Page 52 of Insincerely Yours
I get as far as opening my mouth before she turns on her heels, cutting me off with a reiteration to be ready by six.
“She’s a real peach,” Jase huffs a heartbeat after Blythe’s footsteps become inaudible. “And not a particularly good judge of character either. Senator Walker is a fucking creep.”
To my horror, Jase hauls himself through the window and climbsinside!
“No, you have to go.” I don’t care that I’m pleading rather than ordering, hopelessly tugging at his arm as if I’m physically capable of forcing him back out the way he came.
Jase barks out an exhausted laugh, his chest rising and falling as fast and heavy as mine. “Yeah, I just ran three miles straight. I’m not going anywhere until I catch my breath. So unless you want me passing out in the middle of your yard, I’m staying right where I am.”
True to his word, he slides down the wall and sits beside the vent, allowing the cool air from the A/C to blow at his face. He stays like that for several heartbeats before his expression gives way to curiosity. He abruptly leans under my desk and plucks up what I realize is a sticky note stuck to the underside of the keyboard drawer.
Crap!
Even from here, I can see the black sharpie ink scribbled across the yellow paper. The exertion from our run already has me flushed, so the blood that floods my face likely now has me turning into the color of Elmo. I contemplate tackling Jase to get it away from him before he can read it—
But I already know I’m too late as that curious look he’s sporting morphs into downright confusion.
“You write toyourself?” He flips the note over between his fingers, revealing the damning message.
Dear Me,
You are in charge of your own happiness. Make today count.
Sincerely,
Me
I snatchit from him far too quickly to appear unruffled, but my dignity was left behind in the rearview mirror long ago. “It’s part of my therapy,” I mumble.
His eyebrows lift at this. “Oh?”
“It’s to help with my social anxiety. The therapist ordered me to write words of encouragement for myself every day, so anytime I have to do something stressful, I can just pull it out and read it for support.”
This only makes him appear more confused. “You’ve never been anxious aroundme. Or if you have, you hide it really well.”
This, at least, makes me smile. “Yeah, I’m generally the worst when it comes to introductions, and with the whole bird attack,I really didn’t have time to think about how you perceived me. I was more concerned about having my eyes plucked out.”
“And I don’t think you give yourself enough credit.”
I roll my eyes. “You only say that because you haven’t witnessed me in the wild. Put me in a crowded room or face-to-face with a stranger, I turn into a deer caught in headlights.”
“Not buying it.” He hooks a finger in the belt loop of my shorts and tugs me down beside him. “You’ll have to prove me wrong.”
“Meaningwhat?”
Jase removes a folded glossy paper from his pants pocket, not bothering to open it up. The colorful print is a dead giveaway.
The flyer for the party tonight.
He nudges his knee against mine, his voice lowering to a whisper. “Come with me.”
“Did younotjust hear my stepmom?”
“You haven’t asked your dad yet, though.”
When all I can offer is a blank look, Jase actually laughs. He takes my phone and pulls up my dad’s number, his finger hovering over the CALL button. “Your parents want you to become more socialized, right?”
“…Yeah.”
