How You Remind Me

16

I wasn't able to track Derek down for the rest of the afternoon. I was sure he was hiding from me.

"Well this isn't Sully's." Jackson said as he popped a bar peanut in his mouth "But it's nice."

"It's Joe's." I smiled as I sipped my beer "It's better than Sully's."

"Damn straight." I heard behind the bar and smiled widely.

"Jackson...meet Joe." I said "Joe, this is Dr. Jackson Avery."

"Interesting." Joe remarked as he shook Jackson's hand.

"What's that?" I asked.

"You go from so much hair to one with none at all."

I rolled my eyes.

"Jackson is just a friend." I rolled my eyes.

"Oh, well I figured when I saw him with the brunette and you with this mug..."

I slowly glanced around behind me, over my shoulder where Joe pointed and sure enough. I saw Derek sitting at a booth with a scrub nurse named Rose. I turned back as the pain hit me, a roll of jealous rolled up my throat and my eyes squinted into two tiny angry slits.

"Uh oh." Joe mumbled and turned around, making the excuse of going to tend the rest of the bar.

"Uh oh?" Jackson asked "What's uh oh?"

I sighed heavily as I took another drink of my beer.

"Nothing." I mumbled "Nothing other than my hus....ex-husband is sitting over there in that booth with another woman...obviously on a date."

"Oh." Jackson sang "Well maybe they're just on a date like we're on a date." I scowled at him "You're right... they're on a date. But so what, you're divorced right?"

"Right." I pouted.

"Ah," he observed "but you're not happy about that." I gave in an incredulous raise of my eye brows. "Then why did he leave you?"

"I left him."

"Oh." He nodded "are we having second thoughts?"

"We're having lots of second thoughts." I sighed sadly.

"Well what are we sitting here for?"

"First of all.. stop calling me 'we'." I scoffed "Secondly, there's a really hot scrub nurse talking his ear off over there."

"She's really not all that pretty." Jackson scrunched his nose "But I'd hit that."

"Of course you would." I rolled my eyes. Dude was a horny little bastard.

"Seriously though, go stake your claim. She's the one trespassing on your territory."

"She got his permission though." I sighed "Maybe I'm fooling myself."

"Or not trying hard enough." He interjected, I gave him another glance "Why don't you go show him what he's been missing....or you know, you can just sit there nursing a beer...key word being nurse here."

I glared at him. But he was right.

Conveniently enough, I saw out of the corner of my eye-Rose got up and made her way to the ladies room.

"Jackson."

He was already getting up off his stool.

"I'm on it like donkey Kong baby!"

I shook my head, he was half drunk, I'd give him some slack.

I slid off my stool and removed my jacket and laid it on the stool. I pulled on my black V neck sweater so the neckline lowered and then pushed my boobs up with my hands, voila, instant cleavage.

I turned around and swayed my hips as I approached the table; I was almost there when he caught sight of me. His eyes darkened-I knew what that meant.

"Hi." I grinned seductively.

"H..hi." he stuttered as his eyes swept over me. "What are you doing here?"

"Our song is on." I lied "I thought I'd come get you to dance with me."

"We don't have a song." He frowned "And I don't dance."

"You danced perfectly fine at our wedding." I said.

"What about your date?"

"He's probably feeling your date up in the bathroom right about now."

His jaw dropped and he frowned a little bit. Then I saw the wheels turning in his eyes and he tilted his hand back with realization.

"You weren't on a date."

"Dance with me." I said as I extended my hand.

He slid out of the booth and stood up. We walked hand in hand to the dance floor and I looped my arms around his shoulders as his fit around my waist. We started to sway back and forth to the song.

"No." I mumbled as I got caught up staring in his eyes.

"No, what?" he asked softly, his eyes crinkling into a smile.

"No, I wasn't on a date." I said. "Just having a drink with Jackson...my friend."

"Oh." He nodded "Well I thought..."

"I hang out with him, I have for a little while. But only because he does stupid shit to make me laugh." I explained, and then gulped as emotion formed a knot in my throat "I needed someone to make me laugh-because the person who used to make me laugh wasn't there anymore."

Guilt swept over his eyes and he hung his head a little.

"I'm sorry." He whispered, I shrugged "For what it's worth, I miss making you laugh."

"Then make me laugh."

A second later our beepers were going off simultaneously. We both let out long heavy sighs.

I knew this would come, it was the first snow of the season and the roads were icy as hell.

Jackson went whizzing past us buckling his belt and was the first out the door. We pulled back with a remorseful gaze in our eyes before separating and going our same but separate ways.

Why did life always have to be a bitch?