Lindsey Kelk 8-Book ‘I Heart’ Collection. Lindsey Kelk
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time in what I realized was a good couple of days, I looked at my best friend. She did not look happy. ‘Jenny, what’s wrong?’
She smiled up at me. ‘Actually nothing. For the first time in for ever, nothing is wrong.’
‘Explain please?’
‘Aw, Angie.’ Jenny pushed her masses of chocolate curls back off her face then placed her hands flat on the table. ‘I’m just gonna say this. I’m staying in LA.’
‘Huh?’
She unwrapped my icy hands from around my mojito and held them in hers. ‘I’m staying. With Daphne. I’m not coming back to New York.’
‘You’re staying?’ I asked, squeezing her hands lightly. ‘For how long?’
‘I don’t know,’ she squeezed back. ‘A while?’
‘I don’t understand, you’re not coming back with me?’
‘No.’
‘You’re not coming back with me tomorrow?’
‘Nope.’
‘Or next week?’
Jenny sighed and then smiled. ‘I need some time out from New York, from work. I need some time to breathe.’
‘But you can’t just decide you’re not coming back,’ I said, panicking. ‘You can’t just say “oh I’m staying in LA for a bit”. People don’t.’
‘You did,’ Jenny reminded me, completely unnecessarily. ‘And it worked out OK.’
‘Only because I had you.’ I hated it when people used facts to prove their point. They were so difficult to argue against. ‘You can’t just go making rash decisions: that’s my job. The balance of our friendship will be completely thrown off and then, God, I don’t know, the universe might end or something. Talk to me. What’s really wrong?’
‘You so already know.’
‘Jeff?’
‘Jeff.’
I gave her my very best Oprah look. ‘You’re going to uproot your entire life because of a boy?’
‘Like you did?’
‘Will you stop using me as an example?’ I frowned. ‘I am not a good example.’
‘Honey, you’re the best example.’ Jenny squeezed my hands back, harder. ‘You’re the only example. I told you once that you were my personal hero and it’s true. I haven’t been myself for a really long time, you know that. You’re not going to sit there and pretend you haven’t noticed?’
‘I might be.’
‘And I need to get away. I have loved living with you and if I thought I could get you to move to LA, I would – but I have to do this, Angie, I have to.’
I really didn’t want to hear this. The idea of going back to New York without Jenny was terrifying. ‘And your job?’
‘They’ve actually been amazing,’ she smiled. ‘They’re gonna let me work out my notice here while I set up the styling thing. And yeah, I know it’s a flakey thing to do, but it’s not forever. If it doesn’t work out, I can go back to hotel stuff.’
‘And you’re going to live with Daphne?’ I asked, making a mental note never to talk to Jenny’s manager at The Union ever again.
‘Yeah.’ She released her grip on my hands and went back to her mojito. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you about it. You’ve just had so much going on, I didn’t want you to be stressing over me.’
‘Oh, Jenny.’ I felt like crap. Even crappier than when I’d woken up next to Joe, if that were possible. ‘I wish you’d said something. Why didn’t you tell me it was this bad when we were at home?’
‘I guess I didn’t know it was this bad until I got here.’ She looked out off the roof terrace. ‘Yeah, I was down about Jeff, work was pretty crappy, but I just thought, you know, it was winter, and I don’t mean to sound like a bitch but I was kinda jealous of you and Alex getting back together. I figured I’d get over it after a while.’
‘And now you don’t?’
‘Now I feel like being here will be better for me for a while.’
I sat quietly for a moment. How could Jenny, my Jenny, think that being here would make her feel better?
‘LA is different for me, Angie,’ she said, reading my mind. Irritating. ‘I know you’ve had a pretty shitty time so far but that’s nothing compared to all the shit I’ve been through in New York for the last ten years. You know how you felt when you turned up? That’s how I feel here. Like I could do anything, like there are a million new things to try. The only sucky thing is that you won’t be here.’
‘There’s nothing I could say to get you to come home with me?’ I asked, recognizing a losing battle when I saw it. ‘Because I am about a minute away from freaking out.’
‘I’m sorry.’
There was no way I was going to cry. There was more than my eye make-up at stake here. I didn’t know if you could get tears out of a Marc Jacobs.
‘Don’t be sorry. If you need a bit of time away …’ I felt a tiny tear trickle down past my mascara and make a tiny dark purple spot on my knee. Bugger. ‘I just feel like I’ve let you down.’
‘Honestly, Angie, I’ve been killing myself over this but I don’t know what else to do.’ She reached out and pressed away the tear track with a napkin. ‘No tears. I don’t have time to redo your make-up and I hate when you look like shit.’
‘You’re not going to like what’s coming then,’ I bleated as another tear followed the first. And then another and another until I was a blubbering, sobbing mess.
‘Oh for Christ’s sake,’ Jenny groaned, scooting around the table and holding two new napkins under my eyes. ‘Stop crying or I’m gonna throw you over the edge. And press these under your eyes. Don’t rub.’
‘Thank you,’ I sniffed, pathetically. ‘I’m sorry. You have to do what’s best for you, I know, and I want you to. I’m happy for you, I promise. I’m miserable for me. Because you know, it’s all about me.’
‘Yeah, I know.’ Jenny scooted up and gave me a hug. I tried to stop crying but all I could think was how much I would miss her hugs, all fluffy hair tickling my nose and coconut and candyfloss perfume. It wasn’t fair.
‘It’ll be worth it when I’m a mega-stylist and we can actually keep these clothes,’ she promised, breaking off the hug.
‘That is true,’ I agreed. ‘So do we have time for one more girlie drink or do we have to—’
‘You, asshole!’
Before I could finish, Jenny was on her feet and tearing over to the bar. It took me a couple of seconds to work out what was happening and before I could even stand up, Jenny was clambering up onto a stool and leaping over the bar, fluffy hair flying, arms wind-milling into, oh God, Joe.
‘You absolutely asshole,’ she shouted, battering him backwards into a row of bottles. There weren’t many people loitering around the pool but if she hadn’t had their full attention before half a dozen bottles clattered and smashed on the floor, she had it now.
‘Jenny!’ I yelled, stumbling over as quickly as I could in my high, high heels. She certainly knew how to cap an emotional moment. ‘Jenny, stop it!’
‘What the fuck is wrong with you?’ Joe yelled, eventually gathering his wits and folding Jenny’s tiny fists up inside his bigger ones and holding her at arm’s length. ‘Lopez, chill the fuck out.’
‘Don’t you dare tell me to chill out,’