“I'm your tired girl."
"Okay, I'll let you get back to sleep. I just wanted to hear your voice. I love you; sweet dreams.”
“Night. I love you too.” I barely got the words out before falling back to sleep.
Icornered Jessie in the breakroom at work sick of her avoiding me. “Jess.”
She paused, her back to me, and I knew it was a fifty-fifty split whether she would look at me. She finally moved, her eyes on the ground.
“Listen, I'm sorry about what happened between you and Van. I'm not going to lie. I think you two have something special, and you should open up to him.”
Her eyes hardened, and by the shift of her hip, I figured she was about to storm out on me. I hurried to get out what I wanted to say.
“But it's your decision. I love you, Jess. You're my best friend, and not having you in my life hurts. I'll respect your decision. The only reason I disagree with it is because I want you to be happy. Please don’t push me out of your life. I miss you.”
Her eyes softened, and she surprised me when she hugged me. “I missed you too. No more talking about the boys. Van texted me and asked me to take the time they were on tour to think about what I wanted. He said he wasn’t ready to give up on me yet. So, I'm going to think about it.” By the look on her face, it seemed Jessie wasn't ready to give up on Van either.
We fell right back into our friendship, talking about everything we’d missed since she’d been avoiding me. Everything except the boys.
"So, what's going on with you and Trent?" Jessie asked as we cleared a recently-vacated table.
"He wants to be friends. So we’re trying."
"Again?"
"Yes, again. My best friend was ignoring me. Amy abandoned me to go on tour. I was running out of options." My words were bitter to my ears.
"You're right. I'm sorry. I think you need to stop giving people your time when they don't deserve it, though. You’re too nice."
"And I think you cut people out of your life too quickly."
We stared at one another, each of us absorbing the other’s words.
"Maybe you're right," she finally responded before walking toward a table of college kids signaling her.
I let out a deep breath as I tried to get my heart to stop its rapid beating.
Denise caught up to me as I watched Jessie talk to Ryan. "I'm glad you two are talking again. She needs you right now. Her eyes are too haunted. Her drama will help keep your mind occupied while your yummy man is away."
I kissed Denise on the cheek and went to pick up my order from Ryan.
"It's about fucking time. Her drama was giving me a headache," Ryan said, emphasizing her words by rubbing her temples.
"Well, we can always talk about Matt," I shot back.
Ryan's face paled as she glared at me. "Touché," she finally relented before handing me my full tray.
Kill called just after I’d climbed into bed. "Hey, Killer. How was the show tonight?" I asked, snuggling into his pillow, saddened that his smell was fading away.
"It was incredible," he answered, his tone less than enthused.
"What's wrong?" I asked, my heart turning to stone.
"Nothing's technically wrong," he said hesitantly. "The tour seems to be doing better than expected, and our manager has booked more venues."
Warring emotions of pride and pain sliced through me. "That's amazing. It's one more step toward getting my car," I joked, refusing to let him get upset by his news.
"Are you okay with this, Slick? You know I love you more than this, right?"
