My Kind of Woman

9. Mrs. Right

I leaned forward and took a bite out of it, seeing Jackie smile at my clumsy attempt to stay on target. Being with Jackie didn't make me worry less about Mio, like I shouldn't have been, but it made me calmer. As the friend of a teenage girl, Jackie always (kind of) knew what to say or how to be wordless and still good company.

For most of the night we were like that; sitting with our legs tangled, watching television and going off to listen to music or swim. Though, swimming we did less as I felt I'd pulled something in my foot. So, listening to music and lying on her bed was what took up most of our time. Jackie, like me, was a bit of a CD collector, but of opposite genres - so comparing music was always fun.

"It was odd that Giana showed up so late on your birthday. Don't you think?" Jackie said while loading another CD into her player.

I was lay with my arms behind my head. "Even odder that she called me Cookie."

Jackie laughed loudly, falling onto her back on her bedroom carpet. "I'll start calling you it too. Cookie."

"Don't. It'll only piss her off." I grinned.

"Well, she's dead set on pissing me off every time we're together as a three." Jackie said. "She sees me as some kind of threat, Norah."

"She thinks of you as a succubus." I chuckled, watching Jackie's legs appear over the side of the bed, swinging girlishly.

"Of course she does." Jacks sighed.

"It was very nearly all over that night." I said.

Jackie's head popped up at the end of bed, eyebrows raised. "Really? What happened?"

I shrugged. The mattress dipped as Jackie crawled up on the bed, shuffling on her knees to reach my body up by her pillow. Whenever I spoke about Giana or love, Jackie was eagerly all ears. Which I didn't mind. It was like sometimes she wanted a sign that I was normal.

"Well, she asked me to be her girlfriend."

"And you said?"

"No."

Jackie blinked hard at me. "Why?"

"It's all about her, she hasn't even been checking if I'm ready for any of that stuff. All she kept saying was that she's ready. I told her we should just stop it if she can't listen." I said, sighing. "Then she cried."

"Christ, Fish." Jackie shook her head, like I'd been in the wrong. "What does that mean now?"

"That we're still together. Well, not together together, but like we were be-"

"But you don't want to be?" Jackie interrupted.

I shook my head solemnly.

"You're not ready, are you?"

I shook my head again.

"Oh, Norah." She flopped onto me dramatically, curling her arms around my head and her legs around my body. I nuzzled my head into her chest reflexively. I didn't exactly need comforting, because despite Giana's crying, I felt I'd handled the situation particularly well. I did nearly everything I needed, except ending it. But I supposed I'd have to tackle that another time.

"Do you need me to kiss you again? I think my kisses have healing qualities, you know." Jackie added, making kissing sounds into my hair.

"Piss off." I laughed, scrambling out of her grip.

"Or should we dance? I heard dancing mends broken hearts."

"I'm not heartbroken so it'll do nothing." I grumbled, sitting up straight in bed while Jackie made her way back over to the CD Player. She picked out a colourful designed case, popping it open and placing the disc into the busted grey player. A bouncy track blared from the speakers, filling the room with contagiously danceable sound. I recognised the song from a time when she'd played it before, calling it 'the best dance track of all time'. Though a bold statement, it was hard to rebuke when it lifted the mood so instantly.