Protecting Jennifer [COMPLETED]

Chapter 7

                 

It was weird not having a job. Sitting in the apartment all day was quite boring considering as I'd hated going to work in the first place. It wasn't that I disliked the job but more that I disliked the people working there. The only good thing about it was seeing Cassie and even then I didn't really talk to her. She was usually the one to keep up with the conversation and I'd just nod along and add a word every now and again to keep it flowing.

Now I probably wouldn't see her at all. We never hung out outside of work even though she'd tried several times to get me to come out with her and her friends. I didn't mind hanging out with her but hanging out with her friends too was a different matter. If they were all like her then I wouldn't be able to handle it. It was enough just having Cassie beside me, never mind a handful of them.

I spent a lot of my time in the living room now that I didn't have a job. I'd wait until Daniel and Lance went out for work and then scurry into the living room and plop myself down to watch films and eat snacks. It was the most relaxed I'd ever been in a place until they came back and then I'd trap myself in my room again so I didn't have to try and socialise.

I'd also managed to avoid bumping into them on the way to the kitchen and the bathroom so no awkward touches were exchanged. They usually moved around every day at a similar time so I got used to figuring out who was in the kitchen just by the sound of the scuffing on the floor.

I think they tried to avoid me too for my own benefit. There were times I'd go towards the bathroom and there would be noises inside Lance's room as if he was moving away from the door. I wasn't sure whether it was a coincidence or whether he really was just trying to give me the space I needed. Either way, I was grateful that I didn't have to run into him all the time and it did help settle my nerves more than I realised.

Sitting in the living room, I hardly jumped anymore when they came in through the front door, though I did move immediately when it wasn't so obvious that I was trying to avoid them. Sometimes I'd catch conversations between them in the kitchen but, from my room, it was so quiet that half the time I never quite got the whole gist of the conversation. I knew they'd spoken about me because I'd heard my name being said once or twice, but other than that they just went about their business and I did the same. It suited us all just fine.

However, as Friday came along, the boys returned early. I'd just been scanning for potential jobs on the internet when a loud chatter came from just outside the front door, followed by the jingling of keys. Daniel pushed the door open with his elbow, puffing the hair out of his eyes as he shuffled in with two bags on his arms. Lance came in soon afterwards and I pulled myself back into the sofa with the blanket over my legs when I realised that it was them.

Lance's blanket had been my best friend all week. I felt bad knowing that I was using his blanket without asking but he never told me not to and I hadn't even seen him touch it since I'd been here yet. He would give me a smile whenever he spotted me curled up in it but other than that he never mentioned my attachment to his blanket.

The boys swung the bags as they moved past me into the kitchen and I closed my laptop lightly, hoping to make a run for it in the next few minutes without it being awkward. However, just as I was folding the blanket up, Daniel called me, his hands clinking whatever was in the bags together.

"Before you run off, Jen, we just want to let you know that there's a party tonight." He said and I moved around the couch with my laptop in my hand, curiously glancing at the kitchen countertop where Daniel was pulling out large bottles of alcohol.

"Where?" I asked quietly, eyeing the other bottles of alcohol Lance was pulling out of the bags.

"Here. You're happy to join in if you want. It'll only be a small one. It's just a few of our friends from college. You remember Harry, right?"