Page 45 of When Stars Collide
“And you must be one of the more perceptive ones Jo has brought home.”
The shame featured on the woman’s face told me that her being here, begging for the attention of a one-night stand, was out of character for her. In an instant, any contempt I may have felt for her was gone, and I felt myself soften a little, a feeling that was a little foreign to me, if I’m being honest.
“Come on.” I motioned inside the door with my head.
“Thank you.” She followed me through the door. “This isn’t me—the clingy, crazy hookup that won’t let go. It’s just the things she said to me, the time we shared together, I thought she was different. And to find out she’s not is really making me question my judgment.”
“Yep, Jo has that effect on people.” I reached into the refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of water, offering one to the woman. She shook her head, uninterested. “Look, Jo isn’t a bad person, she’s just not a great girlfriend. She’s indecisive, erratic, and … well, young. She doesn’t know what she wants out of life yet. But when she finally figures it out, I have no doubt she’ll be everything you saw in her that night.”
“I just hope I’m here to see it.”
“I hope so, too.” I raised an eyebrow, gesturing to her.
“Madison,” she responded.
“Madison,” I repeated, the name sounding familiar to me. “Oh, hey,” I snatched the pink blouse from the stool on which it had been resting since the day I came home and found it on the floor, “is this yours?”
“Oh my gosh, I didn’t think I would ever get this back.” Madison took the blouse, a giddiness coming to life in her personality. “This is my absolute favorite top, and to be honest, part of the reason why I came here.”
“I don’t blame you. I was going to hold on to it with the hope that one day my boobs would grow in and I could wear it myself.”
She smiled. “You’re a good person.” She emulated the gesture I had done just moments ago.
“Mena.”
“Yes, that’s right. Well, Mena, I can see why Jo thinks so highly of you.”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m pretty great. Hey, speaking of Jo, you wouldn’t by chance still have her hoodie you wore home that day, would you?”
“Yup, I still have it. She’s just not getting it back until she returns my texts.”
“I respect the way you operate, Madison.”
*****
Madison had long since vacated our apartment by the time Jo arrived home.
“Days like today are why alcohol was invented,” she said, making a beeline to the refrigerator, where she grabbed a beer and then joined me on the couch.
“If you would have been here two hours ago, you’d be drinking something harder than that.”
She raised an eyebrow at me. The thing about Jo was that I could always tell when her wheels were spinning. In that moment, the hamster was running at full speed.
“Do tell,” she spoke with a fair amount of caution in her voice.
“Let’s just say I had the privilege of meeting Madison in person.”
Jo scrunched her face, her eyebrows furrowed. “Madison, Madison, Madi—”
“Pink blouse girl.”
“Oh! Madison, yes. I called her all kinds of things that night, but Madison wasn’t one of them.”
“How do you sleep at night?”
“With both eyes closed.”
I shook my head. “I returned her blouse to her.”
