Amish Jedi: In a City Far, Far Away

Episode 14.2 ~ Mr. Darcy

"Hey," John's mouth turns up on one side. "We're not matching." Megs dressed him in dark-brown pants and a forest-green sweater that clings to him just right.

"You look very..."

"You too, Zizi." He cups my cheek and kisses my lips gently and then far less so. "Where's Megs?" he asks when he surfaces, gazing around the apartment. His eyes narrow and I know who he's looking at. 

"Getting dressed. Do you want a cookie?" Best to distract surly men with food. 

The party fills up fast. I recognize a lot of the faces from Halloween. The only one missing, very obviously to me at least, is Sarah. Teddy shows up with a random date. She's tiny and blonde with blue eyes. I've never met a girl Teddy dated so it's interesting to see his taste is more starving-Hannah than me. Not that I want his taste to be me. Not at all. I've got enough to worry about with Edward and Jacob to add a third wheel. 

Megs's boyfriend — at least I think they are official — is here. He's pretty comfortable with the crowd. I assume he's met them all at Megs's plays and such. 

I shouldn't be, but I am a bit taken aback when some of the girls show up in costume. I count three naughty elves and a risqué Mrs. Clause before I glance over at John and catch him ogling. 

His gaze catches mine. He closes his mouth and his cheeks turn red in an instant. The appropriate girlfriend thing to do would be to get mad, but I laugh.

He chuckles lightly along with me. 

"Not like back home," I say. 

"No, but I think we'll be just fine here."

I should let the moment pass, but I just can't. "Don't you ever want to go back?"

"I can't," his jaw hardens. "I don't want to talk about it either," his tone is harsh and hurtful. Like I'm the one who slept with someone I'm not telling him about back home, and he's letting it slide for the sake of us. I turn my face into the gentle, chilly breeze wafting through the window so he can't see the fiery lash he's left across my chest. 

Things lighten up a bit between us when he brings me a plate of food and sits with me as we munch down dinner resting on the window sill. I try not to, but every once in a while I catch Jason's eye. He's never near me or John as if he's sticking to the periphery of the room. He can't stay there though because Megs drags him front and center to the tree, which is a mere few feet from John and myself so that we can all sing "Happy Birthday" to him. I pretend I don't notice John not singing. 

Cake is distributed, and then most of the guests leave for other parties. We're down to the core six of us, with the addition of John, Megs's and Teddy's dates, and Frank and Betty. 

The English way of exchanging gifts is foreign to both John and myself. Even the few years I spent in the English world, we celebrated the holiday Amish-style. One simple—my parents didn't have a lot back then—gift waiting at the breakfast table in the morning. English-style, or maybe it's just Megs-style, is far from simple. There are a ton of presents wrapped in shinny paper plied high around the tree. Instead of one gift for me from the group, I have six gifts. Jason has double as half of his are birthday presents—almost half, my gift is a combo. I bought him the entire Harry Potter series from John and myself. The books are lightly used, but I know that won't matter to Jason. Who gets rid of their Harry Potter collection anyway? When I spotted the set in Betty's store, I felt like a middle-aged labrador was staring up at me with big, sad eyes wondering why his family didn't love him. Some people just shouldn't have books. 

"Is this a hint?" Jason asks after unwrapping our gift, it's the first time he's spoken an entire sentence to me in hours. 

"A gentle suggestion."