Page 31 of Even If the Sky is Falling
Without a word, Dianna removed her hand from the arm of the chair, reaching into the large tote on the floor in front of her instead. Jones felt her body lean forward, trying to see what Dianna was conjuring before it was out in the open. She decided that if Dianna pulled out a mascara wand, she would lift the seat cushion and stuff Dianna beneath it. Primping in the library was at the top of her list when it came to irritating Dianna habits. Who really needed to look that put together all the time? There wasn’t anyone here on a Friday evening but the two of them. Actually, she was surprised Dianna was here at all. Unlike Jones, Dianna had a social life.
Dianna pulled out a can of seltzer water, Blackberry Bubly. She slid her nail under the top and flicked it open, the sound exploding in the quiet room. Jones lifted two inches out of her seat even though she knew the sound was coming. She watched as Dianna banged a wrapped straw against her thigh until the paper popped open, revealing a lime-green paper straw that Dianna slid into the can. For someone so dainty, there had to be a quieter way to drink than the obnoxious slurping she was currently doing. Every so often she would take a deep sigh, the carbonation building in her throat and exploding through her lips. Jones tried not to stare, just as distracted by the sound as she was with the way Dianna puckered her lips around the straw. Like a kiss.
Jones blinked away, smoothing a phantom loc behind her ear. She still wasn’t used to them being gone, the weightless feeling of her head. She cleared her throat loudly and nudged her head toward the sign plastered over the door.
“No food. No drink.”
Dianna shrugged. “Turn me in then.”
It was a challenge. Jones knew that if she left this spot, she’d lose her stolen seat for good. It would be like leaving land undefended during a war, ripe for the taking. And she couldn’t leave the room with the textbook without checking it out first, which meant she’d lose that too. She didn’t actually have any intention of taking the book home, nor could she. She had maxed out her checkout limit on books she actually needed, and unfortunately, while Ms. Mindy was a wizard with overriding the system, that was the one thing she couldn’t change. She had hoped Dianna would simply leave before figuring it out.
“Do you go around being as annoying as possible?” Jones chided.
“Do you go around being as insufferable as possible?” Dianna asked. She slapped her hand over her mouth too slow. Despite how low Jones could go, Dianna had never responded to her remarks with a rude comment in return. She was taking the higher road, being a bigger person. But some people really could just grind your gears, couldn’t they. “I’m sorry,” she muttered between her fingers.
“Yeah, you really got me here,” Jones said with a roll of her eyes, hitting her palm against her chest. Dianna focused on Jones’s face so as not to be distracted by the way Jones hand sat on the rise of her breast.
“I try not to engage in childish back-and-forth,” Dianna said, pulling her straw back into her mouth. It didn’t matter how attractive Jones was. Nothing could surpass how mean she could be. And unnecessarily so. Dianna had never done anything to her. She had only ever tried to be Jones’s friend, but received nothing but derision in exchange.
“Childish,” Jones scoffed. “Funny coming from someone wearing jelly sandals who can’t follow a rule to save her life.”
“I follow rules,” Dianna responded. “But I’m thirsty and unfortunately, thanks to you, I have to stay in here until you’re done. What are you doing anyway?”
“Trying to mind my business. You should try it sometime.”
Dianna slumped back in her chair with her drink. “Someone got up on the wrong side of the bed.” She was pretty sure Jones had never gotten up on therightside of the bed a day in her life. Though she wouldn’t mind finding out. If Jones wasn’t such a bitch.
Jones began reading the textbook more aggressively. It wasn’t nearly as bad as she thought, it was even kind of interesting. Which shocked her, because she didn’t think Dianna was into anything interesting. But she could feel Dianna’s eyes drilling holes into the top of her head as it hung low to take in the minuscule text. Apparently, eye strain was a requirement of graduating law school because nothing was ever bigger than eight-point font Helvetica.
“This is good,” Jones said aloud. “Maybe I’ll change my focus to Environmental.”
She didn’t even have to look up to know Dianna was rolling her eyes. It was so aggressive that Jones could practically feel the shift in the room as they rotated up and back and settled in place once more.
“Sorry, can’t get rich doing it,” Dianna said.
“And here I was thinking you only cared about materialism,” Jones responded.
“Well, you don’t know me very well then.”
“No.” Jones shrugged. “I guess you’ll follow the age-old plan of simply marrying rich.”
“Why do you insist on thinking I’m a shallow person?” Dianna asked, leaning forward in her seat. Her hands gripped her can with such a tight grip that the aluminum was buckling in the center. The Bubly practically had a waistline.
“You’re kidding right?” Jones asked, her eyebrow spiking upward with her heartrate. Despite having a quick tongue, she didn’t like confrontation. Her heart was practically beating out of her chest. Especially since she couldn’t help but be a little light-headed around Dianna. She blamed the obnoxious toxic fumes of Dianna’s perfume, which always made her smell like cupcake frosting. “What was it, Miss Teen Savannah? You’re from Shallow City.”
“You do know pageantry is about a lot more than just pretty girls smiling into cameras, right? Or do you insist on being obtuse.”
“I know it’s notnotabout pretty girls smiling into cameras.”
Dianna smirked. “You think I’m pretty?” It was a joke geared to irritate Jones further into leaving the room, and leaving the textbook behind. So she was shocked when what felt like a rock sank to the bottom of her stomach. She cared about Jones’s answer. She maybe even cared a lot.
“I was just repeatingyourphrasing,” Jones sputtered. “And you’re obviously not the ugliest person I’ve ever seen. I do have perfectly working eyeballs.”
“I can tell,” Dianna said, nodding her head at how close Jones’s face was to the textbook in order to see.
Jones slammed the book shut. “You know you are just a know-it-all drama queen who thinks the sun shines out of your ass. Would it kill you to, for just a moment, consider...”
But before she could finish, a long blare sounded through the room. At the same time, both Dianna’s and Jones’s phones shook so violently that they fell off their tables. Jones slammed her hands over her ears, the sound making her teeth hurt. Dianna reached for the phone that had slid under her chair.
