue grinned. “You saw his good side. Hopefully you’re ready to see the bad one.”
“He’s changed a lot this year,” Naya murmured. “Or, like, he’s gone back to the way he used to be. When he actually changed was when you were here…”
I thought he was in France! When I asked what he was doing back, they told me he had gone there and had started his studies, but then a good opportunity had come up in the US.
He had a film coming out in three weeks, and he had gotten all kinds of press.
So he’d made it. And yet…if things were going so great, why did it feel like bad news?
I didn’t know, but I wasn’t going to wait for explanations.
I jumped up and grabbed my suitcase, which I’d left by the fridge. I needed to go, now.
Naya ran over to intercept me, but I warned her to stay where she was.
She had lied to me. I’d sworn I would only come if I knew I wouldn’t run into him, and she had told me that was no problem.
She tried to apologize, but I cut her off: she had done this on purpose.
I was going home. This had been a terrible idea, a horrible idea, right from the beginning.
I should have stayed in my comfort zone with my grandmother, even if half the people in my hometown hated me.
Why should I care? At least I wouldn’t have to run into Jack there, and I wouldn’t have to see the person I used to love replaced by some almost-famous director getting ready to make his big splash.
Will called out, “Jenna, don’t rush. Maybe you don’t have to go.
There must be a solution…” As he continued musing and Naya went on apologizing, the front door opened, and we all froze.
I was holding my suitcase, but I didn’t dare move an inch as I heard those heavy, slow steps approaching.
A ring of keys landed on the bar, skidded to the edge, but didn’t fall.
Only one person tossed his keys like that. No…
“Ross!” Naya shouted, trying to sound enthusiastic.
He hadn’t noticed me, and I watched him from behind as he pulled off his jacket, looking at everyone and surely wondering why they all were acting strange.
My heart was beating so hard I could feel it banging into my ribs.
There he was, just a few feet away…and I wanted to reach out and touch him.
I wanted to hug him. I wanted to tell him why I’d done what I’d done the year before, ask him why he hadn’t called me back, find out whether he’d really forgotten me, and just know he was OK.
But I couldn’t, because he beat me to the punch, asking his roommates sarcastically, “What?”
I’d never heard him use that tone before, but the rest of them didn’t seem remotely surprised. He asked Lana what she was doing there. Good lord, he sounded harsh! That wasn’t like Jack. What was going on?
“Naya invited me,” Lana said wearily, as if they’d been through this dozens of times. “In case you forgot, she lives here too.”
“Speaking of guests,” Naya butted in, looking over at me, “there’s, uh, something you should know.”
I could tell things were about to go south. Jack could tell something bad was happening, Will was trying to calm him down, Sue announced she’d had no part in this and Jack shouldn’t blame her. I got tired of the tension and heard myself say, “Hi.” A horrible silence followed.
My voice was soft, but it shut everyone up, and I saw the muscles tense in Jack’s back as he froze.
Will looked back and forth between us as Jack turned in slow motion.
His hair was short, his beard had grown in slightly, and his expression was…
different. He had bags under his eyes, he looked weary.
How long had it been since he’d gotten a good night’s sleep?
That was the last thing I asked myself before my mind went blank. His stare was nothing like it had been a year before. If you didn’t know, you’d have said he hated me. Every pore in his body oozed contempt. Disdain. And despite myself, I could understand why.
I wanted to retreat, but I kept my composure.
He looked me over from head to foot, and I felt a long-forgotten electric charge run through me.
I wrung my fingers and opened my mouth, but I couldn’t make myself break the silence.
He was perplexed, and I was too, and I needed him to say something.
I walked toward him, and he almost flinched.
That brought him back to reality, and he looked away as Naya murmured, “Surprise?”
I couldn’t tell what he was thinking, and that frightened me, and I closed my eyes.
“Fuck,” he grunted, grabbing his things and slamming the door on the way out.