Chapter Twenty
Larson sat out in her back yard with her arms around
her knees. It was a beautiful day out,
but she didn’t even notice. She had
been in such a funk lately and she couldn’t get out of it. She wanted to talk about it, if she knew
what was bothering her. She sighed and
laid out on her side across her blanket.
She hated being in a pissy mood.
Was it because Mel and JC were spending so much time
together? Was it because JC called for
Mel instead of her? She missed talking
with JC, but if they wanted to be together, she couldn’t stop them. In fact, she should be happy for them, two
of her good friends finding happiness together. Why did it feel so wrong to her, why did it upset her so? It sucked feeling bad like this.
“L?” Mel called out her
and it dropped her out of her thoughts,
“Yeah Mel?” Larson replied
as she rolled onto her back and looked up at her best friend.
Mel cast her a worried glance, “You okay?”
Larson nodded, “Oh, yeah, just a rough day at work.”
“Okay, well, I’ve got something to perk you up.” She said excitedly and squatted down next to
her, “JC wants to know if you want to go out tonight.”
Larson perked up and sat up a little, “Just me and JC?”
“Well,” Mel drew out the
word, “me and Chris too, is that cool?
You wanna go?”
Larson’s face fell a little, “Oh, what are we doing?”
Mel shrugged, “Just going to hang out at Jace’s place. I thing some of his other friends might show
up too.”
Larson sighed slightly, “Oh, okay, yeah sure, I’ll go.”
“Cool, I’ll go call JC.”
She said happily and ran off into the house. Larson stared up at the blue sky. She had to get out of this funk.
Maybe this party would do just that.
Later that night at JC’s Larson excused herself from the group and
went into the kitchen to refresh her drink.
Mel and JC were practically glued together and she felt like the third
wheel. At that moment, this was the
last place she wanted to be, but she couldn’t leave because Mel had been her
ride.
“Hey, Doc.” She looked up
to see Chris walk into the kitchen.
“Hey Chris, need a refill?”
She asked,
He nodded, “Yeah.”
She held out her hand to take his cup, “Kay, here give me your
cup.”
He shrugged, “I can do it.”
“No, I don’t mind.” She
said taking his cup and refilling his drink quietly.
Chris eyed her for a moment, “Doc, are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Why does
everyone keep asking me that?” She said
more forcefully than she wanted to. She
was just tired of everyone asking her that same question.
Her tone didn’t seem to have any effect on Chris, “Because, you’re
not your normal self. You seem really
down that’s all.”
“Yeah, well, I’m fucking fine, okay?” She slammed down his drink and Chris blocked her before she could
run.
“You sure seem like it. Do
you want to talk about it?” He asked
calmly and she sighed, running a hand through her hair.
“I wish I could.” If she
didn’t know what was wrong, how could she tell someone else?
“Well, why can’t you? I do
have a degree in psychology, so one way or another I will get it out of
you.” He teased and Larson half smiled
at his joke.
“Do we have to do it here?”
She said eyeing the other people milling about.
“Come on.” Chris took her
hand and led her through the living room and up the stairs to a spare room.
JC watched Chris lead Larson up stairs
to a room. They were holding hands and
his jealousy rose a hundred points.
Mel noticed instantly, “Jace, what’s wrong?”
“Larson just went upstairs with Chris.” He growled softly,
“They probably went up to talk, they haven’t seen each other in a
while.” Mel brushed off.
“They were holding hands.”
He pointed out.
“Doesn’t mean anything.”
She said calmly, trying to soothe JC.
He gave her a worried look. “Mel, this plan isn’t working.”
“Yes it is. She’s about
two steps away from realizing that she wants you.”
“Yeah, it really looks that way.”
He said sarcastically, nodding to the stairs.
“Don’t you trust me?”
“I do, but my patients are growing thin. I don’t see this plan working.
I only see Larson moving farther away from me.” He sighed helplessly,
“She does that to figure out things. You should see her every time that I mention hanging out with
you. She lights up Jace. This funky mood she’s in is because of this
situation.”
JC frowned, “I don’t want to hurt her.”
“You’re not, she’s my best friend and I know her better than
anyone. She’s conflicted because she
doesn’t know what she’s feeling. Once
she figures that out, it’ll all work, trust me.”
Larson sat down on the couch and Chris
closed the door behind him before sitting across from her.
“So, what’s up Doc?” He
joked and she half smiled as she played with her drink.
“I don’t know.” She leaned
back against the couch, “I just feel like crap and I think I know why, but it’s
shitty if I do feel that way.”
“Okay, explain.”
Larson took a deep breath, “Jace is spending a lot of time with
Mel. I mean A LOT of time and not much
with me anymore. They’re basically one
step away from dating, even though Mel denies it, but I’m happy they’re getting
together, but I don’t know, I’m not.
And if I’m not then I’m a horrible friend because I SHOULD be happy they
want to be together.”
“Why doesn’t it make you happy to see them together?” Chris asked and she stared at her drink,
“I think I miss all the time I used to spend with JC. He used to call to talk to me and he used to
come over to see me and we used to go out and do things. But now he does that with Mel and I feel
replaced.” She took a sip of her drink,
“It’s not like we had a relationship or anything, but we were friends and I
miss him.”
“So, you’re jealous of the relationship that Mel and JC have now.”
“Yeah, I guess but if they want to be together then who am I to
stop it? That makes me a horrible
friend to both of them. They shouldn’t
be miserable to make me happy, but every time I see them together, I just get
so depressed. I shouldn’t have come
tonight, I knew it wouldn’t have made me feel better and I don’t want to drag
everyone down. I should just go
home.” She sighed staring up at the
ceiling.
“Doc, it’s okay to be jealous you know. You’re a great friend to be the way you are, but I think you’re
jealous because you want what Mel has or is developing with JC.”
She looked at him, “You mean that I want JC as in more than a
friend?”
“Do you?” He asked,
Larson sat there for a moment contemplating this revelation before
grabbing her head with her hand, “My GOD!
I DO! ARGH!” She exclaimed, “What the hell is wrong with
me? Why do I want JC when I can’t have
him?!”
“Are you sure you can’t?”
“He wants Mel! What am I
going to do? Steal him from her? If anyone deserves someone like JC, it’s
Mel. I’d be worse than pond scum if I
stole him from her. She deserves to be
with him, I don’t.” She sighed and laid
back on the couch, “This is how ironical my life is.”
Chris came over and sat down on the couch pulling her feet into
his lap, “Life has a way of being that way sometimes.” He patted her leg assuringly,
Larson let out a deep breath, “Thanks for this talk, I think I’ve
been needing to get this out of my system for a while now. Since I really couldn’t tell Mel or JC, I
really appreciate the talk.” Larson
pulled Chris down to her and hugged him.
“Well, you’re welcome, Doc.”
He looked down at her, “You wanna get out of here and get a bite to
eat?”
“You know what?” She smiled her first real smile of the night,
“That sounds wonderful.”
“L?” JC said coming into
the room and stopped dead when he saw her and Chris on the couch. He was completely crushed, “Oh, sorry,
didn’t know.”
“No, it’s okay C.” Chris
said getting up off of Larson and helping her to her feet. “We were just about to leave.”
“What did you want JC?”
Larson asked quietly.
“Oh, I, uh, Mel and I were just wondering where you had gone off
too. That’s all.”
“Oh, well I was just talking to Chris, but now we’re gonna go get
something to eat.”
“There’s food in the kitchen.”
JC suggested,
“Nah, I’m tired and I just want to get to bed.” She grabbed Chris’s hand for support.
Chris led them up to JC, “Thanks for the party, call me tomorrow.”
Larson half hugged JC and dropped a kiss on his cheek, “Thanks for
inviting me. I had a good time, see you
around.” JC stood there and watched
Chris and Larson walk out of the room and down the stairs. It took him a minute
to move and when he did he walked downstairs, grabbing Mel and practically
dragging her to an empty room.
“This plan is NOT working!
It needs to end now!”
“It’s going along perfectly.
She’s right where we want her.”
Mel protested,
“Leaving with Chris after I found them making out, is where we
want her?!”
Mel’s eyes went wide, “She was not!”
“I walked in on them and then they made a pretty quick exit to “go
to bed” and they were holding hands! I
knew this wasn’t going to work!” JC
grabbed his head and began to pace the room.
“JC, calm down. Let me
talk to her tomorrow and we’ll see where we are.”
“I can’t watch her be with Chris, it can’t happen.”