Page 5 of Forever Fascinating

P.S. I’ve told you – you don’t have to be so formal dude. We’re buddies! I promise, if you don’t sign your entire name… I will still know who the email is from.

* * *

Dear Jana,

You can have that dance… and I know, but old habits die hard. It just feels weird, almost too casual, to send an email without it.

Bear with me, while I revert back to civilian life.

Sincerely,

X-Ray

* * *

Vast improvement,bro… LOL

See ya soon!

Jana

* * *

Jana was sittingcross-legged on the floor in sweatpants, a t-shirt, with her blond hair pulled up into a loose bun, checking her cell phone. She saw John’s dorky email and laughed. The guy could not loosen up whatsoever and she could practically picture her friend as a stick-in-the-mud.

He was probably a clean-cut nerd like her brother.

Sighing happily, she smiled.

She’d asked for a pen pal and John, better known as X-Ray, was certainly it. They wrote, shared stories, talked about when they were kids, and what was going on in their lives… but there was no spark there that she’d hoped for. He did help with the feelings of loneliness, but as a friend.

“Friend-zoned…” she whispered under her breath, grinning, only to see Emily, Karen’s sister, look at her curiously from where she sat nearby measuring out tulle and twisting it off with floral wire.

“Can you help me start attaching the ribbons to the garlands?” Emily asked pointedly, smiling to soften her tone. “We are running out of time and need to put these up tonight. Karen will be back soon and if I know my sister? She. Will. Freak.”

“Oh, I’m sure…” Jana smiled, quickly moving to attach the ribbon bows to the garland that looked like it was hundreds of feet long. Maybe that was a slight exaggeration, but the entire condo where Karen lived looked like a Garden Ridge or floral shop had detonated inside her living room.

There were bows, sprigs of flowers, corsages, boutonnieres and centerpieces, everywhere… not to mention the bits of ribbon that were trimmed off, a few fake flowers that had fallen, ripped off tags, and trash from opening the plastic packages.

Karen said it was like making a homecoming mum… and Jana had no idea what the woman was talking about until Emily showed her a photo with her cell phone.

Must be a Texas thing…she mused idly, her fingers working deftly to keep up with Emily.

Apparently at the high school’s homecoming football games here, it was customary for a girl to wear an obscenely massive floral and ribbon concoction pinned to her shirt. There were big cowbells, sparkly stickers, plastic footballs, and every gaudy-yet-festive thing imaginable. Some people even hot glued teddy bears to the mums, making the centerpiece even larger!

The women were all sleeping here tonight, to finish up a few last-minute details, and Karen’s mother was going to meet them at the chapel to help do the bride’s hair. They were supposed to be there at six in the morning and while she was happy for her brother and his wife?

She was tired.

The front door opened at that moment as Karen walked in with bags of drive thru – and freshly painted fingernails and toenails.

“Oh, thank you… lunch…” Jana sighed, closing her eyes and smelling the barbecue. “I am starving.”

“It’s more like dinner,” Karen smiled. “Sorry it took me so long. The nail place was really busy and there was a line for barbecue. I’ve been craving the stuff and it sounded sooooo good.”

“It smells good.”

“Jace just landed at DFW too. Armadillo is out there picking them up in the van and dropping them off.”

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