Something in my chest churned at her own step she was admitting to. We were all trying to take small steps in our lives, trying to get somewhere.
I guess the good thing was, there might be a finish line with a specific time we needed to get there but none of us knew what it was.
Clara kept talking. “And, Jackie, quit telling people about Johnny.”
The teenager blew a raspberry. “You said sex wasn’t a big deal.”
“It isn’t for a lot of people, but only when you’re ready. Some people believe that it’s a transfer of energy, and you don’t want to pick up on anyone’s bad energy. And I told you you can have sex with whoever you want once you’re eighteen.”
“You’re so weird.”
“Why am I weird?”
“Because you’re supposed to tell me that I should wait until I get married!” Jackie argued back.
“You don’t have to love every man you’re with. Right, Ora?” Clara said with a peek over her shoulder.
I had loved every guy I’d ever been with. All whopping three of them. Two had been puppy love, but the last one… well, it had been real. Until it got burned alive and to a crisp. But that wasn’t the point Clara was trying to make. “Exactly. No one ever tells a guy to wait for someone special. My uncle used to just beg my guy cousins to wear a condom. A skinny sixteen-year-old with bad acne isn’t going to be a prince charming. At least just wait until you make sure the guy isn’t a total immature douchebag.”
“Uh-huh. And boyfriends just bring problems,” Clara kept going, gesturing to me for my own input.
Considering none of my past relationships had worked out… she wasn’t wrong. “I haven’t had that many boyfriends, but yeah, they’re a pain in the ass.”
Jackie’s turned around in her seat to peek at me. “You haven’t had a lot of boyfriends?”
I shook my head.
“You look like you’d have a lot.”
Clara tried to cover her snort at the same time I burst out laughing. “Thank you?”
She blanched. “Not like that! Because you like… You’re so pretty! You look like a princess! That was, like, the second thing Amos ever told me, and he never says stuff like that.”
Amos thought I was pretty? What a sweet kid.
“I was with my ex for a really long time. And my other two boyfriends were in high school.” One of them, I had kind of kept in touch with. He messaged me on Facebook every birthday and Christmas, and I did the same. He was still single and apparently some kind of workaholic engineer. The last I’d heard from the other one, the one between the guy I’d lost my virginity to and Kaden, was that he was married with four kids; at least that’s what I’d seen the last time I’d stalked him online out of boredom. “You’re so pretty too, Jackie, and you’re really smart. That’s a lot more important and useful than looks are.”
Suddenly, I missed Yuki and Nori. We used to take turns pumping each other up when we were having bad days. When Yuki had broken up with her boyfriend about a month before Kaden had kicked me to the curb, we had sat around her living room—while he’d been on tour—and yelled at her. You’re beautiful! You treat people with respect! You haggled with your label for more money! You sold one hundred million records because YOU worked hard! You’ve got a great butt! You make the best macaroni and cheese I’ve ever had!
They had done the same for me in the month I’d stayed with Yuki after. Try being sad when people you love yell compliments at you. You can’t be.
The teenage girl who only spoke to me about work most of the time, though, grunted. “Boys don’t like smart girls though.”
From the side, I could see Clara shaking her head. “That’s why we’re telling you that they’re a headache.”
“More like a migraine, but sure, a headache works,” I chirped up, and then the three of us were cracking up.
And that’s when my phone started ringing.
Not actually with a call, I realized after a moment, but with a call through Facebook messenger.
I recognized the face on the screen before I even got a look at the name below it.
I knew that hair. The face with about ten layers of makeup that she never left the house without. Hell, I doubted she left the bathroom without a face full of foundation anymore. Not that there was anything wrong with it, but it was an idea of how important appearances were to her.
HENRIETTA JONES flashed across the screen.