Free Love's Dance by Marianna Roberg Page B

gonna get over him!"
    Jaina shrugged. "I fell for him. Literally."
    Angela rolled her eyes.
    "I couldn't help it, Ange." She sat in one of the folding chairs. "It just happened, no matter what I did. And I don't care anymore."
    She sighed, and a wistful expression filled her emerald eyes. "I love him. "
     
    ♥♥♥
     
    Angela gave up on getting Jaina to fall out of love with Colin. One look at Jaina, and it was obvious she was hopelessly lost.
    Meanwhile, Jaina's ankle was healing at a rapid rate. By the end of the week in Warkworth, she could walk with it lightly wr apped, and sans crutches.
    "Don't you need those?" Colin asked, indicating the crutches in the backseat of his car as they got out. He'd noticed Jaina had made no move to retrieve them.
    "Nope," she said gleefully. "Almost all better."
    She couldn't skip, and walked with a very slight limp, but she was definitely feeling better, even though it was getting colder at a seemingly exponential rate. Having grown up in California, she hadn't needed sweaters that much, but they were required now. Shopping with Angela one afternoon, she bought several, as well as boots.
    "Does Colin know how you feel about him?" Angela asked.
    "I don't know." Jaina held up a burgundy sweater. "What do you think of this one?"
    "It's cute. Are you gonna tell him?"
    "What, and have him get all creeped out around me? No, I'm not gonna tell him. I mean, I'm not planning to."
    "So you've been hanging out at his place a lot? You didn't tell me that."
    Jaina fixed her with a look. "I've been giving him cooking lessons. And he's been teaching me how to ride a bike. That's it. Of course, we've had to postpone further lessons with my ankle, and it'll be getting too cold soon. We're planning on going biking one last time next week."
    "Doesn't his boyfriend live with him?"
    Shaking her head, Jaina picked up a cobalt blue sweater. It was a man's sweater, stuffed onto a rack by a lazy shopper. And it was on sale. It would look perfect on Colin. Even though his birthday wasn't for several months, he'd probably be going to that convention in Germany in November, and he'd need something warm then. The weather then would probably be much like it was now.
    Colin had been going out of his way to make things easier for her, with her impaired mobility. She'd just barely got her car back from his house, and was just a little relieved at not having to spend the entire day with him. It wasn't annoying, just... painful. Knowing she could never have him.
    "No, he doesn't have a roommate right now. He's only mentioned Michael a couple of times, as a 'former roommate', who apparently left a few possessions in his room, and Colin's always complaining that he won't come back and get them."
    She headed towards the cashier with her selections. "What about you? It's got to be a relief that you don't have to kiss Peter."
    Angela laughed. "Don't remind me! The things I do for my craft."
    Jaina took her credit card back from the saleswoman and then lifted her bags. They headed for the door.
    "Have you kissed Colin?" Angela asked.
    Jaina dropped one of her bags. "What?!"
    "You heard me. Have you?"
    "No!"
    "That's too bad. He's a really good kisser."
    Jaina let her hair fall into her face as she picked up her bag, hiding her flush. "Well, good for you. But unless I somehow end up on film as Alex's girlfriend or something, it won't happen."
    "And you'd need an agent for that. And auditions. Unless there were some freak thing. Like when they cast one of the assistant directors as Frohike on The X-Files ."
    Jaina was surprised. "You watched X-Files ?"
    "Yup. Mulder was hot. I wanted him and Scully together."
    "Did you not see the last couple seasons?"
    "Nah, lost track, decided it was too much work to catch up."
    "Oh. Well, they got together."
    "Was Scully's baby his?"
    "Yeah."
    "Cool." Angela began leading Jaina down the street. "I noticed your brother's kind of... antisocial."
    Jaina shook her head, thinking back to when