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“We’re starting our own comic book universe. I need a colorist to go over my sketches.”
“They do that digitally now,” she points out.
“Yeah, but I’m kinda old school. I want to see how they look before we send them off to a printer. If you want to work together, you have a job at Queen Takes King.”
“Parker would love that,” she coos. “Every time I turn Nate down for a job, Parker gives me a rash of shit.”
“Because he worries about you,” Nate interjects. “And we can use someone with your skills on our team.”
She waves her hand dismissively. “Parker’s just protective of me. He thinks I can’t handle life without him bossing me around.”
Her words say one thing, but I know for a fact that Jess would fall apart faster than a cardboard box in the rain without Parker. She needs him as much as he needs her.
“What do you say?” I wiggle my eyebrows, a playful smile tugging at my mouth. “Wanna work together again?”
She presses her lips together and nods. “Yeah, let’s do it. We were a good duo back in the day.”
Nate cups her shoulder. “Welcome to the team.”
“Parker will lose it when I tell him.” She chuckles, a blush creeping up to her cheeks. “You have no idea. He’s been up my ass about getting another job in case the new ownership closes the store.”
“Nah,” Nate says. “He just wants you by his side at the office.”
Parker doesn’t like that Jess wastes her talents working as a cashier in a comic book store. He’s a lot like Nate in many ways, except less of a manwhore, though still a bit of a control freak. Must have something to do with their analytic nature. Actually, Parker is far from a player, more of the monogamous type.
“Okay, so… you should probably know something. It might be a problem later on.” Jess leans into me and sighs. “Did I ever tell you about the best friend clause?”
“Nope. What’s that?”
“After Jake died, I got drunk with Parker one night. We added a clause to our friendship that if we were both unmarried by the time we turned thirty we would get married. Well, I’m turning thirty next week, and I kinda did something stupid.”
I narrow my eyes. “Like?”
“I told Parker that we should invoke the best friend clause. It was stupid. I shouldn’t have said anything. And now, he’s been… I don’t know. Acting kind of weird, I guess.”
“Because he has a girlfriend,” Nate says.
“That’s the thing,” Jess whispers. “It’s pretty much over with her, or at least I think it is. I’m not sure what to think. I had just gone on a horrible first date with a guy I met online, and the She-Devil stood Parker up again. So, we got smashed, played video games, and then I blurted the words aloud. I wasn’t thinking clearly. I was upset, tired, and not in my right mind. Anyway, Parker’s been acting like I haven’t said anything, but that only makes this situation worse. It means he’s considering it.”
Nate looks as surprised as me.
“He hasn’t said anything to me,” Nate admits. “But we just got back from our honeymoon a few days ago. I haven’t had much of a chance to talk to him about anything other than our upcoming release.”
Her eyes fall to the floor and she taps her Converse sneakers with holes in them together. “If he says anything to you, can you let me know? It’s driving me crazy not knowing. I mean, maybe I’m overreacting, and he doesn’t remember our conversation. But I think he does. Otherwise, why would he act so strange around me? He’s never been so distant. It’s like he’s here but his mind is somewhere else. I can’t lose him, not over some stupid pact we made.”
“If it’s any consolation,” Nate says, “Parker cares about you. A lot. He would do just about anything for you, Jess. Just let him sort his shit out first. Look how many years it took me to tell Harley how I feel about her.”
Jess bites her lip, nervous as usual. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”
I’ve never met a person who looks so uncomfortable in their own skin. She always looks tired and on edge, as if she never sleeps and is constantly obsessing over something.
“Thanks for the advice,” she says with a warm smile.
After Jess rings up the comic book, we leave the store for our next stop on the first date tour. Nate shoves his hand into my back pocket as we walk down the street toward the subway. The city is buzzing with excitement. Crazed Flyers fans are dressed in their jerseys, rushing past us with obnoxious foam fingers they got from the Wells Fargo Center.
Instead of taking a cab or an Uber, we ride the subway from Center City to South Philly. A strange mixture of people are on the underground train with us, a cast of characters that give me some ideas for future projects. Nate clutches my waist, pressing me against his hard body like he’s afraid someone will try to steal me.
