Chapter two
hundred and seventy:
Becky paused
outside a clothing store to admire a beautiful beaded evening gown.
They had already
gone into two other stores which were playing loud and obnoxious music. It
seemed as though she had picked out everything on the shelves. Zac had offered
to carry her bags when there was only one, but now he had five, and he didn’t
think he could carry too many more.
He snuck a
glance at the time, and realized they had been at the mall for nearly three
hours.
His stomach
rumbled loudly.
“Becca?” He asked carefully.
She stopped
searching through a rack of dresses and looked up at him.
“I
know, you’re bored.”
She smiled. “We can do something else now.”
“No, it’s not
that!” Zac said quickly. “I just thought you’d maybe like to go and get
something to eat…”
Becky smiled. “We
just ate breakfast a couple of hours ago… You’re hungry already?” She really
didn’t even need to ask that question. She knew he would be.
“Yeah.” He shrugged, with a sly grin.
“Okay. Where’s
the food court?”
“Umm…” Zac
looked around quickly. “I think it’s somewhere… Wait, we passed it, didn’t we?”
Becky laughed.
“What?” He asked
in confusion. “I can’t believe we’re actually somewhere are you aren’t sure
exactly where the food is.”
He laughed. “I
know. But we’ll find it.” He held out his hand and smiled, feeling the cool
ring press into his hand.
They began
walking back in the direction they had already come from.
“Zac?” She asked after a few moments of
silence. “Do you know what’s going on between Luke and Jen?”
“No, do you?” He
asked, entirely distracted by his hunt for food.
“No… usually Jen
will tell me if there’s something going on. This time she didn’t… I’m worried.”
Zac smiled. “Don’t
worry, okay? They’ll work things out when they’re ready, okay?”
Becky seemed
satisfied with that answer. “Okay… what are you getting for lunch?”
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Luke was sitting
in the study.
He had parked
himself at his lap top to try and figure out the last paragraph of his last
paper for the semester.
He sighed and
yanked his hand through his hair. He simply couldn’t concentrate.
He couldn’t help
but think that he had blown things majorly with Jenna.
He hadn’t even
meant to upset her so much, he was simply trying to slow things down, and
instead he had driven her away.
It wasn’t that
he didn’t trust Jen with
He picked up the
phone on the desk and hit the ‘redial’ button.
It dialed Jen’s
cell phone number.
However, he was
still greeted with the electronic voice on the other end proclaiming that her
phone was turned off.
He sighed and
dropped the phone into it’s holder.
He knew Jenna.
He knew she needed time to cool off, and she would eventually forgive him.
He just hated
that he couldn’t see her. He hated that she was mad at him.
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Jen excused
herself from the game of pool to use the washroom.
She carried her
purse into the gritty pub bathroom. She dropped her purse onto the counter and
pretended to adjust her hair and make up until the other woman in the room
left. She sighed and finally dropped both hands onto the counter, staring at
herself in the mirror.
She hated
fighting with Luke.
To make matters
worse, she hated what they were fighting over.
Sex had never
been a huge deal for her. She had grown up with the idea of it being natural,
and she always thought that when it felt right, it was time.
However, no
matter how right it felt for her, Luke was still hesitant.
She and Luke had
never exactly talked about it, she didn’t think they
needed to. She thought it was a mutual feeling they shared. She thought she
could tell by his kisses that he wanted it too.
She sighed and
examined her reflection carefully. When she stepped on the scale that morning,
it read 115. According to her doctors, that was the perfect weight for her height
and age. However, when she looked at herself she saw every extra pound that she
had gained back: which looked as ugly and insightful, as if she had gained a
ton instead of a pound.
She drew in a
deep breath. If Luke looked at her the same way as she looked at herself, no
wonder why he didn’t want to touch her.
Jenna reached
into her purse and removed the pills the doctor had given her to help her keep
her food down. These were the reason she was gaining so much weight so quickly.
She emptied the prescription bottle into her hand.
She closed her eyes tightly in concentration, then decided she needed to do
what felt right.
She crossed the
bathroom and walked into the closest open stall. She dropped all of the
remaining pills into the toilet and flushed.