Authors: Marianna Roberg
"Yup." Jaina chuckled, then sighed. She wanted to tell her friend more, but also wanted to keep it to herself. "Oh, and Teniel's pregnant."
"Ha! I was right. Is Jason still being weird?"
Jaina shrugged. "I assume so. I moved out."
Angela's mouth dropped open. "Really? That was sudden."
"So was my sister's arrival in New Zealand," Jaina said wryly. "Dad caught her doing something naughty and sent her packing. She's here until September when she goes to college in England."
"Where'd you move?"
"I'm staying with a friend."
"Cool." Angela eyed the DJ. "I ran into a guy in Sydney. Jack Fallon?"
Jaina tensed. "You did?"
"You're right, he's a total jerkoff. I hope to never see the slimeball again."
A couple guys came down the stairs. One was as blonde as Angela, hair long, straight, and fine. The other had short, spiky, brilliant red hair that could only come from a bottle--it was about the color of a red crayon. Jaina didn't pay them much mind, since she wasn't interested.
The blonde obviously saw something in Angela that he liked, because he made a beeline straight for her and asked her to dance. She accepted quickly, leaving Jaina with the redhead.
"Would you like to dance?" he asked in a surprising Irish lilt.
"I'm sorry, but I'm a bit taken," Jaina said, studying her nails, which were sadly in need of a manicure. She thought longingly of the silver foil polish in one of her boxes, still unpacked and sitting in one of the spare bedrooms.
The man looked around the room. "I'm not seein' anyone else here."
"Look, you seem nice, but I'm
not
interested. I have a boyfriend."
"And you seem to be here without him. C'mon, girlie, would it kill you? Just one dance?"
She had the thought that it might kill
him
as he grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. "Oookay... forget what I said about nice."
Jaina yanked her hand back. "Touch me again and I'll remove several digits you'll probably need later tonight."
He narrowed hazel eyes at her. "What did ya come for then, if not t'dance?"
The Dead Or Alive song changed to INXS. Jaina regretted that the dork was ruining a perfectly good song by harassing her.
"She came to dance," a voice behind the man said. "Just not with you."
Jaina looked over, seeing with a great deal of surprise that Colin was there. She managed to cover well, though, and took his hand. "Sorry," she said to the guy.
Colin pulled her out to the floor. Jaina saw he was still in the clothing he'd been wearing that day: a white and blue striped button-up over black cargos.
"You're here," she said stupidly.
He shrugged. "I know you just meant to let me in on your amusement, calling to tell me where you were, but... I was at the grocery, just a few blocks away, so I thought I'd stop in for a bit."
"Ah."
"Just one song," Colin murmured, his hands settling on Jaina's hips. "I've got ice cream in the trunk."
"You paid the cover fee for one whole song?"
He grinned. "Actually, no. I was bad and used my celebrity to get in."
Jaina blinked. "Did you really?"
"Yeah."
She glanced over her shoulder at Angela, who was completely absorbed with her partner. Turning back to Colin, she slid her hands up his arms and then draped them on his shoulders. "I'm glad to see you. No matter how you got in."
Colin smiled and pulled her close, closing his eyes. The song wasn't intended for slow dancing, and they weren't, exactly... He just wanted to hold her. It was the better choice, his alternative being to punch out the lights of the guy who'd been bothering Jaina.
Way too soon, the song ended. As it slipped into the lyrics of "Mediate", Colin pulled out of Jaina's arms. "Gotta go," he said quietly, brushing his lips against her ear.
"Okay." Jaina let their hands linger, fingers touching, then dropped her hand.
Angela's dance partner had noticed the absence of his Crayola-haired friend, and he stopped dancing with Angela, who had turned in time to see the back of Jaina's dance partner, but nothing more.
"Who was that?" she asked, sidling up to Jaina.
"A guy," Jaina said, hoping her blush didn't show. She was still humming from her contact with Colin.
She still felt a little wobbly in the knees, as she always did when he touched her, and the memory of his cologne just made it worse. Jaina didn't want to ditch Angela or anything, but she suddenly, desperately wanted to go home to Colin.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
She made it through another hour--Angela dragged Jaina into the karaoke lounge--and then managed to claim fatigue and take Ange home.
Jaina parked the car and sat for a minute in the driveway. The half-inch of snow that had fallen--it snowed, but never very much--had melted during the afternoon, but the ground was covered with frost that made everything sparkly.
She locked the car and trudged up to the door. The house was dark. Glancing at her watch in the light of the porch, she saw that it was a little after 11. She grimaced as she unlocked the door.
The TV was on, though the lights were off. Colin was lying on the light blue sofa, shoes off, one white sock covered foot sticking out from under the sage green chenille throw Jaina had brought with her when she'd moved in.
She crouched by the sofa. Colin was asleep, dark lashes a crescent on his cheek. He snored softly. Smiling, Jaina took a moment to watch him, then reached over to smooth his hair.
His eyes opened. For a moment, he was started, then his features relaxed into a sleepy smile that did funny things to Jaina's stomach.
"Hey," she whispered. "C'mon, time for bed."
"When'd you get back?" Colin sat up, rubbing one eye with the heel of his left hand.
"Just now." Jaina hung up her coat. Then she extended her hand.
Colin wrapped his fingers around hers as he stood, the throw over his shoulders. He pulled her to him. "I love you," he murmured.
"I know." She grinned, standing on her toes to kiss him. "Let's go upstairs.
"
♥♥♥
The next morning, Jaina stumbled out of bed, threw on some clothes, and went into the bathroom. A few minutes later, Colin heard what sounded like cursing, and then Jaina came back out, went to one of her yet-unpacked boxes, dug through it for a moment, pulled something out, and stomped back into the bathroom.
He watched this process in bewilderment, laying with his arms folded under his head. "Jaina? Is everything all right?"
Colin blinked when Jaina walked out the bathroom. "You wear glasses?!"
She flushed. "Oh, c'mon, you know I wear contacts."
"But I didn't know about the glasses. It's a bit... odd." Colin sat up.
"I usually wear them when... you're not around. And when I'm not at work. But I accidentally dropped one of my contacts down the sink."
"You don't have a spare set?"
She shook her head. "Not with the prescription I've got. I can't do disposables." Jaina picked up a scrunchie off the dresser and pulled her hair back. She was wearing a large, shapeless, royal blue sweater that reached mid-thigh, with black leggings and royal blue socks. Her glasses were oblong, in thin metal frames enameled blue.
Colin sighed. "Guess I should get dressed."
He got out of bed, wearing his Calvin Klein briefs. Jaina stifled a snicker--she preferred the boxers--then pouted. "Do you have to?"
He chuckled. "Well, I
could
go about like this all day, but it's rather cold, and I'm afraid that I might get arrested for indecent exposure... if I didn't die of it first."
Laughing, Jaina left Colin to dress and went downstairs to start brunch. It was already after 10, so she made a heartier fare than usual. She was just setting out the plates when Colin came down, wearing holey jeans and a navy sweatshirt, feet bare. He grabbed her around the middle and swung her around.
Giggling, Jaina threw her arms around his neck. "What was that for?"
"Felt like it." He kissed her. "I love you."
"I love you, too."
She slid her arms down and around his waist, leaning her head against his shoulder. "Colin... are you really okay with me staying here?"
He drew back. "Of course. Why do you ask?"
Jaina shook her head. "I dunno. I just feel like I'm imposing or something. I mean... I want to be here, but... Shouldn't we feel apprehensive and everything about living together? People in the movies or on TV are always nervous about it, and-"
Colin sighed. "Come here." He took her hands and lead her to the sofa in the living room. There, they sat down.
"Jaina. I know what it is you're trying to do. I'm not going anywhere. This is where I want to be. I was the one who suggested you move in. I wouldn't have said it if I didn't want you here. You don't have to look for a way out for me. I don't want one."
He clasped her hands in his. "I don't
care
what people always say on TV. This is
us
, and to me, this feels right. I'm more than happy to have you here, Jay. You don't need to keep looking for an exit."
She looked down at their hands. "I know."
"Are you doing it because... because of Jack?"
Jaina lifted a hand and pressed it to her mouth for a moment. "I thought I loved that jerk. I know now that I didn't, but... rejection still hurts."
He ran his hands over her fingers. "You want to tell me about it?"
"You should know," she said. "Even if I don't want to tell
anyone
."
Jaina drew a shaky breath, then said, "I met Jack in Los Angeles. We were about three weeks from filming. I'd been working with the conceptual artists and designers for
Oceana
for about six weeks prior, on the look of the sea creatures. Anyway... He'd been there for a fitting. We ran into each other outside Wardrobe. I don't know what he saw in me, but... he struck up a conversation. I was taken by his accent, and that he was a celebrity. The star of the movie.
"Nothing really happened until we got to Sydney. I don't know, he asked me out, I agreed... We started dating. It wasn't really anything that serious, I thought, until New Year's Eve, and he proposed. It was all candle light and flowers and everything, and he had a ring... I was just overwhelmed, and I said yes. We'd known each other a whole three months at that point. I was stupid."
Colin wondered, silently, if her whirlwind romance with Jack Fallon was what was making her insecure about them. No, he knew it was that, but he didn't know to what extent.
"The movie production shot on location in Sydney from mid-November to the beginning of February. Everything else was being done with green screens back in the States, so they didn't need me anymore. I wasn't even the senior makeup artist. I was the assistant. Since I was going to marry Jack, I stayed. I'm not really sure who brought it up, but we talked about me moving in, and... I thought he was the one. I thought I could spend the rest of my life with him."
She squeezed Colin's fingers. "I was going to move some of my things into his apartment, gradually, until I made the final move when my trial lease was up on my apartment. I showed up early, used the key he'd given me to get in... and found him with some man, in the bed he'd expected me to share with him. I lost it. Totally lost it. I screamed at him while they scrambled around, trying to get clothes on. I tore the ring off my finger and threw it at him."
She laughed shortly. "I told him that his boyfriend should wear it, since it looked like it could fit."
Colin's brows drew together. "I don't get it."
"I wasn't referring to his finger."
"Oh."
"I told him I wasn't going to move in, that the engagement was off, and I grabbed my things, and left. I haven't seen him since. That night, I called Jason, asked if he'd let me stay with him a while, and when he said yes, I filed for a visa. As soon as it was approved, which took a shockingly short time, I got a plane ticket, arranged to ship everything to Auckland, and I left."
"And two weeks later, you met me."
She nodded. "Yeah. And you know the rest."
He pulled her on to his lap. "I think you're very brave. And... I understand now. But I'm not going to treat you the way he treated you. I'd rather gouge out my own eyes than hurt you."
"
That's
a lovely image," Jaina said, laughing despite herself. "But please don't do that. I like your eyes."
"I like my eyes, too." He grinned.
Then his stomach growled.
They both burst out laughing.
"I think that needs to be fed," she mused, as they stood. "Let's reheat the food."
"Then I'm taking you shopping."