Page 57 of Served
Jason extended his hand. “Good to meet you. I’m Jason. I can go find a hotel room. I didn’t intend to stay here.”
“Nonsense, we have plenty of room. Come grab some pizza and beer. My wife must have had a premonition you were coming.”
When Ethan said that it hit me. Ann knew they were coming. I looked over at her and her face gave her away. She jumped up from the table and stuck her hand out.
“Hey Jason, I’m Ann. It’s great to have you here.”
“Hey man,” my brother said, “did you go to college with us? You look really familiar.”
Ann’s eyes got wide, and she went to sit back down.
“I think so. Grew up in that area. I’m a few years older than Lucy so it would work out.”
Jason leaned into my ear asking where the bathroom was, so I pointed him up the stairs then went to sit with Ann and Amy.
Ann leaned across the table and whispered to me, “You rat, you let me go on about him and never said anything.”
Amy perked up, “Go on about what? Did you sleep with Jason?”
Beer shot out of Ann’s nose.
“Geez, no! But I told her he was the ‘it’ guy in college. She never bothered to tell me she was dating him.”
“To be fair, they weren’t exactly dating when she got here.”
I tossed a pepperoni at Amy, and she picked it up and ate it.
Jason came back down so I waved him to the table and pulled the vacant chair closer to me. He sat and grabbed my hand, and a rush of warmth ran up my arm, filling my chest. I leaned closer, placing my head on his shoulder and could smell his scent. Instead of the sick feeling I had been feeling the last few days when I smelled that I now felt comforted and calm.
The kids had already gone to bed, so we sat up for a while drinking and snacking as Amy and Ann caught up with each other. Ethan had passed out on the couch, but Ann said he was fine since he didn’t have to work the next day. I would chime into the conversation occasionally, but Jason and I mostly sat and listened to Amy and Ann, not letting go of each other. Hours had gone by when Ann was ready to turn in for the night. She collected Ethan from the couch, and they went upstairs after telling us all goodnight.
Amy stretched and yawned then asked if I knew where some blankets and a pillow were, so I told her to come with me to look and took her to the guest room.
“I owe you.”
She hugged me and told me, “You owe me nothing. Ann text me worried about you. Then he came looking for you,at The Lounge, then came to our apartment this morning demanding to see you. The two of you were miserable so I just told him to get over himself and knew you wouldn’t need convincing once you saw him. I knew if I told you I was coming you’d tell me not to. Now grab me some blankets and a pillow and I’m gonna go pass out. He woke me up so early it’s obscene.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder and rolled her eyes.
I found some extra blankets and pillows in the closet and walked her back downstairs. Jason was still sitting at the table but stood when he heard us coming down the stairs.
“Well, you kids have fun and remember, there are literally kids here so don’t act like animals.” Amy spread her blankets on the couch and then plopped down after turning the TV on.
I walked over and kissed her forehead then reached my hand out to Jason and he grabbed it as we walked upstairs.
As soon as I closed the door behind us, he jerked my arm pulling me up against him and practically slammed his mouth against mine. His arms were quickly wrapped around me pulling me so close we almost melted together. Tingles and emotions rushed through me, and pressure built behind my eyes again. Even though I was in his arms, it all was so overwhelming that tears started trickling down my cheeks.
He pulled away as he felt them and looked down at me with pain and confusion in his eyes.
“Hey, what’s this? Why the tears?” he asked as he tossed his hat to the chair in the corner.
I shook my head and bit my bottom lip trying to control them.
“Hey, you’re breaking me,” he said lightly as he pulled my face to his chest and stroked my head. “I hate that I did this to you. Will you ever be able to forgive me?”
I nodded and even though his words sent more tears flowing down my cheeks, I pulled my face away from his chest and looked up at him.
“As long as you can forgive me.”
He put both hands to my face and gently swiped his thumbs across my cheeks to clear the tears away.
