Unrequited Love

3

The reminder for Friday's outing glared at Novel to her utter dismay, how could she think Friday would slowly crawl by and she would pretend like she forgot about it?. It was a sacred day before the weekends, the only time she had time to rest and make out time for herself, the thought of spending it with strangers was not appealing.

Sighing softly she went back to reading the book resting on her lap, after trying and failing to understand the words, she placed a pen in the page she had stopped and closed the book. Her mind was far from her office. Instead, it was cooking up rejections for Jack.

"Hello!" speak of the devil.

"Hello Jack."

"I just wanted to remind you about the outing today." Jack leaned on her door with a wide smile, if she had met him many years ago he would have passed as charming and handsome.

"Yes, I was just er- looking through my calendar and I saw it." Novel folded her hands on her table. "What time is it?"

"By eight. Everybody will be there before or after so you can't be too early or too late."

Novel wrinkled her nose at the thought of being late. "I'll be there a little after eight so I'm not caught on the edge of any of those lines."

"That's great! I'll be expecting you."

Novel groaned when her door clicked shut, why couldn't she just tell him no? On the other hand he really needed to learn how to knock.

•

Novel walked into the chaos she called a house and paused in the living room, Jane was hopping around blasting one of those songs where Novel stopped counting how many times she heard 'pussy'. Lowering the volume till the song vanished into the background Novel turned to her daughter.

"I can hear you from the driveway."

"Sorry mom. I was just in a super active mode." Jane said still hopping around.

"Well we don't need any complaints."

"Complaints?" Jane smiled, obviously amused. "We live out in the middle of almost nowhere. Who's going to be complaining?"

"Shut it young lady." Novel massaged her throbbing temple. "Just reduce the volume of whatever this is you call a song."

Jane nodded sensing her mother's sudden short fuse, "Promise, cross my heart hope to die."

Novel shook her head, heading to her room to prepare for her unavoidable outing. After trying out about five dresses and being dissatisfied with each one, she pulled out her big guns.

"Jane!" Novel hollered.

Jane popped her head into her mom's room. "Yes mom, you called- whoa!" Jane raised her brow in question, clothes were everywhere like a new hideous art piece waiting to be hung in a museum.

"I need something to wear for an outing."

"A date?" Jane wiggled her brows. "You should wear something short and red-"

"It's not a date missus." Novel rolled her eyes. "It's a professor's night out."

Jane let out a wide yawn. "Sounds boring."

Novel threw a pillow at her daughter, disappointed when she caught it with one arm. "Just help me pick something out."

"I'm even surprised you agreed to go for a professor's night out." Jane mumbled sifting through the clothes on the floor, humming at some and not sparing some a second glance.

"I didn't want to go but this professor was so adamant and I didn't want to hurt his feelings."

"In other words, you let someone push you over because you're too soft."