Falling Away (29 page)

             
When Sophie finally joined us, I sorta blabbered, “Okay, confession. I’m suddenly very nervous about seeing Robert. And I know he’s in here ‘cause I can feel him watching me.”

             
Sophie visually scanned the room. “Yep. Definitely watching.”

             
“Does he look mad?”

             
“Hmm…grumpy, maybe. Mad? Don’t think so.” She squeezed my shoulder and soothingly added, “Hey, don’t worry about it, Jenna. A few minutes into conversation, you two will probably be joking about old times again.”

             
Sophie left, but Mom stayed to gently rub my back for the last few minutes before rehearsal, trying to keep our conversation light and focused on Rutgers.

             
“Okay,” Charlotte said, clapping her hands loudly. “Let’s do a run through. Where’s my bride for the night?”

             
Oh, God, that was me. I only got one step out when I was tugged from behind, and Dana approached Charlotte and
Jhett
. It was Sophie that had kept me back, and she took my hand and led me toward the back of the room, where I spotted Robert leaning against the wall, finishing a conversation with a teenage guy that looked like a mini version of
Jhett
.

             
Crap, crap, crap! I thought panic mode had already kicked in before, but my feet deaden, forcing Sophie to put more effort into dragging me along. “Wait! I thought it was the maid of honor’s duty to be the bride in rehearsal?” Robert stared now that our eyes had connected, but there didn’t seem to be any anger residing behind
his set
. They just
watched
without emotion.

             
“Since when do you know what the duty of a maid of honor is?”

             
“Hey. I did my homework for this weekend and I was prepared to do my part.”

             
She swung my body around and planted me beside Robert, who intently watched Sophie like me. “Here’s the thing BFFs. With all that’s happened, you two are gonna need a practice run as much as
Jhett
and me. So say hello, catch up and play nice.” Then she grabbed
Jhett’s
mini-me and walked off with him.

             
Crap. It took a few seconds, but I found the courage to look Robert’s way. His body weight pressed into the wall, including his head, which rolled my way with a nonchalant expression. My head might have nodded
a quarter of an inch, but I guessed it was enough for him, ‘cause he imitated it before turning his attention back to Charlotte’s announcement.

             
Okay. Slightly awkward, but not horrible. So we probably weren’t gonna do a whole lot of talking this weekend. Could be worse.

             
My heart calmed down as we quietly awaited our instructions. Joining arms to practice our walk was weird the first few seconds, but he was so indifferent about the whole thing that I got over my nerves pretty quickly. At least, if he planned on freaking out on me this weekend, he wasn’t gonna do it in front of an audience.

             
We had dinner in a private room at the hotel’s restaurant, and apparently, my buddy system with Robert was destined to continue. Not only were we asked to sit at the end of the table, but across from each other as well. Yeah, Sophie and
Jhett
were beside us, and managed to converse with us a little, but their attention kept getting drawn to the guests sitting at the opposite end. At least Robert had a smart phone that let him do ten million things when he was bored.

             
Was it possible to get a headache from doing nothing at all? I ate my meal incredibly slowly, but long after I was done, we were still waiting for our plates to be cleared for coffee and dessert. Apparently the wait staff knew not to rush our table, so the transitions seemed endless. My head rolled back and I sighed louder than I probably should have. When I came back down, I caught Robert watching me. He took a moment to mess with his phone, then slid it across the table to me.

             
“I’m going to the bathroom,” he said, tossing the napkin off his lap before leaving the room. Why the hell didn’t I think to go there? I picked up the phone and released a short chuckle when I saw the Angry Birds game. Grateful for the distraction, I began the game, which Robert had already set to silent. I don’t know how long I got to play, but the night went a hell of a lot quicker after that, ‘cause when Robert came back, he refused my attempt to give it back. When I did later, Sophie smiled at me, happy to see the two of us finally acknowledging each other.

             
At the end of dinner, Robert said goodnight to
Jhett
and his family, then completely bailed. My goodbyes to Sophie’s parents took a bit longer ‘cause of how close I was to Mom, but after about fifteen minutes, I too began to leave like some of the extended relatives were. When I rounded the corner to the elevators, I was completely shocked to see Robert waiting there, his hands buried in the pockets of his pants. “Hey,” I said. “Figured you’d be in bed by now.”

             
He shook his head. “I went to get a drink first.”

             
I nodded. I could have used one myself. The elevator opened and we were the only two to get on. I was about to ask him to hit my floor, but it turned out he already did. “You’re on ten, too?”

             
“I think we’re all somewhere on ten.”

             
“Oh,” I replied quietly.
Awesome
.

             
When we got to our floor, his arm motioned for me to go first, and he followed in the same direction down the hall. I got to my room first, and Robert softly said goodnight as he passed behind. I repeated the sentiment and entered my room. Part of me was curious where his room was, but I didn’t dare linger to find out.

             
Soaking away the day in the tub sounded marvelous, but I was so tired that all I did was bury myself under the fluffy bed cover. I stripped down and slid into a camisole and shorts and submerged myself in darkness. An annoying red light flashed repeatedly, and it took me a moment to realize it came from my phone. I dragged it over from the bedside table and found a text from Evan that made me smile. I replied
I miss you, too
, and buried myself in fluff and darkness once again.

I startled awake. The room was still dark but light squeezed in where the drapery ended. Fists banged on the door again, and I realized that must’ve been what woke me up in the first place. I clumsily made my way to the door, swearing in pain when my shoulder
crunched
as it hit the wall. I peeked through the peep hole.

             
Sophie. Of course.

             
Half asleep, I opened the door and stared at her. “What?” I said, a mixture of whiny and bitchy. I jerked when she threw something at my chest, and she used my backward momentum to push her way into my room. The fabric in my hands was flannel, a matching pair to what Sophie was wearing, a soft pink with ivory hibiscuses.  “Pajamas?”

             
“Throw ‘
em
on, girlie. We’re going down for breakfast.”

             
“What? I’m not wearing PJ’s to breakfast!”

             
“Please. It’s ten A.M. on a Friday morning. Hardly anyone will be there. Come on, it’s my weekend and being my maid of honor means you agreed to do my bidding.”

             
I reluctantly, and slowly, traded out my clothing, not even bothering to dig a bra out of my bag. Screw it. I was too tired to care, and was a little surprised it was as late as it was. To hell with my hair too. I pulled the ponytail loose and shook it out as we left the room.

             
Of course
Jhett
and Robert were already there, done eating and wearing normal clothes. Luckily, I was too tired to feel embarrassed. It was impossible to avoid sitting next to Robert, as he and
Jhett
sat across from each other. Sophie made her way to the buffet but I collapsed into a chair instead, still waiting to wake up before grabbing breakfast. I la
id
my phone on the table and hitched my cheek onto my hand, supported by my elbow.
Jhett
and Robert exchanged glances, smiling over a private joke, which I feared I was the butt of.

             
“What?” I muttered. “I’m not a morning person.”

             
“Clearly,”
Jhett
snarked
.

             
Robert poured a cup of coffee, stirred in a creamer and half a sugar, then slid it my way. “Thank you,” I said, and began sipping at the caffeine.

             
Sophie reappeared with a plate filled with scrambled eggs, bacon, fruit and a croissant. Guess she wasn’t worried about packing on the pounds with just one day left to go. “Eat something, Jenna. I told you that you weren’t allowed to get any skinnier.”

             
“I haven’t!” I defended.

             
“I don’t know, Jenna,”
Jhett
said, looking over what part of my body he could see. “If you had a little more body weight you wouldn’t get cold so easily, and your headlights wouldn’t be shining right now.”

             
I knew he was just trying to embarrass me for the fun of it, but I turned the joke around on him. “Why are you always staring at my breasts?”

             
His mouth fell and his eyes bugged out a bit, but it was Sophie that replied, “’Cause he’s a guy and can’t stop himself.” Robert glared and shook his head at him, and then Sophie turned on him. “Oh, please Robert. You’re no better. I’ve seen you check out my ass plenty of times.”

             
“What?” he cried, coffee sloshing and dribbling down his cup and onto the table linen. Oh, that definitely got my attention, and I raised my eyebrows at him when he turned to check for my reaction.

             
“Mirrors are a bitch,” Sophie added.

             
“Dude!”
Jhett
cried.

             
“Well, someone has to stand behind her when she bends over in those damn miniskirts! How can I not notice? And better she bare her ass to me than some middle-aged creep or horny frat boy,” he defended.

             
Now Sophie’s jaw dropped. I didn’t think she planned on him saying something
like that!

             
“And what are you
duding
me about?” Robert challenged. “Jenna’s right. You always seem to notice when she’s
cold
, which means you’ve stared at her breasts a hell of a lot more times than Sophie’s bent over.”

             
I broke out in a fit of giggles, but was quickly distracted by my vibrating phone. I flipped it open and read a text message from Evan wishing me a good morning.
Aww
… One day and I already missed having him beside me.
Miss you more!
I typed. He was quick to reply with a
Not possible
. I smiled and was in the process of dragging out our conversation when a chunk of bread hit my chest and dropped to my lap.

             
“Earth to Jenna!” Sophie sang. I looked up to see three completely different faces. Sophie had a suggestive smile,
Jhett
was suddenly bored and Robert was expressionless, with a hint of pain in his eyes.

             
“Sorry. What’d I miss?”

             
Robert exhaled loudly and put his coffee down. To
Jhett
, he asked, “You ready?”

             
“Yeah.” Together they stood,
Jhett
leaning over to quickly kiss Sophie on the lips. “See you in a bit.” He, at least, acknowledged me with his eyes before leaving. Robert just turned and left.