Free Being Jane: A New Adult Erotic Romance: Fountain of Love by Arabella Quinn Page B

Michelle and I … ”
    I stopped talking
when Nate arrived and handed Jane a new beer. “Hey Dusty, what’s going on?”
    Jane hopped up
from her seat and handed her beer back to Nate. “Can you keep an eye on this
while I use the restroom? I’ll be right back.” She couldn’t wait to get away
from me.
    Nate took her beer
and sat. “Did you and Jane date in high school?”
    I stared into my
empty cup. “No. Why?”
    “I know you guys
were friends, but you always act kind of weird around each other. It’s just a
strange vibe.”
    “Well, we never
dated. And we weren’t that great of friends, either.” I escaped Nate’s awkward
questions by heading to the bar for a new beer.
    If I didn’t have
to deal with Michelle that night, I’d have left already. I stayed close to my
lane and bowled. I hardly talked to anyone; my mood was too sour to even
pretend to have fun.
    I tried my best to
ignore Jane and Nate, but my traitorous eyes seemed to be relentlessly drawn to
her. She looked happy sitting on Nate’s lap. And Nate was really into her. They
were caught up in each other. It was evident in their laughter, the little
touches between them and the way Nate’s hand rested possessively on her hip.
    I told myself I
didn’t care as I sipped at my beer. I swirled the sediments around in my beer
and avoided drinking them. I studied the beer floaties in my cup like it was my
job and pretended I wasn’t thinking about Jane.
    As soon as my game
was finished, I found Michelle. “I’m ready to leave. Let’s go.”
    Michelle pouted.
“I’m still having fun. Can we stay a little bit longer?”
    I didn’t feel like
arguing. “Fine. I’m going. Come back to my place when you’re finished.”
    “Wait. I don’t
have my car. I thought you’d drive me…”
    She was such a
pain in the ass. She never wanted to drive anywhere and I was the one always bailing
her out when she ended up stuck somewhere because of her piss poor planning.
    “If you need a
ride, then you’re coming now.” I started to leave. I wasn’t in the mood to
debate it with her.
    She jumped up.
“Let me just get my bag…”
    We were pretty
silent in the car. I was dreading the drama that I was sure was about to
unfold. Who knew what she was thinking.
    Finally, she spoke
up. “Wait, I thought we were going to your place?”
    “Nope. I’m taking
you back home.”
    She was quiet for a
short time. “Is something wrong, Dusty?”
    I took a deep
breath. “Yes. Something’s been wrong for a while. I don’t think our
relationship is working anymore. I think it’s time we called it quits.”
    I waited for the
blowup, but there was silence. No tears, no yelling, no hitting … nothing.
    Finally she spoke.
She sounded calm. “So, you’re breaking up with me?”
    I was about to say
something about taking a break, but I bit my tongue. I didn’t want to take a
break; I wanted to end it. Sugarcoating it wouldn’t help me in the long run.
“Yeah, I want to break up.”
    She took a while
to answer. “Well, we have a lot of the same friends, Dusty. I’m hoping that you
and I can remain friendly with each other.”
    That was it? “Yeah, sure. There’s no hard feelings. Things just didn’t work out for us.”
    I was relieved at
her reaction but also perversely upset that she didn’t feel at least a little
bit sad. She probably already had her eye on somebody else. Life was so
unpredictable sometimes.

Chapter 11
     
     
    Jane
     
    Seeing Dusty at
bowling had made it painfully obvious that I still had a crush on him. He
stirred up feelings that Nate didn’t. It confused the hell out of me, because I
really liked Nate. I wanted him to be my boyfriend and things were going really
well between us.
    I was still
confused a few days later when I called Nate as promised. It was Saturday and I
had promised to go out with him again. This was the night that I had vowed to myself
that I would confront my mother. My stomach was twisted in knots just