Free Worth the Fall by Caitie Quinn Page B

I eyed Jenna’s smile. “No.”
    “Well, actually—”
    I kicked Max under the table again.
    “—No.”
    “Max, I’ll give you twenty dollars to tell me what’s going on.”
    Ben laughed. “Twenty dollars is a lot for Jenna.”
    “Don’t.” I warned under my breath.
    Max gave me this look that told me I was in a lot of trouble. “I told you to behave.”
    “I was behaving. That wasn’t my fault.”
    “What wasn’t?” Jenna prompted, her pen leaving an inky dot across her page.
    I watched him make the decision, watched him fold it back up in his head and put it away.
    “I’m afraid I’m not allowed to disclose some of what goes on at work.”
    It was silly, but I was thankful. Jenna was the first girl I really felt I could be friends with since moving here. I’d had classmates in grad school I Facebooked with. You know, the people you studied with, but outside of class everyone was so busy with work and family and keeping it together that you didn’t hang out. At work, I stepped into a manager role right away and had to keep a bit of distance from the other people in their twenties because a bunch of them reported to me.
    But, glancing at Jenna and the life she had, I could see myself trying to wedge my way into their merry little band.
    You know, if they didn’t decide I was certifiably insane first.
    Just as I was trying to come up with the next topic of conversation to get things moving as quickly as possible away from my bare-butted breaking-and-entering situation, the pizza showed up.
    Thank goodness for small favors.
    With the food came some type of ongoing toppings argument I could barely follow until we were down to the last slice.
    “Ben, are you going to need the van again today?” I dipped my pizza crust in ranch dressing as they all looked at me funny.
    I wasn’t going to defend myself. It was good and that’s all the excuse I needed.
    “No. Next weekend I’ll have to come by and do some more packing. But I think we got enough out of your way that you can start to settle in, right?”
    “Definitely.” I was in awe. He’d even cleaned. I’d been able to smell the bleach when I’d gotten there that morning. “So, I’ll drop you guys all back at Ben’s, get my stuff from Jason’s, and return the van if no one else needs to move anything.”
    “Wait.” Jenna set her pizza down. I’d already learned when she wanted to discuss something she got rid of whatever was in her hands. “You have to go to that guy’s place?”
    “Most of my stuff was already there.”
    “How much stuff?”
    Fortunately—or unfortunately, depending on how you looked at it—not much since Craigslist had snatched up most of my belongings.
    “Only five boxes.”
    “All your clothes fit in five boxes?”  
    “Well, plus one box of shoes, some books, and don’t forget the two suitcases we moved today. But yeah, that’s about it.”
    “I’ll go with you.” Jenna’s hands had fisted on the table. I almost wanted to see what it was like to set a hundred pounds of rage loose on someone. The whole world probably underestimated the Power of the Pixie.
    “You don’t have to do that.” Part of me really wanted her nowhere near this. To not meet Jason and see what an idiot I was. One of them had already seen that in action. The other part did not want to go alone.
    “Oh, I’m coming. That’s what friends are for.” She picked up her pizza. Obviously, that was the end of the discussion.
    “I’m coming too.” Ben shrugged. “Someone has to move the boxes. Plus, if Jenna’s going to go on the offensive, someone’s gotta move Jenna.”
    “Hey. You know how I feel about bullies.”
    Ben leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. “That’s why I said I’d go too. Not that I didn’t think you should go.”
    “Great.” Max tossed his napkin on his plate and stood. “One more stop and we’re done for the day.”  
    I watched him head toward the men’s room while Ben and Jenna discussed